(EP 31, no.1.5) Mum’s the Word!—In Town Tonight—In the City—UK ’77: My Mother’s Life in Music + a Portsmouth Cabaret with Susan Maughan, Tessie O’Shea, Pam Ayers, & more + Our UK Trip Amid Punk Rock Mania, August 1977

With this episode, the series jumps back in time to a Cabaret show I saw in Portsmouth, UK, in August 1977 with my parents when I was 14.

The cabaret took place between my first (Roxy Music at the London Arena, February 8, 1975) and second (Bob Seger at the London Gardens on May 19, 1978) official concerts.

My initial plan was to include it as part of an upcoming compilation episode.

However, I’ve decided that this cabaret was a unique live performance along with being the only one I ever saw with my now 96-year-old mother. Therefore, I am giving this show its own entry.

I wanted to take this opportunity to capture not only what she remembers of the event, but also her music-and-technology-related memories from her life growing up in the UK, having been born in December 1926.

Taking in this show with my folks occurred during a three-week trip to the UK. The vacation could not have possibly been more fortuitous for me.

I had been following punk rock from its 1975-ish NYC inception via the underground press, and then later the British arm of the punk scene through the weeklies (when I could get hold of or afford them) which was absolutely exploding through the UK at the time of my visit. Getting to be there and experience it happening real time was one of the luckiest tunes-y strokes of my life.

So, in this episode, I interview my mother about the music she’s enjoyed and seen live, but also about the variety of technologies she has used to hear and enjoy it, starting with her hand-cranked family radiogram in the 1930s through to her love of streaming music today.

Later on, I turn from looking at my mother’s musical youth to my own experiences, including this live cabaret show we saw in 1977, but even more so about the excitement and impact of being able to spend time in the UK at the peak of punk.

My mother had In Town Tonight. I had In the City. (Listen or read to find out more about all that).

Listen to the podcast to hear the full interview as she talks about the musical journey of her life.

Tune in for Worker's Playtime, “Attention K-Mart Shoppers!,” The Man in Black, children with acid batteries, revelations at Boots—or was it Woolies?—and what was Ethel Merman really like live?

Next on Stage -> I jump a bit more into the future with The Stray Cats at Alumni Hall here in London on March 26, 1983. Technically this should have been Episode 16 but, as with this 1977 entry, this show was initially meant to be included with the upcoming compilation episode.

I don’t have a ton of memories about this show, but luckily MLIC podcast regular Phil Robinson as well as Noëlle from the Police Picnic ’83 episode (no. 27) both have lots of great recollections from the night.

Tune in for stage dancing, artistic representations, Britt Ekland sightings, and what was the unforgettable message that Brian Setzer imparted to Noëlle backstage?

Episode 032 (Concert no. 025) Rock This Town: The Stray Cats with The Bopcats, Alumni Hall, Western University, London Ontario, March 26, 1983

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