Silver Laughter 1977 – Jon. Ken, Mick and Paul
Click on the link above to hear this song by Badfinger performed by Silver Laughter back in 1977. The nightclub’s full name was “After The Gold Rush”, but according to a blog entry I found, most people shortened it to “The Gold Rush”. So did sound man, Carl Frisch, when he labeled the tape! It was located in the Minneapolis Twin Cities area. I don’t think we played there more than once.
Here’s what they said about the building, “The sign simply says ‘The Rush’. The Rush is now closed, has been for several years now. I believe it was due to not paying taxes, but I don’t recall the details. I’ve never been able to get a night shot of the sign for this very reason, bummer.
This sign has changed over the years. From my earliest findings, it was a skating rink under the Cheap Skate chain. As times changed, the skating rink was sold and the building became a night club called ‘After The Gold Rush’. The locals generally called it ‘The Gold Rush’.
It remained this name for many years until Country became very popular in the Twin Cities. The name and format changed and became known as “Rodeo”, you guessed it, it was now a cowboy bar. Or at least they tried. Several more years pass, the country craze started to simmer around here and the business went elsewhere. So the format had to change again, plus the name didn’t quite fit any longer so it reverted back to something sort of familiar, thus “The Rush”…”
Jon sings lead on this one and plays guitar. Ken plays lead and sings backup. Mick plays bass and sings backup, Paul is on drums and probably sings backup as well. Judging by the material on the tape, almost the entire set was Silver Laughter original material with one or two cover songs sprinkled in.
Update: After talking to Carl Frisch by e-mail, he said he found the venue “After The Gold Rush”, and apparently the one we recorded the live music was in Sioux City, IA. We were there from Monday, May 9 – Saturday, May 14, 1977. Thanks, Carl! I confirmed it when I looked at the newsletter itinerary from that period.
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