The 3rd periodic 340 Club Reunion has been postponed indefinitely
Before there was an Animal House there was a 340 Club; before there was a Dean Wormer there was a Harold "the fuck" Martin; before there was John Blutarsky or a Daniel Simpson Day there was Tim Lutter, Sil Simpson, Dan Joyce, Tim Getzloff, Dick Lichty, Jim Shay, Phil Zangari, Chris Joyce, Dave Petkosh, Mitch Herr, Kenny Giltner, Dean Staherski, Randy Brown, John Emswiler, Sue Krimmell Emswiler and myself; before there were any Delta Tau Chi pledge pins, there were 340 Club cards; before Otis Day & the Knights, the 340 Jukebox; before there were Delta Brothers there were the usual gang of idiots that congregated at 328, 340 (twice) and 338 West King Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for a decade beginning in August 1974. This blog is dedicated to those idiots and those times. God bless Kenny, Mitch and Chris; may they rest in peace.
On January 16, 1982, a reunion of 340 Club residents was held on West King Street. If you have a badge similar to the one depicted above you are entitles to a 0% discount for this year's reunion but only if you wear your badge to the event. The Juke Box lived again that nite earning $12.60. It was the last effort to gather residents from both 328 and 340 under one roof until this June.
As noted earlier, on August 1 the world changed – Music Television debuted and the Mighty Juke Box suffered a mortal blow. At midnight when the channel came on the air it played, in order, the following 25 videos:
1. “Video Killed the Radio Star,” The Buggles 2. “You Better Run,” Pat Benatar
3. “She Won’t Dance,” Rod Stewart 4. “You Better You Bet,” The Who 5. “Little Suzi’s on the Up,” Ph.D. 6. “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” Cliff Richard 7. “Brass in Pocket,” The Pretenders
8. “Time Heals,” Todd Rundgren 9. “Take it on the Run,” REO Speedwagon 10. “Rockin’ the Paradise,” Styx 11. “When Things Go Wrong,” Robin Lane and The Chartbusters 12. “History Never Repeats,” Split Enz 13. “Hold on Loosely,” .38 Special 14. “Just Between You and Me,” April Wine 15. “Sailing,” Rod Stewart 16. “Iron Maiden,” Iron Maiden 17. “Keep On Loving You,” REO Speedwagon 18. “Message of Love,” The Pretenders 19. “Mr. Briefcase,” Lee Ritenour 20. “Double Life,” The Cars 21. “In the Air Tonight,” Phil Collins 22. “Clues,” Robert Palmer 23. “Too Late,” The Shoes
24. “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers 25. “Surface Tension,” Rupert Hine
Wow! That was the year that was. So big it took over a month to detail and, as with all these drunken years, I’m quite certain we have forgotten more than we have detailed herein. In any case; that’s a wrap.
1981 JAN – Iggles in the Super Bowl? FEB – Tee, Phil, Randy, and John sign on the bottom line MAR – The Second Coming APR – The Mighty 340 Club Juke Box MAY –Intell Music Makers Poll JUN – Letter from the Landlord JUL – Outrageous Parties! AUG – Music Television SEP – Stones in Philly OCT – absolutely nothing happened NOV - ditto DEC - Santa Claus, as always, visited the good boys and girl at the 340 Club
1981 was in the book President Ronnie Raygunz Governor Dick Thornburgh Mayor Art Morris CPI – 90.9 U.R. – 7.6% Life exp – 74.1 Violent crime – 58.6 World Population – 4.529B U.S. Population – 229.5M Best Picture Oscar – Ordinary People Ted’s # 85
NCAA BK – North Carolina 63-62 over Georgetown, setting the stage for Mike Jordan in the NBA and Villanova a few years later Indy 500 – Bobby Unser NBA – Boston Celtics, 4-2, over Houston Rockets NHL – Isles sweep Canucks, 4-0 MLB – LA Dodgers beat New York Yankees in six Horse of Year – John Henry Hvwt Champ – Larry Holmes, WBC; Mike Weaver, WBA NCAA F – penn state 11-1 NFL (1/82) San Francisco 26-21 over Cincinnati Bengals
The “greatest day in rock” (i.e. the June 17, 1978 Rolling Stones/Bonnie Parker Band doubleheader attended by a score of 340 Clubbers; see 12/17’s virtual club entry) was indeed a spectacular day but was not a critical success for the Stones. Mick had a severe cold and the band was far from on point. Thus, when the 1981 tour was being planned Mick insisted that the lid lifter be in Philadelphia.
