September 30, 1978 - Eddie & the Otters at the Chatham College cafeteria.

This was the first performance using the name "Eddie" & the Otters, after Eddie decided he didn't want to be known as Otis. And who could blame him? I don't think this show was advertised (except maybe on the Chatham campus) so it must have been word of mouth that drew the large, appreciative audience. Besides Chatham girls, there were a lot of students from Pitt and CMU as well as assorted friends and relatives. Lots of new material was introduced, most notably Beatles and Rolling Stones songs. We also added our "break song", which sort of morphed out of "Rock Around the Clock". At one point Eddie was trying to introduce the band and forgot Jim Bird's name - he turned to the rest of us and yelled off-mic "What the fuck's his name??" I think we played much better than at the toga party, and things really took off near the end of the third set when we strung together "Shout", "You Really Got Me", and "Gloria", three songs that would usually make up the end of all our shows. I've never seen any pictures from this show, but I did record it (with mixed results) on reel-to-reel.

1) This Boy (soundcheck)
2) We Gotta Get Out of This Place (soundcheck)

1st set

1) Rock Around the Clock
2) I Saw Her Standing There
3) Long Tall Sally *
4) Louie Louie
5) Twistin' the Night Away
6) Tossin' & Turnin'
7) Let's Dance
8) This Boy *
9) Shama Lama Ding Dong
10) Money
11) Johnny B. Goode
12) Hound Dog
13) Shout
14) break song

2nd set

1) Secret Agent Man
2) We Gotta Get Out of This Place
3) You Really Got Me
4) The Locomotion (acapella, while changing a broken guitar string) *
5) Roll Over Beethoven
6) Summertime Blues
7) Good Golly Miss Molly *
8) Twist & Shout
9) Blue Suede Shoes
10) Time Is on My Side
11) introduction
12) (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
13) Brown-Eyed Girl
14) Jailhouse Rock
15) Runaway
16) break song

3rd set

1) Johnny B. Goode
2) Shout
3) You Really Got Me
4) Gloria
5) Hang on Sloopy
6) Rock Around the Clock
7) Money

* - only performed at this show (although "Good Golly Miss Molly" was part of the Detroit Medley, which we started playing about 7 months later)



September 30, 1983 - Eddie & the Otters at The Decade with the Spuds, the Hank Band, and the Crazy Aces

This show was Jim's bachelor party, and it was the first time we'd played a full night at The Decade since January, 1982.

The Spuds opened the show. There were some people in the audience who had come expecting the much better known Lawrenceville band S.P.U.D.S. - it's not known whether they left disappointed or stayed for the frivolity. I think this was a six-piece lineup of the Spuds, with Eddie, Jim B., Steve Fisher, Ken Thompson, Phil Skomra, and myself.

The Otters followed with a short three-song set to accompany the strippers Quentin and Noel. Many great drummers got their start backing strippers and that's something I had always wanted to do.

The Hank Band played next - Hank, Jim B., Mark Gaudio, Greg Anthony, and myself.

The Crazy Aces followed - Doug, Keith Yanda, Gary Hoffman, and Kip (Doug, help me out - what was his last name? I remember he had previously played with the Roadhogs).

The Otters played again to close out the night, with members of the Crazy Aces joining in on vocals for "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place". For the encore of "Louie Louie", Jim played drums and I played rhythm guitar.

Most of the show was recorded off the board by Hank and Mark Gaudio, who provided the p.a. Jean took pictures, although they came out kind of dark.

The Spuds set -

1) Rock & Roll Music
2) Good Lovin'
3) Break on Through
4) I Really Love You
5) Tutti Frutti
6) California Sun
7) I Need You
8) Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby
9) Come a Little Bit Closer
10) Red Neck Mother
11) Red Hot

Eddie & the Otters "stripper set" -

1) Rock Around the Clock
(introduction of Quentin and Noel)
2) (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
3) You Really Got Me

The Hank Band's set (incomplete) -

1) I Wish We Were Older
2) I'm Missing You
3) I Can't Say No
4) Never Change Your Mind
5) Going to the Beach

(the opening song was probably "She's So Far Above Me", and we may or may not have played "(My Baby's In) Prep School".)

The Crazy Aces set -

1) (instrumental)
2) Double Talkin' Baby
3) Back in the U.S.A.
4) Lucille
5) Rockabilly Boogie
6) Twenty Flight Rock
7) Flying Saucers Rock & Roll
8) Choo Choo Ch'Boogie
9) Route 66
10) Justine
11) Brown Sugar
12) All Night Long

Eddie & the Otters main set (possibly incomplete, or did we run out of time?) -

1) Little Girl
2) So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star
3) Shout
4) We Gotta Get Out of This Place
5) Louie Louie (encore)
6) Secret Agent Man (encore)
7) Roll Over Beethoven (encore)

Holy Sheetz!

