It was the beginning of our last semester at Vanderbilt(February 9, 1973) when the group "Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks" came to campus to perform two shows in Neely Auditorium.
I did not attend this concert and really didn't know all that much about the band until I started doing some research for this blog posting. But I am sure there are lots of folks out there reading this story who do know quite a bit about this musical group and their appearance on campus, so please leave your thoughts and memories below by clicking on the comments link.
What I learned from an little internet research (including going to the DanHicks.net website) is that Dan Hicks is a singer-songwriter who is "truly an American original." Since the early 1960s Hicks "deftly blended Swing, Jazz, Folk and County music to create the appealing sound he sometime calls "Folk Jazz."
"Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks" came together sometime in the late 1960s. Their first album "Original Recordings", released in 1969, was not a critical success. But, again, according to the information on Dan Hick's web site: "After reorganizing the band and signing with a new record label, the group produced three critically acclaimed albums" Where's the Money", "Striking It Rich", and "Last Train to Hicksville".
At that point, the group really took off in terms of popularity, even appearing on the cover of ROLLING STONE magazine. It was apparently at the height of this acclaim that the band came to Vanderbilt. And look at the prices on the concert ticket from the photo above: $3 or free with a VU ID!
Our classmates, Steve Greil and Aubrey Hornsby, always did have the right touch to bring some of the best entertainers to Vandy during our years there, and the price was right too (especially if you had your ID)!
As for "Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks", later that year in 1973, the group disbanded due to "pressures both internal and external" to the band. Wikipedia says Dan Hicks told an interviewer in 1974: "I didn't want to be a bandleader any more. It was a load and a load I didn't want."
The group did later re-unite in 1991 and recorded an hour-long performance for "The Austin City Limits" program on PBS. It aired during the 1992 TV season, and here, thanks to YouTube, is one of the featured songs from that TV concert, ""I Scare Myself":
There are other groups and entertainers who came to campus from 1969to 1973 which we will be featuring here on our class blog in the weeks ahead leading up to our 35th Class Reunion (October 24-25).
As always, I am sure the list I am working from is not complete, so your suggestions and memories of these concerts and campus appearances are also welcome. Heck, you can even leave me information about concerts you saw off-campus while you were in school here. Just leave your information below in the comments section.
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