For me, Dave Edmunds will always be one of the acts that got away. I never interviewed the Welsh singer-guitarist and former Rockpile member, despite making a couple of attempts. And I never saw him live either — though I came so close it still pains me to think about it.
Here’s the sad story: It was 1982 or 1983. I believe he was on tour behind Twangin’ or D.E. 7th. He was supposed to play in a bar in downtown Minneapolis, and I took a Greyhound bus down overnight to catch the show. As you might have gathered from my use of the phrase ‘supposed to play’ in the previous sentence, the gig never happened. I still have no idea why.
I was at the bar earlier in the day, when his band and the opening act — one of the six jillion 
heavily tattooed rockabilly combos that were littering the musical landscape at the time — were loading in their gear. I happened to bump into a friend of mine who had also come down to see the show, so we went off to watch a Twins game, have some dinner and wait for showtime. When we returned, however, the show was cancelled. I seem to recall some talk about Edmunds being unhappy with the venue, though I have no idea if that’s the truth. I do know he’s always had something of a prickly reputation, so it seems possible. All I know is it was massively disappointing. I ended up having a few more drinks with my friend, then coming back home again on the overnight bus north. Not exactly the way I planned to spend my weekend, but oh well, win some and lose some.
I’m pretty sure I still have my ticket stub somewhere — and I have this giant Edmunds promo poster. It’s about 3′ by 4′ — so large that it was hard for me to photograph, which is why it seems a little blurry on the left side. Based on his outfit, hair and guitar, I think it was shot during the same photo session for the D.E. 7th cover (see inset pic), though once again, I could be wrong. If you’re interested in getting your hands on this sucker, email me. I’d be happy to sell it to a fan for a reasonable price. And if you ever get a chance to see Edmunds live, ask him to play Get It for me.
