1st Gig at Plant 6 Niagara St. – September 27th 1979

As noted on our politically incorrect flyer, this was our first gig with Michelle Improta, our new “girl singer” who was set to replace Kim Watts (I guess that made Patt our “boy singer”).  This was also our first gig at the Plant 6 on Niagara Street in Black Rock, a stones throw from our other long-term performance venue, McVan’s.

Michelle was a good singer and she was cute, but she wasn’t very motivated to sing in a rock band so we’re not sure why she wanted to do it… she seemed more interested in her recent engagement to a Buffalo Cop… a cop that did not like her performing in bars with a bunch of dudes in a rock band until 4 am, belting out songs by Pat Benatar, Heart and Blondie to a bunch of drunken baseball players. This was especially true when we booked a gig at Frank’s Casanova, a former Buffalo Burlesque house. Michelle’s fiance, the cop, forbid her to do the gig. We found out the hard way… she never showed up, didn’t call and just left us hanging.

Parousia Returns to the Plant 6 (2179 Niagara Street, Buffalo NY) July 11th & 12th, 1980

Performing at this bar was always interesting.  It was often packed full of cheery men and women who had just finished playing baseball for their local “insert name of employer’s team” here.  They were not just drinking… they were partying, high and very rowdy!  Of course, those are the crowds that loved our music the most and we were one of the favorites at Plant 6, not only on Niagara Street but later on at their second location in Kenmore NY.

On this night, I thought we were going to get seriously maimed or worse.  It was an especially rowdy night.  Obviously it was a big win for some lucky team.  I remember we were playing “Train Kept a Rollin’” by Aerosmith and during the drum roll, before the song explodes into a thrust of pulsating locomotive energy, I saw a guy in a baseball cap whirling a bar stool around his head getting ready to fling it. Just then, I heard some chick scream, “Look out… Chucky’s on ludes!”  Well, Chucky flung the chair right on cue to when the song exploded into a frenzy.  Fortunately, Chucky missed the stage.  I guess Quaaludes interfere with your throwing accuracy, thank goodness for us!  Not so good for Chucky who was ‘86’d from the club.

***Gerry Cannizzaro***

‘The Parousia’ Plays Another Weekend at Plant 6 (2179 Niagara Street) July 25th & 26th 1980

Plant 6 Niagara Street Aug 1st & 2nd 1980

This Gig was booked by our agent Georgine at Adventure Productions.  That night in the early evening, we were at Keith Gregor’s Music Mall and had the equipment truck half loaded (and fully paid for), when we got a call from Georgine telling us the gig was cancelled for that night.  We went to McDonald’s and drowned our sorrows in greasy food.  Later that night we went to Garth’s house and we all got stinking drunk… Amen!