12/31/80 - 29 Years Ago Today in Minneapolis - Husker Du

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

I wasn't at this show - I was only 10 years old and still a few years away from giving a crap about anything other than my beloved Kiss. But on New Years Eve 80/81, the Huskers were the third band on a bill of four at the 7th Street Entry. This was in the days when our legendary "1st Avenue" was still called "Sams". I was lucky enough to find this mint condition ad in an old copy of a local entertainment paper (I paid $1.oo for it!) called "Sweet Potato" - which was an early version of what is now "City Pages."

12/31/05 - 4 Years Ago Today in Andover, MN - Warrant/Gel

(Images via: NYCDreamin Archives)

I usually don't go out on New Years Eve - it's usually too cold, too much hassle, too many obnoxious drunks (I don't mind drunks, just the obnoxious ones) and too many cops on the roads. But 4 years ago today, I made an exception and "337", his brother and I decided to head out for the evening to catch some 80's hair metal in Andover, just over an hour's drive from my house. It was cold out and I was wondering if it would be worth the trip. I'd seen Warrant once before (at the Hairball 2002) but was a bit more enthused to see them this time. Seems lead vocalist Jani Lane had been booted from the band due to "behavioral problems" (read: He was a booze-soaked mess) and he had been replaced with a fellow named Jamie St. James - formerly of the very under-rated Black and Blue, a band I'd always enjoyed. It's almost criminal they weren't more widely recognized as a superior band of the genere.



We arrived at POV's early enought to catch the opening band, Gel. That was a mistake on our part. I'll never get those 45 minutes of my life back and it's a shame because they were totally wasted on this band. They just didn't seem to have it together at all - they'd start a song - then stop midway through - seemingly not knowing the entire song. The songs they did complete - they butchered. They seemed to be having fun but it seemed most of the crowd who'd turned up for Warrant was in agony - just wishing these guys would hurry up and get off the stage.



Warrant finally came out and they were on fire - a totally different band from what you may remember about them from the 80's. Yeah, they sang "Cherry Pie" and some others you probably know and hate, but they also played a smokin' version of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (I always did like the bass line in that song) and several songs from my favorite CD of theirs, 1992's largely ignored "Dog Eat Dog," also some songs I wasn't familiar with from some of their later CD's that I don't own. They dressed in a cool "street clothes" style - looking nothing like the spandex-hairspray warriors they had been known as back in the day. I was particulary impressed with guitarist Joey Allen (who'd also just recently rejoined the band after a few years away) - now sporting a bald look, and just menacing the crowd with his guitar - the guy is very talented. And seeing the band led by Jamie St. James was a real treat - he's 10 times the vocalist Jani Lane could ever hope to be and had a much better stage presence as well. Much to my amazement they even included "Hold On To 18," a classic Black and Blue tune, in the setlist.

So yeah, I went to see Warrant and enjoyed it...I'll admit it. Exactly one year later, on 12/31/06, the band returned here again, playing a New Years Eve show at the PrimeTime Sports Bar & Grille in Burnsville, MN. I didn't make it out to that one. About a year after that, the band booted Jamie St. James and tried to make another go of it with that turd Jani Lane. I guess he made it through a few shows and was then promptly dumped by the band again. Don't know what they've been up to since then, but I do know they have not played the Minneapolis/St. Paul market for some time now...

12/28/02 - 7 Years Ago Today in St. Paul, MN - B.T.O./Head East/Mark Farner

(Images via: NYCDreamin Archives)

A few days after Christmas 2002 I found myself with not much to do and I'd been hearing radio spots for this show in St. Paul featuring B.T.O., Head East, and Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad. The price certainly was right - only $9.92 (+ those damn Ticketmaster fees - which actually were not so bad back in '02) so I decided what the hell, I might as well go.



I left a bit early in the afternoon to do a little browsing in St. Paul before the show. One of the antique stores I stopped in at actually had a small selection of vinyl so I went through it and turned up a 7" single of "Bad Time" by Grand Funk from 1975. It only cost a dollar so I thought I might as well pick it up and bring it to the show on the off chance I might manage to meet Mr. Farner. Glad I did...


