Extras
Photos by Suzanne Parks
Reading Eagle, Friday. September 22, 1978
Bonnie Parker Wows Slim Astor Throng
By Al Walentis
It was billed as a back-to-back school rock concert. but for the promotors, it was a night of the blues. Thursday’s Astor Theater show starring Savoy Brown drew a crown so puny it looked like admission was by invitation only.
The lousy turnout (about 350 paid) 200 giveaways on a local local radio promotion) should have been expected. Savoy Brown — after 13 years on the road, as many albums, and a you-can’t-tell-the-players-without-a-scorecard lineup that’s become the joke of the industry — is a band without any real following.
Teen-agers don’t remember the heyday of “Raw Sienna,” “A Step Further” and “Street Corner Talking,” when Savoy’s blues-rock was among the best. And older fans couldn’t care less about the current incarnation, which is essentially a power trio.
Quite predictably, Thursday’s performance was an extended plug for Savoy’s latest album (“Savage Re-turn”), although the group did do some old stuff during the middle part of the short set. But many of the best old tunes seemed beyond the current players’ grasp due to the abbreviated lineup.
Lead guitarist Kim Simmonds — the only remaining founding member – managed enough sharp licks to assuage axe (guitar) freaks.
Bassist and lead vocalist Ian Ellis, though, is just another student in the Robert Plant School of Frantic Rock Singers.
The audience, which seemed more interested in two popular warm-up acts, generated only lukewarm response, although Savoy did step out for an encore. The show avoided qualification as “Most Unnecessary Rock Concert of 1978″‘ though a sensational регformance by the Bonnie Parker Band, a hot New York City combo. BPB was so energized the music deserved the new classification of amphetamine rock.
Ms. Parker, a 26-year-old sultry singer with a Rod Stewart rooster cut, clinging white jumpsuit and red shoulder sash, was a true American fox. She was like a windup toy with a spring that never ran down, leaping across the stage and pacing the band with some heavy bass work.
“Hey, are you ready to rock ‘n’ roll?” the group asked in its best number. The answer is an enthusiastic yes.
(The Bonnie Parker Band, which currently is negotiating a recording pact with Atlantic Records, will return to the Astor Dec. 2 as an opener for Cheap Trick.)
The Hunch Boogie Band, a favorite in local clubs, opened the show with some high-charged blues-rock (even though much of the original material was mediocre).
“You have to see Hunch boogie on a stage where you can boogie with them,” said one fan. And maybe that’s what Hunch needed — a dance floor.
Promoter Jim Jones was lot openly irritated by the loor gate.
The fact that the show went off, Jones explained, will let ans know that the Astor The-ter is back in business and ould boost receipts when the heavy guns — Weather Re port, 10cc and others – are brought out later this fall.
The Concert That Wasn’t
