AV: The Buckinghams appeared at the Record Collector Convention in Chicago in 1984-85 with members of Ides of March, New Colony Six, the Mauds, and other Chicago area bands. What was your assessment of the convention and what did you think of the other bands? Did you ever play with them on the same bill?CG: The convention was great. I didn't realize what it was all about. When I got there, I discovered thousands of people there buying, selling, and trading records. There was all this enthusiasm over 6Os music. I was overwhelmed. It was a great feeling to have all that response. At that point, we weren't even touring and I didn't realize how popular our music was again. And here were all these people from all over the country coming to the convention. It made me realize we had a strong following. As far as other groups, the Ides of March, of whom Jim Peterik is now with Survivor ("Eye of the Tiger" #l in l982), had a lot of success there as did the Cryin' Shames. A lot of Chicago bands that I hadn't seen in a long time---American Breed and the Shadows of Knight---were also there. We had all been friends in the old days and hung out together. It was great to see them again. I hadn't seen a lot of those people for over twenty years. The lead singer in the New Colony Six was a friend of mine named Rodney Rice. He now plays and sings on his own and has quite a following here in Chicago. He's probably making a hell of a lot more money now than he did with New Colony Six. That guy can fill an auditorium here. He's a great entertainer. He lives near me here in Evanston.