Category Archives: Clubs

Sports Arena

sportsarenaelvis55ATLANTA, GA – WARREN ARENA

Located at 310 Chester Avenue, it appears to have been owned by L.C. Warren.  He rented it to promoter Tom McCarthy in the 1930s, who began referring to the building as the Sports Arena.  It was used for wrestling again during the 1950s by various promoters, but in the 1960s, Paul Jones bought it and began using it when his cards conflicted with events scheduled at the Atlanta Municipal Auditorium.  Murray Silver began holding concerts. By the 1980s, the building had been demolished. 

 

 

The Dead held a Working man's dance party
The Dead held a Working man’s dance party 

The community turned out to dance in circles and twirl as the air grew smokey and dense.

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Cheerful lines anticipate a Sunday afternoon and night with The Hampton Grease Band, The Allman Brother’s band, and The Grateful Dead – for $3.

Sports Arena stage used the wrestling ring platform
Sports Arena stage

 

 

 

The stage used the wrestling ring platform.

 

Thanks to Dennis Eavenson for this picture of The Hampton Grease Band  at the Sports Arena.

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Photo by Bill Fibben

Great Speckled Bird V. 3 No. 20 (May 18, 1970) pg. 7

HAMPTON TWICE If you were one of the few people who wasn’t at the Sports Arena Sunday afternoon for the Grateful Dead concert, you’ve probably heard by now just what went down. Frankly, this was one of the greatest musical / sensual experiences the Atlanta hip community has ever had, rivalled only by another Dead offering in Piedmont Park after last year’s Atlanta pop festival. Except that this year’s big blow-out had more to do with where we are at now. Imagine it: THE HAMPTON GREASE BAND, forever associated with Atlanta/Piedmont Park/Twelfth Gate/Sports Arena/ everywhere we have needed their weird, hilarious brand of heavy Rock: THE GRATEFUL DEAD, the West Coast Rock band most closely associated with the spirit of community, a band that has most consistently served the needs of the people and helped to raise their political and sensual consciousness, evoker of high-powered acid and swirling colors and hair, good times and free music in the streets and parks from the old days of the Haight (before HARD DRUGS and media- induced EGO TRIPPING), come like Pied Pipers to our own Piedmont Park to spread the word of what community can mean, back again but this time with another Rock group to tie together the experiences of West and South – THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND, the folks who took a lot of the hype and bullshit out of “white blues” and put a lot of their own grace and dignity and soul into the music, more in love with Atlanta than ever after successful excursions into Fillmore territory, East and West, after a beautiful album of some of their best of last year (a new one waits around the corner and it’ll be better, just you watch), back in Atlanta for an unannounced jam with the Dead … And who here in Atlanta will ever be the same? What we felt (and what other sense could you invoke to turn people on to the event?), inside and out, head and body, was the power and beauty of the many strains of our own community coming together, after another year of paying dues and fucking up, coming together in a few precious, explosive hours of what, for want of a better term, we will call Ecstasy!

SOME OF THE NICEST THINGS OF ALL: a big crowd – most of us back together again after a series of bummers No chairs on the dance floor No reserved seats Pigs that you could count on the fingers of one hand and still have some fingers left Total absence of uptightness and Atlanta paranoia Down home, sweaty, funky, sleazy, good ole Atlanta Sports Arena where nobody gets busted Announcement by Ed Shane that the Allman Brothers were present and would jam with the Grateful Dead Outasight stage built by community people for the Community Benefit Community staffed stage crew New material by the Hampton Grease Band, including more trumpet than usual, and probably the strangest setting for “Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey” we can imagine “Evans,” as usual, bringing down the house – Jerry and Holbrook (drums and bass guitar) leading the group in a building Spanish progression while Hampton shouts “Evans! Evans! Evans!” Jerry Fields doing some  singing The Allman Brothers lending their equipment to replace the Dead equipment left behind in Boston by the airline Dope and more dope and very good dope, too Sam Cutler, former stage manager for the Rolling Stones (he is one of the individuals that the Stones and everybody else involved in the Altamont disaster, including you and me, are singling out to put the blame on instead of recognizing what Capitalism and Ego-tripping can do to crush the world we are trying to build, serving as stage manager for the Dead Murray Silver, turned on to Kent State, and hinting that this “may be my last concert”, shouting “Power to the People!” ACLU lawyers arid freaks playing pickupsticks on the floor during breaks Instant replay of the Atlanta International Frisbee Contest Red fists on strike T-shirts worn by Sam Cutler and Dead stage crew The music of the Grateful Dead Vibrations that kept building and building until we moved on up to a whole other level Jerry Garcia’s twanging, singing guitar, and the look on his face, and on the faces of the rest of the Dead as total communication between music and people was established “Mama Tried” by Merle Haggard, one of the first straight C & W songs to be picked up on by Rocklovers The first appearances on stage of Duane, Greg, Berry Oakley and Butch Trucks. The first soaring blue notes played by Duane Allman – and what it did to the crowd; the duo riffs he played with Garcia and how the jam turned on the musicians participating in it Murray Silver in the crowd, wearing on his head a wreath of green, looking like a Bacchus figure from the Satyricon An incredible, unbelievable, destroying Southern hymn played by The Grateful Dead and the Allman Bro-thers Band: “Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” Most accurate theme of what was happening Brief burst of terror at the very end of the music as a firecracker exploded with an incredibly loud BAM!, a bright flash, and a cloud of smoke a perfect audile exclamation mark for this most profound musical/community statement at the Sports Arena.      miller francis, jr.

