POP-A-LOOZA: Revealing My Age (One Concert Ticket At A Time)

Each week, the pop culture website Pop-A-Looza shares some posts from my vast 'n' captivating Boppin' (Like The Hip Folks Do) archives. The latest shared post is called "Revealing My Age (One Concert Ticket At A Time)."

If memory serves (and it occasionally does), the last live music event I attended before everything went kersplatticky! in March of 2020 was to see the duo of Gary Frenay and Arty Lenin (founding members of Syracuse's own power pop powerhouse the Flashcubes) play at a hotel lounge up on the Syracuse University hill. A hotel lounge gig may seem a pretty dire setting for live music magic, but lemme tell ya, Gary and Arty owned that long-running gig at the Sheraton, mixing covers and originals to the delight of fans who went there specifically to soak up that experience. That weekly residency had ceased in 2019, but this late-winter 2020 appearance marked their triumphant return to the Sheraton, albeit for just one more show. If memory's correct--it might be!--and that really was my final pre-COVID live show, it was a pretty good note to end on.

Before that? I think it was either Gary and Arty again or the Kennedys, both of those shows taking place in late 2019 at The 443 Social Club And Lounge, one of my very favorite venues. The Gary and Arty show was an all-originals showcase, a sequel to a similar show they'd done at the 443 the preceding May. At the Kennedys show, I had the honor of joining CNY radio legend Dave Frisina on stage to introduce the band. 

Also at the Kennedys show,  I ran into my eighth grade art teacher John DiGesare; Mr. D was my favorite teacher (a story told as part of the chronicle of my superhero creation Jack Mystery), and it's always nice to see him. He was at the 443 to see his former pupil Maura Kennedy, and he chatted with my wife Brenda and me before the show. He told Brenda she should call him John, and then he smiled and said to me, "You can call me Mr. D."

(Whenever Mr. D sees me, he tells me to stop wasting time with whatever other triviality occupies me in the moment, and to get back to drawing. Okeydokey, Mr. D!)

Earlier, in the summer of 2019, Brenda and I had also seen C. J. Ramone with Dog Party at an outdoor venue in Liverpool, NY, and the Cowsills and others as part of the Happy Together Tour at The Landmark Theater. Meeting the Cowsills--the nicest people in pop music--after the show, Dana and I talked about the possibility of maybe getting the Cowsills back to Syracuse some day to headline their own show. A great idea! At the time, no one knew live music would be banished from the scene by a pandemic and quarantine.

As quarantine concerns eased, at least a little bit, for a little bit, I did manage to see a few live shows in 2021. The first was, of course, Gary and Arty, this time with their (mostly) '60s cover band the FabCats. Our daughter Meghan accompanied Brenda and me to see Joan Jett and the Blackhearts at the New York State Fair. Brenda and I saw Los Blancos at the 443. Each of these was an outdoor show. I was THISCLOSE to buying tickets to see Squeeze at a casino date a few months back, but I couldn't do it. Not ready for that yet.

But I will return to the live music experience. In the mean time, we look back at a snapshot of some shows I saw in a less viral era. "Revealing My Age (One Concert Ticket At A Time)" is the latest Boppin' Pop-A-Looza.

Joan Jett on the screen at the State Fair in 2021, photo by Meghan Cafarelli

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This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.

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