By Gary:
This post will be very different and for the people in Europe totally new. Burt Sugarman: Not a musician, singer or song writer, he was a television producer. In the 1970’s (1972-1981) he produced, for the NBC Television network, on Friday nights at 12:30 am “The Midnight Special”.
It was broadcast very late at night, but fans who loved live music like Shindig would not miss it. Over the Nine years he had some of the greatest groups PLAYING LIVE – NO LIP SYNCING.
So this post will be about those Fantastic Live performances. For those of you so inclined, Burt married TV personality Mary Hart in 1989 and today is 81 and living in L.A.
Mary Hart and Burt Sugarman
Burton Roy Sugarman (born January 4, 1939) is an American film and television producer best known for creating and producing the iconic 1970s/early ’80s showcase for rock-n-roll groups The Midnight Special.
Sugarman also produced the 1970s game show Celebrity Sweepstakes, The Richard Pryor Show, Whew! and The Wizard of Odds. During 1979, Sugarman also owned shares in Old Tucson Corporation, which owned the Old Tucson and Old Vegas amusement parks in Arizona and Nevada.
In the 1980s, he produced the motion pictures Kiss Me Goodbye, Extremities and Children of a Lesser God. He was the executive producer of the film Crimes of the Heart in 1986 and television series The Newlywed Game 1988. He was also part owner of Barris Industries (later known as the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company) before it was sold to Sony in 1989.
It would be impossible to give you the links to all of the Great Performances, so I will pick some of my favourites. See “Guest Stars” at the end for links for the rest.

1975 Peter Frampton

The Four Seasons / December 1963

The Doobie Brothers / Listen to the Music

Blondie / Heart of Glass

1973 / The Great Jim Croce / Bad Bad Leroy Brown

1979 / The Pointer Sisters / Fire

1973 / Johnny Nash / I can see clearly now

1976 / The Sylvers (one family and one very slick group) /

1976 /Fleetwood Mac / Rhiannon /

1977 / Glenn Campbell / Southern Nights /

1973 / John Denver / Take me home Country Roads /

1977 / Leo Sayer / You make me feel like Dancing /
