THE PARTY STARTED 18 YEARS
AGO (1988)
If you loved oldies music and bop dancing, then
the place to be in Nashville in the mid 80's was Chevy's, a nightclub located
near the corner of Murfreesboro Road and Thompson Lane. Chevy's was the
hottest club in town back then and that was where you could always find
a group of the few remaining bop dancers in Nashville every night of the
week. It all started about six - that's when they served the free buffet
and good happy hour drinks and you could get ready for a night of pure
fun - and all the dancers knew each other. That place, the people, the
music and the dancing became a basic thing in many lives and friendships
were formed then which are still alive today.
Eventually, because of neglect by its owners, the
place became only a shadow of itself, and Chevy's was sold and the music
format was changed. The bop dancing oldies lovers were left with no place
to go to dance to our music. Some of us heard about a group in Memphis
that had formed a club based around the same music and dancing we enjoyed
and several Nashvillians journeyed to Memphis to find out what it was all
about.
They found the Memphis Bop Club and before long,
a group of the Memphis Boppers came to Nashville to show us how it was
done. Our small group contacted everybody we could from the old Chevy's
crowd and along with nearly a hundred Memphis Boppers, we threw a party
at the Marriott that was a huge success. Our group began to believe that
we could do in Nashville what had been done in Memphis. Organizational
meetings were held to get the ball rolling and on April 28, 1988, the Music
City Boppers, Inc. were granted a charter by the State of Tennessee as
a nonprofit corporation.
The founders donated lots of time and the necessary
money to get the Club started. In May 1998, we published our first newsletter
and on Saturday, July 9, 1988, the Club held its first "private party"
which was attended by 137 members and guests. Everybody there had a great
time - and made memories they will never forget. Over the years, the Music
City Bop Club has sponsored many more fantastic parties, and has donated
many, many thousands of dollars to good causes, including the night we
sponsored a concert by the Drifters and raised $10,000 for Jerry's Kids.
We've worked hard, too, while we partied, like the time we served all the
beer at Summer Lights, made a bunch of money - and gave it all away.
Time marches on, we all get a little older and a
lot better, and things change. Most of the music we dance to now is a little
different from what it was back then, but don't forget that we are older
and better than we were back then. The important thing is that we are still
having the party, making good friends and dancing to the music like we
did back then. This party started 18 years ago - let's keep it going until
18 years from now.
WE ARE THE MUSIC CITY BOPPERS
!!!