Category Archives: 70's Rock

Foreigner Faux Spike’s Double Vision Halloween Tribute

Below is a video link to The Re-Volts caught live in action disgracing themselves doing a stunningly sick seventies throwback recreation as DOUBLE VISION at the Bad_Acid_Presents  Hallorager VIII at San Francisco’s storied Bottom of the Hill on 10-30-2021 …

They perform two Foreigner Facsimile songs in this quickly edited clip, two corporate cock rock classics: Long Long Way From Home and Cold As Ice ( which was a top ten hit back in summer of ’77).

The posse comin’ at us is led by Spike Slawson, who has taken to heart (vest and wig) the role of Lou Grammatico in his Halloween DOUBLE VISION Foreigner Tribute. Here is backed by pedigreed punk pals including co-founding Dwarves member HEWHOCANNOTBENAMED on keys,  local ne’er do ‘ell and jocular jerk of all horns Jamin Barton , Jack Dalrymple on guitar, Colin Delaney on skins, and Paul Oxborrow in the role of late great OG bassist Ed Gagliardi .

 

A ghastly time was had by all at the Bad Acid Presents Glitter Wizard/Blue Öyster Cult~Re-Volts/Foreigner~Rockers/Thin Lizzy~ Whateverglades/Blondie fest.

 

 

Afrika Bambaataa 1983 Club DJ Set At The Roxy NYC

This is a 6+ hr DJ Afrika Bambaataa set list from tunes he would put down at the Roxy ( a roller disco) in NYC circa summer ’83 where the flyer proclaimed:  No Skating! Just Dance Your pants Off Every Friday Night! – B There! 

NYC 80's Hip-Hop Club Flyer

Hosted by Fab Five Freddy, with live Graf art provided by Futura 2000, while the Double Dutch Girls & Crazy Legs from the Rocksteady Crew would be Breakdancin’ down on the floor Jazzy Jay & Bambaataa would man the wheels of steel and a DJ battle featuring Grand Wizard Theodore vs Grandmaster D.S.T. ( made famous via Herbie Hancock’s Rockit) would soon be scratchin’ up a storm. To get a sense of the vibe, this clip posted below from the 1984 film “Beat Street” has a scene shot there featuring Bambaataa and the Soul Sonic Force performing their electro funk rap song “Same” with cameos from the Rock Steady Crew.

 

This 6 hr+ mega mix I have made available as a playlist on either Spotify or Amazon Music recreates the crate diggin’ sequences of contemporary music one might experience in a hot early 80’s club that kept beats pumpin’ until the sun came up.  This old school tracklist featuring soul , electro funk, rock, new wave & early Hip-Hop faves of the day was compiled from archival playlist info provided by Bambaataa himself. The original posted mix included 80+ Songs, but rights holders have begun pulling catalog songs from shady silicon sucka streaming platforms, so results may vary on your music apps.

I listed all the O.G. 80’s club mix tracks below, whether currently available, for completists to seek out and so you can find out what you’re missing from artists as varied as Newcleus, Marley Marl, Strafe, Egyptian Lover, Reggie Griffin, Re-Flex, KRS One, The Fantastic Aleems ft Leroy Burgess and even Foreigner whose recordings may no longer can be found on Spotify.

 
2009 pic of the Roxy in the old Meat Packing district on edge of Chelsea before it was demolished to make way for a modern residential highrise
Photo By Aloughman – https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7161708
Bambaataa Playlist on Spotify
 
 
 
 
Tracklist  :
 
Billy Squier – The Big Beat
 
 
 
The Treacherous Three – Yes We Can-Can
 
 
 
Afrika Bambaataa – Jazzy Sensation – 12″ Remix
 
 
 
Shango – Zulu Groove (Edited Version)
 
 
 
Trouble Funk – Trouble Funk Express
 
 
 
Hashim – Al-Naafyish – Radio Edit
 
 
 
Strafe – Set it Off …
 
 
 
Afrika Bambaataa & Family – Bambaataa’s Theme (Assault On Precinct)
 
 
 
Malcolm McLaren – Buffalo Gals
 
 
 
Foghat – Slow Ride
 
 
 
Ram Jam – Black Betty
 
 
 
Queen – We Will Rock You – Remix Ruined By Rick Rubin
 
 
 
Rush – Tom Sawyer – Z-Trip Remix
 
 
 
Gary Numan – Cars – Live
 
 
 
Liquid Liquid – Cavern
 
 
 
Jimmy Spicer – The Bubble Bunch – Original Jellybean 12″ Mix
 
 
 
Cheikh Lô – Shakara/ Lady (Part One)
 
 
 
Love Childs Afro-Cuban Blue Band – Life and Death in G and A
 
 
 
Shirley Ellis – The Clapping Song
 
 
 
Larry Graham – Now Do-U-Wanta Dance
 
 
 
KRS-One – M.a.r.l.e.y. (skit)
 
 
 
Afrika Bambaataa Nation Soul Sonic Force – Zulu Nation Throwdown (Soul Sonic Force)
 
 
 
Malcolm McLaren – Double Dutch
 
 
 
ESG – Moody
 
 
 
The Flying Lizards – Money – Edit
 
 
 
Herman Kelly – Dance to the Drummer’s Beat
 
 
 
Defunkt – Razor’s Edge 12″ Version
 
 
 
The B-52’s – Mesopotamia
 
 
 
Culture Club – Time (Clock Of The Heart) – 2003 Mix
 
 
 
Sequence – Funk You Up – Long Version
 
 
 
Re-Flex – The Politics Of Dancing
 
 
 
Man Parrish – Hip Hop Be Bop (Original Version)
 
 
 
West Street Mob – Break Dance – Electric Boogie
 
 
 
Yazoo – Situation – Us 12″ Mix
 
 
 
The Pointer Sisters – Automatic (Album Version)
 
 
 
Michael Jackson – P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
 
 
 
New Edition – Candy Girl
 
 
 
Kool & The Gang – Jungle Boogie
 
 
 
The O’Jays – For the Love of Money
 
 
 
Prince – Controversy
 
 
 
Rick James – Super Freak
 
 
 
Talking Heads – Once in a Lifetime – 2003 Remaster
 
 
 
Run–D.M.C. – It’s Like That
 
 
 
George Clinton – Loopzilla – Broadcast Version; 2000 Digital Remaster
 
 
 
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – Mickey’s Monkey
 
 
 
Afrika Bambaataa – Renegades Of Funk
 
 
 
Blondie – Rapture
 
 
 
Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force – Planet Rock
 
 
 
Afrika Bambaataa – Funk Jam Party
 
 
 
Cameo – Flirt
 
 
 
Lyn Collins – Think (About It)
 
 
 
Grace Jones – My Jamaican Guy
 
 
 
Yellowman – Zungguzungguguzungguzung
 
 
 
Sister Nancy – Bam Bam
 
 
 
Michigan & Smiley – Diseases
 
 
 
Nicodemus – Boneman Connection
 
 
 
The Bus Boys – Did You See Me
 
 
 
The Rolling Stones – Start Me Up – Remastered
 
 
 
Steppenwolf – Magic Carpet Ride
 
 
 
Grand Funk Railroad – Inside Looking Out – Remastered
 
 
 
Billy Squier – Everybody Wants You – Live
 
 
 
Foreigner – Urgent – Radio mix
 
 
 
Madonna – Everybody
 
 
 
James Brown – Papa Don’t Take No Mess
 
 
 
The Fantastic Aleems – Release Yourself
 
 
 
Newcleus – Jam on Revenge (The Wikki-Wikki Song)
 
 
 
Kraftwerk – Numbers – 2009 Remaster
 
 
 
Reggie Griffin – Mirda Rock
 
 
 
Ronnie Hudson – West Coast Poplock
 
 
 
The Egyptian Lover – Egypt, Egypt
 
 
 
Shriekback – My Spine Is The Bassline
 
 
 
Tom Tom Club – Genius Of Love
 
 
 
James Brown – Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved – Pt. 1 & 2 / Mono
 
 
 
Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want to Have Fun
 
 
 
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam – Head to Toe
 
 
 
Daryl Hall & John Oates – I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)
 
 
 
Re-Flex – The Politics Of Dancing – Extended Version
 
 
 
Donna Summer – I Feel Love – Edit
 
 
 
Bobby Byrd – I Know You Got Soul
 
 
 
Freeez – I.O.U. (12″ Version)
 
 
 
The Sequence – Funk You U

Night Train To Nowhere Electoral Dysfunction Mixcloud

The Random Revelations Night Train To Nowhere Is Waiting For You To Hop Aboard!

A Podblast Powered By Curiously Curated Ska, Soul, Reggae, Dub, Punk, Funk, Easy Listening Music & Hard Liquor.

 

Hear my 2 hrs of painstakingly picked records and some rare soundboard concert clips. Most of my shared recordings are ripped right off vinyl rarities for your listening pleasure by artists such as Gregory Isaacs, Darondo, Dead Moon, Sister Double Happiness, Andre Williams, X, Rare Essence, Van Morrison, Larry Graham, Lou Rawls and The True Believers featuring brothers Javier & Alejandro Escovedo.

