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)