Florida Fan Club Convention
1989

--- Clearwater, FL ---
We gathered in Florida for the second Air Supply Fan Club Convention on August 12 & 13. This time the festivities included a fan club member get together, softball and volleyball games with the band, a picnic and of course an Air Supply concert. This time the concerts came first. We went to Sarasota, Fl for the first concert at Ruth Eckert Hall. This first concert proved to be a very alarming one so to speak. Just before Graham was to begin singing the song "She's Got The Answer", smoke filled the air, the music started playing and then the smoke alarm in the building went off.

Everyone in the audience began to turn around in their seats and look around. I guess the stage smoke was just too much. Once everyone realized what was causing it, the whole audience began to laugh. As you can see by this picture, Graham had to fight back a smile to sing the song. It was the funniest concert moment I have ever seen. After the show, Ralph said that they had never had an experience quite like that one before.

The second concert was held in Clearwater, Fl and was the last concert of the summer. The band had arranged to reserve a block of tickets for fan club members only. The seats were GREAT and so was the show. The band displayed more energy than ever before.

Band members at this time consisted of Russell and Graham, Ralph Cooper, David Young, Jimmy Hahn, Michael Sherwood and Larry Antonino. Either because it was the last concert for the summer or because fan club members were there, this concert got a little crazy. During the song "Stand and Be Counted" which was one of the encores, Jimmy was standing on a platform over by the piano when Russell walked over and before you knew what was happening Russell was singing, Jimmy was playing and as you can see by the picture, he was up on Russell's shoulders for part of this song. At the picnic the next day, all Jimmy could say was, "We like to have fun on stage and sometimes Russell does crazy things". It was one of the best concerts I have seen.

The next day, at a nearby park in Clearwater, the field was set for a rematch softball game. The band arrived at the park ready to play. This time, prior to the convention, fans that wanted to play softball chose what team they wanted to play for - Russell's team VS Graham's team. The rest of the band was split between the two teams as well. The game was a lot more even this time but Russell's team prevailed with a score of 10 - 7. One of the band members later named the team Russell's Marauders.

Next came time for Volleyball. Graham and Russell each had a team and the band members formed two more teams. They rotated and each played against one another. Graham was at the net for this photograph. It's plain to see that Graham was very good at this game being as tall as he is. These games were pretty even as well. Both Graham's team and Russell's team had each won a game. The tie breaker was won by Russell's team once again. After the games were over, there was food for everyone. They thanked the fans for sticking with them through the years and for coming such a great distance to attend the event. They also gave away Air Supply memorabila such as 45's of their singles and articles of clothing belonging to Russell and Graham from that tour. Then the band made themselves available for autographs and pictures. I had them sign a softball to comemorate the event. It's one of my favorite pieces in my Air Supply collection.
---Laurie Frank