The Terrible Catsafterme

I aimlessly roamed through the Spring of 1992. College student, father, partier, opportunist, music buff, Brady Bunch fan, Robert DeNiro idolizer, Kroger bagger, Laserdisc player owner. That was me. It was back to the drawing board of figuring out life after I had come to the conclusion that the job offer from Keith had been a hoax. Miraculously, I hung on to him as a friend, a deal which was sweetened by the fact that he was constantly buying me CDs, Laserdiscs, and taking me to rock concerts.

I started school after an uneventful Spring Break in March. My classes were as follows: Accounting Concepts and Principles II (I got a B), Chemistry Energy and Environment (I got an A), Intro into Economics (I got a B), Great Books: The Bible (I got a C), and Intro into Statistics (I got an A).

I did fairly well this quarter, although I can only really recall two of these classes. Sadly, I was no longer in any classes with Amy Caro, with whom I had shared my last two Chemistry classes. Of all of these, I think I enjoyed Statistics the most. I recall my animated teacher (who resembled a grown Steve Urkel from Family Matters) saying that he both envied us and pitied us for being introduced to the world of Statistics. I had thought that the Bible class would be right up my alley, but it was a very hard class that concentrated mostly on the history going on during Biblical times. I loved Bible study, but this was hard to get through.

I was still hanging out with fellow Kroger friends like Larry, James, Jon, Tim, and Matt White. I recall Matt White coming over several times for beers and my new-found obsession Seinfeld. I had begun taping the episodes on March 4 with the debut of the episode The Good Samaritan. Based on that episode, I had a short-lived name tag at work displaying my name as Eduardo Corrochio. We spent quite a bit of time quoting this episode as I introduced it to my friends, while often smoking in the living room. (Mom couldn’t smell, but Bob could – and often tried to convince her that I was doing this).

My other obsession during this time period was Robert De Niro. After seeing him in the film Goodfellas and Once Upon a Time in America during a visit to George’s apartment, I became enamored with this amazing actor and sought to get all of his movies on Laserdisc – which of course, Keith began buying for me. We also had lively discussions about De Niro during many breakfast buffets and Frisch’s after class, or at McDonalds during my lunch hour at work. He copied all of the reviews of De Niro’s films from Billboard and brought them to me. How supportive of him. Wacko.

I went to see Cape Fear at the cheap-o Kettering cinemas, and I recall watching Laserdics of Stanley & Iris, Jacknife, The Godfather Trilogy, The King of Comedy, Awakenings, Midnight Run, Angel Heart, Backdraft, Guilty By Suspicion, The Last Tycoon, and over ravioli and Ritz crackers, Taxi Driver. It seemed this De Niro cat was here to stay.

Keith had now gotten into the act of taking me to concerts as well. Some I enjoyed and some were bands that I liked but didn’t have a lot of interest in seeing in concert. For example, we went and saw Tesla at the Cincinnati Gardens on April 10. I liked the band, but sitting through any concert when I wasn’t up front became tedious.

 

Ashleigh around Easter time, the holiday of which fell on April 19

Sometime around May, I had the chance for my first celebrity encounter in a great while. Barry Williams, who had portrayed Greg Brady in The Brady Bunch, was making a personal appearance at Books & Co. to sign copies of his book Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg. I had hoped to go to the signing with fellow Brady buff Amy Caro, but she was unable to go.

Christi came along with me and brought Ashleigh along to have her first celebrity encounter. I must have had school that day, because apparently I didn’t arrive until the time he was scheduled to appear, by which time the bookstore had already given out tons and tons of line numbers for the incredible amount of people who had shown up. It’s like people in Dayton had never seen a celebrity before. I may have had to leave early as well to get to work, but the short version of the story is that I didn’t get to meet him that day. However, someone that I knew or met there took my book through and got it signed.

Although I didn’t meet him, I was a bit star-struck to see my first Brady and took a number of photos of him – even trying to get Ashleigh in one of them. Another fail. I’d get another chance at Barry Williams  – seventeen years later, when I finally added him to my official Brady encounters in Burbank, California.

Christi and Ashleigh at the signing

I loved these overhead shots of Ashleigh, this one taken while we waited

Barry Williams signs…

…and signs

I finally catch his eye

As close as we got to Ashleigh’s first celebrity encounter

In addition to the Barry Williams debacle, there was yet another failed celebrity encounter shortly after this. One concert Keith did not go to with me was to see former KISS drummer Peter Criss at McGuffy’s on Monday, May 25 (at the ridiculously low cost of $8.00). Words cannot tell you how excited I was to see Peter play live in this small venue. I had read in Strange Ways magazine about one of his earlier shows here where he actually came and sat with some fans and signed autographs. I was hoping for a similar experience. My friend Larry agreed to go with me, although he had no interest in Peter at all. However, he did have an interest in beer. Also meeting up with us there was Christi and her new boyfriend Billy, who was amiable to me, although at this point didn’t like me much.

Larry warms up for the concert with a Busch Light, our drink of choice

Larry enthusiastically shows off the materials I was bringing with me

Mom is clearly just as enthusiastic

Christi at the show

Goofiness with Christi and Billy

Larry enjoys the show. I’m sure by this time he forgot who was actually on stage.

I brought along the photo that I had signed by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley (which I later sold), a copy of Peter’s solo album Let Me Rock You, my KISS View Master Slides and the 12″ single for 2000 Man/Dirty Livin’, the latter two having been signed by Ace Frehley when I met him in 1987. Peter was performing in a band going by the name Criss that featured Mike Stone on vocals and guitar, Mark Montague on bass, and Mike McLaughlin on guitar.

Mike Stone on vocals

Mark Montague on bass

Peter Criss on drums

I was back in the restroom when Peter came in though the back door and when I yelled his name, security locked us in the bathroom until he had take the stage. So ridiculous. It was a great show and Peter played drums for about half of it, coming out to sing for the other half. We sat at tables right up front and I was able to take lots of good pictures. A drunk girl sitting across from us kept screaming for him to sing I Can’t Stop the Rain, but he never did. Naturally, the biggest moment was his rendition of Beth. I bought a Criss t-shirt and an 8×10 photo of the band. After the show, I grabbed Larry and we went around behind the building only to see Peter escorted to his car and not sign a single thing. Disappointment.

Peter comes out for some Hard Luck Woman

Crooning from Peter Criss

The sunglasses come off for Beth

Two days later, I went to a Kiss-a-Thon at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus with Keith. Local acts took turns performing KISS songs and then for the headliner, Peter Criss came out and did a few numbers. After the show, I saw a fan send some items back with a roadie and Peter signed them. I had brought along a KISS postcard and tried to do the same, but the roadie wouldn’t take it back since I didn’t have a pen. Then I asked him to give him the card, have him sign it, and drop it in the mail. But he said “no stamp?” I asked him to try anyway, but needless to say, I never got it back. It seemed by efforts to meet Peter Criss up close and personal were jinxed – but again, I finally was able to meet him some seventeen years later in 2009 (three months to the day before meeting  Barry Williams).

The one thing notably absent from this posting was any mention of the Laurel and Hardy world during this time period. Although the Towed in a Hole Tent in Springfield had become inactive some time earlier, this was a convention year – so not long after school ended and the summer came, I’d be getting back in the L&H frame of mind – this time putting the wheels in motion to start a tent of my own.

1992 will continue…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011 at 10:13 pm and is filed under 1990's - Early, Big 7 Bands, Celebrity Encounters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.