R.E.M. Flashback

Just got an old photo sent to me on Facebook from an old college friend and a rush of memories came flooding back.
It was 1985 and R.E.M. was on tour in support of Fables Of The Reconstruction . I caught the show in Cleveland and then headed to Pittsburgh the next morning to hook up with Gary, a college friend of mine.  I picked him up at his home and we drove to Oakland (the heart of U. of Pitt and Carnegie Mellon campuses) where R.E.M. were to play at the Syria Mosque that night. 
We pulled into the lot in the early afternoon with the intention of taking some mushrooms and roaming around the area until show time.  Ah, those carefree, innocent days. 
A few hours into the adventure we spotted this strangely dressed girl on the other side of the street wearing a mini dress and go go boots.  She stood out a bit in this fairly conservative city. 
Suddenly she's calling our names.  We know this girl?, we wondered.  She runs across the street to greet us and now shroom paranoia sets in as we're certain all eyes are on us. 
Anyway, it's our college friend Erin who says she's dressed this way because she's going to dance in a go go cage at a post R.E.M. show at a nearby club.  You must come, she tells us.  We agree.
The show was stellar as all R.E.M. shows are...ha.  It was very hot that summer night and we danced like mad fools in front of the stage. 
So, off we go to the after show at the nearby club, who's name escapes me.  There was a local band playing, again who's name escapes me, and sure enough, there was Erin dancing to their music in a go go cage. 
Shortly after our arrival, members of R.E.M's warm up band, The Three O'Clock , show up along with Peter Buck, Mike Mills and Bill Berry of R.E.M.  Michael Stipe never showed up.
Anyway, we had some beers and chatted with the band members.  Buck chastised me for wearing a bootleg R.E.M. shirt (as seen in the photo).  I reminded him that I owned all their records, had seen them in Cleveland the night before and traveled to Pittsburgh to catch them again.  He apologized.   
I went on to tell him that one day R.E.M. would be huge.  I'm sure of it, I professed to him.  It's nice being right once in awhile. 
Later on, during the local band's break, The Three O'Clock borrowed their gear and played some covers for the ground, including one of my favorite Monkees' songs, Lookout Here Comes Tomorrow
Then the members of R.E.M. joined in for a rousing and extended version of La Bamba. 
It was a day and night I'll never forget and all brought back to me this morning by this photo.

Here's our friend chatting with member's of The Three O'Clock. 

Just got another couple shots from the event. 
Here's our go go dancing friend Erin in action.

And her, with Buck and Mills. She wants me to tell you all that she looks much better when not so sweaty. Go go dancing is quite the workout.