 

This episode is new for November and is a nuanced nocturnal tour you’ll want to revisit all over again.

Regale In Retro Rock Blasts from The Pretenders, Billy Squier, Dave Clark Five, Chilliwack, A Flock Of Seagulls as well as new music from contemporary #IndieRock artists like Jesse Dayton & Kelley Stoltz.

For the careful listener you’ll also hear a couple previously unreleased live recordings of a couple of my old late 80’s era bands Mom & The Rolling Scabs.

 

Rotober Random Revelations Mixcloud

Gotta lil’ bored and needed to share some quarantunes with my peeps online… If yer around me in the house, you’d know I spend hours everyday regurgitatin’ through thousands of albums . For those that don’t have the pleasure of me drunkenly thumbing through the shelves and pulling out obscurities I created a digital simulation. This is an official 2 Hour Guided Missile Of a Mixtape, literaly pounds upon pounds of platters painstakingly plopped under yr Spin Doctor’s new needle. (NOTE: long before a hippie jam band in NYC used the name Spin Doctors, I was using the Spin Doctor moniker on flyers for my DJ gigs around San Francisco. I eventually gave up because you know, Little Miss Can’t Be Blecch was getting way too much MTV time, and killed my buzz).

We Begin With Members Of The Dils Cowboy Nation Covering Dave Alvin of The Blasters And End With Wanda Jackson Imitating Charlie Rich. In The Middle We Get Tales Of The Big Boys Playing With Trouble Funk & Gwar Being Banned From The Club For Life At Their Very First Show. There’s Cosmic Sounds Of The Zodiac, BT Express, Flo & Eddie, Kendra Smith, Tom T. Hall, Chuck Prophet, Nick Lowe, The Mexican Hat Dance, Stax Soul Icons & Successful Major Label Heavies Revisiting Their Punk Roots. A Rarely Heard Hip-Hop Collab Between Lil’ Jon, Jay Z & Too Short, Indie Rock Rarities From The Incredible Casuals, And Beatnik Beatch, Plus Hawaiian Islander Protest Music From Israel Kamakawiwo’ole & Michael Kahikina. Dusty Springfield vs Tony Joe White, Hank Ballard vs Kris Kristofferson, Roberta Flack vs Les McCann …So, Uh, Yeah It’s A Thing & It’s All Happening Deep Inside The Random Revelations Rotober 2020 Mix.

Anyhow the the turntablist spins sonic stories for the masses in my latest Illegal , Immoral & Fattening mix…






Tulsa Storyteller Dwight Twilley

Dwight Twilley performing on Oakland

Invoking heady mid-seventies days with late associates Leon Russell and Phil Seymour, then 65 year old Power Pop songsmith Dwight Twilley tells of the struggle getting signed by Shelter Records and making “Sincerley” his debut LP featuring the hit “On Fire” over 40 years ago.

 

 

Eventually after regaling the audience at the Starline Social Club in Oakland California with musical memories and a rare peek at his poetic process, Dwight sucks down a beer, and plays his song “Three Persons” about a thorny love triangle, in a style much like the demo was made for his Shelter Records debut.  

Down here below, we have a video towards the end of the set where Dwight invited Sarah Bethe Nelson and here band to join him on a version of “on Fire” a track he originally recorded with Phil Seymour back in 1974

 

 

 

Thanx For Watching, And If Feasible For You, Please Consider Tossing A Buck In The Virtual Hat To Help Support The Costs Of Acquiring, Editing And Uploading The Hundreds Of Videos Found On My Channel http://paypal.me/lilmikesf

Interpreting the Masters: Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love

In Case You Missed It : Inara George (who happens to be the daughter of infamous and late Little Feat founder Lowell George) is the vocalist at the mic and multi-instrumentalist Greg Kurstin (formerly of Geggy Tah and record producer of too many top selling acts to mention) backs her up, and they’re known as The Bird & The Bee.

Previously they played a tongue in chic tribute to Hall & Oates, but this year its the Diamond Dave era of Van Halen with their album Interpreting the Masters Volume 2: A Tribute to Van Halen on No Expectations/Release Me Records.

To get the LP launch just the right amount of hype, man about just about every town, Dave “That Fkn Guy” Grohl showed up to pound the drums on the late night TV circuit where the duo performed “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love” in a highly dramatic fashion for James Corden’s show on CBS.

Apparently the group first became fascinated with the idea of doing old Van Halen songs after seeing one of their 2007 reunion tour shows, and had even approached David Lee Roth about being in the video for their tribute song “Diamond Dave”. While Roth politely demured, he was apparently nice enough to send an autographed photo and a yellow top hat he’d worn onstage to Inara, yet she persisted…and thus the entire tribute album to the greatest rock band either Bird or The Bee has ever loved.

