I worked there for about a year after Ron D opened it back up. Who is/was your dad? Prior to the change over the manager of the Academy was from the UA chain. His wife and daughter were his assistant managers. Yeah I know all about the archive room. I wish I had the time to snoop around in there but they usually had the consession stand locked. The spiral stair case you talk about was above the dressing rooms. Before you got to it there was a big a$$ blower motor with a 12" wide belt. That was part of the old air conditioning system. I left there shortly before Elton John played there and one of the things he asked for was to have the chandileer working.. They had to lower it with extra lines to make sure that the cable it was held up with did not snap. On a few occasions I had to climb the ladder on the back wall stage right side to get up to the fly level. Man that was a scary feeling knowing therer was nothing between you and the ground.
I lived in Coolidge for 2 years from 2000 through 2002. The person who I knew in town told me that there were only 2 theatres there.He grew up there and his mother (who since passed in 98) and father had lived there for over 40 years. The Chamber of Commerce is indeed located on Central avenue. If it had not been demolished most of the buildings from the 40’s are gone. Even a one time major department store sits on Central ave with it’s doors shuut. I stated on the Casa Grande Paramount page that when the I-10 Freeway was built and bypassed Coolidge traffic through town dried right up. Although there is a Main Street in Coolidge it is not really the main street any more. Arizona Ave (rt 87) runs through what ever business district there is. It has 2 lanes each direction (N/S) a middle lane for turns and parking on either side. Main street has 2 lanes and parking. There is not a whole lot going on there. The streets roll up at about 6PM.
I was living in Coolidge AZ at the time the Paramount was being renovated. It gave me a thrill to see that a peice of Americana was being saved. At the time I was there the area had no movie theatres at all. i was told there used to be a couple of movie houses in Cooledge but when the I-10 freeway was built and took most of the traffic off of Rt 87. Coolidge as a town dried right up.
Wow thats two theatres in one night I find are now gone. I guess since I moved out of Brooklyn in 1998 to much has changed in 8 years. It makes me want to crawl under the covers like when I was a kid and didn’t like what was going on.
Hey ERD just like any other forums there is a thing that is called “Thread Drift”. It happens and there is not much can really do or say about it. If you are refering to the Don Kirshner post it does relate to the 46th Street because about 8 shows were taped there. And some times you have to post something so others will be reminded that this thread is still active.`
Long live the Lowes 46th St
(Bananafish Garden)Where ever that name came from. They even renamed a local park that was called Satilitte Park to Bananafish Park.
Hey Sonoman that’s Rocker not Rob. Yes it was the Anderson. I just could not recall the name cuae there were 2 other theatres on Second Ave back then that and the Orphium. I was just looking on another window and found nothing here on CT for the Anderson which is/was located at 66 Second Ave http://www.noehill.com/cockettes/newyork.asp this is the only thing I have found so far on the Anderson. I was at that particular show in Nov 71.
Here is more info:
Anderson Theatre – was located at 66 2nd Ave. in the lower east side of NYC – 5,000 seats – theater entrance structure is still there with that same address but it is now a pharmacy business. The theater wrapped around a corner building and part of the theater was also on the south side of 4th Street. The 4th St. side of the theater is long gone replaced by some modern housing – began as Yiddish Playhouse circa late 1800s or early 1900s, then used as a music venue in the late 1960s – Rock n'Roll Hall of Fame Group, the Yardbirds (1968); Cockettes – early 1970s
Wow another treasure going to hell. I know the used to be many theatres down on the Lower East Side but ithis was one i never knew about. Those interior pics made me feel like taking a header off the balcony. Sometimes when I search through this site and see some theatres that were closed before my time as well as in my time that sit there shuttered and rotting away or converted to some Asian fruit stand or a CVS it really hurts me. My former home away from home was demolished by the A-holes of NYU. The former NY Academy of Music. I spent about 7 years working there in the 70’s and now it’s gone forever. How many other beautiful structures are going by the way of the wreckers ball or just plain abandoned?
PS. Control Data Corperation introduced computerized ticketing in 1969 under the name of “Ticketron” Years later another company took them to court because they claimed Ticketron had a monoply on venues in the U.S. and they lost. Here is the irony about that. The company that took them to court was none other then Ticketmaster. Now who is the monopoly? A few years back Pearl Jam wanted to tour and sell their own tickets for the venues they were planning to play. They did it for the fans who were tired of paying high prices for concert venues where Ticketmaster was at. Ticket master refused to let them do it. Later on a deal had been cut where as the ticket prices would be lower. TMaster has a good racket going. They get you for the price of the tickets and a surcharge for each one. They toss in what they call a facility charge plus they get a percentage from the promoter and the act. Makes you wonder why the cost of going to a concert is astronomical.
