Archival Buffalo News feature articles

        A return visit to the charming little stone cottage in the woods of northern Amherst for a sequel to the story about a band a few weeks earlier, in which a member of that band makes a cameo appearance:   Nov. 6, 1971   Promotion a Hassle But Worth It           Buffalo ’s newest and youngest rock concert promoter slouches kinda sideways behind his sunglasses, looking about as disheveled as his living room.         Steve Goldstein didn’t even get his full five hours of sleep last night. Closed his father’s club – The Yellow Monkey – at 4 a.m. and some guy comes by at dawn to borrow a shotgun to go hunting.         Strewn with tickets, posters and handbills, this idyllic stone cottage in the north Amherst woods is promotion headquarters for the show Steve’s Ironspur Music is bringing to Memorial Auditorium this coming Monday night.         And so the afternoon parades before his heavy-lidded eyes – errand-goers, friends, associates inching cautiously around each ot

  Here's the man who transformed  the corner of Franklin and Edward streets in   Buffalo into  a little piece of Greenwich Village  in the early 1960s . I still think of that storefront as the Limelight Gallery. Among the people performing there at the beginning of their careers were Eric Andersen and John Kay of Steppenwolf.   Oct. 30, 1971 Sing He Must Jerry Raven Carries on with New Partner   The cards slap into seven solitaire piles just like they had minds of their own and Jerry Raven tells a couple college-age kids there won’t be any guitar workshop here today because nothing’s prepared and that’s because the guys from WPHD hadn’t told him about it. “Sorry,” Jerry says and the kids shrug and walk out of the Limelight Gallery into the grey, wet Saturday afternoon. Once through the deck, Las Vegas style. Five clubs, three hearts, ace of diamonds, ace of spades. He pulls the cards together and shuffles. He and his wife, Carol, a teacher at West Hertel Middle S

  Straight outta Starpoint, Timothy McVeigh’s alma mater – a Niagara County band with an appetite for destruction.   Oct. 23, 1971 Aggression Is Their Bag They’d Be Actors If Not Musicians           If somebody could tap into all the stray teenybopper energy kicking around this particular night in the C. E. M. Center on Buffalo’s West Side , he could probably power enough amps to run Led Zeppelin, Grand Funk and a small aluminum smelter besides.         But don’t think it’s easy. Ask those five guys up on the proscenium arch stage of the old second-floor church hall, overlooking this sea of joking, poking, cruising and chasing.         “These kids!” one says. “Play a couple hot numbers and bleah-h-h, nothing!” * * * AT FRUSTRATING times like this, most rock musicians start thinking of how they can punish the crowd with sound.         But this group – Bags is their name – is plenty loud already and besides, they’ve got this one number that lets EVERYTHING loose.  

  Oct. 16, 1971 Diane Taber Singing Better Than Ever   If advertising is supposed to raise curiosity, then the signs at the corner of Delaware Avenue and Virginia Street did their job. GP Recording Artist Diane Taber. Could it be that she’s made a break? A look at the petite, auburn-haired vocalist reveals that the exuberance of 1½ years ago is blooming with a bit of elegant maturity – ease and confidence in a long-sleeved floor-length dress. Her second show begins with a subdued but urgent version of “Get Ready” with the Bill Maggio Trio bumping and thumping and not quite jumping into the forbidden frenzy of rock ‘n’ roll. It’s a real test of their convictions. * * * NOW THAT clubs are bandwagoned with cocktail rock and high-powered show groups, it’s refreshing to hear a little breeze of cocktail jazz again. And pianist Bill Maggio is a master of the idiom.         It’s most effective on the Carole King songs. The “Tapestry” songbook is on the piano and the set is h

  Superstar alert! See the Footnote:   Oct. 9, 1971   Riding the Gospel Circuit   Keystones Make Buffalo Their Base, Travel the Country by Bus           “ Years of time have come and gone         Since I first heard it told         How my Jesus would come back to earth again.         If back then it seemed so real         Then I just can’t help but feel         How much closer His Coming is today. * * *         For the sins of the times are everywhere,         There’s a brand new feeling in the air.         Keep your eyes upon the Eastern sky,         Lift up your head, redemption draweth nigh.”           That’s “Redemption Draweth Nigh.” And The Keystones belted it out behind Joe Bonsall’s tremory tenor at least twice this week at the International Gospel Music Convention, saving it for last because it’s the one that brings crowds to their feet.         “When you say gospel,” Joe says, “most people think of a hallelujah tent meeting. But our type of