The Concert Room welcomes back Journalist Chuck Darrow! Celebrating the Spirit of '76 concerts!

0:30 SPEAKER_03: Welcome back, friend, and longtime local journalist, Chuck Garrett. Chuck has been covering the local scene here in Philly for over 50 years. He has a long and distinguished career in many different media platforms, including newspaper, magazine, and radio. As a lifestyle columnist, music critic, and on-air personality, we have a really great show to dive into with today's specific topic. We celebrate the 50th anniversary of concerts and local shows and events that were held in 1976 at various venues around the city, most notably the Spectrum and JFK Stadium, along with some local acts and some shows.

1:16 SPEAKER_03: It was a special and festive time in Philadelphia celebrating 1976, the bicentennial, and the concerts were a huge part of it. So, Chuck, welcome back to the show. This is our third time getting together. It's always a pleasure to have you on. So let's do it with the 50th anniversary show podcast. Right, the bicentennial year celebration and fell up in 76th. And that summer obviously fell up in we were uh celebrating the bicentennial. That is that was the uh 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

1:56 SPEAKER_03: I remember it well, and that was a lot of fun, a lot of events.

2:00 SPEAKER_00: Do you remember the signing? I didn't know.

2:04 SPEAKER_03: I was there in spirit. Yeah, all the events that surrounded it. The Billy Dean King and Bobby, what was this, Bobby Riggs, and all this other stuff, but uh a lot of celebrations. So a lot of tours, a lot of concerts that we can talk about, and a couple of big ones. Yeah, we can start with uh Paul McCartney. That's a big one. The Wings of America Tour, right? He rolled in.

2:30 SPEAKER_00: I think overall, yeah. Oh I think the idea is that I mean the 76 was a pretty interesting year overall.

2:37 SPEAKER_03: Well, so mock so McCartney rolled in the spectrum for two nights, right? May 12th, May 14th. I would have loved to have gone to this. Uh that must have been really exciting. Wings of America Tour?

2:48 SPEAKER_00: It was probably, at least, I mean, for me, it may have been the most anticipated tour of up to that point because it was Paul McCartney. Right. And, you know, and and he had, you know, been putting out for a couple years. He had some, you know, crazy successful albums and hit singles, you know, Let Em In and Silly Love Song and whatever else. So and even be a little bit before that, um was it my love? That's the song I love, does it too? Uh I think. Yep. Yeah. But uh anyway, it it it was absolutely I I mean I I I can't I can't really describe the anticipation of this tour.

3:38 SPEAKER_00: And it was it it still ranks as one of the ten best shows I've ever seen. Wow. With one yeah, it really it really was. It just the only the only problem with it, if it's a problem, was that as great as the set list was, and it was pretty much all of his solo stuff, he only did, if memory serves, two or three Beatles songs. He did yesterday, or not as yesterday, Blackbird, he did Lady Madonna, and I think there might have been one more.

4:14 SPEAKER_03: Long and windy right in my research.

4:17 SPEAKER_00: Maybe. Maybe.

4:19 SPEAKER_03: Okay.

4:20 SPEAKER_00: But I think it was three o overall, so I should have actually I didn't think to go find my review online in the Temple News archives, which is part of the the Temple library online. But yeah, it was it not only was it musically made, first of all, he had a great band, Jimmy McCollin guitar, I believe, and Denny Lane.

4:42 SPEAKER_02: Yes.

4:43 SPEAKER_00: It was a a really, really great band. And what is forgotten in the midst of time is and I I may be wrong about this, but I I personally had never seen and uh and I you know had seen pretty much every major tour from 71 on up to that point. I led Zeppelin and the Stones and Dark Side of the Moon, and in as if memory serves, this was the first show that used lasers. Oh and it used and it they used it, and I'm I've I've seen it recall Green Laser. That's in my mind. It might not have been, but I'm pretty sure it was green, and they came on on the fast part, Live and Let Die.

5:29 SPEAKER_03: Right, okay.

5:31 SPEAKER_00: Wow. So that that yeah, that that always sticks with me. But it was, yeah, I mean, it it's probably still in my top ten. I mean, partly because this had, I mean, this also had, I guess, Band on the Run. They showed the Band on the Run video with James Coburn. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So so yeah. Wow. So so this was, yeah, so this this this was much more of an extravaganza.

5:58 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and he's playing stuff from Band on the Run and Venus Moore's Wings at the Speed of Sound. So all these three albums under his belt have great upbeat songs like Jet and Live and Let Die, like you said, Band on the Run, Rock Show. These are all just really just oh, I would have loved to have seen that. Yeah. He put together great bands.

6:19 SPEAKER_00: It was tight. Yeah, it really was. And you know, he was really at his peak. So what was he? He was 34, 35 years old, something like that.

6:28 SPEAKER_01: So physically.

6:29 SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, long and winding road. Okay, there you go. Right. Yeah.

6:33 SPEAKER_03: The internet didn't lie that time.

6:35 SPEAKER_00: Oh, right. I've just seen a face. I I just oh he did the and yesterday, and and I've just seen a face. Right. Definitely I've just seen a face. Oh my gosh. Yeah, so he did five songs. And even though they were great to hear, I mean, I remember when I wrote the review, I kind of spoke for everybody. You know, as amazing as the show was, it really wasn't what we wanted, which of course would have been, if not an entire program of Beatles songs, certainly a lot more. Right. And of course, you know, subsequently in today, probably close to half his set is probably Beatles Songs now.

7:09 SPEAKER_03: Right. That's what he's doing now. And he still sounds great.

7:12 SPEAKER_00: And he's but I suspect back then the let you know he he he did pretty much the bare minimum because he was trying to separate. Right.

7:22 SPEAKER_03: And I can't blame him because like I said, he's got three solo albums under his belt. It wasn't like he had just one and he's touring, and then you know, now he's got to rely on his hits from the Beatles. He's got a lot of stuff to to do. So I can't blame him for separating either, you know what I mean? But yeah, you're there you're there to see uh some Beatles, too.

7:42 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah. It was well, I I've I've never I did not get to see the Beatles as the Beatles. But I I am one of the I think we might have discussed this previously. I I I I assume I'm one of the very, very, very few people on earth who have actually seen all four Beatles perform individually.

8:02 SPEAKER_03: Oh, okay. There you go.

8:04 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because not only, not only I see McCartney four times, five times, whatever it's been, but also and the Harrison tour in 74 and Ringo, of course, but I happened to be in the audience tonight that John Lennon performed Imagine on the Mike Douglas show in February of 74. Oh Chuck, that's awesome. Wow. Yeah, well, yeah, that's beyond awesome. I mean, I we had no idea. We had no idea that he was gonna do it that night. I was just the luck of the draw, because you know, he and Yoko co host co-hosted an entire week's worth of uh shows.