After a warm up in a club in Worcester Mass; the Stones opened their Tattoo You tour on September 25, 1981 at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. Unlike ’78, I ventured to Philly for my 5th Stones show, case of beer in tow, by myself. God it was great to be young. Needless to say by the time I approached the sports complex exits on the Surekill I was feeling no pain. Gratefully traffic was moving very slowly. In fact so slowly that I bought my ticket (tickets since the scalper insisted a pair or nothing) on the highway during a traffic jam. Memory tells me that I paid $20 for the pair and traded the 2nd in for a tee-shirt.
Here is the setlist: Take the A Train Under My Thumb When The Whip Comes Down Neighbours Just My Imagination Shattered Let’s Spend The Night Together Black Limousine She’s So Cold Time Is On My Side Beast Of Burden Waiting On A Friend Let It Bleed Band introduction You Can’t Always Get What You Want Tops Tumbling Dice Hang Fire Let Me Go Little T & A Start Me Up Miss You Honky Tonk Women All Down The Line Brown Sugar Jumping Jack Flash Street Fighting Man Satisfaction
I remember much of the show but my most poignant memory is the last song before the powerful SFM/Satisfaction encore – Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Near the the end of the song a cherry picker descends on stage and Jagger gets in the basket (see the cab river video in the previous post) and rises and then extends out over the crowd tossing roses. I had a great seat (a great stand actually) not too far back from where the bucket hung. It was powerful; I was drunk; I cried (as I am apt to do at a Stones show). I remember thinking it would be really cool if they did “Emotional Rexcue” as their encore because we were all in need of one. Instead they slammed us deeper into need with a rousing Street Fightin’ Man and Satisfaction. After the show I remember venturing deep into North Philly to see some barmaid who never earned a number but took me home and gimmee a bath to help me sober up.
Interstingly, even though this was the tour that introduced Start Me Up; the opener was Under My Thumb and captured pretty well in this YouTube video -
Same tour, not same show
Ditto
Ditto, one from keef
Ditto, one for the APBA players
This one has poor music quality but insight into life in Philly during a Stones show from a cabbies perspective. It also captures the Jumping Jack Flash finale that I will discuss below.
There will be some trivia questions posed at the reunion in June. To help you prep for such an event from time to time questions will be posed here in the Blog so you can revive some old memories and rev up your response time. To that end here are a few questions:
THIS WEEK'S QUESTIONS:
Honest, I had written my questions before seeing Phil's last week but apparently GMTA because mine are also on the Bonnie Parker Band?
77 What was the name of the big man on the Bonnie Parker sound board?
78 What is the name of Bonnie's current band?
79 What is the name of the band Richie most recently appeared with in Yonkers?
80 What is Rudy's kid's band named?
81 What style of music is Rudy most currently associated with now? and what is the name of the band, hopefully, he will be touring Amerika with soon?
Lastly, if anyone knows the whereabouts, website, e-mail, blog, myspace page of Billy from Philly please let us know.
LAST WEEK'S Q & A: 74)What was the name of the first guitarist other than Rudy or Richie to appear with the Bonnie Parker Band in Lancaster? I have no fucking clue ... hopefully Phil will post the answer soon enuff. Oops. Forgot to send Tee the answers..It was Mike Costello
75)What famous New York night club in the Bowery did we once take a van load to hear the Bonnie Parker Band? CBGBs
76)At the above night club, what classic Punk-Rock group was in the rathskelter, getting high? The Ramones
