Our Concerts 1969-1973 Volume V

Our Steven Greil and Gordon Lightfoot backstage at his Vandy concert

One of my favorite concerts during the years I was at Vanderbilt was Gordon Lightfoot's performance at Memorial Gym. I can't remember exactly when it was (can you?), but I think he came to campus during the second semester of our junior year.

I have always loved his music and his songs. Remembering back, here's one of my favorites, and one of his biggest commercial hits: "If You Could Read My Mind", from what looks to be a recent TV appearance celebrating "Canada Day" in his native land......



Gordon Lightfoot is a true folk singer, and many of his songs tell stories based on actual events, such as another favorite of mine: "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald"....



If you have any memories or thoughts you'd like to share concerning the Gordon Lightfoot concert while we were at Vandy, or any of the concerts you saw, on or off-campus, while you were in school, please feel free to click on the comments link below and leave them with us.

Reunion is less than a week away!

It Won't Happen Next Weekend!

Ever had a late night round of studying and cramming for exams wind up like this? Oh sure, the beer didn't help (although you thought it might at the time). But then despite all your efforts, and those cliff notes you bought at the Bookstore, the test wound up like this....


Well, despite all those recurring nightmares since you left school 35 years ago, don't worry about any of that Reunion weekend, just good food, old friends and great times. And no tests. To make it even easier, we'll make everyone wear their name tags :)

Motown Loses Another Legend

One week from today (Friday) as a part of our 35th Reunion activities at Vanderbilt, Vice Chancellor David Williams will be presenting his "History of Motown" to what is expected to be an overflow crowd in the Board of Trust Room at the Student Life Center on 25th Avenue South, right across from Memorial Gym (from 4:00 to 5:30PM).

Unfortunately, just days before we all come together, Motown has lost another of its recording legends.Levi Stubbs, the lead singer of the Four Tops, has passed away at the age of 72, according to a report by CNN.

Stubbs, described as possessing "one of the most dynamic and emotive voices of all the Motown" stars had been ill in recent days and died in his sleep at the Detriot home which he shared with his wife. Audrey Smith, the chief operating officer of the Motown Historical Museum told CNN that Stubbs "fits right up there with all the icons of Motown. His voice was as unique as Marvin's on as Smokey's or as Stevie's."

In his memory, let's take a moment to watch and listen once again to Levi Stubbs and the Four Tops perform one of their greatest hits during a concert in Miami back in 2007. The song is "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" and the fans know all the words...



The Four Tops reportedly performed for more than four decades without a single change in personnel. However, time has taken its toll in recent years. According to CNN, Stubbs'death leaves just one surviving member of the orginal group: Abdul "Duke" Fakir. Here they are performing another one of the Four Tops great hits of the 1960s, "Baby, I Need Your Loving"....



And there's more, how a look back at Motown and the city of Detroit while listening to "Reach Out, I'll Be There"..



The Four Tops sold millions of records over the years and left their fans with an unforgettable string of recordings. If you have any memories to share about Levi Stubbs, The Four Tops or Motown, please feel free to leave by clicking on the comments link below.

Dr. Earl Sutherland

Vanderbilt Nobel Laurette Dr. Earl Sutherland

Thirty-seven years ago this week (October 14, 1971), the Vanderbilt campus was abuzz about an unprecedented event.

For the first time in the nearly 100-year history of the University, a member of the faculty had been honored with a Nobel Prize.

Dr. Earl Sutherland had come to Vanderbilt in 1963 as a researcher and professor of Physiology at the School of Medicine.

He was honored with the 1971 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery and research of what became known as "cyclic AMP", a substance found in every human cell that is vital to the way hormones work.

Here's the way the story was covered on NBC Nightly News with John Chancellor....



Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, within two years after receiving this highest honor, Dr. Sutherland left the University to become a distinguished professor of biochemistry at the University of Miami (FL) Medical School.

It was there that Dr. Sutherland died on March 9, 1974.

