“Someone got a great deal on that”

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Michael B

Yes. I was an original employee. It was an interesting place to work. I remember a few musicians who came in - Frank Zappa, Daryl Hall and Tom Hamilton from Aerosmith. I gave Hamilton a ration for doing lines. He apologized. Dennis Eckersley also came in once. For the new wave fans I also saw some interesting shows there - The Fall, Chelsea, Waitresses, Skatt Brothers, The Neighborhoods and the Modettes. In 1981 they moved the WBCN Rumble from The Rat to Spit. One of the bands I saw was the Young Snakes with lead singer Aimee Mann. This was a few years before 'Til Tuesday.

Spit of course had a reputation, but when I went out during law school it was more to "sophisticated" clubs like Maxwell's which was a favorite of Robert Parish among others. I am sure it was incredibly tame compared to Spit.

[Michael B]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Spit of course had a reputation, but when I went out during law school it was more to "sophisticated" clubs like Maxwell's which was a favorite of Robert Parish among others. I am sure it was incredibly tame compared to Spit.

It was actually quite tame. Mainly a lot of 'trendies' from the 'burbs and southern NH and a lot of BU kids. The real punk/new wave scene was the live music clubs like The Rat, Cantones, The Underground, The Club, Lulu White's, 1270 Boylston, The Paradise, The Channel, Bradford Ballroom.

The Paradise was almost a go to club for many bands. It was small at 550 seats, but considered the real club to get into. I saw some good acts there - Ramones, Boomtown Rats, The Cars, Greg Kihn, Waitresses, Thin Lizzy, Rick Derringer, Elvin Bishop, Cheap Trick. I had to work at Spit the night U2 was an opening act.

The Channel was much larger at about 1500 capacity. It was out of the way and with being a poor college student with no car living in the western suburbs I did not go there a lot. I did see The English Beat and the Specials, The Jam, The Fleshtones and the Dead Kennedys.

The Bradford Ballroom, in a hotel across from The Wang Center, was also a good size place that hosted a fair amount of shows. The only one I saw there was Gang of Four with Mission of Burma.

[npa589]

So - at the upcoming National - why don't Net54 members put together a band. I can sing the blank out of some U2 songs, and can do any Billy Joel/Elton John/Bob Seger set that people want to hear...