It's another Sunday....at least I think it is (the days blend together during these pandemic days)....so it's time to look through another Sunday Showcase from the past. It's slightly interesting to see Nixon referred to as "Former President" on the cover since all former Presidents now are still just called President after they leave office. Perhaps it's because he resigned. The David Frost interviews were a big television deal back in 1977. I know it's still April, but let's go forward to May by going backwards today. I think this is the first look at a 1977 Sunday Showcase for me.
This week's Sunday Showcase is brought to us by Bernie's which was a fixture on Charlotte for many years. Everyone under the sun does shop there.
The pop music world was abuzz with the baking news of Bread reuniting the previous year. This reunion would be short lived. Yacht rocker Stephen Bishop was the opener for the Bread reunion date on Saturday May 14 at Municipal Auditorium. I dig the soft rock of Bread plus I really liked their name when I was a kid. I hear that lots of people really knead their music to get through the day.
the real star of this Bread performance in 1977's Midnight Special is the bass sound (wow)
"Green Grass And High Tides" Southern rockers the Outlaws would play Municipal Auditorium the night before on Friday the 13th. Note that the show is presented by FM 103. Atlanta Rhythm Section opened the show. They are considered to be Southern yacht rockers.
Stick Around For Some Rock And Roll Outlaws style!
Just like the concerts noted above this upcoming Fleetwood Mac show was a Sound Seventy Production. WMAK program director Joe Sullivan partnered with Roger McDaniel to create the company which became the premier promotor of live music in the Southeast. I believe the first concert that was promoted by Sound Seventy was a Steppenwolf concert at Municipal Auditorium. This particular Fleetwood Mac show was widely bootlegged. Another Yacht Rock superstar in the making Kenny Loggins opened this show.
"Go Your Own Way" live in Nashville 1977
It's once again Action Auction time for channel 8. I still remember these well. It was a staple of childhood to turn on the station and be massively disappointed that Sesame Street, Zoom, The Electric Company, Villa Alegre, Dr. Who, Monty Python, or European soccer was not on. Heck, I even missed Julia Child's cooking show.
Back to the music scene in Nashville during May of 1977: Dave Brubeck was coming to play the War Memorial with his kids. He had grown his hair out. Lots of jazz players were trying to keep up with the contemporary scene, but Brubeck had always been cool even when his hair was short. Heck, he even has an asteroid belt named for him.
The Exit/In had a great line-up for this week but did misspell Flora Purim's last name, and if their eclectic calendar didn't catch your fancy you could visit One Eyed Jack's or head up to West End to Luv's Disco.
It's 1977 and the CB radio fad is still on or is it losing the signal? Maybe it was just a selling tactic to sell them at 66% off. How about a bunch of random CB radio clips after this ad? 10-4 Good Buddy! Let them truckers roll.
Volume and squelch
A Tandy Company
Another Radio Shack CB commercial
Look out Smokey I'm coming through
Fair Park was now open for the season. I always enjoyed going there, but it was in the early 80's when I got to go. I rode the Skyliner rollercoaster over and over one summer with my cousin Freddy only to see it close mere weeks later. There are lots of cool YouTube clips of Fair Park.
Memories Of Nashville Fair Park segment
I have tried to figure out what GG Ball was, but the older news article I found by Larry Woody wasn't all that illuminating. Great Girls (that's what GG stood for) in leotards play a game that is a cross between football, baseball, hopscotch, wrestling, volleyball, and belly dancing with a Nerf sized ball. Two 8 women teams face off against each other and the reason for the form fitting uniforms was to convey their femininity according to the sports inventor Vince Fodera. This first exposition match ended up drawing 367 people to the 8,175 seat Municipal according to an article I found in the May 13, 1977 Miami News. Funny though that The Tennessean article about the game said it only drew 200. The Georgia Blossoms beat the Tennessee Galaxies 64-50. I can't find any record of other games being played, but I didn't devote too much time to looking. This story could possibly be a good Netflix special or something.
Finally we come to this week's top 10 records. Leo Sayer is on top with "When I Need You", but the Eagles "Hotel California" is coming for him. Kenny Rogers "Lucille" brings him back into the big time where he would stay the rest of his career. There are several acts on this list that aren't as well know so I'll highlight those for this post. Another typo found too: it's not Travares, it's Tavares. Where's the phone...call Sherlock Holmes so we can find out who made the mistakes in this week's Sunday Showcase. The Starz tune "Cherry Baby" only got up to number 33 nationally, but here it hits the local top ten proving Nashville music consumers had good taste.
Hot - Angel In Your Arms
Tavares - Whodunit
Starz - Cherry Baby
That does it for this week's review. Next week I'm headed back even farther into the past.
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