For the entire month of August, Inara is touring (sans Greg) with the tour culminating in a San Francisco performance on August 30th at Rickshaw Stop with Aaron Axelson of Alt-105.3 as DJ.

Supporting Inara as opening acts and also playing as her band, will be Alex Lilly and Samantha Sidley. as well as Barbara Gruska on drums, and Vikram Devasthali playing on guitar and trombone. Apparently, not content to sit idle, Inara will also be taking on singing duties in the opening acts, as well. See all dates posted below and you can sign up for the band’s mailing list HERE.

Ain't Talking Bout Van Halen, It's The Bird & The Bee 2019 Tour

The Bird and the Bee on the web : Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify

August 2019 Tour Dates

08/02/19 – Los Angeles, CA @ John Anson Ford Theater # – TICKETS

08/11/19 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club * –TICKETS

08/12/19 – Chicago, IL @ Sleeping Village * – TICKETS

08/13/19 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Tavern * –TICKETS

08/14/19 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre * – TICKETS

08/15/19 – Providence, RI @ Columbus Theatre * – TICKETS

08/16/19 – Philadelphia, PA @ World Cafe Live * – TICKETS

08/17/19 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere * –TICKETS

08/19/19 – Rehoboth Beach, DE @ Dogfish Head Brewing * – TICKETS

08/20/19 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle * – TICKETS

08/21/19 – Atlanta, GA @ Aisle 5 * – TICKETS

08/22/19 – Birmingham, AL @ The Saturn * – TICKETS

08/24/19 – Dallas, TX @ Trees * – TICKETS

08/25/19 – Austin, TX @ Parish * – TICKETS

08/28/19 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom * – TICKETS

08/29/19 – San Diego, CA  @ Casbah * – TICKETS

08/30/19 – San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop * ^ – TICKETS

Class War Is In Session: Chip Kinman brings fresh kin to reconstitute The Dils

Chip Kinman live on stage in San Francisco 7 20 2019 at Bottom Of The Hill

It was a great thrill to catch Chip Kinman, his drum bashing son Giuliano Scarfo and their energetic hair whipping friend Brian Melendez on bass all rip through a set of Dils classics at a sold out Bottom Of The Hill in San Francisco for the fortieth anniversary of The Temple Beautiful. In this video Chip Kinman, now 63, mentions a recent cover version of his song “Class War” by Ty Segall and seeing the “younger set” get into the music has inspired him, before he plays it himself with his spritely new backing band.

Since the death of his brother Tony, with whom he co-founded The Dils in the late 1970’s, Chip’s finally seen fit to revisit the beloved band’s past punk rock glories and brought his son along to revive their fiery message laden music, that blended the best of power pop and the brashness of early punk.

The Dils, founded by brothers Chip & Tony Kinman arose first out of suburban Carlsbad, California in late 1976, and soon relocated to San Francisco, later moving to Los Angeles and even recording some of their seminal material in Vancouver CA. Their tight brotherly harmonies fed into fierce , fast tunes oft with fearless political stances, made them one of the preeminent punk bands up and down the West Coast. Use your cursor to navigate within the 360° video embedded below Chip Kinman recounts recording “Sound Of The Rain” in Vancouver with late drummer “Zippy Pinhead“, whose supportive father was in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and wasn’t keen on lyrics about dead cops.

The brothers dropped The Dils name by 1981, and went through various incarnations over the years including Rank & File, Blackbird and Cowboy Nation, but never performed again as The Dils. Prior to this latest iteration, the last Dils gig was in 1980 at Blackie’s in Los Angeles (Black Flag opened the show.)

Here’s the whole Dils set from the show as shot from deep in the jostling joy that was the pit down by the floor wedge monitors at stage front by Gil Warguez on a trusty Sony MV-1 synched to the audio from one of my stray cams that caught a slight bit more vocal…

#OTD July 1972 : Alice Cooper & Humble Pie fans storm field at Three Rivers Stadium

July 11 1972 – Remember that time Alice Cooper was busy having a few more drinks backstage at a baseball stadium and 40,000 teenagers got restless in Pittsburgh and a whole bunch stormed the field and dugouts? Humble Pie was finishing up Hot & Nasty and Steve Marriott so inspired the fired up concert goers that security could no longer keep the fans in the bleachers off the MLB baseball diamond. This Alice Cooper / Humble Pie outdoor concert was one of the very first to ever get booked into then fairly new Three Rivers Stadium, the now torn down ballpark was only in its second year of business when promoter Pat DiCesare booked ’em for what was then the largest rock concert in the state’s history!

