The best thing about The Boarding House for me was the intimacy. You could see someone you really liked for a very reasonable price, even accounting for inflation, and up close if you got there early. If you got there at show time, you'd be about 50 feet away if memory serves. For the most part, everyone I saw there I was seeing for the first time. At top, the Byrds reunion on February 9, 1978, featuring, from left to right, Gene Clark, David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and Chris Hillman. Next up is Neil Young, who did an extended run there in 1978. They beefed up the lighting for this show. Below Neil is Tom Waits who I went to see mostly out of curiosity. I thought nothing of making the 50 mile each way trip on a whim back then. I wasn't enamored of Waits despite his hipster cred. I was, however, completely smitten by Emmylou Harris. She had a great band, led by the stellar English guitarist Albert Lee and other luminaries of the Nashville session scene. KSAN radio would often broadcast many of the shows, so I have a quality souvenir of some of those nights. Many of these and other shows are archived at the fantastic Wolfgang's Vault web site.
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