Nov. 11, 1979 Sunday feature story: Gary Sperrazza in transition

 

Another Buffalo legend. I first encountered him seven years earlier when he was the upstart teen among all the cognoscenti in the Institute of Rock and Roll Studies at UB.

Nov. 11, 1979

Fanzine Whiz Kid

Waits to Launch

The Big Magazine

         He spells his name with an exclamation point – Gary Sperrazza! – and he means it. At 23, he’s already made something of a legend for himself with his outspoken writings in the leading rock ‘n roll magazines. New York magazine acknowledged his prowess last spring in the issue which assessed Gotham’s born-again musical scene. “But still no Sperrazza!” they conceded.

         The Big Apple still hasn’t corralled Sperrazza! For the time being, he’s right here in his old hometown, the scene of his first fanzine triumphs. He’s working for Record Theater and filing his columns by mail to Bomp! Magazine in Los Angles and the Time Barrier Express in New York, but all this is temporary. It will last only as long as it takes to line up sponsors for his own national rock ‘n roll magazine and get the proper papers to live and work in Toronto. That’s where the sponsors are.

         “It’ll be unlike any magazine around,” he says excitedly. “If there were magazines like mine on the newsstands, I wouldn’t have to go out and do it. But since there’s a gap, I feel the need to fill it. The magazine field hasn’t moved into the ‘80s yet. I’ve got the scope of the first 10 issues planned, but the fruits of my labors won’t be seen until next summer or fall. It’ll take one or two years to make it. I think 1981 is going to do it – when I’m 25.”

         Sperrazza! was not quite 19 when he put out his first magazine. Shakin’ Street Gazette ran 18 issues and gathered international attention from the fanzine fanciers. Backed by Buffalo State College student activities funds, it provided an early outlet for such local rockers as Bob Kozak, who went on to play with the Jumpers; Dave Meinzer, now leader of Davy and the Crocketts, and Bernie Kugel, who’s gone on to put out a magazine of his own (Big Star) and lead a band (The Good).

         But most of all, it served as a springboard for Sperrazza! He left Buff State and bounced off to Montreal to become publicist and pal with Canadian rock writer and producer Bob Segarini and his aspiring pop group, the Dudes. The Dudes were slightly ahead of their time and, unfortunately, their record company didn’t understand what they were aiming for.

         “They had their finger on something for a while,” Sperrazza! recounts, “a type of music that became popular in 1977-78. With the Dudes, I learned more about the music business in six months than I had in 19 years. I also learned that I didn’t want to work directly for the music business. I wanted to work around it and against it instead. A good rock ‘n  roll writer should be rebellious.”

         Sperrazza! rebounded to Buffalo temporarily after the Dudes floundered, then took his rebellion to Los Angeles at the invitation of Wildman producer Kim Fowley (who thought up the all-girl group, the Runaways) and former Phonograph Record Magazine publisher Greg Shaw, the godfather of rock fanzines.

         “Fanzine writing is like an apprenticeship,” Sperrazza! says. “You don’t get paid, but you’re allow the freedom to do what you want. If you get paid, you get paid for restrictions.”

         Shaw and Sperrazza! began a stormy association which spilled onto the pages of Shaw’s current fan mag – Bomp! Associate editor Sperrazza! swung in and out of favor. One day the Bomp! staff would be telling callers that he didn’t work there anymore. The next day he’d be back. When Sperrazza! arrived, Bomp! was devoted to historical reconstruction of the pop music of the ‘60s and, to a lesser degree, the discovery of new acts.

         Sperrazza! took this one step further with a column called “Crib Death,” which solicited demonstration tapes from local bands all across the land. He was discovering new acts before anybody else knew they were there. He also started a column critiquing other fanzines and he spread his writings far and wide. Some of his pieces appeared in Britain’s New Musical Express, which Sperrazza! calls “The New York Times for people like me.” He laid down his philosophy in a series of essays called “Pushin’ Too Hard” (after the classic by the Seeds) in Rockin’ magazine.

         “First off, a sense of tradition is important to the critic/reviewer. Remember, just as all permutations on the guitar have been written and played, so it is the same for the tools of the pop music reviewer. It has all been said before. Sobering, eh? No really. Just string together elements employed by the classic pop journalists of the past: The Bangs, the Shaws, the Mendelsohns, the Shippers. He who is most successful is he who best synthesizes. I see it all the time.

