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.
September 30, 1984. I don't know the exact date, but my father went back to work for Clark Iron & Metal and we moved off of Jimmy C. Newman's farm. We bought a house on Shacklett Road between Murfreesboro and Smyrna. Neil Young and the International Harvesters had played the Grand Ole Opry House on September 18th and Jimmy C. Newman went to that concert. The day after Jimmy told me he should have taken me with him as he knew I would have enjoyed it. So we were still living on his farm on September 19th, but would move before September ended.
I don't know why my father quit working for Jimmy, but that's why we moved, but as I was now driving to school each day I didn't mind the change. I would be a bit closer to Riverdale and much closer to Murfreesboro. I was now driving an old Plymouth my father had bought from the accordion player in Jimmy C. Newman's band. We would live on Shacklett from September 1984 until March or April of 1986. I drive Shacklett Road often now since I currently work in Smyrna and its a good short cut to avoid the 3 way stop at Sulphur Springs and Leanna Community Road. I have wonderful memories of that area, but I guess my memories of the house we lived in will have to stay in my head as it was recently gutted and is being rebuilt. It looks like it will be built very similar, but it won't be the same. Someone built a house right across the street many years ago and that was odd enough. Stones River is basically in their backyard.
My 1969 Plymouth Fury II
Me rocking a Nugent concert shirt along with some pink New Wave sunglasses I bought at Port O Call.
My classmates that were in the Riverdale marching band were busy getting some honors from a competition held at Vanderbilt on September 22nd.
If the Rod Stewart concert on September 29th at Murphy Center was too rock and roll for you how about seeing the Oak Ridge Boys on this night back in 1984. The M.T.S.U. Events Committee was working hard in 1984 with two big concerts back to back. This was peak Oak Ridge Boys!
Today's post is brought to you by Godfather's Pizza in Memorial Plaza. Long gone, but not forgotten. This home delivery ad is pretty cool.
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.
September 29, 1984. It was Saturday which means the high school football scores from the night before is at the top of the paper. Oakland had won its homecoming game and Riverdale beat White County.
Rod Stewart on his Camouflage Tour would play M.T.S.U.'s Murphy Center on this date.
I love roller skating even though I haven't gone in several years due to Covid. I really need to get my own pair and start doing it regularly again. It's not quite as much fun as skateboarding, but it's still one of the best activities ever. So how about a bunch of music videos featuring roller skating today.
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.
September 23, 1984. A few advertisements along with a blurb about the rock band The Producers coming to town soon. Do furniture stores still sell television sets? Does anyone miss those days when a television was considered a piece of furniture. Did you or your family buy, or not buy a particular set because of its style?
I wouldn't have a VCR in my house until 1989 or so. This meant I didn't get a lifetime video club membership at Cat's Records. I hope those Cat's video club members got their money's worth since the lifetime would be less than a decade. I feel really bad for those who missed the limited offer and paid the full $50 price.
A three day city wide "Harvest Days Sellabration" was coming on September 27, 28, and 29. Here's the ad for it. I wonder how many of these businesses listed in the ad still exist in Murfreesboro as of the writing on this post on September 22, 2022. I'll let you know below the ad.
All of the businesses listed for Thursday, September 27th, were located in or just outside what was once called the Murfreesboro Mall but was renamed Stones River Plaza. This is now called Broad Street Centre and remnants of its past are still visible, but the mall part of it was heavily remodeled over the years.
September 27th businesses from the ad:
While you can find many locksmiths bearing the AAA name, the Stones River Plaza AAA Lock & Key is long gone.
These businesses are also no longer around. Gone completely from Murfreesboro. If you notice I'm wrong on any of these drop me comment and I'd be happy to correct it.
Pickwick's Guys and Gals
Funland (was the arcade between Walgreens and Radio Shack which was once called the Silver Shack)
Radio Shack
Readmore Book-n-Card which would move to Georgetown Square in a few years is a store I really miss.
Southern Health Foods
Country Boy Waterbeds
Port O Call record store is another store I wish had survived.
Payless Shoe Source which had a store outside.
Behrs which was a dress shop inside Stones River Plaza.
Citizens Central Bank although I believe the building is still being used for a savings and loan.
Did any of the businesses listed for the day of September 27 survive? Yes! I guess Citizens Central Bank could be bumped into this list as banks never truly die, they just get bought out by bigger banks. Olan Mills photography can still be purchased in Murfreesboro, but not at Broad Street Centre. The only real survivor is the Peddler store which, like Readmore, moved to Georgetown Square. It has changed ownership, but is still going strong.
September 28th businesses from the ad:
These stores were located in various places including the Square, Mercury Plaza, and Jackson Heights Plaza.
These are all still around, but not in the same location or name.
