Digressing again: NYC concert history.
Now, I know there are at least a few readers out there who, like me, begrudgingly dug into their pocket and came up with the whopping six-and-a half bucks for a ticket to a few Dr. Pepper Music Festival shows on Pier 84 in the late 70s/early 80s.
For those of you who were not fortunate to be around for these years of cheap rock-n-roll, this price was blasphemous to festival patrons. In its earlier form, the DPMF was sponsored by the (Brooklyn-based!)Schaefer Brewing Company and the venue was Central Park's Wollman Rink. The ticket price for a Wollman Rink show was $3.00...and that was too much to pay for many of us. (After all, that price had crept up from the original $1.00 price over the years.) During the park years many of us sat on the rocks surrounding the rink with our stash and wine sack and were able to enjoy the show with a reasonably unobstructed view. (It was sort of the equivalent to the modern-day wireless network piggyback.)
Unfortunately, when the shows were moved to the Pier, there was no option to sponge off the Corporate sponsors and paying ticket holders, unless of course you had a friend with a boat. So we accepted and paid what we then thought was a "hefty" price. Anyway, I came across a stack of old ticket stubs from those days and am both intrigued and bemused by the missing data on ticket #1 pictured above. So here's my challenge: If anyone can tell me the name of the artist(s) that impelled me to forfeit six dollars and fifty cents on June 9th in the unknown year in which the Dr.Pepper/Seven-Up Bottling company set that price, I will personally serenade you with the Dr.Pepper Theme song, "I'm a Pepper", on the steps of Borough Hall. I am also willing to substitute that with the Schaefer theme at your request. Please note that I've included an image of a Crosby, Stills & Nash concert ticket stub dated August 13, 1985 which yielded a price of $12.50 from me. From that we can ascertain that the performance in question occurred several years prior to the CS&N show.
Give it your best NYC concert historians! Participation in "Name That Year; Name That Show!" could provide you with the satisfaction of my public humiliation on the steps of Borough Hall. To many of you, I'm sure that trophy is well-worth your time and research efforts.
Cheers,
The Pigeon
