Houston 77 Update

["Montgomery, David" <dmontgomery@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello, I live in Houston and about a year ago conducted research into the
Houston 77 tape.

For starters, here's the Holy Grail text from Proximity:

"9 - The Houston 1977 Video 
(Pro-Shot Video from The Summit, Houston, Texas 5/21/77) 
The Story: Like other arenas around the country (including the Capital
Centre in Landover and Seattle's Kingdome), The Houston Summit has its own
closed circuit television system, and Zeppelin's performance was reportedly
televised within the building during the show. In the late-eighties, a major
record dealer in Texas (NOT connected with Led Zeppelin collectibles) told a
few collectors that video recordings had been made of three major concerts
broadcast via the Summit's closed-circuit system, including the Led Zeppelin
show. The story goes that the tapes are in the possession of the company
which operated the video system for the building, and specifically in the
hands of its owner, who was described as a "former professional athlete" in
the city. 
Analysis: The source of the story was good, as the dealer was in no way
connected to the LZ collecting community. The specific detail about the
"professional athlete" also lends an air of authenticity to the tale, as did
his specific mention of at least one other artist (The Who) for which video
tapes are supposed to exist. All that said, this rumor never resonated much
beyond the original source. 
Does It Exist?: Perhaps. The tale sounds good enough to be true, but no
pro-shot videos of any artist (with the exception of Prince) are known to
have come from the Summit."

I've tried to send update info to Hugh; if someone knows him, please pass
the following along.

The Summit was opened in 75 or 76.
I doubt that the Who show from 1975 was taped there.
However, I have copies of pro-shot videos from 1977 in the Summit for Kiss
and for Aerosmith.  They are excellent, and a Zep video this good would be
heart-stopping.  Reportedly, a Queen video from 1977 also exists.
The "former professional athlete" angle is a complete red herring.
It is not Dan Pastorini, former Oilers quarterback.  He was playing pro ball
during the time, not running a video company.  He got involved in showbiz
after his Oilers career, but forget about him and the Zep video.
No, the video-operating company was called John Crow Productions ("JCP").
There was a very famous Texas football player during the 60s named John
David Crow.  But he's not the same as the older gentleman who owned and ran
JCP.
JCP was one of the first sports/concert video production companies.  They
did quite well for awhile, garnering jobs all over the country.
Mr. Crow was of an age where he did not care about the bands playing - it
was strictly business for him.
So, if the show was booted using his equipment, he probably didn't know
about it.
I managed to find his number and called him one day.  He was old,
cantankerous and absolutely furious that I had located him.  Haven't tried
again, although I think I will.  I feel he's a dead end (no pun intended).
Now, I have some acquaintance with a fellow named Louie Messina, who ran a
very successful promotion company based in Houston called Pace Concerts.  He
recently sold out to SFX and made a bundle.  He attended the 77 show and
knew absolutely nothing about a video of the show.  He was stunned and
thrilled that I could provide him with copies of the 77 Kiss and Aerosmith
shows.
I have spoken to everyone I could find who was connected with the Summit or
the Houston music scene in 1977, all to no avail.
The only avenue I haven't pursued is actually asking the Schnitzer family,
which developed the Summit and later sold it to the city of Houston.  They
are aristocrats, although now that I think about it the son was probably
about 16 in 1977 and may have very well been a rich head who collected
videos from his daddy's arena.  Hmmmm.....Jeff Roy, Chris Barbero, did you
know any of the Schnitzer kids?  I bet they lived in River Oaks or
Memorial....