Popdose - Latest Comments in Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Linda Grabowski-Grant — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 17:59:21 -0000

If this is LA! Look me up on Facebook. I've tried to find you, but to no avail.

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Linda Grabowski-Grant — Mon, 02 Feb 2015 17:52:22 -0000

Is this who I think it is?

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Charles Stack — Sun, 17 Jun 2012 23:10:05 -0000

Hi! I remember hitting on you at the bar at one of Off Broadway's gigs....you gave me a sweet smile and said "Thanks, but I'm the girlfriend of the lead guitar player!!" LOL!! So we talked about guitars & music (you told me Rick Nielson thought Rob's Hamer Sunburst looked "nice"). I just saw Off Broadway last night for the 35th Anniversary tour, they sounded great but I SURE MISS ROB!

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

obusafJIJP — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:32:13 -0000

35th Anniversary Celebration in 2012! John Ivan & John Pazdan are back!
https://www.facebook.com/st...
http://www.offbroadway-usa.com

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Skipulax22 — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 16:26:43 -0000

Unbelievable musical moment here. I'm right there with you, with (almost) tears in my ears and (absolutely) shivers up my arms as I'm listening Off Broadway's On! album for the first time in almost 30 years. Yes, that's ALBUM, as in vinyl. I recently stumbled upon a copy of On! at a used record store in suburban Chicago and snatched it for a fraction of what a new cd or download costs. You see, I'm still smarting from some long-ago petty larceny. Some evil soul lift my original copy from a dorm room party in Oshkosh WI back in '81. The cheesehead knew AWESOME music when he heard it; at least he had the taste to steal the good shit. I always figured I'd happen upon another copy but it just never happened....

Flash forward 30 years: right now I'm singing, screaming, air-jamming to every lick, lyric and comical squeal that Cliff Johnson and nis band are cranking out. In between songs I'm scouring the net for info on any touring activity that may be upcoming (that's how I found this site). Off Broadway are a local Chicago( Oak Park) treasure that had a too-short lifespan. But at this moment, the incredible power pop driving out of my speakers is like a time machine. For a few spins of this disc, I'm transported back to 1979, listening to some amazing jams and I'm howling like a teenager! Full Moon Turn My Head Around, Automatic, Bad Indication, Bully Bully...awesome. Shit, gotta go flip the record...!

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

DanPavelich — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 21:35:05 -0000

Darren, I just had a strange "Off Broadway" happening myself. My band The Bradburys played Taste of Wisconsin last night & covered "Stay In Time." A guy approaches the bandstand and introduces himself...it's Rob Harding, who compliments our version, leaving us power pop geeks speechless. We too got a call several years ago to open for Off Broadway, as part of the IPO festival in Chicago, which I'm sure Rob has forgotten. My reaction was the same as your's. I thought we were being punked.

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

GEO D — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 12:05:39 -0000

THE GREATEST BAND THAT NO ONE EVER KNEW OF.

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Davedondero — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:57:27 -0000

I too listened to Larry Lujack on wls and heard Off Broadway.. they were one of my favorites and i never knew what happened to them. thanks for the post...david dondero

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Joel — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 13:34:45 -0000

I have been trying to find "Full Moon Turn My Head Around" for...decades. I used to record a then-rare weekly alt-rock program on KSJO (CA bay area) and this song ended up on a mix tape from those programs. I didn't know the band, didn't know the song title. Every couple of years I'd think of it and try to google what I could remember of the lyrics. Never could find it, maybe didn't try hard enough, but now I've finally found it! Thanks, and Yay!

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Narciso Lobo — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:17:22 -0000

AGH! I CAN'T PLAY YOUR MP3'S! I loved this band too, and I dearly want to hear these songs again... :(

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Don W — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:37:38 -0000

We are looking to put together some shows for The Kings - you remember "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" - throughout the Midwest. We are working on some dates in Michigan and hope to bring the band to Chicago and maybe even put together a double bill with Off Broadway. Please drop me a message if interested...

