Ancient Goth (was Re: Docs, Nurses, Attorneys, Music)

[manny at telerama.com]

> Seriously, I'd be really interested to hear about the scene in the days
> before shows. Where did people hang out? Was there even a place people
> hung out? What happened? What was it like?

Before 'goth' shows, you mean.

Yes. There were 'shows' just not ones promoted as 'goth'.
a vast majority of all relevant activity centered around oakland and the east
end. the south side barely registered a blip yet.
Shows happened at the Graffiti, Decade and Banana. Also very early on at some
outlying places like Mancini's and Phase III. Also City Limits in Penn Hills.
Bigger shows were at the Stanley Theater (now the Benedum) downtown and the
Syria Mosque (now a parking lot) in Oakland.
Shows also happened in art spaces and temporary lofts and rental halls.
Blatant Image, Pgh Filmmakers old space, Lions Walk, American Legion were some
of those. There were also shows on campus, mostly at CMU. There were also
plenty of local bands playing at Flagstaff Hill in the summer.
WRCT was the only college station until 1984 when WPTS joined it on the air.
WYEP was still a freeform underground-feel station (on Cable Place in Oakland)
through the early 80s, however, and had some influence as well. The early 80s
had a commercial new wave station called WYDD 104.7. Then a bit later, 1985-87
saw WXXP emerge. it was shortlived and only really helped the biggest new
wave/modern rock acts and the slick  locals like the Affordable Floors.
Few alternative dance nights existed. The main one was at the Upstage.
The biggest night at the Upstage was Mondays, quarter draft  night.
The main dive bars people hung out at that didn't have shows were Chief's
and Squirrel Cage, and maybe Sanctuary (right before my time).