Forty-three years ago  Damn.

I try not to get overly wistful about the past. On the other hand, I don’t try to run away from it either. Everything in balance, right? But sometimes I’ll see something that unexpectedly takes me back in time to the sights, sounds, smells, laughs, and emotions of one period of my life or another. Tonight, after coming across this flyer, I was slammed hard into The Way Back Machine to this incredible 1982 show in San Francisco.

In those wilder, woolier days, our Blaster rule was to never stop playing no matter what may happen so when, for whatever technical reason, the power for the lights blew out near the end of our set, we just kept on playing in total darkness like that was part of the show. The Cramps took the black stage as a good omen and played their entire set in the spooky shadows cast by a few hastily found candles. By the time X played, the stage lights were restored, but Exene was a little disappointed that the Blasters and Cramps possibly had the evening’s most dramatic lighting effects.