If you weren't in the mood for a rock concert you could venture out and catch Skatetown USA at various theaters around Nashville. Roller skating was hot and it got a lot of interest from Hollywood and mass media around this time. I was almost 13 and loved to go roller skating, but didn't have much interest in the movies about it really. Scott Baio stars in this one which is about him battling Patrick Swayze, in his film debut, in a roller disco competition. Maureen McCormick is in this one too so if you're a Brady Bunch fan it's worth a look.
Perhaps you weren't into Peter Frampton or roller disco movies. Sound Seventy had a plethora of concerts coming up over the next 10 days. Earth, Wind & Fire were performing the very next night, October 22, at Municipal Auditorium on their Tour of the World 1979. I initially found it strange that the ad states that "Earth, Wind & Fire will perform this concert in its ENTIRETY" as I would hope any group would play an entire concert, but I suppose it was just to alert folks that there was no opening act. It does say the show begins promptly at 8pm. Earth, Wind & Fire were at their peak in this era. Here's a song from them in 1979.
If a "Boogie Wonderland" was not your thing you could go see John Prine with Delbert McClinton opening on October 26 at the Tennessee Theatre. Prine had decided to go with a rockabilly sound on his latest album Pink Cadillac. It's not one of my favorite things he's done, but it is notable that he did this years before Neil Young. Delbert was going to hit the Top 40 in the next year with "Giving It All Up For Your Love."
Jethro Tull was coming to town on October 30, 1979 with opening act, U.K., to perform at Municipal Auditorium. There are lots of YouTube posts of Tull on this tour so if you're interested feel free to check it out. The show that I would have wanted to see, if I had been allowed to go out and see concerts back then, was Parliament Funkadelic on Halloween of 1979 no less. The Brides of Funkenstein opened up with Nashville Municipal Auditorium once again being the place to be. George Clinton and his various crews put out so much music then, but judging from the ad I guess this is the tour for Funkadelic's Uncle Jam Wants You and not for Motor Booty Affair. Still, how can I resist putting up this performance from earlier in 1979.
You could go check out Stanley Clarke in concert at the Tennessee Theatre on November 1, 1979. He would have been on the road promoting his live album released earlier in the year titled I Wanna Play For You. It's always cool to see someone using a typically rhythm instrument as a lead one.
If you think that's all that was going on you would be wrong. Nashville is Music City after all. Vanderbilt's Homecoming was happening that same week and they had one of the all time legends coming to play Memorial Gym on Friday November 2, 1979. You could go see Ray Charles for under $10.
The biggest concert of the season was probably the arrival in Murfreesboro on November 8th of the Eagles as they played Murphy Center on The Long Run Tour 79. I was in 7th grade and I remember kids in Eagles Long Run concert t-shirts all over Central Middle School the next day.
So what was the hottest song in Nashville in this Sunday Showcase from 40 years ago.....why it was M's "Pop Musik" which I first heard on television as I watched Nickelodeon's Pop Clips religiously.
Thus ends another weekly dip into an old Tennessean Sunday Showcase. Note the typo for song number 6 in the the Top Ten.....or maybe it's a rare alternate version. I try to put this stuff up every Sunday. So, if you enjoy it, bookmark Soulfish Stew and have a mess of it every chance you can get. Tell your friends, there's plenty more to go around.
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