Tuesday, November 10, 2009

"A Warehouse", New Orleans, LA

Due to KAAY's far-reaching nighttime signal, many advertisers bought time, especially during Beaker Street.  One of those advertisers was the famous "A Warehouse", later called "The Warehouse", in New Orleans, LA.  For those of you who have heard the Beaker Street airchecks, you've heard their advertisements.  From Wikipedia (so far, the only source I've found information), here is a version of their history:

"The Warehouse, located at 1820 Tchoupitoulas Street, was the main venue for rock music in New Orleans in the 1970s.

The Warehouse opened on January 30, 1970 with Fleetwood Mac followed the next night by the Grateful Dead. The Talking Heads performed there on closing night, September 10, 1982. In between those dates, the greats and soon-to-be greats of rock performed at The Warehouse. A partial list would include Bob Marley, Chicago, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Rush, The Who, Yes and ZZ Top. The Allman Brothers were regulars.

Rock history was made there. The Grateful Dead's arrest on opening weekend for drug possession would be immortalized in their song Truckin'. Jim Morrison's last concert with The Doors was at the Warehouse on December 12, 1970.[1]

The Warehouse was originally called "A Warehouse" as it began in the 1850s as a cotton warehouse. Its non-heated or air conditioned space could legally hold slightly over 3,000 people. Its size was the reason for its popularity. If a band needed a larger place to play than a jazz club, but couldn't fill a stadium, they played at The Warehouse.

The Warehouse was finally demolished in April 1989."

(The notation [1] is no longer linkable on the Web, so no further notation is available.)

As many times as I've been to New Orleans and as many times that I went to concerts, I never made it there; it was too far to drive most nights and make it back for school or work the next morning.

Maybe more info will emerge or be found about this historical landmark....

Bud S. (staceys4@hotmail.com)

No comments:

Post a Comment