Over the years, I have seen several high-profile comedians in concert. The first of these was Steve Martin. Steve came to my attention with his appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and Saturday Night Live in the mid-1970’s. I memorized his comedy routines from his first album Let’s Get Small and would share …
Category Archives: Concerts
Eddie Murphy’s Opening Act
In March of 1985, my wife and I had an opportunity to see Eddie Murphy in concert at the Orpheum Theater in Memphis. Most of the material he was performing at this show would end up in the concert film Raw. One difference in the material that I noticed had to do with discussion of …
The Michael Franks Concert
In 1985, I saw a guitarist named Stanley Jordan on the Tonight Show. I was amazed at his technique and the sounds he was able to get out of the guitar. He used a finger tapping technique similar to what you’ve seen Eddie Van Halen do up on the fretboard of the guitar. But he …
Seeing Historic Concert Performances
It’s not that often that you get to be at a noteworthy rock and roll performance. I’ve had the opportunity to see a couple of musicians in concert as they were preparing to record live albums. I saw Jimmy Buffett in Memphis on August 1, 1978. This was exactly a week before he started recording …
Seeing Cheap Trick
I got married in 1985. My wife still had to complete her senior year of college. She was studying communications at the University of Tennessee at Martin. We lived there while she was finishing up school and would occasionally participate in the school activities like the Cheap Trick/John Waite concert. I was not a big …
Seeing Hall and Oates
In fall of 1981, rock group Hall and Oates released their Private Eyes album. I was not a fan of this band. They weren’t bad, but their sound was a little too pop for my tastes at the time. Their music got a lot of play at the college parties that I attended, and we …