KEVIN PATTEN'S HALLOWEEN PARTY
Jackson Township, New Jersey, October 3, 1998

Back to Main Page | Back to Gigs and History 1998-199 Page



Watch a YouTube Playlist of the Whole Show

Videography by Marie Radford

Fall 1998 saw the most extensive tour yet in the history of the Professors. On October 3, the Professors performed as a quartet (Barrows, Radford, Romanenko, and Kubey) at an outdoor halloween party in Jackson Mills, New Jersey, hosted by Kevin Patten, a good friend of Radford's brother-in-law, Gerard Stafford-Smith. Patten and Stafford-Smith are members of the legendary band THE GRATEFUL SHEDHEADS, who played a set of Grateful Dead, Radiohead, and Alanis Morissette; well, at least until the rain started coming down.


Watch a YouTube Playlist of the Grateful Shedheads

Videography by Gary Radford

THE PROFESSORS

John Barrows - Harp/Guitar
Bob Kubey - Drums
Gary Radford - Lead Guitar
Nick Romanenko - Bass Guitar/Backing Vocals

THE SET

  1. Psychedelic Killer (Nick Romanenko)
  2. Psycho Killer (David Byrne/Chris Frantz/Tina Weymouth - The Talking Heads)
  3. Before You Accuse Me (Eric McDaniel - Eric Clapton)
  4. Dreading the Dawning (John Barrows/Gary Radford)
  5. Treachery (Gary Radford/Marie Radford)
  6. Waiting for the Big One (Peter Gabriel) **
  7. Suspicious Minds (Mark James - Elvis Presely) **
  8. Five Years (David Bowie) **
  9. Sway (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards - The Rolling Stones)
  10. Spirit of the Age (Robert Calvert/Dave Brock - Hawkwind)
  11. Brainstorm (Nik Turner - Hawkwind)

** = debut song

SOME POST GIG THOUGHTS BY GARY - OCTOBER 4, 1998

Dear Profs:

I have been listening to the tape of yesterday's gig at Kevin's, and we really didn't sound as bad as I had orginally feared. The music was fine, and we played with spirit and energy. Our main problems are essentially technical: we messed up endings and transitions. Once we are rolling, we're fine. But songs with transitions, such as Treachery, Sway, and Brainstorm, posed considerable difficulties for us; we couldn't go smoothly from one part to another.

Talking with Marie, the set started out very strong. Psychokiller, Accuse Me, and Dreading the Dawning went very well. John did a wonderful job on vocals. Next up came Treachery, and we hit the first of our transition problems. Also, Treachery went on way too long (but I have some thoughts about this). Then we went into Waiting for the Big One which we played very well. Marie's sister, Terry, made special mention of this song and liked it very much. Suspicious Minds was a big hit, but we couldn't end it! However, it won't take much practice to put this right. Five Years was OK too, but John and Nick bailed on the backing vocals. Help!

Sway was a mess. I don't know what happened there. Spirit of the Age was good and but we totally lost our way at the end of Brainstorm. Me and Nick were playing the F - G- Am sequence while John was still playing the A - C- B sequence. Not a pretty result. I think this is why I felt so bummed out at the end.

On the whole, we did pretty well. And when Jerry's band started playing, I must admit I felt a whole lot better! We probably should have done a shorter set. We played over an hour, and we missed out three numbers! Given that we didn't have Jennifer with us, we could have focused on those numbers we did best. And it is clear from this set just how much Jennifer adds to the Professors. You left a big hole there, Jen. And as much as John and I tried to fill it, it is clear we need a bona fide singer to lead the band.

Both Kevin and Jerry came up to me and told me how much they enjoyed our performance. The girl singer from the Grateful Shedheads was also raving to me about how great we were! Hmmm.... It was hard to compete with the bonfire and the marshmallows, but I would say as many people watched us as watched Jerry's band. So, looking back and after listening to the tape, I'm feeling very upbeat as to our performance. It has been a very good learning experience and has shown us just what we need to work on in preparation for the MCIS and Kenny's gigs. If we're going to mess up in front of a live audience, better that we do it at Kevin's than at the Hyatt, no?



This page last updated January 4, 2022 by Gary Radford.
Many thanks to Kurt Wagner, Marie Radford, and Jon Oliver.