8:39 SPEAKER_00: But that was the night I had a very, very unfortunately he's been gone almost thirty years now. But my dearest oldest friend was a guy named Steve Feinstein, who you might remember from WISP. Right. He was the music director and he did the uh com the uh comedy show on Sunday nights. And his his dad, we were still in high school in the 70s, and again, this was 72, we were, I guess, in what tenth grade. But his but Steve's father was uh a news guy on WPE or at that time he was actually on WI no, he was on WPEN then.

9:12 SPEAKER_00: He ultimately was Don Cannon's first sidekick when he came to Philly. Oh wow uh in 70 74, 75. But anyway, his name was Alan J, and he got Steve four tickets to the taping. And it just again, luck of the draw, it was the night that Lennon did imagine. So that's awesome. Yeah.

9:32 SPEAKER_03: So I mean, look, and so and you were working that night, because I did want to ask, you didn't go as a fan with a ticket. You were in the press box sponsor. Yeah, McCarthy. You were writing review.

9:45 SPEAKER_00: For the Temple News. Temple News, right?

9:47 SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

9:49 SPEAKER_00: And which is available online, but it it's part of the Temple University Library archives online, but unfortunately, it is the most user unfriendly, unintuitive website around. I mean, this is a great website in like 1999. Gotcha.

10:09 SPEAKER_00: But it is on there, yeah. And it was, yeah. And I'm pretty sure I I went both nights, if I'm not mistaken. Okay. I went to both shows, yeah. But that was, you know, uh I I started to say that that 76, I mean, yes, that was probably the the show of you know, the biggest show or shows of the year in 76. But but it's really 76 was a pretty significant uh you know year for local music. Then because we can go to the next month, was it June 12th, 76, which was the JFK show. Yeah, when I say you know, the JFK show of all time, which of course was the yes Peter Frampton show.

10:47 SPEAKER_03: Yes, this is the big one.

10:50 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. This is first of all, it was it it wasn't obviously it wasn't the first rock concert at JFK because the Beatles had been there ten years earlier. But what people what most people probably don't know, and I know this because I've done some reading, but also I have a very dear friend of mine who was actually at that sixty-six Beatles show, there were not a lot of people there. I mean the place was I mean it were probably twenty or twenty five thousand people, but it was a hundred thousand seat venue.

11:15 SPEAKER_00: Right. So it it was kind of uh and you can imagine with the between the size of that of that awful venue, you know, stadium in terms of of acoustics and the the primitive nature of of technology back then, I can't imagine that it was any good, you know, to to be at that show at all. Right. But ten years later things had changed and of course they you know the the they the it was actually ninety thousand tickets were sold, or at least officially there were ninety thousand and the bill it was I was with Peter Frampton, it was yes, Peter Frampton, Gary Wright and Pus Gary Wright and the Pusset Dart Band.

11:53 SPEAKER_00: You imagine being the dude Pusset Dart Band and coming out the but but I I remember interviewing Larry Maggot, who of course promoted the show.

12:02 SPEAKER_03: Right.

12:02 SPEAKER_00: And we talked about that day, and the official ticket sale count was ninety thousand. But according to Larry, the ticket takers were not ripping tickets. They were key they instead of ripping the tickets as the people gave them to them as as they took them, they kept the tickets. Now I don't know how that worked because they oh right, because it was general admission, so you didn't forget having you know showing the ticket to get it fine your seat. Right. So according to Larry, the ticket takers, instead of handing back the you know the torn ticket stuff, kept the tickets whole and resold them.

12:37 SPEAKER_00: Yes. So so while so while the official count and sales was 90,000, anywhere between 120 and 130,000 were actually in that stadium.

12:48 SPEAKER_03: Yep. I saw that where Larry Maggot, electric factory concerts, the promoter, quote unquote, it was before computerized bar-coded ticketing. There could have been counterfeiting going on or ticket takers palming complete tickets, not ripping them, and then restowing them. And he he said, all I can tell you is we didn't profit from it. So it went from like a hundred and hundred and five K you know max capacity at JFK, topped off at like, yeah, like you said, 125, 130,000 people. That's unbelievable.

13:24 SPEAKER_03: That's crazy. Yeah.

13:25 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. And it was probably one of the, if not the scariest. I at one point I was truly in fear of my life. And that's never happened uh in at a concert, much less anywhere else. Because I so I was in the press box, yeah, and the press box at JFK was above it was it was above the the top seating level. I mean I mean the people could have could have climbed in. I mean it was just there was no separation, but it was behind the last row of seats, like four or five stories up. And actually to get into the press box, you had to walk on this like iron catwalk over that literally you were like suspended over the lobby, like three stories or two two floors down.

14:14 SPEAKER_00: You could look down. Oh my gosh, yeah. It was but that wasn't what was scary, yeah. That yeah, I mean, but what what happened was okay, so now it's it uh the sun comes up on that Saturday, June twelfth, I think it was twelfth. Sun comes up, and by you know, eleven o'clock or so, it is hot. And they're drinking all day and the sun is shining, so by the time the sun goes down, around eight thirty or whatever it was, all of a sudden it starts to get chilly.

14:42 SPEAKER_03: Right.

14:43 SPEAKER_00: And people, you know, their their sunburns so that that's causing them to feel even more chills. They're drunk, many of them, so that's playing a role. Yeah. And they start lighting fires. They can understand that the entire stadium, yeah, yeah, the the the the the main structure was brick, but everything else was wood. Right. The seats were wooden. There weren't even seats, they were if I'm not mistaken, they were just benches, wooden benches. Yep. And the press box was made out of wood. The frame and all was wooden.

15:14 SPEAKER_00: Wow. And and people like right in front, people were like burning, you know, like soda cartons or whatever it was not bottles, but you know, like and and pieces of cardboard. And and all I could think of that the press box is gonna go up in flames and there's no real way out. I mean, it I I f I don't the the the the question was, was I gonna die in a stampede or die by by you know fire and smoke?

15:38 SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.

15:39 SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, that was that was really wow. Yeah. How there was no truly catastrophic event once those fires. And again, this is not just in front of the press box, this is throughout the stadium. I mean you could see all the fires burning.

15:54 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, plus you say overcapacity by like twenty-five, thirty thousand.