Since that time, Vanderbilt has been honored with one other faculty member becoming a Nobel Laurette in Medicine. Dr. Stanley Cohen, a biochemist, came to the University in 1959 from Washington University in St. Louis, where he and a colleague had extensively researched cell-growth factors in animals. By the time Dr. Cohen and his colleague received their Nobel recognition in 1986, their work had led to better treatment for burn victims and cancer patients.

SOURCE: Bill Carey's book: CHANCELLORS, COMMODORES & COEDS

Our Concerts 1969-1973, Volume V

One of my favorite concerts while I was at Vanderbilt was when Sha-Na-Na came to Nashville to perform at Memorial Gym. I can't remember exactly when it happened, but I know it was either the late winter or early spring of our junior or senior years. If your memory is more clear that mine, please post your thoughts and memories of the concert below.

What I do remember about that night is what fun it was to watch this group perform their vintage rock and roll live and in person. Here's how they put on a show when they later performed on "The Flip Wilson Show" on network TV....



Looking back,it seems to me we did pretty well in attracting concerts to campus, and in many ways we can thank our two classmates, Steve Greil and Aubrey Hornsby. Here they looked during their salad days at Vanderbilt...



Of course, their greatest feat was attracting The Grateful Dead to come to Nashville and perform on the Vanderbilt campus in the fall of 1972. The anniversary of that concert is October 21. So next week, just prior to our 35th Reunion Weekend, we will be looking back and celebrating that occasion with special blog postings several times that day.

Your thoughts and memories of any of our Vanderbilt concerts, or for that matter, any of the concerts you enjoyed on or off campus while you attended Vanderbilt, are always welcome. Just click on the comments link below.

And Now, Another Word From Our Sponsors

It's been a while since we've traveled back to TV Land.

So here,courtesy of the Vanderbilt News Archives, is another look at it was like to watch the commercials on the evening network newscasts back when we were on campus.

In this case, from the ABC Evening News on February 9, 1973, here are a couple of ads that should have warned us about the aches and pains of the future, and about what many of us would be driving in the future...a foreign car.

newscasts

Or how about these ads from NBC Nightly News from July 28, 1969? Notice the ad for a well known pain relief product and its use of black actresses, something still very uncommon in those days. And note the laundry product being advertised, something you never see anymore on the TV newscasts these days.

So while you were at Vanderbilt, what TV shows did you watch? Did you have your own TV in your room (lucky you) or did you watch the tube with others on your floor or suite? Please share your memories by clicking on the comments link below.

It's Just What We Always Wanted In College

Most of us never had much money in our pockets while we were in school, so this is what we always wanted while we were at Vanderbilt!

Free food and drink, with lots of good friends to share it!

And that's exactly what's available to all of us during Reunion Weekend on Saturday morning, October 25.

Prior to the Vanderbilt-Duke football game that afternoon (2:00 PM), all members of the Class of 1973 are invited to drop by the home of our classmates (and Vanderbilt sweethearts), Wendy and Buzz Martin, who are hosting a Reunion brunch for us.


Buzz and Wendy Williamson Martin, in their earlier days together on the Vanderbilt campus


If you plan to attend (and we sure hope you do) please RSVP to Wendy Martin at (615) 298-1595 or to wendmail@comcast.net. Again, there is no charge to attend this brunch.

Our thanks to the Martins, and our other hosts for this event: our classmates Sarah Buchanan, Margie Dale, Kacky Fell, Mary Louise Linn, Paula Lovell and Beth O'Shea.

As for directions, get off I-440 and head out Hillsboro Road. When you come to the intersection of Hillsboro and Golf Club Lane, turn right and look for 2310.

Come hungry and ready to party, as we prepare to root for the Commodores to beat the Blue Devils, and lock up at least our bowl eligibility and our first non-losing season since 1982.

If that's not reason enough to party (along with being together again with so many members of our Vanderbilt class), I don't know what it is!

Now I just hope posting that old picture of Wendy and Buzz doesn't get me in trouble...:)