Music is a big part of college life. In the last issue we asked if there’s a song you associate with your time at Bona’s, one that transports you back to campus the second you hear it. Read on – and try not to sing out loud.
The Boss takes me back
During my freshman year at SBU in 1975, when everyone on my floor (3rd Rob) returned from Thanksgiving weekend, the sounds of Bruce Springsteen’s new album “Born to Run” could constantly be heard.
Ever since that time, whenever I hear the first few notes of “Born to Run” I’m instantly back on 3rd Rob in the glow of the Christmas lights with The Boss echoing through the halls. The campus was abuzz with the Merry Christmas Melody Marathon, and finals were looming. I am truly glad that I have that musical memory link back to Bonaventure, oh so long ago.
Bill Sandwell
Class of 1980
Springsteen live for $10?
“Mack the Knife” always played at least once per night in the Rathskeller. I lived on 3rd Rob, 3rd Shay and 3rd Francis. Music was always a big part of Bonaventure.
I saw Bruce Springsteen in 1977 at the Reilly Center for $5 or $10. See if you can see him for that today! Peter Frampton’s “Show Me The Way” was the No. 1 hit in the summer of 1976. First semester of my freshman year that song played out of every campus hall.
Mark “Mickey” Gentili
Class of 1980
WITW was our MVP
There is no song other than “Wade in the Water” that reflected those incredibly memorable years at SBU. Hearing the first few bars of the song immediately transports me back to the raucous, rocking Reilly Center circa the Bob Lanier years.
“Wade in the Water” was the unifying song that heralded the basketball team’s entry onto the court. The climate was electric and the song lit the fuse. It ignited rituals that doomed opponents. It was game on and good luck!
To this day, WITW lifts my spirit. A wonderful touchstone to an amazing time. Dah-dah-dah-dah- dah! Can you hear it?
Judith Keenan Miller
Classes of 1973, 1976
Crank up the volume
“Mack The Knife” was in constant rotation at Allegany’s Club 17. And everyone sang along at the top of their voice.
I owned a reel-to-reel tape recorder that could play three hours of uninterrupted music. My roommate owned a PA amp with speakers. We would put them in the window, start the tape and lock the door. You could hear the music all the way at Reilly Center.
“Give Me One More Chance” by Wilmer and the Dukes; Neil Young’s “Down By The River;” the “Woodstock” album; Billy Joel’s “Piano Man;” Led Zeppelin’s “Dazed and Confused;” and so many more.
Robert J. Lindsey 3rd Dev East Bears
Class of 1974
‘Diana’ still stays with me
While I have many favorable memories of my days at St. Bonaventure, one of the most memorable was Paul Anka’s song “Diana.” It seemed like that song was playing every time I was in the Rathskeller and I still associate the two in my mind after all these years.
Robert Haas, Ph.D.
Class of 1960
So much to remember
During my time at Bonaventure, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing the entire “Crash” album by Dave Matthews Band. The first seven notes of “So Much to Say,” first song on the album, take me back to the Dev hallways, off-campus parties, and lying on a blanket on the lawn of the townhouses, in shorts, trying to catch some rays in 50-degree weather, blasting that song from our CD boomboxes.
It played from every stereo in every dorm room and I can’t listen to that album without getting a huge smile on my face, thinking of my closest friends.
Lesley (Francis) Stroot
Class of 1999
We were feelin’ all right
Every time I hear “Piano Man” by Billy Joel, it reminds me of the ’Skeller at closing time, standing in a circle with friends, swaying to the music.
Liz Manning
Class of 1988
‘Grove’ was our groove
“China Grove” by the Doobie Brothers was ubiquitous on campus, especially at Bona basketball games. Years later, I had the pleasure of dining with Jeff “Skunk” Baxter of the Doobies and was able to thank him in person for creating something that, to this day, evokes memories of the special times I shared with friends and the entire Bona’s community. I dare anyone in the Class of ’79 to not sing along when they hear that song.
Patrick Hailey
Class of 1979
There goes the gray
In the late ’60s, early ’70s, it was common for campus to be covered by a blanket of snow from early November to early spring. There were long periods of gray days and snowfalls.
After a prolonged period of gray days in the early spring of ’70, with snow still on the ground, the campus enjoyed a gloriously cloud-free day and plenty of sunshine. Blasting from the top floor of the Dev quad and echoing through campus was the Beatles song “Here Comes The Sun.” It was hilarious and every time I hear this song I think of that day.
Tom O’Connor
Class of 1972
Goo Goo Dolls love
2007
“Let Love In” by the Goo Goo Dolls. On March 20, 2007, a packed Reilly Center enjoyed a hits-filled set from Buffalo’s own Goo Goo Dolls. We had two other RC concerts during my time. In fall ’05, we had Howie Day and a very young Brandi Carlile. Ben Folds followed in spring ’06, playing to fewer than 500 of us midweek.
The Goo Goo Dolls was the first concert my girlfriend and I attended together. Believe it or not, she agreed to marry me in 2011 and has attended 90 concerts with me. It all started with this one.
Joe Centanni
Class of 2009
FOR THE NEXT EDITION
Summer is the perfect time for traveling. Did you study abroad when you were a student?
Share an anecdote from your experience or tell us how it impacted you. Tell us in 100 words & share a photo if you have one: magazine@sbu.edu. We’ll print a collection of responses in the winter 2023 issue.
Song showed us the way
“Show Me the Way” by Dennis DeYoung transports me back to the University Chapel where we gathered to pray for loved ones in the Gulf War in 1990. Each of us could come forward to mention a soldier we knew in the war. One student knew several solders and had pictures of them. This song reminds me of the camaraderie and support from everybody praying for our military and asking God for their return. It plays in my head even now and I can feel my friends hankering for the end of war and peace to come to all nations.
