Archival Buffalo News feature articles

  Pot, popcorn and the Grateful Dead   April 15, 1978 review Sound Problems Fatal to ‘Dead’ Film             “I can’t believe this is happening,” the kid in the back near the projection booth is saying. “I can come back, but I’m not gonna be able to come back the way I am now.” He grins wildly.           The house lights have come up about an hour into “The Grateful Dead Movie” in the Century Theater Friday night. Instead of refunds, there are passes good for any of the other showings of the rock concert film tonight and tomorrow.           “What if we drove 40 miles to get here tonight?” a disappointed young woman with blond hair asks theater manager Phil Rosen in the lobby.           Rosen demurs.           “There’s no way I can issue you a refund right now,” he says. “If you can’t make it back, send the green refund stub to my attention and I’ll see what I can do.”           The problem, Rosen says when the furor subsides, has to do with the multi-channel sound. It c

  As an early fan of Robert Palmer, on a night like this, I felt his pain.   April 12, 1978 review Bad Sound, Musicians Force Palmer into Double Jeopardy           Singer Robert Palmer’s tour bus promises “Double Fun,” but the stopover it made at Shea’s Buffalo Tuesday night was strictly double trouble.           Half of the problem was technical. The sound had been a mess from the moment the roadies hooked up the amplifiers. The other half was musical.           Palmer’s band was incapable of playing the reggae beat. Considering that about a third of his songs are set to the Jamaican rhythm, that’s quite a handicap.           The English vocalist, steeped in the styles of the American South and the Caribbean , was betrayed by this cut-rate monochromatic quintet every time he ventured into rhythms other than Little Feat or disco patterns.           Palmer’s composure smoothed over a lot of the mishaps and sustained the high points of the show – the playful punch of “Wo

  Another night to remember at the Century Theater.   April 6, 1978  Bromberg, Muldaur Stir Up Audience In Long, Lively Gig             The Century Theater saw three approaches to the problem of making folk-rock relevant Wednesday night. The scheme that went over best was laced with a heavy dose of rhythm and blues.           That was the formula for the David Bromberg Band, headliner for an evening that lasted well past midnight. It would have lasted even longer if they’d taken a third encore.           Bromberg, a folk music wizard who shines on fiddle, guitar and mandolin, headed up a seedy, sensational seven-man unit – fiddles and mandolins on one side, trombone and saxophone on the other.           In essence it was two bands – one a small folk ensemble for doing jigs and fiddle or mandolin trios, the other a boisterous R&B band, pushed along by the horns.           Bromberg, bearded again and wearing a three-piece black suit, clearly preferred the bold, full

  A band that needed to be seen to be fully appreciated. You had to be there.  April 3, 1978 Tubes Chose Fitting Day For Concert             The joke turned out to be on the fans waiting in an icy Lake Erie wind outside the sold-out Century Theater Saturday. Showtime was 7 p.m. for the Tubes, the outrageous rock theatrics group from San Francisco , but – April Fool – they got in from Washington , D.C. , two hours late.           The hurried sound checks and delayed start gave extra play to the more bizarre elements in the crowd – the four clowns in costume and facepaint, the two folks dressed up as Quaalude tablets and, of course, the radio station kangaroo.           Opening was Toronto guitarist Pat Travers, augmented by a bassist wearing spurs and a shirtless drummer with a bodybuilder’s torso, who made the most of the basic three-man boogie band. When their short, sweet, hard-driving session was done, they all were drenched with sweat.           The Tubes’ two-hou

  Fans get their first look at the revamped version of Genesis.   March 30, 1978  Energy, Lighting Stoke Genesis in Tour Opening             There was a touch of opening night unsteadiness about the first major date of the 1978 Genesis world tour Wednesday.           The British quintet had not yet reckoned which elements of the new show might be heightened for maximum effect. And then too, there was the accident.           En route to Memorial Auditorium from the warm-up date in Binghamton , a truckload of equipment crashed. This particular tractor-trailer was carrying the group’s new mirrored stage. None of the gear showed up here.           What did show up were the instruments, the three-level playing platform, the suspended PA speakers, the double sound mixing stations, the laser, the fog machines and an enormous lighting system, which included manned spotlights mounted on scaffolds on both sides of the stage.           For its part, Genesis was launching a radic

  Buffalo colleges go dibs to bring in Patti Smith.  Feb. 20, 1978  2 Different Patti Smiths  Keep Audiences Satisfied      "Listen, you guys," Patti Smith is saying Sunday night to the colorful crowd of savants that fill the University at Buffalo 's Clark Gym. "I ain't in my best shape tonight. But you guys stick with me and we'll have a real good time."      Smith the rock 'n roller would be a bit different from Smith the poet, who had give a loose and delightful hour and more to an abundant crowd stuffed into Buffalo State College's Student Union Fireside Lounge in the afternoon. But one of the things that carried over was her health.     True, she was in weakened condition, but she was hardly in poor spirits. She'd had "the Commie flu," she told the poetry lovers.     The fallen satellite, she explained, "let out this new flu. This flu goes through you and tries to get you to be anti-American. I had this littl