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Check out Beefheart at the Sports arena for another party. Also McGrease.

sportsarenaclosingHey , Thought that this might be something that you were interested in seeing. This was the only job that we played. I had hepatitis at the time of the gig and was bedridden for the next two months. The band was comprised of John Ivey (b), John Fristoe (g, vocals), Wayne Logiudice (rhythm g, vocals) and me. Dana Douglas sang with the band also when Wayne had left. We played at the River House (where John I, John Fristoe, and Wayne Mcnatt and I  were living) constantly, but no gigs. Mostly for free for the dope dealers. When the Hog Farm was in Atlanta after the first pop festival, they parked their bus at the River House. This was  the time that they promoted the first mini pop that was held in Piedmont Park. Berry Oakley and Dickey Betts were frequent visitors. Two young men who later became the Bellamy Brothers were there often as well.  Many bands used to come out and play or rehearse there, B J Royal, Will Boulware and Booger, Hydra, Spencer Kirkpatrick, Bethlehem Asylum, Sweet Younguns et al.

A couple of notes on the Sports Arena gig. Fleetwood Mac was the loudest band that I had ever heard. Even louder that sitting next to the speakers at the Dallas or Atlanta Pop Festivals. I think that all of the River People were tripping on some unknown substance(s) during the performance. I don’t remember it very well, other than just being real sick. Wayne L said he looked at me and I was completely green.
Ricky Bear

Darryl Rhoades visits The Catacombs

Excerpt from Forrest Park High School paper- October 1967. Eleventh grader Darryl Rhoades. now a well-known Atlanta musician, wrote this review after his First visit lo the Catacombs.

Hippies

By Darryl Rhoades PART II

On October 20th, I visited the “Catacombs” club on Fourteenth Street. The club was packed to capacity crowd and the florescent lights were flowing away.

The club has a variety of talent to offer. Anyone wishing to perform may do so by simply asking’ the manager of the club. Performers do not receive any compensation for their performances but they usually try to stress a message in their songs or whatever. I watched carefully the folk singers, which performed at the club. Every singer had a message to tell and was sure to get the audience’s attention.

Most of the singers did numbers by Bobby Dylan or the Beatles, but there were a few did their own material. There was one young man, which looked different because he had short hair. He did a few numbers and then gave a testimony about his life and Jesus Christ. Another young man did a few numbers and then talked about and made fun of the fake hippies, which are known as “teeny-bobbers.” At 1:30 in the morning a psychedelic band performed and brought with them a “strobe light”

The Catacombs has just re- opened after it was closed temporarily because of insufficient wiring. Now it is open every night with the action starting about nine o’clock and it closes when everyone leaves. The Catacombs serves ready made sandwiches and non-alcoholic beverages at the snack bar. Posters appear on the walls giving messages to all. A sign is posted at the foot of the stage . . .”Keep Off The Grass.”

For Heads Only from The Catacombs

For Heads Only link

Atlanta Gazette Nov. 12, 1978 vol. 5 # 11, pg. 8

catacombsheadlineFor, the people who spent most of their time on the streets of downtown Atlanta during 1967-68, there is one area that stands out more than any of the crash pads and clubs that were meeting places for the then-growing counter-culture. The corner of Peachtree and 14th streets, location of the Catacombs, is the place most remembered when thoughts of the Summer of Love flash through the mind.

The Catacombs was a small club that many consider the birthplace of the Atlanta hippie movement. And lust as the club grew quickly out of that scene. It died as quickly,  Serving as an omen of what would happen to the movement itself. For the past 10 years, its doors have been closed. with thoughts of It just memories to those who spent night after night in the crowded, incense-filled room. All that is about to change, however as December 31 marks the reopening of the Catacombs and a nostalgic trip back in time for many who made of their life.

