June 28, 1980, is a Saturday. At Camp David, President Carter goes fishing, and later sees the movie Urban Cowboy with the First Lady. The federal debt ceiling is temporarily raised to $985 billion. Helen Gahagan Douglas, the second woman to serve in Congress, dies at age 79. (Douglas was defeated for the U.S. Senate in 1950 by Congressman Richard Nixon, who accused her of being a Communist, “pink right down to her underwear.” In return, she nicknamed him “Tricky Dick.”) Comic actor Herbie Faye, who played dozens of roles on TV and in the movies starting in the 1950s, dies at age 81. Future NBA player Rodney White is born. The San Diego Air and Space Museum opens. On TV tonight, the last episode of The Stockard Channing Show airs, starring the Grease actress and future First Lady on The West Wing. Also on CBS tonight, The Bad News Bears, based on the hit movie. An airplane disappears in the Bermuda Triangle, and Bigfoot is spotted in Snohomish County, Washington. “Crying” by Don McLean tops the British singles chart in Record Mirror magazine. In the States, “Funky Town” by Lipps, Inc., tops the Cash Box chart for the fourth straight week. The Dead Kennedys play the Whiskey in Los Angeles, Jackson Browne plays the Rosemont Horizon in suburban Chicago, Santana plays Knebworth in England, and the Eagles play Alpine Valley Music Theater near Milwaukee.

Perspective From the Present: I was at the Eagles show that night with a bunch of friends. Last year, I found a bootleg of the show online. It’s not clear where it came from—some sources say it was from the soundboard while others say it’s an audience tape. Given how easy it is to hear certain individual audience members (like the guy who keeps yelling for “Walk Away” throughout the entire show), I’m betting on the latter.

Although we were thrilled with the show at the time, the tape reveals that Don Henley wasn’t in particularly good voice at the start. As the show goes on, he gets better, although he’s singing at the very top of his range and frequently struggles to reach it, more so than he ever did on the band’s studio recordings. Often, that’s the only way the live performances vary from their studio originals—as always, the Eagles stuck to the script in concert. Nobody seemed to mind, however, particularly during  the segment made up of “The Sad Cafe,” “Lyin’ Eyes,” “I Can’t Tell You Why,” and a medley of “Wasted Time” and “Desperado,” all played while a giant full moon was rising over the stage. We were surprised at the number of Joe Walsh tunes they played that night, although we shouldn’t have been; Walsh’s former bandmate Joe Vitale was onstage with them. Two of the band’ s four encores were Walsh tunes. (They never did play “Walk Away.”)

The Eagles show was our second trip to Alpine Valley—we’d seen the Doobie Brothers the summer before. This time, we knew that it would take hours to get out of the parking lot, so rather than tailgate beforehand, we fired up the grill and opened the coolers afterward. A college pal was on the air at an album-rock station in Milwaukee that night, and it was pretty cool to hear his voice blasting from dozens of car radios. The next night, I would be back on the radio myself in Freeport, Illinois, telling my listeners about the show. Altogether, that weekend is a pretty good rock ‘n’ roll memory from one of my favorite summers.

The sound quality on the tracks below is fair—I’ve heard better boots, and I’ve heard worse. The quality doesn’t matter all that much to me, though—unless you’re a Grateful Dead fan, what are the odds of finding a recording of a show you went to, nearly 30 years after it happened?

“Already Gone” (Alpine Valley 1980)/Eagles (features a changed-up guitar solo at the end)
“The Sad Cafe” (Alpine Valley 1980)/Eagles (my favorite performance that night)
“Life’s Been Good” (Alpine Valley 1980)/Eagles (includes a Joe Walsh for President campaign announcement)

May 8, 1984, is a Tuesday. The Soviet Union announces that it will boycott the upcoming Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Gary Hart wins Democratic presidential primaries in Ohio and Indiana; Walter Mondale wins Maryland and North Carolina. An American clergyman, Benjamin Weir, is kidnapped in Beirut; he will be freed in 16 months as part of the Reagan Administration’s covert arms-for-hostages swap with Islamic militants. The going rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rises to 15.5 percent; the prime interest rate is now 12.5 percent. Congressional Gold Medals are awarded to Harry Truman (in honor of his 100th birthday today), Lady Bird Johnson, and author Elie Wiesel. Tonight, the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers start their game at 7:00. They’ll still be playing at 1AM when the game is suspended after 17 innings; it will be finished on the night of the 9th with the Sox finally winning 7-6 in 25 innings, the longest game in American League history. Kirby Puckett gets four hits in his major-league debut with the Minnesota Twins. He will be named the American League Rookie of the Year at season’s end, and will be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001. Top movies at the box office: Breakin’, Sixteen Candles, Romancing the Stone, and Police Academy. Set to open this coming weekend: The Natural and Firestarter. On TV tonight, Joanie and Chachi get married on a special hour-long episode of Happy Days. Also on TV tonight: The A-Team.

The New York Times reports that Larry Stock, who wrote “Blueberry Hill,” has died at age 87. The Grateful Dead plays Eugene, Oregon, and INXS plays Hamburg, Germany. Rush opens the Grace Under Pressure tour in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Cure plays London. Album releases today include the compilation Legend by Bob Marley and the Wailers and Roger Waters’ The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking. “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins tops the Cash Box singles chart for a third week; Lionel Richie’s “Hello” holds at Number Two. Steve Perry’s ”Oh Sherrie” leaps from 20 to 11. Other strong upward movers from the chart: “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper (33 to 20) and “The Reflex” by Duran Duran (42 to 30). “Stay the Night” by Chicago is the highest-debuting new song in the Top 100 at Number 57.  Also new: Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without a Face” (at 73), “King of Suede” by Weird Al Yankovic (at 87), and “I Can Dream About You” by Dan Hartman (at 89). At a small radio station in Illinois, the new guy is working part-time nights; he will eventually graduate to a full-time gig, a split shift that has him working the noon hour and nights. It’s the sort of thing you can do when you’re 24 years old, you really need the job—and you really love radio.

Perspective From the Present: Less than three years into the video age, the form had already developed its own clichés. Nearly all of the videos linked above require you to wait through a scene-setting prelude before getting to the music. This particular cliché often revealed that being able to sing is not the same as being able to act (Steve Perry, I’m talkin’ to you), although the material they’re given (whoever scripted the “Oh Sherrie” video, I’m talkin’ to you) doesn’t always help.

One More Thing: I’ll be revisiting the topic of radio’s consolidation/automation mania next week, if time permits. Until then, let Jerry Del Colliano shock, amaze, and appall you with this.

(This feature usually appears at Popdose on the third Wednesday of the month, but not this month. I’m posting what would have been over there over here.)

December 18, 1985, is a Wednesday. The UN Security Council unanimously condemns hostage-taking, in response to the hijackings of the cruise ship Achille Lauro and TWA Flight 847 earlier in the year. Suicide terrorists hit American and Israeli check-in desks at airports in Rome and Vienna simultaneously. Twenty people, including the terrorists, die in the bombings. The last flight of the space shuttle Columbia is delayed when an engine compartment cannot be closed. (The launch will be scrubbed four more times before success is achieved on January 12.) The same day, shuttle contractor Morton Thiokol assures NASA that problems with the O-rings on space-shuttle engines have been solved. Ronald Reagan speaks to supporters of a balanced-budget amendment at the White House, makes appointments to the Federal Trade Commission and the National Council on Educational Research, and issues his annual message on the observance of Christmas. At the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton, an exhibit opens featuring dolls and dollhouses from the Victorian Era to the present. In college basketball, Providence beats Holy Cross 109-78, and Marquette beats Minnesota 74-63. The Milwaukee Brewers acquire slugger Rob Deer from San Francisco for a couple of minor-leaguers. Shows on TV tonight include The Equalizer, St. Elsewhere, Simon and Simon, and a PBS production of King Lear. The top movie at the box office is Rocky IV, which has been huge since its release in November. Movie releases for the coming weekend include Out of Africa, The Color Purple, and Enemy Mine. Opening in limited release are Brazil and A Trip to Bountiful. Set for rerelease this weekend: 101 Dalmatians.

