I was driving and listening, as I always do, to Tom Petty Radio on Sirius XM (if I am not playing my own playlists, I only listen to Tom Petty Radio, the Beatles channel, and NPR). A couple Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers live recordings came on, and much to my delight, they were from performances I attended!
(A FRIDAYS version of “American Girl” was on after this)
I was one of the set photographers for the show FRIDAYS, which was ABC-TV’s answer to NBC’-TV’s SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE. The show had a celebrity host who opened with a monologue and was otherwise sketch comedy. The ensemble cast featured Larry David and Michael Richards (part of the future SEINFELD crew; and Larry David’s own show), among others. There was also a musical guest, and on June 6, 1980, the musical guest was Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.
I witnessed this because I was already supposed to be there - however, back in 1977, at the tender age of 19, I somehow figured out how to attend a session at Capitol Records studio that was being recorded for broadcast.
I marvel at how, in the pre-internet, pre-social media era, I not only found out about these opportunities, but managed to attend these super small audiences “shows.”
Remembering the events is easy: they were electrifying and one-of-a-kind for me at the time. Remembering how I got in, that’s another story.
My lifelong bestie, Pleasant Gehman and I managed to gain access to everything we wanted to attend. And back then, word of mouth was the only way you found out - sure, there were announcements on the radio, which was the only real time way to get the word out in the print era. Sure, there was the television, but with only a few channels (cable didn’t explode until around 1980), getting mentioned on local news and local magazine shows was competitive and this lack of subculture coverage is one of the reasons why Lobotomy was founded.
So - back to my hearing these recordings and whipping out my cel phone to snap the screen… Mark Felsot was the DJ, and I know him only by phone/email back from my own days working on satellite radio shows at the dawn of the aughts. I think maybe 2004 was the last time we had an opportunity to chat, so if by some chance you see this, Mark: HELLO!!!! and if by some chance any of you readers know Mark, please pass on my greetings.
There is a Part 2 of the “How Did I Get There” question I asked myself based on a TP Radio listen, but now it is time to walk the dog. I’ll be back soon.
Fascinating read as always.
You mentioned announcements on the radio for these kinds of "shows." Weren't there also broadcasts of concerts on radio, too? I know YouTube has a few ones of like, Lou Reed and whatnot. It's always mind-boggling to me that they would broadcast a show even if they were edited for time. Was that a big thing in L.A/SoCal? I'm curious how countrywide that was and when it fell out of fashion. By the time I came of age, it was more or less a rarity except for the odd NPR-affiliated station here and there or Austin City Limits.