Reminiscences
Artists, roadies and crew are invited to
send anecdotes
and reminiscences that you
would like to share with our visitors. This space was
originally intended to be a history of the Capitol Theatre, but
that doesn’t seem to be possible. So here begins a
collection of reminiscences by those of us who were the essence
of that place. Reminiscences below include those of Al DeZon (Production Mgr.), Alfreda Baker (a treasured guest) and, most recently, Al Hayward—one of the
Capitol’s founding fathers!
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I can’t write the history of the
Capitol.
Shanghai, China, November 4,
2006—Too many years have gone by; too many friends have
disappeared or passed into oblivion. Too many substances
altering our collective mind.
Too many artists on that tiny stage to
even conceive of today; some now superstars, some completely
forgotten, some still plugging away on the road.
My Capitol history starts with another
historic moment; the closing of the Fillmore East where I got
my first job backstage. A few months after the Fillmore’s
demise, some of the old crew heard about this ‘new joint
across the river’, in Passaic, a town usually associated
with punchlines of lame Joisey jokes, and headed there looking
for work. There was no epiphany, no moment of Zen, just another
musty old theater taken over by another young promoter. A story
being replicated in markets all over the world as the music
scene boomed in the early 1970’s. We weren’t too
particular about the work, either; my then room-mate and
still-best friend, Rick Stuart and I actually flipped a coin
over the two choice gigs, security crew chief and assistant
stage manager. I won the toss, and headed backstage.
The stage crew was legendary, first in
its own mind, then throughout the touring community as every
act in the universe played the Capitol (we didn’t use the
word ”venue” in those days). In no particular
order, and certainly with memory lapses, Chris Gale, Mo
Morrison, Frank Greene, Brian McAleer, Bert Holman, Jimbo and
Greg Butterfield, Jerry Bakal, Wabo, Frank Stedtler, Tom Syme,
Jim Delahanty, Rongo, Joe Volpe, Dave Capo, Frank Bochet, and
Spacecheese (a one-time volunteer). And the artsy/tech/vidiots,
who were obviously smarter than the stage slugs (later
self-dubbed “technoids”) – Moyssi, Drewke,
Harold Klein, Debbie Flynn, Bren Bowen, Goodfellow, Ira
Bourstein, AJ, Len Dell’Amico, Veronica. People came and
went during my tenure (1971-1984), but they always remained
family. And just like all families, you didn’t have to
stay in touch, and you didn’t even have like each other
– you could never escape the association that was burned
into your DNA.
There’s another book to be written
about the other Passaic klavens, all of which owe a huge debt
to Amy Polan for providing the glue, common sense, and the
checks to keep this continual train wreck on the rails. First
names to protect the rarely innocent: Dick, Alan, Rich, Shelly,
Chris, Kenny, Jack, Rosie, Inez (x2), Cy, James, Randy, Debbie,
Phil, Bruce, David, Michael, and many, many more, including
that guy who stole my American Express card.
The “Capitol Crew” became a
nom de guerre, branching out to other war zones, including
Roosevelt Stadium, Englishtown, Rutgers, Asbury Park, The New
York State Fair (a book in itself), The Meadowlands,
Rochester/Syracuse and all of the sinkholes in upstate NY,
freighters in NY harbor, Monback Park, a raft of bad clubs; all
tolled, too many to mention or remember, but we were a comfort
factor for the acts and crews who knew us from Passaic.
And of course, no memoir of the Capitol
and its denizens would be complete without mention of the many
uncontrolled substances involved. There, I mentioned it.
As to the talent? Again, way too complex
for my aged brain. Every dissection of the Capitol’s
history mentions special appearances by the day’s
superstars; Springsteen, The Stones, The Who, The Dead, acts
that were way too big to play there, but did anyway. My
favorite memories are of the acts that belonged there, bands
playing to their fans in a funky, intimate setting. My usual
reference guide for the early roster is Moyssi’s
anniversary poster, and at the best of times, I need a
magnifying glass to read the hundreds of run-together entries.
