I am trying to recall what I saw live in 1983 in New York City and the quick list I have made below looks quite interesting. Here we go.
1983
• Spring : Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band, Nassau Coliseum, NY.
• Lionel Hampton was coming home late every night to his apartment that was next to the West Side YMCA.
• Ray Charles concert : Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.
• B.B. King concert : Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.
• Spring : Film : “The Grey Fox” with Richard Farnsworth was released.
• Summer : Southside Johnny and Asbury Jukes, Pier Concert, NYC.
• Summer : Gary US Bonds, Pier Concert, NYC.
• June 16 : Roberto Duran won his third world title by defeating Davey Moore at Madison Square Garden. Muhammad Ali was in the ringside seat.
• July 4 : Dave Righetti of the Yankees pitched a no-hitter on Independence Day.
• July 21 : Diana Ross appeared at Central Park with an audience of 300,000. It was stopped by a storm after 15 minutes into the show.
• July 22 : Diana Ross appeared again at Central Park. The concert was held with more than 500,000 people.
• July 24 : George Brett of the Kansas City Royals got furious when George Martin of the Yankees said that Brett put too much tar on his bat as he hit a homerun in the 9th.
• Mr. Gene Palma, the street drummer who appeared in the film “Taxi Driver” by Martin Scorsese, was sometimes seen in midtown Broadway.
• Summer : Carl "Yaz" Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox played in Yankee Stadium for the last time before his retirement in the same year.
• Summer : Movie “Stayin’ Alive”, directed by Sylvester Stallone, was released. It was a sequel to “Saturday Night Fever”.
• Summer : Movie “Gandhi” by Richard Attenborough was released.
• August 2 : Jackson Brown concert at Madison Square Garden where Bruce Springsteen jumped on the stage and did a duet of three songs.
• August 6 : Simon and Garfunkel’s reunion concert at Shea Stadium.
• September 15 : Lightweight Champ Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini stopped the challenger Orlando Romero in the 9th round at Madison Square Garden.
• September 15 : Joe Frazier worked as the coach in the corner for his sons’ fights in Madison Square Garden after the main event.
• Fall : Clarence Clemons and The Red Bank Rockers show at Ritz.
• Fall : Nils Lofgren concert at Capitol Theater, Passaic, NJ
• Fall : Clint Eastwood’s “Sudden Impact” – Dirty Harry’s 4th version – was released.
• November : Grete Waitz, a legendary Norwegian runner, won the New York City Marathon.
• November 10 : Marvin Marvelous Hagler and Roberto Duran fought over 15 tough rounds. (TV)
• November : Met Miami Steve Van Zandt at O’Neil’s “Balloon” restaurant in front of Lincoln Center.
• November 20 : Opening day for “Marilyn : An American Fable” - one of the shortest-run musicals on Broadway at Minskoff Theater.
• November 25 : Heavyweight Champion Larry Holmes knocked out Marvis Frazier – son of Joe Frazier - in the first round. (TV)
• December : Pat Metheny’s gig at Seventh Avenue South, NYC
• December : Winton Marsalis at Sweet Basil, NYC
• December : On one windy cold night, a huge team of filmmakers was shooting “The Ghostbusters” at Columbus Circle.
1984
• Summer : Los Angeles Olympics (TV)
• August : “Cats” the musical at Winter Garden
• August 1 : Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band’s “Born in the USA” tour at Brendan Bryne Arena, NJ
• August 3 : Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band’s “Born in the USA” tour at Brendan Bryne Arena, NJ
You may feel that you time traveled a quarter of a century as you read the list.
If you also work on a list like this, by picking some span of years that you remember, it might be fun.
I will talk about some of these events in the next column.
