PAROUSIA 1981: Patt Connolly, Eric Scheda, Barry Cannizzaro, Robert Lowden, Gerry Cannizzaro, Garth Huels.
It was summer vacation for students and the college kids were out in full-force and well into advanced party-mode when Parousia took the stage to play for this awesome crowd.
We decided to wrap-up the second set of the night with a cover of the powerful rock anthem, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by The WHO. If you know the song, you know the part that follows the quiet keyboard interlude, when the drums roll-in to a thunderous crescendo, layered with Townsend’s power-chord and Daltry’s guttural scream of “YEEEAAHHHH!”
Well just as we hit that orgasmic moment of the song, a circuit breaker tripped and all the power to the stage went out. … And there we were, stuck in the dark with no power, the audience frothing at the mouth waiting for us to give them ‘the big finish’.
Mike Carroll, our lighting engineer, got the power-up and running thanks to a large pair of ‘alligator clips’ and we started the song again from the beginning. When we hit exactly the same spot in the crescendo, the power went out again! We decided that on the third go-round, this time we would start the song at the crescendo.
With a lead-in of 1-2-3-4, the band jumped right-in, all instruments on cue as if the power outage never happened. The band rode the wave to the end of the song and then the audience went crazy with applause! It was a special night where Parousia gave it all away to the audience and the audience gave it back (and then some).
The band went on break after that, which gave the crew about 15-minutes to sort-out power-issues before we had to get back on stage and perform our final set of songs for the evening. The power issues were a bit concerning and looking back, I’m really glad that we didn’t burn Dad’s down to the ground with our ‘power-hack’ into the mains.
Parousia was paid $200.00 to perform on a Thursday night July 23, 1981 to a full-house where the audience really appreciated live music. Dad’s was close to home for the band which helped us break-even, barring any catastrophes, and on this night the band had none (for a change).
Expenses were low tonight, Dave Styn and Mike Carrol were paid $40.00 each to run sound and lights. Steven, (Mike’s large and useful friend) helped roadie for $10.00. Barry got $15.00 for gas and Plus II, the booking agency took 10% of the action, ($20.00). The expense for the rental truck would be spread-out over the following three back-to-back shows.
Parousia financial statement: Dad’s 07.23.1981
Tonight was the star of a three-day ‘tour’. Tonight, Thursday at Dad’s in Buffalo, NY, Friday at the “Teenage Hot Spot” in Depew, NY and then Parousia’s big show on Saturday, July 25 at the Port Colborne, Humberstone Arena, in Ontario Canada.
“Won’t Get Fooled Again” was more then a mere cover-song for Parousia. It was an anthem and a call to arms, considered by our fans to be one of best performances.
Back in the day, Parousia did a killer cover of the song “Won’t Get Fooled Again” by the WHO. It struck a special chord in the hearts of our Buffalonian audience each and every time we played it in clubs like Dad’s Cafe, Plant-6, Uncle Sam’s, etc. Why I often wondered? Maybe it had to do with angst and anger over manufacturing plants and associated businesses closing up or moving away and almost destroying our fair city. Leaving us “survivors” to sift through the aftermath of our once great hometown. Maybe because we were sick of the lies coming from Unions, Corporate America and local Politicians, it made it easy for all of us to stand together in unison and say in one clear voice, “We Won’t Get Fooled Again!”
Maybe because it was one of the songs we did especially well. Obviously, we are not even close to The Who, (who are pretty much gods to me at this point), but I worked hard at getting the guitar parts as close as I could (for the lazy, sloppy guitarist that I am), and you had every drum fill down perfect, and we had poor Eric playing the sequenced keyboards in real time. And, it sounded great cranked to 11. Always a set closer, there was no following that song. Just recovery time.”
Yes man; maybe it was all that you and Garth had mentioned; that is all of the latter; the above; etc. that we: “Won’t Get Fooled Again” my brother! But we also seem to do sometimes, right ‘bro? Dad’s Café was an excellent place to play; not a big modern place by any means; just a small gin-mill on Clinton street I believe; but we always played to a very grateful crowd. They loved us there! I’ll never forget that someone from the audience (a dude) one time gave me a $5.00; or was it $10.00 tip; for singing the heck out of ‘Freebird’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I was shocked baby; shocked I tell you; but I took the “cashola”; oh yeah! Best tip I got paid in a LOOOOONG time back in the 80’s. I’m sure you can relate!