Thanks,
Don

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Ravenheart — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:23:19 -0000

It's amazing how loyal the fans truely are. I was married to Rob Harding (guitar) for all the Off Broadway years. As much as you enjoy the album, you needed to experience the show. You are correct. Cliff Johson had a command over any audience. It was much fun back then. Such a tight little group of friends. The guys of Cheap Trick, including the rotating bass players, Peter Comita and John Brandt. Who also played with Cliff back in his D'Thumbs days. Enuff Znuff and don't forget the Elvis Brothers (also a Ken Adamany band) Oh the memories.

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

usgirl — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:18:09 -0000

I hear ya!

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

wangotango — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:58:24 -0000

in 1981(I think), I drove from Elgin to Milwaukee to see these guys. I was awful messed up and only knew they were there but never actually played. What the hell happened??? Anyone???

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Eric S. — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 15:27:45 -0000

One other big thing those two bands had in common during that time was Tom Werman's production. I know Cheap Trick had their differences with him, but Heaven Tonight has always been my favorite album of theirs. It's funny that they added the keyboard-less versions of Surrender and Dream Police to the most recent CD reissues.

If memory serves, there was a recut version of the entire "In Color" on the old He's a Whore website. The band redid it because they couldn't stand Werman's orignal production.

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Ray — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 03:33:54 -0000

This takes me back to the spring of 1980. ON was a HUGE album in Chicago my sophomore year of high school and I remember hearing several cuts from it on the big FM rock stations (The Loop, WMET and "WE" FM), including "Stay In Time", "Full Moon Turn My Head Around" and even "New Little Girl" (two other cuts I'm partial to are "Bad Indication" and "Money's No Good"... excellent power pop with some cool hooks!). Of course not long after it dropped out of the charts this album went immediately out of print and practically vanished, save for the occasional used vinyl copy that would cost upwards of 50 bucks. Needless to say I was a VERY happy camper when Atlantic reissued it on CD in 1997.

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Jude — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:49:33 -0000

WLS? Check. I grew up in Chicago so, yeah, this record was a big deal growing up--still have the vinyl. Great story, how absolutely fucking cool for you to have experienced that.

C'mon Mr. Moon, don't bug out too soon.

Indeed.

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

despitealltheamputations — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:33:56 -0000

They're playing with Enuff Z'nuff this month in Milwaukee at perhaps the most frigtening concert venue I've ever been too:
http://www.paysbig.com/ente...

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Darren — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:05:48 -0000

While I adore Shoes, I always saw Off Broadway as having much more in common with Trick. "Full Moon", for example, has more than a passing similarity to "Hello There"...they both have songs called "Oh Boy" (no biggie, but still)...and they were both managed by Ken Adamany.

Present Tense is my fave Shoes album, though, and I will say that seeing them live for the first time (in the early 90's) was just as revelatory as seeing the reunited Off Broadway a few years later.

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Eric S. — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:37:50 -0000

1) Grew up in small town in southern Michigan - Check
2) Earliest pop/rock memories from listening to Chicago's WLS - Check
3) Favorite band, Cheap Trick - Check
4) Couldn't stop listening to first Off Broadway album - Check
Had you thrown in a reference to Shoes and their Present Tense album, you would have defined most of my teen years and my ongoing musical tastes

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

rwcass — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 08:11:32 -0000

It's fixed now. Thanks, Jes!

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Darren — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 01:16:28 -0000

My apology, the first "Oh Boy" is actually a song called "Full Moon Turn My head Around".

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

Bob — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:35:48 -0000

One of my favorite late-70s albums. Thanks for putting the word out, Darren.

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

jes — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:25:48 -0000

I've never heard of Off Broadway. Thank you for bringing them to my attention! But... I think there's a typo in your download list; you have 2 songs labeled "Oh Boy", but they appear to be different songs.

Re: Great Unknowns: Off Broadway

WHarrisBullzEye — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:56:20 -0000

I love "Stay in Time." I picked up "On" several years ago, when it first scored domestic CD release, and had never heard a single song from it before, but the various write-ups of it had inspired me to go for it. It was a worthwhile purchase, to be certain.