15:59 SPEAKER_00: Exactly. Oh my god. Right. I mean, you have you you have all the ingredients, ingredients for the perhaps maybe the worst fire disaster of all time. Yeah, wow. Just waiting. Uh truly a miracle. But and musically, you know, I don't really remember that much about it. You know, uh it it it wasn't, I don't think that kind of venue was what was right for Yes, especially because their music's so you know cerebral and sophisticated. Prog. Frampton was Frampton, you know, he was he was he was pretty much the at the peak of his of his career.

16:29 SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

16:30 SPEAKER_00: And the women loved him. But you know, I mean, as a critic, I I like Peter Frampton. I don't love him. I mean, I always found you know his stuff to be above average at best.

16:40 SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

16:40 SPEAKER_00: And so uh again, so in terms of of the actual performances, I really can't tell you a lot about it.

16:48 SPEAKER_03: I think the the danger the danger happened at sun, like sunset, like you said, right? Like this is Well, yeah, it it was yeah, but anything go on during during the day because of all these people? Uh like where do we f where did they fit an extra like 25%?

17:04 SPEAKER_00: Crammed on the field. Oh my god. Because they, you know, I mean the the stands only held so many. I mean, if there's you know a bench, a row, you know, a bench row that holds a hundred people, you can't fit 112 in in there. I'm sure a lot of girls sat on their boyfriend's laps or down on the down on the ground, they were a lot of people on their shoulders, right.

17:23 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was a hot day. It was a hot day, water hoses were spraying. Yes senior week. Yes, right? So there was a kind of a senior week, sunburning. I guess it would have been, yeah. Yeah.

17:33 SPEAKER_00: But it it ushered in the the era of the meg of the you know, the filling megacoxer, because you know, right. Certainly between then and 1987, so 21 year or I'm sorry, eleven years, there were many, probably twenty-five or thirty shows there.

17:48 SPEAKER_03: Yeah. I never even heard of set dart. Is anybody famous in that who went on to do set? I don't think so. I don't don't think so. I have no idea anything about that band.

17:58 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they were they were they were I guess they were they were sort of more along the if I recall, they would have been more along the lines to say firefalls, sort of softer rock.

18:08 SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, gotcha.

18:09 SPEAKER_00: I also think they're pretty sh pretty sure I think they might have been from uh New England, but yeah, Cambridge, Massachusetts, yeah. I think Gary Wright had the hit Dreamweaver, I guess.

18:20 SPEAKER_03: Oh, right, yeah.

18:21 SPEAKER_00: Well Gary, Gary Wright was yes, Gary Wright was in the midst of his year too as as a as a you know fairly big big record seller.

18:29 SPEAKER_03: I was trying to think of like this this lineup, you know, Poo's at Dart, and then Gary Wright, whole different kind of music, and then yes, totally different kind of music, and then Frampton, you know, comes out and closes. Yeah. So it's something something for everyone, I guess. You know?

18:46 SPEAKER_00: Well, but but it that wasn't unusual in the 70s. I as a mat not only wasn't un uh wasn't having acts of different genres of rock music on the same bill, it it was almost at least standard adjacent. I mean, you know, I can think of, you know, I mean, I I I can think of a spectrum concert, and one spectrum concert, Mahavishnu Orchestra and T-Rex were on the same bill. Jeez. And another one, King Crimson and the Kinks.

19:16 SPEAKER_03: Oh, wow.

19:17 SPEAKER_00: And actually, Frampton might have been as a solo, might have been on that bill too.

19:21 SPEAKER_03: But back then you had more variety on these bills.

19:24 SPEAKER_00: Absolutely. Yeah, and that's how, you know, and that's how you discovered music. You know, some people, you know, you you went and you you saw bands that you never even thought you would like.

19:34 SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

19:34 SPEAKER_00: And and lo and behold, hey, you know what? These guys are actually pretty good. I know, you know, I mean, I'm not a big whatever fan, you know. Oh that again, that was just the way it was.

19:42 SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you never know who you're gonna see.

19:43 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it wasn't so right, so so in 76 nobody thought, well, this is odd to have, you know, Peter Frampton and Yes on the same bill. And if you if you want to move on, because later in June, I believe, and I what it would have been probably it but it was it was in the spring, or or uh it might have been like June 26th or something, which technically would have been summer, but the opening of the Mann Music Center.

20:07 SPEAKER_03: Oh, I thought you were going to say the king, because I have a note here Presley. Oh, right. Elvis.

20:12 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I I never I never saw Elvis be because he rolled in uh June 28th.

20:19 SPEAKER_03: Right. Summer of 77.

20:20 SPEAKER_00: But that was not his last show. His last show was March 15th, 77. Right.

20:24 SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

20:24 SPEAKER_00: And I never I I didn't, of course, you know, one of these things where I kick myself. I wake up first thing in the morning, you know, and and kick myself in the behind for not going. But there were two reasons why I didn't go to see Elvis either either in 76 or 77. But I f well first reason was it was Elvis. And it was Elvis at his absolute worst in terms of, you know, it was fat Elvis. And it was a like kind of a joke, and I was far too hip to go see Elvis Freak and Presley. You know, yeah, that leads.

20:53 SPEAKER_00: I wasn't doing it. But there was another reason I don't recall if this was true in 76. I don't even think I asked in 76 for I tried to get a ticket, but in the March 77 show, I did request the press box ticket and was told, no, you want a ticket, you pay for it. Really? Colonel Parker said you sell the press box to the you know, you you can have press here, but you sell 'em. And it was fifteen dollars a ticket, which doesn't s you know, which is ridiculous today. I mean, that doesn't even pay the service charge on a ticket today.

21:25 SPEAKER_00: But in 77,$15 is more like$75 or$80, I'm sure. And it was I didn't have that money. And the Temple News, for whom I was writing, that we didn't have that in the budget for a concert ticket. So I never got to see Elvis. And of course Elvis died you know, a couple months later. A few months, three months, four months later. Yeah, that's right, that's right. Five months right. So but Elvis right, but yes, Elvis was there. But but around the same time was the opening of the Man Music Center. Which to the you know, re Yeah, remains you know, a major concert venue, and even more so because they've done so much work on it, you know, and adding the second stage out in the uh you know up the hill there and all.

22:11 SPEAKER_00: But that was, you know, that was a monumental event to have that that size outdoor venue in Philadelphia, which we didn't have. The only the only outdoor venue because they weren't well I guess they I I don't think they were doing concerts at the vet in the 70s. I mean they might have but I I think so I don't think they were.

