All Fun Things Must Come To An End

 Here's how I remember it:

Cyndi Lauper's debut (solo) album, She's So Unusual, was released on October 14, 1983. After hearing the single Girls Just Wanna Have Fun I became an instant fan and bought the album as soon as funds allowed.  An(gie) Archy was also a big fan and we soon each added it to our growing collections. It was one of many New Wave albums we agreed were timeless.

An(gie) Archy and I "dated" briefly, and when we realized that wasn't working out we became best friends.

Around September of 1984 it was announced that The Fun Tour would be making a stop in Saint Paul the coming December, with some unknown band called The Bangles opening up. An(gie) and I grabbed tickets as soon as we could and wound up with fairly decent seats in the middle of the main floor. And then we waited in anticipation for the show.

In the ensuing weeks I had met Emma Rotgut and we started dating, but An(gie) and I were still best friends. (Emma, An(gie), and Tom Thefag would join The Ed Gein Fan Club, and in my youthful idiocy I didn't think anything  of having an ex-girlfriend and current girlfriend in the same band)

It turned out Emma was also a big fan of Cyndi Lauper and had tickets for the show too, although nowhere near where An(gie) and I were sitting.

As is usual with me, and as all the faithful readers of these stories have been told endlessly , if a concert is particularly good I loose myself in the moment and really have no memory of details after the final curtain goes down. So I don't remember who I actually traveled to the concert with or even how I got there. I remember thinking The Bangles were on the upper side of being OK. This was before they blew up huge with Walk Like An Egyptian and to me seemed like a lower-tiered version of The Go-Go's. Nothing spectacular, but a band I told myself I'd look in the used bins for.
When Cyndi came on the first thing I noticed was how tight and well-rehearsed the band was. Having been playing together almost nightly for 13 months will hone any band to a fine edge. And then Cyndi announced that it was the final night of the entire tour. With that the band just cut loose and had a blast playing those songs for the last time. Half-way through the set Cyndi pulled a young fan up on stage. The fan was a Cyndi clone down to the checkerboard shaved into the side of her head. The crowd went wild for that and the band kicked in to the next song.

After the show An(gie) and a few of her friends and I went outside and circled around to the back of the auditorium by the loading doors in vain hopes of seeing and meeting Cyndi. There was a limo there, and one of An(gie)'s friends checked the door. It was unlocked but the limo was empty. We all took turns sitting in it for a few seconds each. When I hopped out after my turn I noticed a scrap of green paper near the loading door. I went over to look at it and was very fondly surprised to see that it was a backstage pass for the show! I picked it up and banged loudly on the door. Some greasy, gruff guy with a cigar opened it and grunted "Yeah, whatta ya want?!?" I showed him my pass and he smiled, said "nice try kid, some reporter just left and I saw him tear that off his jacket and throw it down." With that I gathered the girls together and we returned home, allegedly in the same manner that we had used to get there.

I really wish I didn't have this "blackout" condition at concerts as I want to remember all the fine details. But alas I now go into a show with the expectation that, if it's a great show, I will not be able to talk in any detail about it with anyone.

In the ensuing years I've tried to find a bootleg of that show, but Cyndi Lauper boots from that tour are fairly elusive. There was a radio broadcast in, I think, Texas and that's the only document I have found so far.  The photos here are allegedly from the show I saw.

I may not be able to find any recording of Cyndi Lauper's set that night, but The Bangles set is posted on youtube which you can watch here.

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12. When You Were Mine
    (Prince cover)
13. I'll Kiss You
14. Witness
15. All Through the Night
    (Jules Shear cover)
16. He's So Unusual
    (Helen Kane cover)
17. Yeah Yeah
18. Maybe He'll Know
    (Blue Angel song)
19. Time After Time
20. Right Track Wrong Train
21. I Had a Love
    (Blue Angel song)
22. I'm Gonna Be Strong
    (Frankie Laine cover)
23. What a Thrill
24. She Bop
25. Money Changes Everything
    (The Brains cover)
26. Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Fly Away Little Seagull, Fly Away!

Here's how I remember it:

In January of 1993 a small ad appeared in the back of our local free arts paper City Pages. It said that a band called A Flock Of Seagulls were to play some crap wanna-be sports bar in the failing shopping complex that was Riverplace. The bar was called Mississippi Live, and neither myself nor Ms. Polly had ever heard of it. The ad also listed it as having a $6.00 cover. No presale, tickets available at the door.
SURELY this couldn't be the grammy-winning band from the 80's that were also called A Flock Of Seagulls... had they sunk so low as to be playing in what was basically a strip-mall sports bar less than a decade after the height of their world dominating popularity!?! I just had to find out.