A 7" single by Grand Funk from 1975 - "Bad Time" - autographed by Mark Farner.

Mark Farner(who left Grand Funk behind when they disbanned in 1977) and his band of Detroit musicians were up first and they played a great set of blues-based material, including several Grand Funk classics. After they were finished I moved myself over to the security gates that were near the right front of the stage, and sure enough, several others were lining up there as well for a chance to meet Mr. Grand Funk. A few minutes later he appeared and was happy to greet his fans and sign autographs. I was glad I'd picked up that 7"!!

Mission accomplished, I headed upstairs to the upper deck for a better spot to view the rest of the show. Head East played next and I was surprised I knew so many of their tunes without ever having owned one of their albums - I guess years spent listening to local classic rocker KQRS-FM was probably the reason for this.

Then B.T.O. came out and they sounded really amazing actually. I always thought they'd be kinda cheesy live, this was the first time I'd seen them despite having had several chances to do so previously, and I was really impressed. They sounded...heavy! The singer even commented on this about half-way through their set, saying "Wow. I don't know what it is about this place (the Roy Wilkens Auditorium) but we sound like a Heavy Metal band in here!" I don't know if I'd go that far, but they did sound thick and heavier than I expected. Actually, most bands I've seen over the years at the Roy Wilkens (and there have been MANY) have sounded very good - there's just something about that venue thats very condusive to live music. Anyway, the show was a great way to spend a late December evening with three bands who had produced so much classic rock through the years - it was like stepping back into the late 1970's for an evening and it was, unlike the title of the Grand Funk 7" pictured here, a very good time.

2009: The Year In Review

Well, 2009 is almost kaput and I'm a bit low on stuff to blog right now so I thought I'd take some time today to put together a sort of "greatest hits" list from the past year here at ThisAintTheSummerOfLove - just in case you missed anything! So without further ado, here we go...


January 2009. Just six days into the new year and we lost a guitar great - Ron Asheton of the Stooges was found dead in his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan on January 6th. Then on the 13th, music biz mover and shaker Gary Kurfirst passed away while vacationing in the Bahamas. On January 17th, with temperatures in the mid-teens, I attended the Laura Kennedy Benefit Concert at Nick and Eddie in Minneapolis. The show featured local experimental musicians Skoal Kodaik, former Pere Ubu vocalist David Thomas, Minneapolis punk pioneers The Suicide Commandos and Laura's old band, the sublimely noisy Bush Tetras of NYC. At the time of this writing, almost a year later, Laura is still on the mend, doing well and living in Minneapolis and expecting to take delivery of a new puppy sometime soon. Also in January 2009, I set up a Flickr page to host my photos and other graphics from my private collection - now numbering over 1,200 images - all for the betterment of this blog.


In February 2009 we spent time looking into the rock and roll past of the seedy old Hotel Diplomat in New York City and on February 4th, we were saddened to hear about the passing of yet another punk legend. Lux Interior, founder and vocalist of the seminal psychobilly-punk outfit The Cramps was pronounced dead at age 62. Also during February, a cool new book, with the catchy title, "This Ain't The Summer of Love" (!?!), written by Steve Waksman was released. The book examines the similarities and differences in the cultures of punk and heavy metal and is must-read material for any self-respecting metal-head/punk.

In March 2009, inspired by a piece over at EVGrieve, we unearthed the story of Urbain J. Ledoux, better known as Mr. Zero, champion of the homeless and down-and-outers of New York City during the 1920's and 1930's. I also recounted an experience I had 5 years earlier in New York City in March of 2004, my completely unexpected meeting with legendary CBGB owner Hilly Kristal.


In April 2009, after 125 years in business, my local bakery closed on April 11th. Also in April, I met my amazing girfriend, known here as "The Gorgeous One."


In May 2009 On may 5th, the New York Dolls released their new CD "Cause I Sez So." We went to see the mighty Testament on the 10th, attended an Art Festival about a week later, spent some time remembering Magic Tramps vocalist Eric Emerson on the 34th anniversary of his passing on May 28th, and celebrated our 1st Anniversary of publication just a day later on the 29th.


