On Friday, March 19, 1982, Parousia once again set sail for Chaffee NY and the Sundown Saloon. The club was a 60-mile round-trip from the Music Mall in Cheektowaga, NY, where the band stored its equipment and rehearsed.
The six-member Parousia 1982
The band played here back in 1979 when the club was known as Brush Gardens. Back when a fledgling Parousia was just starting to venture out of the ‘nest’ to showcase our eclectic choice of songs to the world, but instead we got … well, essentially hicks… some of our material went over pretty good, (Free Bird, Can’t You See…Train Kept a-Rollin’) but others… eh, not so much (School, Just What I needed, One Way Or Another, the Portrait…).
The Seven-Member Parousia at Brush Gardens, Chaffee NY, 1979
After Brush Gardens, the club was re-named the Ranch House and then simply ‘Sundown’ where it allegedly was known for fights and dilapidated conditions. (I’m glad Parousia missed that phase). As it turned out, the 1982 Sundown Saloon audience was very much open to hearing new and different cover songs. This was much improved from the band’s last go-around in 1979.
Buffalo Backstage Review of The Sundown Saloon, published September 1981
This was close to the end for the six member Parousia with Patt, Garth, Barry, Robert, Eric and Gerry. The band was nearly out of money and spending more on expense than what we were earning, and when we did make a profit it just wasn’t enough. Looking back, the biggest draw Parousia had was when the band performed the ‘Good vs. Evil’ show-set, until we couldn’t afford to perform the show anymore.
Parousia at The Plant-6, Kenmore NY, 1982
The band had a few more shows left to perform… no one voiced any concrete plans except to keep in touch and hang out as friends whenever possible.
…and yes, the band as it was could have continued on like this, barely breaking even, having to drive a 10-12 member entourage 30-60 miles out-of-town to play the same cover songs over and over again, when what the band really wanted to do was exclusively write its own music, record it and then perform the songs live on stage … but we knew that direction meant making no-money at all or just breaking even.
Very few clubs paid bands to perform their own music. McVan’s was still around, and then there were the downtown ‘new-wave/punk’ clubs. But those venues paid bands close to zilch, barely making enough to afford the truck rental.