December 4, 1976 (12 pages)

Records Personal promotion brings Starbuck success By MARY CAMPBELL AP Newsfeatures ‘Moonlight Feels Right”. got to be a hit because two of the musicians who recorded it drove around the country handing out copies of the record to radio disc jockeys and because one dj, Michael St. John in Birmingham, kept his promise to play it “next spring.” Bo Wagner and Bruce Blackman of Starbuck feel ‘ they’re qualified to recount ‘‘a history of marginal rock ny’ roll.”’ Blackman says, “You live marginally. You work to get enough money to go home, eat a sandwich and watch TV. It’s terrible but you can do it.’’ In November 1975 his car was repossessed because he couldn’t keep up the payments on it. Blackman, a native of Pine Bluff, Ark., reared in Greenville, Miss., had been playing in bars in Atlanta but he figured he’d never achieve anything that way. People in bars “want to hear everything except original material,” he says. So from January to November 1974 hewas writing songs, while his wife supported them and their son by working as a waitress. “My wife is retired now, I’m happy to say — if you can call raising a 6-year-old child retired.” Blackman took his songs to Atlanta publisher Bill Lowry, who liked “Working My Heart to the Bone” and “Drop a Little Rock.” Lowry asked if Blackman had any more songs like those two. “I said I had dozens. I didn’t want to blow a recording session but I didn't even know ‘what he meant by songs like those.” The “Moonlight Feels Right” had been in Blackman’s mind and he'd started a song. That night he finished it and wrote anotber song. A seven-man group built around Blackman on keyboards and Bo Wagner on marimbas and vibes recorded the four tunes. Blackman also sang lead for the first time in his life since, as composer, he seemed to get the meaning across best. Tapes of the four songs were sent to 17 record companies. Turndowns came from all 17. Then. in February 1975 a deal for the release of one 45 r.p.m. record, ‘(Moonlight Feels Right,” was signed with Private Stock Records. The record was released in September 1975. Blackman says, ‘That was in the middle of the time when radio stations’ listener ratings are being checked. It’s the worst time for a new act to come out with a new single record. There wasn’t one single station on the face of the earth playing the record. “Our publisher was talking about promoting the record. We said we'd be glad to go out and do it. He funded us $700. We supplemented it with $5,000; we were virtually bankrupt after it was over. We got in two cars — we didn’t go together. We visited over 200 radio stations. We drove over 8,000 miles, stayed in the cheapest places we could find. We went four and a half weeks each — until we ran out of money. “Bo had gone by Birmingham. Michael St. John said he felt it was a strong spring record. He said he’d add it to his play list in the spring. We thought he was just being nice. But in March 1976 he did it and that was the big turning point. It sold 18,000 copies in Birmingham in one week.” But Wagner and Blackman were living up to the name of the group, Starbuck, even before that happened. They’d bought 200 more copies of the record and were ready to start out on the same kind of promotion tour again. As it was, with activity in Birmingham, they had enough money to go to San Francisco and the record to disc jockeys there. They played it and ‘Moonlight Feels Right’’ was on its way to becoming a national hit. Starbuck was the name of the character played by Burt Lancaster in the movie, ‘The Rain Maker.” Blackman says, “He was the eternal optimist, shooting for the stars.” _ §Starbuck, the group, made an album for Private Stock . after the single was a hit. They worked it out on cheap tape recorders at home and were able to make it in three days of expensive time in a recording studio. Nine songs . Cobb. He