NRC OVERVIEW
In the late sixties and early seventies NRC was presenting the whole spectrum of touring attractions - everything from Moody Blues, Pink Floyd, The Doors and Jimmy Hendrix to the Lipizzan Stallions, National Dance Theater of Harlem and the Bolshoi Ballet (the Pacific Northwest Ballet Association was not, as yet, a major player on the stage). It was, without question, the most intense and exciting time of my life; a rocket ride, never boring, a steep learning curve and a grand adventure.
Our home office managed all of the NRC events in Seattle, Spokane, San Francisco (rarely), Honolulu and Portland. Jerry Lonn took Portland over in 1970 when he became NRC’s partner in the Rose City. The tours certainly weren’t all managed by me personally, I only managed my share. They were managed by members of our staff, my partner, Bill Owens, Judy Cites, Boyd Grafmyre and, occasionally, one of our partners from another market; especially Hugh Picket, owner of Famous Artist’s Ltd. in Vancouver, B.C. and Doug Eisman, our other partner in Canada. Boyd focused his energy on the Eagle’s Ballroom in Seattle, where we played psychedelic-era bands such as Chicago, the Doors, Led Zeppelin, until we were shut down by the Seattle Fire Department
I also managed our Broadway show series in the Seattle Opera House, Vancouver Queen Elizabeth Theater, and Portland New Auditorium - presenting the national touring companies of Mame, Cabaret, Man of La Mancha, Fiddler on the Roof, Promises, Promises, Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, Hair and many more. Using the New York technical people, we produced the fourth company of Hair (after New York, London and San Francisco) in the Moore Theater and ran it for seventeen weeks. I then toured the same production for thirty-five weeks in other markets.
During the years that Bill Owens and I owned NRC we toured about fifty shows per year. Northwest Releasing Corporation was the preeminent concert management company on the west coast in the 1960’s and early seventies. Given the size of our territory we may have very well been the largest concert management company in the US.