Ebbets Field

It might seem that I’m going to write another baseball blog, but this entry is about one of Denver’s great downtown ‘70s nightspots, Ebbets Field at 15^th Street at Curtis.  Chuck Morris, a New York City transplant, was a huge Brooklyn Dodgers fan and named his Denver nightclub after their famous ballpark. 

The club was not a field, but rather a small nightclub that could squeeze 238 people in for an intimate performance.  Surrounding the stage were three or four rows of bleacher type seats that were covered by black, orange and brown shag carpeting. Waitresses mingled in the crowd bringing drinks right to your seat.

In 1974 and 75, I was the music director and nighttime deejay at KTLK, a Top 40 station in Denver.  The KTLK studio was located downtown, so it was easy for me to head over to Ebbets Field and catch a show when I got off the air at 10:00.

I saw amazing performances there. Some favorite memories:  Tommy Bolin and friends, Little Feat, The Outlaws, Ry Cooder, Michael Murphy, John Stewart, Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Spirit, and Muddy Waters with B.B. King.

And then, there was Emmylou Harris, a couple of shows with Tom Waits, Dan Fogelberg, Jerry Jeff Walker, Marshall Tucker Band, and Willie Nelson. There really wasn’t a bad seat in the place; every seat was close to the stage.  The state-of-the-art Listen Up sound system made the concert experience at Ebbets Field unsurpassed.

Probably the most bizarre show I saw there was Barry Manilow on March 11, 1975.  Barry was flying high with his first hit song “Mandy” and was booked for a six-night stand at Ebbets Field.  When Barry had come by to meet me at KTLK earlier in the day, I arranged for a block of tickets.  I gathered a group of my friends and told them to save a seat for me.  As soon as I got off the air, I would join them. 

I arrived at Ebbets Field just as Barry’s second set was about to begin.  My friends had saved a seat for me right in the second row.  I ordered a beer and settled in as Barry walked in from the dressing room on crutches.  He struggled to get up on the stage and proceeded to trip over the microphone cable and fell flat on his face.   He pulled himself up and situated himself on the piano stool in front of his band and made some humorous comments about being such a klutz.  I found his comments funny, but noticed that no one else was laughing.

After he sang his first song, he went into a monologue about the current events of the day.  It was a humorous rant, but I noticed that as he was talking, people in the audience weren’t laughing.  As a matter of fact, several people were putting on their coats and preparing to leave the club.  And when Barry went into his second song of his set, quite a few patrons closed out their tab and left the venue.

Barry did another comedy skit at the end of the second song.  It was like a vaudeville show: music and comedy.  I was amused, but I noticed that even more people were leaving the club.  Barry seemed oblivious to the cool response from the audience and pushed through his show.  I looked over to my friends who were cracking up. I asked my friend Steve what was going on.  Why is no one laughing at Barry’s skits?

Steve told me after the first set of the evening, the manager of Ebetts Field told the audience that a mistake had been made and no tickets for the second show had been sold, so everyone was welcomed to stay for the second show and get a complementary drink.  Obviously, no one told Barry, because he was doing the same exact shtick he did for the first show, song-for-song, word-for-word, including the comedy bits and even tripping over the microphone cord and the accompanying comments.

Oh Barry, you came and gave without taking, but we sent you away.