Where it Began....

I have very early memories of my parents taking me to my first rock concert at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. I think I was only 8 years old but they took me to see The Turtles. And for my 1st concert, we had pretty good seats. They were on the floor and I could see the band performing. What stood out for me the most was not seeing the band but in the front row, I still remember there were was a group of girls standing and screaming as the band played. At the time, they made such am impression on me. I had never see anything like it and to this day I still remember them.

I saw other concerts over the years but the next major impact on me was my 1st David Bowie concert at Madison Square Garden. It was the Thin White Duke Tour in 1976. The experience of seeing David Bowie was so powerful. I was instantly hooked and at least 80 % of my time was spent in my quest for things on him, bootleg albums, imports, photos, anything I could get my hands on. And keep in mind, this is all before the Internet so we had to get things the old fashioned way. I ordered from magazines & catalogues and entered auctions that were paper based. There was no Ebay. I used to have to drop off my film to get my pictures developed and wait a week to see them. There were no cell phones. We used snail mail to communicate and yet I had managed to build an amazing David Bowie collection. I had penpals from around the world. And we were a huge community that spanned many states and yet we all knew each other. Anyone that follows bands has it much too easy today.

So my next posting will be my trip to England at the end of 1976 and my introduction into Punk Rock.