Below are four never-before-seen photos of Alex in action at McVan's in Buffalo in June of 1979. I didn't even know these photos existed until a few weeks ago. They were taken by the late Lynn Adams, a photographer and part of the Buffalo music scene back then. She passed away several years ago and right before this past Christmas her mother called a friend of mine and told her that she was going through Lynn's archives and came across some photos that might be of interest. Included were photos of Buffalo appearances by Patti Smith, Blondie, and Iggy Pop along with these photos of Alex.

I find these photos to be really captivating and not because I was standing a few feet to Alex's right. These shots were taken very early in our set...probably in the first song. It was really hot that night and within a few songs we had taken off everything but our t-shirts (see photos in the book). I love how Alex has a pencil behind his ear. Combined with the sport jacket, he looks like he's about to settle in for an afternoon of reading and taking notes. Here we were, playing twenty-plus songs with no rehearsal at a time when Alex had a reputation for chaos and yet there's an analytical look to him that lets you know that there was a lot of method behind his purported musical madness. In the book I describe how Alex and Peter LaBonne started to trade solos in the first song (Bourgeois Blues) and things really started to click. You can almost see Alex start to listen to what Peter was doing and say to himself..."This is going to be a pretty interesting evening..."