Friday, October 5th, 1979 – Third Gig At Frank’s Casa Nova

Before the blood feast: PAROUSIA poses before unleashing its NEW SHOW on unsuspecting audiences

Before the blood feast: PAROUSIA poses before unleashing its NEW SHOW on unsuspecting audiences

This was the first night of our new Good vs. Evil show set…  We put a lot of time and energy into turning the songs in our set list into a mini-rock opera featuring man’s struggle with good and evil.  The show comprised our original songs like Lucifer’s Lament, Cotton Holiday and Revelation, along with cover songs by Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Blondie, Jethro-Tull, Cheap Trick, Heart, and many others. We wrote “links” between the songs as filler so that we could have time to make a wardrobe change or tune our guitars without interrupting the flow.

Parousia at Frank's Casanova Friday, 10.05.1979 with new singer Michelle Improta (not)

Parousia at Frank’s Casanova Friday, 10.05.1979 with new singer Michelle Improta (not)

Frank’s was a great place to premiere our fresh set of songs strung together to weave a story loosely based on the struggle between good and evil.  We were rehearsed and tight.  We had a good crowd for some reason. We thought it might have been because Parousia was visible in the press now that our new print ad in Rockers magazine was published.

October 1979. New redesigned logo1

We are all set to rock the house… our equipment was working, the props and costumes were in place, there was only one thing missing… our new girl singer Michelle Improta…

If you just tuned in, Kim Watts quit the band in September because we demanded that she personally pay for the repairs to a glass wall she busted while backing into it with the U-haul truck (which ironically happened the last time we played at Frank’s back in September).  Now, we were f*d. We had no Kim, and no Michelle (with whom we spent weeks rehearsing).  Michelle never showed up, never answered the phone (no answering machines in 1979) and she never bothered to call us at the club!

That was that… we never saw her again.  Later, we found out that her fiancé, (a Buffalo policeman) would not permit Michelle to perform at Frank’s Casanova because “weirdos hung out there” and because Frank’s was “a house of ill repute” with a seamy image … It’s true that Frank’s was a burlesque house back in the 40’s and 50’s but we thought that image enhanced the fact that it was a rock club now!

 Parousia - Friday, October 5, 1979 and Two Hills - Saturday, October 6, 1979

Parousia – Friday, October 5, 1979 and Two Hills – Saturday, October 6, 1979

So we forged through the set of songs as best we could with Patt and Garth covering most of the missing female vocals. The crowd loved the new show set, it was a big hit.  Patrons came up to us afterwards and said how much they liked the music and presentation.

Soon after that, our girl-singer dilemma finally ended when Kim Watts rejoined Parousia just in time for our big show next month at D’Youville College, November 2, 1979.  You can read all about how the D’Youville College student council hated us here:  https://parousiabuff.com/shows/dyouville-college-mixer-11-02-1979

Parousia at D’Youville College. November 22, 1979

Parousia at D’Youville College. November 22, 1979

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