1980

Jan 7 The Heels. A very artsy, experimental, downright weird band from Illinois played the No Name Disco. I remember a long segment in which Matt, the bass player, put on a preachers collar and did some performance art.  I also remember leaving early, and driving my friends home to South St. Louis, a million miles out of my way, because Kevin Brueseke’s car got messed up.

Jan. 12 Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers / The Fabulous Poodles. A big show at Kiel Opera House for the Damn the Torpedoes tour. I remember Duwan found me a skinny tie to wear, my one and only pseudo-New Wave look. Grand opening, and grand closing that night. The Fabulous Poodles, a Kinksish band, should have been much, much more popular. They were amazing, as were the Heartbreakers.

Jan. 14. The Clones (later Da Clones) played No Name Disco. They were a St. Louis New Wave cover band who really could sound like all the records.

Jan. 18 Acts. This was a St. Louis bar band – I have no idea why I saw them, though it could have been work related.

Jan. 19 Bob Reuter & Frankie Tomazi. This was a party at Frankie’s house. John the Mailman and I still were thinking we were going to interview all the local musicians and write a history of St. Louis new wave; instead, we were slowly shifting towards doing a fanzine. Bob & Frankie had been in the Dinosaurs, who had recently broken up, and they played a bunch of Dinosaurs songs. I recorded it on my cheap cassette recorder, and if Jason Rerun ever gets around to it, I may someday find out if the sound of that tape is any good.

Jan. 21. The Nukes. Steve McCabe was one of the few guys I met at UMSL who I actually talked to outside school. He was the guitarist in this band, another New Wave cover band, though much slicker than the Clones. This was also at No Name Disco, and quite possibly was their first performance – he came up with the band name at the Eddie & the Hot Rods show in October.

Jan. 24 The Police / Wazmo Nariz. Stages was packed to the gills for this show. Steve McCabe had seen the Police back the previous year at M. Nights, along with 20 or so other people. But something like 1200 people crammed in for this show, which was spectacular. Wazmo Nariz was my second interview, and the first for which I knew I was doing a fanzine. He was a very entertaining Chicago artist with a record on IRS, and a song called “Checking Out the Check-Out Girls.”

Jan. 29 The Clones. Hmm – this was unlikely to be at No Name. Don’t know where it could have been.

Feb. 1 Cool Jerk / Max Load. Again hmmm. I thought they’d broken up after that previous gig, but maybe this was with a different drummer. I liked Max Load much more at this point – their Wire influence was beginning to be noticeable.

Feb. 2 & 3 The Britons. No idea at all.

Feb. 8 The Retros. I saw these guys so often, I doubt I’ll have any specific memories on any other gigs.

Feb. 18 Mitch Ryder / Powerhouse. I only barely knew who Mitch Ryder was, but after this 4^th & Pine performance, he has been one of my all-time favorite singers. Stunning show.

Feb. 22. Max Load. 

Feb. 23 Brown & Langrehr.

Mar 5 George Thorogood / Phil Driscoll. This was at the Chase Park Plaza, that giant ballroom, and it was packed. I knew nothing about the blues, but I knew the songs he had on the radio, and I had a great time, though I probably wouldn’t like it so much now.

Mar 6 The Romantics / The Clones. At Stages – they wore their red suits and had just been on American Bandstand shortly before this show.

Mar 7 Brown & Langrehr / The Felons. This was at Peacock Alley. The Felons emerged from the ashes of the Dinosaurs and the Camaros. At this stage of their long career, they played more 60s rock’n’roll & soul songs than anything else; I remember Mike Downey singing “Baby I Love You” because he had a newborn baby.

Mar 8 The Beat. This was the band later called Paul Collins Beat to distinguish them from the English Beat, who were only called the English Beat to distinguish them from the prior existence of this Beat. Got it? Very enjoyable power pop show.

Mar. 10 The Ideals. I think this had to be a local band, but I don’t remember them at all.

Mar 17 The News. This was the final show at the No Name Disco. It was St. Patrick’s Day, and the regular disco crowd was there to party, and our crowd was there to rock, and the djs were fighting, and well, it just became something they didn’t want to deal with any more. 

Mar. 22 The Retros / The News. So where did this show take place? Was this the first gig at American Legion Hall 555? That was the next big location for local shows, I know that. You could rent the hall for next to nothing, and beer (which I didn’t touch in those days) was something like .50 a glass.

