“King Kong”
Sometimes I remember a place by the movies we saw during our stay in those cities. Often we were not up during the day after playing late into the night and then spending time with the club owner drinking and trading stories. And if we were up, Jon usually had us rehearsing new material.
However, a couple of movies do stand out during a two of our trips. One was while we were playing a club in East St. Louis in 1976. We were not very well liked there as they were used to blues and soul music, so I think we only played that place once. During one of the days, probably a Friday, the new movie came out; “King Kong” with Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin and newcomer, Jessica Lange.
We found a theater in downtown St. Louis where it was playing. Years later, in 1983, Harold Ramis wrote a movie called “Vacation” with Chevy Chase and how he accidentally took the family into St. Louis. It was so spot on (even though the scene was filmed on the Universal lot) that it took me back to the trip we made to see the movie! The four or five of us were about the only white faces in the crowd!
“Star Wars”
A year later in 1977 we were in Canada when “Star Wars” came out. Yes, we stood in line to see the film like everyone else. A couple of weeks earlier I had found the paperback while checking out of a grocery store somewhere, read it quickly and liked it. Though not a literary classic, it did have some nice humor and imagination put into it.
During our encores at the Calgary Beatles Tribute, Jon introduces “Don’t Feel Bad” and dedicates the song to C-3PO. Apparently, the movie was still on his mind!
Mick Orton
Categories: History
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