Got a Happy Story? Blue Angel Edition

Got a Happy Story is a community gathering every Friday night where we share stories large and small that have put a smile on our face.  It is a time to acknowledge the joy and wonder we experience.  The Happy Story diary exists as a way to anchor the community in hope and comfort while we do the hard work of taking back our country. Everyone and all sorts of stories and pictures are welcome. May we find joy and strength here.

Tonight’s entry is not about fast jets and military power Tonight I'm all about an ephemeral rockabilly band that I was lucky enough to discover in my youth. Last week when emeraldmadian wrote a Top Comments diary  about songs that stick, I started waxing nostalgic about my finding a wonderful young singer back when she was in a bar band.

This is nowhere near as impressive as the entire population of New Jersey in my age group that somehow squeezed into the Stone Pony to see Bruce Springsteen before he made it big. Actually it not really that impressive at all but the fond memories had me listening to old songs all week from this band I once followed and remembering the good old days. Those memories improved my week.

In my happy story tonight I have to admit that I was once a groupie for a singer in a bar band. I don’t think it was the four octaves singing voice. If it was any thing about that voice it would have to have been that cute Brooklyn/Queens accent.  I think the lightening bolt came from that Alicia Silverstone thing she had going on with the upper lip. Hey, I was young.

The reason I ended up seeing this soon to be world famous singer from Queens before the rest of the world was because of the fact that I was a barfly.

The owner of the Museum Cafe had a knack for hiring talented bartenders and I had an even more amazing experience drinking there when Bruce Willis was tending bar and would occasionally entertain the patrons with his harmonica.

Blue Angel's keyboard player who was a marvel on the saxophone was also one of bartenders and when he told me that his band was cutting an album I was impressed enough to drive out to Long Island to see what sort of act he had put together.

So one night in 1979 I loaded my customized van that was nicknamed the "Millenium Falcon" with fourteen or fifteen of my closest friends. That 1975 Dodge Tradesman 2000 was another source of fond memories but it didn’t get it nickname for being fast. It was for that scene where Han Solo turned to Princess Leia and said "Watch this!" followed by the ship just breaking down and going nowhere.

What we saw that night was nothing short of amazing. You know how you have those few days in your life that you feel that there is one place to be on earth and you a lucky enough to be there? Well we all felt that we had hit voyeuristic paydirt and seen the next big thing before the rest of the world had a clue.

The band was young and beautiful. The timing led by music co-writer John Turi on the keyboards was perfect and when he stood up for his saxophone solos it was magic. The drummer Johnny "Bullet" Morelli had an energy level that almost compared with  Michael Shrieve with a sharp bass beat coming out of a young Lee Brovitz.

Most of the young ladies in the audience wanted to become "Rockin' A" groupies because Arthur "Rockin' A" Neilson was both gorgeous and smoking on his Gibson Flying V while I fell madly in love with the young singer.

And over all this tumult came the three-octave wails of hitherto-unheard singer Cyndi Lauper.

The band had an energy level that was almost tiring to watch and the joint was really jumping. Here is an early video from a band that ended up in the rock n' roll graveyard way too soon;

But it was the final song that night that really grabbed us. A very young Cyndi Lauper turned it around from the high energy of their brand of Rockabilly and when she belted out that last word "Cry" in an extremely passionate cover of Gene Pitney's "I'm Gonna Be Strong," the audience didn't know whether to applaud or cry themselves;

Polydor records didn’t do the right thing by this young band and they never caught on outside the greater New York area. The first album did pretty well in Europe but the lack of promotion put a damper on the rise to fame of this hot new band. It was a bit odd for an era when the record companies were searching for something new and original because they had plenty of both. It was also a shame that the second album they cut was never released because there were some wonderful songs that are just lost.  

It was also a shame that the second album they cut was never released because there were some wonderful songs that are just lost. This is a photo of the backside of the first album that I never threw out;

In the New York area they caught on like wild fire and we would see them several times again. The only other "intimate atmosphere" show I would see was in a long defunct basement club on the corner of Columbus Ave. and Seventy-Second Street.  After that they started playing in the biggest and also long defunct clubs. The number of "Rockin’ A" groupies would grow into a Rockin’ A fan Club  and only the people who knew someone would end up getting in to see them.

I still have a memento from one of those nights. Prior to developing that hybrid punk image that made her famous Cyndi had really beautiful blond hair. One night to scare the guys in the audience she came out to the stage sporting a black wig. After the first song she threw it out to us and I caught it. I was never able to toss that old bird’s nest.

I have another memento form those Blue Angel days. I remember the club, it was called Malibu and was somewhere near Jones Beach. I had just purchased a used Pentax Spotmatic and decided to try my luck with a roll of black and white. I don’t know where the negatives are but I did print one out. Here s young Cyndi Lauper in her days prior to "She’s So Unusual"

I did not attend that final Blue Angel concert at Studio 54 but I would see her again soon after and not as an audience member. I worked the WNEW Christmas Show every year and the year I lost touch with Blue Angel, Cyndi appeared in her very first solo performance in a large venue.

Eddie Money was the headliner and since someone has to tell the spotlight operators what to do, Eddie’s stage manager got on headset and said "Listen I don’t know this woman but I’ll try and talk you through it." So I chimed in with "I know her well. Why don’t you take a break and come back for the main act." It was Cyndi’s first time on the Big Stage and it was my first time "Calling a Show." It worked out great and I helped make her look good.  

During the load out, Cyndi came looking for me! She wanted to thank me for the small part I played in making her night a success and after a little chit chat she planted a kiss on my cheek. It wasn’t the first time but it sure made the load out more pleasant.

Cyndi Lauper came back the next year and played the WNEW Christmas show as the headliner, she bob a lou bopping all over the stage but it just wasn’t the same.  There is one song from her early days that I can sort of identify with;

Well those memories have been making me happy all week. Do you have a happy story or any rock n' roll memories to share?