Cisca (Sugiro) Peszynski
Class of 1993
Another ‘Beautiful’ weekend
On Friday afternoons my friend Mary Jane and I would walk back from “main campus” to our rooms in Francis Hall. As we made our way around the Francis Hall Chapel we would be serenaded with the song “Beautiful Girls” by Van Halen. Through an open window, our friends Mary and Anne would be waiting in Mary’s room to start the music as we came into view. That song would signal the start to our weekend. The song “Beautiful Girls” will always take me back to those fun-filled days and my friends on second Francis.
Martha Zenns
Class of 1981
Chillin’ with Marley
Hearing anything from Bob Marley’s “Legend” album takes me back to walking by the double-porch house on Main Street and seeing my friends and rugby teammates smiling and greeting people as they walked up.
It brings back memories of springtime at Bona’s, as the weather warmed and the sound of Bob Marley seemed perfectly made to echo its relaxations around friends enjoying a cool one together outside on a Friday afternoon in the warm sun.
That music on a sunny day outside can transport me back 30 years, right to that place and moment in time.
Scott Salvato
Class of 1993
’70s ’Skeller soundtrack
In creating a soundtrack of the ’Skeller in the early ’70s, countless songs could be included, but three are musts:
- “Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?” by Chicago (a good lyric to take back to philosophy class for discussion)
- “13 Questions” by Seatrain (a short-lived but terrific band that appeared in concert at Bona’s and gained many fans)
- “If You Could Read My Mind” by Gordon Lightfoot (played over and over by John Kerr, ’73, a superb campus singer/song- writer in his own right)
Hearing any of these tunes today, I am transported back to campus.
Evan McElroy
Class of 1974
Rock the Dev quad
“Rock the Casbah” was released by The Clash in 1982 and it echoed loudly through the quad in Devereux Hall. I remember hearing it blaring like it was yesterday.
We listened to WSBU’s morning show, which also blasted “Slit Skirts” by Pete Townsend, another favorite that reminds me of Bona’s.
Kathy Stewart
Class of 1985
Illustration by Joe LoTempio
Velvet Underground & tea
Whenever I hear the album “White Light, White Heat” by the Velvet Underground, it always reminds of a beautiful sunny spring day in the late ’80s.
Jonathon Falls (Class of ’92) and I hosted an impromptu tea party on the porch at Shay-Loughlin. We cranked the Velvet Underground and read poetry. Epic carefree times.
Here’s a little cartoon memorializing the decadent soiree.
David LoTempio
Class of 1991
‘Gloria’ takes me back
“Gloria” by the Shadows of the Night takes me back. It came out in 1967 my freshman year at SBU.
I donated $5 to the Merry Christmas Melody Marathon to have our campus radio station (WOFM) play it. I sang and played it while learning to strum the guitar until the tips of my fingers bled. My roommate on 3rd Dev East, Jim Keiling, once commented that I would surely marry a girl named Gloria someday.
As fate would have it I’ve been married 50 years to a girl named Andrea. End of the story? In 1964 my wife made her confirmation. Take a guess what name she took. You can’t make this stuff up.
Forever a Bonnie,
Chuck LoBue
Class of 1971
Nightlife melodies
In a monthly Zoom meet-up of fellow alumni, this question raised a spirited debate that turned toward the Allegany nightlife. “Dead Flowers” by The Rolling Stones carries indelible memories for John Paul Fanning and Colleen Griffin-Underhill, both ’94, evoking memories of Lou Ruby holding court at Hickey Tavern.
Linda (Fawls) Miyares and Caitlin (Read) Falls, both ’92, agreed the sultry sound of David Coverdale from Whitesnake equates with big hair, the ’80s and Gonzo’s in Allegany. The Burton had two contenders, ac- cording to Caitlin and Kelly Donovan-Di- Virgilio, ’94, with “American Pie” by Don MacLean and “Piano Man” by Billy Joel.
David LoTempio
Class of 1991
Dialing in a ‘Wild Weekend’
I was at Bonaventure from 1962- 1966, a golden age of early rock when, aside from vinyl, AM radio was the essential music medium. So many songs of that era remain favorites. (Thanks, Ron Meyer and SiriusXM.)
One I still associate with late afternoons-evenings in second Rob. WKBW in Buffalo was our rock station. DJ Tommy Shannon adopted the ’63 instrumental hit “Wild Weekend” as his theme song and it played, at least in part, hourly. Your question brought back a clear memory of hearing that song in the dorm and on the lawns out- side open dorm windows. A good memory.
Richard Yeazel
Class of 1966
The good Journey
“The Sopranos” finale usurped the power over Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” but I really was “the small town girl / livin’ in a lonely world” who couldn’t wait to start my freshman year in fall of 1981. The indelible memory of the scent of autumn leaves and stale beer from whatever party happened the night before we arrived, and of moving my stuff into Devereux Hall is linked with Neal Schon’s guitar riffs and Steve Perry’s gorgeous voice. Our Class of 1985’s collective excitement was as potent as electricity itself and will be linked forever with Journey’s “Escape” album.
Roxanne Baker
Class of 1985
Hammered into my head
Thanks to John Kane, then-general manager of the campus radio station, many of us spent 1962 listening to “If I had a Hammer.” John was enamored with Peter, Paul and Mary, then a little-known folk group, and incessantly played “Hammer” on WOFM.
Then, somehow, he finagled to have the group come to campus and headline the 1963 Fall Festival. To this day, whenever I hear PP&M I think of St. Bonaventure and John Kane.
Lee Coppola
Class of 1964