November 25, 1976: The Band's "Last Waltz"

November 25, 1976: Once upon a time, there was a rock and roll band named simply "The Band." On this Thanksgiving Night, their original lineup played its last concert. It led to what has often been called the greatest rock documentary, titled The Last Waltz.

In 1957, in his native Arkansas, high school senior Levon Helm met singer Ronnie Hawkins. Hawkins invited Helm to drum with his band, The Hawks. Hawkins hadn't gotten very far in America, but was popular in Canada. The rest of the band was from the Canadian Province of Ontario: Lead guitarist Robbie Robertson from Toronto, bass guitarist Rick Danko from Blayney, and keyboard players Richard Manuel from Stratford, and Garth Hudson from Windsor, across the Detroit River from Detroit.

In 1963, tired of playing the same old songs instead of original material, the Hawks left Hawkins. In 1965, they joined Bob Dylan, and became his touring band until his motorcycle wreck in 1966. As Dylan recovered in 1967, together, in the basement of Dylan's house in Saugerties, New York, they recorded what became known as The Basement Tapes. These songs wouldn't be released until 1975.

But they did form the basis for the group's 1968 debut album, named for the house: Music from Big Pink. Because the locals called them simply "the band," that's what they called themselves. Three of the songs on the album were written by Dylan: "Tears of Rage," written with Manuel; "This Wheel's On Fire," written with Danko; and one of the best songs Dylan's ever written, "I Shall Be Released." But the album is best known for "The Weight," written by Robertson, who became the group's main songwriter.

In 1969, The Band played at the Woodstock festival, and then released their follow-up album, also titled simply The Band. It included their 2 best-known songs: "Up On Cripple Creek," a truck driver's tale of his mistress (clearly, "my big mama" and "my Bessie," both mentioned in the last verse, are 2 different women); and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," in which a Confederate civilian laments what the Civil War did to his people (who, of course, started it, for an incredibly evil reason).

The continued to record and tour together, but got weary of touring. In 1976, Robertson said they should retire from live performances. On October 30, they appeared on Saturday Night Live. They played 1 more show, on November 25, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, and it was filmed for a documentary by Martin Scorcese, who was coming off making Taxi Driver.

It was Thanksgiving Night, and free turkey dinners were provided for the 5,000 people in attendance. The night was loaded with guests. The Band had made peace with Hawkins, and he was on hand. So was Dylan. So was blues legend Muddy Waters, whom the whole Band admired. So were ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone Ron Wood, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, Emmylou Harris and Paul Butterfield. The show ended with Dylan leading the ensemble singing "I Shall Be Released." The film about the show, The Last Waltz, was released on April 26, 1978.

In 1983, without Robertson, who didn't want to get back together, the rest of the band went back on tour. But on March 4, 1986, after a performance outside Orlando in Winter Park, Florida, Manuel, struggling with substance abuse, hanged himself in his motel room. He was only 42 years old.

In 1992, The Band played "When I Paint My Masterpiece" at the Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden. At that point, The Band consisted of Helm, Danko, Hudson, guitarist Jim Weider, keyboardist Richard Bell and drummer Randy Ciarlante (as Helm switched to mandolin).

Danko died on December 10, 1999; Bell on June 15, 2007; Helm on April 19, 2012; and Hawkins on May 29, 2022. As of November 25, 2022, Robertson, Hudson, Weider and Ciarlante are still alive.

UPDATE: Robertson died on August 9, 2023. Garth Hudson died on January 21, 2025. And it took me until 2024 to think of this, but the 1970s were Schrödinger's Decade. There was too much overwrought music, and, at the same time, not enough of it.

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November 25, 1976, like all Thanksgiving Days, was a Thursday. There were 2 games played in the NFL.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Buffalo Bills, 27-14 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan. In a losing effort for the Bills, O.J. Simpson rushed for 273 yards, a new single-game NFL record. I have a separate entry for this event.

Walter Payton would break that record the next season. O.J., of course, would go on to have a very different kind of "record."

* And the Dallas Cowboys beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 19-14 at Texas Stadium in suburban Irving, 10 miles northwest of downtown Dallas. The leading rusher in that game only had 54 yards, and it was the Cowboys' quarterback, Roger "the Dodger" Staubach.

There were 3 college games:

* Number 11 Texas A&M beat arch-rival Texas, 27-3 at Memorial Stadium in Austin.

* Number 17 Rutgers beat Colgate, 17-9 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. This completed an 11-0, undefeated season for Rutgers. I have a separate entry for that event.

