On this day in 1980 - 10 July

Michael was the drummer of Ivy & the Eaters, who I had recently begun seeing. Carol is Carol Mamon from Pacific Palisades, who I met at the Starwood in 1976. (She was married to Tim Lamadrid of the Unclaimed later in the 80s and lived in San Diego but we lost touch after she and Tim split up in the mid 90s; if anyone knows her whereabouts, let me know!)

I had met Peter Perrett, his partner/manager Zena and the rest of the Only Ones when they first played LA in '79; had seen them in London and again in LA earlier that year. The Only Ones were meant to have played the Whisky on the 7th of July, but it had been cancelled; can't remember why.

10 July 1980

I went to the Whisky to see the Undertones, and the first show was sold out! So I bought a ticket for the second one and rang Michael. He said, why don't you come on over? Perfect. I FINALLY got to see this place - it was weird and neat. They have an Advent screen - I was wondering what he had meant by a "wall TV".

Too bad I couldn't stay longer. We sat and watched TV and talked and held hands and when I said I'd better go it took about half an hour to say goodbye. I had a really nice time. But I had to leave. I got to the Whisky about 10 minutes before the Undertones came on. Saw Carol in the Ladies room.

The Undertones were great!! I watched them from the stairs and during their set Peter Perrett walked by... They didn't do Male Model but lots of other fantastic songs. Visually they reminded me of the Bay City Rollers a) on acid b) with cerebral palsy or c) after being run over by a Mack truck. The drummer is cute though; the singer is such a spazz!

They wouldn't let anyone backstage; they were being such assholes!

Afterwards I almost fainted when Peter Perrett came up to me ... He asked about that New Wave Theatre show. I told him how awful it was. [??!! I think I was referring to its lo-fi quality; I certainly did appreciate its existence!] (Just like Madame Wong's.) [Not sure what this means...] While we were talking, everyone kept giving me looks...

Chris was there too and when he left he said, "Come home with me!" Carol said that she would have jumped! [I have absolutely no idea who this Chris fellow was ...] [Later: Remembering a Chris mentioned in another post - Chris Bailey, could this have been you?]

Bruce Foxton was also there; I was gonna ask him if anyone had ever told him he looked like David Cassidy. [But I guess I didn't.]

[Click here to see the Undertones at the Whisky.]

The Undertones. Photo: Larry Doherty, 1979