Stray Stub Stories for the Stray Cats

In my one and only other autograph I have(see Stub Stories: David Sanborn); I can say I had the pleasure of briefly speaking with the guitar virtuoso Brian Setzer.
In 1982, between the explosion of M-TV and my Rockabilly fan and college hall mate Ron Payne, The Stray Cats were burgeoning stars. As I remember, the Long Island natives were not having much luck here in America but over in England where once again the ol’ mother country had to show the colonies how to appreciate our own music… Rockabilly was all the rage.

Ron Payne later a roommate of mine in CA eventually getting in with John Hughes & Co… even having a few small parts here and there (look for him in “Uncle Buck” for instance;-), Anyway he was what they call a “purist”, in that he only liked the Beatles… up to a point(roughly pre-drugs;-), Elvis… up to point (roughly pre-Jordanaires;-) The simpler an arrangement and musical style the better. So in introducing me to groups like Dave Edmonds and Rockpile and the like, it was a no-brainer that when we found out this new group called the Stray Cats were coming to Indianapolis to a relatively small bar called The Vogue a short drive from Muncie, Indiana and the campus of Ball State University we KNEW we were going. (Hell, we made that trip just for a White Castles back-in-da-day;-)
 (I just found this poster on a Stray Cats fan site… How cool… I sent them my ticket stub/autograph to see if they like…)

Anyway! The more I think about it I’m guessing this concert might have been even before M-TV played “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut” incessantly… because The Vogue in Indy is a pretty small place, but having said that… it was PACKED! But also I do remember there were some Top 40 girls there, that I could tell were bored once those two songs were over and could care less about mind blowing antics of the rest of the show those three put on. So I’m not sure how much exposure they really had by December of 1982… But they were popular enough that only procuring spots up against the railing in the balcony were possible for prime viewing. From there we could easily see the straddling atop the up-right bass of Lee Rocker and the lunging at the simple snare set of Slim Jim Phantom to the incredible guitar virtuoso of Brian Setzer. At one point Brian was just wailing and wailing on his guitar and the crowd at the stage was surging, Brian was sort doing a Chuck Berry one foot backwards hop towards the front of the stage and just fell over backwards into the crowd, they pushed him back up onto the stage and he never missed a lick… Now THAT is some awesome crowd diving!

After the show Ron wanted to hang out near the tour bus behind the Vogue, so even though it was a crisp cool December night with your breath very apparent in the Indiana winter, we did. Soon back doors opened… but before you could even blink the other two guys ran straight out the back doors and leapt through the open bus doors. Where as Brian came calmly strolling out… and he began signing autographs and casually talking to people asking things like where the best place to get a beer was.. I remember thinking, “Man I wish I was from Indy and had clue…”  I could tell him about a dive or two in Muncie that some college girls might be hanging out at… and years later when I lived in Indianapolis next door to Butler’s Bulldog Tavern just down the road from The Vogue, I’d had more input… but that night I just continued chattering my teeth with him and everyone else, and got my autograph on my ticket stub. Now Ron, savvy boy that he was, had two British imported 45’s in his jacket, and after Brian signed them he knew the tour manager’s name and even what he looked like, and proceeded to hand the picture sleeved 45’s to him and he took them onto the bus and got the other guys to sign them… that’s the kind of wheeling and dealing it took to stay in Hollywood years later that I just didn’t have! Sigh… Oh well… (Ron sent me a scanned version of one of the sleeves.)

A few years later I saw The Blasters at that same venue and although they sort had a Rockabilly rivalry of sorts, I enjoyed them both immensely, and it was guitar haven for hiccupping singers and slapping bass for me… I’ll have to see if I can dig that ticket out from somewhere for another day…
Another ticket to pull out some day is the one from almost exactly 25 years later for 2007 tour when for the 1^st time in like 15 years those three got back together and opened up for The Pretenders and ZZ Top. Even though I was way up on a grass hill 40 times further back than being in the Vogue’s balcony 25 years earlier, it was a fun night. And when Brian came strolling out for what I heard was the first time on that tour to spar the guitar licks in “My City was Gone” I agreed with Chrissie in her surprise saying, “… well that was fun…” So… again, more when I find that ticket;-) Sure cudda told Brian about place or two in Indy for a beer that night in 2007 when I couldn't in 1982!

[I could not find a setlist for this particular concert, but I did find one from four days later.]
Setlist from Dec 10th Albany, NY