Sunday Showcase Review October 18, 1981

So the title page of this week's October 18, 1981 Sunday Showcase is not the best quality, but trust me, Roy Clark and Slim Pickens are pictured promoting "The Nashville Palace", Floyd Cramer is swinging a golf club, and Veronica Hamel, Lisa Hartman, and Catherine Hicks are beautiful. What would be happening in Nashville over the next few weeks? Keep reading to find out.

Zaire is no longer a country (it's now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), but they had a National Dance Theatre which would be appearing at the Performing Arts Center on October 24th. Nkenge is the name of a lady who marries the Devil and then is rescued by the village fool according to this story I found in the Washington Post from 1981. I could not find any video, but it sounds like it would have been a neat event.

Rodney Dangerfield would play the Grand Ole Opry House on October 25th. I love that you could choose to purchase either "respectable seat" or the cheaper "no respect seats." Rodney was blowing up in those days. He had come a long ways from his "tin man" days. 

Rodney on the 1981 Grammys

Blues legend Albert King and Millie Jackson would be performing at Jackson Hall at TPAC with two shows on October 23. 

Albert King live in 1981

This is from 1982, but Millie Jackson doing Toto's "Hold The Line" is pretty cool.

I probably first heard of Killing Joke thanks to this write-up in the Sunday Showcase. It's an Associated Press piece which is pretty impressive publicity for a band that would be considered by most to be an underground act. 

Killing Joke "Follow The Leaders"

Cantrell's has some jazz, country rock, singer songwriters, reggae, and new wave on the schedule for this week. The Nashville music scene was such a huge positive part of my youth. 

Afrikan Dreamland

Notice the Nashville Showcase page for a couple of shows that didn't have advertisements. There is Gary U.S. Bonds coming to perform at Memorial Gym. Then there is a sold out show at Municipal Auditorium on October 28: Loverboy opens for Journey. I went back through several Sunday Showcases figuring I would find an ad for the Journey show, but I couldn't find one. Those guys were riding high with the release of Escape. They were popular before, but Jonathan Cain's arrival in the band was the key element that put them over the top in my opinion. 

There may not have been an ad for the Journey show, but Cat's and Wizards will be happy to sell you Escape for only $5.99. WKDF was having a contest that was probably free tickets to the show. 

Journey "Stone In Love" live in Houston 1981

Sound Seventy has a couple of big concerts coming to Municipal. I wouldn't have minded seeing both of these shows. It's crazy to think Hall & Oates was still an opening act, but that was going to change in a hurry with the Private Eyes album having come out on September 1, 1981. It was a classic case of a group on the rise to mega-stardom while the headliner was cooling down from their highest highs. I love ELO though so I would have been enthralled to have seen that concert. Earth, Wind & Fire never needed an Oxford comma. They are still one of my favorite bands to this day. 

Hall and Oates live at Sherwood High 1981

American Bandstand 1981 dance contest to ELO's "Hold On Tight"

Earth, Wind & Fire live in Oakland 1981 "Let's Groove"

The Ramada Inn South was still having its "Foxy Lady" contests every Tuesday night, but they were running their first "Pac Man Contest" from September 19 through the end of October.

A Chicago PM Magazine story on Pac-Man

The Top Ten for this week back in 1981 is full of bullets. If there is no number under last week, but there is a dash instead your song has hit the Top Ten with a bullet. That's my understanding at least. Please correct me if I'm wrong. One thing for sure is Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band went straight to number 1 with "Tryin' To Live Without You." Seger's blue collar rock was always big in middle Tennessee. Olivia Newton-John, Kenny Rogers, and Hall & Oates are the other acts whose songs are into the Top Ten for the first time. Juice Newton, Diana Ross & Lionel Richie have been camped out in the Top Ten for two months! I was mainly listening to AC/DC and Black Sabbath by this point, but I was still listening to Top 40 radio too and my favorites from this week were Hall & Oates, Carl Carlton, Olivia, and Rick James. 

Physical

Super Freak

She's A Bad Mama Jama

Private Eyes

Tryin' To Live My Life Without You

The Sunday Comics section had this Star Wars "Scrapbook" piece for us this week:

Han Shot First

Let's wrap this week's Sunday Showcase review up with an ad from the previous week. Consider it a below the fold bonus. Hope you enjoyed this post and I'll most likely do another one of these next week. 

Some bonus Bill Murray doing "Physical" on the very first Late Night with David Letterman Show