Friday, June 12, 2009
Naturally enough, I think of Bruce Eaton as a jazz guy, but he has written a book about Big Star, and apparently Bruce was a punk rocker.There were some great clubs in Buffalo back then-- The Continental was the one I knew best, but Bruce played with Alex Chilton at McVan's, which was also a magnificently seedy venue. There's a Wilson Farms store on the corner of Niagara and Hertel where McVan's used to be, and I think someone is trying to turn the Continental into condos. Although there's something of a tour market for old Buffalo bars, it seems to center mostly on the blue color joints where people who had jobs drank after shoveling grain for ten hours. It would be interesting to go on a tour of some of the sites where Buffalo's punk rock scene flourished before flaming out-- dog-collar bars, I guess you'd call them. One of the other great rock institutions of those days was Gary Storm's Oil of Dog program. I think I'd want a recording of an Oil of Dog program, with the wolf howling at the intro, playing on the tour bus, to replicate the experience of driving to Hotel California, or the Central Park Grill at 2 AM on a Saturday.
// posted by Bill @ 8:53 AM 
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