Friday, February 09, 2024

Upcoming Posts

I'm still here. I was working on a project to compile all of the bullets from the local Nashville pop music top ten lists through the Seventies, but that got to be tedious. I was using the old Tennessean Sunday Showcases, but I don't even know if I got through all of 1970. A bullet on a music chart, in case you were wondering, is when a song first appears on it. It's what Lynyrd Skynyrd was talking about in their song "Gimme Back My Bullets." They wanted their hits back. I learned that The Beatles hit number 1 on the Nashville chart immediately with "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" in 1970. 

I may return to that project someday, but I don't know if it would be all that interesting. If I lost interest, how could I expect anyone else to be interested in it? So I've found myself doing a different compilation. As a very few might know, I was once in a garage rock band named Dragula that performed gigs in the mid 1990's in Nashville and Murfreesboro. One of the places we played often was the now legendary Lucy's Record Shop. I posted not too long ago about the Lucy's podcast which I enjoyed. Since I have yet to stumble across a complete listing of all of the artists that played Lucy's I decided to compile my own unauthorized list like I did with my post on KO Jams. So we will journey from late 1992 through January 1998. I will break it up over multiple posts much like my movie listing compilations. I'm going to be adding photos I've found from social media (providing photo credits if known), flyers, and I will even, maybe, go back to embedding YouTube videos with either performances from Lucy's or perhaps music videos of the acts just so you can hear them. 

I think these posts will start coming your way beginning in April. I'm just into 1995, but plan on finishing the initial calendar this weekend. Then there will be some cross referencing to do with some other sources. Then it will time to start putting the posts together. Finally, here's a request: if you have any Lucy's memories, photos, or flyers to share send them my way. You can get my email from my profile. Thanks!

Sunday, January 14, 2024

Van Halen Fans Rule

Here's what I would have thought if I had seen the writer of this post at the Van Halen News Desk at the Van Halen concert I attended back in 1984. "Cool!!!" Music is such a powerful force and the best music crosses all boundaries. Go and read Debbie Pinkney's story. It should bring a smile to your day.

Sunday, December 31, 2023

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. 2024 is liable to be a crazy year. The best advice for this coming year is probably what John Prine sang in "Spanish Pipedream" way back on his 1971 debut album. "Blow up your TV, Throw away your paper, Go to the country, Build you a home." I haven't made any resolutions, but I do have some general goals. I want to start actually putting my digital recorder to use and get some tunes recorded. I plan on staying off of most social media most of the time, however I will probably keep posting records at my Instagram profile. I plan to go back to being much more picky about what I'm eating like I was way back in 2015. Heck, I was drinking a Yoo-hoo today and noticed it has a bioengineered food ingredient. It's not as though it didn't already contain enough bad things for you. I won't be buying any more of those in the coming year for sure. I'm going to read more books since I have many stacked up beside my bed. That's about it. 

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Idle Speculation or the Stuff That Runs Through My Head at Night

What if's were what was running through my mind last night. 1996 seemed to be calling me because I pondered for quite awhile what would have happened if Kiss had reformed with Bruce Kulick and Eric Singer after the 1996 reunion tour which was what was originally said to be planned. That's how I remember it. Ace and Peter joined the MTV Unplugged session and all us Kiss fans's hearts went aflutter. A wave of Kiss nostalgia was cresting as Gen X hit their twenties and, gasp, some of us would turn 30 in 1996. I would see them twice on this tour and it was the culmination for me of a lifelong love of the band. I was too young to see them with makeup back in the 70's and early 80's so I had to make do with the Japan concert broadcast on HBO and the Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park movie. 

I would see Kiss again on the Psycho Circus Tour and it wasn't all that great. Even then, I think I was wondering why they hadn't taken the makeup off and reunited with Eric and Bruce. I had really liked the Revenge album and was hoping for a followup to it, but it wasn't to be. I think it could have been great. But there was a follow up I hear you say. Now, I understand why that couldn't have happened (I guess Carnival of Souls was the followup to Revenge, but I wanted more) and I also understand why Eric later donned Peter Criss's makeup and Tommy Thayer became fake Ace. The evil Doc McGhee had become the manager of Kiss and making money had become the overriding concern. Sure, Gene and Paul have always been after the dollar too, but they still had the desire to make good music. That ended with McGhee. I guess we do have him to thank for the reunion,  but we also have him responsible for the zombie Kiss of the last 20+ years. 

My other 1996 flashback what if is the Van Halen quasi-reunion. First, the original Kiss gets back together  which was incredible. Next, we hear rumblings that David Lee Roth is back with Van Halen. Oh man was that fantastic. I was glued to the television during the MTV Video Music Awards 1996 show and everything seemed right with the world. Dave was clowning up just being Dave so I didn't think much of his behavior. Then came the post appearance interview with the Van Halen brothers and all hope was lost. A reunited Van Halen wouldn't happen on stage ever again. They got close years later with Eddie, Alex, and Dave finally putting aside their differences, but bass guitar would be handled by Eddie's son Wolfgang. While I am one of the very few that feel like Michael Anthony was the most dispensable of the original band, a Van Halen reunion without him just isn't the same. A tour of the original band in 1996 would have been an earth shattering event.