I had been a fan of AFOS since first hearing Standing In The Doorway (still my favorite song of theirs) late one Friday night in 1982 on Ready Steady Go. I remember them opening for The Go-Go's, a show I wasn't able to attend, and my school being inundated with bootleg "Talking" t-shirts. I never did find out who was selling them, as I woul dhave bought one immediately! A year later I was "dating" An(gie) Archy and AFOS was her favorite band. She even liked them more than every teen girls heartthrobs Duran Duran.

So it was with immense curiosity that on that Feb. evening Ms. Polly and I ventured out into the freezing Minneapolis night in an attempt to satiate our curiosity. I had Ms. Polly's Sony Soundabout tucked into one boot and a cheap $10 K-Mart microphone the size of a Sure SM58 tucked into the other boot with the intention of recording the show. 

I don't remember there being an opening band, and shortly after our arrival (and after setting up to surreptitiously record the show) I remember lead singer Mike Score fronting a band of unknown (to me) musicians playing in a room that looked like it held *MAYBE* 300 people, on a stage that was *MAYBE* 8 inches above floor level, and *MAYBE* slightly larger that the average American dining room table.

And Mike was having none of it. It was glaringly obvious he wanted to be anywhere else in the world than on that stage at that moment. I didn't necessarily blame him. Here was a band that 10 years earlier had won a grammy for "Best Rock Instrumental" (for the track DNA off their debut album), had toured the world playing theaters and stadiums, reduced to playing some shit-hole stripmall sports bar in Minneapolis in the middle of winter.

My recording turned out OK considering the crap gear I was working with. What doesn't really come across that much on the tape is the seething contempt Mike Score seemed to hold for how low his band had sunk.

But apparently my tape sounds good enough FOR THIS COMPANY to have stolen a previous posting of my take and try to sell copies for $20. Go ahead and buy one if you want, OR YOU CAN DOWNLOAD IT HERE FOR FREE

Sadly I can't find any photos or visuals from this time period, so this post will have to remain photo-free unless something turns up.

A Flock Of Seagulls
Mississippi Live
Minneapolis MN
February 20 1993

Mike Score - keys & vox

Ed Burner - lead guitar
Kaya Pryor - drums
Mike Radcliffe - bass
Mike Railton - keys

Magic
Over My Head
Space Age Love Song
Setting Sun
Burnin' Up
The Fall
Quicksand
The More You Live, the More You Love
You’re Mine
Life Is Easy
Nightmares
Hearts on Fire
Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)
I Ran
Messages
Telecommunication

I Got My Ass Kicked For My Kick-Ass Boombox

Here's how I remember it:

Christmas 1983, I got a Toshiba boom box from "Santa". That thing was great, it had auto-reverse, ran on C cells instead of D so it didn't weigh as much as your average dump truck, and was loud enough to blast The Plimsouls, Klaus Nomi, and Modern English. I loved that thing and took it with me wherever I went. Like Johnny Slash and his ubiquitous headphones no one could picture me without my Toshiba.

On Friday nights I would set it up to record both sides of a C-120 tape, and I got pretty adept at hitting record just as I was about to pass out after making it as far into Ready Steady Go on KBEM as I could. My best friend and fellow New Wave enthusiast would then spend the next 6 days pouring over every second of those cassettes. That show, hosted by Mike Wassenaar and Mike McLellan really opened my ears to so many bands that became lifelong favorites.

By Spring of 1984, about 6 months later, said best friend and I made plans to walk home from school on the last day of the year. We went to North Community High School but lived in deep south Mpls. It was about 7.5 miles, and we planned on taking our time and had allotted 4 hours for a typical 2.75 hour walk. We spent weeks making comp. tapes timed for our walk. Everything we were into; our shared love of New Wave, his burgeoning interest in the early industrial music and my budding forray down the Punk Rock path. Cabaret Voltaire and Killing Joke segued into The Lewd and (Canadian) Subhumans, along with a LOT of Classix Nouveaux and Gary Numan.

The last day of 10th grade (for me, last day of high school period for my friend)... I was hanging out in the TV studio for the first few hours of the school day, when I realized that all my friends were hanging out in the park across from the school, and soon enough me and my boom box joined them for an hour. We were partying as much as broke high school kids could in a public park across from our school, and my trusty Toshiba provided the soundtrack.

Then I had to excuse myself and attend my history class because...

