| Gig | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Block Party | by Brian Dehner's house | Summer 1986 | |
| State Football Championship | Troy Meise's, 115th & Wornall | 12/86 | This was SPI's first "real" gig. Well, not really, since no one ever really hired us. But it was the first gig where we played for many of our peers. On Saturday afternoon, December 2, 1986, we were over at Purcell's having practice, smoking cigarettes, and apparently destined to remain a "garage" band. We discussed our lack of shows, groupies, record contracts, and drug addictions, but nervously looked forward to having a gig. A Gig. Sure, at the block party by Dehner's house we played "live" for others, but the average age of the audience was five*. We needed a gig. In what was probably the most decisive move of any member of SPI, Purcell, the guy with the biggest balls, decided that we had to play. Rockhurst High School's football team had just won the state championship, and we'd heard that some of the upper classmen were throwing a party at Troy Meise's dad's house in south Kansas City. "Who's this guy, Troy Meise**," Jeff demanded to know. "Let's play at his party." Our hearts leaped into overdrive. "Yes," we thought. "A gig at Troy's place." Who would call Troy, though, to invite ourselves over? Purcell, building on his great idea, ran into his kitchen, looked up the Meise residence, called the number, and said "Hey, do you need a band?" Three hours later, after being dropped off by our sisters and parents (who had grave concerns about this party), we hooked up our instruments to our 75 watt amps and began to play our repatoire of four songs over and over again for the next few hours. The "mains" we used consisted of two 2 x 12 cabinets built by Tamasi and Brozen. Really no need for those, though, because no one sang. We ran the keyboard through the old 8 channel Peavey mixer (with the fucked up reverb coil), but Purcell overpowered everyone with his percussion. About 20 minutes into the party, the cement floor basement was crowded with 200 screaming, stupid, drunk, probably really hot women and pimple-faced boys, and a strange event occurred. The basement was flooding. Although it hadn't rained in two weeks, the floor was becoming a liquid mixture of beer, sweat, and water (from melted ice). SPI's risk management plan kicked in, and Tamasi proceeded to remove the main PA system to the upstairs. But chaos pursued; large football players who could already bench 250 lbs were grabbing the mic and chanting football cheers. The musicians were becoming drenched in the beer that flew out of defensive linemens' mouths, and we quietly wished we were back home. The cops showed up, the homeowner's association sued Troy's parents, but we'd notched our first real gig. At school next week, nobody even remembered that we were the band, but they called the party "fuckin' awesome." * Ahh, yes, Dio was, in fact, somewhat attracted to a few of the concert-goers. ** Troy later was seen playing on stage with U2 at Kemper Arena in 1987. |
| The Hot Spot I | 7436 Nieman | Saturday, May 9, 1987 | |
| Curé of Ars Graduation | 9301 Mission Rd. Prairie Village, KS | May 28, 1987 | |
| Day in the Park I | 103rd & Metcalf | Sat 9/5/87 | Well, we'd had a few gigs, but the phones weren't ringing very often. So, we had the bright idea to throw ourselves a party—to do a little marketing--but the question was "where?". Driving to QT one late afternoon, we drove by the park we'd driven by hundreds of time. The park at 103rd and Marty. "Let's play there." We can't remember who's idea it was, but consensus is that it was Purcell. It was decreed that SPI would play, and they'd play on September 5, 1987. Phil was elected to notify the officials that we'd need the park. (This was perhaps the first time that Phil began the ongoing task of dealing exclusively with parents and adults.) Phil contacted the Overland Park Recreation folks, booked the shelter for a "picnic", and SPI began to practice in earnest. Well, we