"The night before the concert, we ID'd the St. Regis (Remington at the time, maybe) as the hotel where the band was staying, and lurked in the bar for a couple of hours before calling it a night. On our way out, we saw John and his girlfriend, Lisa, in the lobby, and I was able to give him the fan present from Allen.

"We attended the concert the following night. (I had no idea Nils Lofgren was so short! He opened the show.) We left a bit early & headed back from the Arena to the St. Regis, and managed to get the last table at the bar. The place was full of the usual crowd - older men with expense accounts or expensive divorcees and "high-class" hookers.

About an hour later, John and Lisa walked into the bar, said hello to us as they went past, and then came back to our table to ask if they could join us, because no other tables were open (!!!). John immediately lit a cigarette, and just as immediately, about four waiters rushed over to tell him to put it out.

"For a brief moment, he was the Rodney Dangerfield of rock & roll. Clearly, no one at the bar had any idea who he was. Fortunately, the manager clued in to the whole situation, and about five minutes later, he came to our table and asked if we'd like to sit someplace more private.

We ended up in a little room behind the bar & spent the next four hours hanging out. I like The Who, but I can talk about them for all of five minutes before I run out of things to say. So, we talked about all kinds of stuff, like his dogs, rowing at the Henley Royal Regatta, fishing in Cabo, his shopping trip to the Galleria.

"The book on the table is his photo album. He sent Lisa up to their room to get it to show us photos of their dogs and house. He drank brandy and coffee all night and was perfectly charming.

"Lisa was adorable. They invited me to stop by if I were ever in England, and told me the name of the house and the town.

"When Allen got back from Ecuador, we realized that such a night was only possible because he hadn't been there. Had he been, he would have quickly bored everyone talking about The Who and all kinds of bass stuff."