I went to see the Linda Ronstadt movie — “The Sound of My Voice” — yesterday, and it made me extremely grateful that I had recognized, when I was young, what a singular talent she was.
I saw her twice in the mid-’70s, both times at Memorial Hall in KCK. I believe the first time was shortly after the 1974 release of the album “Heart Like a Wheel,” which featured such blockbuster songs like “You’re No Good,” “When Will I Be Loved” and my all-time Ronstadt favorite “Willin’,” written by the musician who founded the band Little Feat, Lowell George.
One of the things that made Ronstadt so special was the power and intimacy of her voice. The power flowed naturally, and the intimacy owed a lot to the humble, straightaway manner in which she performed. She couldn’t dance a lick and didn’t try to. She just held the mic close to her mouth, and with head tilted up, sometimes closed her eyes and let the sound pour out of her soul…I felt like she was singing to me.
Another factor in the intimacy was that she often performed in smaller venues, like Memorial Hall, which seats about 3,500. It comes out in the movie that she didn’t like the big arenas, partly because many are like echo chambers and also, I imagine, because they work against intimacy.
I remember the first trip to Memorial Hall better than the second, but both nights are a bit hazy because, first, it was long ago and, second, I and the guy I went with (both times, I believe) had smoked marijuana before setting out.
For the first concert, I had never been to Memorial Hall and didn’t know what the building looked like. I was driving my 1971 VW Super Beetle, and when we got on Seventh Street, by the civic complex, we were in a lot of traffic. Spotting a police or security officer standing next to a building, I told my buddy, “Go ask that guy where it is.” He jumped out, returned a minute later and said, “This is it.” Our destination was right in front of us.
The next challenge was finding a parking spot. All street spaces in the area were taken, of course, so I pulled into the brightly lighted lower level of a tall building almost directly across from the hall. To my amazement, the lot was virtually empty, and no one was monitoring the place. I parked and we crossed the street and entered the hall.
I had bought seats in advance — undoubtedly at Capers Corner on Mission Road (the guys that worked there were on the fringe of show business, you know) — and when we got inside we discovered our seats were in the last row of the lower level, stage left. The seats were close enough to the stage, no problem there, but a big stage light was situated right next to me. It was irritating at first, but shortly after Ronstadt took the stage, I got lost in the music.
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial, KCK
Still heavily affected by the marijuana, however, I was confused by the scene on the stage. The band members were spread apart, and one — might have been the steel guitar player — seemed to be a good distance off to one side. Every once in a while he would be illuminated, and I was under the impression he was playing pinball. I kept thinking, “Why is a guy playing pinball on stage, during the concert?”
As the concert went on, both my head and my perception of the stage activity cleared up.
The trance that the music had put me in did not let up, however, until the concert had ended. Trudging out of the hall with 3,500 other people was a harsh return to reality.
My buddy and I went crossed Seventh Street, back into the still brightly lighted, underground parking lot. I looked around and saw a dozen or so police cars — which had not been there before — parked for the night. Then I realized what I had done: I had parked in the City Hall garage. It was still unattended, and, fortunately, the windshield of my VW was ticket free.
With that, we headed back to Kansas City, MO.
**
Now, here’s that great song, Willin’, sung just about the way Ronstadt sang it that memorable night in Memorial Hall, about 45 years ago.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Sounds like a great time!
We had some ourselves, when you and John were here. You had me over for dinner a couple of times a week, and I never properly reciprocated. Just goin’ merrily along, takin’ what fell my way!
Patsy Cline’s last concert was at Memorial Hall. She died in a plane crash headed back to Nashville.
I did not know that.
My roommate and I drove to Denver in 1969 just to hear her sing Different Drum at some truly small dive bar! She was awesome!
Great story, Marsha. That was a phenomenal song. In the movie we learn she didn’t like the orchestral arrangement the studio came up with but ultimately went along with it. It was a big hit, of course. The studio then told her that when the Different Drum tour was over, that would be the end of The Stone Poneys. And it was.
I saw my first concert ever at Memorial Hall, a little more than 40 years ago (September 14, 1979). It was The Kinks, which in my opinion is one of the five greatest rock bands ever. The opening act was a guy named Johnny Cougar. He later became better known as John Cougar Mellencamp.
From 1970 to 1977, I worked for the concession company that had the rights to Memorial Hall (and Municipal Auditorium, Starlight Theatre, Lakeside Speedway, Riverside Raceway, and for a few years, KCIR, the dragstrip). I worked many, many concerts at Memorial Hall during those years, including the first Linda Rondstadt concert. It was a great music venue, and many big-name bands came through there, often either early or late (or both) in their touring days: Steppenwolf, Jefferson Airplane, Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Styx, Doobie Brothers, Grateful Dead, Queen, Genesis, Eagles. Oddly, a few of the best concerts I remember there were Badfinger, Sha Na Na and Todd Rundgren.
I wish I would have gone to more of those Memorial Hall concerts, Jon, like Procol Harum, Doobie Brothers and the Eagles…For a while, the Eagles were the warm-up band for Linda Ronstadt. I don’t remember, though, if that was the case at that first Ronstadt show.
Check out http://www.windsofchangekc.com/contact_1.html all the shows in the 60’s and 70’s in KC are listed in chronological order with the venue. On August 25, 1975 Born to Run was released, one month later on Sept 28, 1975 Bruce played Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, through a stroke of luck I was able to sit second row center for this 4 and half hour show, my life changed. We drove up from Wichita and drove back that night. Born to run hit #3 on the Billboard chart the week of 10/11. I drove from Wichita to see many shows at Memorial hall.
That’s quite a list, Karl — and quite a contribution to Kansas City history by Bob Olson (whom I’d never heard of).
I see that the first Linda Ronstadt concert took place on Feb. 9, 1974, with Jackson Browne as the headliner. He wasn’t the draw for me, and I don’t even remember seeing him; I was fixated on Linda. This tour followed release in September 1973 of the “Don’t Cry Now” album, which featured such songs as “Silver Threads and Golden Needles,” “Love Has No Pride,” and “Desperado.”
The second concert was Aug. 8, 1975. She was the headliner. That must have been the “Heart Like a Wheel” tour. That album came out in November 1974…Thanks for helping flesh out that history.
I saw the Ronstadt movie last night and thought it was terrific. There was so much about her that I didn’t know and I admire her willingness to follow her heart when she wanted to try different things.
Welcome to the Comments Dept., Jean.
What made Memorial Hall such a great place to see a live show was that it was the venue where artists both in their prime and on the verge of stardom performed when their tour came to KC. Bruce Springsteen’s shows there in 1975 and 1978 (the Darkness on the Edge of Town tour) are prime examples. The best concert I saw at Memorial Hall was on June 8, 1983. It was U2, which had released their third album, “War.” That was their breakthrough album and locally it elevated them from playing The Uptown Theatre, which they had done a year earlier, to the bigger but not arena-big Memorial Hall. Such a cool place.
Memorial Hall could still be a great concert venue…IF the Unified Government would put a couple of million dollars into a complete makeover. The place lost its cool through inattention a long time ago.