Cooper’s show had been postponed from a few week earlier when the remnants of Hurricane Agnes had sent rain up and across the country and flooded out some other scheduled outdoor shows that June weekend in Ohio as well.

Now in his 80’s, promoter Pat DiCesare, from a working class Italian immigrant family that arrived in the 1920’s, in his elder years finally recounted his greatest rock n roll memories in his autobiography “Hard Days, Hard Nights, From the Beatles to the Doors to the Stones… Insider Stories from a Legendary Concert Promoter“.

Pat’s memoir is where where he tells of being told in 1964 to drop off $5,000 bucks in a brown paper bag to a bartender in Brooklyn to secure the Beatles only ever show in Pittsburgh. DiCesare was a pioneer of the rock n roll industry, going from street corner Doo-Wop singer to promoting a 1962 Four Freshman show in Youngstown Ohio and eventually helping define the early days of what we now blithely call “stadium rock”. In the 50’s, Pat was a singer himself, wrote a couple tunes for the Del Vikings, worked at Coral Records label, and and by 1958, DiCesare had formed Bobby Records, named after Bobby Vinton, his label’s first recording artist.
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 Circa 1963, Pat was a college student helping out at a jukebox and LP distribution one-stop outlet in Pittsburgh called Regal Records (affiliated with Nick Cenci’s Fenway Recordings) and noticed the Beatles were a hot act. DiCesare saw stores clamoring to get their discs before the competition and sensed opportunity if the band were to tour. “Back then if an artist sold a million records countrywide, we could sell about 50,000 of that release in the Pittsburgh trading area. If they followed up with an LP, we could sell about 5000 of the 12″ vinyl in Pittsburgh. The Beatles had three hit singles out at the same time, which was unprecedented. There was also a fourth song that was only available on an LP that Capitol Records had released. That meant that if a Beatles’ fan wanted that particular song, they had to buy the entire LP. I had never seen this before, but the LP was selling like a hot single.” So Pat DiCesare knew the Beatles were a sure thing, the only problem was convincing some business partners who could pony up the cash to secure the band’s Pittsburgh debut. They got a tip through someone who worked at William Morris agency that if a $5k cash deposit was left with a certain bartender in Brooklyn at Club Elegant, they would be given first dibs on the show.

With DiCesare basically broke & despondent that no one in the music biz he knew was willing to put up a $5,000 deposit to secure the Beatles concert, he turned to his father who had a lowly shipping department gig at Westinghouse. Seeing his son’s desperation, Pat’s dad, with 9 kids, put a lien on their family house to secure a $5000 loan and sent his son off with only a mysterious bartender in Brooklyn as a lead. Eventually, a few phone calls were made and Pat just wired the funds via Western Union, and got a date held. Then the agents in NYC said the $5000 was just a deposit, and they’d need to guarantee the band $35,000 total, about 10x what a normal teen dance headlining act was getting at the time. Pat and his partner figured they’d need to sell the tickets at 2x to 3x normal concert prices to make The Beatles guarantee, as the band’s agents were shrewd and put in a term that they’d take a guarantee vs 60% of the gross, whichever was higher. This was the first time a rock act demanded and received a percentage of the gate as well as a guarantee.  Then there was negotiating with Pitsburgh’s Chief of Police, who said that 100 cops would be needed at the show, and he wanted $5000 in cash up front to pay each man $50 (truth was everyone swears there were way less than 100 cops and those asked said they got $20 or a free ticket or not the $50 Chief Slusser had pocketed on their behalf).

While they needed no opening acts to sell the 17,500 tickets at the then unheard of price of nearly $6 each, the September 14h, 1964 gig also had Clarence “Frogman” Henry, Jackie DeShannon, The Exciters, and the Bill Black Combo as special guests, mostly to stall for time.

“While the show is going on, unfortunately, the promoter is in the box office doing the accounting work with the arena who gets their take, the city who gets their taxes, other vendors and most importantly the artists representative” said DiCesare “We call this “settling a show.” The Beatles team took in $37,000 from the box-office receipts, DiCesare and his partner Tim Tormey, (who was initially reluctant to help put up the initial deposit) split $8,800.00. DiCesare was drafted into the Army at the time, where he had his partner send him $100 a week from his $4,400 proceeds at Fort Sill where he claims “he was the richest soldier in the Army” there.

Write Up On Promoter Pat DiCesare from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette

When DiCesare got out of the Army, he began promoting full time, giving up a $300 a month “stable” career as a school teacher to join a risky business where the nightly payouts could be in the thousands. In addition to the Beatles, he presented all the early Rolling Stones concerts, and had to work backstage magic to broker peace with Mick Jagger who threatened to walk out if influential local AM radio station DJ’s Pat had invited were allowed to introduce the band.

