By John Cofield

There are all the other bands that have graced our Oxford bar memories, and then, there was The Tangents.

With The Hoka as an able-bodied assistant in fun, the music still pulses out from that hole in the earth I have become fond of calling, the velvet ditch.

It was when the town’s current large and expanded party scene was young and fresh, like the students. And when the weekend came, the fun ensued.

“That first gig in 1981, at the Hoka, was a great memory for Charlie and Duff and the crew today, where a packed house boogied the night away and we made $14 total, as our doorman, Barton Segal, decided the door wasn’t where he was going to spend his evening. Who cared? Not us. We were a BAND!”