I always thought you probably had awesome taste in music.
When I was in Hawaii in the late eighties there was this club. They would use the power of Hawaii to book bands that were sliding into the 'too classic to fill the biggest venues but not yet done for' category, with the power of Hawaii getting them to play a club venue that would otherwise still have been far beneath their normal expected take. Because if you are going to take a couple days off between gigs where is a better place to do it? And even a small gig at least covers the expenses of getting there and the stay. I completed a self assigned mission to get in tight with numerous people on the staff so I could get tickets to see what I considered massive legendary superstars in a club that seated maybe four hundred with a total capacity of 650.
One of those bands was BTO.
It was awesome.
The whole experience at that club was surreal. You'd have these monster bands playing and at the end of a set they'd just walk off the stage as if they were a house band. Like you'd see them at the bar, or waiting in line at the bathroom. I'd guess that in current times it just couldn't work, because they'd be mobbed by selfie shooters, but at the time it was sort of a weirdly wonderful thing and they'd shake a few hands, take care of business,* and get back up for another set. Usually they'd get into the throwback vibe and tell some stories of their "up and coming unknown days playing clubs like this" and wind up playing extra sets and closing the place down instead of ending the shows...and in Hawaii 'closing down' was four in the freakin' morning. We'd walk out of there pretty much shell shocked.
*see what I did there?
