21 Comments
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Janet Gbur's avatar

The Agora was a classic place! I saw Meatloaf there with Kerry. It was general admission. We got there early, so we were up front in the line and when the doors opened people were jumping over rows of chairs to get down front to SEE Meatloaf, crazy ðŸĪŠ

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The 80s-est's avatar

Was Mr. Loaf worth all the chair jumping? 😂

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Janet Gbur's avatar

OMG - Ponderosa Park, I did my lifeguard training there in the guitar shaped pool 😄

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Joe Wack's avatar

Did you ever save a drowning Mel Tillis?

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The 80s-est's avatar

😂

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The 80s-est's avatar

There was a guitar-shaped pool??? Was there actually a mechanical bull there?

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Chris Jacobs's avatar

I'm surprised that there aren't any comments yet. I was a big Huey Lewis fan in the 80s (I think Sports also was my introduction). "Bad is Bad" is an underrated favorite. I have always thought that they probably were an amazing bar band for those lucky enough to see them before they were famous. And the horns and harmonica in The Heart of Rock and Roll feel very 80s.

Sorry Kenny (and Dolly). Islands in the Stream was an 80s hit, but that's about the only thing 80s about it.

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The 80s-est's avatar

I also liked them back then, always good for a consistent rock hit. Maybe not doing anything that different, like the Cure or New Order or Pet Shop Boys, but also not being an annoying pop act like say The Jets or Sly Fox (annoying to Joe, you know I love these groups 😆). Huey consistently hit for average with straight-up rock songs, and for a short time in the 80s, was as popular as they get!

Despite Kenny's massive appeal and crossover success, he just didn't define the 80s for me as much as Huey did.

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Joe Wack's avatar

I'm choosing to believe that we have so few comments this morning because of people's busy summer schedules.

I agree; these guys would've been amazing to see in a bar pre-fame and I gotta imagine that they had packed houses for those gigs.

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Alejandro Saya's avatar

I'm going 100% Huey Lewis on this one, but man, Mr Rogers and Miss Parton surely look like a million bucks in the performance clip! ðŸĪĐ

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Deni's avatar

Islands In The Stream always make me think of the very immature joke that went around school back then (hey, we were 13 after all): What do you call Dolly Parton laying in a bathtub?

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The 80s-est's avatar

hahahaha that's about right for 13 😂

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Margaret's avatar

Also, Urban Cowboy is a great, great soundtrack.

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The 80s-est's avatar

I was looking at it yesterday (had never listened) but it was FULL of superstars of the day!

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Margaret's avatar

Joe, on that list of worst songs, are you sure it was the Simon and Garfunkel original of Sounds of Silence or was it the cover by Disturbed? That might make more sense, although I personally loved their cover.

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Joe Wack's avatar

It was S & G. The list is bullshit.

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The 80s-est's avatar

They probably put "Let It Be" at 15. Morons.

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Margaret's avatar

I'm curious to see what you guys would think of the cover. I really love it.

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Margaret's avatar

I only went to one concert at Ponderosa that I can recall. Pretty sure it was Colin Raye in the early 90’s. I didn’t love country music, but I went through a line dancing phase. Had a blast. CR had a great song called “Love, Me.” I had it played on the radio when my grandpa Gossiaux died. I still ball when I hear it. I dare you to listen to it and not tear up a little.

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The 80s-est's avatar

Not familiar with Colin Raye but I will listen . What was your impression of the place?

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Margaret's avatar

There wasn't a huge amount of seating, so I'm a little surprised that many big name acts performed there. But, it looked like it would have been a super fun place to camp and see bands.

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