As I’m writing this from Shanghai, that reference
resource is 6,500 miles away, so I won’t bother with the
enormity of the list. Things I/we consider anecdotal today make
the average person at cocktail parties drool; doing lines with
Lowell George (who didn’t?), unknown Bruce Springsteen
upstaging headliner John Sebastian at soundcheck, who told me
to “have him close the show, I won’t follow
that”, Rob Halford of Judas Priest starting his Harley at
the top of the ramp to roll onstage for his big entry, Slade
(with Noddy Holder), to this day the loudest band I’ve
ever heard, Warren Zevon on fire, another unknown band, from
Boston, given 18 inches of stage depth as the 4th act on the
bill (yes, Aerosmith), watching Hot Tuna from the seats behind
the fixed movie screen, blowing up Southside Johnny, Joey
Ramone’s need for butter, Texans & Teabags, and the
best seat in the house for everything (and I do mean
everything), the Perch.
Special mention to that ill-fated
project, Capitol Burlesque (1973-1974, RIP). It kept a few of
us briefly but steadily employed, and I met my wife there.
Since we’re still together after 33 years, I’ll
count it as a success, though John still owes her her last
paycheck, and with interest compounded since 1973 is actually
our retirement fund……Passing mention to the weekday
porn films which kept the theater running and the seats moist
when concerts weren’t booked.
More than passing mention to the guy
responsible for it all, John Scher. Funny how memory
prioritizes things; without John, none of this would have
shaped our lives, but it’s as if he was always in a
director’s chair somewhere else instead of in the
trenches with the rest of us. I know he had plenty of his own
Capitol drama, some shared, some private, but he was never part
of “the crew”. Actually my two favorite memories of
him at the Capitol were pulling him off a Charlie
Daniels’ Band truck driver who he decided to have a fist
fight with because he was blocking John’s view of the
stage, and John’s continual failed efforts to tap his
foot in time to the music……any music.
There was another generation of Capitol
Crew after this first generation. I ran into Rob Brenner in
Beijing, and we could reminisce about the good times we never
shared. In many ways, the Capitol was a Fillmore wannabe; I
worked closely with the Bill Graham office in the past few
years, and the same vibe is still evident. Great memories,
great pride, great people. Maybe I’m just old and cynical
(OK, I’ve always been cynical), but given the MO of the
music business today, I’m pretty sure this kind of
close-knit operation is gone forever. Pity. But I still have my
memories, my friends and my wife.
Let someone else write the history. —Al
DeZon
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The Capitol Theatre: Irrepressible,
irreplaceable, and gone with the wind
Asbury Park, NJ, March 12, 2007—I
was THRILLED to stumble across the posts on cinematreasures.org
regarding the Capitol Theatre and this website. I saw the
programs, which I remember well. When I opened the 3 marquees
pictures, I felt like Proust must have when he had the taste of
the madelaine—so sweet the memories!
I lived 2 blocks from there on Quincy and
Columbia and was just a little girl in the 70s. In fact I
remember the night the Stones played. My dad took me to the
circus in Little Falls and when we got home there was a limo
parked in our driveway and my father cursing up a storm! Lol.
The Capitol was a ball of energy in the
70s and I just remember WISHING I was old enough to go there.
When I finally WAS old enough to go there it was already on its
last leg and what made me so sad was the “Farewell
Concert" there. One last show. I remember thinking how
crappy it was that the Capitol was being sentenced to death.
On the day when the wrecking balls came I
went inside for one last goodbye. There were so many things I
should have grabbed but I was pretty much standing there with
my mouth agape. The stage was no longer illuminated with your
lights. The stage was lit by the sun coming in through the
roof. I felt like a person who had just witnessed a murder.
Couldn’t tear myself away from watching but knew I had to
get out of there because I just saw something very bad. I
literally couldn't deal with the feelings. I took an EXIT sign
and a brick and a red letter from the marquee and went home and
cried.
