Shutters & Boards Thursday October 15th, 1981

The band’s second gig at Shutters & Boards was booked on a Thursday night, October 15th, 1981.

Parousia 1981: P. Connolly, E. Scheda, B. Cannizzaro, R. Lowden, G. Cannizzaro, G. Huels.

Parousia 1981: P. Connolly, E. Scheda, B. Cannizzaro, R. Lowden, G. Cannizzaro, G. Huels.

Shutters & Boards was a premier rock venue in Niagara Falls, NY and featured live bands on stage six-nights a week.  The notoriety of performing here was off-set by the fact the band had to play until 3 am “last call for alcohol”.  (In New York State, alcohol sales are prohibited between 4 am and 8 am weekdays).

Former location of Shutters & Boards 901 Niagara St. Niagara Falls, NY

Former location of Shutters & Boards 901 Niagara St. Niagara Falls, NY

Kim Watts departed Parousia back in May and by October the band adopted several new songs that were a better fit for a rock group without a female voice to sing lead and harmonize with.  Song choices were made carefully, selecting tunes that were creative, musical and challenging.

We took-on songs like, “A Day in the Life” by the Beatles, “Toronto Tonto’s” by Max Webster, “Hold Your Head Up” by Argent, “Squonk” by Genesis, “Perpetual Change” by Yes, “Love Her Madly” by The Doors” and original songs like “Lucifer’s Lament” written by Garth Huels, featuring a blazing guitar vs. synth solo.

Parousia’s “MissOgyny” on the 97 Rock album, “Buffalo Rocks”.

Parousia’s “MissOgyny” on the 97 Rock album, “Buffalo Rocks”.

It was at this time the six-piece Parousia was at a career peak and September 1981 was an especially good month and year.  On Sept 3rd, a performance by the band was broadcast over the FM airwaves on 97 Rock’s WGRQ (live from Uncle Sam’s).

This added to the momentum that began when Parousia’s song “MissOgyny” landed a track on 97 Rock’s “Buffalo Rocks” LP and WGRQ began broadcasting “MissOgyny” over the airwaves to promote the album.

On Sept. 04 & 05 the band played both nights at the Plant-6 in Kenmore, NY.   On Sept. 10th, it was back at Uncle Sam’s for an ‘encore’ performance.   On Sept. 11th, the band played for an amazing crowd at ‘Buff’ State College in the Social Hall for a “drink and drown”.

Parousia – Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY

Parousia – Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY

Then, the band hit the road for a three-day ‘mini-tour’ starting Thursday Sept 17th at the Starting Gate Café in Buffalo NY, then on Friday out to Jamestown, NY, to play Sept. 18th at the Rusty Nail, then on Saturday traveling to Olean NY to play at the Wooden Nickel, Sept. 19th.

Parousia - The Wooden Nickel, Olean NY

Parousia – The Wooden Nickel, Olean NY

September was set to go down as “the best ever” in the band’s history but fell short when on Sept. 25th we took a booking in Franklinville, NY to play Friday night at a country-western bar called “The Kinfolk Corral” (BIG MISTAKE).   You can read all about that crazy gig here: https://parousiabuff.com/shows/parousia-shindig-kinfolk-corral-september-25th-1981

Shutters & Boards 10.15.1981 – band financial ledger

Shutters & Boards 10.15.1981 – band financial ledger

Parousia was paid $250.00 to play a Thursday night from 10:00 pm until 3:00 am!  (To be honest, we rarely made it on stage at 10 pm.  Typically more like 10:15 – 10:30-ish!)

Gregg Filippone (listed merely as “sound” on the ledger) came out to set up and run sound for $50.00. Mike Carroll was paid $40.00 for the light show.

Tonight, the band dragged with it a large gathering of roadies to assist with production; Dave & Steve Styn, Tim, Tom, Paul, Keith Huels and Randy.  Barry, Steve and Dave were paid gas money to haul the musicians and entourage to and from the gig in Niagara Falls and the truck rental expense cost $59.00.  Backstage Productions took their 15% ($38.00) for booking the gig.  All costs for the evening totaled $287.00 which left the band $37.00 ‘in the hole’.

In October, Buffalo Backstage Magazine published a review of Parousia’s live radio broadcast from Uncle Sam’s.  That gave the band another burst of exposure at the right time and helped to kick-off another busy month.

Oct. Buffalo Backstage: Review of Parousia’s live broadcast from Uncle Sam’s

Oct. Buffalo Backstage: Review of Parousia’s live broadcast from Uncle Sam’s

Following tonight’s gig on Thursday at Shutters and Boards, the band played Saturday, Oct. 17th  at  The Starting Gate Café in Buffalo, then next Saturday Oct. 24th at the Shady Grove in Boston, NY.

Parousia ended the month performing for the students of Arch Bishop Walsh high school at a Halloween Dance Party in Olean NY.  HA!  We really freaked the teens out with some of our music and presentation, like when we performed “Myron”, an original progressive rock operetta, written by bassist, Bob Lowden.

I don’t think they ever fully recovered.  Sorry!  BWA HA HAH HAH HA HAH!  (It’s long past the legal statute to sue us for damages, BWA-HA-HA-HA-hahahaha!)

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