It wasn't until 6 years later that I was able to meet him again (backstage on the river in Pittsburgh), and enjoy the show. Unfortunately, my boyfriend and I parted ways not long after this, and I no longer visit Pittsburgh on a regular basis. I still remember those meetings fondly, and hope to get back to my favorite city soon.
(Deirdre Warner)

Four years ago, Donnie was playing at Jay's Mountain View Inn the night before Thanksgiving. Leah was 6 years old. Needless to say, since the Inn is not far from our home in Ford City, we jumped on the opportunity to see Donnie live. Leah was very excited & anxious to meet the guy that sings her namesake song. The Inn has such nice crowds that we didn't hesitate to take both of our children. Gregory was 10 at the time. We had a great time. I spoke with the band's manager and Leah and I got to go backstage, meet the band and of course, Donnie. Donnie was so nice to Leah. He signed her sweatshirt that I made her with her name on it.

Later, when he sang Leah, he got her on stage and sang to her. It was a very special occasion for the whole family. Leah loves Donnie's music to this day! We are very dissappointed, however, that he has cancelled his concert for the Inn this year. It has become somewhat of a tradition to see Donnie the night before Thanksgiving. Does anyone know why the concert was cancelled? Donnie rocks!! (Kim Bish)

This past February was my most memorable Donnie show ever. He spotted me in the crowd and pulled me up on stage and introduced me as his brother Lonnie Iris (the one who got the free pair from Pants N" Dat). The crowd went wild. Later that evening as we were leaving, a member of the band had us go back stage to meet Donnie. We had some cool chat and he autographed my new Poletown CD.

Donnie Iris is as cool and as nice as you think he would be. He even asked me to make an appearance at his office (his other career). When I do so, maybe I will have another story for you. (Robert P. Domenick)

I was in high school the first time I saw Donnie Iris. I believe it was the spring of 1980 and Back on the Streets had just been released. Donnie and the Cruisers were headlining a show of Pittsburgh rockers at the Stanley Theatre. Norman Nardini opened and played a great, tight set. The Granati Brothers were next, having just released their "G Force" album. (BTW, they just kept getting better and better, but never had another major label release - a true injustice).

Finally, the act we were all waiting for. Donnie and the Cruisers played a rockin' set and Donnie left the stage with the band. (I recall "I Can't Hear You" being a particular highlight of the regular set.) The band came back on for the encore without Donnie, and blasted into Ah! Leah!. Seconds later Donnie came flying on stage in a yellow tux, a la the album cover. The place went bananas, and I've just loved Donnie ever since.
(Dan McBride)

The first time my husband and I saw Donnie was at the Rib Cook off in Pittsburgh. We had always listened to his albums but never had the chance to see him live. When we were in college at Pitt, my sister was looking for a house in or around Elwood City and Donnie just happened to be the realtor she found to get her a house to rent. I asked her if she knew who he was and she didn't, of course. We played some of his songs and she recognized them right away. I asked her if she would get his autograph for me and she did. I still have it written on a little scrap of paper.

We have seen him many times since then. Always playing his albums or CDs around the house and going to his concerts our 2 kids wanted to see him as well. We always told them we would take them as soon as he played out side. Well of course that came to pass and that was about 4 years ago. I remember that my son was 3 and my daughter was 6 and sang every song right along with him. My husband and I noticed that the people around us were watching the 2 kids in surprise. They always enjoyed going to his concerts as much as we did. Donnie is such an entertainer and we really miss not being able to see the live concerts, since now we live in Jacksonville, FL. My husband was just up there and said he really wanted to stay for the concert at Starlake but was unable to because I would have shot him for going without me. I hope this will keep us up to date with all the happenings involving Donnie, and maybe some day he will be down here for us to see him live again. (L. Niz)

I discovered Donnie Iris & The Cruisers back in 1982. I was cutting class during my sophomore year of high school and hanging out at a used record store in downtown Portland, Or. I saw "Back On The Streets" in one of the bins for 3 bucks. I bought it solely for the cover. After listening to it, I was a fan. I bought every album up to "No Muss". Donnie Iris essentially soundtracked my high school years. I waited after "No Muss" for another album to show up. I called radio stations every so often to see if they had heard anything. (Radio in Portland is really lame). I thought Donnie Iris had dropped off the radar for good. Just today 5/20/98 I thought I'd punch in Iris into the search engine and viola! I guess he's been alive and well in the Pennsylvania area. Thanks Donnie for all the great songs! (Mike)

I must first say that I love every one of Donnie's songs. Being in Cleveland I have seen his shows countless times and I have to say they were OUTSTANDING!!!

