George Harrison's 1974 Tour Revisited

The Beatles gave up touring forever on this date in 1966.  The first bandmember to launch a large-scale tour (notwithstanding Paul's jaunts through small European venues in 1972-73) was George, whose 1974 tour has wrongly been called a disaster.  It was his first U.S. tour, and his only one aside from a 12-date run through Japan (backed by Eric Clapton's band) in 1991.
Rolling Stone magazine, which seems to revel in contradicting itself every 10 minutes, published a scathing account of the tour back then.  It claimed, among other things, that audiences were bored by Ravi Shankar's lengthy sets.  The review in-turn annoyed George, which may have inspired him to make long speeches about his spirituality, which really DID bore the audience.  Audio evidence, though, somewhat contradicts this, but it does confirm that George's voice was suffering from the strain.  Not horrible, just different.  Most of the stress was likely due to damning press coverage: years later, George wrote that he came home and couldn't even walk inside after the tour; he first needed to sit in his garden and just decompress for a while.
George was at least invited to the White House during the tour, and he got some smoking live tapes out of the deal, which have only been officially released on a pair of rare EPs that were included with his book "I Me Mine."  (One example is this take on "For You Blue").
Below is a concert from mid-way through the tour, in Chicago on November 30.  And here's a concert poster for the only canceled date, at the then-new Richfield Coliseum near Cleveland.  George would have been one of, if not THE, first rock shows there, which was then the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers.  It had just opened October 26, 1974, with a concert by Frank Sinatra.

Chicago 11/30/74:

Here's the full tour itinerary:
2-Nov-74: Vancouver, Pacific Coliseum
4-Nov-74: Seattle, Seattle Center Coliseum
6-Nov-74: San Francisco, Cow Palace
7-Nov-74: San Francisco, Cow Palace
8-Nov-74: Oakland, California, Oakland Coliseum [2 shows]
10-Nov-74: Long Beach, California, Long Beach Arena
11-Nov-74: Los Angeles, The Forum
12-Nov-74: Los Angeles, The Forum [2 shows]
14-Nov-74: Tucson, Arizona, Tucson Community Center
16-Nov-74: Salt Lake City, Salt Palace
18-Nov-74: Denver, Denver Coliseum [2 shows]
20-Nov-74: St Louis, The Arena
21-Nov-74: Tulsa, Oklahoma, Tulsa Assembly Center
22-Nov-74: Fort Worth, Texas, Tarrant County Convention Center [2 shows]
24-Nov-74: Houston, Hofheinz Pavilion
26-Nov-74: Baton Rouge, Louisiana, LSU Assembly Center
27-Nov-74: Memphis, Tennessee, Mid-South Coliseum
28-Nov-74: Atlanta, The Omni [2 shows]
30-Nov-74: Chicago, Chicago Stadium [2 shows]
2-Dec-74: Richfield, Ohio Coliseum [canceled due to weather]
4-Dec-74: Detroit, Olympia Stadium [2 shows]
6-Dec-74: Toronto, Maple Leaf Gardens [2 shows]
8-Dec-74: Montreal, Quebec, Montreal Forum [2 shows]
10-Dec-74: Boston, Boston Garden [2 shows]
11-Dec-74: Providence, Rhode Island, Providence Civic Center
13-Dec-74: Landover, Maryland, Capital Centre [2 shows]
15-Dec-74: Uniondale, Long Island, Nassau Coliseum [2 shows]
16-Dec-74: Philadelphia, The Spectrum
17-Dec-74: Philadelphia, The Spectrum [2 shows]
19-Dec-74: New York City, Madison Square Garden
20-Dec-74: New York City, Madison Square Garden [2 shows]


George's band for the tour is listed as:
George Harrison – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
Tom Scott – saxophones, flute
Billy Preston – vocals, organ, clavinet, synthesizer, backing vocals
Robben Ford – electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
Jim Horn – saxophones, flute
Chuck Findley – trumpet, flute
Emil Richards – marimba, percussion
Willie Weeks – bass
Andy Newmark – drums
Jim Keltner – drums (from 27 November)
Kumar Shankar – percussion, backing vocals

Don Rickles On The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour

Here's a 10-minute sketch on the story of Pocahontas featuring the Smothers Brothers, Don Rickles -- breaking things up -- Pat Paulsen, and Patty Duke.  Classic -- aired January 14, 1968.  Reminds me of this sketch from when Rickles hosted SNL, 16 years and two weeks later (January 28, 1984).



This episode of the Smothers Brothers show also featured The Association.

