Thanks for the comments everyone. Yep, the DC5 was my first concert. The performed at Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo on a Sunday afternoon in December 1964. Opening act was Shirley Ellis who performed The Name Game for a very long time. Good to have your one hit be something you can really stretch out on. The DC5 ran through a half hour set. The weird thing was that the stage lighting was so low that their white cuffs and collars were about all you could see. Evidently the promoter didn't read the one page rider calling for a couple of spot lights. A few months later I returned to see The Beach Boys with some unknown guy named Glen Campbell on bass. After the show there was some harmless shouting and jostling in the lobby (teens being teens) and rock concerts were banned from the hall for the next 4 1/2 years (3,000 seat home of the Buffalo Philharmonic). They changed the policy in time for The Who to perform Tommy and a double bill of Led Zeppelin and The James Gang in September 1969. Chris Bell and Andy Hummel would have dug that Zep show for sure (they were both Zep fans and their band also covered some James Gang tunes).

Ardent related tidbit...I've been exploring the early recordings of Tony Joe White album, especially his first album (Tony Joe White) for Warner Reprise in 1971. I once had a vinyl copy but hadn't heard the recording it in decades. Turns out that it was produced by Peter Asher and was recorded in part at Ardent (would have been the National location). This is a really great album and not usually mentioned when people are going through the list of things done at Ardent (the first I'd heard it). The song Copper Kettle was recorded by Bob Dylan for the Self-Portrait album. Tony Joe is sort of like Elvis's younger brother immersed in a backwoods bayou groove (Elvis of course recorded and performed his tune Polk Salad Annie). Peter Asher returned to Ardent to add the Memphis Horns to James Taylor's post-cover of Time magazine Mudslide Slim album. But that Tony Joe album is better...

Have been getting a lot of feedback on the Chris Bell set and the general feeling is that if you have the money it's a nice thing to have but not essential by any stretch. It would be nice if it were someday available for download so those of use who already gave at this particular office could cherry-pick some additional tracks. Given that the original I Am The Cosmos cd wasn't an album but rather a collection of the best available tracks, it would logically follow that barring any new discoveries in the archives that the new tracks would be interesting but not essential.

Alex Chilton's Box Tops are playing a casino in Niagara Falls at the end of November. A lot of people are asking me what to expect and I don't really know what to say. Any one care to weigh in? If you've seen the Box Tops recently, tell us what you think.

Artvoice (Buffalo arts weekly) is slated to run a feature on the book this week. Will post a link when it runs.

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=170503 If you aren't familiar yet with the Steve Hoffman music forum, you've got to check it out. Intelligent people discussing good music in a civilized manner. This is the thread for the Big Star box set. There's also a thread for my book:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=181852