It was a Thursday evening when were called on an emergency basis to take the place of Cock Robin at the Four Fathoms in Medina, NY.  Apparently Cock Robin had cancelled at the last minute and all the other Starstruck production bands were booked at other gigs.  So, once again the ‘Big Dog’ booking agency had to reach out to its competitor, Back Stage productions in hopes of subcontracting a band to slide into the empty spot… and that band was us.

I remember chilling out at my apartment on Richmond near West Ferry when I got a phone call around 9:00 pm from our keyboardist, Eric Scheda.  He just got off the phone with our booking agent Dave Buffamonti and was excited to tell me about this gig that just opened up.  I wanted to ‘pass’ on doing the show but Eric really wanted to and it didn’t take much for his enthusiasm to catch on and talk me into it.

Once we confirmed our appearance, It was a big scramble to get all the band members and roadies together, pick-up the truck and then head out on a whim to Medina, NY on a very snowy December evening.  Thankfully the equipment truck was still loaded from our gig last night at Uncle Sam’s. That saved us a couple hours.

The Four Fathoms in Medina, NY (picture courtesy of Buxx)

Eric and I were the first to arrive at the club and we unloaded as much equipment as we could by ourselves.  Thirty minutes later the other band members got there and by the time everything was in place we were ready to go on around 11pm… with no sound-check.  On the up side, it was a good crowd for a Thursday and surprisingly no one came up to us afterward and said they wished they heard Cock Robin instead.  At the end of the night we were paid $350.00, not bad for a last minute gig.

Tomorrow night we had our next gig lined-up at the Holland Willows which meant another snowy trek far away from Buffalo out to Holland, NY.

The venerable Cock Robin eventually re-booked their show at the Four Fathoms on December 19th 1980.  I can’t help mentioning that they have the name of the club mis-spelled on their web site as “the Four Phantoms” – – Oh well hey, personally I think “the Four Phantoms” sounds much cooler…

The big stage at the Four Fathoms Stage 611 Main St, Medina, NY

The view from the stage of the theater like Four Fathoms Bar, Medina, NY

After nightfall Parousia leaves the crypt to replace Cock Robin at the Four Fathoms in Medina, 1980.