This era always intrigued me. I even made a thread on it a few year ago. http://prince.org/msg/8/242662

They had six major theaters. The main theater was the Apollo in Harlem. Right below would be the Regal in Chicago. The Howard in DC and Uptown in Phily would battle out for the 3rd spot and The Royal in Baltimore rounded out those five. The Fox Theater was the hugest was not used just for black performers like those five I named but was still part of the circuit on the East coast of the US.

Other Theater included the Earl also in Phily, and the Capitol in Chicago.

I would have loved to go to a show like they used to hold and they were only like 1$.

James Brown recorded many albums at the Apollo, BB King and Gene Chandler recorded albums at the Regal. There is a MotorTown Review album recorded at the Uptown Theater. JB recorded Live at the Royal in 1963.

Here is an interesting link I found of the six main theaters and why by the late 60s they were all but a shell of themselves.

http://www.soul-source.co...n-circuit/

[Edited 7/15/12 20:23pm]

Man those places were something else. The Motown stars all talk about that period like it was an adventure.

Timmy84 said:

Man those places were something else. The Motown stars all talk about that period like it was an adventure.

A lot of stories you hear about, happened on the chitlin circuit.

That's how everyone got to know one another, as yu were with them day and night basically. I belive they slept at the Apollo (not sure about the other places.)

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

Man those places were something else. The Motown stars all talk about that period like it was an adventure.

A lot of stories you hear about, happened on the chitlin circuit.

That's how everyone got to know one another, as yu were with them day and night basically. I belive they slept at the Apollo (not sure about the other places.)

Like the Supremes here:

Timmy84 said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

A lot of stories you hear about, happened on the chitlin circuit.

That's how everyone got to know one another, as yu were with them day and night basically. I belive they slept at the Apollo (not sure about the other places.)

Like the Supremes here:

I bet a lot of babies and enemies were made on these week long shows?

And damn, a regular day consisted of what 5 to 7 shows.

LittleBLUECorvette said:

Timmy84 said:

Like the Supremes here:

I bet a lot of babies and enemies were made on these week long shows?

And damn, a regular day consisted of what 5 to 7 shows.

It's possible.

Timmy84 said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

A lot of stories you hear about, happened on the chitlin circuit.

That's how everyone got to know one another, as yu were with them day and night basically. I belive they slept at the Apollo (not sure about the other places.)

Like the Supremes here:

Aaaaaw, look at Diana looking like a little elf on that mattress

Dang, just thinking about the level of entertainment you could see for a dolla. . Nowadays you go to a show and folks don't even sing half the time, and you can pay $100 or more

[img:$uid]http://cache2.asset-cache.net/gc/85334244-photo-of-jocko-and-bo-diddley-and-jesse-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=GkZZ8bf5zL1ZiijUmxa7QRWQMc3j%2brGIEJs4d1s2R61tb9WMabr2GY%2fvHkcz1%2bYa1GO59sjw6iuToligYODZ3g%3d%3d[/img:$uid]

[Edited 7/16/12 17:23pm]

Timmy84 said:

LittleBLUECorvette said:

A lot of stories you hear about, happened on the chitlin circuit.

That's how everyone got to know one another, as yu were with them day and night basically. I belive they slept at the Apollo (not sure about the other places.)

Like the Supremes here:

Diana has that "I'm a lil cold" look

HuMpThAnG said:

Timmy84 said:

Like the Supremes here:

Diana has that "I'm a lil cold" look

It may have been a crappy ass time in terms of civil (and basic human!) rights, but I'll be damned if we didn't have some good ass music as a panacea to help carry us through

LittleBLUECorvette said:

It's funny how history loved to play revisionism when it comes to who played with whom because if you believe the general population story, James Brown got the Upsetters but it's been proven by you and others that other acts got them. First Dee Clark, then Little Willie John.

Ottensen said:

It may have been a crappy ass time in terms of civil (and basic human!) rights, but I'll be damned if we didn't have some good ass music as a panacea to help carry us through

It also should be pointed out that even in those difficult times, we actually STRIVED and SURVIVED because that's just the instinct. They didn't let the times affect them from HAVING a good time and that's what we should get from that period. It wasn't all good but it wasn't all bad either.

Wow, apparently Clyde McPhatter released a Live at The Apollo album in 1965.

I see The Cadillacs on one of those PBS music specials that are shown during pledge week. Here's a good book that mentions them: