Sunday Showcase October 26, 1975

I had high hopes that a dive into the October 26, 1975 edition of The Tennessean Sunday Showcase would have several haunted house notices, but was only able to find this one for the Fourth Annual WMAK Priest Lake Jaycees Haunted House.

I don't know how many years the Priest Lake Jaycees put on haunted houses, but they were still going strong into the 80's. Here's a skip ahead to the October 31, 1975 issue of the paper to see just a little of what you would have experienced back then. 

If haunted houses weren't your thing and you were not scared of clowns you could go see the circus at Municipal Auditorium. It was the last day to see the 104th edition of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. 

3 future legends of music played a show at the Grand Ole Opry House on October 29th. Tom Waits opened the show for Bonnie Raitt and John Prine. 

Here's Tom Waits from a Soundstage performance in 1975. 

Perhaps antiques were your bag. 100 Oaks would have been your place to visit beginning October 30. I only got to visit 100 Oaks mall a few times in the 70's, but it was always a big treat.

The one event I would have wanted to see the most was KISS in concert on October 30th. Montrose and Bob Seger were also on the bill for that one. KISS - Alive! had been out for a little over a month at this point so the band were still right at the beginning of their rise to the top of the concert scene. 

I went looking for a review of this show and found a rather lackluster non-review in the following week's Sunday Showcase written by Eve Zibart, "Thursday night's KISS concert, touted as a Halloween season special, didn't pull many interested parties. However you feel about good ol' basic rock 'n' roll, you have to admire a group who can survive both the heat of stage lighting and a full face of makeup." There was a photo of the band backstage. 

There's no audio or video that I can find from that show, but there is plenty of 1975 performances of KISS on YouTube so enjoy this performance of "Strutter" to get a taste of what fans would have got that night. 

If I couldn't see KISS or the circus I would have probably wanted to see Meadowlark Lemon and The Harlem Globetrotters as they were due to perform on November 6th as part of their 50th year of being basketball magicians. I didn't get to see them in person, but I never missed them on ABC or with Scooby Doo or Gilligan.

Any disappointed fans of the Washington Generals could pick their sprits up a few days later by going to see James Brown on November 8th and Michael Murphy, Little Feat, and Dave Mason the very next night at Municipal. 

Maybe you just wanted to sit home and watch a little television. Here's what was on the boob tube this Sunday. I would have watched the Three Stooges, possibly some of the football games, Wild Kingdom, either Disney or Swiss Family Robinson, and the Six Million Dollar Man on this particular night. 

Let's wrap this post up with a look at the Top Ten pop songs in Nashville. The Eagles were at the top of the heap this week. My favorite from this list is Sweet's "Ballroom Blitz." I hope you've enjoyed this look back into the past. I'll do it again next week. Who knows what year we'll end up visiting.