Mar. 26 Iggy Pop / Janet Jameson. My first road trip. I went with Donna Knott & Dave Beckman to Kansas City, to stay with Nick Moon before driving to Lawrence, KS to see the legendary Mr. Pop. I’m 6’8” tall, and some guy taller than me stood in front of me. This was the New Values tour, I believe, and it was incendiary.

Mar. 28 Brown & Langrehr / the Heels. This had to be a Legion Hall show.

Mar 30  999 / the Dickies. Donna Knott brought this show to the Ville Auditorium, a nice big location in the heart of St. Louis’ most prominent African-American community. I don’t remember any problems, but nothing rock happened at the Ville for a long time after it.

Apr 18 Max Load / Nerve Gas. Was this a party in Clayton?  Or was it a Legion hall show? And who were Nerve Gas?

Apr. 25 The Nukes. This may have been a show at UMSL. I definitely saw them there some time, and was taking pictures at the show while I was studying photography at UMSL.

Apr. 26 The Retros / Brown & Langrehr.

Apr. 28 The Who / The Pretenders. At the Arena. The tickets had been mail order only, and no location was guaranteed. Our tix were in the last row at the top of the Arena, on the side of the stage, such that all I saw of the Pretenders was Pete Farndon’s foot. We moved to a spot behind the stage so I could see the Who for the first time, and I was mightily impressed.

May 1 Squeeze. This was at the Chase Park Plaza in a small bar at the top of the hotel. In those days, you scoured the newspaper ads every week looking for concert announcements – I swear, when I saw the little ad in the Post announcing this I stared at it for hours trying to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. What an amazing chance to see a great band right at their Argybargy period.

May 3 The Zanti Misfits. So where was this gig? You know, I’m starting to think this was actually a rehearsal they let me watch for a while. One of the best bands ever to play St. Louis– Pete Kremer, Mark Sheridan, and Kevin Griffin had songs and energy to spare. Loved them to death – you can hear two of their many classics on the Test Patterns album.

May 9 Clones.

May 17 Surgery / Oozkicks. This was at a party in Clayton in the afternoon. The Oozkicks were teenagers from Webster Groves, Surgery was led by a crazy Iggy Pop imitator with extra libido. Both bands blew my mind.

May 17 The Retros / Zanti Misfits / Anti-Mation. Then I went to the Legion Hall for this triple threat, including the debut of Tony Cornejo’s newest outfit Anti-Mation and the official debut of the Zanti Misfits. That was a great day – four new local bands to love.

May 31 The News / Zanti Misfits

June 4 Third World / Toots & the Maytals. My first reggae concert, at Stages. I was working at Busch Stadium for a Shrine Circus performance, and desperately wanting to get out of there to see this show. I think I missed a good chunk of Toots’ performance, but he still knocked me the heck out. Third World was slicker than I liked at the time, but still a new world was opening up.

June 13 Max Load. June 14 The Clones

June 19 The News

June 20 George Benson / Cameo / Con-Funk-Shun. Oh, to get back to see this show I worked at Busch Stadium with the ears I have now. I knew nothing about what I was experiencing.

June 20 The Felons. And I obviously wanted to get on to see this show. Somewhere in here, shows started happening at Billie Goat Hill. I can’t pin point when that started, but this string of local shows had to be going on somewhere. Now that I think of it, though, this one was at a Legion Hall on Big Bend – I remember this being the first time I ever heard “Sea Cruise,” the Frankie Ford song.

June 21 Brothers Johnson/ Rufus/ Sister Sledge /Peaches & Herb /Bobby “Blue” Bland. Another night at Busch, and an even greater line-up of talent. I did know about the Brothers Johnson, though. Jim Roehm had introduced me to their amazing single “Stomp,” and that was my gateway into music outside the New Wave realm.

June 27 Max Load

July 3 The News

July 5 The Nukes / The Oozkicks. In addition to Billie Goat Hill, Bernard’s Pub became an option around this time; this could have been there or at a Legion Hall. Neither location was opposed to letting kids as young as the Oozkicks were in to play.

July 9 Surgery / Anti-Mation. Surgery drummer Kevin Brueseke had played with Tony Cornejo in the Camaros – thus this gig made sense.

July 11 Brown & Langrehr.

July 12 The Felons / New Kicks. Don’t know who that opening band is.

July 16 The News

July 18 Anti-Mation / Surgery

July 19 Max Load / Zanti Misfits / Oozkicks. The last show at 555, and the benefit to buy an answering machine for the New Wave Information Line Jet Lag ran in those days. The crowd was so huge that we wound up paying each band $200 over the money we raised for the machine, so everybody won.

July 25 PG. This was definitely at Billie Goat Hill, the first time I met and heard Mike Burgett and Jim Saltsider.

July 25 Zanti Misfits / The Retros. This was probably at Bernard’s, as I drove from one club to the other to see what was happening.

July 26 Surgery / PG

Aug. 1 Zanti Misfits / The Retros. Somewhere around this time, Bob Chekoudjian had left the Retros, to be replaced by Paul Grant. I’m thinking this might have been his first gig with them.

Aug. 2 The Retros / Zanti Misfits. Two nights at Billie Goat Hill, and Mark Sheridan told some very funny jokes.

Aug. 19 Surgery / the Oozkicks. Holy cow! I didn’t see anything for 17 days.

Aug. 20 The Rockats / Crosswinds. I believe this was at Hollywood Nights out on St. Charles Rock Road. Wasn’t Jerry Nolan of the New York Dolls in this band of rockabilly heroin addicts?

Aug. 21 The Felons

Aug. 23 Brown & Langrehr

Sept. 6 Anti-Mation / PG

Sept. 12 Brown & Langrehr / the Oozkicks

Sept. 13 The Pretenders / the English Beat. Definitely at Hollywood Nights, 2 great bands with a packed house. I was in heaven that night.

Sept. 19 The Strikers / the Welders. The News had a name change to avoid confusion with Huey Lewis’ outfit. This had to be at Billie Goat Hill, and I think it was the last time I saw the Welders.

Sept. 20 The Kinks / Johnny Cougar. This wasn’t the best period for the Kinks live, but it was the only time I’ve seen them, so it’s what I’ve got.

Sept. 26 The Felons / the Strikers. By this time, the Felons were playing a lot more ska and reggae than they had at the beginning of the year.

Oct. 10 Brown & Langrehr. Charlie Langrehr was the main man for finding new places to play. Either this show or one around this time was at the Club Imperial on the north side, where Ike & Tina Turner had played in the past.

Oct. 17 Bruce Springsteen. I always remembered this as being in 1979, but this was at Kiel Opera House, and again lottery tickets put me in the last row of the venue. This was a good show, but I didn’t get the revelatory experience I was hoping for, and for which I had to wait until next time.

Oct. 17 The Oozkicks. Obviously, I needed even more music after Bruce.

Oct. 25 The Retros. Possibly the time they played the Gargoyle on the Washington University campus, the worst sounding room in St. Louis.

Oct. 28 The Retros / the Strikers

Nov. 8 The Strikers / Anti-Mation

Nov. 14 The Retros

Nov. 15 Joan Jett & the Blackhearts / Brown & Langrehr. I interviewed Joan, and hung out with her and  guitarist Eric Ambel at Blueberry Hill. That night, her bass player got Tony Cornejo arrested for disturbing the peace, because he kept turning the music up at a party at his apartment.

Nov. 21 Zanti Misfits / Max Load

Nov. 29 Iggy Pop / the Oozkicks. This was at a downtown hotel ballroom, very cool night. It was also possibly the first time I got drunk, as I kept sipping my girlfriend’s rum and coke. I only tried drinking a couple more times in the next 10 years, before noticing that there was more fun to be had than I had been having already.

Dec. 6 George Thorogood / Darrel Dawton’s Blues Band. I’d completely forgotten I saw Thorogood again, this time at Graham Chapel (the same place as the Joan Jett show).

Dec. 6 The Skitzos And then I hustled over to Billie Goat Hill to catch this local band for the first time – I always liked these guys, but they never developed much of a following.

Dec. 13 Brown & Langrehr

Dec. 20 The Felons / Riot Act. I think this was in the basement of the Carriage Bowl, now sadly replaced by a Walgreens. Riot Act at this point was a three piece band with a decided New Wave flavor; that would change by the next time I saw them.