Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
1983 January - February
Write Ups and Reviews
- 2 January 1983 New York Sunday News
TV Appearances
- 17 January 1983 American Music Awards - the Go-Go's presented an award
- 5 February 1983 appearance on the popular Solid Gold television series
Other Go-ings On
- American Music Awards
- Grammy Awards
- Shrine Auditorium
- Go-Go Woes
- Industry Woes
- Solid Gold Go-Go's
- KTLA
The Go-Go's laid low for most of 1983. They needed time to regroup and sort out some business and personal problems that had been brewing on the back burner for awhile.
Women At Work by Fred Schruer
And this guy... felix
Cool pictures of KTLA on Sunset Boulevard -
In January and February 1983, they did manage to work in a few appearances.
The 10th annual American Music Awards were held on January 17, 1983
at the Shrine Auditorium.
The Shrine Auditorium
When the Shrine Auditorium was built (in 1926) it was the largest indoor auditorium in the world. The Shrine seats approximately 6,400 people. For years it hosted the Academy Awards and Grammy Awards and the American Music Awards and MTV Video Music Awards.In the early 1970's it was often used as a mid-size rock concert venue.
1972 Cat Stevens concert ad
L.A. Times
It was primarily used for more sedate entertainment such as ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and the The National Ballet Of Canada with Rudolf Nureyev frequently performed here.
2008 photo: tlc
2008 photo: tlc
The Shrine Auditorium is also the headquarters for the Shrine Fraternity. It was built by the membership of the Al Malaikah Temple.
2008 photo: tlc
The Shrine Auditorium is located at 665 W. Jefferson Boulevard south of downtown L.A. It is across the street from USC. For years USC used the Shrine for the Trojan basketball team.
2008 photo: tlc
My son the grad - so proud
2008:photo: tlc
2008 photo: tlc
The host for the evening ceremonies were Melissa Manchester and Mac Davis.
American Music Award winners in the Pop/Rock categories included:
John Cougar & Rick Springfield
Olivia New-John
Hall & Oats
Lionel Richie
Willie Nelson
Vacation LP was nominated for a Grammy award in for Best Packaging
1983 Grammy Awards were held February 23, 1983 at the Shrine Auditorium.
John Denver was the host.
Mick Haggerty, Ginger Canzoneri were nominated for a Grammy award for Best Album Package for Vacation.The Nominees for Best Album Package were:*Linda Ronstadt - Get Closer - winnerOingo Boingo - Nothing to FeatCrusaders - Onguku Kai Live in JapanThe Go-Go's Vacation LyricsPieces of a Dream - We Are OneGrammy Winners includedRecord of the Year Rosanna - TotoAlbum TotoSong Always on My Mind - Willie NelsonBest New Artist Men at WorkBest Pop Vocal Male Lionel Rickie for TrulyBest Pop Vocals Female Melissa ManchesterBest Pop Performance Joe Cocker and Jennifer WarnesBest Rock Vocal Male John Cougar Mellencamp for Hurts So BadBest Rock Vocal Female Pat Benatar for Shadows of the Night
It seemed that as soon as the 1982 tour was over, the troubles began.
Go-Go Woes included:
- Manager Ginger Canzoneri had left the band
- New business dealings with Front Line Management was up in the air
- Disappointing Vacation LP review and sales
- Band members were stressed and tired
- Squabbles with their record label over money issues (law suites)
- Squabbles amongst each other
- Charlotte's health problems with the nerves in her fingers (Carpal tunnel syndrome)
- Charlotte's drug problem escalating
- Gina health problems, money issues
- Jane's ego problem - issues re: her position in the band
- Belinda's drug/weight/alcohol problems
Go-G0 Financial Woes
In early 1983 the Go-Go's were embroiled in a legal battle with their record label IRS Records.
The Go-Go 's believed that they were owed over a million dollars in royalties for Beauty and the Beat. At the time, IRS said they did not have the money to pay them. They filed a lawsuit against I.R.S.
The Go-Go's attorney Emily Shenkin stated in Rolling Stone magazine- We've threatened to terminate our contract with IRS because of its failure to pay certain sums owning to them. As a result therof, IRS has sued us.
