The Talking Heads tour that became the “Stop Making Sense” album, movie, and video arrived at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium on Saturday, August 21, 1982. My then girlfriend, and future bride, went to see the show at this historic venue set in the middle of a Queens neighborhood not too far from my wife’s parents’ Elmhurst apartment. The jam packed stadium was not built for a hard partying rock audience and the archaic bathroom facilities were struggling to handle the crowds. While we were sitting in our seats toward the upper right of the stage, I felt the need to hit the bathroom but did not want to miss the beginning of the Talking Heads set. I noticed that a steady stream of guys were walking to the very top of the aisle in the upper corner and clearly relieving themselves over the side one at a time. Nobody stopped them, or seemed to mind, so I decided that this would clearly be a more viable option than heading back down into the cavernous underbelly of the stadium to find a rest room that was likely packed. I made my way up to the top, unzipped while looking for any possibility of interruption, and began to urinate onto the leaves of a tree below. I was there for what seemed awhile, and for what turned out to be clearly too long. When finished, I pulled ip my zipper, turned to go back down the stairs, when I saw a security guard with freshly combed soaken wet head walking up toward me. Unbeknownst to me, this guard had been apparently standing underneath the tree that was beneath my steady stream, and he was not happy. Despite my protestations, he escorted me down the stairs and to the wrong side of the entrance; I had been tossed and my wife was none the wiser, waiting for me at the seat. There was no cell phone technology at the time, and no way to contact her; so I scrambled outside telling my tale of woe to anyone who would listen, until I found a security person who unbelievably let me back into the stadium (good luck trying that today). I made my way back in and the lights went down for the Talking Heads to hit the stage just as my rear end hit the seat. I vaguely remember David Byrne onstage dancing with a lamp and the ride home on Queens Boulevard is memorable for a stuffed animal being thrown out of the driver window during an argument with my wife.

Life During Wartime

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GQ

It was not unusual for us to catch every possible Yes concert whenever they hit New York City and a Jon Anderson solo tour was no exception. A month to the day of the Convention Hall show in New Jersey we went to see Mr. Anderson again, this time at New York City’s Palladium theatre. A couple of years ago my wife and I went to San Diego for a wedding. As luck would have it, in addition to going to a Padres game and Seaworld (where she got one item off of her bucket list by swimming with the dolphins) we managed to attend a Jon Andersen concert while he was on tour in California supporting his latest project “1000 Hands”.

Makes Me Happy

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In the summer of 1982, I had just recently graduated from Queens College with a degree in English and a minor in Economics with Saint John’s University School of Law waiting for me on the other side. On August 2nd, we went to the Dr. Pepper Concert Series at Pier 84 on the west side of Manhattan to catch a bit of an odd double bill with the rockabilly Stray Cats opening for progressive rock pioneers King Crimson. While I have no particular recollection of this night under the stars, I am sure it was a night to remember for some in the audience.

Rock This Town

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Queen was one of the kings of the arena rock circuit in 1982. This time around the band played Madison Square Garden with Billy Squier opening.

Tie Your Mother Down

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My wife has been a huge Chicago fan since she was a teenybopper so we went to see Chicago in the round at the Westbury Music Fair on a Saturday night in 1982. Peter Cetera was still in the band at this point (he left in July, 1985) which makes this concert particularly distinctive for me since there have been numerous Chicago concerts and personnel changes after his departure that I have experienced in person through the years. Chicago is a great and influential band that somehow does not get its appropriate due as unique trailblazers in the history of rock and roll. I just purchased the massive box set Chicago at Carnegie Hall Complete from Rhino Entertainment which should be landing at my door any minute now. The band rarely ever leaves the road, and the pandemic did slow them down for a spell, but they are back on tour this summer at a shed near you.

In the Country

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Any trip to New Jersey from New York to see a concert in 1982 was truly only for the fanatical, but since we were huge Yes fans, a Jon Anderson solo show at Convention Hall was a worthy destination. I have literally no recollection of the trip or the show but I was there.

Ramalama

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In the early 1980’s, long before the internet was a glimmer in young Al Gore’s eyes, some movie theatres’ would have midnight showings of a rock and roll movie mostly on the weekend. On Saturday, May 22, 1982 a group of us went to see the AC/DC movie “Let There Be Rock” at the RKO Keith movie theatre on Northern Boulevard and Main Street in Flushing, Queens. The RKO Keith was a magnificent old time single theatre, before multiplexes broke out all over the country, that I mostly remember seeing lines wrapped around the block when “The Godfather” was released. (If memory serves me, I think I may have even seen “The Warriors” movie there; a film Twisted Sister payed homage to with the tag line “Twisted Sister, coma out and play” but I digress). The now dilapidated theatre in terrible ill repair still stands but has not been used for anything in decades. As the story I had heard goes, the theatre is a landmark and as such is protected from renovation. Supposedly someone purchased it to make it a mall, but when that project was not approved by the powers that be, the new owner dumped hazardous materials inside making it uninhabitable; but as it remains a landmark it is in some sort of commercial property purgatory which has left it empty for many, many years. It is a terrible shame that this occurred as the theatre in its heyday was an architectural masterpiece. On a Saturday night in 1982, AC/DC can say they played there, and a host of long haired metal heads can proclaim to have seen the show.

If You Want Blood

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Once again, I am looking forward to attending the 2021 Newport Folk Festival. It is always an extraordinarily unique event that this year is scheduled to take place over SIX days due to capacity restrictions. Some in my party have encountered some changed plans so I have two extra three day pass tickets for the Monday through Wednesday session July 26-28, 2021.
What I am hoping for is an even swap for two three day passes for the Friday through Sunday session July 23- 25, 2021 (for my personal use and yes I can, and hopefully will, attend all six days of the festival). If you should be interested, contact me through this site and we can see if we can make this happen.

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As I was a huge Yes fan, going to see the great Steve Howe with his new band Asia was a no brainer. I never did get to experience Emerson, Lake & Palmer but I did get to see the extraordinary drummer Carl Palmer perform on top of a unique silver pyramid-like set up on the Capital Theatre stage in New Jersey. With John Wetton and Geoff Downes filling out the supergroup lineup, and a hit album with songs in heavy rotation on the radio, this was heaven for progressive rock fans in the tri-state area. Asia was a little poppier than the group members’ prior groups, and the music has not really held up as well either, but at the time no one knew what the future would hold for these great musicians, so any opportunity to catch them in concert was a must attend. Asia would evolve through the years with different players coming and going, but the original line up is iconic. In a unique double bill years later, Asia opened for Yes (without Jon Anderson which is a long story in and of itself) at the Westbury Music Fair, in the round, with Steve Howe playing guitar with both bands.

Heat of the Moment

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GQ

Dead & Company tickets go on sale today at noon. The last time I saw the band, with John Mayer on guitar and vocals, was at Citifield. It was a lot of fun sitting to the left of the pit watching bald guys with pony tails dancing themselves into a frenzy on the verge of giving themselves heart attacks. I kind of prefer Phil Leah & Friends myself, but it is all fun and somewhat nostalgic. I have been listening to the Grateful Dead channel on Sirius a bit lately where, besides the music, you get to hear some fascinating reminiscences of what seems like a bygone era. The ticket prices for this next Citifield concert seem a little steep for a stadium show so, for me, attending this one will have to be a game time decision.
New Speedway Boogie

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