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EPITOME biography I first heard of the band Epitome from Shep Ginzburg of The Reactors. He had written a bio for his band and talked about how they had played their first ever live show opening up for Epitome. I had never heard of the band Epitome before but was instantly curious especially when I learned that they had actually released a record! Because of my vinyl illness I HAD TO HAVE ONE! My quest for the Epitome record finally ended when I found Gregg Won (guitarist) and he supplied me with a copy of my very own. Upon hearing it I needed to know more…The Glam”ish”, punky, rock and roll was the missing link in CT music that I was looking for. The band formed in 1977 in and around the Bridgeport area of Connecticut. According to our painstaking research, Epitome seems to have organized the first ever punk show in Connecticut to feature local bands. The Ramones and others had previously played in CT and surely served as the spark to light the punk fire in the state but the first show that was organized by and featuring local punk bands happened on 3-3-1978 at a local Bridgeport dive named “Club Esquire” soon to be known as “The Snakepit”. Keith Amo (singer for Epitome and now deceased) booked the show which featured not only his new band but also The Cadavers and Raw Power. I have included some recollections by Greg Won about his days in Epitome… (from an email dated 8-3-2004 from Gregg Won, I had asked whether the show at The Snakepit on 3-3-1978 was the first punk show in CT to feature local bands…) YES IT WAS THE FIRST REAL-OR ANYKIND-FOR THAT MATTER-PUNK SHOW "THE CLUB ESQUIRE" WAS THE REAL NAME-LOOK IT UP IN THE PHONE BOOK NAME "THE SNAKE PIT" WAS A NAME GIVEN TO IT BUY OUR FOREFATHERS- ANOTHER WORDS HAD YOU ASKED ANY NATIVE BRIDGEPORTIAN LIKE-LETS SAY MY DAD-IT WAS THE LOWLEST OF THE LOW! ALKI-DERILECT-PIMP-FUCKING SKUM BAG-HOLE-THE STRIPPERS MADE JERRY SPRINGERS WORST LOOK LIKE JESSICA SIMPSON. IT WAS A NICKNAME THAT SUITED THE PLACE-I REMEMBER THE IST TIME ME AND KEITH DROVE BY AND HE TOLD ME WHAT HE HAD IN MIND-HE MAY STILL HAVE MARKS ON HIS NECK FROM WHERE I TRIED TO CHOKE HIM-REST HIS SOUL.
(an email from Gregg Won on 8-12-2004 answering my question of how Epitome started…) EPITOME CAME TO BE BY ME-TRYING TO AVOID KIETH. BACK IN THE DAY-NEW HAVEN HAD SOMEWHAT OF A MUSICIANS CONTACT SERVICE-YOU PAY THEM-YOU GO ON FILE-AND YOU CAN LOOK AT BANDS-BANDS CAN LOOK AT YOU-I JOINED-THEY REALLY HAD A BUNCH OF NOTHING-AFTER A WHILE-ONE DAY I GOT A CALL FROM KEITH-WHO WAS ALSO A MEMBER-I HAD WRITTEN ON MY RESUME AS FAR AS INFLUENCES-MICK RONSON-RITCHIE BLACKMORE-J THUNDERS-AND BILL SPOONER (TUBES) KEITH HAD CALLED ME BECAUSE HE SAW THE TUBES INFLU-NOW REMEMBER-BACK THEN 99.9.9 PERCENT OF THE ADS WERE "MUST LOVE FREEBIRD-CLAPTON" ETC-SO HE THOUGHT HE HAD SOMETHING WITH ME-THIS IS RUNNING FROM SEPTEMBERISH-77-MY BAND STARFX HAD JUST BROKEN UP-SO I WAS KINDA LOOKING FOR SOMETHING ALONG THAT LINE-ANYHOW-KEITH TALKED ME INTO MEETING WITH HIM-AND I WENT TO HIS HOUSE-AND HE PLAYED ME THE ENTIRE "ALL THE LUCK WITH LADIES"-BASIC LY-THE EARLY EPITOME SET-HE HAD HANDED ME THIS-"SCRIPT"-OF HIS LYRICS TO FOLLOW ALONG-THE TAPE HE PLAYED FOR ME WAS JUST HIM AND REMI-THATS IT-SO I SAT THRU 14 OR SO SONGS-WITH RAY PLAYING ALL HIS PARTS VERBATIM TO WHAT WOULD SOON BE-AND KEITH CROONING OVER THE NAKED GUITAR-I REMEMBER BEING IN HIS ROOM-HE HAD A MATTRESS ON THE FLOOR-AND WHAT LOOKED TO BE A "PUP TENT" SKELETON PLACED AROUND THE BLACK MATTRESS.4 SILVER POLES RESEMBLING A PYRAMID-SO I HAD TO ASK-AND GOT THE WHOLE STORY OF "SLEEPING UNDER POSITIVE SOURCES"-NUTTY SHIT. IT ! WAS A LONG MEETING-AND I PRETTY MUCH COULDN'T WAIT TO GET THE FUCK OUT-AND I ALSO HAD FOUND OUT THAT HIS GUITAR PLAYER-REMEFA- WHO WAS IN THE CROSSTOWN RIVIL BAND TO STARFX -"BLACK DIAMOND" OUR BANDS LOATHED-EACH OTHER-THEY WERE THE ONLY OTHER BAND THAT WAS PLAYING "GLITTER-TYPE" ROCK-KISS QUEEN ETC. NOW IN THE MEANTIME-I WAS GETTING CALLS FROM GREG ANDERSON (CHIP PER)-WHO I DID NOT KNOW-ASKING ME TO PUT A BAND TOGETHER WITH HIM-THIS WAS EARLY OCT.-AND ME AND SANDY WERE GOING TO SALEM FOR HALLOWEEN-4 OR 5 DAYS-SO NOW I COULD GET RID OF ALL OF THEM-I CALLED KEITH-AND TOLD HIM I REALLY WASN'T INTERESTED IN HIS PROJECT-BUT I HAD A BASS PLAYER THAT WOULD FIT THE BILL-AND GAVE HIM CHIPPER-THEN CALLED CHIPPER AND TOLD HIM OF KEITH-I GAVE THESE 2 TO EACH OTHER AND LOOKED FORWARD TO SALEM-ILL NEVER FORGET TELLING KEITH I WAS TAKING OFF FOR A WEEK AND HIM ASKING ME IF HE COULD COME ALONG-NO WAY. I GET BACK FROM SALEM-CHIPPER AND KEITH HAD HOOKED UP-AND THEY REALLY WANTED ME TO COME DOWN-WHEN I FINALLY DID AGREE TO GO TO THE FREAK SHOW-I RAN INTO RICKY THERE-HE HAD JUST A COUPLE OF MONTHS EARLIER HAD AUDITIONED FOR MY NEAR DEATH BAND STARFX.
(an email from Gregg Won concerning the story behind the song “Light Street” which was performed by Epitome and Gregg later recorded it solo and released it on a cassette EP) LIGHT STREET CAME TO BE-AROUND 74ISH-I WAS IN MY 3RD YEAR IN HARDING HIGH-THAT WAS A FUCKING SNAKE PIT! ANYHOW-I WAS DEALING THIS SHIT-T.H.C. AT THE TIME-THIS STUFF HAD PUT PEOPLE INTO COMAS-FOR YOU YOUNGSTERS-THC-WAS ALEGEDLY TAKEN FROM WEED-THEN MADE INTO CHEMIECAL FORM-WITH A DASH OF MONKEY TRANQUIZER THROWN IN FOR GOOD MEASURE-MY FRIEND AND I-FELL INTO A SHITLOAD OF IT-IT LOOKED JUST LIKE CRISCO-SHINY WHITE BUTTERRY SUBSTANCE THAT YOU WOULD LICK OF A PEICE OF TINFOIL-AND THEN LEAVE THE PLANET FOR NO LESS THAN 8 HOURS-ID WALK INTO SCHOOL AT -WELL WHATEVER TIME I SHOWED-AND LEAVE WITH $50-$100 BUX DAILY-GRANTED I STEPED ON IT THE WAY FRED ASTAIR STEPPED WITH GINGER ROGERS- ON IT-AND WHEN I GOT COMPLAINTS ABOUT IT BEING WEAK-ID JUST TELL THEM THEY WERE GETTING IMUNE-BACK OFF FOR A COUPLA DAYS-AND THEYD BE FINE I WAS IN MY BAND -STARFX-AND WE WERE PLAYING AT THE "ROBIN HOOD"ASYLUM STREET IN BPT.-NOW JACK-MY BASS PLAYER WAS -BEFORE MY DEALING-HEAVY INTO IT-WHICH WOULD EVENTUALLY LAND HIM IN FAIFFEILD HILLS-HE LOVED THE SHIT- SO A FRIEND OF THE BANDS-HAD COME TO THIS SHOW-AND A FEW OF OUR PARENTS WERE THERE-AND THIS FRIEND "JANUL"-NICKNAME-HAD DONE A BUNCH OF THIS SHIT-AND OUR BAND PLAYED-AND THERE-IN FRONT OF ALL-PARENTS-CLUBGOERS-EVERYONE-DROPPED TO THE FLOOR-AND WHAT I CAN ONLY DESCRIBE AS CURLY WHEN HE HITS THE FLOOR AND DOES THAT WINDMILL THING-CENTER FLOOR-DROPPED AND JUST STARTED PROPELLING HIMSELF IN A CIRCLE YELLING "T.H.C. FOR JACK-T.H.C. FOR JACK" OF COARSE NONE OF THE PARENTS KNEW WHAT THE FUCK HE WAS TALKING ABOUT-AND IN THE NEXT COUPLA OF DAYS- IN TYPING CLASS-LIGHT ST. WAS BORN-OR "TYPED"
