This Archive & Special Collections contains original copies of all editions of the Shakin Street Gazette and Foxtrot, music publications printed with funding from the United Students Government at Buffalo State College during the 1970s. Copies of Eggz (another music publication) can be found in the archives of the Record Student Newspaper.
Up through the 1960s music criticism was fairly limited. Daily newspapers had a few writers and occasional freelancers to cover events but they leaned toward "serious" music and art and were often out of touch when writing about pop music. Hit Parader was just about the only publication that went beyond the popular fan magazine genre. By the early 1970s Rolling Stone magazine had set a precedent for better information on pop music and Creem magazine had made a case for a lighter, more irreverent approach with other publications like Crawdaddy falling in between. The job "rock critic" or "rock journalist" had been created. As an aside to the professional publications, myriad "fanzines" were created by music fans who wanted to focus on a specific band, genre, or scene.
It was in this atmosphere that a young Buffalo man, Gary Sperrazza, enrolled at Buffalo State College in 1972. He joined the staff of the student-published Strait magazine to write about pop music. He proposed a dedicated music section to the magazine's editor and in the fall of 1973 the Shakin Street Gazette was born. By the following spring semester, Shakin Street had outgrown the pages of Strait and the student government that was funding the publication of Strait gave Sperrazza and his staff money to publish separately.
Because Shakin Street had money to publish and access to professional-level production facilities on the Buffalo State campus, it was able to easily rise above the level of a simple fanzine even if it never reached professional periodical status. It was popular on campus and developed readership in other parts of Buffalo; and because copies were sent to the record companies who provided albums for review, it was occasionally requested by fans from other cities.
A couple of dozen Buffalo State students contributed to the 18 editions of SSG including Michael Sajecki, art director David Meinzer, Bob Kozak, Mitch Hejna, Bernie Kugel, Ron Camacho, Lucy Perrone, Tom Connolly, Carol Panaro, Michael Gallo, and cartoonist Ken Root. Eventually, however, the funding ran out, Sperrazza left town, and at the end of 1974 Shakin Street ceased publishing. But the desire to keep writing and publishing was still there, and when Philip Bashe came to Buffalo State he teamed with former Shakin Street staff writer Kugel to create Foxtrot.
Foxtrot was first published in March 1976 (as a tabloid in contrast with the Shakin Street magazine format) and quickly pulled in other former SSG writers. They included Kozak, Hejna, Connolly, Meinzer, Panaro, Root, and even occasional contributions from afar by Sperrazza. Notable newcomers included art director Andrew Elias, campus concert booker Steve Ralbovsky, Tony Billoni, James Braun, and Geoff Copp.
Foxtrot published six editions with student funding through 1976. The printed copies were generously distributed both on campus and throughout the Buffalo area. In 1977 Bashe made the bold move of taking the publication off campus and making a go as a local business. He managed five more editions that year before folding and leaving Buffalo.
Meanwhile Foxtrot staffer Geoff Copp filled the gap on the Buff State campus by starting up Eggz as an occasional insert in The Record student newspaper. By 1979 Eggz ceased publishing and no dedicated music student publication ever appeared again at Buffalo State.
-David Meinzer 2019
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 18
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Street Staff; Dear occupant…;Ducks Deluxe's Quacky Career; Sensational Alex Harvey Band; Vambo Rools…OK?; An Outdated Raspberries Story; Hollywood Trash Dance in L.A.; "Out with the Truckers and the Kickers and the Cowboy Angels" Part 3 of a History of California Country Rock, Gram Parsons and the L.A. Cowboys; Drugstore Truckdrivin' Man; Sin City; Hear That Music; I Can't Help it if I'm Still in Love With You; Return of the Grievous Angel; Ashes in the Morning; The Long Players; The Who; Magma; Roxy Man; Fancy; Purps; Montrose; Kiss; Jo Jo; Johnny; Imports; Family Men; Ariel; The British B-Team; Froggatt; Mud; Cold Cuts; Dudes News
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 17
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Contents; Staff; Prize Pix!; Getting Rocked with April Wine; Better Than the Beatles, The Wackers Wackerology; Wackers Bucking Migration Trend: Stying in Canada; The Wackers Last Stand; Randy Bishop's Search for Stardom; Enter: the Dudes!; Find the Groups; Les Disques; Wack'n'Roll'; Teenage Love; Joni?; J.P. & J.D.; Pag's Boys; Singles; Concerts; Letters: Dear Occupant
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 16
