Monday, September 21, 2009

Rock Shows in Kent, Washington at Tiffany's Skate-In



I went to see my earliest rock shows (after seeing The Beatles at Seattle's Coliseum) at Tiffany's Skate-inn in Kent, Washington. Barney Armstrong, a local Kent boy, always seemed totally cool, since he was fronting rock bands like Aftermath, and Ralph. I think I saw them both at Tiffany's. I also saw Fragile Lime there, as well as Merilee Rush and the Turnabouts (who had a national hit later with "Angel of the morning"), who Barney had also played with. Around this time I also saw Them with Van Morrison (Gloria, Mystic Eyes, Brown Eyed Girl), but I can't remember if it was at Tiffany's or elsewhere.
According to PNWbands.com, "The Barney Armstrong Aftermath played the club circuit in the Pacific Northwest. This was the first band Barney formed after leaving Merrilee. Barney and the band gained notoriety with a "Mister Bojangles" tap dance routine that Barney would do. Adding to their uniqueness was a pedal steel guitar and a five-foot grand piano in a rock band. Bob "Boom Boom" Bennett, formerly with the Sonics banged the skins for the Barney Armstrong Aftermath."

Some other bands that played at Tiffany's:
The Archies
The Bards
Borrowed Time
City Zu
The Box Tops (Alex Chilton's first band...Soul Deep, etc.)
Fragile Lime
The Pied Pipers
Sundae Funnies
The Sunn
Merrilee and the Turnabouts
---o0o---

2 comments:

BKWestby said...

I hadn't checked in here in awhile, but one of your twitter posts led me here. Not only do I find another welcome audio clip of Jerry, but an article about Tiffany's, a place that I frequented from the years 1968-72ish. Merilee was the Queen of the circuit, and Fragile Lime was the band we followed. I remember seeing all of the other bands you mention except The Bards and The Sunn. What a blast from the past!

Anonymous said...

A little background on The Box Tops who apparently played Tiffany's....there were 2 bands: an East Coast Box Tops with Alex Chilton (the actual singer heard on all their records) and a West Coast Box Tops with a sound-alike lead singer. A buddy of mine played drums for this version of the band. That way "The Box Tops" could be touring the country on both coasts and really rake in the dough while their records were still hot. So at Tiffany's you may not have seen the original band...sorry to have to inform you. I have an old flyer from when my band played there in a battle of the bands around 1970...the address was 19639 E. Valley Highway...sadly it's no longer there and it just a bunch of warehouses where it used to stand. Our band (Willow Runn) didn't win the battle but we had a blast playing there...MUCH better acoustics than Lake Hills Roller Rink in Bellevue!.......a fan