Pat was also involved with the infamous “breaking” of the then unknown Tommy James as a hit act in Pittsburgh, and provided him up with new Shondells when it was discovered his old band no longer existed. (Tommy goes into great detail how this happened in his book: Me, The Mob and The Music One Helluva Ride with Tommy James & The Shondells) Tommy James Book

In his book Pat recounts flying out, buying a ticket and awkwardly sitting through a Sly Stone concert in another city just to insure Sly Stone made it to the plane for the next concert that DiCesare’s life savings was riding on should Sly not show up for in Pittsburgh the next day. “If there was anything I hated it was sitting in the audience watching a concert. I never did that at any of my shows. This was business, not pleasure. To me a concert was work, not entertainment.”

During the 1960s’ and early 1970’s DiCesare promoted most of the big name concerts at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena and Three Rivers including shows with Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Who, Three Dog Night etc. However, with the music business changing in the 70’s, DiCesare who was not as fond of the changing music biz as he was with his new found real estate investments, and knowing he needed more help tapping into the youth market, as well as mitigate risk, made an offer to a younger local rock drummer who’d become a viable competitor with a campus concert promotion company called Go Attractions, later known as Command Performance Agency. That fella was Rich Engler, who played drums on The Vogues 1965 hit “5′ O’clock World”, but by 1973 had quit his band to focus on the concert business after getting chewed out by Yes’ manager for playing drums in the opening act and not focusing on the overall event production. The ambitious Engler needed access to venues Pat had a lock on, and took the offer to team up with one of his main competitors to co-found the 50/50 split DiCesare-Engler Productions. Over the next two decades Pat & Rich then promoted pretty much every major entertainment act that came to Western Pennsylvania during the last half of the 20th century from Bob Marley to Bob Seger, New Kids On The Block to Kid Rock.

In 1977, the thriving DiCesare-Engler Productions purchased an old movie palace called the Stanley Theater and would pack over 3500 people in it, making it one of the nation’s top mid size concert halls. (That venue is now a focal point of Pittsburgh cultural scene, has under gone $43 million in further renovations and is operated by a community trusts that has renamed it the Benedum Center and hosts The Symphony and touring Broadway shows for a more civilized ADA accessible 2500 ticket holders). Other venues the men used to put on shows included The Syria Mosque, Club Metropol, the AJ Palumbo Center, the I.C. Light Amphitheater, the Civic Arena with retractable roof, and in the 1990’s the Star Lake Amphitheater, The Bud Light Amphitheatre in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and even The Aladdin Theater in Las Vegas. 

Long considered one of the top grossing concert promoters in the country, with Engler now doing most of the artist relations, their company packed theaters, arenas and stadiums, and were ranked in revenues right behind Bill Graham by 1978, doing many promotions using popular local radio stations like WDVE and even TV spots like this one from 1994 to get the word out.

Up until 21st century industry consolidation creep by the corporations that would become Live Nation, DiCesare-Engler Productions was the main regional concert promoter in the Pittsburgh area. Pat & Rich’s homegrown based company facilitated shows and help break acts of nearly every conceivable genre: Rush, Queen, Pavorotti, Kiss, Kansas, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Devo, The Pretenders, AC/DC, Van Halen,  Ozzy, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, George Duke , Bob Marley, Atlantic Starr, Judas Priest, The Tubes, Elvis Costello, The Police, Talking Heads, Prince, The Replacements, and The Clash.

Engler is proud of his many “firsts”, one such artist he first introduced to central PA was David Bowie (whom he eventually sued when he was a no show to a 1974 stadium gig in Cleveland). The band Genesis, is another fave find of Engler, who he reluctantly booked as an opener in 1972 on their first US tour. He told Ron Conroy of the Penn State Journal in 2014 “Back in 1972, I was promoting a Lou Reed show at the Alpine Ice Arena at the Forest City exit…and the agent told me that I had to take this other act from England and they were called Genesis.”

The risk was low to Engler, so he shlled out the guarantee—“either $500 or $750” and his concerns went away once the act took the stage. “So the show starts, Peter Gabriel walks onstage and he has the flower outfit with the big head and the big yellow petals,” he says. “And people—back then, this was the drug era, man—they were, like, totally freaked out and the band just went over like gangbusters.” He laughs at the memory, but at that point he knew he was onto something. “I knew this band was destined to superstardom and I jumped on their bandwagon. I couldn’t wait to call the next day and say, ‘Hey, when can I get Genesis back?’ And [the agent said], “How was Lou?” And I said, “Lou was Lou and it was great, but I want Genesis again.”