The death of The Capitol symbolized the
direction the world was heading in: mega burgers, mega SUVs,
mega arena shows, fast fast fast, big big big—and no
flavor.
That world growing up in the 70s was
wonderful. Anyway, I am so happy that others remember this time
with fondness and I am grateful for your dedication to
recording this history. Gosh, those pictures of the
marquee—whew—blew me away. It was always exciting
to see who was playing next. The BIGGEST names. Nothing will
ever come CLOSE. Then, with the Capitol not being bad enough of
a loss, the Heidelberg! That was awful. What fun times there.
Anyway, thank you again for all that you
are doing. You brought a ray of sunshine...
—Alfreda Baker
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The Capitol Theatre: A Founding
Father’s Reminiscence
Palm Beach Gardens, FL, July 29,
2007—First a little background on me and co/founder John
Scher. I started producing concerts in 1968 with Blood, Sweat
& Tears at Westchester County Center, White Plains, NY. I
then continued with concerts at the South Mountain Arena in
West Orange, NJ, in 1969 & 1970 with Iron Butterfly, Richie
Havens, Chambers Brothers., Creedence Clearwater, Chuck Berry,
Sly & Family Stone, Steppenwolf, Ten Years After and
Livingston Taylor.
I met John Scher in 1970. He was
producing small concerts at the Embassy Theatre in Orange, NJ.
His full time job was as a booking agent for Monarch
Entertainment Bureau in East Orange, NJ. They booked local
talent for weddings, parties, schools & colleges, etc. When
Otto Sternberg, the owner of Monarch, retired he was in his
70’s. John was working for him taking care of the younger
acts and he bought half the company when Otto retired. I came
in and bought the other half in 1971. I had met John when I
produced Livingston Taylor at the South Mountain Arena in West
Orange. Kate Taylor, Livingston (and James) Taylor’s
younger sister was his opening act. Just for a goof I wanted to
do something to liven up the show. I contacted Monarch and John
Scher. He recommended “Mr Jigs, the Worlds Smartest
Chimp”. The chimp was a big hit and John and I became
friends.
At Monarch we booked college shows with
the Byrds, Canned Heat, Mountain, Emerson-Lake-Palmer, Ike
& Tina Turner, Allman Brothers, etc. We then did a Folk
Festival & a Bill Cosby show in White Plains. Our biggest
effort in 1971 was a very controversial show with the Jefferson
Airplane at Wall Stadium in South Jersey. We sold a fair amount
of tickets when the town decided to stop the show. We had spent
much of the ticket money for advertising, etc. by then so we
were in “deep shit” at the time. The show was set
for August 15th and this order from the Township Committee was
on July 28th. We hired a good Attorney from Asbury Park and
went to court. On August 5th we won in the Monmouth County
Court. The Asbury Park Press, the major newspaper in the area,
ran a front page headline (in green ink) stating “The
Airplane Will Fly”. We could not have bought better
publicity and the show was a huge sell out. In fact it was like
a minor Woodstock as the fences came down and most of the kids
got in free due to the overwhelming crowd. We even had the
Hells Angels show up at the front gate. About 30 of them
demanded to be let in. I was in the press box above the stadium
and the front ticket man called me and asked what he should do.
I asked to speak to the “head Angel”. I told him to
look up. At the time there were helicopters from the NJ State
Police flying above and keeping an eye on things. I told him
that if they forced their way in that was just “what the
pigs wanted”. After a meeting with the other Angles they
decided to ride off in the sunset. I did a deep sigh of relief
since there may have been some big trouble with the Angels
there. (See Altamont) This was the last show that they allowed
in Wall stadium.
