Personal Effects (Rochester, NY 1980's) - Photos by Gary Brandt (to see more photos, go to www.therefrigerator.net/music/personaleffects.html) This first series of photos give an accurate representation of a typical Personal Effects show. They were (and still are) very creative, talented people. PE was one of those rare bands in which every member was a contributing songwriter. For a few years I mixed their front-of-house live sound, and eventually I performed with them in the studio and on stage. We traveled together extensively in the East, doing shows in Toronto (with REM), in Rochester (with The Call, Modern English, and The Jet Black Berries), in Buffalo (with 10,000 Maniacs), in New York City (at The Peppermint Lounge, The Ritz, and The Danceteria) and everywhere in between. My personal favorite venue was Scorgies in Rochester - great crowd, great sound system, and the best Buffalo Wings! Duane Sherwood designed and ran the lights for their live dates, and I thank him for sending these shots to me.

Personal Effects: (l to r) Peggi Fournier, Bob Martin, Kevin Vicalvi, Paul Dodd

This is one of the smallest stages we ever played on, but it made for a nice tight shot.

I'm not in this shot, but its a great example of Duane Sherwood's lighting.

Here I'm playing Bob Martin's Gibson. At one of the shows, while introducing the PE song "Darlin'", I mentioned that the lyrics referred to Jimi Hendrix. I added that in honor of Hendrix, Bob Martin would set his guitar on fire. He promptly took a cigarette lighter to his brand new Gibson, and the thing caught fire immediately! This shot was obviously before that incident.

Lighting by Duane Sherwood...

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