Baskin-Robbins 31 Ice Cream would have been located in Mercury Plaza but that location is no longer around even though Mercury Plaza is still there. There is a Memorial Blvd location which is still scooping out the treats.
Commerce Union Bank of Ruth. Co. is Bank of America today.
Mazda Car Village and Subaru Car Village are gone, but as you can still get Mazdas and Subarus in Murfreesboro so we'll consider them still around in a way.
Ace Hardware....hmmm I couldn't find an Ace Hardware in Murfreesboro looking online, but there's bound to one right?
There are a couple of restaurant chains in the ad that still exist as chains, but not in Murfreesboro. Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken which was located at Memorial Blvd and Bonanza which was at Mercury Plaza.
Here's the long list of businesses gone from the September 28, 1984 list:
That leaves the Saturday September 29th participating businesses. None of them are around in Murfreesboro any longer. Montgomery Ward does have an online business, but does anyone use them or know they still exist?
Etlinger Chiropractic Clinic
Red Food Store once had 2 locations in Murfreesboro before being bought out by Bi-Lo in 1994. Bi-Lo went through the usual sell off to a financial firm. The Wikipedia entry will make your head spin.
Waterbed Shed
Polliwogs n'Pinafores
Mary Helen Jordan, Antiques and Jewelry
Mid-State Building Supply
Hearthstone Heaters
The one thing you learn as you get older is that change is constant and businesses come and go. It's been 38 years at the time of writing this in 2022 and if I count just the Peddler, Carpets by Ozburn, Haynes Hardware, and Haynes Lumber that's 8.3% of those businesses featured in the Harvest Days Sellabration promotion still around. That's really not all that bad even if I do wish Readmore, Port O Call, and Funland (just call it Silver Shack though) could re-materialize for me. I think I got most of these photos from Bill Wilson aka Mr. Murfreesboro so if you want to see more of that stuff you can check out his Facebook page.
The great Georgia New Wave/power pop band The Producers would be coming to Mainstreet soon. I never got to see them live, but I've heard they were fantastic. I have their 1981 self-titled debut and it's a great record.
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.
September 22, 1984. High school football games from the night before saw Oakland lose to powerhouse Gallatin while Riverdale beat the heavily favored Father Ryan.
In other news, there's an interesting piece on the front page of the Daily News Journal about a Smyrna couple who were making counterfeit video game logic boards.
There's not much happening in the chronicle of my 84/85 senior year of high school diary so how about some of the best advertising that ever ran in the Daily News Journal and Rutherford Courier. I will probably actually do a real blog post on The Cotton Patch which was a woman's clothing, shoes, and accessories store that was located in Jackson Heights Plaza. The clothes sold there would most likely be called "preppy" and that's a style of clothes (and lifestyle) that has always fascinated me. I always adored girls that dressed preppy although they were typically way out of my class. There's something cool about the high quality of The Cotton Patch ads plus I'm pretty sure the models were local ladies from middle Tennessee. These are just a few of many I've clipped as I do plan to write a story on the store sometime. These ads all come from 1978.
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.
September 16, 1984. The Marbro Drive-In has closed for good. The Daily News Journal runs its eulogy in the Sunday paper. I did a series of posts on what movies played the Marbro and the last one I did has that newspaper story so click on this link here to read about this sad occasion for drive-in movie fans.
The Sunday paper would feature new business licenses granted information so I noticed that rock and roll club The Hideaway got its license. The short lived club which would feature great alternative bands was located by the Elks Lodge on Halls Hill Pike.
Current 2404 Halls Hill Pike address from Google Maps
Just in case anyone is actually reading these posts in order and wondering how the high school football teams had done on September 14 here are the scores. Both Riverdale and Oakland won that weekend.
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.
September 14, 1984. The 1st Annual MTV Music Video Awards show is happening on this date at New York City's Radio City Music Hall. If you didn't have cable television like me (we were still living out on Jimmy C. Newman's farm) you'd be able to watch it on channel 17 just 3 days later.
The Riverdale band was going to have a pancake breakfast at Golden Corral on Saturday September 15th.
The big story on the front page of the Daily News Journal was that the School Board was not going to take any action regarding the request from disgruntled basketball player parents to dismiss head coach Thomas Hopkins. The big rumor that swept the school at this time was that the request to fire Coach Hopkins was racially motivated because the white players weren't getting much playing time. The article in the paper spells out the allegations from the parents and that aspect is not broached so it remains to this day just a rumor. I guess those parents know if that rumor is true or not. My view then and my view now is that the best players should be the ones playing regardless of color or creed as long as their grades were okay.
