Our Favorite Venue

Sing-Out South did hundreds of shows all over Nashville,Middle Tennessee and Southern Kentucky between 1966-1971, but from the records I have, we did more shows at the War Memorial Auditorium downtown next to the State Capitol than anywhere else.

This week (April 30-May 1) marks the 44th anniversary of our first shows there. These were our first public performances following our premiere shows at Hillsboro High School in late March.

To get ready, we held several practices at the War Memorial where the shows drew capacity audiences and several standing ovations from the crowd on both days.....

The photo above seemed to have been taken during one of our practices at the War Memorial. If you click to enlarge the photo, you will see how dressed up we were. Maybe it was some kind of dress rehearsal although none of the women are wearing their A-line jumper uniforms (and given how unpopular they were with most of the women in the cast maybe they liked that :)

If you look closely as well at the front row of the audience you'll see me there on the right hand side. I was still part of the stage crew and sold PACE Magazine in those days, so I wasn't on stage.

For these particular shows, I was part of the light crew in the wings just off stage. But the problem was there wasn't much back stage area, which created a real problem getting everyone on stage quickly and carefully at the beginning of the show, as well as getting folks off stage when we went to a blackout.

The late Ralph Martin (center) and Mark Griffith (right) among others practice PAUL REVERE on the stage of the War Memorial Auditorium.

The 1966 shows were far from our last performances at the War Memorial.

November 2, 1966....After hosting a regional meeting of Sing-Outs from across Tennessee at West End High School, we join Cast C of Up With People for a joint show at the War Memorial.

November 24-25, 1967...To close another regional Sing-Out conference, we hold a joint show featuring over 350 young people from Sing-Outs across Tennessee, as well as North & South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas and Virginia.

April 28, 1968...I have a note in our files that we performed this show. But I have no particular memory of it. If you do, please leave your thoughts below or e-mail them to me (pat.nolan@dvl.com)

April 8,9,10, 1971...Among the last shows ever performed by Sing-Out South were these three in the spring of 1971. While I was no longer in the cast, I attended one of the shows and kept a program. It is interesting to note that comparing the run of shows from the first shows at the War Memorial in 1966 to the ones in 1971, there were only 3 songs in common....DO YOU REALLY CARE?, WHAT COLOR IS GOD'S SKIN and, of course, UP WITH PEOPLE.

Not all the shows we did at the War Memorial were done in the auditorium inside. Above is a photo taken by Alan Mayor during an outdoor performance on the steps of the building in the late '60s or early '70s. Note the street and the cars in front (The Legislative Plaza was still a few years away). Also note the National Life Tower (now the Tennessee Tower) was under construction).

Sing-Out South did several performances on the steps of the War Memorial, including twice when the cast was leaving to go to national Sing-Out and Up With People conferences...

June, 1966: The Hickory Valley Trio (Eddie Lunn, Cabot Wade & Ted Overman perform as Sing-Out South prepares to leave for the Action Now! Conference in Estes Park, CO. Mike Rourke & Pam Jones are also in this photo.

August, 1967: The cast of Sing-Out South prepares to leave for the World Sing-Out Festival being held at Ft. Slocum on David's Island just outside New Rochelle, NY.

A lot of years have passed since Sing-Out South performed or practiced here at the War Memorial Auditorium, or since we left from its front steps for great experiences at the conferences in Colorado and New York. But since I work downtown and pass by the War Memorial every day coming to and from work, the memories of the special times we had and shows we performed here are never very far from my mind.