weren't letting the gig get to our heads. Two weeks before the show, Tamasi and Purcell got into one of their ongoing fights, and, as usual, the fight ended up in a chase in, around, and on top of Purcell's house. A few knives were thrown into a door, Purcell leaped off the roof, and practice was disrupted (although Dehner continued to play for a few hours). The morning of the gig, the phone at the Frerker residence rang, and the Shark yelled to a very hungover Phil "it's for you, Phil." I picked up the upstairs phone, and was greeted by a chipper government voice. "Mr. Frerker? We thought we'd call because something called SPI is happening today at the park where you've booked your picnic." "Oh, well, ah... that's OK..." "Well, it appears that they're a rock band, and we've already notified the policy and Officer Carney that there could be a lot of underage drinkers..." "Well, thanks for the info. But….I am SPI," Phil interrupted and sneered into the phone. At 2pm that afternoon, SPI members loaded up their various cars (including the Purcell station wagon) and headed to the park. 2000 fliers had been distributed throughout Johnson County (and the small plot of land in Missouri occupied by Rockhurst High School), and a major bash was about to happen. The problem? The bash was on municipal government property. Joggers passing by that afternoon noted a small yellow station wagon driving on the bike path, but other than that and a disruptive sound check at 6 pm that wiped out four species of birds and could be heard at 435 and Metcalf, the park remained fairly calm all day. At 7 pm, someone arrived with McDonalds and Jolt Colas, and the members of SPI headed to the cinder-block wall bathroom to change into their gig clothes. Dehner with the Rush T-shirt, Purcell sporting a brand name skateboard shirt, Dio in his to-be-legendary leather jacket, Tamasi in his striped collared shirt with an ink stain on the pocket, and Phil in his plaid pants, white shirt, and Fishing hat. They quickly changed, and headed out "on stage". (The usual aluminum picnic tables had been pushed aside.) SPI played for about an hour, and many friends stopped by, mildly impressed. For we had actually learned a lot in practice over the past few months, and were beginning to sound like a cohesive band..." The cops busted the party, and we spent the rest of the night loading up the cars, smoking cigarettes, drinking Milwaukee's best, and for the first time enjoyed a 12 am breakfast at Denny's . |
| Canceled Gig I | Antioch Park | Sat 10/3/87 | Great PA Setup, too bad no one showed up |
| Lindy Milstein's B-Day Party | Round Hill Country Club | November 1987 | |
| Matt Ziemianski's Party | Meadowbrook Apts., Lawrence | Spring 1987 | |
| Maher's | Shawnee | ||
| T.G.I.F. Dance | Blue Valley North | Friday, September 30, 1988 | |
| The Hot Spot II | 7436 Nieman | Saturday, October 24, 1987 | |
| Laura Crawford's Field Party | 143rd & Old Metcalf | Saturday, November 14, 1987 | |
| Mark Hedrick's Party | 99th & Roe | Saturday, April 23. 1988 | |
| Alison Shifman's B-Day Party | Near 89th & Roe | May 1988 | |
| Battle of the Bands I | Rockhurst | February 1988 | |
| Christ the King Graduation | 89th & Wornall | May 1988 | |
| St. Ann's Graduation Party | Round Hill Country Club | May 1988 | |
| Canceled Gig II | Shawnee Mission Park | ||
| Antique show | |||
| Tim Ahmed's B-Day Party | |||
| Dan and John's Summerfest I | Dave Park's Backyard | August 1988 | |
| Blue-White Mixer | Rockhurst Gym | 8/26/88 | |
| NHS gig | Rockhurst Cafeteria | 12/1988 | Best P.A. system we ever had, no one showed up: Mr. Norman's fault! |
| Battle of the Bands II | Rockhurst Gym | February 28, 1989 | |
| Scott Wissel's Party | 98th Place | May 1989 | |
| Brett Hatfield's Barn Party | Olathe,KS | Sat 10/14/89 | |
| Dan and John's Summerfest II | Dave Park's Backyard | June 1989 | |
| A Day In the Park II | 103rd & Marty: Indian Creek Park | June 16, 1990 | |
| Chris VanTuyl's Halloween Party | Eudora, KS | Saturday, October 27, 1990 |