Ye Olde Music Mall
Here’s some pics that recently turned up of Parousia at rehearsal in Room 7 of the Music Mall on Broadway in Cheektowaga NY.
Sporting our new faux Satin jackets and surrounded by the massive PA we assembled for big shows at the Port Colbourne Arena, Riverside Park, The Hertel Happening, Uncle Sam’s and Buff State, among others, the summer of 1981 kept us very busy, but we still squeezed in a couple rehearsals a week if we could manage it.
Patt Connolly bellows out a haunting melody. Either that, or yawns waiting for Barry and company to finish plugging in and tuning up.
Garth Huels doing his Bob Seger impression in Room #7
Bob Lowden plays his Ovation bass in front of a wall of PA equipment.
Eric Scheda surrounded by equipment including his Hammond Organ with Leslie Speaker, Fender Rhodes & Moog Sonic Six
Gerry “Stix” Cannizzaro gives the camera a wink, in front of his high-tech aluminum drum riser modules.
Gerry, Garth and Barry performing a free-form jazz improvisation…
Gerry ponders the meaning of the Tom-Tom.
Patt Connolly demonstrates Parousia’s innocent youthful exhilaration at the prospects of a bright future for the creative group. We quickly put an end to that nonsense.
What used to be Keith Gregor’s Music Mall – 3350 Broadway, Cheektowaga, NY 2014
Eric enters the Music mall
The Music Mall was a brilliant idea, if a lawsuit waiting to happen. Nothing like playing loud music in the freezing cold in a crumbling brick building surrounded by musicians from the punk rock, hard rock, progressive rock, southern rock and experimental music scenes, all scrambling for a chance to perform and record in WNY. If that doesn’t inspire some hard edged creativity, I don’t know what will.
Oh yeah, and don’t forget the freight elevator that rarely worked… I remember Jim Couch’s band was on the second floor (i think it was either the Factor or Future History… probably the latter) and i would always hear how they had to lug their equipment up and down the !@#$% stairs. It made me feel so much better about our band room being on the first floor with all of our monstrously heavy gear.
That is so strange. I was just thinking about the Musicmall a few days ago, and all the bands that practiced there. Then you come up with a photo! I believe that Keith Gregor was the guy who started it. Or was it McGregor? Is it still there today? I certainly was a festive place.
Practiced there, ate & drank there, lived there. Made some lifelong friends there.
practised in a room with no heat one light bulb.
I think the sign is gone now. Many great nights spent in there, for sure
Many fond memories there,So many bands,So many dreams…
Ahh Paul,not to mention. …so many broken sticks and drum heads.
Keith Gregor, the man, the myth, and the legend. almost forgot that part
It is still there and still housing bands. Was up for sale for 2 mill or something like that
It has been sold, just staying open temporarily, my brother Ron, is the guy who kicks people out now, took over from me when I moved south in 1995
There are a number of children growing up in Buffalo right now who who’s conceptions owe to the romantic ambiance of the MusicMall. I walked those halls many late nights, and that wasn’t ALWAYS pretty music I heard behind those plywood doors…
Ha, Tim, romantic ambiance! I remember carrying my drunk cousin Pam over my shoulder onto the elevator, hoping it worked, after a gig just so she could hit on Jack Hardie.
I was there through most of its history Stross Fletcher was about the third band in there after Gregor opened it up. I remember drinking in the parking lot with Keith and our band and having empty beer bottle tossing contest into the open door of the Music Mall.
After Stross ended I brought all my other bands there to rehearse eventually moving in after Keith got married and had to go live with the wife! Lol I did his job kicking people out and opening up for ten years in trade for a place to live and practice,. Was a great time, lot of musicians used the MusicMall to ‘network’ long before the advent of the Internet.
Was there to watch a friends band practice and drink of course
After we were all kicked out of Rano St due to neighborhood noise complaints, the City Councilman actually felt bad and recommended this strange place in the bowels of Cheektowaga. I remember going there the first time to meet with Keith Gregor. It looked like an boarded up abandoned building. But in the evening, it came to life. The parking lot was full and you could hear the noise from five or six bands each practicing to achieve their musical goals, whatever they might have been. There was a store where you could buy cables, strings, etc Keith also purchased an old truck which we rented frequently (which also crushed Barry’s foot one night). We bought used equipment from other bands, and could borrow stuff in emergencies.
One time, it looked like the whole thing was going to end. Barry had taken a job working in the evenings at the Rite Aid downtown and it looked like we would never be able to practice again, since his car was the sole means of transportation for the seven of us. But because of our undying dedication to the cause, we met Barry downtown, drove out and we practiced two nights a week from 12 midnight to 3 am (I didn’t sleep much in those days) until the situation changed. This represents an attitude in Parousia of which I am most proud. And it would not have been possible without the Music Mall.
(Band Secret: Kim made the bullet-sized hole in the window between our room and the office. She was having one of her moods, and she threw one her mallets at the window before she stormed out. Luckily it wasn’t one of us.)
As i recall, she was aiming that mallet right at Garth’s head but barely missed him as it flew by and into the window.
I just put this together. https://www.reverbnation.com/strossfletcher
Memories, you guys and us (Stross Fletcher) were the most creative bands the Music Mall has seen..