Automatic Pilot performances:
Sun Aug 15, 1982

Castro Street Fair
Automatic Pilot performed twice at the fair. In the morning, we played the little stage at 18th and Castro, There was a small crowd gathered around the front of the stage, and a much larger crowd strolling up and down the streets. We did pretty well; folks were laughing at our nasty lyrics.

We played again in the afternoon on the main stage. (see program) We played well, but the crowd wanted to dance, and largely ignored us. We got our only truly bad review from a San Jose paper.

Years later, we saw a videotape of part of the morning performance, taken by a well-known porn actor who was at the fair. The camera was pointed at the band's reflection in the window of what then was Hibernia Bank at 18th and Castro, while we did "Bobbing for Apples". Toward the end of the song, the actor stepped in front of the camera and introduced himself (and us) in a shot possibly to be used to setup one of his films. Although he did not use it, he was kind enough to show it to us.

Personnel:

  • Matthew McQueen, lead vocal
  • Tony Kramedas, vocal
  • Karl Brown, electric piano, vocal
  • Tom Gschwind, violin, vocal
  • John Selby, saxophone & flute
  • Steve Graham, string bass
  • John Orlando, drums

Perfomance photo
Image of Fair main stage program
Image of fair program cover
Lambda News review

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