------------------------------------------------------- MARCH 6, 1996 ------------------------------------------------------- Source: San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune http://www.yessng.net/high.html Yes Has New Fans: Merchants of SLO Band brings plenty to see them, and they spend lots of money By Carol Roberts The biggest Yes fans could turn out to be the motel and restaurnat owners here who are playing host this week to hundreds of concertgoers from all over the United States and Canada. Eddie Lee, who became a fan as a kid in Hong Kong, came all the way from Honolulu. Erich Toll, who makes eductional films, flew from Boulder, Colo. He brought along his wife and son and picked up his mother in Los Angeles. "Thanks to Yes, my son is getting to visit with Grandma," he said. Paul Seale, a lawyer from Vancouver, B.C., arrived Tuesday with is wife, Sheryl, a Canadian "Mountie," just to see the rock group. Lee, who manages a small company on Oahu, was staying at the Lamplighter Inn and looking forward to getting together with other fans he's met for dinner at 1865 Restaurant. Toll and his family were staying at the Apple Farm. The Seales were booked into the Madonna Inn. They were enjoying the decor. "We cracked up at our fluorescent green room," Paul Seale said. "It's really quite a place." All were among the fans who crowded into the Coffee Merchant downtown Tuesday to see where they would be seated for last night's and tonight's concerts at the Fremont. They paid $55 a seat, ordered through a Yes magazine, the Internet or a Yes newsletter. They bought their tickets but didn't know where they'd sit until their names were drawn out of a hopper by three men who had told fans far and wide about the performances. Mike Tiano, who works for Microsoft in Seattle, manages the main Yes fan magazine on the Internet. Glenn Gottlieb of Long Island puts out a slick Yes magazine from there and Nic Caciappo of Modesto edits a Yes newsletter. They handed out a block of 150 tickets for Tuesday's concert thatSome of the fans' hosts at local restaurants and motels knew of Yes but were more excited bout the influx of guests than the rock group. "Yes was a little before my time," said Tom Sherwood, the 23-year old desk clerk at the Lamplighter. John Fayre, a bartender at 1865, said he was a fan in the 1970s, but had no plans to attend the concerts. Larry Ward, the president of Heritage Oaks bank in the county, said he firSome of the fans' hosts at local restaurants and motels knew of Yes but were more excited bout the influx of guests than the rock group. "Yes was a little before my time," said Tom Sherwood, the 23-year old desk clerk at the Lamplighter. John Fayre, a bartender at 1865, said he was a fan in the 1970s, but had no plans to attend the concerts. Larry Ward, the president of Heritage Oaks bank in the county, said he first saw Yes in Denver in 1974. He lamented Tuesday that previous plans would keep him from the concerts here. But the bank, he said, has done a little something for the group. Heritage Oaks was scheduled to open its second SLO branch in a leased building on Santa Rosa Street soon. Yes has been using the building, owned by Rob Rossi and others in the Santa Rosa Group, to record an album for the past few weeks. Yes wants it for three more weeks, Ward said, so the bank has agreed to wait until after that to start its remodeling. Yes fans are nothing if not accommodating. "We're good guests," said Eric Melleby, a postal worker who came from Dayton, Ohio, for Tuesday's concert. "We're friendly. We're clean. We're sober. We just love the music." "Isn't this a beautiful theatre, isn't it? The guy was definitely on acid when he did it. Look at that ceiling! I'm just waiting for the proverbial ... proverbial, that's an English word ... and it goes like this. It's sort of a backwards piano thing there and it goes like this ..." (Jon introducing Roundabout on Wednesday night) Close Window YesInThePress.com For site comments, inquiries, corrections, or additions, contact yitp@yesservices.com