Scroll down to submit your UMass concert memory.

Bono's Balcony Climb Impresses Audience
Re: Stephen Hart’s letter on the U2 concert: It was at Bowker Auditorium, March 15, 1982. I was there. Bono, just 22 at the time, got the audience’s attention at one point by jumping from the stage, climbing onto a light tower and into the balcony. He’s lucky he didn’t break his neck, but it was awesome.

Nick Triano ’83
North Andover

In response to Janice Moak Crosby ’73:
As class president, I organized the concerts Crosby mentions. The Jethro Tull, Johnny and Edgar Winter, and Spooky Tooth show was risky. None of these groups had a hit record on AM radio and the past practice had been to book only groups with hit records or successful TV shows—Bill Cosby, The Supremes, the Smothers Brother, Johnny Carson, etc. But the times they were a-changin’. We put that concert on for a few thousand dollars, with very little publicity—only free advertisement on FM radio in Hartford, Springfield and Worcester. The show sold out in hours. The Cage was packed and the air was thick with funny scents. Jethro Tull landed at Bradley airport late and we worried there would be a riot if they didn’t play. Spooky Tooth  had performed the night before at the Tea Party in Boston and had with them the Allman Brothers, a group that had yet to release an album but whose record company insisted they go out on the road for exposure. Duane and Gregg Allman agreed to play for free if we put them up for a night. I think they wound up at the Lord Jeff! However, just prior to their going on, Jethro Tull with a very vain Ian Anderson showed up and blew the place away. So the Allman Brothers instead put on a free concert later at the Student Union. Campus Entertainment would never be the same.

Ernie Lepore ’73
Guttenberg, New Jersey

The Boss Makes a Perfect Match
On the Sunday night of Thanksgiving weekend 1973 I was treated to the John Mayall concert in the Cage. I had agreed to write a paper for a friend who was an engineering major and thus hated anything involving writing. A ticket to see Mayall and a little known warm-up act, Bruce Springsteen, was the pay back. What a concert! We knew then The Boss would be big. While the Cage was usually hot and crowded, the small venue was perfect. This is one of my fondest memories of UMass. And that engineering student and I have been married for 24 years!

Karen Donovan D’Agostino ’76
Westford

Patti Page: Early Concert Memory
Current letters in the InBox about Springsteen and the Grateful Dead stirred up really early memories for me.

Sometime between '45 and '49 the campus radio station had a contest to name something and the prize was a dinner date with an up and coming new singer who was going to be interviewed on the station.

The prize winner won a dinner with Patti Page.  She hadn't been clued in, hadn't brought any "dinner date" clothes but they scrabbled around and found an outfit she could borrow from a student.  I have no memory of who the winner was, where they went, or anything else.  Does anyone remember details of this momentous event?

Helen Bride Mitchell  '49
Clearwater, Florida

The Boss
Just a note to follow up on the article about the Bruce Springsteen appearance on campus (“Bruce Springsteen: 1973,” page 61, Summer 2007). In the early 1980s I lived in Field Dorm in Orchard Hill. A friend came in late one night and said he just got back from an on-campus concert somewhere in the agricultural area venue (I forgot the name). He loved the show. I asked him who was it. He responded “U-2,” and the rest is history.

Stephen M. Hart ’83
Auburn, Maine

Thank you for your article regarding Bruce Springsteen’s 1973 concert. The guys on my floor have always remembered that I brought my books to study for tests while enjoying the music.

In any event, I vaguely remember also seeing Bruce Springsteen as a warm-up act for John Mayall in a concert in the Cage sometime around 1972-73. Does anyone remember that?

Marc Wachtell ’76
South Salem, New York

Reading about a then-unknown Bruce Springsteen playing at spring Carnival ’73, reminded me of a free, impromptu performance a few years earlier, by another group on the verge of stardom.

It was Kickoff Weekend in the fall of ’69, and there had been a long concert with Jethro Tull, James Brown, Johnny Winter, and several other acts. On the side of the stage was equipment with yet another group’s name on it, but the night grew late, and they never appeared.

I was restless that Sunday evening and wandered over to the Student Union, where I was surprised to find the ballroom doors open and a small gathering of students dancing to some really good, bluesy rock. This was the group who hadn’t performed the night before, and they played several sets over the next two or three hours.

After the show, I happened to leave the Union at the same time as the band, and those Southern boys and I were delighted to see that snow had fallen. We tossed a few snowballs at each other, and then the Allman Brothers Band walked off into the night.

Janice Moak Crosby ‘73
Jamaica Plain

In the Fall 2007 issue, David Kantor ’79 shares another music memory—bringing the Grateful Dead to campus in for the Spring Concert.

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To share your own memories of UMass Amherst concerts, visit The Boss.

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UMass Alumnus Donates More Than Money
The article that was published in the Fall 2007 edition titled "The Meaning of Life" was pointed out to me by a fellow employee in my office.

I also wear a green band to symbolize my support for living donors. I donated a kidney to a family member in June 2007. It was a very moving experience for both of us.

One major factor enabling me to be a donor was a new law that was established in 2005, titled "Chapter 99 of the Acts of 2005, An act relative to living organ donation".

This law demonstrates strong support from the state to advocate for living donors. as far as I can tell I am potentially the first person to use this statute within the UMASS system and possibly the state.

It was nice to see an article on how rewarding be a donor can be.

Donald A. Roy ’93
Chicopee

Calipari High in Colorado
It is with joy that I saw Erin Calipari’s ’09 photo in the recent UMass Amherst magazine.
Had to chuckle when I recall her father John remark—as coach of the UMass basketball team—playing in Boulder, Colorado, at a Holiday Invitational tournament. One of the players questioned the coach as to the effect of the high altitude on the teams abilities, and John stated ‘Don’t worry about that, we’re playing indoors.’ A classic.

Ron Resnick ’54
Denver, Colorado

Likes New Look
Have you changed the format of the magazine recently? I just got the Fall 2007 issue and it looks terrific! The less glossy pages are easier to read, and there is so much news with shorter articles but many more of them. Excellent changes. Now I will read it thoroughly, rather than flipping quickly through it as I send it on its way to the recycle basket.

Lorraine Kaimal ’53
Hamilton, New York

Fix Furcolo
As a UMass alumna and education major, I am heartened to hear of the School of Education’s accomplishments (fall 2007). Unfortunately, an aging Furcolo Hall, the home of the School of Ed, has been greatly under recognized in its need for repair and restoration, and makes it clear that other campus schools have greater importance, at least financially.

About six years ago, I was asked to return to Furcolo to speak to some undergrads and watch their presentations on charter schools. I was amazed to see the lack of any change to ancient equipment as I watched the students literally “rolling out” an overhead projector, like an ancient dinosaur, and tying the projection screen to the beast to keep it from rolling up. When will the “powers that be” realize the inequity among the conditions of certain schools on campus? I find it a very sad commentary. It certainly is a continuation of the status quo and the little value placed on educators as well as the environment in which we learn.

Coletta Moran ’92
Amherst

Likes Family Issue
Thank you for the issue about families. It was a fun read. While I am, at the moment, the only one of my family to have graduated from UMass Amherst (my brother graduated from Umass Lowell), this may change as my husband and I have three children. I have fond memories of my time at UMass and would love to have more reasons to visit the campus in the future.

Wendy A. Lilly-Hansen ’00G
Sturbridge

Jazz Greats
As the parent of a UMass senior and a jazz fanatic, it was a great surprise to see Dr. Billy Taylor on the cover and read several great jazz related articles. I was however, disappointed after reading Matthew M. Gagnon’s piece on Max Roach. Being a drummer and a huge Max fan, Mr. Gagnon neglected to mention Max’s association with the late great Clifford Brown. It was during this brief partnership that Max became known as a leader and a major jazz artist. Having won almost every jazz poll in 1954, Brown and Roach were becoming the top jazz group in the world when “Brownie” was killed in a tragic car accident along with their pianist Richie Powell and Powell’s wife in 1956. To this day, their recordings are in rotation on most jazz and satellite radio stations around the work.

Louis D. Bernstein
Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania

The Family Issue: Cheers and Jeers
Your family issue was wonderful. I am 92 and particularly appreciated Rebecca Pierek’s article on aging (“Getting Smarter About Growing Older,” page 24).

Harry D. Pratt Sr. ’36
Simpsonville, South Carolina

I was disappointed to see that you left out the Pulda sisters in your picture (“Sporty Sisters,” page 12, summer 2007). Dana Pulda ’08 and Julie Pulda ’10 are both members of the women’s rowing team (the A-10 Champions for the last 10 years). Their mom Kathy ’73, ’06G is also a UMass grad.

Linda Mulvihill
Absecon, New Jersey

Your family issue is so disappointingly heterosexist that I’ve re-titled it “Your Families, Your Selves.” Besides Badgett’s essay (more about research than real people) and one reference to same-sex households in Krause’s essay, gay families are glaringly under-covered—particularly when you consider this moment in U.S. social history. Even Moscardelli fails to mention how the term “family values” was insidiously manufactured and used as a political code for “hetero” values. If one knew nothing about it and read this issue, it would appear that same-sex families (with or without children) were still a theoretical idea or experiment.

Newsflash: Northampton is famously knows as the Lesbian Capital of America. Was there not one same-sex family from that community who could have been given a voice in this discussion?

David Brown ’92
New York, New York

Animal Rights and Slights
UMass alumni reflect the dichotomies in our larger society and world. I was so uplifted, as an animal rights supporter, by the story in the last issue of this magazine about the young woman who is rescuing the bears that are cruelly taken from their slain mothers and tortured for entertainment in India, and consulting with the Indian government on the retraining of the people who make a meager living from this cruel practice. (“Setting Free the Bears,” page 7, Summer 2007). My joy was short-lived when I also read about a young woman who is dedicating her life to a pharmaceutical company by participating in the cruel and antiquated use of animals in laboratories. It calls to mind how rescuers go out of their way around the world to save beached pilot whales, only to have them rounded up and viciously slaughtered by adults and children who live on a North Atlantic island for “tradition.”

C. G. Varno ’80
Skaneateles, New York

Remembering “Mac”
It’s a sad day for this old forester.
I have just read of the death of Professor Emeritus William (Mac) MaConnell. Most of my fondest memories of UMass are of Mac’s classes, field trips, and sharing a beer at Barselotti’s once in a while. He made forestry come alive for me and I’m sure other students of the fifties. One of my first classes with Mac had many short quizzes, on which I was receiving grades of 88. After about the fourth one, I told Mac I didn’t believe he knew any grade but 88. Mac gave me a slight grin, and the next quiz came back with an 87. It dawned on me he was prodding for a bit more effort. Mac was not only a good teacher but a teller of some of life’s stories; the timber cruiser who always carried a pistol hoping to run into a bear, the homeless boy who wandered into a logging camp and found a home taking care of the horses, the dishonest logger “who was so crooked he had to screw his socks on in the morning,” and a few others I think I’ll not repeat in an open letter. Thanks a lot Mac for all you taught me, including to always sozzle the oolong Formosa three times.

Robert Duckworth ’57
Tucker, Georgia

Fenway—Put a Lid on It
The 1967 baseball season certainly was a memorable one, capped off by a thrilling World Series. The “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” article (page 72, Spring 2007) mentions, the cold weather at Fenway; I thought of several northern cities that have ballparks with retractable roofs and heat: Seattle, Milwaukee, and Minnesota (dome).

Here in Phoenix, the ballpark has a retractable roof and a cooling system because of the oppressive sunshine and heat. The Phoenix ballpark does not have a heating system. I guess time will tell if Boston-area fans will have a baseball park with a retractable roof and heating system. But as you know, in April and May, many times Boston has colder temperatures than even Anchorage, Alaska. This is due to Boston being near the cold North Atlantic.
How’s this for a headline: A new stadium for the Red Sox will be built in the suburbs of Boston and the team keeps the same name and increases attendance capacity.

George Taseos ’75
Phoenix, Arizona