A Tribute to the Legendary TG’s

This Saturday at the Cove Castle, under the stewardship of owner, Bobby Pereira, we will continue our exploration into the rich history of the Greenwood Lake music scene that flourished predominantly from the 1950’s through the 1980’s. Those who were present for our first installment this past August 21^st, which featured the Fabulous Night Owl club, will recall what a fun, and exciting night we had. I was joined that evening by Steve Conte, John Conte and Van Romaine that evening. What a band!

This time we will attempt to raise the stakes even higher with a tribute to the legendary concert venue known back in the day as TG’s. Greenwood Lake locals who frequented the shows at TG’s in the mid 1970’s, will no doubt want to forget about their youthful depravities (the drinking age was 18 back then), as well as reminiscing about the variety of stars and shows that they witnessed at TG’s. For example, here is an abbreviated list of performers from 1978 alone! They included:

-Taj Mahal 6/28
– Ramones 7/2/78
-Robert Hunter from the Grateful Dead 7/15/78
-Muddy Waters 7/22/78
-Dicky Betts Great Southern Band 8/6/78
-Dean Freidman 8/11/78
-James Cotton Blues Band 8/18/78
-Steppenwolf 8/19/78
-Climax Blues band 8/27/78
-Pappa John Creach 9/1/78
-Vassar Clemens 9/1/78
-David Johanson 9/2/78
-South Side Johnny and the Asbury Jukes 9/2/78
– Sonny Terry 9/8/78
-Good Rats 9/30/78
-Molly Hatchet
-Peter Tosh
-Stanky Brown Band

Here were a few from 1976:
-Jorma Kaukonen 5/18/76
* Jorma from Hot Tuna sold the place out on a Thursday night in May.

-Johnny Winters 7/28/76
* Johnny Winter played till 4 am. People would not leave.

In the 60’s they had:
Franke and the Knockouts
The Rascals
James Brown
Frankie Valle of the Four Seasons came by as a guest when they played Big Daddies at end of Lake.
TG’s almost had the Rolling Stones for their rehearsal time when they came to NYC.

Now, I happened to know that the legendary band Twisted Sister, played at TG’s several times. As fortune would have it, the founding member and guitarist of Twisted Sister, Jay Jay French, happens to be a dear friend of mine. I reached out to Jay Jay to get his recollections about playing TG’s and asked if he could tell me when he might have played there. I also had the idea of inviting Jay Jay up to the Cove this Saturday to tell us a few classic Twisted Sister stories from those days (he has many) and perhaps play a few songs with us. He said he would have graciously accepted the invitation, but unfortunately had a commitment that day, so we agreed to a rain date on getting him up to the Cove sometime in the future.  Jay Jay recalled “By 1978 we’re making $2,500 per night on weekends ( that’s 12k ,, and we were still a cover band!)  $2,000 on off nights. The rooms held 1,000-2,000 and we were playing 3  1 hour shows per night , 5 days a week.”
Jay Jay was sorry he couldn’t make it up to the Cove this time. However, being the magnanimous sweetheart that Jay Jay is, the following day he went into his tour book diary from those days and shared with me the dates he played with Twisted Sister at TG’s.

This is from Jay Jay’s diary:

Editorial Note: For all you music lovers, I highly recommend that you check out Jay Jay’s brilliant podcast called the Jay Jay French Connection.
I love it.

https://www.youtube.com/@jayjayfrenchconnection3961

This Saturday, Messrs Mick Gaffney, Lenny Underwood, Keith Crupi and I will comb through the extensive catalogues of the various and renowned artists who played at TG’s, in an attempt to recreate a hint of the magic that effloresced in those venerated nights at TG’s on Greenwood Lake. Whether you were ever there, or never even heard of TG’s, or weren’t even born until 20 years after TG’s closed, we hope you’ll join us for … whatever is going to happen!

NO COVER CHARGE !!!