In effect, IRS Records filed a temporary restraining order to prevent the band from using a disagreement with IRS over advance royalty payments as an excuse to leave the record company.
According to an LA Times article, IRS Records executive Jay Boberg downplayed the dispute though he confirmed that the problem involved a 'technical point' involving the interpretation of advance payments.
The dispute was eventually handled out of court with the royalties being
paid and the band remaining on I.R.S. - for the time being. Go-Go's wanted to keep their options open at this point.
Hey Buddy - Want to buy a record?
The Record Industry Singing the Blues
The record industry was in a slump in the early 1980's. Record sales were way down from the previous year. Actually record sales had been sluggish for the last few years.
A lot of the smaller independent labels were suffering, but remarkably, IRS the small LA based label founded in 1978, was doing well. Much of their success was do to the success of Go-Go's and the Police.
However, many bands who started on the small IRS label moved onto bigger labels. The Police moved on to A&M Records which was a much larger studio.
This slump was partly due to the economic recession going on. The suggested retail price of an LP in 1983 was $5.98 instead of the $8.98 price tag that record companies suggested for LP.s
It was increasingly easy to tape popular songs from borrowed albums and radio.
By 1983, the record industry was in flux. A whole new video entertainment revolution going on and the music industry was having to quickly adjust. MTV launched in
August 1981 and the future of radio was questioned. Originally MTV had VJ's who played music videos 24/7 - modeled on the top 40 radio format.
CD's were just about to break through. The first album released in CD form was Billy Joel's 52nd Street on October 1, 1982 - in Japan. In early 1983 CD players were released in the USA. This was the start of the digital audio revolution.
In 1983, the question was, Should I buy a record, a LP or a cassette tape, or a cassingle, an 8-track, a video, BETA or VHS, a CD or just wait and what else might comes along next? jeez...
KTLA Channel 5
The Go-Go's appeared on Solid Gold TV show.
It was a traditional for Solid Gold to do an end of the year countdown show of the top pop songs. A special two-hour edition of Solid Gold aired on TV in February 1983. It payed tribute to the top 40 pop music songs of 1982.
From 1980 to 1984 Solid Gold was filmed at the KTLA lot at 5800 Sunset Boulevard (previously known as Paramount Sunset Studios and/or Warner Bros). In 1984 Solid Gold moved to the Paramount Studio lot.
2008 photo: tlc
2008 photo: tlc
2008 photo: tlc
2008 photo: tlc
2008 photo: tlc
In Los Angeles, KTLA was channel 5. In 1964 KTLA was purchased by actor, singer and cowboy Gene Autry.
Solid Gold aired on American TV from 1980 to 1988 usually on Saturday. It presented the week's top pop music. It featured the Solid Gold Dancers.
Guest performers would occasionally appear on the show to play their songs. This was before music videos had become commonplace.
-------------------------------------
Monday, February 9, 2009
1983 March - April
Other Go-ings On
- Jane teams up with Sparks in very Cool Places
- Belinda teams up with Dodger Mike Marshal
- Cool Pictures of Dodger Stadium
- 30 March 1983 - Jane performs with Sparks at the Anaheim Convention Center
Cool Cool Places
In March of 1983 Sparks released a new album called Sparks in Outer Space.
This was Spark's 12th LP. It was also the most successful Sparks LP in the USA.
The first single released from the album was Cool Places. It featured a duet between Spark's Russell Mael and Jane Wieldin. The single topped out at #49 on Billboard's Hot 100.
Jane did vocals on Cool Places and Lucky Me, Lucky You
Lyrics don't get better than this...
Belinda and her Dodger Blue
At this time Belinda was dating L.A. Dodger outfielder Mike Marshall. They set up house in Marina Del Rey CA.
Belinda had a baseball card collection of all her favorite players.
Cool Photos of Dodger Stadium
source: UCLA photo Archives
Dodger Stadium Photo's by me!
Sparks concert at the Anaheim Convention Center
800 W. Katella Avenue, Anaheim
30 March 1983
The Anaheim Convention Center was a 8,100 seat multi-purpose facility, however for the Sparks concert it was reduced to seat 3,500 on the floor.Russell Mael with his floppy haired and white pants wowed the crowd. Jane popped in and out throughout the concert.Opening for Sparks was the Bangles
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