June 2009 was a busy month. We were happy to read a great interview with our friend-in-blogging Karate Boogaloo of "Stupefaction" on the always cool blog "Ephemera". On June 9th, Sonic Youth released their new CD, "The Eternal." Spent some time remembering my Mom and looking at some of her artwork on what would have been her 66th birthday on June 10th. On June 13th, the Gorgeous One and I attended the 5th Annual Famous Dave's BBQ & Blues Fest in Minneapolis. A few days later, on the 16th, Spinal Tap released their new CD "Back from the Dead." In June 2009, I was also honored to have two of my photographs from previous trips to NYC included in the 2009 edition of the "Schmap Online Guide to NYC." Michael Jackson suddenly passed away on June 25th and we had a laugh about that. I also travelled to Iowa for the first time ever in June. Unfortunately we didn't have time to stop in Clear Lake and visit all the rock and roll history located there. Maybe next time.


July 2009. I cancelled my planned trip over the 4th of July week to NYC - decided it would still be there next year, I wanted to spend the 4th with the Gorgeous One. Early in the month, our friend Sesu Coleman, drummer of the Magic Tramps was interviewed by Punk Globe Magazine. On July 2nd, the Gorgeous One and I went to St. Paul to attend concerts by QuietDrive, HaleStorm and Chevelle at the annual Taste of Minnesota Festival. We returned the following day, July 3rd to rock out with Whitesnake and the always amazing and heavy Judas Priest. On July 10th, the Gorgeous One and I began our move to our new digs...she moved across the parking lot and I moved all the way down the hall. I also began putting up a series of old postcard views of New York city. Our friend Ed Siejka was kind enough to send along a poem he wrote about an anonymous persons journey to New York City and we featurd it along with a postcard view of Washington Square Park in late July.


August 2009 found me in a mood to reflect on the past and some of the events of my youth. Ed sent along another cool piece he wrote, this one inspired by a scene he had witnessed outside Max's Kansas City so many years ago. We mourned the death of a legend on August 13th with the passing of Les Paul. I also spent some time enjoying the amazing book "Smack: Heroin and the American City" which had been released in 2008.


After a slow August, September was again another busy month. I finally managed to get all my photos from my 2004, 2006 and 2007 NYC vacations posted to my Flickr page. I also joined the rest of the world - I FINALLY set up a FaceBook page. I also read the highly interesting but unfortunately poorly written "I Doll: Life and Death with the New York Dolls" by Arthur "Killer" Kane. We went back to the glorious years of the early-mid 1970's and relived the magic that was the Coventry out in Queens, NYC. On September 10th, the Gorgeous One and I went to see Snow Patrol in Minneapolis. September 11th came, and as we rememberd the events of 2001, we lost another New York City legend. Jim Carroll - poet, writer, musician - dead at the age of 60. September 15th saw the release of the amazing new CD from Ace Frehley titled "Anomaly. It was his first solo release sine 1989's "Trouble Walkin." On September 19th, I had the pleasure of interviewing "Punking Out" DVD director Ric Shore via telephone about his amazing movie that captured the infantcy and rise of the punk scene at CBGB during 1977. This was one of the high points of this past year for this blogger. We ended the month by attending a blistering concert by Living Colour at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis on the 30th. We shot some pretty great video and were even fortunate enough to meet the band and score a few autographs.


In October 2009, we took a look back at what was, in it's day, the premiere nightclub in New York City, The Cheetah. The month of October also provided some seriously good reading material with the release of Tony Fletcher's "All Hopped Up and Ready To Go: Music from the Streets of New York 1927 - 1977." If you have not read this book yet all I can say is you are missing out. Hard rock/Heavy Metal pioneer Dickie Peterson of Blue Cheer passed away on October 12th. On October 23rd, I began posting what has become the largest project in the short history of this blog, the large-and-ever-expanding "Max's Kansas City: The Dates and Details." This, to me, is another of the highlights of the past year. I once more would like to take the time to thank those who took the time to submit information for this project - it was nice meeting some of the new friends I've made throughout the course of this project. I'll continue to add to this one so continue to check back periodically. Also in October, one of our favorite bloggers seems to have gone M.I.A. - the always informative and entertaining "Hunter Gatherer" seems to have called it a day as of October 1st. You will be missed my friend. The month ended with memories of Halloweens past - 1977 and 1987 , a Halloween with Black Sabbath in Minneapolis in 1992, and one of the greatest days of my life, the night I met Ace Frehley on Halloween of 1994.



