[bomp] bookin' a few shows in the late '80s, early '90s

[ItsBoss9@xxxxxxx]

You have your facts wrong about the Anti-Club, Dom - it DID go pay to play in 
the late 80s

Huh... I didn't know that... perhaps it wasn't ALWAYS pay to play because I 
remember these shows not being that way...

Untamed Youth, Witch Doctors, Gallows, Eastern Green, 1990

Blazers, Witch Doctors, Boardwalkers, 1990 (I booked that one with Renie)

>From what I remember, the money was a pittance, but, they were good shows, 
and not pay to play.  I know for certain I wouldn't have gotten involved in a 
pay to play situation

I remember one time the hessians at Gazzarri's called me and wanted me to 
find supporting acts, because they had booked the Surfaris (who were a total 
oldies band by that time) to headline.  The club was tired of being bad-rapped by 
the critics as "all metal, all the time" and were trying to book in things... 
for 5 minutes... that were NOT metal... and I'd just had some success with 4 
shows, post-Greg Shaw, that I put on at the Cavern, so they called me.  I gave 
'em the Insect Surfers and the Packards as opening acts.  Mike LaVella, that 
was the booker of Gazzarri's then. It was weird, if you looked closely on the 
walls of Gazzarri's then, there were still some references on the wall to the 
Hollywood a Go Go TV show, even the logo on the wall in a couple of places, and 
the original '60s Gazzarri's logo could be found if you looked closely at all 
the crap on the walls.  Mike LaVella then asked me to bring a show like the 
ones I'd done at the Cavern to Gazzarri's (!!!)  So, we had a meeting with 
Shelly Ganz of the Unclaimed and Jack Lopez of the Berry Pickers (this is 1987) to 
talk about the possibility of this... it never went down, frankly, because 
Gazzarri's, though it was being criticized by L.A. Weekly and the L.A. Reader, 
didn't bother to put any band names in the listings in those weeklies... so, 
like, who'd have LOOKED at a Gazzari's listing if you were not a hessian, and 
2.) even if you did, you would not have seen a listing for the Berry Pickers, 
Unclaimed et. al.  He just didn't get it... thought it was a better thing to buy 
boxing posters and have someone post them up on telephone poles, than to 
simply give L.A. Weekly a new listing every week (for free!)

The shows I put on at the Cavern in early '87...

The Desperados (actually, the Crawdaddys w/ Tom Ward on bass), The Unclaimed, 
The Leopards, Jack 'n' the Beanstalks (actually, the Berry Pickers w/ Ron 
Silva singing instead of Kepi, and Gordon Moss on drums)

The Berry Pickers, On the Air, The Insect Surfers

Bomp Record Release Party w/ Holy Sisters of the GaGaDaDa, the Lazy Cowgirls, 
the Raunchettes, and Jeff Dahl, (I believe)

Dionysis Record Release Party w/ Thee Fourgiven, The Untold Fables.  (The 
Berry Pickers were on the bill, but some of them didn't show up and the group 
kind of broke up that night)

That Anti-Club bill with the Blazers, above?  I was managing The Event at the 
time, and they cancelled... they refused to play L.A. because they just 
thought it was too lame at that time, and there was no reason to bother.  They were 
not the only band who skipped town during those times, for the very same 
reason...

down memory fkkin' lane...

Domenic Priore

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