VIRTUAL TICKET STUB GALLERY: Married Bliss Edition

At dinner recently, my wife Brenda and I were discussing some of the concerts and club shows we'd seen together. Our daughter Meghan was surprised to hear we'd seen both David Bowie and Prince, and she bemoaned the lack of opportunity she's had to see the shows she'd like to see.

It's true that by the time I was Meghan's ripe old age of not-quite-23, I'd already seen The Kinks, The Ramones, The Runaways, KISS, Bob Dylan, The Pretenders, The Flashcubes, Herman's Hermits, Artful Dodger, Willie Nile, Elvis Costello & the Attractions, The Charlie Daniels Band, 999, The Records, David Johansen, The Fast, The Joe Jackson Band, Blotto, New Math, Uriah Heep, New Riders Of The Purple Sage, and more local acts than you could shake a thang at (if that's your idea of a good time). But it's also true that it's a different world now than it was thirty-six years ago. Shows were cheaper and more plentiful, especially considering club shows when the drinking age was only 18.

Freaky Age

For all that, though, Meghan has seen some shows, and she'll see more. With one or both of her parents, she's seen Carrie Underwood, Cheap Trick, Idina Menzel, Sugarland, Kellie Pickler, Little Big Town, Lady Antebellum, Sara Bareilles, an American Idol concert starring Jordin Sparks and Blake Lewis, a Radio Disney show with Play, LMNT, Baha Men, and The A*Teens, Tom Kenny and The Flashcubes (among others) at the first two Bright Lights! shows, and even a great Belgian band called Freaky Age, whom we stumbled upon at an outdoor festival in Mechelen in 2010. Without us, she's seen Disturbed, Imagine Dragons, Lindsey Stirling, All Time Low, Karmin, Halsey, Breaking Benjamin, Metric, Saint Asonia, Alter Bridge, Emily C. Smith, Xero, and Black Sheep Puppets, with plans to see Smash Mouth at Taste Of Syracuse next month. That's not a bad Virtual Ticket Stub Gallery at all. She'll still regret the ones she misses, just as I still regret missing James Brown, Del Shannon, and The Who. I especially hope she gets to see Halestorm some day, and Kelly Clarkson, too.

Halestorm

 

Anyway, the discussion got me thinking about the concert experiences that Brenda and I have shared over the span of nearly forty years together. Our first was The Flashcubes at a Bowery club called Gildersleeves in 1979; our most recent was Sir Paul McCartney this past October. We have Blondie and Smokey Robinson on our must-see list this year. I've already started a running Virtual Ticket Stub Gallery of shows I've seen; here's the Married Bliss edition, listing just the shows Brenda and I saw hand-in-hand and heart-to-heart. Dim the lights. Start the show!




VIRTUAL TICKET STUB GALLERY: Married Bliss Edition

1.4.5.
976-SING
The A*Teens
American Idols
The Animals
Tim Anthony
The Antoinettes
Baha Men
The Bangles
Don Barber & the Dukes
Len Barry
The Beach Boys
Beatlemania
Beauty Scene Outlaws
The Pete Best Band
Blotto
David Bowie
Bowzer
Brownskin Band
Annie Burns & Rain
The Burns Sisters
Castle Creek
Felix Cavaliere
Ray Charles
Charlie
Cheap Trick
The Chesterfield Kings
Chicago
Alex Chilton
The Clash
The Cliches
CNY Women In Music
Cockeyed Ghost
Gene Cornish
The James L. Cortland Band
The Crickets
Culture Club
Paul Davie
Lonnie Day
The dB's
The Dead Ducks Band
The Delta Rays
Bo Diddley
Ani DiFranco
Distortion
Mark Dixon & the Goldman Theory Band
Micky Dolenz & Davy Jones
The Doyle/Whiting Band
Earth, Wind & Fire
The Easy Ramblers
Eclipse
John Eddie
Electric Broom
Dan Elliott & the Monterays
Jack Ely
ESP
The Everly Brothers
Exile
The Fab Five
The Fabcats
The Fabulous Spectrelles
The Fallen Archies
The Flashcubes
The Forgotten Rebels
The Four Tops
Freaky Age
Gary Frenay
Frenay & Lenin
Frenay & the Rays
Goldie
The Goonies
Red Grammer
The Grip Weeds
Grupo Pagan
Israel Hagan
Jerry Harrison
Deborah Harry
Herman's Hermits
The Todd Hobin Band
Danny Holmes
Mark Hudson
The Insiders
Intergalactic Burnt Toast
Kate Jacobs
Tommy James
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
David Johansen
Davy Jones
The Kennedys
Tom Kenny & the Pushballs
The Greg Kihn Band
Carole King
Sean Kingston
The Kinks
KISS
Knickers In a Twist
Cub Koda
Billy J. Kramer
Lady Antebellum
L'il Georgie & the Shuffling Hungarians
Little Big Town
Little Caesar
The Livin' Ennd with Sandy Bigtree
Living Colour
Let's Active
Mark Lindsay
LMNT
The Longwood Jazz Project
Los Blancos
Lyle Lovett
The Lumens
Lyres
Machine & Hummer
The Manfreds
Masters Of Reality
Maura & the Bright Lights
Paul McCartney
The Mike McKay Band
Don McLean
Idina Menzel
The Miamis
The Mind's Eye
Moist
Joey Molland
Joey Molland's Badfinger
The Monkees
The Most
Mushroom
The Mystic Eyes
The Natives
The Neverly Brothers
New Math
New Riders Of The Purple Sage
Willie Nile
Peter Noone
Jamie Notarthomas
Jon Notarthomas
NRBQ
The Nudes
Oz & Biz
Pale Green Stars
Paper Faces
The Party Dogs
Ray Paul
Pauline & the Perils
Peter, Paul & Mary
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Phil & the Spectors
Regis Philbin
Gene Pitney
Play
The Pop Tarts
Porcelain Forehead
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
The Presstones
Prince & the Revolution
Process & the Doo Rags
The Ramones
The Rascals
The Reducers
The Replacements
The Restless
Paul Revere & the Raiders
The Richards
The Riddlers
Rockin' Bones
The Rolling Stones
The Romantics
The Karen Savoca Band
The Searchers
Screen Test
Pete Seeger
The Shadows [NY]
The Shangri-Las
Sheila E
Sheriff
Bobby Sherman
The Skeletons
Slaughter
Phil Solem
The Strangers
The Stray Cats
Stroke
Super Action C*** Modified
Switch
Terry Sylvester
Talking Heads
Tom Tom Club
The Peter Tork Project
The Toys [Syracuse]
The Tremblers
The Trend
Tina Turner
The Turtles
Utility Life
Violent Femmes
The Vipers
Chris von Sneidern
The Waitresses
Wang Chung
The Weather Girls
Al Wilson
Brian Wilson
"Weird" Al Yankovic
Zoid

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Our new compilation CD This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio, Volume 4 is now available from Kool Kat Musik! 29 tracks of irresistible rockin' pop, starring Pop Co-Op, Ray Paul, Circe Link & Christian Nesmith, Vegas With Randolph Featuring Lannie Flowers, The Slapbacks, P. Hux, Irene Peña, Michael Oliver & the Sacred Band Featuring Dave Merritt, The Rubinoos, Stepford Knives, The Grip Weeds, Popdudes, Ronnie Dark, The Flashcubes,Chris von Sneidern, The Bottle Kids, 1.4.5., The Smithereens, Paul Collins' Beat, The Hit Squad, The Rulers, The Legal Matters, Maura & the Bright Lights, Lisa Mychols, and Mr. Encrypto & the Cyphers. You gotta have it, so order it here.