After 30 years, it's last call for Hobbs' Nashville Palace

NASHVILLE -- My favorite watering hole, John Hobbs' Nashville Palace, which has been visited and enjoyed by many in the amusement industry, closed its doors after 30 continuous years of operation with a star-studded party March 7.

The crowd was so large that Mayor Bill Purcell was heard exclaiming as he left the building, "I have to get out of here before the fire marshal shows up!" Bud Gilmore, owner of Smokey's Greater Shows, flew up for the event with his wife, Jeanette. They were joined by fellow carnival owners Hillman Snyder Jr. and Janie Snyder of Snyder & Metts Amusements, along with his mother, Shirley, their daughter, Jill, and her husband, Mike McCormack. There were plenty of country music artists there as well: Jim Ed Brown, Jeannie Seely, Johnny Counterfit, Rick (L.D.) Wayne (lead guitar player for Randy Travis and Porter Wagoner), Steve Hall, Shotgun Red, Margo Smith, Leona Williams (who was married to Buck Owens and Merle Haggard), Charley Dick (who was married to Patsy Cline), Dianne Sherrill, Tom Grant and Steve Hill, whose band performed there for almost 20 years. Music execs and just about every area judge who ever donned a robe came by as well. Hobbs was surprised and honored when the mayor announced that a section of Briley Parkway is being named after him.

After the party, I headed to Florida to attend fairs in Orlando and Plant City and the Mid-West Fairs Assn. meeting in Kissimmee, all in the same week. At Orlando, Frank Zaitshik of Wade Shows waxed eloquently when he said, "There are always problems facing carnival owners, such as workmen's compensation and insurance, with the high price of fuel being the latest. The fuel costs won't put you out of business, but they will make people assess if they want to be in business."

In Plant City, Joey Fowler, who has games with Jim Murphy's Mighty Blue Grass Shows, said he would start his ninth season of booking 12-15 games on the Ozzfest tour, which opens July 15 at Mansfield, Mass., and runs through Labor Day. Murphy confirmed he has worked out a deal with Zaitshik where Wade will bring equipment to the Greater Jacksonville (Fla.) Fair and Blue Grass, in turn, will go to the Alabama National Fair in Montgomery. "Frank also said I can bring anything I want to Raleigh (the North Carolina State Fair), a nice offer," he said. "We can help each other."



The opening of baseball season is my favorite time of the year. I look back fondly on such intriguing Opening Day pitching matchups as Cleveland's "Bullet Bob" Feller vs. Detroit's "Prince Hal" Newhouser; Philadelphia's "Rapid Robin" Roberts vs. Brooklyn's Don Newcombe; and the New York Yankees' Vic Raschi vs. Boston's Mel Parnell. What happened to the great nicknames given to pitchers of the past? I especially liked Lynwood "Schoolboy" Rowe; Elwood "Preacher" Roe; Lewis "Bobo" Newsom; Luke "Hot Potato" Hamlin; Ewell "The Whip" Blackwell; Paul "Dizzy" Trout; Virgil "Fire" Trucks; Jerome "Dizzy" Dean and his brother, Paul "Daffy" Dean; Harry "The Cat" Brecheen; Harvey "The Kitten" Haddix; Walter "Big Train" Johnson; Sal "The Barber" Maglie; Jim "Catfish" Hunter; Mark "The Bird" Fidrych; Dick "The Monster" Radatz; and my all-time favorite, Hugh "Losing Pitcher" Mulcahy.

Have all great days, and God bless!

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