A Q&A With Frank Marino (Yes, the one from Mahogany Rush)

While researching my book, I met tons of music fans whose eyes would turn glassy as they reminisced about the good ‘ol days of attending concerts at the Erie County Fieldhouse. The conversations would usually turn to them listing some of the shows they could recall attending. The usual big-name bands (KISS, AC/DC, Rush, etc.) and the ones that played there a lot (BOC, Nazareth, etc.) would commonly get mentioned, but I found it odd that one particular single-engagement concert was frequently listed — Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush (7/28/1978).

How Hendrix is Connected to The Fieldhouse

What’s the connection between Jimi Hendrix and the Erie County Fieldhouse? Obviously he never played there (and if you think he did, perhaps that weed you smoked back then was more powerful than you thought), but one of the first bands that did grace the Fieldhouse’s stage can be loosely connected to him.

The band is ZZ Top, and in particular, it’s a Billy Gibbons connection I’m talking about. I became aware of this connection yesterday when it was announced that Gibbons’ band before ZZ Top — The Moving Sidewalks — were reuniting for a show New York City’s B.B. King Blues Club & Grill on March 30, 2013.