22:33 SPEAKER_03: I I know at late 80s lots of concerts Springsteen etc but yeah I don't think and and Amnesty now was was there. I saw Jefferson airplane there which was great all the members except for who's the drummer Dryden Spencer Dryden was not the drummer that night yeah before the airplane demand because it was 90 it was not not the Starship now it was the airplane they all got back together yeah except for the drummer and Jorma Kokenan and Jack the baseball yeah they didn't cartoon instead in between the airplane Paul Cantner and Grace too yeah yep Marty Ballon yep it was like 90 91 and awesome it's great yeah they sounded great so so yeah so it's important to note that this is the 50th anniversary of of the man and then we can move into July if you want because major major one con one it was three nights july sixth seventh and eighth I think it was Elton John yep Elton John the tour was called the louder than Concord but not quite as pretty tourists doing some research you know I love the name of some of these tours but this one I this one was kind of I don't know what that means louder than Concord but not quite as pretty well the Concorde being a I assume it's the plane that's the sonic plane yeah right but I I I did not remember that that the tour had any name much less that name however it was absolutely Elton John at his most extreme in terms of the showmanship.

24:27 SPEAKER_00: I mean this this and the staging they had a you had a a I guess a bi-level stage and we probably had on stage with twelve or thirteen musicians you know backup singers and so on and horns but it was it it was a spectacular spectacular show and the opening I put it up there in the top five concert openings of all time. Oh wow and that would have that would have been funeral for a friend love love lies bleeding. I I still remember like it was last Tuesday. That's how that's yeah he opened with it.

25:02 SPEAKER_00: Wow kind of like a drone that opens uh Love li uh funeral for a friend right and yeah it it was I'm getting chills just thinking about it here. It was it was a absolutely spectacular show. And the past night seen Elton I mean uh first time I saw him was what like April of seventy one and last time I saw him was solo probably about 2009 or ten at in Newark Delaware he did a solo tour just him in there with Ray Cooper, the uh percussionist. Oh wow okay and and that was as I so I've seen Elton probably a dozen times, fifteen times and that was by far and away the the ultimate concert and I think we discussed this the last time I was on the podcast though but also made it memorable was that my girlfriend and I were we had a move over a seat so two of Elton's friends could sit in the press box.

25:54 SPEAKER_00: Yes Michael Jackson and and Elizabeth Taylor Elizabeth Taylor yep so that was another reason I I can remember Elizabeth Taylor walking in holding a champagne glass.

26:06 SPEAKER_03: Oh my God I could I would freak out if I saw her. So like back then movie stars you know what I mean bigger than life.

26:15 SPEAKER_00: Well yes but I mean I I I and I think I might have told you the story why I've never been starstruck with it with celebrities. I I I can handle that because I saw I actually it's nothing nothing lascivious or illegal it was it but I my first hero was a Phillies catcher named uh Clay Darrenville and he did a baseball seminar in in the winter of 64 65 at the old Philadelphia Athletic Club in Broadden Wood Street and my father's best friend was a part owner of the club along with Grace Kelly's brother.

26:47 SPEAKER_00: Oh nice and he and and they had Clay Aramble come in to do a little baseball seminar for kids one Saturday morning and my dad's friend said we got there and he said it was before that's before it started he says come on let's go meet Clay and we walk into the locker room and essentially there's Clay Arample you know just totally naked. He's changing and he looked like my old man you know he had hair in places places you know he had things hanging off his body and hair in places I didn't even know hair could grow you know and so and that was it got he really was my he was my hero and he was my first certainly my first sports hero.

27:21 SPEAKER_00: Right. I was eight years old. So but you know that but that that that taught me not you know they're just people right that's all they are exactly right you know with with with hair with hair with hair with places and and things hanging off their body. Yeah so that's why I was fortunate. So so by by you know what was it so 64 so 12 years later when I encountered Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor was like okay so what? Yeah that's right but that Elton show in 76. That was a Philadelphia Freedom tour too.

27:54 SPEAKER_00: Yeah were you working so you or were you just in the press box no no these are no no I was no I was reviewing all these shows for the Temple News gotcha in 76 absolutely and then we can if you want to move on I don't know if I have anything else to say about the Elton show except that it was that it was just spectacular thank god there's pictures out there there's some recordings of a lot of these shows I mean thank God like people took we can jump back a few months though to March of 76 only because I thought this was cool.

28:27 SPEAKER_00: Steve Martin played the Bijou Cafe Oh wow 76 yeah that's early okay march to March of 76 yeah and he was hilarious he was it was still probably uh it may have been the funniest comedy set I've ever seen. Oh my god yo that's saying something for you to say it really is because I've seen I mean I've seen it I've seen every every big comedian yeah every every big comedian since yeah the past fifteen plus years but stand up comedian that is and what was best of all was that so he he finished the set by as as he finished he did it with the bid where he had the the bunny ears and the balloon like balloon hat and and bunny ears and all and so now he's done the set he says goodnight and what does he do?

29:15 SPEAKER_00: He doesn't like go to his dressing room he walks out onto Lombard Street. Oh my gosh now for those people listening who don't know where the Bijou was actually I think a block there now it was on the 1500 or sorry 1400 block of Wall of Lombard Street about maybe 10 15 paces west of Broad so so now if you can picture that so it's right off the corner of Broad and Lombard and he goes out he's wearing you know got the funny glasses and the and the bunny ears and he starts goofing in the street like cars would go by and he'd like yell at the cars and all and then there's about maybe a group of like 25 or 30 of us who are watching this and just like you know let you know trying to contain you know sphincter control or maintain sphincter because it was so freaking funny.

30:06 SPEAKER_00: And I'll never forget this of course today is a horrible thing but 50 years ago it wasn't so horrible two young women are walking they they they they were walking north on Broad Street and they make the left turn on to Lombard Street and they come into view and what does Steve Martin say yell not say what does Martin yell they're the girls let's get them absolutely true story. Oh my God So I just wanted to throw that in for since we're talking about 1976 and entertainment until he I know it's not music but just a little aside.

30:45 SPEAKER_00: Yeah that's oh that's that's great.

30:47 SPEAKER_03: So that's yeah so I guess the the fall the fall wasn't particularly early fall it wasn't particularly interesting at least not in my memory of doing rolled in October 27th October 27th yeah for going chronological I I I have it on my notes here and I can I I I looked at it in the Shilden Register.

31:16 SPEAKER_00: Oh that's what happens when you have 18 functioning brain cells let that be a lesson kids don't do that stuff like I did in the 70s. We're referring to the synapses here Chuck the whole okay this this in the scheme of things may have been the most well okay so McCartney first tour wing blah blah blah yeah okay but after that I'm I have to say that that those two Springsteen shows on the 25th and 27th were probably the single most significant shows of the year in Philadelphia.

31:50 SPEAKER_02: Okay.

