Echo & The Bunnymen/Leather Nun
Bailey Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY I first heard Echo & The Bunnymen on record when I got to college and stated working at WICB in the fall of 1984. I fell in love with the 1983 Porcupine LP, especially the two lead-off tracks, "The Cutter" and "The Back of Love." Oh, and the live version of "Do It Clean," on which frontman Ian McCulloch starts singing The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" during an instrumental break that DJ John Webber would often play on his "Radio Wave" show. This was my first opportunity to seeing Echo live. My strongest memory of the show is a brief but powerful moment halfway through the concert. McCulloch was smoking cigarettes on and off throughout the show. While he was in the middle of singing one song, he stuck his arm out behind him and to his left, fingers dangling down. A stagehand crept swiftly out from the wing and tucked a lit cigarette into his fingers. And without even a glance behi...