Crash

PeopleSoft earnings and revenue growth continued to skyrocket through the early months of 1998. Then -- although we added another 2,500 employees that year as a whole -- suddenly around Q3 there was a sense that the walls were tumbling down. The stock, having reaching a high of 57 in July, sank with mind-numbing rapidity into the 20s and below. No doubt: Phase One of the dream was over, as the industry braced for the Y2K bug and ERP vendors fell into disrepute.

But undaunted, the Daves kept raving. We'd kept basically the same lineup for a couple of years, and the band was stable, comfortable with each other, and picking up new songs much quicker. The Raving Daves were here to stay, regardless of industry fluctuations and cycles.

We open up the year playing a benefit at the Walnut Creek Center for the Performing Arts.  Certainly the most elegant of venues for us.  It's a benefit for Tony LaRussa's Animal Rescue Foundation, and is a blast.  The "Orange County" crowd actually gets down in the orchestra pit and moshes!  Our fans are the best!

In the middle of the year, Janis "Tech Spice" Weiss departs for a startup and Dan "Bones" Fink leaves the group to work for PeopleSoft Europe. The defining gig of the year is the PeopleSoft Conference in SoMa, San Francisco, with the Daves in front of an audience of thousands opening for the B-52s.

 

 

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The 1998 Lineup

Baer Tierkel, guitar & vocals
Eric Tamm, guitar & vocals
Leonard Rainow, keyboards
Dalia Chatterjee, vocals
Earl Barron, harp
Dan McIntosh, bass
Rick Frank, guitar
Mark Fletcher, drums
Dan Williams, sound engineer

Number of PeopleSoft Employees, December 1998: 7,030

The 1998 Gigs