The Way Back: Ramones - Runaways at ODU
Photos and memories courtesy of Scott Sechrist
Ramones/Runaways – Old Dominion University | March 15, 1978
Recently, someone suggested I read Debra Persons’ article on the Hardcore Norfolk website entitled: The Ramones at ODU: A Concert Review 41 Years in the Making. I was at that show! It brought back great memories - so I rummaged through my concert slides and lo and behold – I found a stack of slides from that concert – they had been sitting in a box for 41 years.
Background:
I graduated from ODU in 1975 with a degree in Physical Science and was working at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in the Radiological Control Department (Code 105.3). In the early 70’s my musical tastes generally ran more towards the Allman Brothers, Clapton, and Frank Zappa. But once I got the first Ramones album – I was drawn to Punk.
I had just been accepted to Nuclear Medicine Technology program at UNC – Chapel Hill and was finishing up my time at NNSY -when I heard that the Ramones were playing at ODU in the Webb Center cafeteria on a Wednesday night, March 15th, 1978
I arrived early and brought in my low budget, Zenit Russian-made 35mm camera with a not-so-telephoto lens. No one at the door seemed to care. I was experimenting with concert photography – and every show I went to provided a challenge and an experience. Lighting, stage setup, distance from the stage typically conspired to make the majority of pictures a dark, blurry, mess. Most, if not all, venues in Hampton Roads prohibited cameras – but I felt at home at ODU, so I brought my camera anyway.
In any event – the show was great – the Runaways with Joan Jett and Lita Ford played first. If you look closely at image #5 – you can see Joan Jett flipping me the bird. I couldn’t get a good view with the crowd so close to the stage, so I moved to the back of the crowd and stood on a chair in the Webb Center cafeteria. I guess I was clearly visible above the crowd – all the band members were looking at me and Joan Jett let me know what she thought of me and camera.
Image Information:
All images are from 35mm slides. I would take concert images at 160 (slide film) and send it out to be processed and pushed to 320 ASA. This way I could keep shutter speeds at 1/60 or faster. Concerts are odd in that every place is dark except the stage which can be dark, have a lot of movement, or be very bright. Like I said – every show was an experiment – and the results varied wildly – but it was always fun to see what I could get. So 16 out of 20 slides came out and have survived being stored in closets in three states and six cities for 41 years.
Runaways:
Once the Ramones came out – it was nonstop buzzsaw of sound, with many songs counted off by Dee Dee. Two things come to mind at this show: first the stage was not all that high, because the room was not that big and they had to move the hanging globe lights that normally hung down over the cafeteria tables and put them up into the ceiling tiles, particularly those over the drummer.
The second thing that I recall is someone from the audience throwing a plastic cup (of beer ?) at Dee Dee, who promptly jumped off stage for a bit to let the fan know he didn’t appreciate that. You can see the ODU policeman in front of the stage on the first photo.
I think this was around the time that Tommy Ramone was still the drummer, soon to be replaced in May of 1978 by Marky Ramone.
They played a few more songs but I was out of film.
My ears were ringing at work the next day. But I became a lifelong fan of the Ramones ever since.
Now: I have been program director/associate professor of nuclear medicine technology at Old Dominion University for 32 years. Go figure.