Rock and roll is full of such what if speculation. What if so many greats like Hendrix hadn't died young? I often ponder an AC/DC still led by Bon Scott for example. What if the Beatles never broke up. What if John Lennon had never moved to New York City. One can go on and on in this kind of thinking. I don't know if it's a productive use of time, but idle speculation is perhaps a nostalgic form of daydreaming. 

Friday, December 15, 2023

Campus Twin January 1996 - June 1996

Here's what played at the former Cinema Twin, now dubbed the Campus Twin located at 726 S. Tennessee Blvd in Murfreesboro, Tennessee from January 1996 through June 1996. The ads come from the Daily News Journal. The theatre became strictly second run movies on June 21st and would continue on through 1999 before pulling the plug for good. The building would then be sold and become a church. My fondest memories of the Cinema was seeing Star Wars there during its original run in 1977 and The Empire Strikes Back later when it was still one huge single screen theatre, and going to many midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I definitely saw more films at the Martin across town, but the Cinema was always the cooler place. The seats were rocking chairs!!!

January 1, 1996

January 12, 1996

January 15, 1996

January 19, 1996

January 22, 1996

January 26, 1996

January 29, 1996

February 5, 1996

February 9, 1996

February 12, 1996

February 13, 1996

February 15, 1996

February 16, 1996

February 19, 1996

February 23, 1996

February 26, 1996

March 4, 1996

March 8, 1996

March 11, 1996

March 15, 1996

March 18, 1996

March 21, 1996

March 22, 1996

March 25, 1996

March 29, 1996

April 1, 1996

April 5, 1996

April 8, 1996

April 11, 1996

April 12, 1996

April 15, 1996

April 19, 1996

April 22, 1996

April 26, 1996

April 29, 1996

May 3, 1996

May 10, 1996

May 17, 1996

May 20, 1996

May 24, 1996

May 31, 1996

June 1, 1996

June 7, 1996

June 21, 1996

Thursday, December 14, 2023

December 14, 1985 (Revisiting the Past)

I'm going back through what comprised my senior year of high school and first semester of college in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Come along for the ride. New posts every day or so mixed in with other things.

December 14, 1985. The semester was over for me at M.T.S.U. and I managed to flunk everything but English since I quit going to every class except English around the start of November. I kept attending English until one day I was admonished for talking so I stood up and gave my professor a Nazi salute and then walked out to never return. I got an incomplete in that English class at first since Ms. Hames did actually like me, but never followed up on it so it became an F also. 

I crashed and burned for a myriad of reasons. I was socially awkward to begin with and trying to make new friends in the college environment was tricky. I did make a couple of friends, but they lived on campus and since I commuted I never felt like I was really their friend. Sure, I should have just concentrated on my studies, but college freshman courses were so boring. I flunked because I didn't complete the work, not because it was difficult. I think I was also still ticked off that I had to stay in Murfreesboro and attend M.T.S.U. instead of going to Memphis State. 

It was just a weird time. I was the proverbial "Half a Boy and Half a Man." I feel like I had a superiority complex mixed with an inferiority complex. I thought I was a cool, yet knew I wasn't. I should have just saved money and stay away from college that fall. I would go back in a few years thanks to the Pell Grant and I would eventually graduate so the college story has a happy ending. 

The rest of 1985 is a blur. We were still living out on Shacklett Road. I was working at Mazzio's. The new high school basketball season had begun and I went to as many Riverdale games as I could. The team wouldn't go undefeated in the regular season this time as they stumbled right out the gate, but they would end up making it to the semifinals of the state tournament in the spring of 1986. I was still spending all of my free money on records at Cat's Records and other stores. Thus ends this over a year long review of the past which I hope you enjoyed.

Saturday, December 09, 2023

Cheri American Family Theatre/Campus Twin July 1995 - December 1995

Here's what played at the former Cinema Twin, now dubbed Cheri part of the American Family Theatres chain located at 726 S. Tennessee Blvd in Murfreesboro, Tennessee from July 1995 through December 1995. The ads come from the Daily News Journal.

July 1, 1995

July 6, 1995

July 19, 1995

July 20, 1995

July 21, 1995

July 26, 1995

July 27, 1995

And then August arrives, boom, with no warning the Cheri Theatre gets sold and now R & R Theatres owns it. It is rebranded the Campus Twin and within the month midnight showings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show begin playing again. It's a nice sign for lovers of the original Cinema One and Two, but will it last?

August 4, 1995

August 18, 1995

August 25, 1995

September 1, 1995

September 8, 1995

September 11, 1995

September 14, 1995

September 15, 1995

September 18, 1995

September 22, 1995

September 23, 1995

September 25, 1995

September 29, 1995

September 29, 1995

September 30, 1995

October 2, 1995

October 6, 1995

October 9, 1995

October 13, 1995

October 16, 1995

October 20, 1995

October 23, 1995

October 27, 1995

October 30, 1995

October 31, 1995

November 3, 1995

November 6, 1995

November 10, 1995

November 13, 1995

November 17, 1995

November 22, 1995

November 23, 1995

November 24, 1995

November 27, 1995

December 1, 1995

December 4, 1995

December 8, 1995

December 15, 1995

December 18, 1995

December 22, 1995

December 25, 1995

December 29, 1995