Good Morning, Will
I, too, saw and followed many of the great local bands that played in Central Florida back in the '80's. The club they played at in Orlando was called Level 3 (III), located on the corner of South Orange Blossom Trail and Sand lake Road. It was the rockinest rock bar in town!!!
Stranger, Four in Legion, and other great bands played there regularly.
There were two other rock clubs in town back then, but neither was as much fun. Fern park Station and Tom's Point After were cool, but, as I said, not as much fun, and not as nice inside.
Tom's did have the distinction of hosting national acts on occasion. I saw Night Ranger, Ronnie Montrose, Red Rider, Frank Marino, and Allan Holdsworth play at Tom's. Great concerts!!! Very large interior. The place was located way out on the east side of highway 50, making it rather inaccessible to those of us nearer to the Level III locale. (I could walk to that place… and avoid possibility of DUI…)
Questions:
1. Do you have any more current information on Stranger, and/or Four-in-Legion. (I'd bet the bands are no longer together, however are there any follow up websites that give current info on the members?)
2. Do you have any photos of those wonderful old days in those great old rock bars of Central Florida?
Thanks,
Curt Miller
WILL MORIATY RESPONDS:
Dear Mr. Miller:
Thanks so much for your letter and reading our on-line publication!
I first saw both Stranger and Four-In-Legion at Mr. T's Club 19 in Clearwater, Florida in August 1985. They were incredible! Other venues of that era that I attended included the Swamp Club in Gulfport that featured New Wave artists the Headlights and the Primates.
A very close friend of mine, John Blechschmidt, at times was a roadie for Stranger from the mid 80's to early 90's. I believe that one of their members committed suicide quite a few years back. John may still have an idea as to the status of that band, but based on a letter he wrote us which is included in the link below, Stranger frontsman Greg Billings formed his own band, the Greg Billings Band which is still active (click to http://www.gregbillingsband.com/) and includes former Stranger alumnis Tom Cardenas and former Blind Man's Bluff and Bobby Friss Band (http://www.bobbyfriss.com/) alumnis Leroy Myers. The Band will be opening for Foreigner and Eddie Money at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg on April 14th. I don't believe that Stranger exists any longer but I could be mistaken.
In 2004, PCR received a letter from former Four-In-Legion guitarist Ziggy Luis (link to: http://www.crazedfanboy.com/npcr/letterspcr202.html) who is now in an Alabama-based band called the Zigtones (http://www.zigtones.com/).
Regretably, I have no photos of any of those great venues from that magical era. In the course of life we were young adults who didn't know the magic of that era while we were living it! Tom's Point After sounds like it was out in Goldenrod or maybe near Bithlo. I remember the Level III but never went there.
Anyway, thanks again and thanks for sharing your memories with us.
Sincerely,
William Moriaty
La Floridiana
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