Ticket stubs from the past at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts in Jamestown, NY.
While looking through my old ticket stubs, I came across three stubs from shows I attended at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts. I was bummed not to find a ticket of the 1990 10,000 Maniacs concert with John & Mary. It was a killer show. Here are a few tickets – with some memories attached.
I was 20 years old and some older friends invited me to go see Dr. Dirty himself, John Valby. I remember listening to his albums as a young teen – and boy did I learn a lot! We went next door to the “3rd Base” bar, which is now Forte. I just remember how Valby had the crowd in the palm of his hand. By simply asking the crowd, he got 40 men and women to get up on stage and “moon” the audience. The things that were said and seen onstage that night would never fly in 2023. John Valby…a true legend. This concert was amazing – and I got to see it from the front row. There’s a great story behind how I got the tickets. This show was just a rumor at first (mind you, this is pre-internet). I was moving to Buffalo, the week the tickets went on-sale. I was so bummed, because I would miss the on-sale date. I was in downtown Jamestown one afternoon and I walked into the Reg’s ticket office to see if the rumors were true. The gentleman behind the counter said, yes – the band was going to play a show at the Reg. I told him that I wasn’t going to be around when they went on-sale. He said, “no problem, I sell you tickets right now.” I bought 8 seats on the spot, 1st and 2nd row center. I can’t believe he was allowing me to buy tickets days before they went on-sale, but he did. The funny thing was, that I spent all my youth driving 1.5 hours to Buffalo for concerts. One week after moving there, I drove 1.5 hours back home to attend a concert. There was a lot of out-of-town fans, because after the concert I remember following a long line of cars all the way back to Fredonia. The Bare Naked Ladies were exploding at this point. The show was amazing. For a few years, the Great Blue Heron Music Festival produced some Thanksgiving weekend concerts at the Reg. It was sort of a small reunion of music fans from the summer. Donna the Buffalo was really hitting their stride at about this song. Cranking out albums and top notch songs. Donna the Buffalo has played a big part in my life. I’ve met some of best friends through this band. I have also been thrilled to promote two of their concerts in the Buffalo area.
