SHAKE SOME ACTION 2

SHAKE SOME ACTION PT 2

The Origins of the Davis 80s Music Scene

by Jerry Drawhorn

A local bar named Cassidy's had made an effort to bring in some Bay Area talent and soon complained to the Administration that Afterman was stealing acts that they would have booked ( "Afterman Books Coffeehouse Successes" Aggie 2/6/1979). But Afterman scoffed at this and said that local clubs had never looked beyond "Bay Area Tried and Trues". He did acknowledge that his concerts, which he was now holding practically on a weekly basiswere pulling people from the bars in town. But he also pointed out that the on campus shows didn't have liquor, or even beer. It was HE, rather than his rivals, that was at a competitive disadvantage! In addition, Afterman said that he had his ear out on new releases and the national, and even international, music press about tours. If the bars in town did this, they would easily draw away the over-21 crowds. He also gave credit to the artist hospitality of Scott Hammond and the posters created to promote the show made by John Bonner and Cameron Woo. Many of these posters are preserved at the Sacramento Rock and Roll Museum at 907 20th Street in Midtown Sacramento http://www.nakamotoproductions.com/info-museum and are truly stunning graphics for shows that were often sold-out long before publicity efforts were required.

And then the great coup! Afterman booked Elvis Costello & the Attractions to perform Feb. 8th, 1978 with Psychotic Pineapple opening. This was Costello's ONLY club date on the tour...all his other gigs were in larger halls or on TV (and was on the heels of the notorious December 17, 1977 Saturday Night Live performance where he was forbidden to play "Radio, Radio" but ignored the idiotic strictures of Lorne Michaels). The tix were a pricey (for the time) $5.75! Both shows sold out even though it brought in a bunch of wannabee pseudo-punks who spat at and threw things at Costello. Costello verbally ripped into the fools, and then kicked into a stunning performance that set everyone back on their heels. Wynn appreciatively entitled his review "Costello Teaches Audience Manipulation" as a tribute to Costello's fire.

In the next year and a half, Afterman brought in a slew of other top-level performers into the tiny venue: George Thorogood & the Destroyers, The Greg Kihn Band, Pete Seeger, Larry Carlton, Leo Kottke, Bill Monroe, and Oregon closed out the Spring Semester. And in the Fall Afterman continued his string of booking miracles with Devo (which sold out almost a month in advance with tix only $2.50), Dave Edmunds and Rockpile (w/ Nick Lowe); Flora Purim & Airto; the Talking Heads (w/ the Readymades at $5); Rory Gallagher; Carlene Carter; Leroy Jenkins; Peter Tosh; Doc & Merle Watson; Camel; The Suspects (more about them in a moment) /Ozzie/Permanent Wave / Twinkeyz; Pat Metheny; John Fahey & Robbie Basho; The Police ($3!); Emmylou Harris; Ultravox; Dire Straits; Don Cherry/Dewey Redman/Charlie Haden; the Tom Robinson Band with Pearl Harbor & the Explosions; Tim Weisberg; John Cale; Gil Scott Heron; Peggy Seeger/Ewan McColl; Joe Jackson. It was clear that the ASUCD Coffee House was gaining a reputation as something of a CBGB's West.

Even the Whole Earth Festival got into the mix with the event offering free performances by Taj Mahal, Holly Near, Robbie Basho, Mimi Farina, Queen Ida and the Roots of Creation. And an obscure outfit called Los Lobos de Los Angeles played 4 free one-hour sets at a Chicano Family festival at Puteh Creek Lodge on May 20th!

Afterman was promoted to Entertainment Council Director in the Spring of 1978 and brought the Talking Heads back to Freeborn, accompanied by the B-52's, to open the school year. He grumbled at the Administrations nixing a summer slate of concerts that included Blondie, Nick Lowe, Boz Scaggs, the Kinks, and Marshall Tucker. This would not be the first time the Administration who block his designs. Coffee House shows continued apace, with a couple of Jazz gigs (Stanley Turrentine and Tom Scott), the Ramones, Ewan and McColl, Dave Mason, and Iggy Pop (w/ the Suburbs). There was even a Halloween show with Steve Wynn's band The Suspects (w/ the Mumbles and the Pushups) called "The Night of The Living Punks".

Afterman may be most remembered for bringing the incomparable Bob Marley and the Wailers to a sold out Freeborn on December 1, 1978. Tickets were only $7.50 for students. But Afterman was insistent to the ASUCD and the Davis Administration that the campus needed a full-time, non-student concert promoter (ironically one existed for more "serious" art and music through UCD Presents). Afterman was clearly leveraging himself to be that "full-time Director". Ironically, the fact of his success as a student was used against him. If he could coordinate such an impressive slate of concerts, then other students surely could as well. He wasn't re-hired. Afterman ended his "great run" with a diminished set of events. He finished up with blues legend Muddy Waters, the ground-breaking XTC and the ska revivalist Specials to the Coffee House (the latter accompanied by an ever "darkening" and more psychedelic Suspects); he invited the innovative producer, Brian Eno, to give a lecture presentation in Freeborn; and he finished off his tenure by booking the cynical Randy Newman into Freeborn. Afterman continued to book shows in Davis with his Inaudible Productions, but often found that the Entertainment Council or UCD Presents had booked similar acts the same night or weekend on campus. Eventually he moved his events to the Oasis Ballroom in Sacramento, working with KZAP, rather than KDVS to promote his shows.

(Coming up next... The Suspects!)

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