Top Ten Opening Acts: The Bus Boys (#9)

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Following the trend of Scott (@teamfreak16 ) and at his request, I'm listing my top ten opening acts that I've seen over the years. A couple of the headliners couldn't live up to the opening act! This is one of those cases. #9: The Bus Boys One of the highly acclaimed new acts of 1982 that, sadly, didn't ever get the vast recognition they were due. The Bus Boys (sometimes written as one word, "BusBoys") were an alleged anomaly: an all-black group that played rock and roll. Yeah, good luck with that stereotype (cough-cough, Jimi Hendrix). Their debut album, Minimum Wage Rock & Roll, caused quite a stir in the music world. They had two bonus props to get their name out there: they appeared in the film 48 Hrs. (Eddie Murphy was a big fan of theirs), and they secured an opening slot on a major tour in 1982. You're gonna die when I tell you who they opened for. Linda Ronstadt. No kidding. Sadly, that was the only time I saw Ronstadt, because her timing was way off that night. She had to start "How Do I Make You" again because she didn't come in on cue. I've read that Ronstadt had horrid stage fright: a friend of mine saw her once and she asked the fans to get the picture taking out of the way because it distracted her. I even experienced that myself: the radio station I worked part time at was "sponsoring" the show (more precisely, the Bus Boys' part of it), and the backstage security had a conniption fit because I had a camera over my shoulder backstage (gee, how else could we take pictures of the Bus Boys? There were no smart phones back then!)...and Ronstadt was tucked away on the other side of backstage in her dressing room! The Bus Boys were only onstage for about 40 minutes, but they made the absolute most of it with their high-energy stage performance and first-rate songs. Even before her snafus Ronstadt had a hard act to follow. I was happy to see Linda, goofs and all, even though I wish I had seen her again (she went into her Nelson Riddle pop phase after the Get Closer tour). What I was happiest about that night was the exuberance of a young, fresh band taking the stage and commanding the audience that really wasn't there to see them. The Bus Boys Opening for Linda Ronstadt Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, Virgina 1982 Here's the Bus Boys' song that generated considerable airplay in 1982 (no relation to the Thin Lizzy song by the same name!):