In early April I had (cough cough) been ill and skipped my history class, really to hang out with my girlfriend An(gie). I was never one to really skip class much but on that day I just felt my time would be better spent with her than learning about Roosevelt's New Deal and the Tennessee Valley Authority. An(gie) had a dance performance that night back at the school, and I had been asked by the school to videotape it. After the performance, as I was packing up the camera, my history teacher came sauntering up to me and said very loudly "MISSSSTTTEEEEERRRRRR BEVING!!! TOO SICK TO ATTEND MY CLASS, BUT WELL ENOUGH TO VIDEOTAPE YOUR GIRLFRIEND I SEE!!!" I sheepishly kicked non-existent dirt on the auditorium floor while averting eye contact with the teacher. He then said that he would forget my little indiscretion *IF* I attended every class of his for the rest of the year. I heartily agreed and we parted amicably.

So on the last day of school, while everyone else was Whooping it up I was planted firmly in my assigned seat in an empty classroom. My teacher wasn't even there. I sat with my hands folded on top of my desk and waited. After about 10 minutes the teacher came in and asked me what the Hell I was doing in his classroom. I explained that we had a deal that I had to attend EVERY class of his until the end of the year, and that I was holding up my end of our deal. He said that that was commendable, but that if I wasn't there he could lock up and be done for the summer. I again explained the conditions of our deal, the teacher laughed and then kicked me out. He told me to go back to my friends in the park.

He was an amazing teacher.

I went back to the minor shindig in the park. My friend with whom I was going to walk home with, was on the air in the KBEM radio studio, but there were still a handful of us enjoying the sunshine and the tapes we had all brought. And then "they" showed up.

Gangs were something brand new in Minneapolis at that time, at least gangs in the 80's sense. There had been greaser gangs in the 50s and 60s, but this was the first wave of "urban gangs" as they were called in the local media outlets of the time. There were about 30 of them. There were about 8 of us, and only three of us were male. Without warning they swarmed us, fists flying and feet kicking. I took several punches to the face. I took a few kicks to the upper thigh (my guess is they were trying to go for my crotch). I got knocked down and kicked in the ribs. And my precious Toshiba boombox was ripped from my hands. And then it was over. Since I was the one holding the radio I took the brunt of the assault, but everyone else in the group was set upon in one way or another. I had a bloody nose and swollen face, but all in all I came through it all fairly unscathed. What hurt the most was the loss of my beloved boombox.

The group slowly disbanded. My friend, having finished his on-air radio shift, came out an I broke the news to him. We thought it best that we scrap the plans to walk home. I went looking for An(gie) to tell her what happened. She was rightly concerned about me, and we decided to hop a city bus and go back to my house.

When my parents heard about what had happened they gave me the option to drop out of high school, get my GED, and figure out what to do next.

I spent the summer mulling over my options, and came to the conclusion that I enjoyed the Television Production classes I was taking too much to quit. I already knew then that that was the career path I wanted to follow and so, in the fall of 1984, returned to high school as a Junior. By my Senior year I was spending 5 of the 7 hours of the school day in the TV studio, and was effectively teaching the beginning class of incoming Freshmen (the actual assigned teacher, Mr. Kennedy, was an English teacher and knew nothing about video production, so he had me assigned as his "teacher's aid, and had me teaching the class).

In July of 1984 a detective from the Minneapolis Police Dept. Gang Squad came to my house and had me look through a few binders of mug shots in an attempt to identify my assailants, but no one looked familiar enough for the police to pursue.

I somehow ended up with another boombox a year or so later, but it didn't have near the sentimental value as my Toshiba.

The Cure For Skepticism

I wasn't a big fan of The Cure. In fact, aside from Love Cats I really, actively disliked everything else I had heard by them. Which, admittedly, wasn't a lot because what I had heard I didn't like, and why delve deep into a band's catalog if I don't like them in the first place?

I started dating Ms. Polly Purebread in the late summer of 1988. We worked at a health food store together and there was something about her that got me all antsy in the pantsy. So I screwed up the gumption to introduce myself. We realized that we had a lot of the same tastes in music; COCTEAU TWINS, Kate Bush, SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES and a lot more. However,  (cut to sound effect of car tires screeching and a needle across a record) she told me one of her favorite bands was The Cure. Not necessarily a deal breaker, but...

I didn't let that come between us and we were a happy family for 5.5 years. In fact, for her birthday I bought her a limited edition picture disc version of the latest Cure album 'Disintegration'. She was ecstatic and put it on the turntable immediately. 

