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Dec. 7, 1979 Gusto cover story: The Old First Ward

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  Today’s announcement of the closing of an Old First Ward fixture – the Swannie House – brought me back to this Gusto cover story from 45 years ago. Dec. 7, 1979 The Neglected Neighborhood The Old First Ward is where it all began          Venture down beyond the foot of Main Street and you come to where Buffalo began. Look closely and you’ll see the traces. Past the decaying grandeur of the Delaware and Lackawanna Railroad station are the antique streets which once surrounded the rollicking junction of the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal. Several of them are still paved with bricks.          Market Street, home of the Buffalo Sewer Authority, is where the city’s old farmers’ market used to stand. Not far away is an abandoned structure that was the headquarters for the Larkin Company before Larkin hired Frank Lloyd Wright to draw them up a new warehouse and office building on Seneca Street.          Other grand old companies still thrive here behind their Victorian-vintage b
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Oct. 12, 1979 Gusto concert review: The B-52s and the Jumpers in UB's Fillmore Room

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  Once it finally got underway, another glorious night 45 years ago. Oct. 12, 1979  The B-52s’ Impact Is Raucous, Weird No doubt about it, the B-52s and the Jumpers add up to a punk-rock happening in the Fillmore Room of the University at Buffalo’s Squire Hall Thursday night. Furthermore, it’s sold out, all 600 tickets. Lined up outside the door is a garish legion in funny sunglasses, skinny ties, tight pants and weird makeup. And how about that bunch over there with their hair colored a tacky maroon. Like most university rock concerts, this one moves with a highly independent sense of time. That’s why there is this long line waiting to get in at the scheduled 8 p.m. start. The sound checks finish about 8:30. The Jumpers go on about 9:30 and the B-52s finally appear at 11. When the punk-rock fans aren’t making the floor bounce with their jumpy, twitchy, free-form dances, they stand – there are no chairs – and they sweat – there is little ventilation – and they wonder why some
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Dec. 30, 1977 review: Best albums of 1977

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  It isn’t often that we got a pivotal year in music, but this was one of them. Things would never be the same after 1977.   Dec. 30, 1977 Year’s Best Records – Rock           In rock, this was the year that the rules changed and the music became dangerous again. After seasons of increasing refinement and smug commercialism, the tide shifted. In came the New Wave.           Commercially, the punk-rockers have made little impact. But artistically, they’ve left their ripple. No longer do would-be superstars have to imitate Elton John, practice for 15 years or adopt a disco beat. Rock has returned to its foundations and rediscovered its essence – excitement. As the old favorites grow tired, the new ones will be building on the groundwork laid this year.           The last 12 months have been a period of transition. On the surface, this has been the year of Rod Stewart (when he shows up), Andy Gibb, Rita Coolidge, the Eagles, Steve Miller, the Commodores and Natalie Cole. But whi
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Dec. 9, 1977 feature: Gospel music maven Brother Ted

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  Say hallelujah! Dec. 9, 1977  Brother Ted Fans Fires of Gospel             Roosevelt T. Johnson, better known to his listeners as Brother Ted, sits at a desk in the Saturday morning emptiness of the WUFO radio offices listening to tapes of sermons that will air the following day.           “I’m responsible for the entire Sunday programming,” he explains, “and Saturday until noon. We have a policy. We don’t allow soothsayers or guarantee prophets. I worked hard to get them removed. We had a lot of problems, but I was determined to get true religious programming, not pie in the sky by and by. If you’ve got a dollar, you’re blessed to have it. Most of these acts were just frauds and schemes.”           That policy came to the station when Johnson came there in 1968. He knew religion well, but his background is evangelical, not mystic.           As a child in Macon , Ga. , he accompanied his aunt, a Pentecostal preacher, to tent meetings throughout the countryside and was si
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Dec. 9, 1977 Nightlife: Remodeling the Tralfamadore Cafe

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  The first of what turned out to be many cosmic shifts at Buffalo ’s best-ever music venue. Dec. 9, 1977 Nightlife The Tralfamadore Café           “Pardon our dust,” Ed Lawson quips as he holds up the edge of a burlap covering that’s being glued to the ceiling above the bar. The Tralfamadore Café is being remodeled for the first time since it was opened more than two years ago and the new look underlines the fact that the jazz club is entering a new era.           The change that touches the Tralfamadore deepest, though, is the departure of Lawson’s older brother, Bob, who has shared management of the club since the beginning. The weather has gotten to him, so he’s going to Miami to check out the prospects for jazz there.           Bob’s exit comes as the Tralfamadore is staging its boldest series of shows to date. The December Jazz Festival began last weekend with the avant-garde trio of Leroy Jenkins, Andrew Cyrille and Muhal Richard Abrams, whose atonal inventions served
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Dec. 2, 1977 record review: Christmas shopping with Jethro T. Megahertz

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  Another unexpected encounter with my imaginary friend.   Dec. 2, 1977               I was standing in the check-out line of my friendly neighborhood record store when suddenly from behind a display of Debby Boone albums came a familiar sound. It was a deep, mellifluous, school-of-broadcasting voice imitating Steve Martin: “Ex-CUUUUUSE me. I’ve got a little gadget here that no record lover should be without.”           It was Jethro T. Megahertz, the legendary media wizard, all spiffed up in a white suit and tie. In his hand was a device that resembled a tricorder from the old “Star Trek” TV show. It blinked its lights and issued a stream of digital and alphabetical reports.           “Megahertz, you scoundrel,” I accosted him. “I thought you retired to a quiet life of listening to public radio stations. How come you’re out peddling friendly technology? Does the Better Business Bureau know about this?”           “Trust me,” Megahertz deadpanned. “Would I steer you wrong? Thi
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Dec. 2, 1977 feature: A new version of Talas

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  A legendary Buffalo power trio makes a major transition.   Dec. 2, 1977  Talas Gears Up for Big Time             The parking lot wouldn’t have been any fuller if they’d been giving away free snowblowers at the discount department store next door. Talas, Buffalo ’s reigning rock copy band for the past few years, had regrouped and fans had come from far and wide to check out the new lineup.           There hadn’t been much time to put it together. Two weeks of practice and a warm-up week at the Gasworks in Toronto . Ready or not, they faced their local premiere on a night the old Talas made its own – Monday at He & She’s, the vast rock music arcade in Fun & Games Park in Tonawanda . To top it all off, the group’s new set of original songs would be broadcast live over WBUF-FM.           Originals were what held the old Talas back. They didn’t have any, to speak of. On more than one occasion, that fact foreclosed their chances of getting a contract with a record lab
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