June 4, 1999 was declared J. Geils Band Day in the city of Boston by Mayor Menino. The band was presented with a star on the Walk of Fame at the former Tower Records at 360 Newbury St. The store closed in 2002 but was soon occupied by a Virgin Megastore.

The star is now safe in the hands of long time J. Geils fan ‘Jim’. This from his email:

Picked it up from the contractor who was involved with the demolition of Tower Records. When Virgin bought them, they totally remodelled the store and wanted the stars gone.

His crew jack-hammered the stars up; his boss kept the Aerosmith star; since he was the foreman, he got next dibs, so he took J. Geils. They did their best to remove them carefully, but the stars were not made to be removed; bolted then cemented in place.

He was moving and since he really was not a Geils fan, he wanted it gone.

The star is approx. 2 feet in diameter, about 5/8″ solid bronze, weighing in at my best guess 50-75 lbs….rather awkward. The star is slightly bent but overall flat.

Click here for more details and photos from ‘J. Geils Band Day’.

Thanks to George Corneliussen for these exclusive photos he took from April 24, 1979 (the day of the J. Geils show at the Paradiso). The first two photos are the outside of the building. The third is the lobby and shows posters above a doorway.

Click here to visit the Paradiso location page.