Sheena Easton: Picture Perfect

No artist in my life has impacted me more than Sheena Easton, as previous posts have attested to. Consider that it was 1981 (um, 28 years ago) when I first heard “Morning Train,” concurrent with my discovery of Billboard magazine, as a freshman in college: and life forever changed, with discovery of the Hot 100, where I was able to mediate Sheena's every weekly move throughout her heyday in the early '80s.

When I arrived at Billboard in 1995, as Sheena was appearing on Broadway in “Grease,” it was my penultimate mission to meet her, write about her—and ultimately to know her. Score! Fourteen years later, I continue to indulge in that honor. After seeing Sheena perform live some 599,000 times, starting in 1982, the thrill never wears off. Ironically, following my layoff from Billboard last month, I said to pal/workmate Al, “I could sure use a little Sheena right now.” And just like that, our muse was appearing in Atlantic City.

But my god, how can I possibly take a day off during the week to attend a show in Atlantic City? Oh, wait, har har bee-bop bippity har har, but of course—because I an unemployed. Talk about the stars aligning. This would never have been possible had I not been axed. All together now, cool cats: "Whee!"
So I took the morning train... uh, sorry, bus to AC and met up with fellow Sheena geeks Andy, Al and Ev for the show—and thanks to a robust tip, we were seated in row two. I was able to locate sexy bud (and Billboard singles stalwart reviewer) Chris—who came to my going away party and sadly appeared in no pics (remedied here).

The show started at 7 p.m., and as always I swooned. Sheena sang “Almost Over You,” perhaps my most treasured, “The Lover In Me,” "We've Got Tonight," “Telefone,” “Sugar Walls,” “Morning Train,” “For Your Eyes Only”—and a wondrous, surprise, “In the Winter,” her Janis Ian cover from “Madness, Money & Music,” which she deemed "the saddest song I ever recorded."After the show, for better or worse, only the four of us were allowed time with Sheena—and at 50 years old, she is as stunning and sassy as ever. Good talk about the job market (she is actually taking college classes to teach elementary education!), and offered empathy about my situation. Then, of course, I announced, “We just happen to have cameras,” followed by the habitual indulgence of new pics with our Sheena.Priceless. Another unforgettable, blessed experience with Sheena…

By the way, here's a little back-story—and I’ll try to make this as quick as possible. When I was a teen, I suffered from debilitating migraine headaches… led by blind spots that wholly covered my field of vision, followed by a headache that rivaled the worst hangover imaginable. Typically, they occurred at the end of a period of intense stress—so I’d deal with them, say, on the first day of family vacations. Most notably, such happened on the day of my interview with Billboard magazine as I drove into the train station. I covered my eyes, took four Excedrin and within an hour was able to see clearly again—but facing the job interview of my dreams, my head felt like someone was coming down with a hammer every 20 minutes. Obviously, I made good anyway.

As the years have passed, the migraines have mercifully spaced themselves out… it had been at least three or four years since the last—until this morning. What the fuck? But doesn’t it make sense? All this stress dealing with the finality of Billboard, looking toward today—the ultimate exhale, seeing my Sheena. I got up at 8 a.m.—after a typical night of insomnia where I lay awake for three hours—and literally couldn’t believe my eyes. I smacked down three Advil and lay back down, praying that my field of vision would clear within an hour. Thankfully, by the time I left at 10 a.m., for the 11 a.m. bus, I was A-okay. There was no headache, even. But how bizarre. And a bit scary.(Live photos and Sheena/Chuck photos by Andy Dremann. Thanks, Pink! You are definitely a pro!)