* And Kent State beat Northern Illinois, 42-0 at Dix Stadium in the Cleveland suburb of Kent, Ohio.

One more note from football on this day: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was born.

Baseball was out of season. In recent times, the NBA and the NHL have avoided playing on Thanksgiving, so as not to compete for TV ratings with the NFL. But, this time, there were 3 NBA games:

* The Cleveland Cavaliers, beat the Detroit Pistons, 111-105 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Houston Rockets beat the New Orleans Jazz, 105-99 at the Superdome in New Orleans. In defeat, "Pistol" Pete Maravich scored 35 points.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Washington Bullets, 104-98 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

There were 2 NHL games. The New York Islanders lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Nassau Coliseum. And the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Boston Garden.

And there were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The New England Whalers beat the Birmingham Bulls, 5-3 at the Jefferson County Civic Center in Birmingham. And the Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 5-0 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

October 16, 1992: The Bob Dylan Tribute Concert at The Garden

Left to right: Ron Wood, George Harrison,

Johnny Cash, Roger McGuinn, Bob Dylan

October 16, 1992: "Bob Dylan: The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration" is held at Madison Square Garden in New York. Or, as one of the performers, Neil Young, put it, "This one's for you, Bob. Thanks for having Bobfest!" Actually, it was Columbia Records, Dylan's label the whole way, that put the show on.

And what a show it was. It may have been the greatest array of musical talent ever brought together for one show in one building. (Live Aid was 1 show, but in 2 stadiums on 2 continents, and I'm not sure it was a better show, anyway.) The house band consisted of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, with Jim Keltner and World's Most Dangerous Band member Anton Fig filling in for the late Al Jackson Jr. on drums, plus G.E. Smith of the Saturday Night Live Band. Kris Kristofferson, himself one of America's greatest songwriters, was master of ceremonies, and sang "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight."

John Mellencamp kicked it off with perhaps Dylan's greatest song, "Like a Rolling Stone." He also sang "Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat."

One by one, some serious legends came, each playing a Dylan song or two:

* Stevie Wonder, singing the gospel-inflected version of "Blowin' in the Wind" that he hit with in 1966.

* Lou Reed, "Foot of Pride."

* June Carter and Johnny Cash, "It Ain't Me Babe."

* Willie Nelson, "What Was It You Wanted?"

* Johnny Winter, whose version of "Highway 61" was particularly blistering.

* Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, "Seven Days."

* Richie Havens, whose acoustic version of "Just Like a Woman" was epic.

* The Clancy Brothers, Greenwich Village folkie contemporaries of Dylan's, singing "When the Ship Comes In" with an Irish brogue.

* Neil Young, who blitzed through "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues," and made absolutely nobody miss Jimi Hendrix with "All Along the Watchtower."

* Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, "I Shall Be Released."

* Eric Clapton, who did "Love Minus Zero"/"No Limit," then totally tore the place up with a bluesy rendition of "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right."

* The O'Jays, "Emotionally Yours."

* The Band, "When I Paint My Masterpiece."

* George Harrison of the Beatles, "If Not For You" and "Absolutely Sweet Marie."

* Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, "License to Kill" and "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" (a.k.a. "Everybody Must Get Stoned").

* And Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, "Mr. Tambourine Man."

The younger generation got in on the act, too: Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and Mike McCready, with "Masters of War"; Tracy Chapman with "The Times, They Are A-Changin'," and a performance of "You Ain't Going Nowhere" by Mary Chapin Carpenter, Shawn Colvin, and Johnny's daughter (and June's stepdaughter) Roseanne Cash.

Said younger generation included a performer who became the focus of the show's one moment of controversy: Mere days after singing Bob Marley's "War" and tearing up a picture of Pope John Paul II on SNL, Sinéad O'Connor tried to sing Dylan's "I Believe in You," but got booed off the stage.

Kristofferson, perhaps anticipating such a reaction, tried to introduce her by saying that, like Dylan, she stood for freedom, including freedom of speech. It was to no avail: Harder than Dylan was at Newport in 1965, she got booed. She walked off and cried on Kristofferson's shoulder, and a microphone picked up him saying to her, "Don't let the bastards get you down."

George Harrison introduced Bob, and the big question everybody had was, "What's Bob going to do?" Not because so many of his great songs had already been done, but because a Bob Dylan show is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you're going to get. Was he going to walk on, wave, and then just walk off? Was he going to say something controversial? Was he not going to be understandable as he sang?

