Well, maybe it’s like, if you can remember shows at Ebbets Field, you weren’t really there.  (I do know if you think it was a field, you weren’t there.) Now FM102.3KCUV will revive memories and make you believe you were thre, even if you weren’t. Denver was a great place for music in the 1970’s, and Ebbets Field, a small night club located in the Brooks Tower near 15th and Curtis contributed and let music lovers in Denver, the front range and beyond hear some of the best music from around the world.  Â
Denver’s famous concert promoter Chuck Morris opened up Ebbets Field, and it seemed like everybody played there in the 1970’s, including Willie Nelson, Bob Seger, Tom Waits, Lynyrd Skynyrd are only a few artists on a long list who came through the Ebbet and made musical history in Denver.  Here’s more of that list,  I’m not making this list up, and I was there for some of them, I think:   Freddie King, Taj Mahal, John Prine, Muddy Water, Asleep At The Wheel, J.J. Cale, Ry Cooder, Commander Cody, Dr. John, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Peter Frampton, Dan Hicks, Lightning Hopkins, Howlin’ Wolf, Kraftwerk, Little Feat, Don McLean, the Outlaws, Robin Trower, Jerry Jeff Walker, Muddy Waters, and more! Rock, blues, country, jazz, every genre found a home there. Â
And to prove it really happened, the good news is, the shows were professionally recorded by the staff of ListenUp, the local audio/video retailer and Ebbets’ sound company. Many of the shows were simulcast, and I have copies of those that recorded off the radio that are like the best concert tapes I own. This is thanks to Co-founder and president Walt Stinson entered into an agreement with Ebbets to simulcast them for free on the radio, or record them for re-broadcast, usually on Sunday nights.Â
FM 102.3 KCUV is releasing compliation CD’s of some of this music, and a portion of the profits from the newly released Volume II go to the Morgan Adams Foundation, to raise awareness and financial support for pediatric cancer.
Volume II has a great medley of Willie Nelson, including his famous “Denver”, from his Red Headed Stranger album. So, okay, turn down the lights, sit back, smoke ‘em if you’ve got em, and enjoy the musical journey this collection will take you on:Â
1. LOUDON WAINWRIGHT III Down Drinking at the Bar – 6/19/74
2. WILLIE NELSON Denver/over the Waves/Down Yonder – 9/2/75
3. BREWER & SHIPLEY Witchi-Tai-To – 5/25/75
4. TOM RUSH No Regrets – 10/22/74
5. LIVINGSTON TAYLOR Carolina Day – 11/27/73
6. WENDY WALDMAN Mad Mad Me – 11/7/74
7. FAIRPORT CONVENTION Matty Groves – 5/23/74
8. STRAWBS Out in the Cold/Round and Round – 3/4/74
9. BRIAN AUGER’S OBLIVION EXPRESS Happiness Is Just Around the Bend – 4/4/74
10. WET WILLIE Grits Ain’t Groceries/Soul Jones – 6/27/74
11. TOMMY BOLIN Homeward Strut – 6/3/74
12. PROCTOR & BERGMAN Channel 85 Sign-On – 12/6/73
These tracks, digitally transfered directly from the original tapes, have been remastered by Bob Ferbrache at Absinthe Studios in Westminster. The CD package was designed by Steve Holt, includes a cover shot featuring a vintage hand-illustrated Ebbets Field crew shirt, and a twelve-page booklet with archival photographs of Brian Auger, Strawbs, Brewer & Shipley, Wet Willie, Tom Rush, Tommy Bolin and Fairport Convention onstage at Ebbets, taken by Bob Ferbrache. G. Brown wrote the liner notes detailing the history of Ebbets Field as well as help ListenUp and KCUVâ€.
You can google this and find ways to buy it on line, and I’ve seen it at some independent record stores, too.
For a while it seemed like I was at Ebbet’s once a week for all the great show. Though I saw many great concerts a few of my best memories are; Seeing a very drunken Ronnie Van Zandt being helped out the front door to a car while I stood in line for a second show (they often had two shows a night) I think the show might have been Eric Anderson. Skynyrd had played the night before at the Denver Collesium. I had seen Skynyrd before they really took off twice at Ebbets. Another time I ended up partying with Flo & Eddie and band upstairs at Brooks Towers. I wasn’t 21 yet and sitting on the floor drinking with Howard Kaylan was a big thrill for my buddy and I.
Besides the shows mentioned above I recall good ones with “The Good rats” David Bromberg, Leo Sayer and believe it or not Dolly Parton.
Dr. Hook’sd shows there in the 70’s have been released as a CD with I think it’s up to three different names now.. On the Run, Live in Denver, and I think another name. Available for about $15, it’s a great Cd for Hook fans.