I have been following Donnie since 1980 and I have all of his records except Poletown which I am going to get. I also met him at a concert at Nautica in Cleveland and he shook my hand and I received his autograph which of course is priceless. I hope he comes back here real soon. (Jeff)

Brian and Marsha returned to our seats and showed me the CD with the two autographs and I had to get one for myself. Marsha and I went to get the rest of the autographs for her and a CD for myself. Most of the band was right there by the place they were selling them. Tommy Rich signed both of ours and talked to us for a while. I continued to get mine signed while Marsha waited for "The King of Cool". Just when we turned, in walked Paul Goll and Donnie. Without hesitation, they both proceded to talk to us and sign our CD's. Donnie even added a special message on mine. Now we both had ALL the band autographs.

Now we rushed back to our seats ecstatic, while Donnie and the band hung out at the bar talking to all their fans until showtime. During the show Donnie sings right to his audience including Marsha and myself. His vocal performance is phenomenal and the band is loud and tight. The audience is mesmerized and sings verbatim back to him. Just at the shows peak during "The Rapper", Donnie came into the audience and danced with all the girls, Marsha and myself included, as the band played on. After checking to see that no girl was left unsatisfied, he went back on stage and finshed "The Rapper" and the show.

After the show Donnie came into the crowd again and we had a chance to tell him what a great show it was and how much we enjoyed it. Donnie talked to us as if we'd always been friends even though we'd just met the man that night. This is only the second time I 've seen Donnie Iris & The Cruisers. I'm a huge fan now. (Lynn)

Before I even knew who Donnie was he and I had something in common. You see, about two years ago, I worked at a local eyewear store in Pittsburgh. My manager came up to me in the lab and said "don't break these". When I asked why, he told me who Donnie was and proceeded to pop a cassette in our lab radio. Great, now not only was my task to make glasses for a Pittsburgh icon, the lenses were actually supposed to be glass, a particularly difficult material to cut. Of course the lenses were a special order item, guess what... I broke them. Well Donnie being the good guy he was, accepted the apology of my manager. A testament to the good nature of Donnie, I guess it is a good thing that it was only my part time job, I was studying at the University of Pittsburgh at the time.

The fondest memory of all lies in the show at Nick's Fat City around the time of the release of "Poletown". I think this concert was my fourth or fifth, I was really pumped. I heard the song "Valerie" and I went nuts. I stood on the stool and screamed, and screamed, and screamed "DONNIE YOU ARE THE MAN!" I was going nuts! Donnie actually stopped the band part way through a song and asked for the lights to be dimmed so he could see. He made circles of his fingers around his eyes imitating glasses during the chorus and I imitated him while I was rocking out right back, I knew he saw me. Anyway he stopped the band, pointed to me and said "that dude is rockin out". Yes Donnie, I was, and let me tell you I will never forget how happy I was that night (I only had two beers)!! I live in Florence S.C. now and my friend told me about the new live C.D. I thought the live album would be a great idea two years ago, you haven't heard or felt the true sound and energy of the band, especially Donnie, unless you see him live. I am honestly surprised the band doesn't play live more often, the fans really really would appreciate it. (Mark Yost)

I graduated from High School in June of 1980, and that summer and fall was a time of partying, loud music and tomcatting. One of my favorite songs from that era was Ah! Leah! It was getting alot of radio play, but it was by some guy named Donnie Iris that I had never heard of. Well one day in 1981 the D.J. on the local station said "here's a new tune from the brand new Donnie Iris album" and he proceeded to play Love Is Like A Rock. Well, I thought this song kicked a** too, so the next day I went out and bought both Back On The Streets and King Cool. I loved them both instantly. I think the Cruisers were and still are one of the tightest bands I've ever heard.