had a group with Jimmy Seals, now of Seals and Crofts, called the Mystics, did studio session work which led into the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Michael Murphey and he did some acting. He and Blackman met eight years ago and have worked together since. Wagner loves unusual sounding instruments. He believes he had the first amplified marimba in the world. He recently has added an instrument from a Mexican Indian village to his marimba with its wood bars and vibraphone with its metal bars. Concerts are scheduled for the group this season and a second LP probably will come out in January. Increased fortune will lead Wagner to marry soon. Blackman says, “It'll be nice not to have my car repossessed. Other than that, I don’t think about it.” Top Ten Best-selling records of the week based on The Cashbox *s nationwide survey: iit 4 2 Seo es oe 2 = -Wevada County Nugget — Saturday, December 4, 1976 — Page 9 (5-10-12) A tribute to a giant of American music, Shand : ter Richard Rodgers. bees wee ite mine canagenent: 9:00 RUDOLPH’S SHINY NEW YEAR (7-13) °merstein 2nd and Henry Winkler, Lorenz-Hart) —jjeanwhile, a hot-shot radio personality milks the appear in dramatized vignettes from Rodgers gicaster for pathos at the expense of townspeople life, but Rodgers’ music dominates the show. (2 awaiting word on the trapped miners. (60 min.) Gene Kelly as Oscar Hamnegli hrs.) Loatev ay oat? en oe ep ke everebre ras #A* AS WAH St Or aA90.9 must find Happy, the Baby New. Year, whose disappearance could bring time to a haltBabe ha Rk er Oe A So a a 6:30 6-9-Wall Street Week . BRIDAY, DECEMBER W, 1976 Couple 9:00 3-Rockford: Files Serta Iz a News $-10-12-Movie: “Report to the Com Movie: “Nattiny in the Sig House” 7-13-Movie: “What's Up, Doc?” @-Star Trek @:10 9-Boston Pops in Hollywood Trek ane Sn ee » @-Star i 6:18, ¢Bectric Company : One! 4-Dinah! 6:30 -.21 ci 6:15 9-Villa 9:15 SEVIS Menbareaip Heda Orive "ue SSNS Ne a 2-Serpico 40 es e-News 9:30 Visions ae exten W020 6.54 Charing Cross Road . 6:4 « KQED Membership-Pledge . 9:55 %-News News . 13-News veo. ¢Movie . “The Fall of the Raman Empire” 0:00 2.40-News ; . chwechell . Letrer Report Stn Permanence at Wolf Trap New env Raper + Saon.000 $i ng ae + asi Hartman, Mary Hartman ’. 26-Merv Geifrin Pm a 44-Adam19:15. $-10-12-News wees Americ tiers Club 1 en ON ee anna 11:00 : , @-FBI He poder? 3-S-7-10-12-13-News + Prof 7-S.W.AT. ; aie te embership-P Qrive 7-Gong Show nancies 7:30 3-Hollywood Squares : aii 9-Newsreom ; %-Movie: “The Masnter”’ € Where Gods ‘oung ene Foe oe 1:45 $-Movie: “A Clear and Present Danger” 7-Hollywood Squares 11:15 6 Nepal: the are Yi 8:00 2-NBA Basketball 1 Sat ph roe To Colebrity Sweepstakes 11:30 2:Love, American Style ie ren tees § Movie: “C.C. and y 44-Hogan’s Heroes: "$Jdohnny Carson 69-Washington Review 12:00 40-.Movie: “The Syp Wha Came in From the Loh Se Kor : . Li Reasons Sy ee A4-Night Gallery @:00 3.Dick Van Dyke $-10-12-Waltons 7. Of San Francisco %-Movie: “Lady Possessed’ . 6-9-MembershipDrive 3-Ironside @-Movie: “The Thin Red Line”7-13-Welcome Back, 3% Movie ‘The Killiog Machine” ; ms st “House angers @-Love, American Style : ‘ . : pee re 11:45 9-ABC News FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS leoperatting Mure Ne en bdiagg mage aoe rr, Mp Movie “Prince of Players,“’ 9:00 CBS NEWS SPECIAL (5-10-12) “Friends, caveman, a knight and a whale. Johnny Marts’ 44-Night Gatiery “ probes the growing inwrote the score. (1 hr.) z RSD, GHTS prea sg i ct won 34 per. cent semis as . Be as ace —_— opposed to the ruling Chr an Democrats’ 39 per «9:15 PATTY HEARST: ON THE WITNESS 9:00AMERICA SALUTES RICHARD RODGERS 19.09. GIBBSVILLE (3) A mine explosion sends cent, (60 min.) . STAND (6) A dramatic reenactment of portions 8 ES a Be tapes we ¥ SEEN aa A SSSHAHHSSSSSCASHTSTH SEE STHHSHSSOOAATOSSEEAE SES EESOE HE SSE OSE DORE ERR H A HN Mem PREM ee PONG HL TPO TTA ea ee eee ee ee SE ES

