The Last Stand:
Maxwell's, Iowa City
October, 1983

Done without Mondo (or Brian), and the last engagement THE... VERS played;
a weekend at Maxwell's in Iowa City, where the band had filmed their video.

Zoid, Charlie, and Jimmy covered the vocals on 21 songs Mondo normally sang.

Being the most "visible" member after Mondo, Zoid was put up front.
The lyric sheets to the 7 songs he was now singing are arranged on the two
beer cases in front of his mic stand. He opened the show, saying to the crowd
"I suppose you're all wondering where Mondo is... well, so are we!"

Then Gabe turned his fan on, and all of Zoid's lyric sheets started peeling off,
like fighter planes, from the 5-foot high stage into the crowd.

While this lineup had the makings of a pretty good band all by themselves
(it was basically Yancy Derringer of seven years before with a different drummer),
losing Mondo was a tremendous blow, one they would not overcome emotionally.

-photos by Lori Grant

The fans were kind, telling the band that they still put on a good show,
and the club only docked their pay 20% for Mondo's absence,
but the frustration clearly shows on Charlie's face.

After a run of about six years, THE...VERS were history.