By Greg Budell
The Mayor of BOOMTOWN
25 OR 6 TO 4 ON 5-21 IN MONTGOMERY! Chicago in the Gump!
I hate concerts (Welcome to the BOOM Bureau of Unpopular Opinions).
illusion worked, he would have to “have us killed”. He was kidding. I think. The most impressive single performance I’ve witnessed was here at the MPAC a few years back when the “Happy Together” tour came to the River Region. Gary Puckett. The Cowsills. Mark Lindsay of the Raiders. The Turtles, and finally Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night.
That’s just me. In my 20s and 30s I was willing to put up with parking hassles, crappy sound systems, shows that started late and lasted too long. Plus, in my near 3 years as a PR liaison for Styx (75-77), I attended hundreds of shows. Burnout! As time passed, I became less tolerant of bad fan behavior, the worst being a Garth Brooks show in Miami in 1997 that set a record for Group BAL and arrests for physical violence (mostly men abusing women). That was the low point. Disgusting.
On the road with STYX, Greg (lower left) says 2 things in rock have gotten better since the 70s-Sound systems and fashions!
Don’t get me wrong. I saw some amazing shows. When I worked with Styx we toured Florida with Kansas. They were great as a double-bill. We and they used the same Holiday Inns and got drunk at their bars after the shows. The bands chose that because nobody thought to look for their favorite rock star at a Holiday Inn, so the bars were pretty empty. The guys just wanted to relax, minus fans. For all its glitz, it’s a business. One of my favorite shows ever wasn’t even music! Not long before moving to Montgomery my radio station helped bring David Copperfield to Miami. By pre-arrangement, I was part of a group in his grand illusion (that sounds familiar). I
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May 2022
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took my daughter, then 13, to the show so she could be entertained and proud of her old man when he was called to the stage for the finale. So, Copperfield is on stage calling names up. “And from LITE 101.5, please welcome Greg BUNDLE!”. As I approached the stage, I heard applause and snickering and yes- I smilingly corrected him when I got up there. My ego. Shameless. The illusion was a great experience. He made our party of 13 vanish from the stage, then reappear in the crowd to a flourishing finish and a standing ovation. Afterward, Copperfield told all 13 of us that if we spilled the beans on how his
They all sounded great performing in their 70s. What blew me away was Chuck Negron announcing, (after blowing out ‘Eli’s Coming’) he was performing while connected to an oxygen tank!
Not that long ago they’d infer they were connected to a backstage bong! Now that we’re getting our lives back (don’t provoke me), we are planning to see our next every-five-year concert this month. Chicago is coming to MPAC the 25th this month. It’ll be interesting, my first concert in several years! I haven’t seen them in decades. Chicago had 2 of the best debut albums ever. As a Windy City DJ on WLS-FM I had the privilege of playing full length cuts on deep dives into those debut albums. Chicago was among the Founding Fathers of FM classic rock radio, a cultural staple The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine
