By Caylah Eddleblute
February 8-March 18, 1985 – Newsreal, Page 20
I remember it as if the entire decade unfolded just a moment ago, like a crisp snapshot just taken. The ‘70s, perhaps so memorable because I was finally what every kid dreams of… out on my own. When you’re 17, everything is vivid.
The summer nights sweated excitement, especially in 1973. Fourth Avenue buzzed with anticipation. Choo Choo’s had come into its own months earlier, at that time under the guide of Jon Miller. Destined for fame as rock and roll’s cathedral, Choo Choo’s would later become the Night Train, where Doc (Michael Zucker) and Shag created a legend that made music and dreams of the times, larger than life. Ray and Red’s 25 stood crookedly on the corner of 4th and 6th Street, a beacon to transient heaven. A crumbling bar, it still had a quality that tempted one’s curiosity to sit … and watch. Ray & Red’s eventually became Café Sweetwater and refined its taste. It’s now known as Plush.
Photo above: Michael “Doc” Zucker, owner of the Night Train. Zucker just retired from a thriving optometric practice, started in 1991, on Tucson’s Northwest side. Newsreal photo, February 1985.
And Merlin’s (what many of us probably remember as the Backstage) was what would now be called a “preppie” bar, filled with warm light and cherubic faces, drinking pitchers of suds, while a band would play an occasional gig. Of course, down the street, at 4th Avenue and 9th Street, The Shanty now thrives in yuppieness.
But in those days, no one kicked around 9th Street. Not unless you wanted to take a walk down Heroin Avenue.
Down on Miracle Mile there was Jeckle & Hyde’s, the other rock club and dealers’ bar. The Strip brashly displayed all of its wonderfully trashy hotels too, where all the out-of-town musicians stayed in those days.
And after Jeckle’s changed its clientele, The Pawnbroker became the most crucial of venues for musicians during the mid to late ‘70s. Just ask Bob Meighan. Someone happened to watch him perform there. That someone was Veronique, famous European singing star and (at the time) wife of Steven Stills. She watched Bob’s band perform and hired them the same night to play as her backup group for two treks to Europe. Meighan’s band was undoubtedly one of the most popular. With three LP’s to his credit (two on Capitol, produced by himself and Jerry Biopene) he had a following that, for the most part, monopolized the Pawnbroker.
So, the 1970s was a decade that claimed the popularity of country-rock. Chuck Wagon and the Wheels, released five, count ‘em, five albums that gained them some national attention as well. Bluegrass was cool too, and Summerdog was its pet.
And there were countless bar bands. The decade began with the Dusty Chaps, Firehouse and Stinky Felix. Other names run through my mind … Weasel, Cash McCall, Husky Baby, Larkspur, Rooty Kazootie and the Bendover Band.
Somewhere in the beginning was Ethyl, whose original drummer was David Bromberg, and Gamera, with Bill Cashman on synthesizers. Marx Loeb was in that one too. He called the band an artistic triumph, otherwise a failure.
Then the Eastside era was upon us. Seems it was around that time pianist Jeff Daniels split. Sam Burkes and Steve Itule played the Solarium (on Tanque Verde). And various forms of the breathable stuff were performing.
There was, of course, Central Air and the Air Brothers. Meanwhile Frank and Woody were causing a raucous at the Oxbow. Then somewhere along the line, Greg White and Richie Cavanaugh formed Rock Doktor. The Dusty Chaps finally hung up their spurs in 1978. But it wasn’t so long after that the spark of Los Lasers was ignited.
So came the end of a decade, and with it a change on the horizon. A new generation of minds was stirring, coming with a razor’s edge and spirit not really felt since the ‘60s. Yet in the ‘70s, the skill and musicianship of a number of talented people was cultivated, as was an appreciation by those of us who listened.
Special thanks to Fred Porter, Roger King, Marx Loeb, Jeff Rudrug, Tom Itule, Richie Cavanaugh, Ernie Rigole, Bob Meighan, and especially, Doc Zucker and Shag.