Before there was Chris Fritz, Jeff Fortier, AEG, Live Nation, whatever, an ex-shoe dog from NYC put our town on the rock and roll map and made this a cool place to live.
He’s gone now: Stan Plesser, club owner, band manager and KC’s first rock and roll impresario died Friday. They don’t make em like Stan anymore.
My first impression of the man was listening to his spots on KUDL or WHB in the 60s. Plugging his Vanguard Coffeehouse, Stan did his own voice-overs, hawking in that nasal Broadway accent his roster of talent. Danny Cox, Brewer & Shipley, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Steve Martin— they all played the Vanguard. It was THE place to go to impress a date.
But first, you had to wait in line on Main Street, then pay Stan the cover charge at the door. He emceed the shows and, if memory serves, even mixed the rudimentary sound system himself. That brick wall upstage and the blenders whirring in the kitchen off to the left were the backdrop for some memorable live music; thanks for those memories, Stan.
The Vanguard spawned Stan’s management company, Good Karma, which handled Danny, Mike and Tom, the Tubes and a few other acts, including some scruffy kids he found down in Springfield and dubbed the "Ozark Mountain Daredevils." In no particular order, he produced the first Arrowhead Stadium concerts, opened and ran Cowtown Ballroom and irritated a whole bunch of our not-to-be-distrubed citizenry with a free concert in Loose Park– Brewer and Shipley playing "One Toke Over the Line," the biggest laugh KC ever had on the nation (and our one and only Number One Hit).
All thanks to Stan.
Like quite a few show biz wannabees, I used to hang out at Good Karma, hoping to get a whiff of what made Stan work. Yeah, it probably had something to do with the beautiful Bambi, Stan’s receptionist, smiling and keeping us all at bay. I remember one surreal afternoon, getting high with Danny and a friend on the top floor of the GK office– the company’s "crash pad."
While passing around the second or third fat doobie, we got transfixed on this idea that A&P could make another million dollars a year sticking an unseen can of lima beans into everybody’s grocery bag and adding it to their cash register tapes. Let’s see, thirty-five cents per can times fifteen cash registers per store times ten customers an hour times ten hours they were open times two thousand five hundred sixty-two stores (we actually called the grocery chain in our bong-induced bliss).
No wonder CNO opened nearby a few years later.
Stan was our very own Bill Graham— feisty, sticking up for our music when our parents (his generation, almost) put it down, but still there to turn a buck. He could have gone Hollywood– he had some of the biggest recording acts of the day. But, as he once told me, Stan liked flying out to LA, doing the music business, then getting on that plane and coming back home.
Imagine Stan the Blitzkreig, homeward bound after waging the music biz wars, kicking back in a split level ranch in Prairie Village. Now, try to imagine AEG or Live Nation running their corporate mega-music business that way.
Like I said, they don’t make em like Stan anymore.
THANKS for memories
of a long gone era and a person that made an impact.
Great Mammaries
Names, I want more names. Used to work for GK and Cowtown Productions with Bonnie Harney as my contact. But there were several others. I see the faces but forget the names. Mike something. I remember the office on Main. Near the Plaza? Worked every stadium concert in this town. Close ties with KUDL-FM, I believe it was, before they went all news on us. Still stayed with KUDL, on-air, which was the thing before KY. What was that program director’s name? I’m talking 1973-74. Did the VERY FIRST ARROWHEAD show, Elton John. Still have the staff tee-shirt. Dark blue with white letters. Anybody remember how the stage was set up? Weird. I stood 10 feet from Elton for 5 minutes in the tunnel before the show. He had his eyes closed the whole time. Purple cape. Very far out!
Great Read Mark.
Really enjoyed it. 🙂
Nice.
Mike Something
It was Mike Waggoner
ONE TOKE OVER THE LINE! OMD! NGDT!
never forgotten….stan…great work. Great shows. What a blast it’s been.
Did everyone know that lawrence welk had a couple do a rendition of
“One toke over the line” on his lawrence welk show. Larence said he thought
it was a new spiritual song because it mentioned sweet jesus and mary…
go see it on youtube…..
r.i.p stan.
Thank you for almost 40 years of the best years of life THC
(see you in the next world DON’T BE LATE ) Jimi Hendricks…. all the best folk, blues ,and rock K C needed you and at the right time and we all were there sso maney storys. oh to soon you are and will always be missed. I want to thank you for helping me with the early Lawerance music seen
Stan Plesser, The Man Who Made Cowtown
Thanks for setting the record straight, Mark, re Cowtown and the Music scene in Kansas City.
He loved both….and the fans especially. We all are going to miss him terribly.
And by the way, it was only and still is a small ranch house in Prairie Village, but as our
son, Joey, would say whenever we returned from a trip, be it ever so humble, there’s no place
like home …
One in a million
He was very special indeed. Wish I’d had the chance to work for him (instead of just hanging round). I was in your lovely home only once, as i recall; sorry I got the architecture wrong.
I’m working with Rick Bloom in LA, who I met when he moved here to work fo GK. He sends his sympathies, too.