Rush, whose album Power Windows was certified gold today, plays the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, but other major rock tours are on a holiday break. On the radio, “Broken Wings” by Mr. Mister tops the Cash Box chart for a second week, and Eddie Murphy’s “Party All the Time” leaps from 14 to 7. Also new in the Top 10 is Arcadia’s “Election Day” at Number 8. The biggest move within the Top 40 is made by Stevie Wonder’s “Go Home,” jumping to 33 from 41. New and hot in their second week on the chart: “My Hometown” by Bruce Springsteen at Number 42 and “How Will I Know” by Whitney Houston at Number 55. At WKAI in Macomb, Illinois, a new morning show has recently debuted. In true prairie fashion, it starts with a half-hour farm show and an hourlong news block. The music doesn’t start until 7AM, which is OK because the station’s audience is made up largely of students at Western Illinois University who aren’t likely to be awake that early anyhow. Often, the host isn’t awake either, at least for the first part of the show. He sets his alarm for 4:20 every morning because 4:15 is just too early.

Perspective From the Present: Mr. Mister has become almost as big a punchline for the 80s as Barry Manilow for the 70s, but that doesn’t change the fact that nothing had ever sounded like “Broken Wings” before, and hasn’t since. And like the career of Michael Bolton and the popularity of “Baby Got Back,” “Party All the Time” is something radio station music directors will have to answer for on Judgment Day. The release of “My Hometown” was notable for two reasons: first, it was the unheard-of seventh single from Born in the USA, and second, the flipside of the 45 was the December 12, 1975, recording of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” which had been elusive since its release.

(One Day in Your Life has been appearing over at Popdose this year. It’s appearing here today because I felt like writing it.)

December 4, 1972, is a Monday. Time magazine reports on the opening of the SALT II arms limitation talks. At the Vietnam peace talks in Paris, North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho tells Henry Kissinger that even if the United States were to use nuclear weapons against his country, “our children will continue the struggle.” Five mice are selected to fly aboard Apollo 17, the final mission to the moon, which will be launched on Wednesday—if mission controllers don’t go on strike as they are threatening to do. Future porn star Nikki Tyler, future NBA player Howard Eisley, and future NFL linebackers Ted Johnson and Damien Covington are born. An executive at Motorola tells the company’s lead designer, “We have to build a portable telephone.” Less than four months later, Motorola will unveil the predecessor of the cellular phone at a press conference. In Merced, California, seven-year-old Steven Stayner is kidnapped. He will be held for nearly eight years; in 1989, his story will be told in the TV miniseries I Know My Name Is Steven.

Guest celebrities on Password this week are Elizabeth Montgomery and Bert Convy. Stars on Hollywood Squares are Wally Cox, Nanette Fabray, Jan Murray, John Davidson, Paul Lynde, Marilyn Michaels, Don Rickles, Della Reese, and Vincent Price. On NBC tonight, Jack Klugman, Rich Little, and Henny Youngman appear on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Also on NBC, it’s The Perry Como Winter Show, a Christmas special with guest stars Joey Heatherton, Art Carney, and the Muppets. In tonight’s NFL game, the Los Angeles Rams beat the San Francisco 49ers 26-16. Roman Gabriel throws two touchdown passes for the Rams and David Ray kicks four field goals. At the 92nd Street Y in New York, author Erica Jong reads from her current bestseller Fear of Flying.

In a courtroom in Nice, France, Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, and Mick Taylor are cleared of drug charges. Led Zeppelin plays Glasgow, Scotland, the Velvet Underground plays Reading, England, and Lynryd Skynyrd plays Atlanta. Disc jockey Don Imus celebrates his first anniversary on the air at WNBC in New York. At WCOL in Columbus, Ohio, it’s a glorious week for soul music: “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” by the Temptations knocks “I’m Stone in Love With You” by the Stylistics from Number One to Number 5 on the current Music Meter Survey; “Me and Mrs. Jones” by Billy Paul is at Number 7, “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes is at Number 9, and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” is at Number 11. Also on the chart is an odd cover of “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” by a British group called Blue Haze, at Number 12. In a small Wisconsin town without a single black resident, the manager of the seventh-grade basketball team is deeply into soul music nevertheless.

