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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GQ

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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GQ

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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GQ

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.

Folk on!

GQ

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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GQ

I discovered U2 after reading a record review of the album “October” in Esquire magazine which basically made the band sound like the next big thing. I purchased the album and found that they were indeed different than anything else out there at the time. I do not remember how we actually ended up at The Ritz in New York City on Saint Patrick Day to see this up and coming rock and roll band from Ireland, but I do remember seeing them on stage that night in this very cool club downtown that is now Webster Hall. For some reason I kept missing the band for many years after that night on tours that followed, but I have always thought it was cool that I did see the great arena, then stadium, act U2 in a club on a Saint Patrick Day in Manhattan. I did catch their most recent U.S. tour at the Nassau Coliseum; the band performed on a stage that cut right down the middle of the orchestra with an elaborate high tech screen set up quite different then the low tech Ritz show when they were still evolving from a punk act to rock stars.

I do like this one joke about Bono that I will share:

What’s the difference between Bono and God?

Answer: God does not want to be Bono

Songs of Innocence

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GQ

This was a case of seeing a relatively unknown, for me, act at a venue I liked on a Saturday night on Long Island. Mink DeVille was a name I recognized from the ads in the Village Voice which advertised many of the shows in the great New York City club scene and occasionally with a full page spread for a big show at Madison Square Garden or other large scale venue. For a kid from Queens, reading the Village Voice was like taking a sneak peek into the Manhattan cultural scene with a decidedly different political spin than could be found in mainstream media outlets. I have no particular recollection of the Mink DeVille concert at My Father’s Place but this may give you an idea of the diversity of acts and variety of venues I am constantly looking to experience on my journey down the sonic exploration highway.

Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl

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GQ

What better way to close out 1981, or ant year for that matter, with an Allman Brothers Band concert at the Nassau Coliseum. After the show, my future bride and I were traveling westbound on the Northern State Parkway heading back to Queens when a young reveler, wearing his finest New Year’s Eve cardboard party hat, was seen walking the white striped line in the middle of the roadway with cars passing on either side of him. I have often wondered if the young man made it safely home that night and further considered whether or not hitting the road on a New Year’s Eve was really worth it. In any event, the excellent Molly Hatchet opened for the Enlightened Rogues and a festive audience welcomed 1982 in fitting rock and roll fashion.

Can’t Take It With You

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GQ

What were the odds that after lead singer Bon Scott passed on February 19, 1980 legendary band AC/DC would achieve even greater heights with Brian Johnson on the stick, “Back in Black” and beyond. I have had the good fortune of seeing both versions of the band in concert through the years, from opening for other acts to headlining arenas, with the hard rock legends never wavering on their iconic sound. When Brian Johnson need a break from years of thunderous music damaging his ears, I also saw Axel Rose fill in for a different twist on a successful formula, and it worked.
Hey Hey, My My, AC/DC may never die.

For Those About to Rock

FIRE!

GQ