(Continued from the December posts on the same topic. See 12/17 The Greatest Day in Rock - Parts One and Two. For setlists please refer to those posts.)
I had been to a lot of rock concerts, some spectacular; Watkins Glen & the Poconos quickly come to mind, each with 300,000 or more people and liberal doses of Woodstockian weather; the Dead concert at F & M on Easter Saturday, May Day in DC at the height of Tricky Dick’s power, three Stones shows as well as the pre-328 Rush, KISS, Blue Oyster Cult concert at Lock Haven. Since June 17, 1978, I have been to a dozen more Stones shows and was in a million person crowd in Philly at a multi-continent Live Aid-like concert on the parkway in Philly a couple of years ago. However, I still believe that the apex of my rock experience and, in fact, the apex of the first rendition of the 340 Club occurred on Saturday, June 17th, 1978.
Four of us awoke at 340 that morning and three of us – me, Phil, and Kenny - jumped into three separate vehicles and headed to the Jersey Shore via Philly for an unforgettable 24 hours. We were going to attend a rock concert in JFK Stadium in Philadelphia featuring reggae artist Peter Tosh, Foreigner, and the World’s Greatest Rock ‘n Roll Band. Following that it was going to be on to Mays Landing (I believe), NJ, to a club called Dunes Till Dawn to see our favorite club band – the Bonnie Parker Band.
I jumped into a van driven by Bobby Soders and fellow passengers, Bobby’s lady Pam, Wayne & Cindi Rankin (not sure if they were married at the time), a 16 year old Chris Lake (at least in my memory) and perhaps others. Phil and the aptly nicknamed “Mick” Walton rode with Woody Kleinhaus. Kenny drove Coach Kuhns and Geri Lynn Philips. In addition, at least one other car left under the auspices of the 340 Club as Mike Heller & Barry Moffitt also attended and drove together. There likely were others; we probably numbered 20 or more. Lastly, a 4th 340 Club resident – Crazee Mitch – was a BPB roadie who would have been on the road with that band all weekend.
The Stones show followed by a week the release of Some Girls and featured the touring debut of the crossover cum disco hit Miss You. According to Wyman’s book there were 90,880 fans in attendance in addition to the 340 Club contingent. In the Stones band that tour were Billy Preston, Eddie Money, Bobby Keys and Nicky Hopkins.
After the Dunes Till Dawns Show, literally, when the sun came up the entourage headed home. Woody managed to make it home without incurring the wrath of the NJ State Police which issued a ticket to him on the way down. Kenny and Bobby got us home safely. Sadly the remaining car, the only one without a 340 resident, the Heller-Moffit car was involved in an accident and, I believe, both needed treatment.
This day, this weekend represented the apex of the initial occupation on West King Street. Beginning that Sunday morning, a long slide began that had the Club dark by December.
2 comments:
Some rememberances from that day. Mick chewed snuff at that time so he had a "pinch" in during the Stones show. He placed the plastic cup holding his "spittle" behind him. A fellow concert goer reached down for his beer and mistakenly grabbed Mick's cup and took a swig. He immediately puked all over the place narrowly missing us. He never realized what he did.
At the Dunes till Dawn, Woody and I decided to take a break out in his car before Bonnie came on for her last set. When we woke it was well past "Dawn" , we missed her final show.
Some edits to my recollections ... I have so few recollections of this drunken, sordid, nonetheless spectacular day; I shoulda known what few I thought I had were not necessarily acurrate ... lets remove three folks from Bobby Soders van, 16 yo Chris Lake did not attend the Stones/BPB extravaganza, Cyndy Lou did not accompany Wayne and I presume, given those facts, that Bobby Sodes likely also attended sans female. So, my current statement is I went down with Bobby & Wayne in Bob's van. I hope it doesn't turn out that I didn't attend those two great shows. :)
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