1980-11-22 New Riders of the Purple Sage & Commander Cody

Strand Theatre (Ithaca, NY)

In November of 1980 I went to see the New Riders in downtown Ithaca. I liked NRPS a lot, even as a separate entity from the Dead. Until then I had seen the NRPS only as openers for the Dead.

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This show and six of the next bunch of shows I would see over the following twelve months took place at the old Strand Theatre in downtown Ithaca. Unfortunately, it closed and was demolished shortly after I graduated from school, which is a real shame. Later on the old State Theater was revived as a concert venue, however, as an effort at remedying the situation, and recently bands like Hot Tuna have played there...

In the Spring of 1981, the Cornell Daily Sun published an article about the prospects for the Strand, which turned out to be too optimistic. But in a stretch of only one year starting here, I would get to see not only NRPS, but David Bromberg, BB King, Taj Mahal, Muddy Waters, and Peter Tosh in that old building. There’s a photo of the Strand in the article below.

1981-01-31 David Bromberg

Strand Theatre (Ithaca, NY)

This must have been the first time I saw Bromberg.  Tapes of the WLIR broadcasts of the shows from the Bottom Line were popular among friends in Ithaca.  This one is part of a run of great shows I saw in 1981 at the Strand Theater in downtown Ithaca, one of the finest old theaters around, and right in downtown Ithaca. See the post for 11/22/1980, where I show an old news clippings from Cornell that tell more of the story. Here is what it looked like:

The Strand is not to be confused with the State Theater on the other side of the pedestrian mall.  The State today is operating with some good shows during the school season (Hot Tuna is appearing in 2018). 

1981-02-06 BB King

Strand Theatre (Ithaca, NY)

A lot of people were into Blues music. ICB-FM had a weekly radio show dedicated to spinning old fashioned blues records from Ithaca College’s collection. A couple of friends would become the host jockeys for that show over the next couple of years.

It was great to see BB in classic form, of course. Around this time he recorded a live album with the Crusaders and The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra that has long been one of my favorite esoteric albums. I have an old copy on vinyl and for a long time never saw it on CD or through a music service, although that may have changed. https://www.allmusic.com/album/royal-jam-mw0000191669

1981-02-27 Taj Mahal

Strand Theatre (Ithaca, NY)

We liked all things Blues and Taj Mahal was one of them. I would also catch up with him in later years at one of the jazz festivals. Another show at the Stand, please see earlier posts about the Strand Theatre and the photo below from Cornell Daily Sun.

1981-03-20 Muddy Waters

Strand Theatre (Ithaca, NY)

A short time after BB King, Muddy Waters came to the Strand. Please see previous posts about Strand Theatre and the photo below from Cornell Daily Sun.

1981-10-07 Peter Tosh (Early Show, Late Show)

Strand Theatre (Ithaca, NY)

My Early and Late Show stubs.

After seeing the Stones in Buffalo coincidentally my next show was Peter Tosh, back at the Strand Theatre in Ithaca (see previous posts about the Strand). Tosh of course had been the first additional artist on Rolling Stones Records, and had put out a great hit single with Jagger adding vocals. That was way back in 1978, and by the fall of 1981 it was turning out to be a big year for the Stones.

In any event I had been a Tosh fan and the 1979 performance he did at the Bottom Line was the first cassette I recorded on my brand new Technics (Panasonic) tape deck I got for college. Now here came Mr. Tosh to Ithaca and, as noted in other posts, Ithaca was a robust scene for reggae music by this time. An exciting opportunity, and I went to both the Early and Late shows. I kept one of the posters announcing the shows in Ithaca.