Perspective From the Present: “I’m Stone in Love With You” is a wonder. It makes me feel stupidly happy whenever I hear it, and nobody made prettier records than producer Thom Bell did. He and his songwriting partner, Linda Creed, were responsible for some of the most glorious confections of the 1970s, including all of the Stylistics’ signature hits and “Rubberband Man” by the Spinners. Bell and Creed (who died in 1986) are both in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. As for “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” I knew neither the song nor the Blue Haze version of it back then, although I have since come to adore the Platters’ version.

“I’m Stone in Love With You”/Stylistics (buy it here)
“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”/Blue Haze (out of print)

(Individual days tend to get past us. For every one we remember vividly—in my case, October 6, 1981, or October 16, 1978—hundreds more slip away into the void. The simple purpose of this month’s series of One Day in Your Life posts has been to rescue a few of those lost days. The deeper purpose is to ponder the distance between there and here, distance against which everything in my life eventually ends up being measured. Here’s one last day to visit before November arrives.)

October 31, 1984, is a Wednesday. Early morning TV viewers learn that Indira Gandhi, prime minister of India, has been assassinated by her bodyguards. With six days to go until the presidential election, the last Gallup poll to be taken before the vote shows President Reagan with a 57-40 lead over Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale. An ad paid for by 101 prominent professors appears in the New York Times, endorsing Mondale and criticizing Reagan for claiming that his record is in the tradition of Truman, Roosevelt, and Kennedy. A tornado kills one person in Osage County, Kansas. Yosemite National Park is designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations. Congress approves the Atlantic Striped Bass Conservation Act. Top movies at the box office last weekend: The Terminator, the horror-film clip compilation Terror in the Aisles, and Body Double starring Melanie Griffith. The Wednesday night movie on KCPQ-TV in Tacoma is The Night Stalker. On network TV tonight, there’s the movie Sweet Revenge, starring Alec Baldwin and Kelly McGillis, about an Army major who gets involved with his commanding officer’s daughter. CBS airs the fifth and final episode of Dreams, a series about a struggling Philadelphia rock band starring John Stamos and Jami Gertz.

The Grateful Dead plays Berkeley, Culture Club plays Baton Rouge, and Quiet Riot plays Kansas City, Kansas. U2 plays Rotterdam, Alvin Lee plays St. Louis, and Megadeth plays San Francisco. Stevie Ray Vaughan plays Melboune, Australia, and John Prine plays Westbury, New York. “I Just Called to Say I Love You” by Stevie Wonder tops the Cash Box magazine chart for the week. “Hard Habit to Break” by Chicago is Number Two, and “Let’s Go Crazy” by Prince is Number Three. (It’s a big week for Prince, with “Purple Rain” at Number 9 and “When Doves Cry” at Number 100.) “Drive” by the Cars is in its fourth straight week at Number 4. The biggest mover in the Top 40 is “The War Song” by Culture Club, leaping from 33 to 22 in its fourth week on the chart. Julian Lennon’s “Valotte” is at Number 60 in its second week on. To the program director of WKAI in Macomb, Illinois (who moved to town exactly one year ago today), it’s perfect for Halloween—the sound of a voice from beyond the grave.

