Parousia was asked to play the Holland Willows in an apparent act of desperation by Great Lakes Booking, and apparently we were well received enough to be invited to return several more times over the next year.  Here are some highlights from those shows out in the very remote town of Holland NY.

Holland Willows September 27th, 1980

This was our first gig at the Holland Willows, in the town of Holland NY.  This place was way out in “the boonies” and the roads were very dark and starting to get Icy this time of year.  The club had a nice stage and a bar area, a big reception/dining area and a Bowling Alley!

It was Parousia’s first gig with the “Big Dog” booking agency in Buffalo.  Mike Rozniak of Great Lakes Booking got us the show here.  Great Lakes booked all of the “big-time” local acts, like Talas, Cock Robin, the Road, Weekend, etc.  Other facts of note, this was the fist night our head roadie Dave Styn moved up the road crew chain and worked the sound board.

Holland Willows October 09th, 1980 (the “Nightmare” gig, just ask Barry!)

Our second gig at the Willows, this was a really bad night for us. Here’s a retelling by Gerry Cannizzaro…

On the way home, I had to drive Barry’s car from Holland back to Buffalo even though I didn’t have a driver’s license or a learner’s permit.  If I didn’t drive the car, we ran the risk of Barry falling asleep on the way home and if we didn’t catch him before he dosed off, Barry would crash us all into a snow bank or a moose or worse.

When we left the club that night around 4:30 am, there was a stop sign at Savage Road leading onto the main road to head back to Buffalo.  I didn’t see it, didn’t stop and got pulled over by the Holland Police who were waiting on the side of the road.  The cop was a real asshole, especially when he found out that I didn’t have a driver’s license.

We got two traffic tickets and a summons to appear in court.  The cop would not let us drive Barry’s car home because the registration was out of date.  He had us all get out of the car and left us stranded out there in the winter on North Protection and Savage Road!  When I told the cop, “You can’t just leave us stranded out here!” he said “Oh yes I can.”  I said back, “You wouldn’t leave your kids stranded out here”, he said, “My kids wouldn’t be playing in a rock band.”

Lucky for us, Gregg was up the road waiting out of sight.  Greg came back when the cop left and Patt, Barry and I got a ride back to the Music Mall with him, crammed in Gregg’s car with Robert.

The worst was not over.  Back at the Music Mall after we unloaded the equipment, Barry was hanging out at the loading door talking to Keith Gregor about our horrible experience.  Barry put his foot down on the first step between the concrete loading stairs and the metal bumper at the back of the truck.  At the same time, Dave Styn went to move the truck forward but accidentally put it in reverse and smashed my brother’s foot with the back of the truck against the step.  I will never forget my brother screaming, “Get that truck off of my foot!”.  We had to rush Barry to the Hospital where we found out his foot was broken in two places and Barry had to play our next couple of shows in a cast!

Holland Willows November 26th, 1980

Our third show at the Holland Willows.  It was the eve before Thanksgiving  and there were a lot of well lit and rowdy people in the club this night. Just how we liked it!  People liked us and we got paid $250.00 for our night’s work.

Holland Willows December 5th, 1980

Our fourth gig at the Holland Willows. Not much of a crowd this night but we played well and were paid $325.00.  They loved us at the Willows!

 

Holland Willows Friday, May 09th, 1981

Our fifth gig at the Holland Willows, well into the new year…

On May 9th, 1981 the band was paid $300.00 to play at The Holland Willows on a Friday night.    We paid out $236 in expense including yet another $50.00 to replace a blown-out driver in our high-end horns. They’d love to blow out at the most inopportune times and we couldn’t even scrape together the money to buy a spare.  Backstage Productions sucked out their usual 15%, ($45.00) for booking the show.  At least, this time we made a profit of $64.00.

 

Holland Willows Saturday June 13, 1981

This was our sixth gig at the Holland Willows.

Holland Willows August 21st, 1981. Our final show at the Holland Willows.

This was our final show in Holland N.Y. and this time without Kim Watts who quit the band in the end of May, 1981

Parousia was paid $250.00 to perform at the Holland Willows on a Friday night August 21, 1981.  We paid out $158.00 in expense. Gregg Filippone came-out to run our sound and was paid $50.00.  Mike Carroll ran the lights and was paid $40.00.  Keith Huels and Tom (Tim) Miller did the grunt work for $10.00 each.  Backstage took their 15%, ($38.00).  The truck rental expense was deferred to tomorrow nights gig at New York New York.