There are a lot of references to Western New York in my book. This was no accident. Rochester and Buffalo were early crowds that really took to Cheap Trick. This shot of Rick backstage at the Century Theatre in 1977, was taken by Maurice Narcis. Thanks to Bun E. Carlos' archives, we also have the set from the Orange Monkey in Rochester from August of 1976.
That was right after Bun broke his arm, played alongside Hank Ransome, and finally had the cast removed. The band was road testing songs for their debut album on Epic. They ended up not using a lot of the ones played that night in Henrietta, which is technically outside of Rochester proper. They opened with "Surrender," with early lyrics and followed it up with "Fan Club." Fucking fantastic. You can read a little about the Orange Monkey here.
I went to the University of Rochester from 1989-1993, so I spent a lot of time in that part of the state. I'm a lifetime New Yorker. As the most rabid of Chargers fans (give me a quick Google) it was weird to be in Western New York for three of the four years that the Bills made the Super Bowl. I've been to a few Bills games, even some where the Bolts weren't the opponent. This was long before "Bills Mafia" became a thing. They were just people partying in the lot and adjacent woods, not that dissimilar from the Dead shows I saw at Rich Stadium.
It's no surprise Buffalo took to Cheap Trick so quickly. They played the Century in 1977 and then again in 1978.
The Spectrum/Prodigal Sun reviewed the '78 show and I used a lot of their pieces in my book. The paper, founded in 1950, is one of the bigger independent college newspapers and their reviews of Cheap Trick shows were great to read. One of the stories I included in the book came from Cameron Carpenter, who was also at the '78 show. The concert promoted by Harvey Weinstein (yep) had its after party at the Anchor Bar, birthplace of the chicken wing. You can click on the link to read Cameron's story of being 18 and riding in the limo between Rick and Robin or just read it in my book. I thought it was genius, which is why I tracked him down and why I put it in American Standard.
Actually, one of the earliest inspirations for doing this book was Rich Blake, who helped me find a publisher for my first book, Drunk on Sunday. Along with all his memories of the "Talking Proud" Bills, Rich mentioned buying Budokan at the mall, seeing Fast Times, and listening to Cheap Trick at the time.
This add from the Buffalo Evening News documents what a big deal it was when album finally was made available domestically in 1979.
Check out all those other titles in the "Epic Explosion." It really puts you into 1979.
One of my first memories of hearing Budokan out of high school was riding back from Richmond's in Rochester in my fraternity brother Cary Lane's car. He had a maroon low-riding Thunderbird which would often be used to take us to Nick Tahou's at all hours for their world-famous "garbage plate." Cary has since joked that he was the inspiration for this book and wonders what the "beyond" in the subtitle is.
"From the bars to the Budokan" is easier to imagine than the next part.
The review is a slice of where Cheap Trick was smack in the middle of the 1980s. Of course there are also infinite articles where Rick's last name in spelled incorrectly.
What's amazing about that Buffalo News review, of course, is that it's from 1990. Of course, Cheap Trick (3/4 of it, at least) are currently opening for Heart. The "beyond" in my book contains many years of Cheap Trick opening for bands that fans wish they hadn't.
Rochester's Democrat and Chronicle did a nice job in 1993 of summing up what happened to Cheap Trick after Budokan. As Budokan II would also come out in 1993, the review does a nice job of summing up the cult status vs commercial giant conflict the band would wrestle with in the late 1970s.
This Buffalo News piece from 1994 is interesting in that it suggested that the band was held back by technology. What separated them from Aerosmith? Cheap Trick made sure that they didn't end up in exposes about bad behavior like the Bad Boys of Boston. Did they have songs during this period that could have been hits? Eventually, Cheap Trick tapped into their cult fanbase and also mined Budokan for another rebirth.
Of course, the press release for Budokan! listed the wrong show in the set. So it's no surprise that this article mentions the April 30 show being the one filmed. Also, it suggests that the original album was all from the Sunday show, with no mention of Osaka. I was able to track down the audience copy of April 30, by the way while researching the book.
Lastly, you see a review after Bun left the band. The idea that he might be coming back was of course not based in reality. This show occurred after the Canadian disaster. When Cheap Trick first played in Western NY in 1976, it was clear it was this was a place that would enjoy them without trying to figure out what it all meant. In many ways, that was kind of the point
This show was on the Dream Police tour. Buffalo, Erie, Cincy, Kalamazoo...these were the first shows they played in the U.S. with all the songs they had been holding back. In fact, the Buffalo show was the first official show of the tour. They played that '78 show the day after the Palladium. I've made the drive from NY to Buffalo in a day and I can't believe they played consecutive days, especially after the Palladium and all the hype surrounding it. I'll end this post just as I do my book. It was March 10 of that year. Jerry Garcia was in Rochester's WCMF to hype up his Cats Under The Stars solo album and the show that night at the Auditorium Theatre.
If you go to 29:41, he mentions his love of a certain band.
Until next time,
RLW
PS Did I mention Cary's T-Bird had an 8 Track player? Yes I heard Budokan that way in the 1990s.
Here's one more from Rochester in 1979. This was from the actual Live at Budokan tour and the publicity photo also appears in my book
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