“Valotte”/Julian Lennon (buy it here)

October 30, 1974, is a Wednesday. Last night here in the states (but at 4AM on the 30th in Zaire, where the fight is held), Muhammad Ali knocked out George Foreman in the eighth round to regain the heavyweight championship in “the Rumble in the Jungle.” In one of four games played in the World Football League tonight, Southern California beats Charlotte 34-25. Today, President Ford holds a cabinet meeting. Among the subjects discussed: how to ensure better public compliance with the 55MPH speed limit. The Omaha Register newspaper reports on a Nebraska state trooper who claims to have been abducted by a UFO, and the Gettysburg Times covers the dedication of a new parking lot at the First Lutheran Church in New Oxford, Pennsylvania. A teenager named Laura Aime disappears after a Halloween party in Utah. She will be found murdered, and in 1988, serial killer Ted Bundy will confess to the crime. Chicken magnate Frank Perdue is involved in a fatal traffic accident on the Pennsylvania Turnpike; he will eventually be charged with involuntary manslaughter, but the case will be dismissed.

Shows on TV tonight include Cannon and The Manhunter, starring Ken Howard, on CBS, Little House on the Prairie on NBC, and the TV movie Death Cruise on ABC. In the UK, filming continues on The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Spirit plays Denver and Golden Earring plays Chicago. Eric Clapton plays Boston, Fleetwood Mac plays Jackson, Mississippi, KISS plays Columbus, Ohio, and David Bowie plays Radio City Music Hall in New York. At WDRQ in Detroit, “I Love Q, I Honestly Love Q” by Olivia Newton-John holds at Number One; another record that some radio stations have altered to promote themselves, “Life Is a Rock” by Reunion, is at Number 16. (In Chicago, it’s heard as “life is a rock but WLS rolled me” and “life is a rock but ‘CFL rolled me”). Al Green’s magnificent “Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)” leaps from 12 to 5, and “I Can Help” by Billy Swan vaults from 20 to 13. In Wisconsin, a high-school freshman hears Green’s chuckle at the start of “Sha La La” and knows precisely what it means—the song feels so good that you just can’t keep it in.

Perspective From the Present: Some of the stuff on the WDRQ chart that I never heard back then is mighty fine, like “Let’s Straighten it Out” by Latimore (Number Three). It’s a slow-cookin’ deep soul record that would barely sneak into the national Top 40. “Evil Boll Weevil” by Grand Canyon (Number 24) is a novelty record about Evel Knievel’s then-recent attempt to jump over the Snake River Canyon in Idaho. It’s a break-in record, containing clips from other songs—the sort of thing that Dickie Goodman made famous way back in the 50s, and would do again with “Mr. Jaws” a year later. But the big hits of that week are some of the most evocative October records of all time, and they still take me back there.

“Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)”/Al Green (buy it here)

October 24, 1980, is a Friday. By presidential proclamation, it’s United Nations Day. Scientists continue to watch Mount St. Helens in Washington state, which erupted again last week. It’s the fifth smaller eruption since the devastating one last May. The SS Poet leaves Philadelphia, officially bound for Egypt with a cargo of corn. The ship will never arrive at its destination; a Coast Guard investigation will declare it lost at sea and all 34 crew members dead. In future years, there will be suggestions that the Poet contained $40 million in arms and spare parts, paid for by the Reagan campaign and sent to Iran as a bribe to keep their American hostages in captivity until after the November 4 election, and that the ship was deliberately destroyed after delivery to keep the shipment secret. Reagan talks economics in an nationally broadcast campaign speech. NBC airs the final episode of The David Letterman Show, a daytime variety series that has followed the Today Show since June. CBS has the annual broadcast of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, along with a new Peanuts special, Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown. Opening in theaters this weekend: Motel Hell, a parody of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Heavyweight contender Gerry Cooney knocks out Ron Lyle in the first round. Future R&B singer Monica is born. Alexander Poniatoff, founder of Ampex, the company that developed the first practical videotape recorder, dies at age 88. The first U.S. national tour of Sweeney Todd opens in Washington, DC.

Head East plays Austin, Texas, the B-52s play Chicago, Bruce Springsteen plays Seattle, and Linda Ronstadt plays Iowa State University with the Joe Ely Band opening. On the new chart at CHUM in Toronto, which will come out officially tomorrow, the top three are unchanged from the previous week: the live version of “Dreamer” by Supertramp is Number One, “Touch and Go” by the Cars is Number Two, and “Real Love” by the Doobie Brothers is Number Three. New wave (or what passes for it) is making inroads on the chart: in addition to Split Enz, Devo, and the Police, the week’s biggest mover is “Turning Japanese” by the Vapors, leaping to 19 from 27. “Drugs in My Pocket” by the Monks, at Number 10, is a new-wave parody by several former members of the Strawbs. “This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide” by the Kings slips to 21 from 16. But at a small-town college radio station in Wisconsin, it’s everybody’s favorite song.

