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Century City After Hours

Other Memorable Concerts
(Especially Vanessa And The Suits)

In my last column, I reminisced about my three most memorable rock concerts. Due to perceived conflicts of interest, of course, I did not mention any of the performances by the incomparable, and now-extinct, Vanessa and the Suits. Due in part to the great clamoring for their mention, and with my memory slowly but surely recalling other memorable concerts I attended, it seemed only appropriate to do the "Hollywood thing" - make a sequel! And so, without further ado, here we go down my memory lane yet again...

Back when the Amphitheater was still open to the air, I caught a performance by Elton John. There was no opening act, just Elton. After he had been playing for over an hour, he slumped off the piano bench, he was taken off the stage, and the lights came on. Many, myself included, thought at first that this was an intended stunt to begin an intermission. Elton in fact came back on the stage about 20 minutes later and continued his performance, but it turned out he had really collapsed, due to the flu.

Madonna's first concert tour was in 1985, and no one initially was quite certain just how strong the demand to see her in concert would be. Smaller venues, such as Universal Amphitheater (by this time enclosed, I believe), were chosen for the 28-city tour. Madonna performed 13 songs over the course of slightly over an hour and had the crowd on its feet the entire time. I have seen Madonna twice since then in much larger venues, but they could not compare to this first encounter with her.

In 1971, I went to see James Taylor, who had release the monster album, Sweet Baby James, the prior year (this album included the single "Fire and Rain"). Opening for Taylor was a rather shy woman whom I had not heard of before. She performed some songs at the piano that I knew well and loved, claiming that they were her songs. How could this be? It turns out that the woman was part of the famous songwriting team of Goffin-King, and she was opening for James Taylor to promote her new album, titled Tapestry. This album is considered by most to be among the greatest albums of all time. Not a bad concert, and at a small venue!

The Five Stairsteps, once labeled the "First Family of Soul," consisted of five siblings. They had their biggest hit, "Ooh Child," in 1970. Shortly after this song hit the charts, the group performed at my college. What makes this concert so memorable is that, after a set of perhaps 30 minutes or so, they came back after the brief intermission and performed the exact same set yet again: the same songs in the same order with the same choreography!

Three years ago, the Pacific Amphitheatre offered an oldies night consisting of Jefferson Starship, Steppenwolf, Vanilla Fudge, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. Being a big fan of the old Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship, I made the big mistake of attending this concert. The only original member of either "Jefferson" band was Paul Kantner, who apparently did not even have the legal right at the time to use the name. I think most of the songs performed were not even songs by the Jefferson Airplane/Starship, which managed to turn my nostalgia into disgust. Definitely one of my worst concert experiences ever!

Back in 2001, I discovered a part-time band consisting of Vanessa Hoppe (then a recent graduate of college; now an attorney), Dan Case from Case Knowlson in Century City, Kent Beyer with his own law firm in Century City, Jeff Lane from Wolf, Rifkin in West Los Angeles, and paralegal Dan Joseph. The group had a certain pizzazz as well as an extremely broad range of songs they could cover. Sadly, the group's early success seemed to seal their doom in the traditional rock way, with members splitting over artistic and "directional" differences. While my past suggestions of a reunion performance has fallen on deaf ears, perhaps someday these five "legal stairsteps" will heed the call of their fans, or at least the Ben Franklins. Hey, if the Police and the Who can reunite, why not the Suits?

Several readers responded to my last article with mentions of their own favorite concert. I am now laying down the gauntlet for you: send me a description of a few sentences of your own most memorable one or two concerts. I will publish some of them in a subsequent column, so your response will constitute consent to my publishing your description (with such editing as I may deem desirable, of course). Let me know whether I can use your name, or whether you prefer to remain anonymous.

Congratulations to Aaron Weissman, Paul Bost, David Pasternak (with whom I think I once waited in line for King Tut tickets back in the late 70s), James Slouber, and Elizabeth Gallerani, who knew all or most of the trivia questions in the last article. The answers are below:

1. Y.M.C.A. was by the Village People
2. Crazy Little Thing Called Love was by Queen
3. Bad Girls was by Donna Summer
4. One Way Or Another was by Blondie
5. My Sharona was by The Knack
6. London Calling was by The Clash
7. Tusk was by Fleetwood Mac
8. I Will Survive was by Gloria Gaynor
9. Do Ya Think I'm Sexy was by Rod Stewart
10. Sultans Of Swing was by Dire Straits

The bonus song, I Wanna Be Sedated, was by The Ramones.

NEW TRIVIA CONTEST: 1969



I know, most of you were not even born back in 1969, or were just toddlers. Nevertheless, you probably have heard these songs on the radios, or on your parents vinyl records. Back in 1969, Richard Nixon was President, Golda Meir becomes prime minister of Israel, and a Libyan coup results in Co. Muammar al-Qaddafi becoming the leader of the country. The U.S. is still fighting in Vietnam. Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the moon. The Gap opens its first store. The Woodstock Music and Art Fair is held in upstate New York. Among the rock hits of the year are the songs listed below. Who performed them? Please send your responses (whether complete or partial) to etswanson@att.net, or just drop a note to say hello.

1. You've Made Me So Very Happy
2. Lay Lady Lay (hint: just released another new, and fabulous, album)
3. Suspicious Minds
4. Here Comes The Sun
5. Sweet Caroline
6. Honky Tonk Women
7. I Can't Get Next To You
8. Aquarius
9. Sugar, Sugar
10. Wedding Bell Blues

Bonus Song: Hawaii Five-O

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