This morning I stopped at a Sheetz convenience store in Monroeville to indulge my addiction to Diet Dr. Pepper, and what should be playing on the canned background music (I hesitate to call it Muzak) but Nick Lowe doing "Heart of the City" (the studio version). I must admit that I haven't been this surprised since I heard an orchestrated version of Moby Grape's "8:05" at Giant Eagle a few years ago.

September 25, 1982 - The Spuds played a pasture party in a field outside of Uniontown. We set up on a trailer, and I presume power was supplied from a generator. For this gig we learned a number of country and country/rock tunes to try to appeal to more of the people there. If you can imagine mixing "On the Road Again" (Willie Nelson), "Margueritaville" (with Jim provided a vocal simulation of the steel drums), and "Six Days On The Road" with "Shakin' All Over" and "Gloria". Weird. Besides Eddie, Jim, Steve, and me, the band included Phil Skomra on guitar and Janine Kupets on vocals. And yes, there's a tape and some pictures.

Hey, is this Delta House?

September 16, 1978 - Otis & the Otters play their first gig at a toga party at Chatham College's REA House

This was it - our first gig. Oddly, I don't have any specific memories about things that happened, except that the police (or campus security) showed up during the second set, and Wayno came dressed as Otter, complete with a set of golf clubs. And this was the only time we ever played "Ain't That A Shame".

There are plenty of pictures from this show, some of which are included below (the black & white ones are courtesy of Craig Match). In addition to the main five members, Steve Fisher played bass for part of the second set, and vocal support was offered by Gary Noftz, Craig, and Rich (can anyone tell me his last name??) Who would have thought that we'd still be talking about this 30 years later?

1st set

1) Louie Louie

2) Twistin' the Night Away
3) Tossin' & Turnin'
4) Wipe Out
5) Shama Lama Ding Dong
6) Let's Dance
7) Money
8) Shout
9) Johnny B. Goode

2nd set

1) '69
2) Secret Agent Man
3) Peter Gunn
4) Ain't That a Shame*
5) Hound Dog*
6) Blue Suede Shoes*
7) Runaway*
8) Jailhouse Rock*
9) Twist & Shout
10) Gloria

(* Steve Fisher - bass)

3rd set

1) Louie Louie
2) Twistin' the Night Away
3) Tossin' & Turnin'
4) Shama Lama Ding Dong
5) Let's Dance
6) Money
7) Johnny B. Goode
8) Shout

September 12, 1981 - The Rumblestrips opened for the Flashcats at The Decade. I got a partial audio recording of this show from Carl Grefenstette years ago, and I must have been at the show because at one point Jim S. says something to me and Lynda from the stage. My guess is that this was the first Rumblestrips gig.

September 8, 1980 - The Made In Pittsburgh show at the King's Court Theatre, featuring Eddie & the Otters, the Hornets, the Rockin' Ravens, the Flashcats, Empire, Leslie Smith, and the Walk & Roll Brothers. Derf was the Master of Ceremonies.

We got the band back together to play a one-off show at the King's Court to help promote the Made In Pittsburgh Vol. 1 LP. Ramone refused to play with us because he was dedicated to playing with the Hornets, so Steve Fisher joined us on bass. Doug also performed with Leslie Smith's band. I was living in Detroit and reported off work sick for a total of three days because of this show (more on that later). There were two shows, and each band was permitted to play for only 15-20 minutes.

Otters first show - Little Girl / Grand Larceny / I Knew the Bride / Shakin' All Over / Hippy Hippy Shake

Hornets first show - I'm Missing You / Bad News Travels Fast / Girls Don't Change / Magazine Smile / (My Baby's in) Prep School

Otters second show - Red Hot / Grand Larceny / Gloria

Hornets second show - Resort Waitress / The Beach Song / Pipeline / Go Little Honda / Going to the Beach / (My Baby's in) Prep School

We also sang "Happy Birthday" to Linda Spitznagel.

I remember being really psyched to do this show, mostly because I was depressed living in Detroit and I missed playing in the band and I missed everyone. I believe this was the beginning of the decision process which led me to quit my job and move back home by the end of the year. The show was on a Monday night, I think, and so I reported off work Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, returning to Detroit Wednesday night. It was tough to go back.

Most of the bands were friendly and hanging out together, particularly the Otters, Hornets, and Flashcats. The Rockin' Ravens kept to themselves, huddled in the corner smoking dope, then went out and blew all the other bands off the stage.

