3 posts tagged “maryland”

After hearing about it for close to twenty years, I finally saw Heavy Metal Parking Lot over the weekend.  It's a low-budget documentary of the parking-lot party activities before a 1986 Judas Priest concert at the Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland.  What a scene.  The Cap Centre was my local arena, and I went to a whole bunch of rock'n'roll shows there when I was in ninth and tenth grade (1979-81).  While I never took part in any parking-lot debauchery (I was either too young, too scared, or too sensible), I sure did rock out.  Seeing the now-demolished* Cap Centre made me try to remember all the shows I saw there, and for posterity I've put together a Seeqpod playlist that contains most of the bands I saw there.  I've tried to select songs that represent the albums they were promoting at the time, but it wasn't always possible: there just aren't any tracks from Foghat's Tight Shoes, Blackfoot's Tomcattin', or Yes's Drama on seeqable sites.  Some of the opening bands I couldn't find at all (Marseilles, FM) and some I've forgotten altogether.  If I could find again my wooden box with all my ticket stubs in it that would help a lot, but I'm afraid it's lost forever.  But now I will always have this playlist to remind me, because the Internet is forever, right?

*

My old chum Platters That Matter Records just had a great batch of records on ebay; it was unsold stock from legendary Rockville record store Yesterday and Today, much of which was in turn unsold stock from Baltimore's legendary Music Machine (which closed up first).  Y&T was owned by Skip Groff, who was also the man behind Limp Records, and who still runs a web-based record store under the Y&T name.  (Y&T also employed Platters That Matter Records for a while in the 90s; circle of life, etc.)  I never shopped at Y&T much, because I lived in Baltimore during my college years.  I did shop at Howie Horowitz's Music Machine religiously: every Monday I would pick up my weekly grocery check from my mom, cash it, and drive out to Howie's to spend it on British imports.  Howie was great, he took special orders and got just about anything I wanted, if not through his normal suppliers then on one of his regular trips to England.  Even so I couldn't buy everything I wanted, so I just picked up five records that I missed back then.  The first is A+B=C, a five-song EP from Baltimore-area "new wave" band Growing Up Different circa 1983.  I put "new wave" in quotes because they sound like AOR musicians playing AOR songs on synths and calling it "new wave," and that's exactly what they were.  After the demise of regional AOR giants Face Dancer, the rhythm section of Billy Trainor and Scott McGinn hooked up with keyboardist D.J. Long to form Growing Up Different.  It's not bad, it's probably typical of a lot of older (i.e. 30-ish) musicians in a lot of cities trying to adapt to a new musical style in those days.  "Stare Back In Silence" is certainly competent synthpop, cheesy electronic toms and all:

The Glory Daze AOR website has an exclusive three-part interview with Billy Trainor about the history of Face Dancer and its incarnations over the years, the most recent being in 2003.  Here's what he has to say about Growing Up Different:

After we put FD to rest, Scott and I started experimenting around with electronic music and had a pretty cool very 80's kind of band for a while.  It actually became quite popular, and we got a singles offer from a record company in England. Like the dumb asses we are, we held out for an album deal in the US which never came about.

A+B=C was released by CES Records, "A Division of CES Talent, Inc."  Locally only, I presume.  I did see Growing Up Different once, at DC's fabulous, now-defunct Wax Museum.  They were the opening act; I can't remember exactly who the headliner was, but I think it was either Men Without Hats or the Eurythmics.  (That's right, I went to a Men Without Hats concert.)  They were all right; they had some pretty cool equipment and played a tight set.  I'm glad to finally have this audio souvenir.

One Baltimore-area band to almost hit it big in the 80s was Vigil; I think they were actually based in Glen Burnie.  The quartet of Jo Connor, Andy Reynolds, "X Factor" and Gregg Maizel had gained a local following under the moniker "Here Today," releasing a 12-inch single of "Whistle in the Yard," an enigmatic, gothic-tinged song that never quite resolves.  I saw Here Today at the Wax Museum in Southeast D.C.; that was a cool venue, with what is now called "stadium seating" but back then was just called "seating."  In its brief existence I got to see several great shows there: Eurythmics, Thompson Twins, Root Boy Slim, New Models, and Men Without Hats (eh...) to name a few.  Actually, I think that's all I saw there.  Here Today was the opening act the night I saw them, and I don't remember who the headliner was, but it was one of the bands I just listed.  As for Here Today, their Wikipedia entry says they

signed to CBS records, changed their name to Vigil and were promptly dropped. Vigil was quickly signed by Chrysalis Records and recorded their debut lp in glorious digital. It came out and sold enough copies to allow them to record another lp but only one track was officially released "Therapist" on the Nightmare on Elm Street 4 soundtrack. They recorded their eponymous debut album on Chrysalis Records in 1987. As of 2007 it is out of print.

Before the debut album came out there was a 12-inch single of "I Am Waiting."  That song is pretty good, but it was the first song on the B-side, "I Love You Equinox," that got played on WHFS and created a buzz.  When Jo Connor sings, "You can set your watch by her cycles 'cause she bleeds like clockwork," don't get grossed out, because it turns out he is singing about the moon, so it's OK, see?

That song always reminds me of Rush for some reason.  The Vigil CD was a big deal because it was one of the first rock albums to have been recorded and mixed digitally, so it got the elusive DDD label on the back.  I never got the CD, though, just the vinyl LP and the 12-inch; this is a rip from the 12-inch.

As for the second album, the Vigil MySpace page (on which you can hear "Whistle in the Yard") notes: "Eventually the second album was released on cassette only as Onto Beggar and Bitter Things."  The band released it themselves when the record company wouldn't.  I saw a copy once, my friend Mark Harp had it, but I never heard it!  I sure hope that turns up on a sharity blog someday.  Jo Connor is still making music, and has his own MySpace page as well.

Vigil must be in the zeitgeist right now, a 1986 live performance of "I Love You Equinox" has just shown up on YouTube, recently enough that I was viewer number 7:

Hey, there's "Whistle in the Yard," too!

I was viewer number 3 for that one.  And there's more!  Its a veritable Vigil bonanza!