JEFF PIKE - MANIA - FALL 2022 TOUR BLOG - DAY 16

MANIA - The ABBA Tribute (Formerly ABBA MANIA)
​November 4, 2022
Buffalo State College Performing Arts Center
​Buffalo, New York
www.buffalostatepac.org

I had never been to Buffalo, New York, before, but I had always heard it was beautiful. Granted, I did not see hardly any on this trip, but the weather and the campus were beautiful, and I also found out some very interesting things about Buffalo I was unaware of.
I was tired, as usual, when I woke up late this morning, but the weather was so beautiful that I made myself get outside and go for a walk. I had planned a short walk, but it evolved into a long one.

The Buffalo State College is very pretty and is a larger campus than I had initially thought. As I continued to explore I found it was much larger than I had just discovered…or so I thought. On the backside of the campus as I continued to walk I discovered a breathtakingly colossal building which frightened, soothed and intrigued me immediately. It looked ancient, almost gothic and out of place. I assumed at first that it was a much older part of the campus that may or may not be used anymore, for it looked abandoned. Upon closer inspection I noticed that the center of the building, which was huge, appeared to have signs of life, so I assumed it all to still be in use. My curiosity was high so I moved in for closer inspection. I made my way to the back side of the building and felt a chill go up my spine and an eerie discomfort come over me which I could not explain. Boarded up windows by the dozens, broken windows with nothing but shattered glass remains, roofs in severe disrepair, buildings that connected which seemed to go on forever - all abandoned. Yet, the middle building was clearly being used. I suddenly felt like I was being watched and decided to hurry my pace and get on back to sound check. For the rest of the day and evening I was hauntingly intrigued by the building and could not get it off my mind. It wasn’t until after the show later that night when I was asking around did a custodian of twenty five years at the college fill me in on the history of the building. As it turns out, it was not a part of the college. The massive castle like building was built in the late 1800’s and was The New York State Hospital for The Insane. When he said that my blood chilled. He proceeded to tell me a lot of the history, which was also chilling. After being completely abandoned for decades they are in the process of turning it into a plush hotel. I went to the website, but the nice pictures and story they show and tell do not represent the Stephen King and Halloween look and feel of the entire back of the building, nor the story the custodian told me. I am still very obsessed with the building and I regret that I did not take a lot of pictures. It frightened me, but now I want to return one day, however I am not sure if I would spend the night or not.

Oh yeah, we had a show too. :-) The crowd was small but very excitable. The band played well, but all I could see were people in straight jackets in the empty seats. As beautiful and as nice as everyone was, I was glad when we were back on the road. I did not sleep well…
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