“This Beat Goes On/Switchin’ to Glide”/The Kings (buy it here)

(Our series of random October days continues. Find more here, and also here.)

(Late addition: For another October 22nd in a different year, click here.)

October 22, 1968, is a Tuesday. Apollo 7, the first flight of the Apollo program, returns from an 11-day mission. The three-way presidential race continues between Republican Richard Nixon, Democrat Hubert Humphrey, and independent George Wallace; Nixon gives a speech in Toledo, Ohio, and Humphrey makes a swing through Texas. Lady Bird Johnson hosts a luncheon for Mrs. Humphrey in Austin. Lyndon Johnson signs a bill that requires firearms dealers to be licensed and mandates serial numbers on newly manufactured weapons. After a seven-year effort, New York City revises its building code. Future singer Shelby Lynne and future pro hockey player Stephane Quintal are born. The Summer Olympics continue in Mexico City; the American basketball team qualifies for the gold-medal game by beating Brazil 75-63, and American boxer George Foreman wins his quarterfinal bout. Organizers of the proposed Global Baseball League, which would compete with the American majors, hire former MLB commissioner Happy Chandler to be its commissioner. The league will offer contracts to several established stars including Roberto Clemente, Don Drysdale, and Hank Aaron (who turn them down), and will fold within weeks of launching in the spring of 1969. Celebrity watchers remain abuzz about the wedding of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis, which took place last Sunday. On TV today, Bill Bixby guests on The Donald O’Connor Show, and Barnabas Collins gets bitten by Angelique on Dark Shadows. Tonight, That’s Life, an hour-long blend of sitcom and musical comedy that will last a single season, airs on ABC. The third episode of 60 Minutes is on CBS, with a new opening that features a ticking stopwatch. The musical Star!, with Julie Andrews, has its New York premiere, and a new Toyota dealership opens in Deerfield Beach, Florida.

Love Sculpture and the Family play the Marquee Club in London, Steve Miller plays the Matrix Club in San Francisco, and Moby Grape plays Stonybrook, New York. At TTG Studios in Hollywood, Jimi Hendrix records “Look Over Yonder,” which will appear on the posthumously released album Rainbow Bridge. Blood Sweat and Tears completes recording of their self-titled second album, which will feature the hits “And When I Die,” “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” and “Spinning Wheel.” On the Cash Box magazine chart for the week, “Hey Jude” by the Beatles is in its fifth week at Number One. “Little Green Apples” by O.C. Smith jumps from 10 to 4 and “Elenore” by the Turtles jumps from 24 to 12. The highest-debuting new song of the week is “Love Child” by Diana Ross and the Supremes at Number 52. Also new in the Top 100: “Stormy” by the Classics IV and “Abraham Martin and John” by Dion.

Here’s how the Turtles looked doing “Elenore” on NBC’s Kraft Music Hall back on July 24.

In a small Wisconsin town, Mrs. Blanc is reading Charlotte’s Web to her third graders. She is also teaching them their multiplication tables with a series of 45rpm records that puts them into jingle form. Although he doesn’t know it yet, jingles and 45s will eventually play an enormous role in the life of one of her students.

October 20, 1979, is a Saturday. In Boston, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is dedicated. President Jimmy Carter speaks at the dedication. His secretary of state and national security advisor recommend that he allow the Shah of Iran into the United States for medical treatments; two days later, Carter will consent. The decision will lead to the takeover of the American embassy in Tehran on November 4 and the holding of hostages for 444 days. In Newton, Massachusetts, future actor John Krasinski is born. In college football, USC beats Notre Dame 42-23, and Ohio State beats Wisconsin 59-0. At halftime of its game against Colgate, the Princeton marching band performs a soap-opera parody, “As the Tiger Turns,” but Colgate wins the game 17-6.

