The girl dancing on the Here Come the Noisemakers cover is Elyce Turner. She tells us how this came about…
Right smack bang on the cover of Bruce Hornsby’s live release, “Here Come The Noisemakers”, is a familiar dancer of reckless abandon, Elyce. She kindly shared her story of how this came about, which makes for pretty good reading:
I traveled from NH to Florida to go on Hornsby Tour last spring (1999). Having experienced most of the New England shows, I knew that Bruce was having a frenzy of stage dancing this tour, which of course made me very happy. The show in Clearwater, Florida was at a very *posh* theater, The Ruth Eckerd Center. When Bruce invited the ladies up to dance, I raced from the back of the theater (the only place they would let me dance) and was the first one on stage…. for about 1/2 of Western Skyline, I was the ONLY one on stage. Eventually a few other people made their way to the stage, and I started dancing with a guy who was wearing a Batiked Steal Your Face shirt.
Bruce invited everyone up a second time… and this time the people were more willing, but there were still relatively few people on stage. I saw the guy in the Batik and we (in typical Dead Head fashion) hugged, then danced together again. This guy (Turner) met another guy who had been taking pictures during the show. He wasn’t so much a hardcore Hornsby Head, but often took pictures at Ruth Eckerd. The two guys exchanged information, and the photographer (David) said he would send Turner some photos.
I ran into Turner again in Pompano… when we saw each other, we hugged and danced again, and finally exchanged personal information (you know – “What’s your name??” yelled over loud music and dancing!). We had a bit of confusion as his first name is the same as my last… so that was a bonding point! Anyway… after spending much time talking and such WE exchanged contact information and kept in touch after the shows.
Turner received a bunch of photos from David, and sent a bunch to me, because I was in the middle of some of them (from the stage dancing). The one on the cover was (obviously) one of MY favorites…. and I decided that I wanted to ask Bruce to sign it for me. In August, I was given backstage passes for the 3 Bruce & Bela shows in New England (thanks, Melissa!), so I brought the photo with me.
When Bruce invited the ladies up to dance, I raced from the back of the theater (the only place they would let me dance) and was the first one on stage…. for about 1/2 of Western Skyline, I was the ONLY one on stage.
After the first show… I showed Bruce the picture and asked him to sign it. He got all excited about it, and before he signed it… he brought it back to the “green room” to show everyone. I heard him say, “Hey you guys, check this out! This is what our band shows are like!” He signed it and asked if he could get a copy of it. I told him I’d contact the photographer and see what I could do.
David was very gracious when I asked him for another copy, and I described the photo in the best detail I could. He sent me a whole packet of pictures…. BUT the one I wanted wasn’t in the group. =0 So, as New Years Eve approached, I was only able to get Bruce a scan of the photo on my mother’s scanner (She has a high quality printer… mine kind of sux). So I brought that for Bruce for New Year’s eve.
About a month or so later, I got an e-mail from Melissa – She said that Bruce was interested in using the photo for the album, and could I please help them get in touch with the photographer. SO – I, once again, called up David, and asked him if I could pass his phone number along….
I guess they all got together and there it is. I have known for a long time that it was going to be on the album. I didn’t dare expect it to be THE cover photo, for fear that it wouldn’t happen! I also didn’t want to say anything to too many people, again, because I didn’t want to jinx it.
This really is one of the great thrills of my life. I know everyone of my friends and family will be buying a copy of this CD…. and my father… He’ll probably buy 10!
Elyce