There was no issue with him: He sang, "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," he was totally understandable, and he was on his game. In turn, the 6 verses of "My Back Pages" were sung by McGuinn, Petty, Young, Clapton, Dylan and Harrison. Bob closed with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and "Girl from the North Country."

I still have most of this concert from the WNEW-FM broadcast. To me, it sounds better than any other recording of it.

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October 16, 1992 was a Friday. Baseball star Bryce Harper was born on this day.

There was high school football, including a game by my alma mater: East Brunswick, in Middlesex County, New Jersey, beat Monroe, 28-8 at Jay Doyle Field in East Brunswick.

It was too early for the NBA. The American League Championship Series had wrapped up 2 days earlier, with the Toronto Blue Jays beating the Oakland Athletics in 6 games. The National League Championship Series had also wrapped up 2 days earlier, with the Atlanta Braves beating the Pittsburgh Pirates in 7 games. The World Series began the next day, and the Jays won it in 6 games.

There were 3 NHL games played that night. Obviously, not at The Garden. In fact, none of the New York Tri-State Area teams were involved:

* The Washington Capitals beat the expansion Ottawa Senators, 5-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium. Bob Sweeney scored the winner, halfway through the overtime.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Winnipeg Jets, 6-2 at the Winnipeg Arena. 

September 22, 1985: The 1st Farm Aid Concert

Left to right: Willie Nelson, Stan Lynch, 

Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Mike Campbell

September 22, 1985: The 1st Farm Aid concert is held at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, on the campus of the University of Illinois. The concert was organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, spurred on by Bob Dylan's comments at Live Aid earlier in that year that he hoped some of the money would help American farmers in danger of losing their farms through mortgage debt -- and, while he didn't mention him by name, other policies of President Ronald Reagan.

In addition to the preceding, performers included Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, Glen Campbell, Billy Joel, B.B. King and Roy Orbison, and raised over $9 million for America's family farmers. That's just under $20 million in today's money.

There have been Farm Aid concerts since, including in 2006 at the Tweeter Center in Camden, New Jersey (a hard city, but South Jersey still has lots of farms), 2007 on Randall's Island in New York, and a 30th Anniversary celebration in 2015 at Northerly Island in Chicago.

Earlier in 1985, Nelson, Cash, Jennings and Kristofferson had formed a country "supergroup" called The Highwaymen. In 1988, Dylan, Petty and Orbison joined with former Beatle George Harrison and Electric Light Orchestra leader Jeff Lynne to form The Traveling Wilburys. So the 1st Farm Aid concert had 100 percent of The Highwaymen and 60 percent of The Traveling Wilburys.

On November 2, the football team at the University of Iowa, like Illinois a Big Ten Conference school, went to Ohio State, and wore stickers on their helmets, reading "ANF," meaning "America Needs Farmers." Although Iowa lost the game, they still went on to win the Big Ten title, and have worn the stickers ever since.

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September 22, 1985 was a Sunday. Actress Tatiana Maslany was born.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Ron Guidry won his 20th game of the season. Rickey Henderson and Ken Griffey Sr. hit home runs. Don Mattingly went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Dave Winfield did not play. For the Orioles, Eddie Murray and Floyd Rayford hit home runs. Cal Ripken went 1-for-3.

* The New York Mets lost to the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3 at Shea Stadium. 

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 9-2 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt went 2-for-4.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. Paul Molitor went 1-for-5 with an RBI. Robin Yount did not play.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-5 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Luis Salazar won it with a home run in the bottom of the 10th inning.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Montreal Expos, 6-5 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis. Tom Herr hit a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 9th to win it.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-3 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett went 0-for-4.

* The Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-0 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Mike Mason pitched a 6-hit shutout, striking out 11 with just 1 walk.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Houston Astros, 6-5 at the Astrodome in Houston. Reds player-manager Pete Rose went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Diego Padres, 7-5 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn appeared as a pinch-hitter, and did not reach base.

* The California Angels beat the Cleveland Indians, 10-2 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). The winning run scored in the bottom of the 12th inning when Rod Carew, in his last 2 weeks as an active player, hit a ground ball that shortstop Julio Franco mishandled, scoring Rufino Linares. Carew went 1-for-5 with a walk on the day. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-6. Bobby Grich hit a grand slam.

* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 5-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Since it was Sunday, there were NFL games:

* The New York Giants beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 27-17 at Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands.

* The New York Jets beat the Green Bay Packers, 24-3 at Milwaukee County Stadium.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Washington Redskins, 19-6 at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in Washington.