Records Personal promotion brings Starbuck success By MARY CAMPBELL AP Newsfeatures ‘Moonlight Feels Right”. got to be a hit because two of the musicians who recorded it drove around the country handing out copies of the record to radio disc jockeys and because one dj, Michael St. John in Birmingham, kept his promise to play it “next spring.” Bo Wagner and Bruce Blackman of Starbuck feel ‘ they’re qualified to recount ‘‘a history of marginal rock ny’ roll.”’ Blackman says, “You live marginally. You work to get enough money to go home, eat a sandwich and watch TV. It’s terrible but you can do it.’’ In November 1975 his car was repossessed because he couldn’t keep up the payments on it. Blackman, a native of Pine Bluff, Ark., reared in Greenville, Miss., had been playing in bars in Atlanta but he figured he’d never achieve anything that way. People in bars “want to hear everything except original material,” he says. So from January to November 1974 hewas writing songs, while his wife supported them and their son by working as a waitress. “My wife is retired now, I’m happy to say — if you can call raising a 6-year-old child retired.” Blackman took his songs to Atlanta publisher Bill Lowry, who liked “Working My Heart to the Bone” and “Drop a Little Rock.” Lowry asked if Blackman had any more songs like those two. “I said I had dozens. I didn’t want to blow a recording session but I didn't even know ‘what he meant by songs like those.” The “Moonlight Feels Right” had been in Blackman’s mind and he'd started a song. That night he finished it and wrote anotber song. A seven-man group built around Blackman on keyboards and Bo Wagner on marimbas and vibes recorded the four tunes. Blackman also sang lead for the first time in his life since, as composer, he seemed to get the meaning across best. Tapes of the four songs were sent to 17 record companies. Turndowns came from all 17. Then. in February 1975 a deal for the release of one 45 r.p.m. record, ‘(Moonlight Feels Right,” was signed with Private Stock Records. The record was released in September 1975. Blackman says, ‘That was in the middle of the time when radio stations’ listener ratings are being checked. It’s the worst time for a new act to come out with a new single record. There wasn’t one single station on the face of the earth playing the record. “Our publisher was talking about promoting the record. We said we'd be glad to go out and do it. He funded us $700. We supplemented it with $5,000; we were virtually bankrupt after it was over. We got in two cars — we didn’t go together. We visited over 200 radio stations. We drove over 8,000 miles, stayed in the cheapest places we could find. We went four and a half weeks each — until we ran out of money. “Bo had gone by Birmingham. Michael St. John said he felt it was a strong spring record. He said he’d add it to his play list in the spring. We thought he was just being nice. But in March 1976 he did it and that was the big turning point. It sold 18,000 copies in Birmingham in one week.” But Wagner and Blackman were living up to the name of the group, Starbuck, even before that happened. They’d bought 200 more copies of the record and were ready to start out on the same kind of promotion tour again. As it was, with activity in Birmingham, they had enough money to go to San Francisco and the record to disc jockeys there. They played it and ‘Moonlight Feels Right’’ was on its way to becoming a national hit. Starbuck was the name of the character played by Burt Lancaster in the movie, ‘The Rain Maker.” Blackman says, “He was the eternal optimist, shooting for the stars.” _ §Starbuck, the group, made an album for Private Stock . after the single was a hit. They worked it out on cheap tape recorders at home and were able to make it in three