Early in 1967. David Braden. “Mother David” to members of Atlanta’s growing counter-culture. owned the illien Gallery at the Corner of Peachtree and 14th streets. To accommodate the need for a gathering place of Atlanta’s artists and poets, he opened the basement as a coffeehouse, nee the Catacombs. With the growing influx of flower children and psychedelic art. however, poetry readings gave way to psychedelic bands and the Catacombs soon became the manifestation it is in most people’s memories today.

“It was musty, dank. dark, dirty and very exciting,” remembers one person who wishes to remain anonymous. “I had just left home and was out on the streets. It was fascinating. There were hundreds of people hanging out in the front and in the back parking lot. You never saw that in Atlanta before the Catacombs.”

When the scene began to grow, so did the music being made there. The Bag. the Celestial Voluptuous Banana, the Hampton Grease Band and Ellen Mclllwaine were regulars on the tiny stage.

“We were the second band to play the Catacombs.” recalls Michael Brown, then bass player for the Bag “Everybody from 14-year-old runaways to bikers were hanging out down there. We played Beatles and Byrds material. Frank Hughes. who had the Electric Collage light Show, did all the psychedelic lighting on the wall behind the stage. Our big thing was to play Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” and fill the place up with purple smoke. The things that I remember most from the whole time are the things that hit my senses: the smell of the incense, the sound of jewelry tinkling.”

The smell of Incense was the first thing Darryl Rhoades noticed about the Catacombs, also. His first encounter with the coffeehouse was as a reporter for his high school newspaper.

“I was very impressionable about it all and thought the ‘vibes’ were real good. so I started hanging out down there. I was in a band (The Celestial Voluptuous Banana) and tried to get gigs down there. When we started playing there these plastic dudes and chicks from Georgia Tech would ask me. ‘Hey cat! Do you know if I can score?’ So people would sell them fake drugs—like oregano for marijuana—and they’d get off on it and come back for more.”

The Catacombs was also one of the first places for Atlanta’s legendary Hampton Grease Band to play. While most bands filled the room with psychedelic sounds of Jimi Hendrix. Cream and the Doors, the Grease band would come onstage and blast old blues songs at the crowd.

“That was at a time when we used to tear stuff up.” recalls Grease Band guitarist Glenn Phillips. “Hampton smashed a guitar through the ceiling one night and another night we pulled a water pipe out of the ceiling and water went all over the place. Before the 12th Gate, that was the best place to play.”

While most musicians who played the Catacombs have good memories. one. who asked to remain nameless. was shocked just at the mention of the place.

“The Catacombs—the pits.” he exclaimed’. “I had to quit going there because my skin would break out all over. it was a pretty confusing time. The audience didn’t like anybody and there were all these crazy hicks from McDonough pouring in there. It was pretty frightening.”

One idea they all agree on—which may have led to its closing—was the direction the club began !o take. Originally a place where a large group of friends hung out together and lived within a four block radius of the place, it began to be overrun by a wide variety of people, many destructive and violent. A gradual change began to occur and one could feel the scene sour. The family atmosphere began to deteriorate-

A major factor in the beginning of the end was the arrest of Mother David.  According to many, he was framed for allegedly selling drugs to a minor, getting him a five-year sentence in prison. Many people maintain that he was not locked up because of drug dealings, but because he was about to expose new Information on the assassination of John F Kennedy.

According to legend. Mother David came into possession of documents supporting Dallas District Attorney Jim Garrison’s prosecution of Clay Shaw on conspiracy charges in connection with the Kennedy shooting. Mother David supposedly got the papers from someone who picked up a briefcase belonging to a federal agent who was shot in the Catacombs parking lot one night. Mother David bought a Harris- Seybold-Potter Co, offset printer to reproduce the documents. Coincidently—or purposely according to legend—Mother David was arrested and jailed on the drug charge before he was able to raise the money to convert the World War II surplus map-making machine into a press.

The club was then taken over by a man who ran the club at a gross of what he claimed to be $100.000 on coffee, cokes and cheese plates. Much of the money was used to get people out of jail and help reestablish others.

In late ’68 the Catacombs property. owned by Howard Massell. was purchased by Selig Realtors. Selig decided the club was not befitting of their image, claimed the basement lease between Massell and the leasee invalid, and closed a chapter in Atlanta history.