The world became just a bit more brutal in November 2009 with the release on November 2nd of the new Slayer CD, "World Painted Blood." We went back to 1982 to examine the myth of "TV-CBGB" - the jury is still out on whether it ever aired or not. Kiss returned to Minneapolis on November 7th with special guest BuckCherry for a nearly sold-out show at the Target Center. You know I didn't miss that one - but you also know I was wearing an Ace Frehley t-shirt - making sure everyone who gave a shit (and those who didn't as well) know where I stand on the current lineup of the band. I though about not going but after being a fan for 32 years it's kinda in my blood. But I think this will be the last time I see them...I'd like to remember them on a high-note and the show WAS pretty good. I found an amazing bargain - a book titled "Hart's Guide to New York City" - published in 1964. Chock full of amzing information about places that have long since vanished (and some that are, surprisingly, still there) I paid only $3.00 for this little 1,300 page gem. On November 17th I almost shit my pants when it was announced that Slayer and Megadeth were announcing a US tour for early 2010. The kicker? Testament will be the opener. I have been waiting for over 20 years to see Slayer and Testament share the stage. Megadeth? Not so much. Thanksgiving came and Ed Siejka sent us "Some Things To Consider". The month ended with my discovery of yet another great, gritty, early 70's NYC crime film - 1973's "The Seven Ups".

Which brigs us to December 2009. It's all pretty current but here are a few highlights. Mickey Leigh and Legs McNeil's new book, "I Slept With Joey Ramone" was released to great expectation on December 1st. It is an amazing, enjoyable, emotionally exhausting read. The Gorgeous One and I put up our Christmas tree on December 6th, with the supervision of our cat, Oreo. On December 8th we marked the fifth anniversary of the death of metal-god Dimebag Darrell. On the 18th we went to Minneapolis to spend an evening with Mickey Leigh and Legs McNeil who had a book reading/signing event at Nick & Eddies in Minneapolis. We got to meet the guys and get our copy of the new book signed - it was a very fun evening. Then on the 24th, as we were ready to begin celebrating Christmas, we were hit with the Holiday Snow Storm from Hell that just wouldn't quit.

It was a busy year. All the above events and much more were chronicled here. And now there are just a few days left of 2009. It seems like just yesterday we were all running around screaming "Y2K!! Y2K!!," stocking up on water and canned goods and fearing our entire civilization would come crashing down as all our computers shut down, unable to make the switch from 1999 to 2000. Oh, how silly we were back in those days. It's been an amazing decade full of highs and lows and some changes we never could have imagined back then. But we're all still here, for better or worse and I look forward to see what the world will throw our way in the new year and new decade.

Thanks to each and every one of you who have taken the time to read and/or comment over the past year. Best wishes for a happy, healthy, rockin' 2010 to all of you!

Christmas Eve 2009 - Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful

So the snow started falling here late yesterday afternoon (12/23) and continued sporadically throughout the evening and all night. We awoke this morning, Christmas Eve 2009, to find several inches of snow covering everything and promising to make the afternoon commute to the relatives for Christmas celebrations a messy one. This is a shot of the parking lot at our apartment complex (facing East) just before sunrise.


Here is the scene out in front of our building looking southwest. The plows had been out overnight but the snow had continued to fall and the roads were already in need of another plowing at 6:30am.


The bushes outside our door were covered with a heavy coating of snow. There was no sign of the small birds that live in these bushes at the early hour of 6:30 but by 8:00am or so they had managed to burrow their way out and were busy looking for some food...any food. Good luck to you little birds...


My neighbors have lots of work ahead of them if they plan to go anywhere today...




