Sunday Showcase May 4, 1975

John Wayne heads to Tower Bridge in London on the front cover of this week's Sunday Showcase from May 4, 1975. Brannigan was the movie which was playing at the Loews Crescent downtown. I've done a whole series of posts about what I believe is every movie that played the theatre after Loews took over the lease. Here's the post to the movies that played there in 1975. It was one of his last film roles.

Brannigan trailer

This week's Sunday Showcase review is brought to you by Friedman's Army Surplus Stores with two convenient locations in Nashville and one store located in Murfreesboro. I really miss these stores. I wonder if you can still buy Duck Head clothes? I guess I need to search the net and see.

There's not lots to cover this week so I'm getting right to the Top 10 Records. Number one is "Philadelphia Freedom" which is not by a solo Elton John, but is credited to the Elton John Band. The song title was a tribute to Billie Jean King's professional tennis team the Philadelphia Freedom, but not about the team according to lyricist Bernie Taupin. One of my father's favorite artists is in number 3. My dad got a real kick out of Freddy Fender. My favorites from this list would have to be Linda Rondstadt, the Carpenters, and America. 

I have many copies of the Heart Like A Wheel album on record and CD

Carpenters - Only Yesterday

the official vinyl video - ok well whatever it's Sister Golden Hair

I don't watch regular broadcast television anymore. It's probably because they don't have cool movie line-ups like WNGE2 did back in the day. They had something worth viewing from morning until late night. Now it's a wasteland of talking heads with their insufferable infotainment. I occasionally have to suffer through some of it when I had a doctor or dentist appointment as they will usually have a local station on in the waiting room. I just don't see how anyone can watch that stuff.

Two of the Top Ten Record sellers in Nashville were headed to town for concerts in May. I really love this ad from Sound Seventy Productions for upcoming shows. Nice clean newsprint with excellent ticket graphics for each artist. First the big ad and then each one separately with a video afterwards.

America was riding high in 1975. I didn't like these guys much in my younger days, but I've really come to appreciate their song craft. That's one of the best things about music is how it aways finds you in the end. "I've been hit by purple rain."

I think I've shared this song before since it's so great

It's been pretty cool to see Linda Ronstadt get so much recognition over the last year or so. She was arguably the premier female rock artist of the Seventies and I have always loved her voice. She would be coming to the New Grand Ole Opry House on May 19th. Just a few short years before it would have been the Exit/In for her, but her fame was exploding and she needed a bigger place to perform.

Live "You're No Good" January 1975

Some people who were really in the dark might have said Alice Cooper was arguably the premier female rock artist of the Seventies, but of course Alice is a dude. The name was at first just the name of the whole band before Vincent Furnier decided to take on the persona and by 1975 the band was dissolved and he had become a solo artist with the release of Welcome To My Nightmare. The stage show was compared to a Broadway production and would be coming to Municipal Auditorium on May 25, 1975. I'm a bigger fan of the original band days, but I do enjoy most of Alice Cooper's work and with Steve Hunter and Dick Wagner on guitar for this tour you know it rocked. It would have been super cool to see this show especially with Suzi Quatro opening. She's in my rock and roll hall of fame.

Glycerine Queen live Japan 1975

From the 1976 Welcome To My Nightmare film

John Prine would be playing the War Memorial Auditorium on May 30th. I wish John was still around to be playing today, but we lost him on April 7th to the coronavirus. 2020 has been such a bust so far that there are moments that this journey back into time is quite comforting. Prine was an interesting artist. He never broke through into the stardom of a Willie Nelson or Kris Kristofferson, but like those guys his appeal broke through with everyone that heard him. I know metal music fans, punk fans, and lots of commercial country music fans who would all get along famously if you bring up John Prine's name. Godspeed good sir.

Souvenirs - this is the studio version

The Eagles would be coming in June to Municipal Auditorium and the Charlie Daniels Band would be playing May 13th at Columbia State Community College.

I must admit much of interest in movies has to do with their newspaper ads. Drive-in movies generally had to make do with much less newsprint in the Seventies so much of the appeal is with just the fonts of their often scandalous titles. Here's what was playing this week at 4 drive-in's and the Colonial Twin in Hendersonville which I suspect was much like the Martin Twin in Murfreesboro.

Next week I'm heading to the 80's with television Nazi's being chased by Pac Man. Or something like that. 

Sunday Showcase October 21, 1979 All Kinds Of Things To Do In The Past

I've done a Top Ten songs from September of 1979 so that's not going to be the focus this week as I dive into another Sunday Showcase. This time we're thumbing through the October 21, 1979 issue. If you were looking for something to do over the next few weeks back then there was concerts galore to choose from. That very Sunday night you could make the drive to Cookeville, Tennessee and catch Peter Frampton in concert at the Hooper Eblen Center. $7.50 back then is the equivalent of $26.52 in 2019. Frampton was on the downswing, but I bet he put on a great show for the Tennessee Tech Homecoming.

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.