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".
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