* The Denver Broncos beat the Atlanta Falcons, 44-28 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-0 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The New Orleans Saints beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-13 at the Superdome in New Orleans.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the Cleveland Browns, 20-7 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.

* The New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 17-14 at Rich Stadium (later Ralph Wilson Stadium) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park, New York.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Houston Oilers, 20-0 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.

* The San Diego Chargers beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 44-41 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Detroit Lions, 14-6 at the Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis.

* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Los Angeles Raiders, 43-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

* The preceding Thursday, the Chicago Bears beat the Minnesota Vikings, 33-24 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The Bears went on to win Super Bowl XX.

* And the next night, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Los Angeles Rams beat the Seattle Seahawks, 35-24 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

May 29, 1969: The Album "Crosby, Stills & Nash" Is Released

Left to right: Stephen Stills, David Crosby,

Neil Young and Graham Nash

May 29, 1969: The album Crosby, Stills & Nash is released. It is part of the rise of rock and roll "supergroups."

David Van Cortlandt Crosby was born on August 14, 1941 in Los Angeles. He was a descendant of the old-line New York State Van Cortlandt and Van Rensselaer families, and the son of Academy Award-winning cinematographer Floyd Crosby. From 1965 to 1967, he was a guitarist with the rock band The Byrds.

Stephen Arthur Stills was born on January 3, 1945 in Dallas. His father was an Army officer, so he moved around a lot, never having a real hometown. After dropping out of Louisiana State University, he was in a band named The Continentals, which included future Eagles guitarist Don Felder. He became a part of the Greenwich Village folk music community in New York, where he met Richie Furay.

A subsequent band named The Company toured Canada, where Stills met Neil Young. He was born on November 12, 1945 in Toronto. Stills said that Young "was doing what I always wanted to do: Play folk music in a rock band." He convinced Furay to move to Los Angeles with him, and try out the West Coast music scene. He tried out to be one of The Monkees, but was rejected, allegedly because of his teeth. He recommended to his friend Peter Tork that he audition for the band and the show, and he was accepted.

Young and 2 fellow Canadians, bass guitarist Bruce Palmer and drummer Dewey Martin, joined Stills and Furay in Los Angeles, and formed The Buffalo Springfield. The group's name was taken from a brand of steamroller, made by the Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company. They only had one real hit, but it was unforgettable: "For What It's Worth (Stop, Hey, What's That Sound)," reaching Number 7 in the Spring of 1967. The group broke up early in 1968.

Graham William Nash was born on February 2, 1942 in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. In 1962, he and Allan Clarke founded The Hollies, named for Buddy Holly. Like The Byrds, the Hollies had some of the best harmonies of the 1960s, and had more hits than The Byrds and The Buffalo Springfield combined.

Nash met Crosby and Stills on The Hollies' 1966 U.S. tour. In 1968, that band moved to Los Angeles, and the 3 men came into contact again. Coming together at a party hosted either by Joni Mitchell, whom Nash was dating, or Cass Elliot of The Mamas & the Papas (they couldn't get their stories to agree as to which of them it was), they ended up singing together, and seeing how good their harmonies were.

Nash quit The Hollies, and the men formed a new group. The album Crosby, Stills & Nash was released, including Nash's "Marrakesh Express" and Stills' tribute to Judy Collins, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes." Their 1st concert together was on August 16, at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. Their 2nd was the next day, at Woodstock, and it came to define them, to the point where Crosby began to refer to "The W-Word."

Neil Young was brought in as a 4th member, and their 2nd/1st album, Déjà Vu, was released on March 11, 1970. It included the song "Woodstock" -- written by Mitchell, who wasn't even there -- "Teach Your Children" and "Our House." Within 2 months of its release, the Kent State Massacre happened, and Young wrote "Ohio." The live album 4 Way Street was released on April 4, 1971.

The various members appeared together in various combinations as long as they were all still alive, even though there was the occasional feud, to the point where the band became known as "Crosby, Stills, Nash and Sometimes Young" -- alternately, CSN, CSNY, or CSN and Sometimes Y, reflecting the fact that the vowels of the English language conclude with "and sometimes Y."

Elections to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Crosby, with The Byrds, in 1991; Young, as a soloist, in 1995; Crosby, Stills and Nash as a trio, but not with Young, in 1997; Stills and Young with Buffalo Springfield, also in 1997; Nash, with The Hollies, in 2010. In other words, all 4 men are "double inductees."

