Jon, Back in the day I used to go see Talas at the Penny Arcade...................I was just in awe of Billy. Yep Bahama Mama I remember them....................guitar player named Rudy Valientino if I remember right. Our band Johnny Smoke has a Foreigner/ Lou Gram connection. Donny Mancuso (Black Sheep) was in the first lineup of Johnny Smoke, he and the bass player left after the first cd and I replaced then both in 1999 lol. Our Drummer Joe Szembrot laid some tracks for Lou's last disc. Just this past week end Phil Naro came up and did a few songs with us.
My guitarist Dick Gramm(atico) I think was on the first Black Sheep album and then Donny replaced him on the second, if I recall. I think they were on Capital Records. I only saw them once live out in some cornfiled or a music festival. They sounded exactly like FREE and Lou Gramm was just a killer singer. I saw a website for the Lou Gramm Band and it looks like both Dick and Donny are touring as Lou's dual guitarists as of late.
BTW....don't know if you'd remember my radio name Jon "The Midnight Mayor" but I was the midnight to 6 a.m. DJ at WCMF during those years. That station was one of the top 10 in the US back then, paying everything you could imagine. I think it had a huge influence on local musicians and is part of why the area was a music mecca. Also, Rochester happened to be the city that most of the record lables used to break/test new artists out in -- both on the radio and in concert, so they'd spot any problems before they played in New York City, Philidelphia, Buffalo, etc. So it was often one of the first or very first places a band played. Plus it had several major colleges venues, several large concert halls and LOTS of live clubs, so it could take in most any size artist. Plus it was withn driving distance from NYC/Phili record industry. Very unique situation in the music industry back then. It sort of filled the void of what MTV did once "video music" started for breaking acts. Rochester was probably the better vehicle for breaking acts because, if you sucked live you died....and no one kept playing your video to sell records and make a bad artist rich abd fanous
***OH...I just realized that I hijacked the original "mini TBird" thread. Very sorry.
Here is a pic of something kind of related....mini Les Paul and mini Flying V guitars (20.5 inch scales if I recall.) These were made back around 1982-83 by Phil Kubicki, most known for his headless basses and all the custom/prototype builds he did at Fender in the 60s-70s, like George Harrison's rosewood Tele in Let It Be.
This pair happen to both be signed on the back by Phil and dated the same month/year. A lucky coincidence because they are kind of rare, I got them separately about 2,000 miles apart and a year apart...and Phil didn't sign many. The V was called an "Arrow" and the LP was called "Express." Notice the nexk-thru like a TBird...but I don;t believe he ever made mini bases.
So, it does seem possible that four "little people" (I'm told "midget" is no longer politically correct?) can start a band
