Up: No Doubt - about 6 months before Tragic Kingdom came out, they were the 2nd band in a 4 band linup. It was a small club in Provo, Utah. The two “major” acts of the show were All and Stretch Armstrong (not the new pseudo punks, but a ska band from Salt Lake City). No Doubt actaully tore it up pretty well and i went out and bought their self titled album based on the performance. They tried out this new stuff they were working on like “Just a girl”.
Down: The Misfits sometime in 99. Just before their new singer Michael Graves left the band and turned it into “Punk Rock Karaoke featuring Jerry Only”
Up: I had participated in an interview of No Doubt for a college music program well before the release of Tragic Kingdom.
Down: I saw Paul Carrack at a small club in Manhattan opening for The Freddy Jones Band long after Squeeze & Mike & the Mechanics (and whatever else he might have done.) Paul was on stage by himself armed with only an acoustic guitar & a keyboard. There was no ‘backstage’ so when his set was done, he had to hop off the front of the stage & go out the front door. He bumped into me & I commented on how much I enjoyed the show and he seemed very appreciative. He was really good. What’s he up to nowadays, anyway?
Up At college, Chaka Kahn used to perform at the opening of an envelope.
Up I used to pretend to be a roadie for REO Speedwagon when they played at the bars. Gary used to let me carry in his guitars so I could get in (underaged) to watch them.
Up Saw a blonde woman singing with her band on a flatbead truck at the end of Christopher Street during a Gay Pride fest. There were only about 30 people listening and I told the guy I was with, “she’s good”. Her name was Blondie.
Up Germans might know Angelika Milster…used to hang out with her in the bars long before she became famous in Europe. Sideways During their haydays, also knew Romy Haag and Katarina Valenta(sp?)…(again, you might have to be German to know them).
Up Saw Jack Johnson during a G. Love and Special Sauce show in LA when they were touring their release of Philadelphonic. Johnson wrote the song “Rodeo Clowns” on that album, and G. Love had him get on stage and help perform it.
Fast forward a few years when he made it on his own, and I can’t stand his stuff!
Same bands, opposite times. There weren’t many 80’s hair bands that I didn’t catch at L’Amour, The Limelight, Studio One, etc., when they were on the uptick.
Not really a biggie, but I saw and met country singer Michael Peterson a few years before his first album came out. He wasn’t singing, though - he was performing martial arts/feats of strength (like breaking a stack of huge blocks of ice with his forehead) as the “opening act” for a travelling evangelist.
Back in the early '80s I saw Jan & Dean perform in a junior high school gymnasium right here in my small town. It was sad. The brain-damaged one would keep starting out singing at the beginnings of songs, then would sort of wander off and one of the sidemen would step up to the mic and finish the songs for him. This was almost every song.
Around 1985 I saw The Ventures, though they played at the convention center instead of the junior high school. That was a darn good show.
In early 1985 I saw The Spoons play at what is now the Century Gardens Recreation Centre. I was at school and renting a room in a house that backed onto the park that contained the rec centre, so it was just a metter of walkijng down the street…