– 2015 PSU journal article by Rob Conroy

That early Genesis gig formed a fortuitous relationship and Engler adds “we did multiples at Mellon Arena, had them at the Syria Mosque and I had them at the Stanley Theatre, then the big one at Three Rivers Stadium did 55,000 people.”

Rich Engler was also proud to have seized early upon the 70’s TV success of Sha Na Na’s syndicated variety show and saw the opportunity to take the retro oldies act from 3 sold out Pittsburgh Stanley Theater shows held on the the same day, onto the rest of the country via a 30 market tour that went as far south as Louisiana where the band played to 15,000 fans in Baton Rouge, not quite Woodstock but still a sweet gig for a cover band.

Rich Engler backstage in the late 70’s with Judas Priest at a sold out Stanley Theater show
DiCesare Memoir

Both promoters having sold out for big bucks have mostly retired from the business they helped create. Pat’s DiCesare’s book, “Hard Days Hard Nights” , recountsactde experiences in the early days of rock n roll concert business via his memoir that was named the 2014 Independent Book of the Year, as well as Grand Prize Winner at the 2014 Great Midwest Book Festival. Rich Engler wrote one as well called “Behind The Stage Door” that recounts his decades spent concert promoting before he went on to work for a coal mining company.

Bob Marley with Rich Engler
Rich Engler presents a plaque of appreciation to Bob Marley & The Wailers in 1980

Rich Engler, who ended up producing over 5000 shows before stepping away, used his his book called “Behind The Stage Door” to tell of his days as a hippie musician that turned into a major industry figure, yet one who kept personal relationships at the fore of his business dealings. Rich’s book contains stories galore of the heady 70’s era when fake Fleetwood Mac’s were competing with the real one, and when intoxicated difficult rock stars were the norm, not the exception. There’s red wine chugging Joe Cocker projectile vomiting on the crowd in Allentown, Clapton unable to walk but playing beautifully from muscle memory. Fans who tried to sneak in through the rafters at a 1975 Nazareth show and had to be rescued as they dangled through the ceiling, or fans whose foot stompin’ caused the floor to collapse and ladders were needed again to bring them out of the orchestra pit at a packed Pat Travers show.

Beyond sorting the brown M&M’s, the stories of outrageous demands from artists only get worse as the years go on, when Madonna’s contract insists no one amongst hundreds working at a 17,500 capacity arena ever look at her. There was irascible Chuck Berry, who took his money upfront and jumped a curb in his Cadillac to escape a stadium gig without playing. There was debauched Aerosmith trashing trailers because their opening band font size on the ZZ Top poster was too small, and Axl Rose who demanded $15,000 be set aside to recreate a “Greek orgy” in the Steelers’ locker room. A Kiss’ reunion contract rider demanded the promoter dress as a Kiss member or be fined $2,500 or that night Sebastian Bach got arrested before performing after he picked a fight with the wrong cop in Johnstown PA.

1n the summer of 1974 DiCesare and Engler guaranteed Clapton $100,00 and the Band $50,000 to appear at 3 Rivers Stadium. Clapton could barely climb the stairs to the stage by the time he went on, but didnt miss a note according to witnesses, and the promoters didnt lose any money.

The DiCesare-Engler partners were generally making money despite the moronic mischief of both bands and fans, but as time wore on artists demanded up to 90 to 95 % of the gross, leaving the promoters to eek out a margin on the parking or concessions. Occasionally, despite winning looking bills, they were coming up short, like the time they lost almost half a million presenting Van Halen & Metallica’s “Monsters of Rock” tour in Pittsburgh.

Here’s a 1980’s era 20 minute video production feature on what a Day In the Life of concert promoter Rich Engler and his staff was like that originally aired in North & Central PA cable TV

A Day In The Life of Rich Engler – 1989 from Rich Engler on Vimeo.

Shot in late 1988 it aired 1/20/89
It also features interviews with Winger & Bad Company filmed by Clarion University

Here’s an interview Rich Engler, Pat DiCesare and their partner Ed Travesari did with a local Pittsburgh TV station talking about some memories they had producing shows at the the old Pittsburgh Civic Arena

Both retired Pittsburgh promoters now have their own websites and books… http://richengler.com and Pat’s http://www.concertpat.com


Celebrity Skin – Darling Can’t You Hear Me ? (Live in SF 1991)

Jason, Bob, Don, Tim and Gary…today’s scary comic book opera characters a.k.a as the musical amalgamation called Celebrity Skin



S.O.S. as performed by Celebrity Skin live at The Kennel Club in San Francisco April 10th 1991

A ramshackle trashy late 80’z rock band from HollyWeird that ceased to exist by 1992, Celebrity Skin played quirky, too clever for their own good, glittering glam punk. They were the height of ridiculousness, perhaps poking fun at their more serious hair metal counterparts on the Sunset Strip, Celebrity Skin were inventing a type of metal that would get you thrown out the Cathouse or Gazzarri’s. Their onstage outfits oft were custom made to look like they were possibly dumpster dived, a mix of ostentatious outlandish and devilish derelict, a bit of gaudy glitter pirate meets tossed out space muppet.

