Stray Cats, from left to right: Lee Rocker, Brian Setzer, Slim Jim Phantom (Photo by Russ Harrington)
From the balcony, in a rickety old theatre in Rochester, New York. That’s where I first saw the Stray Cats perform, back in 1984. And when they started rocking, that balcony pitched up and down in a way that probably should have concerned us a bit more. But it was college, we were cool, and the band left us little choice — you couldn’t have sat still for this one. I walked into that show all those years ago a casual attendee, and left a dedicated fan.