I shared the stage with Randy Rhoads one night

Gary Majchrzak

Gary Majchrzak

Team RC
it's true.
The year was 1980 or '81
Location: Art Stock's Playpen North, Rochester NY.
The band playing at the club was called "Rubaiyat" and they were from PA.
They did a Pink Floyd tribute and I played sax on "Money".

Rudy Sarzo and Randy stopped in after Ozzy's gig at the War Memorial downtown. Randy was invited onstage by Rubaiyat's guitarist "Nat" and proceeded to do his thing. I wasn't a big Ozzy fan at the time and Randy didn't impress me. (Unfortunately for Randy he broke Nat's strings on a Strat that didn't have a locking vibrato so the Fender went horribly out of tune.)

Little known fact:
There aren't many pictures of Ozzy and Randy performing together. To the best of my knowledge, Brother Wease had the only one... and it was taken in Rochester. It's the photo where Ozzy is holding Randy up while playing his Jackson.

I believe this to be the one. I would love confirmation from a reliable source!

RANDY-RHOADS.jpg
 
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they did that at every show..Most of the time he made it all the way up onto Ozzy's shoulders,he must have been a tad to buzzed that night lol..

EDIT..Nevermind I was thinking of Iron Maiden lol

Still a awesome story though..
 
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wow playpen...that brings back memories..we used to play there and the arcade...this town had a preety good music scene back in the day...could go out multiple nights and catch bands..my buddy had video of randy at house of guitars i believe doing a signing before show or mabe guitar clinic cant remember
 
Gary Majchrzak said:
yeah.. the music scene in Rochester isn't what it used to be.

I think that's a national trend.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree with you on that Gary. I travel all over the US and Canada and there are alot of radio stations that play all kinds of different rock genre's. I think the biggest problem is that Rochester is a small city and with that you get a limited playlist that the radio station is allowed to play. There are alot of say 80's hard rock bands that you never even hear. If you turn on wcmf you'll hear the same10 Rush songs or the same10 Led-Zeppelins songs freakin over and over and there are so many great ones to choose from. Still there are alot of other newer bands that don't get any kind of play time here but you go out to the west coast and you'll definetly hear them. That's just the radio part the big bands don't come here anymore they just don't make the money here that they can in the big city's. The local music scene has a bunch of good bands that play out all the time. Anyway enough of my ranting...of course this is just my opinon....
 
not talking about radio at all

not talking about radio at all

When's the last time they had a rock concert at the War Memorial?
Too bad Van Halen cancelled!
It's ok to disagree with me BUT at least half of the Rochester "rock clubs" are gone and haven't been replaced:

*Alexander's
*Penny Arcade
*Island Cottage
*Art Stock's became something became some else then finally shut down
*Shnozz's / Night Moves (now a bookstore!)
*etc. (please add to the list folks)

Not talking about radio at all. Live bands playing out. Used to have quality bands 3 nights a week: Thursday Friday Saturday. Like jimmer said, you could leave one club/great band and go see another great band the same night.
Bands like Talas, Cheater, Reporter, Ruby Shooz, Good Rats, 805, etc.

It's true Rochester has some of the finest musicians in the country but it's easy to see the music scene for live bands is a far cry from what it used to be.
 
I guess I misunderstood your post Gary. I do agree about the clubs and some of the bands you named off were great back in the day. I remember seeing just about every band you listed at one time or another. There are some pretty good local bands that do play out springer,the dirty white boys, uncle plum those are a few not as many as there used to be. I think I have a Talas cd in my rack..and I know i've got some Duke Jupiter!!!
 
Duke Jupiter. I like 'em. I like their older stuff better.
Stuff like the "Sweet Cheeks" album.

I'll agree with you about radio in Rochester, Henry. It sucks.

Check this out: Bob Marley's band "The Wailers" played at the Lilac Festival this past Wednesday evening. Why they scheduled them for a Wednesday I'll never know.... they should have been a weekend headliner.
And the promotion for them was terrible IMO.
 
