I Sing – The Motels “Only The Lonely”

It’s 12:18 am

 

One of my favorite moments in my career as a talent buyer at The EDGE nightclub in Palo Alto was when I booked The Motels. I had followed Martha Davis when the band hit it big during the heyday of MTV of the early 1980s.
Normally whenever we booked a act,it was strictly business. Very rarely did Jimmy (my boss and head buyer) and I ever interact with the artists other then meeting them at load-in. Of course there were exceptions like when Ronnie James Dio or King’s X played. Because they had forged relationships and friendships with Jimmy during the years,the normal rule of  interacting  didn’t apply.
But when The Motels finished sound checking,I actually worked up the courage to ask Martha out for coffee and she graciously accepted. But what was supposed to be a 20 minute coffee chat turned into a 90 minute talk. She and I hit it off very well and such a warm and generous spirit as well.
“Only The Lonely” was one of the band’s biggest hits and it was in heavy rotation on MTV. I always thought this was their best song and Martha can still belt it out even at 66 years old…
The show did pretty well for us and Martha made it a point to come say goodbye to me and thanked us for putting on a good show.  We only got to booked The Motels once but it was a show worth sharing.

Thanks for reading!