By then John and I were looking for
something new. The Fillmore East had just closed and we both
saw an opening for another theatre of this type in the New
York-New Jersey area. Problem was that just about all the movie
theatres had contracts with the movie distributors that
required them to play the movies on weekends. And weekends were
the best time to produce Fillmore type shows. One day my
assistant Barry Katcher called me and asked me to meet him at
the Capitol Theatre in Passaic. I was a little taken back when
arriving since they were showing porno pictures. But when I
walked in and saw 3140 seats all on one floor with a stadium
type back that went up to a wall that was so small I knew the
acoustics would be super. It had been an old vaudeville house
complete with back stage dressing rooms and all. Not just a
building that ran movies. I called John right away and we met
with the manager of the porno movies. He explained that they
rented the films on a flat fee and not a percentage of the
gross as the “straight” movies worked. We just paid
him $100 more a night that he would have made on the porno
showings and we had a deal. This was a no brainier for the
porno movie manager since most of his business was during the
week and in the daytime. I guess this is when the men snuck
away without their wives knowing it. Weekends were out of the
question for most of their clientele.
So in 1971 we opened the Capitol Theatre.
I think that the first show was Humble Pie & J. Geils Band.
John handled performer contacts & the backstage scene. I
took care of the public aspects from the stage out, like
security & advertising. Our idea was to hire as many of the
people that worked at the Fillmore in NY. This included the
stage people, Pig Light Show and outside security guys. We
thought- “why try and invent the wheel” since these
people had already been trained by the best- Bill Graham. Head
Ushers originally were Bob Pedone and Jim Tierney. Later A.J.
Giegerich replaced Jim. Stage Security head was Lonnie Franks
with Paul Zablow replacing him in 1972. Sound was Central
Jersey with Phoenix Sound replacing them the next year. Stage
Manager was Chris Gale, Backstage Hostess was Debbie
Faulconbridge, House Photographer was Steve Toth, original
outside security were headed up by Arthur Berman, Barry Kantor,
Irving Weiner, Tom Sorg and Joe Golden. Pig Light Show was
brought from the Fillmore. Our Legal Counsel was Stanley
Snadowsky. He and partner Alan ran Folk City in the Village.
Our Executive Secretary was Amy Polan, Lighting Directors were
Harold Klein and Moyssi and my now wife Barbara was our Box
office Assistant.
We produced two shows a night on Friday
and Saturday nights. Therefore we were able to offer acts like
the Grateful Dead over 6,000 seats and a small intimate
acoustically perfect theatre. In 1972 we bought the Capitol
from a Dr. Samuel Harris and took over the adjacent stores and
movie theatre. We had to honor, until the end of the year, the
lease the theater had with Passaic Cinema, Inc. for the showing
of the X rated movies during the week. It was a strange
combination. Porno films and Rock Concerts. Strangely enough,
we were not the city father’s favorite business in the
city of Passaic, NJ....
John and I also started producing large
outdoor concerts in Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. We worked
together until 1973 until we had one of those silly
disagreements that we all look back on and say “what was
that all about??” Somehow John got some season
tickets to the NY Knick games at Madison Sq. Garden. I think he
got only 2 but wanted to keep both for himself and girlfriend
Sherri. I also was a big basketball fan and wanted the tickets-
or a t least one of them- too. We decided to break up our
partnership. Since John held 51% of the stock in Monarch
Entertainment, I had to accept a buyout.
I then opened up the Twin City Ballroom
in Elizabeth, NJ with NY promoter Howard Stein. It was an old
skating rink with no seats. We had the usual half dozen arrests
for possession of marijuana and the opening show did draw over
4,000 fans to see J. Geils Band & Black Oak Arkansas but
the city of Elizabeth did not want us there. We did a few shows
there but they didn’t catch on. My girlfriend Barbara and
I were fed up with the NJ winters and moved to Florida. I did a
few shows there but the West Palm Beach area did not support
many of the acts that I promoted in the NY area. Plus the only
theatre I could find was only 800 seats and in the town of Palm
Beach. It too has been torn down and is now shops and offices.
—Al Hayward, Co-Founder