'Plainsong' was the first track and I was able to ignore it. 'Pictures Of You' was next and I stopped what I was doing and just stared at the stereo. When the song was over I asked her to play that one again, and she graciously obliged. I was in love. Pictures Of You was the song that made me see the light. Ms. Polly finished playing the album (none of the other songs really hit me in the same way) and said "well, if you liked that one song let me play you this" and she proceeded to school me in all things Cure. Turns out I had only heard really bad material by them and not the good stuff. Like the 'Faith' and 'Pornography' albums. I realized that 'Let's Go To Bed' was not typical of their sound and that they were, in fact, much darker and broodier.

Skip ahead a few years and Ms. Polly came home one day with a pair of tickets to see The Cure at the very very large local sports arena. She said that she bought me a ticket but that if I didn't want to go she'd understand and take her friend. I agreed to go and we eagerly awaited the date. It was announced that The Cranes were booked to be the opening band, which was great news. Ms. Polly and I both really enjoyed their album 'Wings of Joy'.

Showtime rolls around and I had never been in our very very large local sports arena. I had attended a few arena concerts but tended to not like them that much as  the sound was never good and the band always looked like they were half a mile away.  Our seats were pretty good, though, and by the time The Cranes were half way through their set the sound had been dialed in and wasn't too bad.

As is usually the case I don't remember much from the show. Luckily for all of us some intrepid taper happened to be there and captured this rather good sounding artifact of the evening. So for your edification, and dedicated to Ms. Polly Purebread and her faith that I would finally come around ot enjoying one of her favorite  bands I present to you said audience recording via youtube.

THE CURE MINNEAPOLIS JULY 13 1992

Growing Up With The Suburbs

 

I'm writing this the day after I found out about the untimely, accidental death of Suburbs guitaris Beej Chaney (swimming accident in California). 

 

I got to see the original Suburbs a handful of times back in the day. The first time was summer of 1983 when they played a free show at Loring Park. As a 15 year old New Wave die-hard I was in heaven. Being the loner weirdo that I was I didn't have any friends that were fans of the band I ended up going on my own and I was fine with that. As you can see from some of these pictures it was pretty well attended, and I jockeyed for a position close to the stage. I owned In Combo and Credit In Heaven and was not disappointed when I recognized most of the songs on offer that evening. My only other overarching memory was that it was particularly warm and I, along with the 1000 other people there, sweated our gluteus maximii off dancing. These photos and a few more are available at Go Johnny Go long with some really good recordings made by the late, great Suburbs uberfan and archivist Mr. Terry Katzman.

I had to wait almost another year before I had the opportunity to see The Suburbs again. They were booked to play a dance for the students at Washburn High School in south Minneapolis. Washburn was the school I was supposed to go to, but I opted to be bussed across the city to attend the Television Production magnet class offered at North Community High School. I had a few friends that went to Washburn and one of them was able to grab a few tickets for me, my then-girlfriend and a few of her friends, none of whom were Washburn students. I remember being nervous abut being asked to prove that we were enrolled at the school, show our student ID cards or something, but we sailed right thru after we handed the person working the door our tickets. I don't remember a thing about the Suburbs' performance that night, just that we all had a great time and were happy we were able to crash the party.

I'm pretty sure I saw the "final" concert in 1993, as by that time I was over 21. I'm not 100% positive I was there, but parts of THIS VIDEO seem really familiar, while other parts are completely foreign to me.

I was at the first reunion in 2002 which can be SEEN HERE. I recorded the show and may still have the tapes somewhere, but the video is just as easy to play so I haven't bothered digging up my cassettes.

The Suburbs opened for The B-52's at the 2003 MN State Fair and I was able to see that show thanks to the overwhelming kindness of the woman I was dating at the time. It was her fist time seeing The 'Burbs, and my first time seeing The B-52's (which is surprising considering how immensely important those early B-52's records were to me). Sadly the frat boys in the crowd made it impossible to watch the entire B-52's set, but the first 5 songs were off the first 2 albums so my New Wave yen was satiated.

With a heavy heart I attended the 2010 Bruce Allen Tribute concert at First Avenue where another favorite local band The Suicide Commandos opened. TPT did a nice piece on the whole thing that can be SEEN HERE. It was a great, if heartbreaking, show and everyone stepped up to the plate to remember Bruce Allen. He's been sorely missed ever since.

I saw "The Suburbs" one last time when it was just Chan Poling (vox/keys) and Hugo Klars (drums) and a bunch of new members, but I don't really consider this version to be the actual Suburbs.

So here's to the memory of Bruce, Beej, and Terry Katzman, and the joy they brought me.