It's once again time for a Film Flashback to see what was playing at the movies in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and the date this time is: October 30, 1979. Lee Marvin and Robert Shaw (in his last performance) star in the movie Avalanche Express about a Russian spy who has decided to defect. The beautiful Linda Evans is also in the film. The trailer is odd as it almost only features still images.
Avalanche Express trailer
The Amazing Maurice would be appearing at Big K at 5:30 PM so you can catch his show and still have plenty of time to see a movie on this night.
October 30, 1979 was a Tuesday night so you could see movies at the Martin Twin for just $1.50. Dracula and Skatetown, U.S.A. were what was playing on this evening. Saturday Night Fever director John Badham helmed Dracula which starred Frank Langella, Donald Pleasance, Laurence Olivier, and Kate Nelligan. The romantic horror tale was a modest hit.
Scott Baio and Patrick Swayze are two of the many stars in Skatetown U.S.A. which was billed as "The Rock and Roller Disco Movie of the Year!" Maureen McCormick is in it which makes it a winner in my book as anything with a Brady kid is awesome. Billy Barty is in it too and he is another one of my favorite actors from the Seventies. The movie was an attempt to cash in on the roller skating disco fad, but by the time the movie came out times had changed and the interest in the film was minimal. I think it's a fun movie and a really great time capsule of that era.
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.
