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.

It Rings A Bell

I recently found a site on Facebook that's entitled "Since I Traveled With Up With People..." where former cast members talk about how being in the cast still impacts their lives, in some serious, and sometimes, not so serious ways.

While I never traveled with a national UWP cast, I would say my almost 4 years in Sing-Out South still impacts my life today. For one thing, I still have a bad case of the grease paint. By that I mean, whenever I am around a performing group, it brings back so many memories of being in SOS. It happened to me for many years each fall when I was part of the annual Gridiron Show here in Nashville where members of the local Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) group roasted the area's politicians and other officials in songs and in skits to raise money for college scholarships.

It happened to me again yesterday when I attended my wife Betty Lee's handbell concert. She is a part of Music City Bronze, a community-wide English Handbell choir that has been performing around Nashville and Middle Tennessee for over 4 years now.

If that's not enough to remind me of what we did in Sing-Out, I was reminded even more watching them break down their equipment and load up it up in their cars (bells, tables, other items) after the show. They also had some buckets at the door if you wanted to contribute to the cause after enjoying the free concert....

When most people think of English Handbells, they think of Christmas music, and Music City Bronze conducts a number of concerts throughout the holiday season. But the group also
performs a lot of other music. As witnessed by yesterday's program that included a medley of songs from Les Miserables, The Syncopated Clock, Sabre Dance and Vision Quest.

It got me to wondering what Sing-Out/UWP music would sound great with an arrangement in English Handbells. What do you think? Up With People? Design for Dedication? We Volunteer? Gee, I'm Looking Forward to the Future? Pleae leave your suggestions below or e-mail them to me. (pat.nolan@dvl.com)

Now don't laugh. Music City Bronze did a rendition of the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations at yesterday's concert and it was very good.

By the way, if you are in the Nashville area, and you are interested, Music City Bronze's next concerts are Sunday, May 2 at 4:00 p.m. at Woodbine United Methodist Church, 2621 Nolensville Road in Nashville and Sunday, May 9 at 4:00 p.m. at St. Ignatius Catholic Community, 601 Bell Road in Antioch.

Our Outdoor TV Special

During our time as a cast (1966-1971), Sing-Out South was quite prolific in the number of times we appeared on television. That includes the photo above, taken during our one...and only... outdoor TV show....a 30-minute special taped in April of 1968.

As you can see from the photo above, the TV special was shot, literally, just off the back parking lot of the studios of WSIX-TV, Channel 8 (now WKRN-TV, Channel 2) on Murfreesboro Road. The studios and the parking lot are still there today, by the way. Don't you just love those old, clunky-looking studio TV cameras? And how about some of those cars in parking lot?

All that remains from this TV show are these photos taken by SOS cast member Alan Mayor. This was before the days of VCRs and DVRs, so no video copy remains, and I haven't been able to find anyone with a audio recording of the performance or even a copy of the script for the show.

In the photo above, taken during a break in the outdoor TV taping, Musical Director David Haile (far left) goes over some instructions with the cast. As I mentioned, Sing-Out South got a lot of practice being on TV. By my records, SOS did at least at least 8 show tapings and appearances during its 6 years together as a cast. Those appearances include:

"Spy Line" youth program, LIVE, WLAC-TV, Channel 5, February 15, 1966

"The Noon Show", LIVE, WSM-TV, Channel 4, March 7, 1966

A 30-minute TV special at Channel 4, Taped: April 9, 1966, Aired: April 16, 1966

"A Living Declaration", WSM-TV, Channel 4, Taped: May, 1966; Aired: July 3, 1966, Repeated: July 9, 1966 (an audio tape & script survives)

"The Bozo Show", WSIX-TV, Channel 8, Taped: Spring,1967, Aired: several times in serial form (individual songs) airing several times throughout the spring of 1967. (photos survive)

"A Memorial For Tomorrow", WSIX-TV, Channel 8, Taped: May, 1967, Aired: May 28, 1967 (news clips and photos survive)

SOS 30-minute Outdoor Special, WSIX-TV, Channel 8, Taped: April, 1968, Aired: later in the spring (photos survive)

Public TV 30-minute special, WDCN-TV, Channel 2, Taped: late fall early winter of 1968-69, Aired: later in the same period. (photos survive)

Looking back over 40 years later, what makes the number of TV shows that SOS produced so impressive to me is the fact we were asked to perform on every TV station broadcasting in the Nashville market(4) in those days, and in many cases to do so more than once. And remember this is in the days when there was no cable TV, no internet, no video on demand movies or other competition for over-the-air television. Being on TV was a very big deal, and I think showed how popular the SOS cast was in the Nashville/Middle Tennessee area during that period.

Of course, it also helped to have someone like Mr. Bill Jones, the father of SOS members Candy, Pam and Debbie Jones, in our corner. He held a key position at WSIX-TV and he was clearly instrumental in our doing the shows there.

The Columbia Military Academy Show

It is Friday, April 7, 1967.

The cast of Sing-Out South travels to the historic Columbia Military Academy in Columbia, TN (Maury County) to perform a late afternoon show for the cadets.

This was a very interesting time for us to do our patriotically-themed show. While many of us were too young or too busy with our own lives to be fully aware, this was an ominous period for our nation and the world.

There was rising opposition to the Vietnam War. Just a few days before our show, civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King had denounced the Vietnam conflict during a religious ceremony in New York City. Later in the month, thousands would march in protest of the war in New York and San Francisco.

Meantime, tensions were also rising in the Middle East, where by early June the Six-Day War would break out between Isreal and the Arab States.

The Columbia show also marked a reunion of sorts for Sing-Out South with guitarist Cabot Wade returning from one of the Up With People national casts to perform. He joined the other members of the Hickory Valley Trio, Eddie Lunn and Ted Overman. This had been the original trio for Sing-Out South and I think this show is the first performance they had made together since the Action Now! national Sing-Out conference in Estes Park, CO. in June, 1966. It may also have been their last performance together.

Joining the trio that day was Johnny Fullerton (far right above), who brought his skills as a trumpet player to several SOS shows that spring. It really helped fill out the sound of the show beyond just drums and a guitars.

Another mainstay of our Sing-Out show was a female singing group. This day at Columbia Military Academy that included (above from the left) Marlene Echols, Gail Goodman (slightly obscured), Debbie Jones and Karen Davis.

I have one other enduring memory from this show. Most of us came down to Columbia and went back to Nashville in a caravan of private cars. I remember I rode with Mrs. Barry, her daughter Beverly, my cousin Gene, and probably several others who I don't remember. We had plenty of room since we were riding in the Barry's big blue Chevy station wagon, but the station wagon was more than full.

What I remember is that coming back we turned left at a traffic light right in front of on-coming traffic. I didn't think much about it, until I heard a car SLAM on the brakes and saw it looming right in front of me, apparently about to hit the station wagon broadside. Fortunately, that didn't happen. But it was perhaps one of the first times I ever experienced one of those "my whole life flashed in front of me" moments. :)