Thanks for the information, Mister Doctor!
Are there tapes of Third World playing there sometime in the late 70’s. I think I was there. I’d love to get a copy if they exist.
I just don’t know, David. Wish I did!
Any consideration for theme oriented Ebbets compilations? There were some great progressive rock bands there over the years – Gentle Giant, Strawbs, PFM, Renaissance, Camel, Caravan – wow, it was incredible. Here’s hoping a “Progressive Ebbets” CD is in the offing!
I think that’s a great idea, John. Nice listing of bands. Hadn’t thought of it in years. Progressive Ebbets would be good. Lots of interest, I’d think.
Does anyone recall the other music place on Cofax that was a small burger/beer (3.2) place. I remember it was well east of Broadway and had some great acts there such as Louden Wainwrigth, David Bromberg and Poco who I met out back before their set. I was a bartender back in those days at the Great Divide Saloon on So Broadway. Good times.
I was a waitress with Teri at the Great Divide…good times isn’t even the word…our tips were in the bathroom! Then the jerk bought it and changed it all together….Ebbots was great, and so was the theatre in the round where Joplin played…those were the days…………….
I worked at Ebbets Field and was Chuck’s roommate, on Holly Street, for awhile. Just roommates. On my first night working there, John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, played. I worked the front door with John Patterson and had a hard time, not watching the band. John kept telling me to keep my mind on taking the money. HAHAHA!!!!! I love the good old days.
It was a shame when the BOYS from upstairs took over the club. It went down hill from there.
Greatest venue in the world. I’d like to have more recordings from the shows.
Just to be precise, Ebbets Field wasn’t in the Brooks Tower (which is on 15th St.) it was in the Executive Tower at 14th and Curtis (1405 Curtis). I didn’t get to CO until 1974, but I still have amazing memories from Ebbets…Warren Zevon (who was so out of control sloshed at those shows that Ahmet Ertegun sent Jackson Browne to Denver to reign him in), Stephen Stills solo in a benefit for Dick Lamm, having breakfast at 3 am with the Flying Burrito Brothers in the dive coffee shop next door…ah the good ol days,
Thanks for your info!
I saw a band play there one night in 73 thay were from hawaii,i cant remember there name,but ill never forget the lead guitar player he was one of the best i ever heard,hard rock sound,anybody remember them give me a call,i just cant remember there names,im thinking RAINBOW but not sure
wow. this is a blast from the musical past. i loved this club. it had all the intimacy of the clubs in greenwich village without the nyc attitude. maybe the best thing about it was its accessibility. at the time i was probably pulling down a whopping eighty bucks a week but i could still afford to spend an evening there occasionally. my favorite memories: the late, great Steve Goodman… I was surprised at how small he was cuz his records had a huge sound; jazz pianist, singer and stylist Mose Allison… the crowd was a little thin for this gig… I don’t think jazz was particularly popular in denver at the time… I asked Mose to play one of my favorite songs from his Mose Alive album, and he very graciously sat down and performed about half the songs on the album, damned nice of him. Loudon Wainright was also pretty accessible, and in the course of conversation we discovered that we actually spent our childhood summers on the same east coast beach… probably walked by each other a hundred times wading in and out of the surf, and wound up meeting a thousand miles from any ocean… too funny.
thanks for the memory!
I saw many shows there having first gotten to know Chuck when he was bartending at Tulagi’s in Boulder and later doing the booking (he hired my band). If he saw me in line he’d pull me out and take me in, even inviting me to John Prine’s birthday party. Some of my favorites were Climax Blues Band (amazing), David Bromberg, Curtis Mayfield, Commander Cody, John Prine, Steve Goodman, Frampton’s Camel along with Street Corner Symphony-incredible accapella (does anyone know who they were or where they came from?) and many I simply can’t remember, for some reason…hmm. I do remember that little bar on Colfax too but I can’t think of it’s name. I stood outside and listened to Country Joe & the Fish there (couldn’t afford a ticket that night) and saw the New Riders of the Purple Sage another night. Copped a buzz in the men’s room with Marmaduke. He had the hash and I had a pipe. Cool. Anyone remember Denver Dog from a few years earlier? Mucho fun too.
Oh yeah, Great Divide. Great little bar. Anyone remember my roomates Jim and Robin who tended bar there. Robin left to work the Playboy club as a bunny.
three friends and myself tripped up in the hills one afternoon raced back to D we were the last ones to get in so standing room only we were right up front a mere two feet away from Ronnie Van Zant ….LYNYRD SKYNYRD!!! great memories for a sixteen year old kid the only club that allowed minors
thanks chuck for all the memories
Good times, for sure. What a great show that was. Yes, thanks Chuck Morris.