The band was more New York Dolls than slick Hollywood radio rock stereotype, and unfortunately this was not as commercial a concept as their Sunset Strip rocking cohorts Jane’s Addiction, with the ticket selling traction that could sustain such a chameleon-esque commedia dell’arte  project.

Like every Sunset Strip band of that era, the Celeb Skins  were striving and pining to “be signed”, and were surviving on foodstamps & fruit loops, the kindness of stranger’s girlfriends and oft sleeping on floors on tour while opening for bands like Psychic TV.

Bassist Tim Ferris told Mark Lidell of a London based magazine called Riff-Raff when promoting their first and only album a few months after this video was shot : “We’re definitely not a Glam band, we hate that shit on Sunset Strip, y’know, black stretched jeans and all the fuckin’ tattoos and the bullshit…Don’t get me wrong. But if you were in LA you’d know what I was talking about. It’s the worst state rock has ever been in. It’s sexist, it’s prejudiced, it’s homophobic. It’s like everything rock’s not about. “Glam” always had bad connotations for us and then when we went to Germany, last year, everyone was saying that, just the way we used it. They liked it. So we learned through that, that we don’t really care what people call us. We just do what we do. We definitely consider ourselves glamorous, not glam!”

In 1988, Celebrity Skin’s over the top heavy metalized chaotic cheese whiz cover of “S.O.S.” ,originally by Swedish studio wunderkinds ABBA, was recorded and slated for the SST Records compilation put together by Dave Markey called The Melting Plot. The compilation LP featured some of the hottest underground bands around doing classic rock & top 40 covers and was ostensibly the soundtrack to a low budget indie movie that few if anyone ever saw. Click the button to hear a snippet of the studio version…



A website called Sleazegrinder has since surmised Celebrity Skin’s sensibility flew over the heads of the “not in on the joke” flannel wearin’ grunge and metal enthusiasts that were their potential demographic.

“The Celebrity’s still unforgivable androgyny and bizarre sense of humour was even lost on many of my own stonewashed bros from way out, who just never fully appreciated that whole whacky, zany, west coast silly joke-rock vibe, a la the Dickies. A lot of people don’t need their rock to be funny. Especially not rural Metal Church enthusiasts. “

The members of the band were an amalgam of not-so stereotypical rockers, neurotics, egomaniacs, misanthropes and of course, the oddball beat master Don Bolles of The Germs. Guitarist Jason Shapiro, who’d moved to California from Boston apparently once played in an early Verbal Abuse lineup, and is still making music these days as a member of the revitalized Redd Kross. As for the  rest of the Celebrity Skin members, they seem to have flittered off the face of Planet Rock.

I last saw singer Gary Celebrity (née Jacoby) touring via Greyhound bus, performing solo sets in bars to promote his Triple XXX label solo album in Sonoma county and that was over 25 years ago… There was apparently a one-off reunion in 2007 for an outdoor festival in LA but since then, most of the the band members have not made any TMZ headlines since, which actually might be a good thing. I wish they’d all made a final trip up to the SF Bay Area for their reunion a decade ago, as they still have some enthusiastic lingering fans from their hedonist glory days that woulda all loved to see them.

Thanx for the memories Celebrity Skin, glad I got a few minutes of video of you at the peak of your powers on tape that I can share for posterity at least!


Gray Matter – We Will Rock You

Geoff Turner, Mark Haggerty, Dante Ferrando, and Steve Niles unloaded a rawkin’ one buried in the WGNS vaults for decades.

Yes, just in time for the Oscar winning movie to confuse people that missed Queen the first time around, now Gray Matter creates further Gray areas. This time it’s with a punky revamp of Queen’s “We Will Rock You”, a demo was recorded at WGNS when Grey Matter were rehearsing it to play at a benefit concert in DC and then shelved for decades…

Head over to http://SteveNiles.net to get your free MP3 version…

#GrayMatter #Dischord #DCHardcore #QueenTribute

Gray Matter Unreleased DCHC Queen Tribute Track

@LilMikeSF Media Maker Myriorama