Archival Buffalo News feature articles

  In my book, one of the best Rich Stadium concerts.   Aug. 22, 1977 A No-Nonsense Fest Bathed in Sunshine, Compliments of ‘Yes’             Superfest 12 Saturday was a sunfest too.           British singer-songwriter Donovan, blinking into the brightness, sounded the first amplified notes of the day at high noon, earliest start ever in the history of rock concerts at Rich Stadium.           The headliners, progressive rock quintet Yes, encored and exited well before they needed to switch on the stadium floodlight towers. Mother Nature threw in her own encore: A brilliant sunset for the drive home.           Yes was responsible for the daylight show. It was their request that moved the starting time ahead from the original 3 p.m. They hadn’t wanted to perform partly in sun and partly in darkness. * * * THE EARLY HOUR had its side benefits. Most of the be-denimed young concertgoers – approximately 33,200, according to co-promoter Festival East – didn’t have time to

  Fleetwood Mac at their absolute max. “Dreams” had just given them their first and only Number One single and their popularity was so immense that their one sold-out show at Memorial Auditorium wound up turning into two. July 5, 1977 ‘Mac’ Is Memorable In Two Super Sellouts            “This is a song about a witch.” Stevie Nicks murmured it into the mike, still saying it a year after “Rhiannon” went Number One, talking over the tawny riff of Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar intro.           She was all flowing black and she stood absolutely still as the music rose into the first verse. She sang it with her arms folded under a pair of sheer black scarves: “Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night/ And wouldn’t you love to love her …”           The spotlight illuminated half her face and most of the frizzy blonde abandon of her hair. This song, more than any other, burned the vamp image of Stevie Nicks into the libidos of all the young men in the 14,000-seat double sell-out i

  One of my favorite assignments – the annual pilgrimage to Centre Island in Toronto Harbor . June 25, 1977 At Mariposa Fest Individual Ingenuity Reigns Here            TORONTO – The bad news came moments after arrival in this magical metropolis – Kate and Anna McGarrigle would not be at the 17th Mariposa Folk Festival this weekend.           The McGarrigles from Montreal are little known to the world at large, but with two albums on a major record label they’re closer to stardom than almost anyone else in this smorgasbord of folk music.           Their high-school-girl harmonies were expected to provide some of the rarest moments in these three days of picking, singing, storytelling and dancing on the island park in Toronto Harbor .           Their cancellation came at the last moment. The reason: Anna’s pregnancy, now in its sixth month. Their big-name replacement is an excellent one, though – David Bromberg. * * * MARIPOSA ALWAYS has a few so-called headline