31:50 SPEAKER_00: And why is that Chuck? Good question it's because it was Springsteen's first head arena headlining shows. Oh right gotcha that makes sense yeah he never thought that he he had you know that kind of following that he could play I mean apparently he had resisted other offers and again our friend Larry Maggot convinced him that yeah no you guys we will you will sell tickets to the Sky trip. And he did and from that moment on he never looked back.

32:18 SPEAKER_03: Wow that must be waiting for him yeah absolutely yeah and you know what's interesting I I I I I wasn't mildly impressed.

32:28 SPEAKER_00: The first time I saw him was Tower in 74 and I was mildly impressed by Senior recall in my review that I wasn't impressed with Springsteen as a guitar player that I thought that he he needed a lead uh an actual lead guitarist. Yeah which obviously he added yeah I guess he read my review because he added it's a good idea thank you yeah well it's it's it's it's another draw your you know draw your own conclusions I say he I write he needs a lead guitarist next thing you know he's got a lead guitarist the same thing happened with the police in 79 played the tower I'm hanging out with them in their dressing room oh I wasn't the only one but I'm in the dressing room after the show and I'm talking to Sing and I go I'm just curious have you guys ever considered adding a keyboard player kind of just to kind of color the music.

33:12 SPEAKER_03: Right.

33:13 SPEAKER_00: Because and I I don't remember I I think he he answered in the negative I really don't remember. He might have just kind of shrugged and changed the subject but all I know is that in 1980 synchronicity or synchronicity was was released and there's keyboards on it. That's true so again draw draw your own conclusions I'm not I'm not I'm not claiming anything just you can draw your own conclusions and I but so anyway getting back to Bruce so in 75 of the tower saw him twice that that legendary run of shows between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

33:43 SPEAKER_00: Right. Yep I saw him I think on the 26th and the 30th that year and I started to get it it was uh yeah it was a much better show he was pretty mesmerizing especially his raps that he did one pretty flamingo another one before it's my life and it it really it was really magical but I didn't fully get Bruce until that twenty October twenty fifth seventy six show because the scope of his performance the energy that he he puts out you know I it it it I I that's when I saw what others so many others had seen in him prior to that.

34:20 SPEAKER_00: I mean that that show he really was again spectacular that night yeah yeah so that's that would be October of 76 and then we we I guess we get to December of 76. KISS uh right KISS which I haven't done this research but but my my guess is it it very well it very well could have been their first spectrum show. Oh okay yep I think you're right because they played uh they played the tower they played the tower 75 I think yes oh oh oh okay and before we get to December let's go back to the Convention Center they were they played the convention center they played and you're right December 21st yeah but let's go back uh six weeks or so before we get back to December November 5th and 6th Pat Benetar at Grandma Minnie's on this 200 block of Chestnut Street and what's I mean not only is it interesting that Pat Benetar would play I mean this was you know a 150 seat club at most as I as I recall but what's really interesting what I don't remember is that they had that that they had music there because Grandma Minnie's was actually a comedy club.

35:40 SPEAKER_00: I never heard of this Chuck I think it was 239 Chestnut if I'm not mistaken. That's the number that comes I'd never heard of this club and actually it was probably the first full-time comedy club in the city now I think of it. Wow so the fact that they had that they that they had music there much less Pat Benatar I thought that was pretty cool.

36:05 SPEAKER_03: Pat Benatar right yeah yeah wow right so this is five six years before she or four years anyway right I guess eighty is when she really really you know exploded right I remember seeing her before a Phillies game at the vet in 1980 but yeah so Pat Benatar Grandma Minnie's I mean that's that's amazing that is that's obviously Neil Gorano I think right so her original I would imagine it was yeah yeah I mean this is probably what she was still waiting she had a deal she had some songs she went out and it wasn't worth from what I understood record company suggested Neil come in and met him and that was rest of the history you know what I mean then they got married for all we know she still may have been waitressing at Catch a Rising Star in New York Comedy Club in New York in 76.

37:01 SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah that's so I think that's pretty amazing of course yeah I'm sorry I missed that but I and I hadn't until I saw that I had no recollection of that again not even not so much her just I don't I don't I mean I went to grandma minis a lot but I don't think I ever went to to see music.

37:19 SPEAKER_03: No that's yeah kids rolled out spectrum 21st 76th and I also have the Eagles played in the summer they rolled in for two yeah I flee with Mac did too and Fleetwood Mac did too in July one of these nights tour wow fleetwood max what a great with firefall opening the call of angel wow there's some great shows yes Bob Teger opened for kids so he was new I know there's a lot of fond memories with King Tiger because he was that was nice nice opener there.

37:57 SPEAKER_00: Well yep actually we we skipped we we we skipped another another three nights stand maybe it was okay yeah uh how about the dead at the tower yeah it was in 76 right yeah June seven June mid-June Oh that's right forgot about that yep yeah so another and another because you know that was the last time they ever played any place that small certainly here yeah then they were seeing Star Star Castle played on in June at the tower I love Star Castle I never heard of them what it what Star Castle was they were they were an American band that sounded pretty much like yes they were a prog rock band oh wow had the Rickenbacher bass going and they had one song that got some degree of radio play especially on WIOQ which was a rock station at the time 102.1 called Lady of the lake and I always said that was the best song yes never wrote it was it's a really cool track if you're if you're a yeah if you're a Prague person it's it it it's a really good good good track and they were they were a decent band I don't I don't know why they never made it you know bigger but so anyway so that's that's uh getting back to December it was KISS on what was it the 21st right?

39:18 SPEAKER_00: 21st yep yeah but on the 18th yep go ahead right which is an amazing bill but on the 18th of December and I was at this show I wasn't out at the KISS I was there in 75 in the tower to see Kiss but I I wasn't at this at the Stockton show in 76. But in seven in in December 18th was a a double bill of Fog Hat in Boston opening for Fog Hat. Remember Boston was basically what's his name Schultz Tom Schultz you know and it was totally a studio creation. Yeah I don't think I don't know if Boston if they if they ever did any gigs in you know before that album came out.

39:59 SPEAKER_00: But the album comes out and it's a obviously it is a huge huge huge success. At the time maybe the biggest selling debut album of all still maybe and of course the record company wants to sell more records put them on the road so they're they signed to do a tour opening for Fog Hat and they were yeah they were the opener. Maybe come out and do thirty or forty minutes and that's it. But by by I don't know exactly when but certainly by Thanksgiving Boston was so huge that they turned the show into a co-headliner.

40:35 SPEAKER_03: With uh on that tour Fog Hat on that tour.

