That show also capped off my effort to help establish the Bijou Film Center. After devoting nearly five years of focus on that rather ambitious effort, I decided that I had done all I could for the Bijou. It was time for me to step aside and leave the establishing task to younger guys. Accordingly, after I thanked the party's attendees and the Band, I announced my retirement from the Bijou. As I remember it, after expenses, that last show brought in close to $1,000 net for the Bijou. 

That anniversary party book-ended my association with promoting live music in my hometown, which began when I worked for about six months as a bartender at the Bearded Brothers at 2053 W. Broad St. in 1969/70. Although I didn't book the bands (the owner, Fred Awad did), I created handbills and newspaper ads, etc. for some of the shows. And, I also designed a logo for Natural Wildlife, the house band. Unfortunately, souvenirs of the promotional art from those days are long gone.

Maybe growing up in the home of my (maternal) grandparents left a mark on me. While they had steady day jobs, they were both also excellent musicians. She was a nurse/pianist; he was a blue collar architect/vocalist. As far as my own musicianship -- or lack of it -- is concerned, I don't remember ever considering playing in a band. I did torture a few chromatic harmonicas over the years, playing along with canned music. Only rarely did I ever play a harmonica in collaboration with real musicians, playing live, with an audience.  

However, as a promoter between 1969 and 2017, there were a bunch of live music shows and too many handbills to count. Some of the most fun I've had associated with live music promotion were connected to the events Chuck Wrenn and I produced/promoted, acting  as Lit Fuse Productions. As I remember it, the first of those Lit Fuse shows was presented on my front porch (see 1978 handbill above).

Note: When I was assembling a staff for the Biograph Theatre, in January of 1972, Chuck was the first person I hired. So our history of working as a team, with a million laughs! began nearly 50 years ago. 

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After a couple of parties at the Biograph in the '70s, with bands playing in the lobby, in late-December of 1979, Chuck Wrenn, Mike Garrett and I cooked up a new year's party to be at the theater, to bring in the '80s. Mike's band, Single Bullet Theory played. Chuck built the stage in front of the larger screen. We promoted this event only with word-of-mouth. I think we charged one dollar admission and only friends were admitted. This was one of those Biograph parties when we covered the windows facing Grace Street with newsprint. The photo was shot that night by Mike in the hallway with the big collage.  

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Coming soon: The posters included with this remembrance represent a few of my live-music-related souvenirs that managed to survive several changes of address over the years.