I decided since I was up early I'd get a jump on things and clean off the car and dig it out so it would be easier to leave later in the day. But we're expecting more snow (an additional 6" they say) so who knows...I may have wasted my time.


NOT good weather for a bike ride - but I'm sure some of the kids will give it a whirl.


A few shots of the snow-covered Pine Trees on the East side of our lot. They look beautiful with the fresh covering of snow - a White Christmas indeed!



Merry Christmas to all my friends old and new. Hope your holiday celebrations are filled with family, good friends, delicious food and rock and roll.

"This Is One Play That Isn't Going To Be Commercial!"

12/18/09 - An Evening with Mickey Leigh and Legs McNeil in Minneapolis, MN

(All images and videos via NYCDreamin Archives)

The Gorgeous One and I had a nice evening out last night at the Nick and Eddie restaurant in Minneapolis. This was the first time either of us had attended an event like this and we were really looking forward to it. We arrived around 7:30pm and a had a tasty dinner. We had the Nick and Eddie burger and fries...really adventerous, I know. Anyway. After we finished eating we found ourselves a suitable spot at the bar and settled in to wait for the arrival of Mickey and Legs. They showed up around 8:30pm, said hello to a few people they obvioulsy knew, then disappeared for a while, but were back out and on the small, dimly lit stage just after 9:00pm.

They kicked things off, reading a few select, touching and humorous passages from their great new book "I Slept With Joey Ramone". They received a round of applause after finishing each segment. Nick and Eddie is kind of a dimly lit joint, and I didn't want to disturb them while they were reading by having the flash turned on on my camera, so my photos and videos turned out kind of dark. Here is one of the few still photos I shot from our vantage point at the bar...


Mickey Leigh and Legs McNeil reading from "I Slept with Joey Ramone"

I also shot some video - again, being that the restaurant was rather dimly lit and crowded, the videos turned out kind of dark - along with the occasional waitress or waiter walking into the frame - but the audio turned out pretty well actually and you can hear Mickey and Legs reading some of the amusing stories from this incredible book...


Here, Mickey and Legs are reading about the time Mickey and Joey met President Dwight D. Eisenhower when they were kids...


Mickey and Legs read from the section of the book where they discuss the origins and the early days of the Ramones.

After they read a few sections of the book, they opened up the floor for a discussion and Q&A session. It was very informal and amusing - Mickey and Legs are both pretty funny guys. People asked questions about what they thought of the the current state of the music industry (you can imagine what they had to say about that!), the "Rock and Roll High School" movie, early Ramones tour stories and other things. The answers were insightful, humorous and quite entertaining.


In this segment, Mickey and Legs discuss the weather on the Chicago stop on their book tour, Oprah Winfrey and Steadman, Prince and Vanity, and answer a few questions from the audience.


In this segment they discuss the movie Rock & Roll High School and answer a few more audience questions.

Near the end of the Q&A segment, I spotted some people getting up to leave. They had been sitting at a table much closer to the stage than where the Gorgeous One and I had been sitting, so as soon as they left, we grabbed our stuff and rushed over to grab the new, better vantage point. I shot one more video of the Q&A segement from this spot, which as I said, was much closer to the tiny, dimly lit stage...


In this segment they discuss Joey Ramones brief self-imposed stay at St. Vincents Psychiatric Hospital and a fan who wrote them a letter about how inspirational the book was to her.

After over an hour of reading and discussion, Mickey and Legs announced (as seen in the above video clip) that they were gonna take a short break, "to smoke some crack and shoot some Heroin," (I told you, they're funny guys!) and when they came back out, Mickey would sing a few Ramones classics with a local band who were quickly assembling their equipment on the stage. About 15 minutes passed and soon Mickey was back on the stage and he and this band of local guys (sorry, I didn't catch the name of your band guys!) launched into a mini-set of Ramones tunes. I had NOT expected this and I was so glad this event was taking place at Nick and Eddie instead of some Barnes and Noble bookstore or this would have never happened. It was a short set, consisting of only three tunes but it was pretty cool just the same. These video are EXTREMELY dark as there was no overhead lighting above the stage and the small light that had been on the tables while they were reading had now been removed. Pretty much all you see in these clips is shadows...but you can hear the music just fine...


