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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | mkropp@comcast.net |
| Subject | Re: Another Tale of Disillusionment |
| Date | Fri, 29 Oct 2004 19:14:09 +0000 |
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This should qualify as a musical disillusionment. Around 1989 or so (give or take a couple of years), I went to the old Chestnut Cabaret in Philadelphia to see The Connells.
My friend and I stood through two fairly lame opening bands before The Connells finally went on. They were great from the get-go. However, about 30 minutes into their set (again, give or take a few minutes), the put down their instruments and the singer tells us that some special guests have arrived and have asked to sit-in.
My friend and I were unpleasantly surprised to see 5 older-than-middle-age guys wander onto the stage and pick up the Connells instruments. They introduce themselves as "Ricky and The Rockets" and proceed to "treat" us to some god-awful bar-band blues & 50's rock. Song after song after song after song - it's now apparent that The Connells aren't coming back.
One of the Connells walks by us and my friend asks what is going on. He tells us that the guys onstage are actually Supertramp (oh no!) and they had just finished their gig at the Enormodome (probably the Spectrum) and came here to blow off some steam and just jam.
We are incensed and go to the ticket window to get our $10 back (give or take a few bucks). The guy in the booth tells us, "but hey - that's Supertramp up there!". Our reply was "exactly" and ask again for our money back. They refuse, so we left - as did many others.
To this day, that memory comes back to me anytime I hear Supertramp.
Michael (who actually likes "Give A Little Bit").
-------------- Original message --------------
> Michael's great tale on the Sly debacle reminded me of my own first taste of
> musical disillusionment. I actually attempted to create a short story from
> this incident, but never got around to finishing it...but I digress. Sorry in
> advance for the length of this post.
>
> It is 1972 and I am a sophomore at Great Valley High School in the western
> suburbs of Philadelphia. Each year, the senior class at my High School
> sponsored a class concert. In years past, most of the acts that performed
> consisted of local acts or national pop acts that had a few hits in the mid to
> late sixties, but were now on the downside of their career. I remember seeing
> the Classics IV at the 1971 concert. They had a pretty big hit in 1966 with
> "Spooky". (Actually, they were pretty good in a Mitch Ryder-Blue Eyed Soul kind
> of vein)
>
> Anyway, you can imagine the shock that went through the school when it was
> announced that the 1972 concert would feature.....BLUE OYSTER CULT. Now this
> was about 4 years before they hit it big with "Don't Fear the Reaper", but our
> local rock station WMMR was playing cuts from their 1972 debut, particularly the
> incendiary "Cities On Flame With Rock and Roll". This was an Honest-to-God
> RAWK group and they were coming to our High School! You can imagine the
> excitement that swept through the school.
>
> One of the duties of the High School Radio Club, of which I was a proud member,
> was to put on the morning announcements over the school PA system. We plugged
> the concert tirelessly and heightened the excitement by playing more songs from
> the album before the start of classes (much to the disgust of most of the
> teachers...who absolutely hated hard rock music of any kind).
>
> The night of the concert finally arrived. The opening act was an unknown local
> quartet that went by the name "Sick Man of Europe". Of course, it was years
> later that I found out that this group of unknowns was actually 3/4 of Cheap
> Trick fronted by Stewkey of the Nazz. It turns out the members were living in
> the Philadelphia area at that time before their eventual departure to Illinois a
> year or so later. I distinctly remember Rick Nielson playing a double neck
> Gibson and jumping around on stage much like he would later do in Cheap Trick.
> Oh, and he also pointed out that the sound system "really sucked".
>
> After SMOE's short set, the stage was quickly set up for Blue Oyster Cult. What
> appeared to be a bed sheet with the band's name in hastily scrawled script was
> placed over the front of a Hammond B-3 organ. Someone made an
> introduction...and 5 middle aged guys took to the stage. To everyone's
> disbelief, they appeared to play some sort of jazzy prog rock numbers, sans
> vocals, much like Spinal Tap Mark II. After 3 of these types of numbers (still
> no vocals), it became quite apparent to everyone that this was not Blue Oyster
> Cult. That is when the booing started. Knowing that their cover was blown, the
> faux BOC made a quick exit off the stage and were chased down by senior class
> members and school officials as they attempted to leave via an exit in the
> gymnasium.
>
> It turns out a sleazy promoter was duping unsuspecting and naive parties into
> booking the BOC at an unbelievably cheap price....too cheap, as it turned out.
> The senior class never did get its money back and the tradition of Senior Class
> concerts ended with this debacle. This ends my sad tale.
>
> Mark Eichelberger
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