University Program Council at the University of Alabama – Professional Southerner (2024)

When I started attending the University of Alabama in the mid-70s, Paul “Bear” Bryant’s Crimson Tide dynasty was at its peak. Family moves had meant that I attended six junior and senior high schools in three states and I was determined to stay at one university for the full four years and dive into everything college life had to offer. Everything, that is, except Greek life – it was the post-60s Seventies and Greek participation was at a historic low, even at Alabama. That was fine with me. In the summer before I started, I received a recruitment letter from the Interfraternity Council. I was a scrappy guy back then and took out a red pen, marked the grammar and spelling errors, and sent the letter back with a note to get back to me when they found somebody who could proofread their correspondence; I never heard back.

But I did go to the Supe Store, bought one of those crimson felt “A” hats, and attended every home football game in the days when half the home games were still played at Birmingham’s Legion Field and Tuscaloosa’s Denny Stadium held a mere 60,000.

Tuscaloosa was a great college town in those years. The Strip had not been gentrified and was lined with indie businesses – laundromats, book stores, barber shop, movie theater, clothes shops, head shops, deli, waterbed store, Sneaky Pete’s, Kwik Snak, Krystal, Morrison’s Cafeteria, and a Greek-oriented men’s clothing store (where I bought button-downs to be ironic). Legislation at that time did not allow bars within a certain distance of the campus, so there were none. When the law changed, the Strip began to change drastically.

I continued to follow Alabama football, but ditched the felt hat and immersed myself in all the other things a university has to offer. The music scene, readings, concerts, art shows, lectures, movies, plays – I enhanced my education through extracurricular activities.

The University Program Council at Alabama was a truly stand-out organization. It was student-run and was the most productive producer of a wide range of high-quality entertainment in the region with large concerts at the Coliseum, and smaller concerts, speakers, and events at venues including Morgan Hall, Foster Auditorium, the theater at Ferguson Center, and the Bama Theatre downtown. I hesitate to try to list acts that played on the campus because I will inevitably leave out something amazing.

I soon became a UPC volunteer and began to get more responsibilities as I worked within the organization. I often worked “Security” and over time I began to get assigned to backstage “Artist Relations” duties. I have often remarked that it’s amazing what we’d do for a free tee-shirt back then, but we also had the opportunity to see a lot of the top acts and influential people of that era. I still have a few of those tee-shirts, wrinkled and way too small to wear. My favorite design, for Traffic / Little Feat, was worn so much that it has become see-through.

Here are a few memories:

1. At a drum solo during a Jethro Tull concert, Ian Anderson came and sat next to me backstage and tried to start a conversation. I admitted to him that I had a “splitting headache” and didn’t really feel like chatting.
2. When the Rolling Stones were in town, a friend was working at an ice cream shop. On the afternoon of the concert, a group of people came in and ordered ice cream. When they left, my friend asked, “Who was that blind guy?” It was Stevie Wonder, the Stone’s opening act.
3. The mother of one of the Commodores insisted that I eat with the family backstage after she declared me “too skinny.”
4. After supervising the removal of furniture from Robert Palmer’s dressing room after a concert (he had opened for Gary Wright), on my final check I found Palmer – fully dressed, soaking wet, still looking great – reclining in the shower. I apologized, saying that I wouldn’t have removed the furniture if I had realized he was still there. “It’s fine; I’m not using the furniture,” he replied.
5. Working backstage during a Lily Tomlin stand-up appearance, she invited me to come to her dressing room and eat with her. Apparently, people felt a need to feed me back then.
6. I picked up the phone at the UPC office before one of Elvis Presley’s several Tuscaloosa appearances to find Col. Tom Parker on the other end. He insisted that no women should be backstage because “women can’t control themselves in the presence of Elvis.” I assured him that the women of our backstage crew were totally professional and would contain themselves.
7. I worked the Ferguson Center box office for presales of Elvis tickets. Patrons were outraged that Elvis tickets were $20. It was outrageous then. Most UPC events had $2-3.00 student prices and general admission was usually around $5 at the time.
8. Buckingham Nicks, a band that had a large following in the Birmingham metro due to rigorous radio airplay, did two Morgan Hall concerts just days before Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks announced they were joining Fleetwood Mac.
9. Backstage before the Grateful Dead concert, their traveling chef fed me a bite and introduced me to Jerry Garcia. I’m missing a finger on my left hand and Garcia was missing a finger on his right hand. I thought a good conversation opener would be to say to Garcia that “We share a deformity.” It wasn’t.
10. During that same Grateful Dead concert, I somehow found myself rolling a toy truck back and forth in front of the stage with the toddler son of band members Keith and Donna Godchaux.
11. Muddy Waters opened for Eric Clapton. Need I say more?
12. At the Joni Mitchell concert – well, I’ve told that one too many times, probably. There’s another essay about my very brief encounter with Joni somewhere on this website.

These memories are ignited by a new website launched by David Muscari and others who were involved in the University Program Council back in the ‘60s and ‘70s. I heard from David for the first time since college not long ago, asking for my input and support on a new website to chronicle the history of a unique and significant period in the history of the University of Alabama. While I was communicating with David, I also reconnected with Barry Bukstein, who was the brainchild behind UPC’s “Laughter under the Stars” series which gave me that opportunity to hang for a few minutes with Lily Tomlin.

UPC was a life-changing volunteer opportunity for so many people as well as a way to expose a large audience to diverse voices, world-class artists and entertainment, and cultural enrichment. The new website is a snapshot of an integral period of the University and the nation.

Whether you are an Alabama student or alum or have never set foot on the campus, the website is a great way to brush up on what was going on at a very specific time in our cultural history. It was a lot of work by a lot of people. And it was a lot of fun. It was key to my education and beyond. Check it out: https://www.upcalabama.com