I wish this story were true, SBH, but I have no direct knowledge of this circumstance. We used the locker rooms as dressing rooms for Convo show artists and the only issue I recalled was some of the guys from Styx posted two large roadies outside the entrance and wouldn't allow us to go in to clean up and remove the furniture we brought in. Seems like some of the band members were "entertaining" guests and didn't yet want to be disturbed. Eventually, the promoter's key show rep got us access.

By the way, we picked up old surplus furniture in the warehouse next to Miller's Chicken to make the dressing rooms more comfortable. If we got it when Miller's was open we'd stop to grab some eats.

There are some other legit stories -- like REO Speedwagon band members heading over to Grover to play pickup basketball during loadout. They were riding buses and waited for the crew to strike the stage before leaving.

The road manager and promoter for the Kansas show worked very hard to keep some groupies from getting backstage passes because they'd been disruptive, brought drugs and caused some fights at previous shows. They'd been following the band.

Foreigner's road crew was the most polite and efficient. They also did most of the soundcheck for the band and put on a great show for us workers.

Waylon Jennings' band was threatening to not play because we didn't have enough white towels for them to use on stage and in the dressing area. This went back and forth for an hour. Eventually, I got sent to Woolworth's to buy some, using a university credit card. Took some negotiating to have the clerk accept the card from a random student.

In terms of scheduling shows in the Convo, it was tough. Each quarter we were given select dates where we could use the venue. I don't know how we pulled off three of them fall quarter of '79. You had to match up tours with available dates and the bands were reluctant to go out of there way to get to Athens.

After the Styx show, the university limited us to selling no more than 2,500 tickets outside Athens. About 5,500 folks came from outside the region for that show and it created parking and other issues. In addition, the university created a Concert Review Committee of public safety, student life and students that had to review each Mem Aud/Convo show before you could ink a contract. That also slowed things down.

Joe, those 3 Convo concerts in the fall of 1979, involving all national touring acts, spoiled that year's freshman class, myself included. We didn't see anything like that the rest of our time in Athens and nothing like it since. I always blamed that on The Who concert tragedy in Cincinnati in December of 1979. Any connection there or just my imagination?

This probably is one of the most accurate posts on this site win a very long time. I was the dorm director in Pickering at the time and not one who came up through the OU ranks and therefore was included in some conversations above my pay grade. One of my RAs was from NJ and intimately involved with the concert comings and goings of the time and eventually became the GM of Radio City Music Hall. This is exactly what he shared with us through the years (79 to 83). Outsiders were viewed as a real problem. Sadly but fortunately, there were very few real problems especially when you compare the minor issues at OU to the shows at the Rubber Bowl in the early 70s.

And speaking of concerts, we saw a great show at Stuart's Opera House in Nelsonville last night - Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange). Good Americana music in the vein of Dawes, Avett Brothers and Jason Isbell. Next up - Mountain Stage with WILCO in Mem Aud.

That's a cool story greencat. Sounds like we were in some of the same spaces and maybe we'd recognize one another, but that wasn't me. Glad you were there.

I wasn't involved in planning any of the residential green weekends, but enjoyed attending them. Especially South where I lived a couple years.

I helped with SpringFest for three years and was very involved in planning/execution my last two years. I served on the Pop Concert Committee one year, Center Program Board the next two in which I booked Frontier Room entertainment one year and organized a few Baker Center Ballroom shows the next. Also served in Student Senate as a senior. I made lifelong friends and the skills we learned alongside academics prepared us all for life after Athens.

I was at O.U. in the early/mid 70's.

I used to "usher" concerts at the Convo.

I was there for the infamous Sly and The Family Stone concert that spawned the
"ham sandwich" urban legend.
Actually it was a pizza.

One of the problems we had was that bands would tell fans to "come up to the stage."

That made crowd control a real nightmare.
Especially , if they were the opening act, and we had to try get people back to
their ticketed seats, after they finished their set.

Took a while, but O.U. finally smartened up and amended contracts so
that, if a band called people up to the stage, they lost part of their fee.

It really wasn't a big deal at the time.

Sly showed up for the concert, very LATE,high as a kite.

He said wouldn't go on stage until we got him a pizza.
So someone went and got him a pizza.

Some how,over the years,the story changed to him refusing to go on until he got
a ham sandwich.

The big story was how short a concert he put on.
The Post had an ad before the show saying he had just done a 48 minute concert.

As I recall his show was under 1 hour.
Bruce he wasn't.

I had not yet arrived in Athens for this event. Leading a boring life as a youth, I wasn't a big fan of music. No car radio and no record player, I was a pop-culture zero.

I did know the Beach Boys and was excited to hear they were coming to the Convo (75-76 school year)where I would attempt to attend my very first concert. (Blossom Music Center less than 15 miles away from my home!!!) A few pals and I were going to go to the extreme of camping out to get front row tickets on the day the tickets would go on sale. I had just cashed my paycheck and had cash in my pocket that junior year when walking through the College Gate a friend told me tickets for the concert had gone on sale (at least two days earlier then declared) I sprinted to MemAud and luckily secured two seats in the front row center of the stage.

I was shy to ask any coed and told my roommate that I'd take him if I didn't find a date. We were out and my roommate was dancing with a gal and told her he was going to the concert if his roommate didn't find a date. She seemed happy for him. Then later, I ran into this girl and asked her to be my date, her not knowing my roommate was getting dropped for her!

We go to the concert and a song got the folks on their feet and lead singer, Mike Love steps towards the edge of the stage right in front of me and bends down to slap me five! Then this other girl I knew, that had dated a friend of mine, saw me and rushed from where ever she was sitting and pushed through the crowd near the stage to get to me. She asked me to put her on my shoulders so I did, kind of ignoring the girl I brought!

It turns out these two girls really couldn't stand each other having competed for a beau at some point. Here I am dancing with this babe on my back! The girl I took told me she had a lousy time knowing I should have brought my roommate instead of her! "Be True to Your School" but not necessarily be true to some girl!