40:39 SPEAKER_00: Now I don't know if the entire tour was like that but by the time it hit it it hit the spectrum on December eighteenth it had been they had been elevated to co-headline. They were still second bill but it but the you know the way billing works maybe a longer set well a longer probably a longer set again I don't know what they were doing for or what they had originally contracted for but it was more about the advertising the billing so the original ads of for that concert that probably came out sometime in October or so would have said you know in in the big letters Foghat and then underneath maybe in in type that was 50% of Foghat font would have said Boston.

41:22 SPEAKER_00: But by the time you know by the time the the concert had rolled around the show was now Foghat and Boston equal build equal size in the ads. Oh my gosh okay and you know the problem with Boston was they weren't a live act. They were the anti-Springsteen you know by the time Springsteen first played the spectrum he'd probably played 600 or 700 gigs. Yeah and and Boston I don't think you know other than the shows they had done prior to on on this tour coming to Philly and it showed and you know they they they had again they just kind of stood there I don't even think anybody even said anything you know talked to the audience.

41:59 SPEAKER_00: So my I have two recollections one is that it was not a particularly memorable set by Boston and that's why I was there. I was never a Fogat fan but you know because Boston at that moment was the hottest rock and roll band in the world. Right they're blowing it it behooved me it behooved me to go. And another I had dinner my girlfriend and I had dinner at my my brother and his wife's place in Center City and I got really sick he made something really thick rich creamy sauce thing and I I had a really bad stomach problems right around the time Boston was finishing up the uh the set so I I absolutely remember that I was that was not a particularly festive night all around for me.

42:47 SPEAKER_00: Bad music bad music anyway that's that's pretty much I think that's that's all I oh there's one other thing I might want to add about 1976 it's more of a personal thing but it's music. Sure absolutely it's not yeah which is 1976 was the year that Ken Queer local singer songwriter legend popped on the scene really like came you know sort of hit the scene and started to get noticed in town. And to this moment I think that Ken Queter with all due respect to to the Hooters with all due respect to my late departed dear friend Robert Hazard I will still say what I've been saying for decades Ken Queeder is probably the only true pop slash rock music genius that the city has ever produced.

43:31 SPEAKER_00: Oh nice and I praise yeah I mean if you if you anyone out there listening if you're not familiar with with Ken go listen to his stuff it's all online on Spotify you name it. All I'll say is that not the original iteration of the band he for years he he had a band he called it was Ken was the the Zach was billed as Ken Queer and the Secret Kids, Ken with two N's Kids with two D's and the second generation so we're talking about like seventy 778. Second generation of secret kids. And Queer and and him at I mean he's an amazing songwriter and his stage presence and that band.

44:10 SPEAKER_00: And I know this sounds like I'm exaggerating. And it didn't happen. And I saw him, I was I I was this publicist for a while, so I and I was just a huge fan from the first time I saw him in March of 76. And it was there were again not every show, but more than one or two times. Seeing Queeter and the Secret Kids to me was like seeing Jim Morrison fronting Led Zeppelin. Jeez. Yeah, that's how electrifying and how stupefyingly powerful and charismatic absolute Yeah, no, I I don't think there's ever been a more charismatic stage presence, certainly not locally than Ken.

44:47 SPEAKER_00: And he still performs regularly just by himself at the bars. But he is, if you don't know Ken Queeter, you got to.

44:56 SPEAKER_03: If I ever I'm pretty sure because I saw all those bands back then in the clubs, the cabarets, the Empire, whatever. You know what I mean?

45:06 SPEAKER_00: I'm sure, yeah. He played the Hot Club, he played TLA, he played the Bijou. I mean, yeah, he was he played, and you know, and then people say, well, why wasn't he a big star? And the reason was he was offered a contract in 78, some sometime in 78, by Clive Davis, who was the founder and still running Aristo Records. And essentially, Clive Davis told him, you know, we're gonna make you into this, you know, this pop star, this rock star. And Ken just said, no, I don't want to be a rock star. Right.

45:39 SPEAKER_00: I want to be Ken Geter.

45:41 SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

45:41 SPEAKER_00: And he passed on the contract. And which I mean I don't know if this is.

45:47 SPEAKER_03: No, no.

45:47 SPEAKER_00: No, they told him they were gonna they were going to manufacture him into something.

45:51 SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

45:51 SPEAKER_00: And that was the last thing that that yeah, right. That was the last thing that that that he and remember, this would have been this was 78, so this would have been a a time of the mo of really slick artists, you know, and disco. Of course, disco was peaking at this point. Not that they I I mean, I'm not saying that that Davis wanted to make Ken into a disco artist. I don't think that's the case, but I I I think that you know, he probably wanted, you know, you know, whoever produced like Fleawood Mac to produce the album, yeah, or or whoever, you know, just just make it a very glossy, you know, and that was that wasn't him.

46:25 SPEAKER_00: That's not why he got into music.

46:27 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that was the era I call skinny tie rock, you know, with the the knack. Yeah, it was New Way.

46:38 SPEAKER_03: We used to call it. Absolutely, right. And the knack. Yeah, the knack, they were mind, and the cars, and and the cars. Right. So yeah, the keyboard player wore skinny tie, you know, the whole thing.

46:49 SPEAKER_00: So but Queer didn't. Right. Yeah. I mean he dressed really cool, but but he didn't wear skinny tie. So Ken said thanks, but no thanks. And while I don't not think this is absolutely necessarily necessarily the case, but I always say that it's what happened was the A's, if you remember the A's, they wound up signing with our and they wound up, so I would say the A's got Ken's contract.

47:14 SPEAKER_03: Right, okay. That makes sense.

47:16 SPEAKER_00: But yeah, but 76 was the year that that I you know, and he really I mean, I I I just when I say discovered him, I don't mean I discovered I was the first one, you know, helped him get gigs, but I I came upon him in March of 76 and it was just I mean blown away.

47:31 SPEAKER_03: I just thought this guy was uh Did you write, speaking of which, review local music like Ken? Did you write up?

47:39 SPEAKER_00: Uh all the time, right?

47:41 SPEAKER_03: And that's always done.

47:44 SPEAKER_00: No, no, that and that was that was the because I got you know, so yeah, I wrote about Queer, I wrote about the Hooters, Pretty Poison. Oh, yeah. And and then when I was at the Courier Post in the late 80s, that's when South Jersey had developed this this it's the only time it's ever happened. South Jersey had its own indigenous original music scene, out of which came Cinderella and Brittany Fox and Tangier, you know, and because I was writing for the South Jersey paper, and I was so that was a big part of what I was doing.

48:16 SPEAKER_00: But that to me that was always the fun. That in seeing the the national acts on you know developing. But I was always I I always felt it was my duty to to to promote local music.

48:33 SPEAKER_00: Right. Not always, I've been but but yeah, I mean I I thought it was my sacred duty to to write about local acts.

