Here’s the photographic evidence that, yes, I did meet Toto…

Left to right: Greg Phillinganes (keyboards, vocals), Dion “Dee” Detterer (hanger-on, sunburn victim), Bobby Kimball (vocals)

(Note that Bobby’s wearing a VB T-shirt. Rock on!)

Left to right: Simon Phillips (drums), Steve “Luke” Lukather (guitar, vocals), Dion Detterer (long-distance backing vocals)

Thanks again to Greg, Bobby, Simon and Luke for hanging out with me and thanks also to John for sending me the photos. You guys are all very special and I’ll never forget your kindness.

About a week-and-a-half ago I made a point to get the nastiest sunburn I could manage — blisters, peeling… the works.

Well, it was “mission accomplished”, and I think I aged my skin about five years in the process. I still haven’t achieved that George Hamilton-look, but I reckon I’m pretty close to achieving it.

In any case, it’s amazing what a digital camera and some fiddling with photo editing software can achieve, as you can plainly see on the left. Mostly it was just fiddling with hues, turning the redness into a healthy bronzed glow.

I’m still waiting to receive the photos of myself with the guys from Toto, but I expect they’ll require major work to get my skin-tone looking decent. Or, alternatively, I could leave them untouched as a memento of my “day in the sun”…

(The lesson here, folks, is that spending an hour in direct sunlight at 1 pm in February is a bad idea even if you don’t have the complexion of Pippi Longstocking.)