June 30, 1985 - Pittsburgh, PA
Show Day -
Sunny
Wake up call at 8AM. After showers and eggs for breakfast we loaded up the van with our gear and said goodbye to Jackie. Rocco Sacco showed up and gave us a Jepardy Game. We drove down the block and got a flat tire. This was to be the first of our problems today (more later). After spending 45 minutes changing a tire using bad jacks and bricks etc., we pulled out - got gas and headed West.
Rocco was the singer in a couple of great Philly bands - The Ambush Bugs - a jazzy trio, and The Fabulous Fondas - a rock and roll combo we played many a show with in Philadelphia. The flat tire would prove to be the first of many van troubles we ran into as you will see later on in the tour.
We made good time - Harrisburg in 1.5 hours - continued on til about 1.5 hours away from Pittsburgh and we stopped at a rest area. Dave R. made calls, we took to the bathrooms. Joe and I bought postcards. when we came back to the van we discovered that the hose from the water pump was leaking all over the place. Great! First day out and the van is fucked up. The van still worked but we had a problem that must be taken care of.
Geez - a few hours from home and Joe and I are already buying post cards!
Arrived in Pittsburgh at WRCT - radio station at Carnegie Mellon University. Waited for the music director Lattell. Cool guy - reminded Dave R., Dave B. and I of Wally. He took us to dinner. Spaghetti BAD. Salad GOOD. We went back to the station. Picked LP's for his show. Did interview and plugged the show at the Electric Banana.
The Electric Banana club is no longer but WRCT is still playing good music.
Got to club at 7:30. Played with Vampire Lesbos and Half Life. 'HL' are local stars who have a big ego problem. 'VL' are from Washington State. Pretty good slow sections but their thrash is generic. 'VL' played first - good response. 'HL' second - the crowd went nuts. We played a great show. Less crowd than 'HL'. Their fans we're outside talking to them. Sound was good. Audience was very responsive - not a lot of thrashing though. Got dicked at the door - $80. They brought in $500!!??. We met a few people and got a lead on a show in West Virginia at the end of August. Lattell took us to get pizza and beer. Went to his house for awhile. He put us up in an unused apartment on campus. We got showers and a phone to use too. Got to bed at 3:30AM.
Looks like Half Life have a site and are still going in some fashion.
Posted by Dean at June 30, 1985 01:31 PM
West Virginia.. I am goning to guess one of many shows @ WVU
Well we did play the university at least once, but I remember playing a place called 'The Underground Railroad' more than that. We always had a band called the Larrys open for us. the Club was run by a woman who seemed to be like a mother to some of the younger scensters there if I recall.
If I recall, you guys played the PIKE frat house there(WVU)at least once,correct? I had ALOT of friends at WVU in college and I remember seeing a flier for a DM show @ a frat house. Most GOOD shows at WVU happened at frat houses.
The Banana was famous for dicking bands over. You guys were lucky you got paid. From what I've heard, the owner's usual tactic was pulling a gun on you when you wanted paid.
Fun factoid, in 1986 Half life got a new drummer by the name of Damon Che, who is much more famous as the drummer for Don Caballero. Yup, that Don Caballero.
yup.
it's true, and it's on the Half Life site under Bio.
-C.
Ahhh.. the Underground Railroad. The women you mentioned actually went missing one day and has never been seen since.
From the 123 Pleasant St. Site:
"...April of 1988 was like any other month at the Underground RR, with a bevy of bands playing. This changed on April 25, the day owner Marsha Ferber walked out of the bar and disappeared without a trace. She was never seen again. Marsha was reported missing but the police, her family, and her friends never turned up any substantial leads to her whereabouts either dead or alive. Like Elvis, one can still hear rumours of Marsha sightings from ex-Morgantownies around the world. The case is still open."
The Underground was also named the Nyabinghi Dance Hall (which DM played I think twice), and now 123 Pleasant Street.
Even more shocking to me is that Johnny & Judy Bannana turned the Electfic Bannana into a restaurant. I would *never* think of eating in that place! I'm surprised it didn't fall off the side of the hill it's on already!
DM played at the Nyabinghi (formerly the Underground Railroad) in 1991 or so. I worked there then, was a huge show. We took about 800 people through the door that night, people were lined up the street two blocks to High Street to get in. We had to cycle people in as other people left. Definately one of the biggest nights in Nyabinghi history. Other highlights were Bob Mould's Sugar, and the regular internationally touring rasta bands that Ras Johnny liked to book.
I knew Marsha and she was quite loved by many people in the "scene." She also befriended many of the young scenesters, a group I once belonged to. There are numerous stories about her disappearance, but no one really knows what happened. Except maybe a priviledged few, I suspect, but they're obviously never going to talk.
The Electric Banana was quite a hole, but was a fun place to get pretty wasted. Being from Pittsburgh, I have fond memories of burning some brain cells in that place. And there always was that fear of sliding off the hillside.
DeanO!
Quite a thrill to find the Bugs on the net {another site mentions us, but, since it's in Japanese, I can't read it}. As for the Fondas, you're the first to mention us--not that Detroit outfit of the same name. Ah, 1985! When you were young and humble {except for Rod, of course--born old and arrogant as, well, as Rod}. I still have a bunch of postcards Joe sent me from that tour and well I remember watching "The Grapes of Wrath" with you guys after you returned. As I recall, when we saw the Okies being warned that their kind was unwelcome in California, your comment was along the lines of, "I wish they'd told US that when we crossed the border...California was Hell."
By the way, whatever happened to that Jeopardy game?
Ho Ho Rocco!
Nice to hear from you. I have no idea where that game went. Maybe the California authorities confiscated it on our way out of the state!?
The next week or so of the tour makes its way into the golden state and you'll hear about the horror (or boredom?) soon enough.
I'm surfin around lookin for info on the Vampire Lesbos. Dave L. used to live in Portland, and played soome kick ass shows. Last I heard they were in WashingtonLooking for a Bass player
very saddened to read news of marsha's disappearance...she and her husband, sam, had an amazing bookstore in madison, nj called "make up your mind" when i was a teenager (early 70's). my boyfriend, peter, and i, and our friends, spent lots of time there soaking up the ferbers knowledge and kindness, political savvy, and reveling in their zest for life. it's a place in my memories that i have returned to many times, and for some reason today decided to hunt for marsha online. the "mothering" description of her in a previous entry tells me this is the same woman, for sure. godspeed marsha and family.