I wouldnt say the rochester music scene is dying I just think its changing. Some awesome bands play at waterstreet. they may not be the same "era" as say ozzy but still awesome bands none the less
 
dying? nobody said that.

dying? nobody said that.

The music scene here is clearly not what it used to be.
I'm talking about bands in clubs. Ask any long time local musician. Here's a good example: compare this month's Freetime Magazine with one from 10 or 20 years ago.
Couple of pages vs. a phonebook.

Awesome bands used to play Waterstreet 3 nights a week.
Bands started playing at 9:30 -10:00PM.

Anybody remember "Chopsy" down there?
 
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I think it comes down to finances. Most quality bands nowadays ask for quite a hunk of money. Aerosmith got paid a insane amount to play at the State Fair $1,000,000. Now that's obviously an extreme case, being that Rush played the same week for less than half that.

I love classic rock and I wish I had been born 30 years earlier to experience the real rock scene. Now I just take all my trips to NYC to see the bigger bands and some classic talent. Each arena is always sold out and the tickets are reasonably priced. Locally, shows are usually not sold out, more expensive, and to most big names CNY is not a place on their list to go too...lol.

I'm with you Gary. We need more places!!
 
There's another part of the finances for local acts. A bar wants to pay a band $400 or $500 to split between 4-5 people typically PLUS the band has to pay the soundguy $150-250 for a bar gig. You're looking at $50 a guy when its said and done to make a bar a few grand over the counter...and heaven forbid the band wants to play a set of originals. For some gigs that doesn't cover the gas and babysitter to play out. That is if the club owner doesn't stiff them.
 
Gary Majchrzak said:
When's the last time they had a rock concert at the War Memorial?
Click to expand...

Not super recent, but I saw a band there a couple years back. I won free Nine Inch Nails tickets off a local radio station. I'm not a huge fan of their music (they're alright), but for free, it was worth it. They put on a pretty good show.
 
A couple friends of mine (former Roch natives and high school mates) passed this link to me a couple years ago. It's the only findable video/recording of Ozzy with Randy Rhoads- in "Rochester, NY" specifically. Pretty rare. Since they didn't get to make a lot of appearances here in Rochester. Until later albums with Oz's next guitarist (Jake E. Lee, who was actually his 4th solo artist guitarist) (Bernie Tormei(2nd)who initially replaced Randy and Brad Gillis(3rd) were very short term stays)

It's NOT great video quality or sound. But still neat to look back at.

http://youtu.be/rkGYTCDKH3c
 
Nashville's is the former Rustlers Roost in Henrietta.
Not been there. But a guy I work with plays in a band called Blue Jimmy. They are playing at Nashville's on May 25th. They are like Country meets Rock with a bit of Neal Young style.

Most of the top "cover bands" today in Rochester, NY are booked by Ram Fan 1 and managed by Rich Palotto. I have several friends still in the rock scene.
But overall, the '80's were better than now in this area. Yet one thing holds true still. Rochester is not a music scene town to make it in for originals and never will be.

Though there are at least some entertaining bands out there. Classic cover bands wise, Springer and 50/50 are both decent local entertainment bands for those who like 80's - to - 2,000's music.

California Brew house and Montage music Hall as well as Water Street host more of the original modern bands the kiddies are listening to now. Original locals and national acts. A lot of the Screamo and various modern METAL kids listen to. (and I must admit. Even me. I like some of it)
 
Yeah, it's tough making it for decent worthwhile part time cash.
Even for cover bands. But if your really good, you get with the right management.

Springer and 50/50 bring in like $1,500 - $2,000 or more per many of their gigs.(and that's just for the band to split. Not Ram Fans cut) That's part timing. But at least 3-4 shows or more per month.
They also don't have to pay sound guys. It's all about who's really good combined with who gets noticed enough. It's not easy. Anyone who wants to play the best cover band gigs in this town goes through Ram Fan if your lucky enough for him to pick you up. He doesn't like scuzz bucket dives. Refuses to have his bands play them.
 
Brian and Chad Ayers of Blue Jimmy are from here in our booming metro of Bloomfield! Decent band and great guys!
 
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