In this empty lot the Starting Gate Café once stood. 1671 Seneca Street in South Buffalo NY.
The Starting Gate Café was gaining a bit or notoriety in Buffalo as the cool club to play at. It hosted prestigious up and coming bands and we were glad to be considered one of them.
It was a nice little club on the corner of Seneca and Pomeroy in South Buffalo. It had a loyal clientele so we didn’t have to worry much about bringing in a crowd because the crowd was already there and eager to see a live band. The stage was up high in back.
It was a bit of a challenge plugging in our gear because there were very few electrical outlets on stage. We had to unscrew light bulbs and put adapters in the sockets so we could use them as electrical outlets for our power strips. We always expected the power to go out at any moment but it never did and so we played on… The curious question is… what happened to the Starting Gate Café? Did it mysteriously burn down in a desperate conflagration like so many other venues where Parousia previously performed?
First show at the Starting Gate Café – Friday May 1st, 1981
This show featured the great Ms. Kim Watts and she was blazing a trail tonight with her stellar performance. All of us were still ‘riding high’ thanks to the vinyl release of our song ‘Miss Ogyny’ on the “Buffalo Rocks” album and subsequent broadcast on 97 Rock, WGRQ FM. We had a good crowd this Friday night and we played them all of our classic rock covers including Hocus Pocus, White Punks On Dope, Cross Eyed Mary, Won’t Get Fooled Again and Pinball Wizard (we played a ‘merged’ version that borrowed ideas from both the WHO and Elton John).
The ‘Anti-Parousia’ at the Starting Gate Café – Friday May 1, 1981.
Parousia’s first gig at the Starting Gate landed $225.00 on a Friday night. We didn’t have the usual roadies with us and were operating with a ‘skeleton crew’. We had sound man / “head-roadie” Dave Styn and light-man Mike Carroll. For this gig, musicians Eric, Gerry and Patt were paid $7.00 to do the grunt work. Rick from Backstage got his 15% ($34.00).
Financial Statement May 1, 1981
Second show at the Starting Gate Café – Saturday October 17, 1981
Our second show was on the same weekend as the Rochester band Cheater who, like us had a track on the Buffalo Rocks Album. Their local hit song was “Ten Cent Love Affair”. Cheater played on Friday and Parousia played on Saturday.
Cheater’s lead singer, Jeff Cosco and Parousia’s lead singer Patt Connolly were both up for the “Male Vocalist of the Year” award at the Buffalo Backstage Music awards show 1981.
On our second go-around at the Starting Gate Café, we no longer had Kim in the band and Patt was doing all the lead singing. We branched out in many directions to incorporate the existing talents of our six-member rock band. We pushed ourselves to cover more progressive classic rock songs like Perpetual Change, Squonk, Toronto Tonto’s and the Ballad of Dwight Fry.
Buffalo Evening News ‘Gusto’ section news clipping
Parousia’s Encore performance at the Starting Gate Café October 17, 1981
The Band ‘Cheater’ from Rochester, NY
Parousia was paid $250.00 for the October 17th gig at the Starting Gate Cafe. It was a great crowd for a Saturday and we had all the usual roadies with us and then some. Greg Filippone came out to run sound, Mike Carrol ran the lights, Dave Styn, ‘head roadie’ was paid $20.00 to organize all of the ‘subordinate roadies’ who were paid $10.00 each, Keith, Randy, Tom and Paul. Eric helped quite a bit with the load-in and load-out and earned $10.00 for his work. The truck rental was $54.00 and Backstage was paid there usual 15%, $38.00.
Financial Statement October 17, 1981
BUFFALO SHOW GROUPS 1981: Parousia & Cheater listed as two of the top five ‘show groups’
STARTING GATE CAFE – MAY 1, 1981 PAROUSIA FINANCIAL STATEMENT:
We were paid $225 for a Friday night at the Starting Gate. Dave Styn, the “head roadie” was paid $40.00. Mike Carroll, lighting tech was paid $30.00. Backstage Productions was paid 15%, $34.00. $7.00 in gas money was paid to Eric, Gerry and Pat. The truck rental expense was parsed out to the next night, Saturday when we played at the Bachelor’s Den in Kenmore, NY. Our first night at the Starting Gate we made $100.00 “profit” to be invested in booze, drugs and whores, oops, i mean equipment, rent or… something!
STARTING GATE CAFE – OCTOBER 17, 1981 PAROUSIA FINANCIAL STATEMENT:
We were paid $250.00 for a Saturday night at the Starting Gate Cafe. $25.00 more than our first gig at the club back in May.
We had a sizable entourage with us this night. Greg Filippone showed up to run the sound. He was paid $50.00. Mike Carroll, lighting tech paid $40.00. Dave Styn “head roadie” paid $20.00. “All purpose” roadies Keith Huels, Randy Strauss and Tom Miller, were paid $10.00 each. We paid gas money to Eric ($10.00) and Barry ($5.00). Truck rental was $54.00. Backstage was paid their cut, $38.00 and $8.00 paid for ‘materials’ (other than drugs?). That left us with a profit of $15.00 for the night… Woo Hoo!