         “Secondly, the journalist’s background knowledge has got to be right there at his fingertips or on a brain memory card. The comparisons and associations and frames of reference come easy to one who listens to everything. The first tip to any young writer is to read, see movies, watch television, anything and everything to expand his scope and enable him to encompass and give intelligent commentary on any new item. The same holds true for the pop music writer. Try to listen to every record you can and read every piece of literature on the subject.

         “Moreover, criticism is necessary to the vitality of the recording industry. One real problem lies with how that criticism is presented and how those criticized respond to it. What is required by both parties is a sense of humor – another item I’ve supported (most implicitly), much to the chagrin of some employers. Too much of current pop music journalism is dry and lifeless, lacking any of the qualities of the music in discussion. Rock ‘n roll works best when it’s fun and/or funny, so the words about the music should capture those same qualities. It’s easier to take seriously or even agree with a critic with a twinkle in his or her eye. Nothing is half so appealing as humor in a review.

         “Fourthly, courage is an element prevalent in any new rock ‘n roll, again something that should be carried over into the subsequent reviews. In making critical assessments, reviewers leave themselves open to crossfire. Obviously, it takes a certain amount of courage to come right out and say you think someone’s music stinks. It also takes intelligence and real insight to present a convincing argument as to why it stinks.

         “A fifth element is ego. To publicly announce, ‘I think so-and-so is …’ means you are looking for public affirmation of your opinions, or at least a lively discourse. So in a sense, a critic’s ego is just as much on the line as the person or group he or she critiques.”

         Sperrazza! sees himself as one of the third generation of rock writers, the writers of the ‘80s. He was born about the same time rock ‘n roll was and his musical awakening came in 1968. That’s when he started to discover the influences behind the music on the radio.

         “As soon as I learned that the whole spirit went back to the ‘50s, I wanted to learn everything,” he says. “The thing was, I was a teenager and there was no teenage music at the time. It was all the psychedelic stuff. Fanzines helped a lot. The major rock papers weren’t telling me why things were the way they were. I found out that everything that was said in rock ‘n roll was said between 1954 and 1957 and everybody’s been saying it over and over since then.”

         Sperrazza! found his musical place in time in L.A. A new generation was creating a new rock revolution. Punk-rock was being born. Something was happening every night and Sperrazza! was in the thick of it. He started promoting punk-rock shows in, of all places, a Chinese restaurant called Madame Wong’s. For a time, he was the artistic adviser for a band called 20/20, which includes Buffalonian Mike Gallo on drums. He even wrote a few songs with them, though none of those appear on the group’s newly released debut album.

         “But I didn’t like L.A.,” he says. “It was a constant effort to keep up with people. When I realized that I could do the same things for Greg Shaw from anywhere, I decided to leave. I left behind a lot of friends and enemies. I don’t mind having enemies. That means I’m affecting people. Here I don’t feel like I’m missing everything if I don’t go out. Right now I’m finding a family of people to be with. It would be nice to make money, but I’m not worried about it. All I want is a publishing empire and an 18-year-old blonde lifeguard.”

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IN THE PHOTO: The Buffalo News caption says “Gary Sperrazza! and friends.”

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FOOTNOTE: Gary stepped away from the fanzine business, although he kept his Crib Death column going, and in 1982 he opened a record store at 820 Elmwood Ave. He called it Bop Street Records. "I want it to be like the 1956 record store they've got in Disneyland," he said at the time. He also held forth as a deejay on Batcave Night Thursdays upstairs at the Continental, the city’s mecca for alternative music.

         By 1984, Bop Street had become Apollo Records and by 1988 it was acclaimed far and wide as one of the best record stores in America. Gary decided rock had lost its edge and turned to urban music – rap, house, go-go, euro-beat 12-inch import singles, house mixes from Chicago, stuff you couldn’t find anywhere else. "We don't make money by selling the hits," he told Elmer Ploetz in The Buffalo News, "we make the hits."

He championed vinyl when it was deeply out of fashion. Deejays, clubs and clubgoers were his customers. He was a big booster of classic rap artists like Gang Starr, Nas and Fatboy Slim. He even started his own rap label, Apollo Records.

         Gary also was famously abrasive. He had no tolerance for people whose views on music weren’t as sophisticated and well-informed as his. One blogger recounts coming from England for a highly anticipated visit to the shop and being treated so rudely that he turned and headed for the exit. Last mention of Apollo Records in the Buffalo News archives is from 1996. Gary died in 2016.