Parousia at Club 88 with Patt Connolly, Gerry Cannizzaro, Marty Leggett, Dudley Taft and Gary Lee.
Featuring seven (7) video clips recorded live at Club 88 in Los Angeles, CA. 1989.
This was the band’s first gig with bassist Gary Lee, following dress rehearsal at Uncle Studios in North Hollywood earlier in the month. At last, Parousia acquired a bass guitarist, allowing keyboardist Marty Leggett to use both hands to play more textured sounds.
When Gary Lee joined Parousia, he was a full-time local musician scrounging with the pack for paying gigs, hoping to land a spot with “the next big-thing”. Gary liked to spread his talent around and performed in a few bands at the same time.
Tickets to Club 88 – December 21, 1989
Tonight’s gig sounded pretty good but was less energetic than usual… maybe now there were too many musicians on stage and no room to ‘get crazy’? Or perhaps it was the dim luminescence on stage thanks to the ultra-cheap flood-lights lulling the musicians into a sleep-state? Not sure, but the band was certainly sounding good and thankfully the crowd was into it.
Perhaps the conundrum was that Parousia was “down” to only two founding members from Buffalo NY and the new members were now the majority. When Garth Huels and Robert Lowden were in the band, there was a “special” chemistry, dedicated to developing interesting and memorable parts to play in our songs, but not so sure the ‘new guys’ had the same passion… and too anxious to land a recording deal and not enough interest in developing new songs’ …because in a town like L.A., if something isn’t working out, there was plenty of options elsewhere.
However starting over isn’t a bad thing, as the band Parousia was about to find out in the spring…
The Parousia “NEWCOMERS”: Dudley Taft, Gary Lee and Marty Leggett
I remember i tried to organize Dudley, Gary and Marty into “writing teams” to inspire creativity and new music. A technique Parousia used in the past when Garth, Bob, Barry and Eric were in the band. Now that we had three new members, we needed to write new songs and fast. After this show, i asked Dudley to write a song with Patrick and Gary to write a song with Marty… Gary looked right at me and laughed, “I’m going to write a song with Dudley instead.” It was then i realized what little regard these new guys had for what worked “in the past”. They had their own mind and own way of doing things. I didn’t care as long as they followed through.
“Tug Of War” is the first new song written by the band after arriving in Los Angeles from Buffalo, NY. “Tug Of War”, an instrumental song reflective of the band’s challenges adapting to Hollywood rife with opportunity whilst leaving friends and family far behind. Tonight’s show featured for the first time the new full band including original musicians from Buffalo, Patt Connolly (vocals/flute) and Gerry N. Cannizzaro (drums) plus new members Dudley Taft (guitar/vocals) from Seattle, WA; Gary Lee (bass/vocals) from Los Angeles, CA and Marty Leggett (keyboards) from Reno, Neva. Recorded live at Club-88, Los Angeles, CA, December 21, 1989
Video Clip #2: A live performance of Parousia’s classic ‘New-Wave’ alt-rock song, “Caesar of the Modern Home” from the ‘LOFT’ album. “Caesar of the Modern Home” originally written by Robert Lowden and Patrick Connolly 1984
Video Clip #3: A live performance of “Tiffany” one of the premier tracks from Parousia’s, ‘Turnaround’ E.P., released on Hollywood Label, ‘Rock Dog Records and played on KROQ FM Los Angeles, immortalized in the horror-movie soundtrack of “Stepfather II”, starring Terry O’ Quinn. On this recording of ‘Tiffany’, Dudley Taft shows his versatility from shredder to reveal a softer side.
Video Clip #4: A live performance of “The Weekend Starts Tonight” by Parousia; Los Angeles club gig with the new band line-up: guitarist Dudley Taft, (Seattle, WA) bassist Gary Lee (Los Angeles, CA) , keyboardist Marty Leggett (Reno, NV) plus original founding members from Buffalo, NY: Patt Connolly (vocals/flute) and Gerry Cannizzaro (drums). Featuring an awesome flute/guitar duel between rock-flutist Patt Connolly and guitar-shredder Dudley Taft. Video recorded live at Club-88, Los Angeles, CA. December 1989.
Video Clip #5: ‘Mary’s Gone’ by Parousia, an emotionally charged ballad written by Robert Stuart Lowden. This version recorded live at Club 88 in Los Angeles, CA on December 21, 1989. Featuring original members Patt Connolly (vocals), Gerry North Cannizzaro (drums). Plus new members, Dudley Taft (guitar), Marty Leggett (keyboards) and Gary Lee (bass). This song was never recorded in a professional studio which makes this live video recording even more rare. Check out the haunting melody… i can still hear it…
Video Clip #6: According to the critics, ‘Rock Bottom’ by Parousia is “a short and highly-listenable pop-song” written as a sequel to “(She’s) Movin’ Out To L.A.” a studio track from the band’s “LOFT” album.
This version of ‘Rock Bottom’ is recorded live at Club 88, Los Angeles, CA. December 21, 1989 with new members, Dudley Taft from Seattle WA. (guitar), Marty Leggett from Reno NV. (keyboards); Gary Lee from L.A. (bass) and from Buffalo, NY, Patt Connolly (vocals) and Gerry Cannizzaro (drums).
Video Clip #7: A live version of “Turnaround”, the title track from the band’s “Turnaround” E.P. recorded at Club 88, Los Angeles, CA, Dec. 21, 1989 with new members, Dudley Taft from Seattle WA. (guitar), Marty Leggett from Reno NV. (keyboards); Gary Lee from L.A. (bass) and from Buffalo, NY, Patt Connolly (vocals) and Gerry Cannizzaro (drums).