Now. a decade later. Mother David, after a brief visit to Atlanta following his release from prison, has completely vanished. The musicians that once played the small stage have furthered their careers. Michael Brown has formed the Para Band with its single getting strong airplay. Darryl Rhoades. founder of the successful Hahavishunu Orchestra. is grouping together a new band. The Hampton Grease Band, after releasing their double record debut, Music to Eat, split up, with Glenn Phillips releasing two albums in Europe and Bruce Hampton  recently releasing an album. Ellen McIllwaine, after moving from city to city, came back to Atlanta with four records to her credit,

The Catacombs’ lease has been taken up by Fred Holloway. and his plans are to reopen the club New Year’s Eve.

A recent visit to the Catacombs revealed that the room has been virtually untouched since the doors were locked 10 years ago. Holloway. In his efforts to reopen the club, has had the original psychedelic wall paintings traced over and repainted. Many of the paintings were repaired by the original artists. Though the City Health Dept. has ordered the walls to be sandblasted so chipping and peeling paint will not fall in food or drink. Holloway is covering the artwork with glass and wooden frames to preserve the authenticity.

Holloway’s plans to reopen the basement club do not come as a move to go into competition with Rose’s Cantina or the Downtown Cafe but to bring a neighborhood bar with a nostalgic past to the rapidly reconstructing 10th-l4th Street “Strip” of Peachtree.

“I’ve been trying to get this building for five years.” he said. “and now that I’ve got it, I want everybody who used to frequent it in the Sixties to experience what they can of it once again.”

According to the once long-haired Holloway. who. ironically, owns For Heads Only. the hair-cutting room on the street level of the building, many of the lawyers and young businessmen working across the street in Colony Square were once the long-hairs who breathed the incense in his basement during their youth.

“They’ve all told me they will support the club, if just to be able to have the bartender call them by name.”

—Tony Paris

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Lambda Sigma Deltan Fred Holloway with guitar case

For Heads Only

FredbasementIn 1978 new owners, including a Lambda Sigma Deltan, opened the building at 14th and Peachtree as “For Heads Only”, a hair stylist for males and females. They also  mixed and sold a line of hair care products. A back stairway was shut off to create a secret room behind a wall, with attached table and vase as disguise, that was a door.

The first outdoor skating rental for Piedmont Park, Skate Escape, was in a back room. A clothes designer also had a store.

Fupped Ducks’ motto

The basement remained The Catacombs, a hush-hush after-after-hours club on weekends and after major concerts. Other nights it was rented and the swinging bed might be the center of an orgy room. Or The Fupped Ducks or someone else might have rented it for a party.

fupduck

In a strange historic note the last band to take the stage at the Catacombs was The Red Spacenecks consisting of Fred Holloway, Steve MacMahon, Richard West and Patrick Edmondson. They played their sons such as “Hitched my Saddle to a UFO”, “The Doubleknit Life” and “If the creeks don’t rise”

 

 

 

 

 

The Catacombs

Wall of The Catacombs
Wall of The Catacombs

10628576_808422495883865_5019449414161132193_nThe Catacombs was a coffeehouse/performance space/club/hangout created by Mother David in 1967 for the growing community of what came to be called hippies centered about 14th and Peachtree. Read what the Atlanta Gazette had to say about the club.

Wall of The Catacombs
Wall of The Catacombs

Darryl Rhoades was the drummer in the house band Celestial Voluptous Banana. Here is what he had to say on the subject.

catacombs-closed

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Fred Holloway in For Heads Only

In the 1980s Darryl Rhoades band The Hahavishnu Orchestra portrayed the hippie house band in a movie about Atlanta hippies, “Summer of Love”.  For the movie the basement of what was now For Heads Only was repainted in black and dayglo colors to match photos and memories.fupped-ducks

On the quiet it became an after-hours club and began attracting major Atlanta artists stopping in to jam.

12th Gate

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Robin Feld founded the 12th Gate as a Methodist Church folk coffeehouse. You will never hear bad of her. Joe Roman became the 12th gate co-management.  Since it was church related, it was acceptable to parents as a destination during the folk music craze of the the late 60s.

Another person important to the 12Th Gate was Ursula Alexander. RIP Ursula. Her executor contacted the Strip Project about taking possession of items related to her time at the 12th Gate and beyond. Check the link on her name to locate her pictures coming soon.

Seal Place article on the 12th Gate.

Seal Place has made a list of the acts that played  the 12th Gate.

Here is a photo of Robin by Carter Tomassi

The Twelfth Gate had  opened a free clinic on 15th Street, then opened the 14th Gate in the space for a variety of community services.

The Twelfth Gate is a church for turned-on types.

12th Gate brings Captain Beefheart to The Sports Arena