The cast of WKRP in Cincinnati is on the cover of TV Guide. Shows on kids’ TV this morning include Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The New Fred and Barney Show, The Godzilla Power Hour, and Plastic Man; in prime time tonight, CHiPs and Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes. On Saturday Night Live, Eric Idle is the host, but he has the flu and does most of his bits lying on a stretcher, with Buck Henry standing by to take over if needed. Bob Dylan is the musical guest, performing “Gotta Serve Somebody” and other songs from his new gospel-flavored album Slow Train Coming. Rick James and Teena Marie are the guests on Soul Train.

Elton John and Rockpile play the Palladium in New York City, and the Ramones play Old Chicago in Bolingbrook, Illinois. Whitesnake plays St. Albans, England, John Cougar plays Austin, Texas, and Golden Earring plays Veghel in the Netherlands. Island Records scores its first Number-One single when “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles hits Number One in the UK. Stateside radio stations are still drowning in disco records and pop ballads. WSUP in Platteville, Wisconsin, which converted to an album-rock format in September, is not one of them, although the station still cranks out its share of current hit singles: ”My Sharona,” “Heartache Tonight,” “Cruel to Be Kind,” ”Tusk,” “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’,” ”Dirty White Boy,” “Don’t Bring Me Down,” “Babe.” And “Driver’s Seat” by Sniff ‘n’ the Tears, which several of the jocks dig more than anything else.

(What we have been doing here these last couple of weeks is exploring random days from your blogger’s favorite month of the year, more or less as they were lived, the transcendent happening alongside the trivial. There’ll be no post here tomorrow or over the weekend, but we’ll be back at it Monday.)

October 16, 1978, is a Monday. In Rome, Karol Cardinal Wojtyla, the current archbishop of Krakow, Poland, is elected pope and takes the name John Paul II. He is the first non-Italian pope since 1523. The Supreme Court refuses to get involved in the case of a group of Nazis who want to march in the largely Jewish Chicago suburb of Skokie; it appears that the march will go on as planned. A study on controlling pine vole infestation begins at Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Hispanic Americans are featured on the current edition of Time magazine. The cover story notes that Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the United States and “are bidding to become an increasingly influential one.” Herbert A. Simon wins the Nobel Prize for economics. Actor Dan Dailey dies at age 62; he had been in several movie musicals during the 40s and 50s and starred in the TV series The Governor and J.J., which ran in 1969 and 1970. On TV tonight: M*A*S*H and Little House on the Prairie. Oklahoma tops the new Associated Press college football poll; Penn State is Number Two. On the cover of Sports Illustrated: Marvin “the Human Eraser” Webster of the New York Knicks.

Jethro Tull and Uriah Heep play Buffalo, Little Feat plays Champaign, Illinois, and Santana plays the Bottom Line in New York City. The Sex Pistols’ record company wires the group’s manager $50,000 to bail Sid Vicious out of jail, where he’s held on suspicion of murdering his girlfriend, Nancy Spungen. Today’s Peanuts strip features Snoopy as “the world-famous disco dancer.” At WRKO in Boston, Donna Summer’s disco version of “MacArthur Park” vaults to Number One, knocking off Exile’s “Kiss You All Over” (now Number Three) and leaping over the Little River Band’s “Reminiscing” (now Number Two), among others. Farther down the chart is an album track from Bob Seger’s Stranger in Town, “Till it Shines,” at Number 15, “5.7.0.5″ by City Boy at Number 16, and the title track from Van Morrison’s new album Wavelength at Number 24. Among the songs not yet charted at WRKO is Hall and Oates’ passive-aggressive “It’s a Laugh.” In Wisconsin, it’s right in the wheelhouse of an unhappy college freshman who, despite the fact that he is finally getting started with the radio career he has always wanted, is having the worst month of his life.

“It’s a Laugh”/Hall and Oates (buy it here)