The fall of 1980. I was in 8th grade at Thurman Francis Junior High School in Smyrna. The actors strike had delayed the start of the new television season until November. And if my father decided to buy a Sunday Tennessean I would have immediately gone to the Sunday Showcase section since this was my favorite part of the paper along with the Sunday Comics and sports sections. Let's see what was in the November 16, 1980 Sunday Showcase.
Kenny Rogers was becoming a superstar in 1980. The Mandrell sisters got a variety show on NBC. The disco movement had peaked and was no longer the pop culture force it had been, but ABC was bringing Saturday Night Fever to the small screen. It was still a big deal to see a major motion picture on a television network as cable television was still being rolled out. I had been lucky to have cable the last couple of years and was happy that when we moved to Smyrna in April of 1980 we continued to get it.
This week's Sunday Showcase review is brought to you by Polaroid which you can purchase at your local Big K. This ad came from a photography supplement to The Tennessean.
It's also brought to you by your local Port O'Call records and tapes store. I would buy all of my 45's from the one located at The Mall in Murfreesboro. It's also where I would later buy some amazing New Wave pink sunglasses which I later lost and still miss, Van Halen's 5150 album the moment it was released, and the Violent Femmes debut album plus so many other awesome records.
Rock 106 was in its last full year of broadcasting before becoming an easy listening station and they were helping promote some rock shows. There was the Alvin Lee Band and Savoy Brown coming November 28, 1980. This show would be at the Tennessee Theater.
The Allman Brothers Band and the Atlanta Rhythm Section were playing a larger capacity location. How many enjoyed the Southern rock on November 21, 1980 at Municipal Auditorium?
Allman Brothers live at Capitol Theatre 1980
The show I would have wanted to go to was the Stevie Wonder concert at T.S.U.'s Howard Gentry Convocation Center. Gil Scott-Heron was the opening act.
Stevie Wonder "Master Blaster" live
The new television season was beginning after being delayed and there's a big CBS ad for its Sunday night lineup. I would have probably watched One Day At A Time, Alice, and probably The Jeffersons too. I never cared much for the character of Archie Bunker.
Dallas was the hottest show on television with everyone waiting to find out who show J.R. Ewing. Larry Hagman gets interviewed by Channel 5's Ruth Ann Leach during this week.
Dallas season 4 intro
It's sometimes hard to note when a television series has peaked and is going downhill, but Laverne & Shirley moving to California was definitely a clear signal that the series was not what it was. They probably jumped the shark before this season premiere, but if you had any doubts at all this answered them.
Laverne & Shirley season 6 intro
Kenny Rogers not only had a television special airing, he also had the number one song in Nashville with the Lionel Richie written and produced tune "Lady." The Top Ten has several tunes I've shared before, but I'm going to share the ones I like again. Queen's "Another Bites The Dust" was my favorite from this Top Ten.
I want the world to know
I had to do some breakin' through
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet
Alice went to wonderland, but I stayed home instead
November is here already. I don't know about you, but this crazy year has somehow managed to fly right by while feeling like it's lasted a million years. Let's forget about 2020 for a few minutes and look through the November 6, 1983 Sunday Showcase.
Ballet Nacional Español was coming to the Tennessee Performing Arts Center on November 20.
Sesame Street Live opens on November 9, 1983 and it will be in town through Sunday. I never really had the desire to see these sorts of shows, even when I was a small child, as full sized costumed Ernie & Bert characters creeped me out. I'm sure lots of youngsters enjoyed these events and I assume once the pandemic ends these sorts of shows still go on.
Sesame Street Live video from later in December 1983
They knock 2 years off Prince's age in this article for some reason (he was 25), but it's still amazing to me at how incredible a musical and soon to be movie star the man was at such a young age.
There's a nice big ad for the return of Sean Connery as James Bond in Never Say Never Again. It was announced that Sean Connery passed away just as I was finishing this blog post so I'll add a few quick thoughts on this great actor. He was James Bond to me as he was to everyone. Roger Moore did a fine job in the role and I've heard nice things about Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig (yes, I've not seen any Bond films since Roger Moore was Bond), but Connery was the original and best. I have fond memories of my dear departed mother letting me stay up late on Sunday nights to watch James Bond movies when they aired and my favorite was Goldfinger. Outland wasn't a huge hit, but I was really into science fiction when I was young so I really enjoyed him in that one. Years later I would finally see Zardoz which is mesmerizingly weird with Connery at his best. Darby O'Gill and the Little People was a fun Connery movie. I saw The Untouchables multiple times primarily because of Sean Connery. I could go on and on listing his films, but IMDB has all of that information. Treat yourself to one of his films today or soon and celebrate his life.
"Let's Go Crazy" from the 1983 benefit mentioned in the article above
Never Say Never Again
Goldfinger
The Untouchables
Outland
Sean Connery singing in Darby O'Gill
Zardoz
Music store ads are one of my favorite things to look at. The Rivergate Mall Camelot Music is the only record store that ever carded me after the PMRC music labelling thing started in the mid-80's. They asked for my ID when I purchase Anthrax's Among The Living and Schoolly D's Saturday Night! - The Album.
Camelot Music was selling video games and so was Kmart. The bottom had dropped out of the home video game industry and game prices were plummeting.
Joan Jett was one of many rock stars photos I would tape to the walls of the trailer we were living in at the time. She was appearing at Cat's to help plug her latest record titled Album (which I had on tape) before taking the stage later in the evening opening for Loverboy. I bet she blew them off the stage.
"Fake Friends"
What happens when a couple of arena bands have lost some of their popularity? Sales on your records are declining and the hits aren't as big as before. You join forces on a co-headlining tour and keep playing the arenas. This doesn't mean either band isn't putting out good material, it's just the nature of business. You go up and you go down. I liked both Kansas and Heart and I bet this was a good pairing to see.
Kansas - "Hold On" from the Nashville show 1983
Heart live on ABC In Concert 1983
Cajun's Wharf was featuring more than jumbo gulf shrimp and tasty barbecue beef ribs. They were serving up some excellent rockabilly with Billy Lee Riley and Ronnie "The Hawk" Hawkins all week.
Billy Lee Riley - "Flying Saucers Rock & Roll"
Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks with Levon Helm
Rick Springfield was coming to play Municipal Auditorium on December 8, 1983 on his Living In Oz tour. I was always a big fan of Rick and still am. He picked great material to cover and wrote some classic rock songs of his own. It was good to see him get his props in the Sound City documentary.
Rick Springfield live in 1982
Local bands were going strong along with touring artists at Cantrell's. I'm guessing Dark Star was a jam band that perhaps played Grateful Dead tunes. I doubt it was the British metal band. One of my favorite Nashville bands, Shadow 15, was playing on Wednesday. Blues guitar slinger Gatemouth Brown was playing on Friday. I wonder if Roy Clark came out and played with him? The New Wave fusion jazz of The Nerve would be featured on Saturday night.
Shadow 15 - The Last Forever
I had some friends (Bruno and Chris) that got to see the B-52's at Memorial Gym on November 12, 1983. They came to school in their B-52's concert tees on the next Monday. They loved the show and had good things to say about Translator too. If you were around back then I hope you got to see the concert.
Translator "Unalone" live in Rhode Island November 3, 1983
B-52's "Dance This Mess Around" live May 1983
B-52's "Song For A Future Generation" live 1983
Once upon a time KX104 was a fun Top Forty radio station. I hope the winners below got lots of use of their prizes.
It's common knowledge that cinema peaked with Kenny Rogers starring in Six Pack. Cinemax was having a Kenny Rogers weekend so Six Pack was definitely included. I love this movie and I'm always happy to post the trailer from it.
go Brewster Baker!
Kenny Rogers was not only a movie star, he had the number 1 song in the Nashville Top Ten this week with his duet with Dolly Parton. Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" had been number 1 and was going into its 9th week in the Top Ten. My favorites would have been Prince, The Fixx, and the Police.
Kenny and Dolly rely on each other
turn around bright eyes
you've got a blank face which irritates
stupid look on my face
it's the same old thing as yesterday
Bonus content from the previous week's Sunday Showcase
Oingo Boing plays Exit/In November 2, 1983. That would have been a fun show.
Oingo Boing live at the US Festival 1983
If you couldn't go see Oingo Boingo you could watch the PBS special on The Chemical People.
There was an ad for this upcoming event in the October 30, 1983 Sunday Showcase and it looked like Expo '83 was going to be a huge event. I wondered why I had never heard of it before and why there wasn't an ad in the November 6, 1983 Sunday Showcase. I looked ahead to the next week and the ad was back along with more information. It seems this event was a multi-media event with a mixture of live acts and performers beamed in from elsewhere. So Dean Martin and Jason and the Scorchers didn't share a stage like I had hoped. If you happened to attend this event let me know how it was in the comments. Until next week, I'm done.
The Sunday Showcase from August 15, 1982 has a bunch of musical heavyweights on it's cover. Boots Randolph, Paul Williams, James Taylor, and The Police were all happening on this week.
Paul Williams as Rooster
Yakety Sax!
James Taylor was playing on this very night at Municipal Auditorium with Karla Bonoff opening the show. SM95 was the FM band of WSM and it played soft rock marketed to 20 and 30 something's.
James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt live June 1982
Olivia Newton-John was coming to Murfreesboro with a September 12, 1982 date at Murphy Center. She was riding high with "Physical" having topped the charts for 10 weeks in 1981.
Olivia live in 1982 "Xanadu"
A Back To School Blowout was coming to Municipal Auditorium with the Gap Band along with Goodie, Soul Sonic Force (I'm assuming this is Afrika Bambaattaa and Soulsonic Force), and the very awesome Zapp / Roger. That would have been a fun night.
Planet Rock
Zapp (this came out in 1983, but I love this video and share it often)
the Solid Gold dancers dropped a bomb on me
The Police with The English Beat opening was coming to Municipal on August 17th that week. I would have loved to have been there for that one. I had been a Police fan since seeing their video for "Walking On The Moon" on Nickelodeon's PopClips show. They had truly arrived as rock superstars, but would soon blow up even bigger before imploding.
The English Beat live at the US Festival 1982
Bringing on the night at Gateshead 1982
Cantrell's was going strong in 1982.
E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial joined the $100 million earning club that summer. Porky's did it too!
Greer Stadium.....I spent many hours having fun there over the years, but I missed out on Annie night. The Sounds finished first in the western division of the Southern League that year and won the playoffs too for a championship season. I'd like to think that little Aileen Quinn's visit inspired them to reach such heights.
The late great Kenny Rogers was the star of Six Pack in his first major motion picture which was doing pretty good at local theaters.
Kenny was a national treasure
The Top Ten is full of great tunes with John Cougar holding down 2 spots with "Hurts So Good" at number 2 and "Jack And Diane" at the 8 spot with a bullet. The American Fool album would do so well it would give John Mellencamp the clout to reclaim his family name with his next album release. There was a time when he was probably my favorite solo performer. It's a very rock pop chart with only the super funky Dazz Band's "Let It Whip" providing any sort of dance beat. There's lot of chewy goodness in this list so I'm posting many videos this time. I'll be back next week with another one of these reviews. Hope you can make it.
Whip it baby!
a little ditty
just listen to that Porcaro drum shuffle
Yacht Rock 4 tells how "Rosanna" came about NSFW comedy y'all
The Sunday Showcase review this week is of December 12, 1976. Christmas was coming fast and The Nutcracker graces the cover along with the ever delightful Peter Sellers. You would be having a Merry Christmas if you managed to get a video game from Santa Claus or how about a television with the video game built in. I played one of these built in Magnavox Odyssey systems decades later even.
Perhaps you were really cool and underground and your better half had some gift wrapped tickets for the Lou Reed show that was going to happen at the War Memorial Auditorium on December 29. It was going to be his First Nashville Appearance!
BUT NO. It wasn't meant to be. The Lou Reed show would be cancelled. What a bummer. This notice was in the paper a few days before the show. I don't know how many shows Lou ever played in Nashville, but he definitely played the Ryman on May 2, 2008.
Nashville would get no Kicks from Lou in 1976, but other cities did. Enjoy this little taste.
There's some heavyweight musical talent over at a club called Mississippi Whiskers located at 1712 Church Street.
Exit/In had a future hip hop legend and a future chicken restauranteur this week. Tennessean Alexander Harvey's version of "Tulsa Turnaround" has been sampled by several hip-hop artists. He was mostly known as a songwriter. I'm sure you've heard of "Delta Dawn" and "Reuben James." The future chicken king Kenny Rogers had recorded "Reuben James" back when he was with The First Edition along with "Tulsa Turnaround" which he would record yet again as a solo artist in a few years. He was already a music star, but within a year he would become a music superstar before branching out into movies and later into cofounding Kenny Rogers Roasters with the former governor of Kentucky and ex KFC CEO John Y. Brown. Note that comedian Jim Varney opened for both performers. Jim would later gain fame as Ernest P. Worrell.
Anybody in Nashville ever dance the night away at the Runway 22 club located in the Holiday Inn on Murfreesboro Road? I would guess it's by the airport judging by the fantastic ad. Good boogie sounds with a Latin Flavor.....hmmmm I bet the group Casablanca was going for a K.C. and the Sunshine Band vibe.
There's a few dance tunes in the Top 10 Records in Nashville this week. It's a very solid bunch of songs. My faves as a kid would be "More Than A Feeling", "Muskrat Love", "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing", "Hot Line", and most of all "Beth" by Kiss. I became a Kiss fanatic after their appearance on the Paul Lynde Halloween Special that fall. I got Destroyer for my birthday in November that year.
The Greatest New Year's Eve Blast Ever was coming to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds Agricultural Building. If you were into disco this was the place to be.
The biggest musical event in the near future was the Volunteer Jam coming up on January 6, 1977. It's billed as the concert event of the year with tickets going on sale on December 18th. It will definitely sell out. It was the 3rd annual charity concert with special unannounced guests joining the Charlie Daniels Band for a marathon night full of music. So we'll close this post out with trio of tracks from Charlie. I have always loved his music.