I had Coach Hopkins for health class when I was either a sophomore or junior. The best part of his class was when he insisted we take the hunter safety course. You had to fire a gun at the end so we got to shoot skeet with a shotgun on campus! This would never happen today for many reasons, but back in the 80's the Riverdale campus was still sort of in the country. I missed my 3 pulls, but several girls in the class who said they had never shot a gun hit their skeet. Coach Hopkins took some shots after us and missed. There was still time left in class so he told us all to go back inside while he kept trying to hit skeet.
The upcoming basketball season would see the Warriors go undefeated in the regular season and Hopkins would continue to coach at Riverdale eventually getting inducted into the Riverdale Boys Basketball Hall of Fame. Kudos to Principal Hulon Watson for standing by a good guy and congratulations to Coach Hopkins who weathered the storm of 1984.
The Daily News Journal from the day before had a photo of the new Murphy Center message board. It would remain in front of Murphy Center bringing us news electronically until it was removed in 2019.
It's Tuesday again so here's some tunes I've been enjoying lately.
Hans Pucket have brought out their second video for their forthcoming No Drama album. This time we get the title track from these New Zealand wunderkinds. I'm looking forward to getting this on vinyl when it's released on November 4.
No Drama
Maybe, just maybe, if I am super lucky Hans Pucket will tour with The Beths next year here in the USA. That would be cool since I have tickets to see The Beths next year in Nashville at the Brooklyn Bowl. The Beths latest video release is for the tune "Knees Deep" and it is as incredible as everything they have been putting out lately. Their new full length album Expert In A Dying Field will hit the shelves around September 16.
Bungee time!
My 17 year old son was gifted a free Damned and Blondie show at the Grand Ole Opry House a few weeks ago. He said Debbie Harry had lots of energy for a lady in her 70's. Blondie has always been a favorite of mine and the whole family.
The Tide is High as a Darth Vader looking character watches
I don't have a clue if I had just forgotten or only just learned this week that Phantasm director Don Coscarelli directed the great video for Dio's "The Last in Line." It's a song and video that holds up.
Meeno Peluce in one of his best roles
I don't know how I didn't hear the Beach Fossils before stumbling across them on Bandcamp the other day, but I dig what I hear and, of course, if you put skateboarding in a video I will always pay attention.
"Sugar" from the Beach Fossils album Somersault
I'm not a massive fan of artists going back and tweaking their old music, but this Dexy's release might be an exception for me. Kevin Rowland and company are such underrated artists. A triple CD comes out on October 14th. I haven't hit that pre-order button yet, but I'm sure I will soon.
Come On Eileen as it should have sounded
Let's finish off this post with a clip and a tune from one of my childhood favorite films: Trocadero Bleu Citron. I recently saw it again for the first time in decades and although it was all in French with no English subtitles I believe I still got it. It aired on HBO often when we first got cable TV in 1979 and it was a favorite with its skating scenes.
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.
September 12, 1984. My classmate at Riverdale, Doki Morris, is a featured photo in the Daily News Journal on this day. She was in the RHS band's "rifle squad." I got to know Doki a little bit that senior year as she was dating a good friend of mine. She was a nice young lady. I hope she's doing well these days.
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.
September 11, 1984. I attended Thurman Francis Junior High School in Smyrna for 8th grade. It was one of the best years of my life. The school was yet to be as overcrowded as it was in 1984 although the 9th grade hallway was called "Murder Hall" due how packed it was between classes. Students in 1984 were having to take classes in the cafeteria! Teacher Shelley Dickerson has 49 students in her 8th grade class.
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.
September 10, 1984. The Murfreesboro UHF station channel 39 will air The Kids Are Alright tonight. I have been a big fan of The Who since at least 8th grade so I bet I watched channel 39 that evening then switched over to Monday Night Football.
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.
September 9, 1984. This is the second day of the Smyrna Aviation Days. I always loved seeing the planes flying over Smyrna. I was probably there for at least one day, either the 8th or 9th. One year I was even living in Smyrna when the Air Force Thunderbirds came for the air show. My mother's best friend lived on Peachtree Street in Smyrna so we would go visit her when we didn't live in Smyrna. You didn't need to go to the airport to enjoy the sights in the skies, though I did pay to get into the actual show once. It was awesome to see planes up close. The Navy Blue Angels were the featured attraction in 1984.
September 8th photo from DNJ
Blue Angels photo from September 10 DNJ
Bonus content if you want to know the scores of the high school football games from September 7, 1984.
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.
September 7, 1984. It's Friday and Riverdale plays at Chattanooga Baylor. The Karate Kid, Bolero, Tightrope, or Roadhouse are your choices of films playing at the Martin Four. Red Dawn and Purple Rain are playing Cinema One and Two. It was to be the final weekend of movies ever at the Marbro Drive-In which would close permanently after September 9th. I wrote about it here back in December 2020.