(from an email I received from Gregg Won on March 3rd 2005 in tribute to the first Epitome show at The Snakepit) I think my fondest memory of this day-was me and sandy had to pick up keith. its around 4ish-5ish-and smack in the middle of an ugly blizzard-we slip slided all the way to amos-i knew there was a good possibility that we were going to be killed as it were- so no more fuel on the fire was needed.-out comes keith-complete with the "looked like someone took the bear on the Addams family-turned it into a coat-and sold it to keith" coat-bottle of listerene in tow, he jumps into the back seat of the comet-forcing me to move my seat up to the windshield-and opens with "sandy-we have to go to Lafayette Plaza!"-and im like-"why keith!!!!???!! for what???!!!-"transistors" he said with a smile- OK-i guess the sound guys needed some spare-who even cares-parts....-so it off to Lafayette Plaza. we slide into the parking structure like Darryl Strawberry rounding 3rd base. as we try to keep up with keith-i ask him- "so-you know what transistors to get? yeah-sure-any. any? what do you mean...... any? -didn't the sound guy give you a list? oh there not for the sound guy- as i feel my head about to explode- then,,,,,who are they for? ME!!!_I'M GONNA THROW THEM AT THE AUDIENCE!!!!!_ great idea-theres nothing more comforting then knowing that your front man-who has an audience tolerance of about 6 minutes-will be throwing sharp-pointed projectiles at the end of the night-just in case they ran out of stuff to throw at us- keith made sure they would have amo-get it? HAPPY BIRTHDAY HOTEL ST. GEORGE Epitome played around CT and New York for the next few years before finally burning out as many bands do but their mark on the Connecticut music scene was undeniable. They were the ones that lured the bands out of the garages and into the clubs. They even booked shows on a ferry that ran between CT and Long Island. Imagine the faces and reactions that they must have gotten from the people using the ferry simply as a mode of transportation. To see Epitome in their black jumpsuits rocking out classics such as “The Heart As A Phallic Symbol” or “Jailbait” must have been well…shocking. At the time, it was all very new and it signaled an important change in the local Connecticut music scene. Line-up Keith Amo - Vocals Chip Per - Bass Gregg Won - Guitar Remi Fa - Guitar Ricki Zito - Drums Discography: 1978 - Self titled 12” EP 21st Century Record Co. Transistor Sister/Theif of Lovers Lane/Baby No More Tears 2005 - Up All Night compilation CD Incas Records Transistor Sister/Theif Of Lovers Lane
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