Rob's post got me thinking

[Walkerman]

I saw all of the artists appearing on Troubador TX, and I realised that I knew very few of them.
It got me to thinking about the times I saw an artist I had never heard of, but got pretty much blown away.
I recall going to the old Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, and seeing a duo named Batdorf and Rodney.  I had never heard of them (was really just going for some food and a couple of drinks).  I was blown away.
I also remember 1969, going to the Newport Pop festival in Devonshire Downs.  A band came on no one had heard of...but they really made their mark on us...they had the funny name "Jethro Tull."

[tuffythepug]

I saw all of the artists appearing on Troubador TX, and I realised that I knew very few of them.
It got me to thinking about the times I saw an artist I had never heard of, but got pretty much blown away.
I recall going to the old Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, and seeing a duo named Batdorf and Rodney.  I had never heard of them (was really just going for some food and a couple of drinks).  I was blown away.
I also remember 1969, going to the Newport Pop festival in Devonshire Downs.  A band came on no one had heard of...but they really made their mark on us...they had the funny name "Jethro Tull."

Funny how things like that happen.    In  1968 I went to a concert in Fresno, Ca. at the Rainbow Ballroom.  I was supposed to see Bo Diddley and a couple of other acts.   There was some sort of mixup and the promoter came out and said Bo couldn't make it.  He offered refunds to anyone who didn't want to stay for the last-minute fill-in bands.  Having nowhere better to be and being already "primed" for a concert I stayed.   So that's where I first saw an uknown band called "Santana" and "Taj Mahal."   Santana came out with their first album a few months later and, of course, the rest is history.   And the kicker is that during the Santana set I shared a smoke with Taj in the back of the room.  I didn't know who he was until he took the stage later that evening.

[JOYCEfromNS]

Done similar when buying record albums - Bob Segar Live Bullet - and The Clash come to mind simply because I Liked the look of the album cover without ever before hearing of the band.

[Walkerman]

Done similar when buying record albums - Bob Segar Live Bullet - and The Clash come to mind simply because I Liked the look of the album cover without ever before hearing of the band.

I miss record stores (and records).  I spent countless hours going thru the bins, from A to Z, reading the back cover notes....and yeah, I bought a bunch of albums by unknowns.  More than a few dogs...but then, more than a few gems too.  I could spend an entire Sat. afternoon at the record store.  Those were the days.  Getting an "Exodus" by some Jamacian named Bob Marley far outweighed the disappointmet of getting a dog like "Kimono My House" by Sparks.

[Mr_LV19E]

I miss record stores (and records). 

They don't have record stores in California?   

[unclrob]

The first time I heard Leo Kottke was watching PBS and they were showing this skier flying down some mt. to his music.My first real job was in a music store were I discovered Pentagle,Steeleye Span,Octopus,the Old and in the way record and a bunch of other artist.I could fill up a page with a list of artist I found from working in a vinyl record store.