Ridiculous game show moments

Here's 15 minutes of ridiculous game show moments... usually people with awful answers:

Sesame Street and The Beastie Boys

Another Sesame Street mash-up... this time for the Beastie Boys "Sabotage":

RIP Dover Lake water park (Ohio)

School is back in session for much of Northeast Ohio, which reminds me... we got HOSED (hahahaha) in the first decade of this century when TWO great amusement parks -- Dover Lake and Geauga Lake -- were stripped from "The Land."

Dover Lake was the smaller, and was a nice water park and picnic area that drew lots of people to what, in winter, was a skiing area.  I believe I only ever got to go there for company picnics, and this promotional video seems tailored to selling companies on choosing to have their events at Dover Lake.

I'm going to guess it's from around 1999?  A few tell-tale signs...

1:14-wired phone
1:10-no cell phones or digital cameras
2:51-90s editing... backward effects!
3:32-mullet family

Don Rickles And Justin Bieber

Rickles is asked about Bieber by Larry King.  Classic.

The Critic: L.A. Jay with Billy Crystal

I wrote before about the mid-90s animated series, "The Critic," hoping to catch some "Simpsons"-like magic and make a star of Jon Lovitz with over-cutesy film references.

One of the few episodes that got it right -- and there was still some editing they could have done -- was "LA Jay," in which Jay Sherman, film critic, tries to write a film while battling a Billy Crystal-voiced movie exec.  A great review from AV Club is here.

NBC Late Night promo, 1983

NBC was having a hard time from 1977 (when "Sanford & Son" ended) and 1984 (when "The Cosby Show" debuted).  In between, there was utter chaos throughout the network, including in its usually strong late night slate: "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" nearly ended when Carson tired of NBC President Fred Silverman.  Later, he cut his show from 90 minutes to 60, and eventually "Tomorrow with Tom Snyder" was killed in favor of "Late Night with David Letterman."  "The Midnight Special" ended.  "Saturday Night Live" went from juggernaut to reviled after Silverman clashed with producer Lorne Michaels (and Michaels left).  "Second City TV" was brought in -- eyed as a potential, eventual replacement for SNL -- but was canceled after two years.
By 1983, though, things had settled down and were actually thriving.  Johnny Carson was happy with the then-current NBC brain trust (legendary programmers Brandon Tartikoff and Grant Tinker).  "SCTV" was replaced by "Friday Night Videos," produced by Tartikoff's pal, Dick Ebersol.  Ebersol was also producing SNL, which was riding high thanks to Eddie Murphy.  And "Late Night with David Letterman" was the hippest show on TV.
Below is a two-minute promo for the late night shows, likely made for sales/programming use within the network.  But occasionally, it was probably shown during long breaks, rain delays, etc.  This version is localized for WILX-TV (Lansing, Michigan).  Back then, networks routinely made these for their prime time slate, but this is the first one I've ever seen for late night.

The awful Rolling Stone Magazine 10th Anniversary special

Wow, what a piece of embarrassing $^%# this was.  The most interesting parts are the commercials!
Without attacking or supporting Rolling Stone magazine -- or its founder, Jann Wenner -- I will say simply that this special is horrendous and I wish videotape hadn't been so plentiful in 1977.

The centerpiece, which you will never be able to "un-see," features Ted Neely screeching his way through an endless Beatles medley, complete with overenthusiastic dancers, someone stumbling around in a Nixon mask, terrible visual effects... it is one of the worst things I've ever seen.

The opening sketch (Steve Martin begging to be in RS) is cute, and watch for writer Ben Fong-Torres wearing a San Francisco PBS (KQED) Monty Python shirt.

But later, Martin has to try and anchor a bombastic sketch with Keith Moon.  Moon pops up later telling an incoherent story about touring, alongside such "rock stars" as Yvonne Elliman, Richie Havens and Phoebe Snow.  All incredible performers, but not really "rock." (On a side note, Elliman and Havens provide the one bright spot in the Beatles medley).

I haven't been able to stomach the whole special, but what's with the awful "garage band" at the beginning and end?!  WHO CARES!

And why is Bette Midler -- another incredible performer, but not really "rock" -- in the special?  RS notably (unfairly?) slammed her second album, sending her into a depression.  Sad.

Finally, Gladys Knight and the Pips perform an excellent medley, then give way to Art Garfunkel... but it's so awkward when Knight introduces him.  See for yourself!

Aired on CBS-TV on November 25, 1977. This recording is from the Sacramento affiliate, KXTV.

MTV Turns 37

MTV is a gross 37-year-old today, so here's a look back at some of my Music Television-centered posts...

-Beavis & Butthead: Funk Dat (classic)
-The first day of MTV (August 1, 1981) and their awful VJs
-Classic videos discussed ... with Herbie Hancock, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, Beastie Boys and others
-Great moments with The State
-The Ultimate 90s playlist (yawn)
-Oh, those record offers