Monday, April 24, 2006

Blue Oyster Cult

I was going to post the rest of my Chris Parker story but I've been working on my script all day as well as three movie poster comps so I'm burned out. And the CP thing is kind of sensitive and requires my emotional presence, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

In the meanwhile, I did mention Blue Oyster Cult in yesterday's post which compelled me into opening the slide box marked B.O.C. I knew that BOC still had a huge following with the current generation of teenagers. When I started the book, I looked up a lot of the bands to see who was alive and who was dead. Yeah, I'm morbid. What I didn't realize was that the original guys are not in the band. That struck me as strange. Anyway, I shot the original guys.

I wasn't into the heavy metal scene, but hey, I must have had a good time because I invited them over to my house. Looking at the pictures tonight, I really wondered, "What was I thinking?" I mean, check out the shirtless guy with the suspendered hot pants and the glittery socks. What was HE thinking? And Joe Bouchard in his Dracula cape. They were also really into the fog effect.





I know the first picture is Joe Bouchard. I can't remember the rest of them. Feel free to show your BOC allegiance by identifying the players in the comment page.

So, how did I get the whole band to my house on their off day? I have no idea. We were all backstage and they were trying to figure out what there was to do in Vancouver. Silly me. I opened my mouth and out popped, "You can come to my house. I have a pool." They seemed up for that, so I wrote down the directions and my phone number. (Oops, I just totally contradicted what I wrote yesterday about not trading numbers.) Not in a million years did I expect them to show up.

You're probably thinking I had some ritzy pad in the upper class part of town. They were probably thinking that too. But I was living in Richmond, BC, which at that time was in the middle of nowhere, between the city and the airport. I had a room in a house with five guys. One worked at a record company in sales. Another was a butcher. And the only other one I remember was a mechanic of something. The great thing about the house was I had a little darkroom in the attic. BTW, the pool was, one of those big above the ground things. We were surrounded on three sides by farmland. My point being, there was nothing fancy about the place.

I don't think I told the roommates that I had invited Blue Oyster Cult over. But I do remember how shocked they were when the band showed up. The afternoon was filled with a lot of cannonballs and screaming in the pool. But what I remember most was one of the guys brought his high end, state-of-the-art tape recorder. He had a thing for recording sounds everywhere he went. He didn't go swimming. He was too busy trying to get the cows on the other side of our fence to moo into his microphone. He was a happy camper.

9 comments:

Harry Funk said...

It looks like you caught the middle of the BOC's infamous "five-guitar jam."

Actally, Deborah, I'm pretty sure the guy up top is Eric Bloom, and that Joe Bouchard is "the shirtless guy with the suspendered hot pants and the glittery socks." He seems to be playing bass (by process of elimination).

And my best guesses on the rest:

The third photo is of Allen Lanier, usually the keyboard player.

The next one down, from left to right: Eric Bloom, Buck Dharma, Joe Bouchard, Allen Lanier and Albert Bouchard.

The last shot is of Albert Bouchard, usually the drummer.

(Of course, I might be wrong ...)

Chesher Cat said...

Your guess is obviously better than mine. Their fog clouded my brain.

In the near future, I'll be posting some pics from a show called Blues Jam that I shot in Vancouver. I have no idea who any of the players are (well, I have some guesses but...) so I'll be counting on your IDing expertise.

Harry Funk said...

Uh ... I'll keep an eye out, but no promises regarding my "expertise." (I'm not sure about some of those BOC guesses.)

I'm certainly no match for, say, the guy who nailed the Lowell George-Mo Ostin photo, adding the "where" and "when"!

And I neglected to mention in the middle of trying to figure out which BOC guy is which: Great photos! Keep 'em coming!

Anonymous said...

BOC was the first band I saw live and I've seen 'em about ~70 times since so you can take these ID's to the bank: from top:

Eric Bloom
--
Albert Bouchard, Eric Bloom, Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser, the back of Joe Bouchard
--
Allen Lanier
--
Eric, Joe, Albert, Allen, Buck
--
(too foggy to tell!)
--
Joe Bouchard

I've got Google Alerts on the band just in case something interesting churns up, which is how I saw it...it's rarely as interesting as this...thank you for posting the stories and the comments!

Maybe I misinterpreted your comments re: the band's current configuration: but Eric, Buck and Allen are still there (and always have been if you ignore Allen quitting for six months in 86 or something)...Albert Bouchard (drums) and his brother Joe (bass) left in the early/mid 80's

Joe teaches music and plays in various outfits. Albert, who wrote the lion's share of BOC music, has had a band called the Brain Surgeons in New York for oh about ten years, as well as working full time in the NYC public school system.

I stay in touch with Albert, I'll send him the link to your blog...maybe he can identify who had the tape recorder (maybe it was him!)

thanks again, best of luck with your book.

Anonymous said...

The lead guitarist is a staunch republican that supports the Bush whack job war in Iraq. Remember Mission Accomplished and Wanted Dead or Alive? Well Buck Dharma was all behind that and now he doesn't know what to say in response to questions asked of him in regards to his support.

Anonymous said...

Seamus is on the loose!!! He's the one with the Buck Dharma rant.

Chesher Cat said...

I'm guessing some of you are visiting from Buck Dharma's forum. Hope whoever posted the link said something nice.

Thought you all might also be interested in the backstage BOC pics I posted.

Here's the link:
http://everybodyishotisdead.blogspot.com/2006/12/blue-oyster-cult-backstage.html

Enjoy!

Don't forget to visit my website and join the mailing list - you'll be updated about once a month on what's going on and be the first to hear about new photos I release.

Chesher Cat said...

Ooops...

try this link:

BOC Backstage

Doesn't pay to be link-lazy.

Alex@amoderatelife said...

Great commentary! have had a number of boc folk to my pad as well--always a great time--especially if you can get them to play some music...you are wrong on the picture though--the lederhosen is always ALBERT! joe never grew his hair that long--keep posting great rock info-the kids love it!

rock on! rnrgoddess!