Sunday Showcase January 20, 1974

It's Sunday again, so it's time to dive into a random old Tennessean Sunday Showcase. It's 1974 and Jack Benny is one of the cover stars. There was to be a third "farewell" special to also air on NBC, but the comedian would die on December 26, 1974. 

When I was in 1st grade there was a mandatory time after lunch in which we had to put our heads on our desk and just chill out. It was like nap time, but we were too old by this point. My 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Susie Wilson, would play soft music during the time so after the song "Seasons In The Sun" was released on 45 in December 1973, we would be treated to it almost every school day. I liked it a lot even though the lyrics seem a bit heavy for a small child and now it is lodged in my brain forever. It was the number 1 song of the past week in Nashville on January 20, 1974. Once again, the quirkiness of the Nashville charts is shown as David Bowie's "Sorrow" from his Pin Ups album lands at number 8. It would not chart nationally, but Bowie played Nashville regularly in the early Seventies so he was very popular here. 

Local station WNGE 2 has a full page ad for the ABC Sunday Night Movie of the week which was to be For A Few Dollars More. I watched many of the ABC Sunday Night Movies over the years and never wanted to miss a James Bond one or a Clint Eastwood one. My mother would cook popcorn on the stove and it was the best popcorn ever made. 

I don't know what in the heck the King of Tara and Boy Wonder deal is, but it's definitely an interesting ad for an event at the Pub.

The Nashville Flea Market was coming up soon. Flea markets today aren't as much fun these days. I think the internet has greatly reduced the chance of wandering upon a flea market seller with true bargains.

The Exit/In was going strong with Henry Gross coming for a series of show from January 22-January 26. Then Tracey Nelson and Mother Earth would take over. WKDA FM 103.3 in the pre-KDF days would even broadcast live there. This is when the Exit/In was thought of as more of a "listening" room instead of just a club. 

Muther's Music Emporium over on Hermitage which had been opened by former disc jockey Joe Sullivan was another great place to see live music in Nashville in 1974. He also owned Sound Seventy Productions which around this time was clearing about $4,000 profit per average concert he promoted according to an article in the February 18, 1974 Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle. Bruce Springsteen would play Muther's a little over a week later on January 29, 1974. This show would be captured on a bootleg recording.

A big Sound Seventy Productions concert was coming up at Municipal Auditorium on February 2nd. Black Oak Arkansas with their frontman Jim Dandy would be rocking out on a Saturday night with some special guest stars to be announced. Those guests would The Marshall Tucker Band and The Charlie Daniels Band for a big night of Southern rock. 

The Royal Lipizzan Stallion Show was coming to Municipal on February 9 and 10. 

Last, but definitely not least is this ad for the upcoming Ike & Tina Tuner Revue which will play Municipal Auditorium on February 1st with the Spinners. 

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.