okay ... i had to give in ... POE has started a really kickass project and as much as i thought i was too cool to participate i realized that this is really cool and i should participate. as you may, or may not know, i have been a POE fan for a very long time. when her first album, hello, came out in 1996 i picked it up on a whim and fell in love with it instantly. i was living in oklahoma at the time and when she went on tour we had to go to all the dates that were close by (and by "close" we meant a 5 hour driving radius) ... as a result we saw her in texas, kansas and oklahoma (both oklahoma city and tulsa). i like to take pictures at concerts so i shot her entire OKC show and gave them to her (and the band) when we saw her show in kansas. she/they were so appreciative she asked my friend mike and i to sing on stage with her when she performed in tulsa ... we, of course, said yes and got to perform on stage with her



we kept in pretty close touch thru my oklahoma years (she gave me her phone number ... it was before email was rampant) but lost touch after i moved home to detroit (and while she was between albums; not touring). with her second album, haunted, she toured again and i saw her open for depeche mode but was never given the opportunity to reconnect with her (so many years had passed and she had acquired so many new and more dedicated fans; tony was one of those new fans/friends, incidentally, even tho i didn't know him at the time). she played the shelter here in detroit and i went ... i ran into her after the show as she was getting into her car. i asked her to sign my cd and she looked at me but i couldn't tell if she recognized me or not (when we were "friends" i had blonde hair ... this time i had my natural dark brown hair). she signed my cd and that was that ... but there could have been a look of recognition there.

since then she has been locked in a bitter legal dispute with her record company (atlantic records) ... i'm not sure what the exact details are but the gist is that atlantic wouldn't let her out of her contract ... and then they dropped her (along with a lot of other artists; for financial reasons).

it is my understanding that she has started her own record company called RePOE Records and is in the process of putting togther a roster of other artists while working on her next album (since haunted came out she did do vocals for the latest conjure one album along side other singers like sinead o'connor and ofra haza).

god there is so much to talk about concerning the amazing POE ... from her fanatical fans the angry psychos to the insanely dedicated kids that hang out at poeland; the official POE message board ... but the main reason for this post is to talk about PROJECT POE BALL: The RePoeZessed!



Until Poe is finally liberated from the horrible contractual entanglements that are preventing her from releasing a new album and touring, the Poe Ball will be touring the world in her place. That's right. A bright red Poe Ball is going to make its way around the globe accompanied by a leather bound journal. I like to think of the Ball as a little space probe, going out to meet all the folks that have hung in there with Poe for so long; and of course we hope that the Ball will make lots of new friends along the way. (Poe ball can also check out future places for Poe to perform, and thanks to the journal, it will bring back the stories of all the glorious Psychos that have had it in their POE-Zession!)

when the pistons won the national championship i decided to sign up and have the POE BALL come to detroit so i could incorporate the ball with the celebrations. i'm not sure when the POE BALL is coming into my possession but i have recieved confirmation that it is scheduled to come my way. and when it does i plan on doing cool things with it. i'd like to take a picture of it with the pistons trophy ... i'll bring it to a kickball game and have the team take pix with it (i'd also like to have the team sign the journal that will come with the POE BALL). we might go to a detroit tigers game or a detroit shock game ... maybe the ball would like to visit some detroit landmarks ... if it arrives at the right time of the month, it will be my date to the bang ... if any of you have any ideas on what i should do with the POE BALL send them my way ...

the ball will defo be appearing on this blog; i've already put a link to PROJECT POE BALL on the right hand side ... it just has to get here ... and when it does we'll ................................... have a ball!

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