Once apon a time, there was a band in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Some of the members: Vini 'Mad Dog' Lopez, David Sancious, Gary Tallent, Danny Federici and Bill Chinnock. You probably know one part of this story, which is that the first four guys went on to take part in the first incarnation of Springsteen's E Street Band. What you may not know is, well, who the heck is that Bill Chinnock?

Chinnock moved to Maine, started a band and went on to become one of the state's music legends. I lost count of how many Chinnock shows I went to. It seemed as though he played at or near the University of Maine at least once of month.

A couple of the more memorable shows:

University of Maine (in "The Pit"...basically, the basketball gym): Not touring on any particular album, Chinnock puts on his usual fantastic show. Almost overshadowing the main event were the two support acts: Sylvain Sylvain (how the hell did they manage that booking?!) and Bebe Buell. We didn't know anything about her at the time other than the fact that she had been a Playboy bunny. I still have a promo poster for that show (swiped from a bulletin board at "The Pit").

The Showring, Brewer, Maine: a two story dive of a rock club across the river from Bangor. Chinnock hadn't played the area in a while (which back then probably meant a couple of months) so we were all pretty psyched up for this show. We werent' disappointed as Bill and his band blew the roof off with a bunch of new tunes from his album "Rock and Roll Cowboys" (I didn't useta think that title was silly until Bon Jovi happened). Two non-musical tidbits from that show: The flashing "Last Call" signs on either side of the stage as they played the 'hit' "Dimestore Heros" and the bouncer in the bathroom. That's right. I went in there to do what the beer required of me and this huge dude sez to me "You sure you're man enough to take a piss in here?". As I walked by him my reply was "Who gives a fuck?!!". As I was relieving myself I thought "Gee, I hope mom gives away all my records to my friends after my funeral".

Ah, so...the music: Comparisons to Springsteen aren't really fair to either artist. Chinnock's music is certainly rock & roll, but there are also a fair amount of blues and gospel elements as well. Both "Dimestore Heros" and "Rock and Roll Cowboys" are worth looking for.

The album that got me started was called "Alive at the Loft". This girl at my high school was always ranting about this Bill Chinnock guy. This was before I discovered Springsteen's Darkness record, my idea of a good musical time being Nugent, Sabbath, Zeppelin and Foghat. Well, Gracie let me borrow "Alive at the Loft" and right then & there my teenage ears really began to open. No it wasn't an assault on my ears, but it was fun, rockin' and passionate. At that point in my life I'd never even been to a bar but tunes like "Saturday Night" (about getting drunk and fighting) and "Big George Walker" (about getting drunk and fighting) somehow resonated.

It's too bad that none of his records are available on Amazon as he's really worth check out. You can get some of his CDs at the East Coast Records website.

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)