48:40 SPEAKER_03: Oh, we had such a variety back then. I mean, you could I I look at some of these calendars from like the galaxy and the empire and every night is New Wave, and then it's Metal Night, and then it's you know, Dance Night, and it's these great.

48:55 SPEAKER_02: Exactly.

48:55 SPEAKER_00: Yep. I'm very proud of and you know, I was even rewarded once or twice. I got my name on a Tangier album. Oh, nice. And and well, even better, Brittany Fox awarded me a gold record. Ah, that's when they're that's when they're cool. Yeah, when their their debut album went gold. Uh they gave me one.

49:14 SPEAKER_03: That's great, man. Yep.

49:16 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've always appreciated that. I thought it was very heavy. I never you know, I didn't ask for it, I never expected it, but it but yeah, I mean to me it was really a yeah, a sacred duty to to write about uh local music. Right. Okay and I like to say this. I mean, my my competition, my competitors at the time, at the Bulletin and the Daily News and the Inquire, uh they did, but not not uh not to the level that I did. It's really maybe what I'm I as a music writer, that might be what I'm most proud of.

49:45 SPEAKER_03: Yeah. Uh that's good, Chuck. Yeah. Yeah, they were more they weren't really street back then. You know, they were they were they just go to the spectrum or or the big show. Exactly, right, yeah. You know, just do the big show. Like, oh, here's spring. Exactly.

49:59 SPEAKER_00: I I never understood. Now, John Take of the Daily News was very close to the Hooters. Right. So yeah, so he he was a big and early supporter when Robert Hazard broke big in 81, 82, they got behind everybody said, but I was doing it in 76. Right. So that's amazing.

50:15 SPEAKER_03: That was great.

50:16 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Uh Johnny's Dance Band. Another band I wrote about.

50:21 SPEAKER_03: Absolutely. I picked up actually found their album and rooting through the bins like a couple years ago.

50:27 SPEAKER_00: Uh essentially I I picked up really Yeah. They were great. They were so much fun. And up until 75-76, club owners wouldn't wouldn't book original acts. They didn't think anybody would pay money, would come to see original bands. They want to see her covers. Right. And Queater, and Queater and JDB were pretty much contemporaneous, I think it's the word. And they were the ones that, you know, they like JDB would do, I think every week, uh they had a residency at TLA on South Street and at TLA, I'm sorry, Grendel's Lair.

51:02 SPEAKER_00: Grendel's fifth and south, I guess. Yep. And then Queater started booking, you know, the TLA and Grendel's Lair. Not that there weren't original bands prior to that, but really the first half, like 68, 69, there was some degree of local music going on. American Dream and Good God and Elizabeth. Right. But then it kind of by about 71 or so, 70, yeah, 71, 72, it kind of fell out. There really wasn't any real original music going on. Kind of ushered in the uh original music thing. Absolutely. Absolutely, yeah.

51:36 SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

51:36 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Yeah. Johnny's dance band and Ken Queeder were the ones who proved to club owners that people would pay to see local original music. Right.

51:45 SPEAKER_03: Absolutely. Yep. And they're following what come in, and the club owners would be like, okay. Yeah, exactly. Right.

51:51 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they do great things. They they they they take the bar and they make a lot of money at the bar, and you know, and other people would say, Oh, I I think I gotta do it. I need an original, you know, night, original music night. That's your history lesson.

52:04 SPEAKER_03: Dude, I always learn something new when I talk to you, man, and that's great. You know, it's why I get the big bucks, Bob. There you go.

52:12 SPEAKER_02: You're well paid, hopefully. Hey, before we go. Yeah, there you go. I know.

52:18 SPEAKER_03: We all are. I just found another show, I don't know, Jethro Toll, July 19th. Yes, yes. Jethro Toll was$6.50 ticket. That's crazy.

52:30 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah. The reason I didn't mention Toll, even though uh you may or may not know, we may have discussed it before. Jethro Toll is one of my three favorite bands of all time. Right. I mean, I I've seen them 60, 65 times. That's that's my dad. Damn. And the reason I didn't bother to mention that them only because there was nothing really special about that tour. I mean, yeah, it was a huge tour. They were coming off Warchild in 75 with Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die, and and Warchild had their what amounted to their biggest single, which was Uncle in the Jungle.

53:03 SPEAKER_00: So Toll was probably at a at its commercial or still peak or you know, plateauing, because they had it amazingly thick as a brick, it went to number one in 72. That is still to this moment totally inexplicable how that album became the top selling album in the you know in the country. But be that as it may. So so the the the tour, the the 76 to older rock and roll tour, it was a really good tour. It was probably I'd probably put in the top five or six.

53:32 SPEAKER_03: But it's just kind of amazing what we're talking about, all these shows just in 76, you know, and it's like, oh, by the way, toll and oh yeah, we can do another show and just uh on on the shows we didn't talk about.

53:44 SPEAKER_00: I know. Yeah, it's pretty amazing, Chuck. We didn't talk about the shows, the shows in early 76 that Midnight Sun Company did at the Masonic Temple across the street there from from like a broaden arch.

53:59 SPEAKER_01: Right.

54:00 SPEAKER_00: Where they had they had three levels. They had three shows running simultaneously. Oh my god. So like like I remember like I think like on one floor was Dr. Feel Good, another floor was Barclay James Harvest, and another floor was Crack the Sky. Wow. Yeah. So yeah, we we've we've I don't know, we've maybe not just scratched the surface, but we haven't gone too deep. There's yeah, there's there's so much more to talk about, but yeah, we don't have all that much thing. Yeah, but right, and so I figured we we hit the high points, but yeah, seven but point being it's 76, 50 years ago, unbelievable.

54:34 SPEAKER_01: Oh my god.

54:35 SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it it it it was a it was a major, major year for music in Philadelphia, no question about it.

54:42 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, just massive.

54:44 SPEAKER_00: I mean, absolutely massive year for concerts at uh remember this was Fleawood Mac, this was I guess the rumors album, right? Yeah, 76. Yeah, oh my gosh.

54:54 SPEAKER_03: Yes. Peak Fleetwood Mac year. That's uh I'm just yeah it's just yeah, I'm sorry I was too young, but I like the era I grew up in, but God, I would have loved to have seen some of these shows.

55:10 SPEAKER_00: I I turned 70 a few weeks ago, and I always my line is that that there's only one good thing about being this old. I got to see shows that younger people can't even imagine. You know, again, like example at Peter Gabriel with Genesis, yeah, Bowie and the Spiders, like that. Yeah. That's King Floyd at the Penn Campus.