1) "I Want You Around" - 2) "I Just Want To Have Something To Do"


3. "Questioningly"

They wrapped up the short music set and Mickey announced that now he and Legs would be sitting at a table up front near the stage to sign copies of the book and whatever else anyone brought with for autographs...



I had, of course, brought along my copy of "I Slept With Joey Ramone"...




...and one other item to be signed. I thought about bringing my copy of Legs' other book, the amazing "Please Kill Me," but decided instead on another choice, my copy of the beautiful photo-book "CBGB: Thirty Years from the Home of Underground Rock." I figured since Legs spent so much time hanging out there (and there are a few great photos of him in it), and Mickey had performed there with different bands since as far back as 1977 (but, curiously, no photos of him in the book!) that would be an excellent choice...


Since there are no photos of him inside the book, I had Mickey sign on the page opposite the title page.


I chose this photo of Legs with the one and only beautiful Sable Starr for him to sign. He added a great line to his signature as well.

After I got my books signed there wasn't much else to do except stand around and watch the other people in line get theirs signed as well, so we decided it was time to head for home...it was after 11:00pm by this point and it had been a long, pleasant evening spent listening to tales of the early-mid '70 NYC punk scene with two of it's major participants.

12/16/00 - 9 Years Ago Today in Burnsville, MN - Flipp

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

On this day in 2000, Flipp gave a free concert at the music store "CD Warehouse" in Burnsville - an early Christmas present of sorts for their Minneapolis/St. Paul area fans. Overnight there had been a heavy snowfall which continued on throughout the morning and by around noon there was about 6-8 inches of fresh, heavy wet snow to deal with. I thought maybe the show would be cancelled, so I called CDWarehouse and was assured that the show would go on no matter how shitty the weather got. So "337" and I bundled up and headed for Burnsville, ready to rock 'n' roll.

When we arrived around 1:00pm we were surprised to see that quite a few other people had braved the horrid road conditions and had already arrived as well. The band were busy setting up their equipment at the far end of the cramped store as people continued to arrive and pack into the extremely small store. I could hardly believe they were gonna play in this space but it promised to be fun and interesting. When it was time for them to play they came out and BLASTED. I thought maybe since it was in the store, and since it was in a mini-mall and there were other businesses on either side of the place they would keep the volume to a respectful level (whatever that is) - but no, the band cranked it up and were quite loud. Loud enough that at one point a guy came in from the store next door and reported they were knocking stuff of his shelves! Cool!

They performed their usual set of high-energy rock-punk originals to probably about one hundred people jammed into the small store and we were all having a blast. It was a great way to spend a few hours on a cold, snowy afternoon. After they finished they hung out for a while, meeting fans and friends and signing autographs and handing out the most recent set of promotional "Flipp Trading Cards." Soon it was time to go back out into the weather and brave to roads for the drive home.

Check out a great set of photos from this show taken by fan Brett Zisler HERE.

12/15/98 - 11 Years Ago Today in Minneapolis, MN - Kiss/Econoline Crush

(All images via: NYCDreamin Archives)


Long-time readers of this blog will already know I've been to a Kiss concert...or 12. I think I've put up stuff about most of them - I think this is the last one - much to the relief of some of you I'm sure. This was the "Psycho Circus Tour" that took place in 1998 - 1999 in support of the album of the same name.




The Kiss Hype was still in full effect from the highly successful "Reunion Tour" that had run from 1996-1997. This time when the band rolled through here, the local hard rock radio stations got in on the hype, both of them had vans parked near the Target Center handing out cool Kiss "Promo Items" like the cool sticker shown above that was given out by Rock100.3FM. I used to have a bunch of these but have sold most of them during the years since the concert. I sold 'em for $5.00 each and probably made about $50.00 or so - not bad for a "freebie."


Radio station 93X was also in attendance, handing out these "Kiss My Ass" stickers. Same story as above - I picked up several, kept a few, and sold the rest, netting another easy $50.00. So that's $100.00 made on some free promotional stickers...not bad, not bad at all.


