Our dear friends Pat and Doug stopped by the house the other day. It was a lovely treat. We hadn't seen Pat in too long, and Doug came bearing gifts: a cool old book on trains from the 40's for Leo, and some vintage local papers, the Psychadelic Boneyards and Fingerprint Files. I finally got the printer working again (why is it that they won't SCAN when they don't have ink? Infuriating) and took the time to scan one of the articles. I didn't do a good enough job to get Photoshop to photomerge them but I'm too impatient.
Could this be the nascent birth of our house concerts? I had completely forgotten that this was in here. My friend, Eileen, and I wanted something fun to do on Halloween in 1982 so we decided to…well, put on a show. We trotted around downtown Champaign (which was a very different place back then) looking for a place. We landed upon the Jefferson Building, the old Masonic Hall on Hill and State. We rented the theatre and got to collecting bands. The B-Lovers (pre-Turning Curious), Milktoast, the Erasers (why don't I remember them? Who was in that band?), and the debut of the Outnumbered. I remember a phone call from someone that thought they weren't high enough up on the bill…I think I let Eileen deal with that one. Heh. Milktoast HAD to play last as Pat Daily was playing somewhere else earlier that night.
Bernie made a flyer, Jack Rundle got something in the DI, we bought pumpkins and black balloons.
Good lord, how cute. We took in enough money to pay the B-Lovers a bit. Someone stole a sign so we lost a hundred dollars on that, but we came out with enough money to go to dinner.
I wonder why we never did it again.
"One of the best local musical events of the year."
Heh.
Look, there's Ernie in the back:
There was also a New Year’s Eve All-Ages show with Combo Audio at the Jefferson Building (1981?), where I remember standing with Adam Schmitt at the back and wondering if we were the only Uni kids there. I was still too young to get into any music venues at that time, although I heard the Vertebrats at a Uni High Christmas dance and Combo Audio opening for U2. Eventually, being able to get into Mabel’s and other 19+ venues allowed me to frequently enjoy the B-Lovers/Turning Curious, The Outnumbered, Nix86, Don’t Talk Back, Last Gentlemen, and various other related bands.
I also remember, instead of sticking around the Uni Prom (some bad Top 40s cover band at the Illini Union), a few of us walked over to Channing-Murray to hear Milktoast! What rebels we were. Musically savvy, more like.
That was such a fun night!