Three Dog Night – CountUp

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Over the past 39 years I’ve attended over 150 concerts and LIVE events at various venues. It all started in England in 1986 when I attended 17 LIVE music concerts in the span of about 16 months. The pace slowed down quite a bit once I returned home stateside, and the last 100 concerts and events have occurred since 2004.

Last Friday night was a bucket list act. I’ve always wanted to see Three Dog Night LIVE in concert, and so I finally did. They were my first favorite band on the radio when I was a little kid in Prince Georges County Maryland during the early-1970s. I liked all of their songs – especially “Mama Told Me Not To Come”, “Joy To The World”, “An Old Fashioned Love Song”, “Black And White”, and “Shambala”. (I still love those songs today. They are all on my Spotify.)

The concert was awesome. They performed 18 songs – 17 of their 21 consecutive Billboard Top 40 hits from 1969 to 1975 – as well as a newer song for an upcoming new album. Danny Hutton (the only original) and David Morgan also told short stories in-between many of the songs. Their final song had nearly the entire arena singing in unison (and some dancing too) – “Joy To The World” – the # 1 song in America and Canada for the entire year of 1971.

Interesting story on David Morgan. I thought he joined the band in 1981 when they reformed after disbanding 5 years earlier, but upon further research after the concert – I learned that he’s only been a member since 2015. He replaced original founding member Cory Wells after he passed away. That’s how good David Morgan is. I thought he was on the band for the past 44 years, but he’s only been with them for 9. He sang lead on many of the songs, and he was impressive – and energetic. I think he’s been a fan of the band for as long as me. He’s also been a musician for the past 65 years – touring and recording with such greats as Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Dolly Parton, and Rick Nelson. If you watched “Hardcastle & McCormick” on ABC-TV back in the mid-1980s – then you heard David Morgan every week. He sang the theme song for the show – “Drive”.

This was a rare sold-out concert at the Alan Jay Wildstein Center For The Performing Arts at South Florida State College in Avon Park Florida, so that’s 1,460 seats sold. If I had to guess – then I’d say that about 90% of the attendance was between the ages of 65 and 75. I was part of the 10% under 65 or over 75. So – most of the attendees were born from 1950 to 1960, so they were in their teens and 20s when Three Dog Night were one of the hottest bands in America. (I of course was a bit younger – age 2 to 8.)

Fun Facts: Three Dog Night hosted the cocktail party on the November 29TH 1971 episode of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In”, as they sang “Joy To The World” (with pauses for jokes). They also hosted the inaugural edition of Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on December 31ST 1972.

I can only imagine what a Three Dog Night concert was like during the early-1970s, and I’m guessing that some of my fellow attendees may have experienced such a wild night of music (and more) back then. Now I can say that I’ve also been to a Three Dog Night concert – 2025-style.

It’s on to Fort Myers and Estero Florida for another music concert – next – #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

I love doing this feature on Fridays. It’s an ode to my long-running hobby of a #CountUp of the top pop hits each week. It’s also a nod to my previous endeavor online – the predecessor to this blog – my own once-popular dot.com hit music web site that ran from the late-1990s through the first year of my salvation. I once had a feature on there called “The Major’s MASSIVE Memories” where I highlighted the greatest hits of my life.

Today – Friday June 05TH 2020 – is my 53RD birthday ! It feels great to be 53. Some days I feel 53. Some days I feel older than 53. Other days I feel younger. Speaking of younger:

YEP – That’s me from exactly 49 years ago on Saturday June 05TH 1971. There I am turning 4 years old blowing out the candles on my birthday cake. That was in our cozy apartment in Greenbelt Maryland.

If I was listening to the radio on that day (and I probably was) I was listening to WWDC AM-1260 where I first discovered pop music. Here are the Top 5 hits from coast-to-coast on my 4TH birthday:

1. “Brown Sugar” – The Rolling Stones
2. “Joy To The World” – Three Dog Night
3. “Want Ads” – The Honey Cone
4. “It Don’t Come Easy” – Ringo Starr
5. “Rainy Days And Mondays” – The Carpenters

I loved Three Dog Night growing up as a little kid, and I still love them today. “Joy To The World” is actually in heavy rotation today on my iTunes Library and iPod Shuffles. It’s one of the greatest hits of my life. Here’s Three Dog Night performing at the cocktail party on the Monday November 29TH 1971 episode of “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” – one of my favorite TV shows back in the day: