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SO WHY DIDN'T ANYONE KNOW ABOUT THIS TILL NOW?

Well, one man can only be so lucky. Russo was given two first-class tickets to London for the ceremony, and, thinking ahead, he brought along his then-bandmate Mike "Stitch" Magee, of rockshowphotography.com, to document the proceedings for his disbelieving friends back home. After the big event, and the rousing cocktail party that ensued, Mike gave Joe the rolls of film he'd shot to take home and develop. But his luggage was irretrievably lost en route, and with it the only proof of the whole unlikely tale. Or so he was told...

Dejected, Joe opted to keep the story out of the press (to this day, his publicist will rudely cut off any interviewer who attempts to inquire about it), fearful of being accused of fabricating the whole thing. And 4 years passed...

And then a few months ago, a representative of Air Singapore showed up at the office of NYC concert promoters Rocks Off, bearing a large suitcase and a garment bag. When they saw that the tags on the luggage said "J. Russo", the wealthy and handsome gentlemen behind New York's best-loved live music events agreed to sign, though they were unsure how the bags had made it to their door.

The delivery man explained that Joe's possessions had somehow been misrouted to Singapore all those years ago. When, for obvious reasons, they weren't claimed, they were sent to customs for examination. Something in the bags alerted the K-9 unit on hand, which, due to Singapore's archaic customs laws, meant the bags were to be quarantined in an underground bunker for no less than 4 years before being opened and searched.

When they finally were, the offending article turned out to be a tea set that Prince Charles had slipped into Russo's bag unbeknownst to him, as a final gift for the new honorary Englishman. Of course, transporting any kind of plant matter across national borders is a strict customs no-no, but the Singaporese officials, in an uncharacteristic display of clemency, decided to merely confiscate and incinerate the tea, and set about tracking down their rightful owner. Russo had put 161 Hudson Street, the old Wetlands address, on his nametags, and the Rocks Office had been left as Wetlands' forwarding address.

A quick phone call later, the film was finally back in the hands of its rightful owner, and, with photographic corroboration, the story can at last be told...
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