55:29 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's the uh t-shirt, right? I might be old, but I saw all the great bands.

55:34 SPEAKER_00: Right, exactly. That's true. Other than that, I can't think of any I can't think of one damn thing that's making this old good, but hey, at least I got to see those shows.

55:43 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and that's that's important because you know, and you wrote about it, so you were in the business, and that's equally even better.

55:54 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I was very fortunate to you know to have that access and be an acquisition.

55:58 SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

55:58 SPEAKER_00: Oh, 76, another show, just I mean, it's not a certainly not an important show, but but everybody knows who Gray Kin is because of the breakup song Jeopardy. But he put out his first album on Berserkly Records, which was Jonathan Richmond's label as well.

56:14 SPEAKER_03: Okay.

56:15 SPEAKER_00: And in May of 76, he played the main point, you know, out in Lancaster Avenue in Brynmar. And I remember counting, there were ten people in the audience that night. Wow. Yeah, I'll never forget that. Because I love his first three albums are brilliant. I mean, another, if I may, recommend if you if you only know Great Kin from the MTV era, check out his first, which are great. First one was Great Kin, second second album, I think, was called Next of Kin. Right. And the third was called Great Kin Again.

56:50 SPEAKER_03: Yes.

56:50 SPEAKER_00: Those three albums, I'll put those three albums up again. It's almost anybody else's three albums. I thought you're right.

56:56 SPEAKER_03: Great songwriter, great, great singer, great band.

57:00 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Yeah. I never understood exactly why he didn't quite get there.

57:06 SPEAKER_03: After Jeopardy. I mean he did. Right. But that was MTV era, etc. But also, May 2nd.

57:16 SPEAKER_00: He did two shows on May 2nd at the main point looking here. And and oh May May 1st and 2nd. It's weird that that that he did April 30th, he did three nights. I guess I went the first night then. Good for him. Also, I think it might have been a Sunday, but I don't know, I'm not sure about that.

57:34 SPEAKER_01: But anyway, but you don't remember two months.

57:37 SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know. I think I think what happened with Graden early on was that berserkly had no promotional money. Right. That's probably they were a small independent label out of San Francisco, not even New York.

57:49 SPEAKER_03: Right.

57:49 SPEAKER_00: So that probably had as much to do with his lack of fame and fortune in the 70s. Yeah. That makes sense.

58:00 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. It's a shame though, because he was absolutely yeah, unfortunately, I think he died a year or two ago.

58:05 SPEAKER_03: Right.

58:06 SPEAKER_00: And and fun fact, he grew up in Baltimore with uh Michael Tearson.

58:11 SPEAKER_03: I was just gonna ask where he's from. I thought he was a West Coast guy. Sacramento, but okay. Baltimore. Nice. Yeah. Okay. Grew up with him. It was a Tearson. Wow. All right. Yeah. No question about that. Yeah, I love listening to him. Great voice. And speaking of local music, if I can plug Pure Petty before we sign up. I was just gonna say time's yours, man. If you want to plug, what are you doing? Where are you at?

58:35 SPEAKER_00: Yep. If you're a Tom Petty fan, I would certainly hope that sometime this summer you get to see pure of my band Pure Petty. And we are playing a bunch of dates in the area. Some of the major ones, let's see, we're Mount Holly at the Union Firehouse on June 27th. We are on Long Beach Island, if you're on LBI, Shipbottom, where last time we played there two summers ago, we had 2,500 people come out with us according to the police.

59:06 SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for those uh anybody who doesn't know Chuck plays bass with pure petty, petty trivia so much. I saw you guys in Doylestown twice.

59:16 SPEAKER_00: Yeah. Great. Yeah, well, it's July 4th, we're in in Mercer County. We do the fireworks right before the fireworks every year. Law enforcement against drugs carnival. They do, they do like a state fair or county fair for a week, last night being July 4th, and we always for this will be the fifth year in a row. July Thursday, July 9th, we're ship bottom right over the causeways. You come into LBI. Yep. We're we're back, we're at Havana in New Hope on July 24th. And July 29th, we are at the Pennypack Music Festival in Northeast Philly, up there on a it's called the Konstotter, which is like a German folk center.

59:55 SPEAKER_00: And they have this great outdoor stage, and two years that we played there the last few years, and according to the organizers, in 24 we set the attendance record. And this is this is a festival that's been going on for center decades. When I was in high school, I used to go to shows. They moved it now to Konstotter, but it was originally in up until the pandemic. It was actually in Pennypack Park. Oh. So but you're not, I don't know who's going to remember all that. Pure Petty Band, one word dot com.

1:00:24 SPEAKER_00: Right at the top of the page, you'll see all of our dates that we have. I'll just put a link. And anybody all all are welcome to to Hoosatonic River Brewing in New Milford, Connecticut on August 8th. This brewery in in New Milford, Connecticut. But things seem to be lining up that we will actually be expanding our territory and maybe even having to get on a plane or two. That's fun, Chuck. Good luck. I hope so. Thank you. Yeah. Nothing signed yet, but we seem to be there's there's some you know some things going on that are pointing in that direction.

1:00:57 SPEAKER_00: Let's you know, cross our fingers. So so there's a lot of reasons, you know, to come out and see Fure Patty, purepetty band.com, and thank you for allowing me to do the plug. Very uh very proud of this band.

1:01:10 SPEAKER_03: Yeah. All right, yeah. Well, that's all I got. Well, that's a lot, man. Good for you. Good to be busy. Not sitting around, you know. How the casino is. Are you doing anything uh shore local with the casino beat? Oh yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, no, it's okay.

1:01:25 SPEAKER_00: So yeah, sure localnews.com. Yeah, um, I I write a weekly casino Atlantic City Casino column. Nice.

1:01:32 SPEAKER_03: Well, that's cool. Yeah, I'm gonna put all links down there and stuff. And uh thank you. I appreciate that. Always appreciate it. So yeah, this is a great show. I I learned a lot and Chuck, really appreciate it. Great talking to you as always. And you know, we can always pick more topics.

1:01:48 SPEAKER_00: It's always a pleasure, man. So Bob, as you know, there's nothing I enjoy more than hearing myself talk. So it's always a pleasure. Thanks. Always a pleasure. Keep up, keep up the good work. Yeah, I'd love the stuff, man. Yeah, yeah. Love the stuff.

1:02:03 SPEAKER_03: Yeah. Yeah, I'll talk to you offline soon, buddy. That's you. All right, another great and insightful conversation with Chuck Darrow. I hope you enjoyed it. And if you were around or there in 1976, hopefully this will bring back some memories of tours and shows you may have attended at your local venues. Really hard to believe it's been 50 years since the Bible annual.