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Everybody's got a Coliseum story
While we tick down the final days of what's left of the New Haven Coliseum, everyone in the Greater New Haven area, and well beyond, seems to have a story to tell about the old place. My column yesterday on my top 10 shows and the news article today about promoter Jimmy Koplik's favorite performances elicited many phone calls and e-mail messages.
Sandy Popp of Northford, a devoted fan of singer Barry Manilow, was shocked! shocked! that I didn't include him in my top 10. I do have a whimsical memory of Barry M. doing his "Copacabana" schtick and covering his arrival at Tweed-New Haven Airport, but I simply could not in good conscience include him in the top 10. Who was I going to take out? Springsteen? The Who? Dylan?
Popp recalled camping out to get a ticket -- or at least going early in the morning. This reminded me of other mornings when I would go down to the Coliseum and see hundreds of determined bedraggled rock 'n' rollers with their sleeping bags on the sidewalk for the rock band of their choice. This was before people bought all their tickets via computer. There was something honest and fair about the camp-out system: you put in your time, you got your ticket.
Another anecdote was called in by Michael Smith of East Haven, who participated in two baseball card dealer shows at the Coliseum, in 1987 and 1988 -- if his memory serves him well. In 1988 he got Micky Mantle's autograph after standing in line to meet the great Yankee. Smith said the Coliseum was packed with collectors and dealers.
And John Licciardi, a former composing room worker at the New Haven Register told me that when Sinatra came to town in the late '70s, Licciardi was offered two free tickets -- albeit it in the upper level of the Coliseum. His wife and daughter didn't want to go, so he took his son Andrew, who was about 8. After they got to their helicopter seats, the kid said he didn't want to stay there -- and they got a break when a police officer let them go to the second or third row from the stage, an area Sinatra reserved for firemen and cops. Nobody else was using those particular seats, so Licciardi & son had a fine old time. Today his son is a huge Sinatra fan.
People will be holding onto their own sweet memories as the demolition topples the old joint this coming Saturday morning.
Sandy Popp of Northford, a devoted fan of singer Barry Manilow, was shocked! shocked! that I didn't include him in my top 10. I do have a whimsical memory of Barry M. doing his "Copacabana" schtick and covering his arrival at Tweed-New Haven Airport, but I simply could not in good conscience include him in the top 10. Who was I going to take out? Springsteen? The Who? Dylan?
Popp recalled camping out to get a ticket -- or at least going early in the morning. This reminded me of other mornings when I would go down to the Coliseum and see hundreds of determined bedraggled rock 'n' rollers with their sleeping bags on the sidewalk for the rock band of their choice. This was before people bought all their tickets via computer. There was something honest and fair about the camp-out system: you put in your time, you got your ticket.
Another anecdote was called in by Michael Smith of East Haven, who participated in two baseball card dealer shows at the Coliseum, in 1987 and 1988 -- if his memory serves him well. In 1988 he got Micky Mantle's autograph after standing in line to meet the great Yankee. Smith said the Coliseum was packed with collectors and dealers.
And John Licciardi, a former composing room worker at the New Haven Register told me that when Sinatra came to town in the late '70s, Licciardi was offered two free tickets -- albeit it in the upper level of the Coliseum. His wife and daughter didn't want to go, so he took his son Andrew, who was about 8. After they got to their helicopter seats, the kid said he didn't want to stay there -- and they got a break when a police officer let them go to the second or third row from the stage, an area Sinatra reserved for firemen and cops. Nobody else was using those particular seats, so Licciardi & son had a fine old time. Today his son is a huge Sinatra fan.
People will be holding onto their own sweet memories as the demolition topples the old joint this coming Saturday morning.
posted by Randall Beach at
5:38 PM
2 Comments:
The many Coliseum memories I have include seeing packed houses watch the WWF wrestling matches in the 1980s with Andre The Giant, Superfly Jimmy Snuka, Pedro Morales etc entertain crowds prior to the dumbing down of the 1990s and 2000s matches which continued there;
Also, realizing that I was a part of New Haven history in that there was a diverse audience at Arena Football /New Haven Ninja matches during the summer of 2002 (when the mayor decided to close the Coliseum); Compared to Shubert, Yale Events, etc the Arena Football had so much potential for bringing different ethnic and economic groups together for affordable entertainment. That was a good feeling, a different feeling that summer.
Finally, I used to get a chill when during important New Haven Nighthawks or other minor league hockey games, when we used to watch a head honcho on the walkie talkie monitoring the ticket window lines outside as game time approached. Every time he made the call to "open the curtain for a big crowd," I remember the buzz and rising anticipation the crowd would get as the curtains would open so that the upper seats could be filled.
My fondest memory of the New Haven Coliseum was my very first concert when I was sixteen years old. I went to see the Rock group KISS with a good friend of mine John Messina.
Well my dad was not to thrilled about me going so young but he liked my friend who was older and he trusted him to keep me safe. We went with a couple of other friends who were older too. It was an awesome experience for me. I was scared but yet excited at the same time. The place was packed and the concert was awesome.
Seeing those guys in person will be something I will always cherish. I have seen alot of concerts there through the years and it was always a great experience.
The memories were good and will live on forever in my life but its sad to see the place go. I will always be glad to say that I enjoyed alot of shows while growing up and got to experience many types of music there and enjoy too.
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