Palasr,
The band's appearance at my party was actually my party's appearance at their show, and it was my present to myself.
The story is:
I was talking to their management and negotiating for their appearance at my party, when the band coincidentally scheduled its first LA show (Key Club) in 15 years, just 2 weeks before I was going to hire them. Instead, I booked the private room at the Key Club and bussed my party to the show, which was - as always - enormously entertaining. (This plan ended up cutting costs by roughly 80%.) Even my father in law, who detests anything smacking of rock'n'roll, really loved it.
As it turned out, my party guests were, outside of press, friends of the house, and friends of the band, the ONLY people at the show. Zero! ticket sales to the public - amplifying your point about the band's lack of recognition (stateside, anyway. I understand that they're more popular in Europe). The lack of a following is a mystery, and, sadly, I suspect that they will never return to LA after failing to sell a single ticket beyond my group purchase.
Marty
Three more thoughts:
1) I worked on (or around) Wall Street for 2 decades and the band has a real following among (mainly) lawyers and (to a bit lesser extent) bankers there. No idea why, but their LA show was scheduled (according to their manager) to "piggy back" on a private party they were playing that week for Deutsche Bank in LA.
2) In a final bit of weirdness, the LA Times reviewed the performance at my party. They noted the band's significance as a cultural touchstone for the "NYC alt-disco" circuit in the early '80s and commented that it was sad to see the band return after 50 years and find only a handful of hardcore fans (i.e. my party) there to greet them.
3) Finally, to anyone who buys the live record, note that the real party starts on track 3. The first 2 songs are disco covers, good fun in their own right (particularly the Kid's lecherous version of "Oh, What a Night", Franky Valli's nostalgic ode to losing his cherry), but not the main point of the proceedings).
Love the first line he speaks on the live record:
"Hey, Franky, I had a night like that, too. Let me tell you about it."
