1981-12-10 Reggae at The Haunt (Various)

The Haunt

The date on the title of this post is just one of the many reggae shows that took place at The Haunt in downtown Ithaca.

In the late 1970s and early 80s The Haunt was one of the best clubs in Ithaca. It was located in the back of a paved lot (not really an alley, per se) on Green Street.

There was a bunch of great music in town in the late 70s, and I became aware of Bahama Mama’s regular gigs at the Haunt during that time. They played there regularly; it became one of the best known music events around town. After a couple of years, Bahama Mama broke up, James Kraut going on his own and the Majestics becoming more visible throughout the area.

The owner of The Haunt, Jon Peterson, was instrumental in bringing a lot of the great music to Ithaca in multiple ways. (I did some searching but it seems you have to dig pretty deep to find information on the scene at the Haunt and his role in bringing great bands there.) It was also Jon Peterson, known on Ithaca College’s radio station as “Jah-Lounge” who spread to eager audiences the sounds of the latest, greatest reggae records, directly from Jamaica, throughout that time.

Several more posts follow on The Haunt, including one with photos showing the inside of The Haunt during a reggae show…

1982-03-30 I-Tal (Reggae at The Haunt)

The Haunt; Ithaca NY, 1982

The Haunt

I brought my camera to the club for one of the reggae shows, and have a few shots of what it looked like in the Haunt. When you entered the club, straight ahead and to the left was the bar, and to the right was the stage; most of the middle area from the stage back became a dance floor every night. These photos are facing the stage and unfortunately don’t show other views of the club - there were large photo prints and mirrors around on the walls, everything was made of what seemed like raw wood, and the bar had some basic christmas-tree lights around it. Here you can see some of the big rectangular mirrors in which you could see people on the dance floor reflected from behind the stage, and the reggae colors painted boldly on the back wall.

Among the great things they had up on the wall were the “annual photos” taken on a day each springtime. Hundreds of people would crowd into the alley at happy hour for one big super-wide angle shot of everyone, and they would blow the photos up big and hang them in there.

Slideshow below: The Cleveland-based band I-Tal playing at The Haunt in Ithaca, NY, 1982.

1982-04-16 Carlton Bryan and Crossroads (Reggae at The Haunt)

The Haunt

Crossroads poster featuring Vision and Carlton (sitting in the front.)

With The Haunt established as a top reggae venue, new bands started coming, including a talented youngster named Carlton Bryan, and his band. Carlton Bryan wrote some great songs and had not only a strong voice but some serious lead guitar chops. Bryan teamed up with a well-established vocalist, Vision (Walker), who previously worked with The Wailers. He would work with Peter Tosh as well (becoming a member for the Mama Africa tour, and featured in my photos from that tour), and I believe he is still musically active today.

We would see Carlton before the shows, and he would always say how much he loved to play in Ithaca. In this era, Jon Peterson at The Haunt was making much of this possible by, among other things, letting the bands stay up at his house during stints in Ithaca.

We attended many performances by Crossroads in Ithaca and surrounding areas.

A couple of years later, I would go to see my third Steel Pulse show in New York City, and to my pleasant surprise, when the band came out I saw Carlton Bryan out there - he was playing lead guitar with them for awhile. I took the picture below at the 1984 Steel Pulse show. Carlton is playing the double-necked guitar that appeared on the cover shots of an album he put out around that time. (More on the Steel Pulse show is in another post here.)

Carlton Bryan soloing with Steel Pulse, 1984. Tyrone Downie, longstanding keyboard player with Bob Marley & The Wailers, also joined that night.

Above right and left: Setlists used by Carlton Bryan and Crossroads during performances in 1982.

1982-04-23 The Majestics (Reggae at The Haunt)

The Haunt

Poster for The Haunt, April 1982

In the late 70S, a band out of Rochester named Bahama Mama played regularly at The Haunt and it was a popular event in Ithaca. Dancing was always in order, nobody needed to be convinced.

Bahama Mama quickly becoming one of the most popular bands around, and people wondered what The Police had that these guys didn’t. The concept of a white reggae band was kind of the new thing… maybe, but it didn’t come to be for these guys, who broke-up before the Majestics formed.

Dicogs lists their live album here: https://www.discogs.com/Bahama-Mama-In-Concert/release/5714164

After they spun off from Bahama Mama, Majestics quickly became one of the most well-known bands around. They recorded with Lee “Scratch” Perry, whose hand featured prominently in the Bob Marley & The Wailers music we came to appreciate during the Reggae explosion that was happening around us. The core of the Majestics’ sound was either Ron Stackman’s clavinet or his guitar. They played at The Haunt regularly, and they opened for some other shows I saw. I believe they opened for Peter Tosh at the Strand the year before; they would open in Rochester at the Toots and the Maytals show I would go see four days later.

The Haunt billed itself as “Upstate New York’s Reggae Capital.”

A recent article from a Rochester newspaper covers some of the Majestics’ history and announces their reunion in an almost tongue-in-cheek style: https://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/rochester/the-majestics-are-back/Content?oid=2827898

Another article here: https://thelittle.org/artists/majestics

Below: More poster flyers for Reggae at the Haunt

1982-10-04 Rita Marley

The Ritz

Another great reggae show at the Ritz in 1982. This was a rare opportunity to see Rita after Bob passed on. At this point Rita had gained a good deal of success with her recent hit “One Draw” and previous material.

[1984-07-01] Black Uhuru

Concerts on the Pier

I saw Black Uhuru perform at the Pier but haven’t confirmed the date. It may have been the year before.

1984-09-08 Dennis Brown

Concerts on the Pier (Pier 84)

Another one of the Concerts on the Pier, Dennis Brown.

The cool ruler of lover’s rock and reggae music, Dennis Brown was one of Bob Marley's favorite singers, and one of mine too.

[1989-10-01] Dennis Brown & Gregory Isaacs

Location TBA

I saw these two giants of Reggae Music play in succession in a small club in Manhattan around this time. The date was probably later in time and may have even been in 1990, but not later than that. I purchased a classic Reggae album (on cassette tape) when I was in Jamaica in 1990 called “No Camouflage,” which was done by these two great artists on a collaborative basis. An absolute favorite reggae album of mine (although there are many), I plan to posts more information or a copy of the music from that album.