Punk Rock. New Wave. Lodi! No really. Ok, being out in the suburbs, a dozen or so miles from the epicenter of the underground rock and roll scene, it took a year or so to reach Lodi. Unless you went there. And being 14 or 15 in 1977 I wasn’t too keen on going to CBGB’s. I didn’t even know how to spell CBGB’s back then.

And I wasn’t that into the music at that time. I was still an Elton fan, and in 1977 I saw my second concert, Peter Frampton, touring behind the ‘I’m In You’ record. I was caught up in the mania about ol’ Pete. I owned Frampton Comes Alive and his earlier albums had been played by my brothers and sister. It was a concert and to a 15 year old it was a MAJOR event.

My brother Frank took me. We ran into some friends of his who were going to CBGB’s to see this band, AC/DC. Too many acronyms. Frank said no thanks. I said ‘Get out of the way! R2D2 is on stage with Peter Frampton!’

Elton ‘retired’ from music in 1977. He wasn’t doing anything. I was in limbo. My libido was also in limbo. I was listening to WPIX FM, which was the only station playing new wave type things. I heard a radio report of Elton wining an artist of the year award, and he turned it down, saying that he had retired and hadn’t done anything. The award, Elton felt, should go to Elvis Costello.

That guy who looked like Buddy Holly and Woody Allen’s offspring?

So I followed Elton’s lead and got My Aim is True. Loved it. Saw Elvis Costello and the Attractions on SNL. They were ‘dangerous’. I loved them! I started buying records put out by Stiff, Radar, Rough Trade etc. And NYC Indies too. I’m still looking online for ‘Singing In The Rain’ by Just Water, from Brooklyn.

Then one Saturday afternoon I bought ‘More Songs About Buildings And Food’ at Alexander’s in Paramus NJ. I already liked Take Me to the River, and I bought the single a week earlier. Now I wanted more, like the album. I knew nothing about Talking Heads. Thought the cover was amazing and when I read that it was a Polaroid mosaic, I was head over heels in love with them.

Then I heard the music and I was betrothed. Then I saw the band on SNL and thought they were one of the best bands I’d ever seen! And I was 14!

My brother Brian got into the band who gave me my motto for my high school senior yearbook, ‘Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO!’ He saw them on SNL and thought they were a spoof. For some reason I missed that episode. But the buzz was tremendous and I heard Brian play Satisfaction and Uncontrollable Urge often enough that I knew he wouldn’t notice my eventual theft of the record when he got tired of it.

Elvis Costello was my main man for a long time. I snapped up every single, import whatever that I could find. Pictures sleeves a must. It was quite a time to get new music. I was buying records every week, and every week had something new and exciting released by someone somewhere. This was a possible future and not too many people new about it. But it was there, WPIX was playing it, my brother Frank had a small slot on his WFMU show called ‘My Brother’s Records’ where he’d play the latest things that I bought that he liked or I hyped up a lot.

Elvis Costello’s ‘Armed Forces’ made the top ten. Talking Heads were doing pretty good. Music for misfits. Who knew they were growing in number? I thought I was the only one.