On December 22, 2016, I saw this question on Twitter: "Whose fault is it that streaming pays so little to the artist? The record companies, the artists, or the streamers?" Crosby said, "Not us.. we are the ones getting short changed"

Which led me to respond: "Apparently, the one constant in the music business since Bach's time, 300 years ago." David Crosby liked my tweet.

It was amazing that he was still alive at all, given how much he had harmed himself, to the point of needing a liver transplant. In a 1995 interview, he said of his fellow Hippies, "We were right about a lot of things. We were right that peace is better than war. We were right that love is better than hate. We were not right, as it turned out, about drugs." But, as of May 29, 2022, he, Stills, Nash and Young are all still alive.

Reuniting against Spotify, February 2, 2022:

Young, Crosby, Stills and Nash.

This turned out to be their last meeting.

And on a 1997 episode of Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, Crosby managed to perfectly sum up the difference between 1960s hippies and modern conservatives: Conservatives say they believe in freedom, the hippies actually did believe in it. Conservatives don't want you to tell them how to live, but they want to tell you how. Crosby said, "We didn't say you had to smoke pot and dress funny, we said that you could."

UPDATE: As it turned out, Crosby was the 1st to die, on January 18, 2023. He was 81.

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May 29, 1969 was a Thursday. These 4 Major League Baseball games were played:

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Montreal Expos, 5-3 at Jarry Park in Montreal.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-4 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench hit a home run, and Pete Rose, oddly, did not play. For the Pirates, Roberto Clemente hit a home run, and Willie Stargell went 1-for-4.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-6 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium. Carl Yastrzemski went 0-for-4 with a walk.

* And the Detroit Tigers beat the Oakland Athletics, 8-4 at the Oakland Coliseum. Al Kaline did not play. Reggie Jackson went 1-for-5.

March 23, 1975: The S.N.A.C.K. Concert In San Francisco

Bob Dylan (left) and Neil Young

March 23, 1975: Promoter Bill Graham stages the S.N.A.C.K. (Students Need Athletics, Culture and Kicks) charity concert at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, California, to benefit the city's educational system.

Almost 60,000 people come to see The Grateful Dead, The Doobie Brothers, Santana, Jefferson Starship, Tower of Power, Eddie Palmieri, Joan Baez, Graham Central Station and Neil Young joined by members of The Band, along with a surprise appearance by Bob Dylan. It's the largest benefit concert in history to date.

The original Kezar Stadium was built in 1926, was home to the San Francisco 49ers from 1946 to 1970, made a cameo appearance in "Dirty Harry" in 1971, and was torn down in 1989 -- before the earthquake during the Bay Bridge World Series, not because of it. A new, smaller stadium was built on the site, and is used for high school sports.

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March 23, 1975 was a Sunday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 96-86 at the Boston Garden.

* The Detroit Pistons beat the New Orleans Jazz, 125-114 at New Orleans Municipal Auditorium.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Houston Rockets, 101-95 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Kansas City-Omaha Kings beat the Chicago Bulls, 103-101 at the Kemper Arena (now the Hy-Vee Arena) in Kansas City. Nate "Tiny" Archibald scored 35 points for the Kings. Bob Love scored 38 in defeat for the Bulls.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 116-97 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California. Gail Goodrich scored 36 points.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Seatttle SuperSonics, 102-96 at the Seattle Center Coliseum. 

There were 5 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Denver Nuggets, 114-111 at the Nassau Coliseum. Julius "Dr. J" Erving scored 40 in defeat.

* The Memphis Sounds beat the Virginia Squires, 104-101 in overtime at the Hampton Coliseum, outside Norfolk in Hampton, Virginia.

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Spirts of St. Louis, 121-110 at Freedom Hall in Louisville. Marvin Barnes scored 36 in defeat.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Utah Stars, 117-112 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis. George McGinnis led all scorers on the day with 44 points.

* And the San Antonio Spurs beat the San Diego Sails, 122-102 at the HemisFair Arena in San Antonio.

There were 7 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 7-5 at Madison Square Garden.

* The New York Islanders and the Minnesota North Stars played to a tie, 3-3 at the Metropolitan Sports Center in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 2-1 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Atlanta Flames beat the Washington Capitals, 5-0 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Buffalo Sabres beat the California Golden Seals, 9-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 4-4 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the St. Louis Blues and the Vancouver Canucks played to a tie, 3-3 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* The Winnipeg Jets beat the Chicago Cougars, 4-3 at the Winnipeg Arena.

* The Phoenix Roadrunners beat the Indianapolis Racers, 5-3 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the San Diego Mariners beat the Vancouver Blazers, 1-0 in overtime at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).