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Contents; Staff; Contest Results; The Shakin' Street Punk Survey; "Out With the Truckers and the Kickers and the Cowboy Angels" A History of California Country Rock Part 2, Pre-history: The Early Byrds and the Buffalo Springfield; The Monkees: A Rock Retrospective; Long Players; Way too much of a good thing; Hawkwind; Bonzos; Hall-Oates; They tried to suppress this review for two years!!; Cold Cuts; Concerts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 15
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Contents; Staff; Rock'n'Roll Fantasy; How to be a ROCK CRITIC: A Megatonic Journey with Lester Bangs; Contest; Long Players; Traffic Jam; Browne; Zappa; Ted Nugent; Chick; Feliz the Cat Meets Todd; Cold Cuts; Our Big Brothers; Concerts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 14
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Contents; Staff; Bowie Contest Results; 'Mhuman getsmeblues: The Story of Bizarre/Straight Records; Tot Rock Rolls the Nation Part 2; Long Players; Suzie Q; Jean Queen; AWB; Cocker; A.C.N.E.; H.E.L.P.; Cold Cuts; Binkie Brown's Meets Godzilla; Concerts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 13
The Shakin' Street Gazette
The Sweet, Black Sheep, Stones; Contents; Staff; LETTERS: "Dear Occupant…"; On the Corner; Black Sheep: The Power to Heal; Tot Rock Rolls the Nation; "Out With the Ruckers and the Kickers and the Cowboy Angels" an historical look at California Country Rock; California Country Rock (continued from page 13); Puzzle Pages; Five Errors Contest; Find the Groups; Magic Dick; From the Country Side; Sweet Spectacular; The Sweet: Befor the Blitzkrieg; Sweet Fanny Adams (The Sweet's New LP); The Sweet in Concert: During the Blitzkrieg; The Ballroom Blitz; Teenage Rampage; The Sixteens;Long Players; Dylan/Band; Welsh Rock; Welsh Man; Bubbly Eno; Prog Rock; Syreeta; Nazareth; Holmes; Cold Cuts; Singles; The Rolling Stones: A Fatal Infection in the Bloodstream of America's Youth; Concerts; Suzi
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 12
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Bowie; Move; Derringer; Genesis; BOC; Staff; Contents; Bowie, Bowie, Bowie Another Contest; Genesis; Rick Derringer A Little Bit A'Sleaze; Move Move; From the Country Side; Long Players; Playtime for the Dolls, Son of Maha, Kinks, Edgar Winter, Sutherland Bros. & Quiver; Dollies (N.Y.); God Bless You; An Autographed Beer Can; Joh-um-Edgar; Ducks Deluxe; Belch!; Pop Arrows: Cold Cuts; Concerts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 11
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Mott; Roxy Music; Rockwriter's Convention; Staff; Contents; Mott's revolting; Songs from Europe: Roxy Music's 'Stranded'; Rockwriter's Symposium; Long Players; Blue O'cult; Aerosmith; Cat-alepsy; Eagles; Z'A'P'P'A'; Procol Harum; Trower; Vinyl Pucks? Rubber Records??; Ronson; King Crimson; Cold Cuts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 10
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Todd; On the Corner; Staff; Contents; Shakin' St. Looks at Todd; Long Players; Amon Duul II; Caravan; Suzi Quatro; Steely Dan; Potato Godz; Chicago; Bo Hansson; Airplane Cataloque Contest; Cold Cuts; Concerts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 9
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Shakin' St mourns a death in the Family (It's only a movie: Gone With the Wind); ELO; Deep Purple; Big Star; From the Country Side; Grace Slick's Manhole is…; Cold Cuts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 8
The Shakin' Street Gazette
On the corner; Long Players; Nazareth; Lou Reed; Man; Humble Pie; Werner; Lynn Anderson, Johnny Cash, Tanya Tucker; Cold Cuts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 7
The Shakin' Street Gazette
The End of Andy Cutler?; Hookfoot; Strawbs; L.T.D.; Soft Machine; Hoyt Axton; Cold Cuts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 6
The Shakin' Street Gazette
The Shakin' Street "Evade thee" Issue; Jan Akkerman; James Gang; O'Jays; Tales From Topo Gigio's Bathtub; The Band; Imports; Deke Leonard; Cold Cuts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 5
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Shakin' Street Self Indulgence Issue; Long Players; ELP; 10 CC; Genesis; Dylan; Cold Cuts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 4
The Shakin' Street Gazette
The Who Makin' Waves: The Past is the Future; Long Players; Alice Cooper; The Kinks; Rory Gallagher; J. Geils Band; Cold Cuts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 3
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Teenage Music in the 70's: Part 3; Hawkwind's Space Ritual and Kozmik Muzak; Long Players; David Bowie; Rick Springfield; Elton John; The Grateful Dead; Cold Cuts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 2
The Shakin' Street Gazette
Teenage Music in the 70's: Part 2; Long Players; Billy Preston; Tubular Bells; Queen; Gazette; Sam Ervin; Cold Cuts
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The Shakin' Street Gazette, Volume 1
The Shakin' Street Gazette
The Revival of Teenage Music, It's About Time; Long Players; Lou Reed; Roy Wood; Kevin Ayers; Rafferty; New Riders; Pete Sinfield; Scrubbaloe; Cold Cuts; Lil' Sprouts