INTRODUCING BADFINGER
(L-R) Joey Molland, Tom Evans, Pete Ham, & Mike Gibbins
were Badfinger
The members of Badfinger’s were Pete Ham (the leader and musical genius), his best friend and co-writer Tom Evans, Joey Molland (the only surviving member) and the drummer, Mike Gibbins. The band’s career was promising, but it sorely lacked the panache of a #1 record. Besides this shortcoming, Badfinger was a group who was kicked around by their record label(s) and ripped-off by their business manager. Their recordings were well received by the press and their fans. They had to shake off the "taint" of being on the leash of Paul McCartney (as they were his puppet for their first hit, written and produced by McCartney, "Come and Get It")
Badfinger's biggest hit to date was Harry Nilsson’s release of the Badfinger composition, “Without You”. It was a #1 hit for Nilsson.
Badfinger was invented by Paul McCartney and adopted by George Harrison. The band was never were able to coordinate the walk up the path to fame and fortune. Pete Ham was described as having the talent of McCartney, Lennon, and Harrison rolled into one. Disgusted and broke, Ham committed suicide in 1975 at the age of 27. Band member Tom Evans ended his own life, eight years later. Forty years after their performance at Calvert Hall, their music is heard frequently, either on classic rock venues or in any number of soundtracks (e.g. "Baby Blue" in the Academy Award winning film by Martin Scorsese, "The Departed")
Our concert took place on the first Saturday evening in February of 1973. Amongst the two dozen volunteers who were working the show, everyone of of us held our breath hoping that we would be picked to serve Badfinger in their dressing room (which was the English Department’s office). I not only was not picked for the cherished task, but I was anointed as the official monitor of the Men’s room. I was so pleased with my new position that I flipped the bird to my classmates and joined Cheech and Chong in the lavatory festivities. My friend Mike Stackwick (’73) recalls that the band drove over the “old” baseball diamond (where the football stadium now exists) to unload their equipment. The truck became stuck in the mud and they took on the chore of pushing Badfinger’s truck out of the mud.
The opening song performed by Badfinger was “Day by Day”. Badfinger had shunned Paul McCartney as their producer and fell under George Harrison’s influence. George gave the tune a “Phil Spector wall-of-sound. The impact of the acoustic guitars was terrific.
The Badfinger concert would be the last show at Calvert Hall for 35 years. Nothing terrible happened to precipitate the end of the CHC rock concert. Rumor had it that Badfinger was a peeved about playing a high school (This sounds a little fishy as they played another concert at a high school in Frederick Maryland later in the month). Tom Stringer (’73) recalls Brother John Moore getting testy because the brunt of the workload of the concert seemed to fall on him. Many gentlemen who did not attend Calvert Hall found their way into the concert and god knows what they did to our gymnasium. The concert seemed to go off without a hitch. On Monday, February 5th, we returned to classes,none the worse for wear.
Badfinger would face some difficult times in their future.
Badfinger's biggest hit to date was Harry Nilsson’s release of the Badfinger composition, “Without You”. It was a #1 hit for Nilsson.
Badfinger was invented by Paul McCartney and adopted by George Harrison. The band was never were able to coordinate the walk up the path to fame and fortune. Pete Ham was described as having the talent of McCartney, Lennon, and Harrison rolled into one. Disgusted and broke, Ham committed suicide in 1975 at the age of 27. Band member Tom Evans ended his own life, eight years later. Forty years after their performance at Calvert Hall, their music is heard frequently, either on classic rock venues or in any number of soundtracks (e.g. "Baby Blue" in the Academy Award winning film by Martin Scorsese, "The Departed")
Our concert took place on the first Saturday evening in February of 1973. Amongst the two dozen volunteers who were working the show, everyone of of us held our breath hoping that we would be picked to serve Badfinger in their dressing room (which was the English Department’s office). I not only was not picked for the cherished task, but I was anointed as the official monitor of the Men’s room. I was so pleased with my new position that I flipped the bird to my classmates and joined Cheech and Chong in the lavatory festivities. My friend Mike Stackwick (’73) recalls that the band drove over the “old” baseball diamond (where the football stadium now exists) to unload their equipment. The truck became stuck in the mud and they took on the chore of pushing Badfinger’s truck out of the mud.
The opening song performed by Badfinger was “Day by Day”. Badfinger had shunned Paul McCartney as their producer and fell under George Harrison’s influence. George gave the tune a “Phil Spector wall-of-sound. The impact of the acoustic guitars was terrific.
The Badfinger concert would be the last show at Calvert Hall for 35 years. Nothing terrible happened to precipitate the end of the CHC rock concert. Rumor had it that Badfinger was a peeved about playing a high school (This sounds a little fishy as they played another concert at a high school in Frederick Maryland later in the month). Tom Stringer (’73) recalls Brother John Moore getting testy because the brunt of the workload of the concert seemed to fall on him. Many gentlemen who did not attend Calvert Hall found their way into the concert and god knows what they did to our gymnasium. The concert seemed to go off without a hitch. On Monday, February 5th, we returned to classes,none the worse for wear.
Badfinger would face some difficult times in their future.