Audio - yes, Video - no, Photos - yes (hopefully to be posted later)


September 8, 1979 - I played my second gig with Chuck Owston after the Otters broke up, at some sort of festival in West Park on the North Side. We went on after the Ozanam Strings, a children's orchestra. While I was moving my drums to the stage following their performance, a young boy who was in the orchestra approached me and said, "Hey, Skip, didn't you used to play with Eddie & the Otters?" Naturally I was completely dumbfounded. It turns out that he was Fugi's younger brother. She'd snuck him into The Decade to see the Ramones, and he actually remembered me from our opening set, and recognized me a year and a half later in a different band. Go figure.

Keith Moon Dies

September 7, 1978 - I went to Jim's Records after class only to learn that Keith Moon had died that day. At the time he was favorite drummer, and it was quite a shock.

September 7, 2008 - Happy birthday to my dad (89) and MC5 drummer Dennis "Machine Gun" Thompson (60).

September 5, 1981 - Eddie & the Otters at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

I don't remember much about this show, but I think Doug was going to be late for some reason so Kenny Thompson filled in for part of the show. However, I have Kenny listed as playing on 5-9 and 15. Who played on 1-4, Doug? Only Jim B.? The pictures also indicate that Eddie, Kenny, and Jim B. played an acoustic set, but I don't think it was recorded. Also, Ramone is playing a Fender bass that looks suspiciously like Steve Fisher's, but I don't have any record of Steve being there. Can anyone explain this? I'll listen to the tape and update this if I needed.

1) Dizzy Miss Lizzy
2) I Only Want to Be With You
3) You Baby
4) Love Potion #9
5) Rock & Roll Music
6) I Knew the Bride
7) Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby
8) California Sun
9) Red Hot
10) This Ol' House
11) Black Slacks
12) Break on Through
13) Day Tripper
14) 19th Nervous Breakdown
15) I Really Love You
16) Good Lovin'
17) Everytime You Walk in the Room
18) Heart of the City
19) I Fought the Law
20) Shakin' All Over
21) Hippy Hippy Shake
22) You Really Got Me
23) So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star

September 4, 1981 - Eddie & the Otters at The Decade


This was a sort of "comeback" show in that we intended to start playing regularly again. I suppose we were energized by the release of our EP on Jim's Public Records label, and we realized we still had fun playing together. I remember this show as being the most we were ever paid by The Decade - $500. We played three sets, including a lot of new material as well as songs from the "Billy Jett" era of April-May, 1980 that I hadn't played before and songs from the Spuds' repertoire.

This was the only time we performed Doug's song "Mr. Hollywood".

The p.a. was provided and run by Gregg Kostelich, who at the time was playing in Prototype (or was it still The Jetsons?) Less than three years later he would form The Cynics, and I played drums with them in 1987 and 1988. This show was the first time I met him, but I didn't really get to know him until a year or two later when he was working at Eide's on Federal St.

We started the second set by lip-syncing to our studio recording of "Grand Larceny" which was playing over the p.a. Mid-way through there was the sound of a needle being dragged across the record and we started playing live. Greg Matecko recalls getting into a heated argument with a girl in the audience who took exception to his hysterics while we were lip-syncing. She was convinced that we were really playing, and he was jealous and trying to belittle us. It wasn't until we really started playing that she realized what was happening, and she was properly mortified.

Pat Politano joined us on backing vocals for "We Gotta Get Out of This Place".



1st set

1) Rock & Roll Music
2) Dizzy Miss Lizzy
3) Little Girl
4) Get Off My Cloud
5) Mystery Dance
6) Hound Dog
7) You Can't Do That
8) I Knew the Bride
9) Love Potion #9
10) Secret Agent Man
11) Break on Through
12) Brown-Eyed Girl
13) For Your Love

2nd set

1) taped intro/Grand Larceny
2) This Ol' House
3) Mr. Hollywood
4) Tossin' & Turnin'
5) You Baby
6) Good Lovin'
7) Bad News Travels Fast
8) Black Slacks
9) Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby
10) 19th Nervous Breakdown
11) Love Me Two Times
12) Ticket to Ride
13) Chance in a Million
14) Roll Over Beethoven
15) Detroit Medley
16) Slow Down


3rd set

1) The Kids Are Alright
2) Angel Baby
3) (In The) Midnight Hour
4) Shakin' All Over ->
5) Hippy Hippy Shake
6) So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star ->
7) drum solo ->
8) Heart of the City
9) (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
10) We Gotta Get Out of This Place


Audio: Yes. There are two recordings of the show - the second and third sets were taped off the board by Gregg (portions were subsequently used for the limited edition CD "Live At The Decade"), while Phil Skomra recorded the show from the audience, fortunately capturing the missing first set as well as the infamous taped intro to "Grand Larceny" leading off the second set.


Video: No


Photos: Yes, there are several pictures of the show taken by my then-fiance Lynda (see below).