Since this was being billed as the "1st ever 3-D tour" by a rock group, these "3-D" glasses were handed out to people as they entered the arena for the show. I got a pair, walked out, re-entered and received another pair. I did this a few times and wound up with about 10 pairs. I kept 2 and sold the rest.

The show was pretty intense - another great evening of classic rock from the original painted foursome. They opened the show with the title track to the new CD "Psyco Circus" which sounded pretty cool live. They played a few other tunes from the new CD as well which was nice. There were reports from later in the tour that Peter and Ace were dropping the ball due to old bad habits resurfacing, but that was not evident at this show - the whole band was ON. The 3-D thing? It was pretty cool but not as stunning as I'd imagined it would be. All in all, it was a memorable show.


As we were leaving the show, some people from the Econoline Crush crew were outside on the sidewalk in front of the Target Center handing out these black & white promo postcards. I snatched up around a dozen and have sold all of them but 1. So just from free promotional stuff handed out at this show I've managed to make a pretty decent chunk of change over the years - enough to pay for my ticket and t-shirt and tour book and a few dollars to spare. Entrepreneurialism among the Kiss fan community - you gotta love it.


The Minneapolis Star Tribune ran this beautiful color photo on the front page of the "Metro Section" the following day. Click HERE to see a larger version and read what it says.


Here is the review of the show from the Star Tribune - click HERE to see larger size and read the review.


(Image by Mike Lavoie via KissAsylum.com)

Over at KissAsylum.com there is an amazing gallery of about 75 photos like the one above from this show shot by a fan named Mike Lavoie - click HERE to go to the gallery - then scroll down to the 9th set of photos - listed as "Minneapolis" and check out all his beautiful photos.

I'll leave you with one "Psycho Circus"-era tune that was not included on the CD - it was a non-album track that wound up on a bonus CD in a special 3-D video package the band put out with featuring he title track. The bonus track was written by Gene Simmons and sung by Ace Frehley, titled "In Your Face." It should have been included on the CD as it's stronger than alot of the material that was on that album.

12/13/02 - 7 Years Ago Today in Maplewood, MN - Night Ranger/Knight Crawler

Full Color Poster for 12/13/02 Night Ranger/Knight Crawler concert at The Rock in Maplewood, MN.
(All Images via: NYCDreamin Archives)

This was maybe the 3rd of 4th time I'd seen Night Ranger in concert. They always put on a good solid show of classic 80's-style hard rock. Opening this show were local band Knight Crawler - it seems like they've been around here forever and have opened for just about everybody. I wasn't overly impressed...I think they go over big with the "Skynyrd/Allmans" crowd - they appear good at what they do but it just isn't my thing.

Night Ranger was great though, as always. I think this was the show where they were using Great White's keyboard player Michael Lardie, as their own keyboardist, Alan Fitzgerald, was off on tour with Bruce Springsteen, where he undoubtedly makes much more money playing to sold out arenas instead of playing for 500 fans in a small rock-club.

After the show was over, guitarists Brad Gillis and Jeff Watson, and drummer Kelly Keaggy (who, for quite some time lived in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area) made themselves available to fans for autographs and handshakes. They seemed like pretty nice, down to Earth guys and were willing to sign anything and everything - as many items as you had. I'd brought a just a few items and wound up getting them all signed.

The next time I would see Night Ranger, just 8 months later, it would be for free at the 2003 RibFest in Minneapolis, along with the dreaded (by me anyway) Firehouse, Minneapolis area legends Morris Day and the Time of all groups, and a few other local bands. Talk about a diverse bill...but that's a story for another time.


Guitar's Practicing Musicians Vol. 2 Cassette J-Card (1991) - Autographed by Brad Gillis


"Big Life" CD Booklet Cover (1987)- Autographed by Jeff Watson


"Big Life" CD Booklet Inside Page (1987) - Autographed by Kelly Keaggy


"Big Life" CD Booklet Inside Pages (1987) - Autographed by Brad Gillis


"Forever All Over Again" CDSingle (1997) - Autographed by Kelly Keaggy, Brad Gillis, Jeff Watson