Sunday Showcase Review October 6, 1963

I'm going way back for this Sunday Showcase review, 57 years back to 1963. I wasn't born yet. The Beatles were months away from hitting it big in America. President John F. Kennedy was still alive and well. The world was a much different place. The folk music boom of the late Fifties was cooling down, but was still very popular. The Kingston Trio were coming to play Municipal Auditorium soon.

This is the second version of The Kingston Trio with John Stewart having replaced Dave Guard in the group. 

Greenback Dollar which came out later in 1963

This portion of the Sunday Showcase review is brought to you by Buckley's Discount Record Shop which was located at 1707 Church Street. Buckley's Record Shop has an interesting history which The Emperor of Grooves has detailed. I would end up spending many hours at 1707 Church Street when the location was Lucy's Record Shop.

If you read the Emperor of Grooves story you would learn that Harvey's Record Department was actually also a Buckley's run part of the retail colossus that was Harvey's. The ad smartly promotes Kingston Trio records. The legendary Ray Charles was coming to town on October 22 and you could pick up your tickets at Kelly Drug Co. which seems strange to me. Ray Charles has been a favorite since I was a small child.

Ray Charles live in Brazil 1963

Another piano player was coming to Nashville before Ray Charles. Roger Williams would be at War Memorial Auditorium on October 16. 

Roger Williams "Exodus" 1963

We end this short, but sensational, review with Nashville's Top 10 records. Some would have you believe that popular music in the US was a wasteland before The Beatles, but this is revisionist history that is simply not correct. Just dig this amazing Top 10. It is full of great songs. Let's spotlight a few of these songs.  The doo-wop "I Can't Stay Mad At You" written by Goffin and King performed by Skeeter Davis is wonderful. You are automatically on your way to an awesome time if you're listening to the Curtis Mayfield penned "Monkey Time" by Major Lance. Artist Andy Warhol was said to have been obsessed by "Sally Go Round The Roses" by The Jaynetts. Garnett Mimms & The Enchanters "Cry Baby" is a wailer of a tune. Number 1 is Bobby Vinton's "Blue Velvet." The song had been a Top 20 hit for Tony Bennett in 1951. Vinton's version would later gain fame when it was featured in David Lynch's Blue Velvet film. 

I Can't Stay Mad At You

The Monkey Time

Sally Go Round The Roses

Cry Baby

Blue Velvet

Sunday Showcase Review September 23, 1984

It's time for another look back at a Sunday Showcase and this one is from September 23, 1984. The Tennessee State Fair's last day was on and you could ride everything as often as you like for $5 between 12 noon and 6 PM. This turned out to be a music heavy....well almost all upcoming concerts and Top Ten related so I hope you don't mind.

Elton John would be coming to MTSU's Murphy Center on October 7. His popularity had waned since his Seventies heyday, but he was still a major superstar as his concert at Wembley on June 30, 1984 shows.

Elton John live at Wembley 1984

The MTSU Special Events Committee was busy in 1984 as they also have the Oak Ridge Boys and Rod Stewart lined up to appear in concert. 

Oak Ridge Boys on The Tonight Show 1984

Rod Stewart live in San Diego 1984

I was pumped up for Twisted Sister's October 13th appearance at Municipal Auditorium. I rode up to it with some Riverdale friends and had a great time with Dokken and Y & T opening the show.

Dokken on American Bandstand 1984

Y & T live at the Rock Palace 1984

Twisted Sister live 1984

The always fantastic Ray Charles was coming to play Andrew Jackson Hall at TPAC.

Ray Charles live 1984

Jefferson Starship without Paul Kantner or Marty Balin doesn't seem right and the band would mutate into just Starship by 1985. 

Jefferson Starship live 1984

I had really hoped I could find some footage of Riverside Raceway Park on the web, but I came up empty. There is a Facebook page devoted to the track. I had an uncle who used to drag GTO's there in the early Seventies. If my memory hasn't completely failed I remember it was visible from I-40 because I recall being excited to see it when we would drive past on our annual trip to Memphis and Mississippi. 

It was your last chance in 1984 to enjoy the State Fair. It's a shame there wasn't one this year.

Fair Park

The Top Ten is loaded with memorable hits. Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do It" was a massive hit and I think everybody in Tennessee took pride in her success since she was born in Brownsville and grew up in Nutbush. Prince has 2 places in the countdown as the Purple Rain movie and album was one of the biggest rock and roll stories of the year. Finally, it still amazes me that Cyndi Lauper's "She Bop" was such a huge hit with it's self love topic that was so funnily captured in the video.

The little stutter step always gets me

Cartoon Cyndi points to Self Service....get it?

Prince reigned

In 1984

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.