Gusto 1980-1981

  Second appearance in five months here for Chrissie Hynde and her original band. And just as memorable. Aug. 28, 1980 review Fans of Red-Hot Rock Get Real Thing From Pretenders          The Pretenders explode onto the stage in Uncle Sam's in Cheektowaga Wednesday night, quickening every heartbeat in the huge, hot, crowded room as they race into their defiant "Precious."          The sweaty, sell-out audience is on its feet, or perched on every available vantage point, bobbing to the beat. They cheer lustily as American-born singer and guitarist Chrissie Hynde spits out the song's most famous line -- "I'm too precious, **** off!" -- a message repeated on a select few of the Festival East staff's T-shirts.          "We're really packed in like sardines tonight," Hynde remarks as they finish the second song, "Kid," their newly-released single. "That's wh...

It felt like we lost a little piece of our collective soul when Brian Wilson died last week. "God Only Knows," which Paul McCartney described as the "greatest song ever written," has been bouncing around in my head ever since. I've taken in several Beach Boys concerts over the years, but I got to see Brian in person only once, when the group stopped here in Buffalo as winter was receding 43 years ago. March 30, 1982 review Beach Boys Discover Endless Summer on the Wane When Carl Wilson left the Beach Boys a year ago to pursue a solo career, he said he would come back when the band was ready to do more than relive the past. Carl, who formed the core of the group with his brothers Brian and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love and old friend Al Jardine, was conspicuously absent with the kings of surf rock swung their 20th anniversary tour into Kleinhans Music Hall for two near-sellout shows Monday night. With Carl away, the remaining Beach Bo...

  Before and after the Heatwave Festival Aug. 22, 1980 Gusto Events and Openings The essence of New Wave rock is quite the opposite of the peace-love-Woodstock syndrome that buoyed up the psychedelic era of the late '60s. The new rock is intense, ironic and very much the creature of small, seedy nightspots. As a result, it took the organizers of Saturday's Heatwave Festival in Ontario's Mosport Park better than two months to convince booking agents that a large-scale outdoor New Wave rock show could happen. Then they had to convince the bands. "The bands were interested," says Larry Weinstock, one of the principals in First Festival Productions in Toronto, "but they all held back to see what the other bands would do. They'd say if so-and-so commits themselves, then we'll commit. Some of the contracts guarantee that certain other bands will perform. Finally, Elvis Costello was the first one to jump in. Then came the B-52s and then Ni...

A hot August night with a couple of legends in the making. See the Footnote. Aug. 15, 1980 Gusto review Tot Rocket and the Twins, plus an early glimpse of Pauline and the Perils at Gabel's Like emissaries returned from faraway places, Tot Rocket and the Twins gave their New Wave debriefing to a hot and hearty crowd of about 200 in Gabel's Bar on Hertel Avenue Thursday night. It's been about three years since these one-time Amherst residents headed east to seek their fortunes and now that they've put out a single and gathered a few favorable fanzine and radio notices, they had stuff to show the old hometown. After several seasons of getting it together in Connecticut, they plunged into New York City's club scene last month. The seasoning showed around their eyes – guitarists Robert Poss and Andrew Halbreich having darkened their sockets for a somewhat depraved and degenerate effect – and in their cool stage manners, which struck a contrast to ...

Two more power pop hopefuls that popped for an instant and then fizzled. Aug. 8, 1980 Gusto review The Records and Quincy at Uncle Sam's "Too bad they aren't still backing Rachel Sweet," Dave Meinzer of the former Davy and the Crocketts remarked as the Records dashed offstage in Uncle Sam's in Cheektowaga Thursday night. The Records provided eminently superb support for the teenage belter from Akron, Ohio, on the Stiff Records roadshow tour in 1978. They're miles ahead of Sweet's current band, but even though they're seizing the spotlight for themselves now, they're still struggling to shed their chameleon-like anonymity. Their current set restated the problem. Despite the solid quality of their harmonies. the power of their arrangements and two albums worth of creditable material, the quartet suffered from a certain sameness of delivery. Every song had a way of sounding pretty much like the last. It was in their ...

  One of our favorites at the top of his game. July 24, 1980 review Jackson Browne in the Aud Jackson Browne capped an excellent 2½-hour show in steamy Memorial Auditorium Wednesday night by unexpectedly calling out a couple of Buffalo’s best musicians to join his band for a second encore. The surprise appearance of pianist Stan Szelest and drummer Sandy Konikoff electrified the crowd of 8,500. Earlier, Browne had stopped to give verbal tribute to the prowess of our home-grown talent. “Do you know some of the best rock ‘n roll players come out of Buffalo?” he said. “There’s a whole raft of them. I figure it’s because it’s so goddamn cold in the winter you’ve got to choice but to rock your – off to keep from freezing to death.” Browne was a pretty mean rock ‘n roller himself. A skinny heartthrob in jeans and sneakers alone in the middle of a wide-open stage, he was a far cry from the shy and furtive performer he was in the early days. The guys...

More almost forgotten New Wave bands from 45 years ago. At this point, I had a Sunday afternoon radio show on WZIR-FM and most likely was playing their records. July 23, 1980 review Regional Bands Prove Rock Still Thrives Will regional rock bands be a significant force in the ‘80s? Some prognosticators think so. While the record industry languishes in recession, local groups all over the nation are going it on their own at home, and the long-range results may prove most interesting. The major labels have not yet been able to put across two of the country’s most prominent regional groups – the Motels from Los Angeles and the Brains from Atlanta. Only about 150 came to see them in Uncle Sam’s in Cheektowaga Tuesday night, primarily because they’ve had scanty radio airplay here. The Motels, one of the three seminal L.A. New Wave bands, have been around in one form or another since 1974. Their sound – ringing dissonant guitar chords buttressed with hard rhythm and dense s...