I saw Donnie Iris and the Cruisers live for the first time at the Toledo Speedway Jam in June of 1982. They were first on a bill consisting also of Triumph, Loverboy & Foreigner. For me the highlights of that show were Donnie and Loverboy. I bought The High And The Mighty the day it was released. Although it's not my favorite album it has 3 of my favorite Donnie tunes on it, Tough World, Parallel Time & This Time It Must Be Love. Over the next 3 years I saw Donnie and the Cruisers 4 more times. They opened for the Michael Stanley Band at the State Theater in Sandusky, Ohio (my home town) two years in a row. Although MSB had huge popularity in Northern Ohio at that time, I thought the Cruisers blew them away both times. I was waiting at the record store the day Fortune 410 was released. The next time I saw them was in 1983 on the Fortune 410 tour. The Cruisers were headlining this time at the State Theater. The turnout for this show was very disappointing. The State holds about 1700 and as a guess I'd say the crowd that night was 500 at best. However they played their hearts out like it was a sold-out stadium. I'll never forget Donnie kneeling at the front of the stage belting out Tough World to those 500 screaming fans. It was one of those moments forever etched in my mind.

After that I moved around a bit, got married and didn't hear anything more of Donnie until I saw a new single in a Peaches Record Store in Toledo, Ohio in 1984. That was Injured In The Game Of Love and I loved it on 1st listen. A little later that year No Muss...No Fuss was released and it is still to this day my favorite Donnie album. In my opinion it's flawless and I can truely relate to Ridin' Thunder and 10th Street. The next time I saw the Cruisers was in 1986 in Canton, Ohio at some theater downtown that I can't recall. It was a great show, but I was disappointed to see that McClain and Valentine were no longer with the band.

After that it appeared Donnie dropped off the face of the earth. It wasn't until many years later in 1992 I was in My Generation in Westlake, Ohio and saw Out Of The Blue in the racks. I snapped it up immediately. It was great to hear some new Donnie tunes after so long. A few years later Footsoldier came out and I had my first full length Cruisers cd in 10 years.

Then a few years ago I met Glenn on AOL. He was known as MrMakeBlve back then, but now of course he's KingCool. It was great to meet somebody else that loved Donnie and the Cruisers music as much as I did. I hooked him up with his 1st copies of the 3 albums that aren't available on C.D. And he hooked me up with the Cellarful Of Noise Magnificent Obsession (which I didn't even know existed) and the Live tape from 1981. Then of course last year we got Poletown which in my opinion was one of the best c.d.'s released last year, by anybody. Listening to Valerie sends chills down my spine, I LOVE that song! Now, I'm planning on sending for the Live c.d.

Now having written this I realize I haven't seen Donnie Iris and the Cruisers live in 12 years. I plan on remedying that situation.(Doug)

This sounds alittle far fetched but it is true.  I was working with G-Force at the time and they were doing a show at Good Spirits Bar, in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, when Donnie and his wife came in.  Well, the brothers Granati know Donnie really well from growing up in the same neighborhood and offered him to do "Ah! Leah!" with them that night.

They all were working out the vocal parts in the dressing room and I happened to walk in to say "hi".  I started singing the high harmony vocal and Joey Granati asked me if I wanted to sing that part with them when they did the tune.  He knew that I am a professional musician and could handle being on stage with "King Cool" himself.  So I said "Sure, why not? Let's do it!"

Waiting for the song to come up in the second set was like forever and made me very nervous, but I was ready. It would be like playing with the Pope in Rome playing with Donnie a mile from his house!  The time came and I was called to the stage with Donnie Iris. The drums kicked in, the bass and guitar roared, and Donnie started to sing my favorite song of all time.When the chorus came around and I opened my mouth and sang, Donnie looked over to me with a big smile on his face.

After the tune was over Donnie and I left the stage, he came up to me and said the words that I'll never forget ... "Kid, you did great up there.  You were groovin'."

I was at another funtion and got the opportunity to play with Donnie again later on that year, but it would never compare to that night at Good Spirits and the words that my idol said to me.  (Blaze)