days of expensive time in a recording studio. Nine songs . Cobb. He had a group with Jimmy Seals, now of Seals and Crofts, called the Mystics, did studio session work which led into the Lewis and Clark Expedition with Michael Murphey and he did some acting. He and Blackman met eight years ago and have worked together since. Wagner loves unusual sounding instruments. He believes he had the first amplified marimba in the world. He recently has added an instrument from a Mexican Indian village to his marimba with its wood bars and vibraphone with its metal bars. Concerts are scheduled for the group this season and a second LP probably will come out in January. Increased fortune will lead Wagner to marry soon. Blackman says, “It'll be nice not to have my car repossessed. Other than that, I don’t think about it.” Top Ten Best-selling records of the week based on The Cashbox *s nationwide survey: iit 4 2 Seo es oe 2 = -Wevada County Nugget — Saturday, December 4, 1976 — Page 9 (5-10-12) A tribute to a giant of American music, Shand : ter Richard Rodgers. bees wee ite mine canagenent: 9:00 RUDOLPH’S SHINY NEW YEAR (7-13) °merstein 2nd and Henry Winkler, Lorenz-Hart) —jjeanwhile, a hot-shot radio personality milks the appear in dramatized vignettes from Rodgers gicaster for pathos at the expense of townspeople life, but Rodgers’ music dominates the show. (2 awaiting word on the trapped miners. (60 min.) Gene Kelly as Oscar Hamnegli hrs.) Loatev ay oat? en oe ep ke everebre ras #A* AS WAH St Or aA90.9 must find Happy, the Baby New. Year, whose disappearance could bring time to a haltBabe ha Rk er Oe A So a a 6:30 6-9-Wall Street Week . BRIDAY, DECEMBER W, 1976 Couple 9:00 3-Rockford: Files Serta Iz a News $-10-12-Movie: “Report to the Com Movie: “Nattiny in the Sig House” 7-13-Movie: “What's Up, Doc?” @-Star Trek @:10 9-Boston Pops in Hollywood Trek ane Sn ee » @-Star i 6:18, ¢Bectric Company : One! 4-Dinah! 6:30 -.21 ci 6:15 9-Villa 9:15 SEVIS Menbareaip Heda Orive "ue SSNS Ne a 2-Serpico 40 es e-News 9:30 Visions ae exten W020 6.54 Charing Cross Road . 6:4 « KQED Membership-Pledge . 9:55 %-News News . 13-News veo. ¢Movie . “The Fall of the Raman Empire” 0:00 2.40-News ; . chwechell . Letrer Report Stn Permanence at Wolf Trap New env Raper + Saon.000 $i ng ae + asi Hartman, Mary Hartman ’. 26-Merv Geifrin Pm a 44-Adam19:15. $-10-12-News wees Americ tiers Club 1 en ON ee anna 11:00 : , @-FBI He poder? 3-S-7-10-12-13-News + Prof 7-S.W.AT. ; aie te embership-P Qrive 7-Gong Show nancies 7:30 3-Hollywood Squares : aii 9-Newsreom ; %-Movie: “The Masnter”’ € Where Gods ‘oung ene Foe oe 1:45 $-Movie: “A Clear and Present Danger” 7-Hollywood Squares 11:15 6 Nepal: the are Yi 8:00 2-NBA Basketball 1 Sat ph roe To Colebrity Sweepstakes 11:30 2:Love, American Style ie ren tees § Movie: “C.C. and y 44-Hogan’s Heroes: "$Jdohnny Carson 69-Washington Review 12:00 40-.Movie: “The Syp Wha Came in From the Loh Se Kor : . Li Reasons Sy ee A4-Night Gallery @:00 3.Dick Van Dyke $-10-12-Waltons 7. Of San Francisco %-Movie: “Lady Possessed’ . 6-9-MembershipDrive 3-Ironside @-Movie: “The Thin Red Line”7-13-Welcome Back, 3% Movie ‘The Killiog Machine” ; ms st “House angers @-Love, American Style : ‘ . : pee re 11:45 9-ABC News FRIDAY HIGHLIGHTS leoperatting Mure Ne en bdiagg mage aoe rr, Mp Movie “Prince of Players,“’ 9:00 CBS NEWS SPECIAL (5-10-12) “Friends, caveman, a knight and a whale. Johnny Marts’ 44-Night Gatiery “ probes the growing inwrote the score. (1 hr.) z RSD, GHTS prea sg i ct won 34 per. cent semis as . Be as ace —_— opposed to the ruling Chr an Democrats’ 39 per «9:15 PATTY HEARST: ON THE WITNESS 9:00AMERICA SALUTES RICHARD RODGERS 19.09. GIBBSVILLE (3) A mine explosion sends cent, (60 min.) . STAND (6) A dramatic reenactment of portions 8 ES a Be tapes we ¥ SEEN aa A SSSHAHHSSSSSCASHTSTH SEE STHHSHSSOOAATOSSEEAE SES EESOE HE SSE OSE DORE ERR H A HN Mem PREM ee PONG HL TPO TTA ea ee eee ee ee SE ES