Funny you should bring up theGrateful Dead. I was in 10th grade at Grady Vocational HS. I called up and said I was doing a review for the HS newspaper and they gave me backstage passes for Nov 11 through the 14th. At that time the Dead had played 2 other venues in Manhattan. One of them was the Fillmore East and another theatre down the block on 2nd ave. It was something I would never forget and i got to meet Allison Steel the Night Bird from WNEW FM 102.7. Man that was a fantasy come true.
I didn’t know they lt up the blade considering the present state the building is in. I have been driving on H street the last few days. There is a crane set up towards the back and the building sits exposed to the eliments. It is sad to see that the rest of the area is so run down.
“The work is proceeding in every part of the site now.†The next milestone will be replacing the roof on the old movie theatre space this winter. The masonry wall extensions can be seen on the south wall of that space, as well as the rear of the Joy of Motion studio that occupies the former Safeway. The increased height will enable theatre and dance companies to creatively set and light their performances in both the fixed-seat theatre (276 capacity) and flex-seat theatre (300 capacity). Both spaces will be ready for the fall season in 2006, which will include gala opening events and performances in late October.
I agree with you on that Ed. I lived in the Coney Island area for a good deal of my life. I beleave the building is owned by Horrace Bullock. He is the guy who owns Kansas Fried Chicken. He was also supposed to buy some property from a man named Hy Singer who owned the lot where Stuches Arcade used to be. Thhe building had about 400 building code violations and he backed out of the deal and the property on the other part of the block is owned by who ever owns Nathans and they were not willing to sell. Mr Bullock was hoping to build a self encloed ammusment park extending from Stillwell Ave to West 21st that would have included a renovatrion of the Abe Stark Skating Rink. This plan went wel lback before the city and the NY Mets made plans to have a minor league team play in what used to be Steeplechase Park. The main reason for the redevelopement of the area is that on one hand Coney is getting flooded with Russian imigrants and from Stillwell and west the high rise apartments are mostly welfare except for Sea Gate.
Wow I almost want to cry knowing that it is not totaly destroyed. Do you know if by chance the stage rigging is still there? I know there used to be a plan to turn it in to a casino if they ever legalized gambeling in NY.
I used to date a girl back in 1973 and we went to see Fidler on the Roof when it played at the Mayfair. Was it $1 back then I am not sure.
Since I am in here does the Quantum Leap restaruant still exsist? They had some really good food. It was located accross the street from the Mayfair what would be the North west corner of Fresh Meadow Lane
Sorry to say this but Marty Markowitz will only do something if there is something in it for him. As I had stated in an earlier posts I have had some dealings with the jerk. Then again if anyone can pull this off maybe he can.See Marty is a jerk but he is smart. He has been a NY State Senator for many years and now he is the borough president.He must have realised many moons ago that he could scam more money being a local politician then being a congressman or U.S Senator. He made a good deal of money off his summer Concert series that used to be held at the Midwood HS football field till the local community board got to many complaints from the locals about noise traffic and crowds. He then moved them to Asher Levy Park at W5 st and Surf ave in Coney Island. His other venue he calls the Martin Luther King Jr Concert series at Wingate High School next to Kings County Hospital. It was at this particular series thatdue to high winds a lighting truss was blown over and injured the late great Curtis Mayfield. He wound up paralized from the neck down and succumbed to his injuries a few years later.the following is from the NY Daily News Sept 5, 2004… The story said he moonlighted as a non profit promoter but he got grants from national endowments for the arts as well as corperate sponsors. With the exception of paying the peformers, Sound and lighting guys who also doubled as stage crew the rest of the people working the shows were all volenteers. The man was making a nice penny putting on these shows with out ever putting a dime of his own in to it.
Freakish gust of wind
Curtis Mayfield at Wingate Field, 1990
By DAVID HINCKLEY
Curtis Mayfield
No one provided a better musical chorus for the optimism of the early ‘60s civil rights movement than Curtis Mayfield.
A guitar player, singer and writer out of Chicago’s rugged Cabrini-Green housing projects, Mayfield led the Impressions through upbeat anthems like “Amen,” “It’s All Right,” “People Get Ready” and “Keep on Pushin.’”
He first joined the Impressions in 1958, age 16, just before their national hit “For Your Precious Love” split lead singer Jerry Butler off from the others.
Mayfield kept the group together and they returned to the charts in 1961 with the otherworldly “Gypsy Woman.” Soon he was writing songs with an irresistible blend of rhythm and melody that became calls to a better, brighter day.
A decade later Mayfield would explore some darker ruminations with “Freddie’s Dead.” But while that attached him permanently to the “Superfly” culture, the anthems ike “People Get Ready” and “Amen” remained resonant.
So it was no surprise that on the night of Aug. 13, 1990, more than 10,000 people poured into Wingate Field in Brooklyn for a show Curtis Mayfield would headline.
Outdoors concerts were a long tradition in New York, from the Philharmonic and the rousing Goldman band to pop and rock. For a couple of bucks, fans could spend a warm night watching some of the biggest acts in the country.
The only complaint was that most of them ended up in Manhattan, which is why, in 1982, Brooklyn state Sen. Marty Markowitz decided to bring some of these artists to the eastern side of the bridges.
Moonlighting as a nonprofit concert promoter was an unusual gig for a public official, but Markowitz feared no one else would pick up the ball. Big promoters like Ron Delsener were busy with their own shows, and besides, Brooklyn didn’t have any outdoor facilities where 8,000, 10,000 or 15,000 fans could easily gather for a show.
The best Markowitz could find was the field at Boys High, so that’s where the Martin Luther King Jr. concert series was launched in 1982. Shows were free, and Markowitz got the biggest R&B artists he could afford on a budget covered by sponsors and donors.
The shows caught on, and three years later he moved the series to the larger Wingate Field, run by the city Parks Department. He also added a second weekly series at Midwood Field, with a more eclectic roster that included pop singers, orchestras and Latin artists.
Armed with attendance figures to bolster his case, Markowitz began lobbying for a permanent outdoor concert facility in Brooklyn. But it never became a budget priority, which left him with what he had. His crew put up the stage the day of the show and took it down the next morning so the field was open for recreation again.
Fortunately, the Wingate patrons brought their chairs, or sat on the ground, so the crew didn’t have to set out thousands of seats. Just a stage, sound system and lights.
Like all summer promoters, of course, Markowitz’s team was at the mercy of the weather. The official policy was that if there were anything more than “light” wind, rain or thunder, the show was called off â€" though the unspoken rule is that you give the show every chance to go on, largely because you disappoint thousands if it doesn’t.
Weather didn’t seem to be an issue on Aug. 13, 1990. The stage, sound and lights had been routinely assembled in the afternoon and at 7:30, soon after the sun had set, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes played their opening set.
Moments after they finished, Curtis Mayfield started up the steps to the stage, carrying his guitar and surveying a crowd that was already rising to applaud.
Then, in about the time it would have taken him to raise one hand and acknowledge the welcome, Curtis Mayfield was flat on his face on the stage.
He did not yet even realize that he had no feeling or movement from the neck down.
The crowd didn’t know that, either. The crowd did know, to its horror, that a blast of wind had sent one of the light towers pitching forward, landing directly on Curtis Mayfield.
The towers weigh several hundred pounds. The impact broke his neck.
He was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where he was placed in intensive care. Reports on the severity of his injury surfaced quickly and several days later were confirmed.
Eventually, he got the best outcome he could have hoped for. He lived.
Though it was a very different life. The man who used to wake up in the morning with a melody in his head and work it out on his guitar spent four years learning to breathe well enough so he could hold a short conversation and sing a few notes.
Happily, he had hung onto the copyrights from most of his songs, so he could afford rehabilitation and as comfortable a life as possible.
He accepted a string of honors through the ‘90s and released a new album in 1997, though he admitted his life was “hard, very hard.” He died on Dec. 26, 1999, age 57.
The morning after the accident, Markowitz called it “a terrible tragedy” and said the collapse was caused by “a freakish gust of wind” that no one could have foreseen.
At the next show, held on schedule the following week, the whole crowd was asked to sign a huge get-well card.
At the start of the next season, Markowitz announced that the continuing popularity of the series and the tragedy of Curtis Mayfield left no doubt that Brooklyn needed a first-class outdoor concert facility.
The last people to put on anything there totaly destroyed the place. THE HUGE chandeleer that was rebuild that hung from the center cieling was taken down and who knows where that is if it is still around. I heard it cost $50k to restore.
EdSolero WHT huh? If I am not mistaken WHT was Wometco Home Theatre.A friend of mine use to have it and had an antenna on the roof with the converter box.
Hi Gustavelifting . Marty Markowitz is the brooklyn boro president and he is also a real A**hole. I have had dealings with him in the past when he was a state senator for Brooklyn. For almost the last 20 years he has run 2 free concert series in Brooklyn. He got public as well as private funding for the concerts but he some how was able to get away with hiring the sound and lighting companies without going to an open bid. I tried to get involved with doing his shows and he was a jerk. I doubt he would lift a finger to help save the Kings unless there was something major in it for him self.
LOL Ed sometimes the threads tend to drift when you think about old memories. Speaking of Chiller Theater i was looking at a web site the other day from Zackely. Remember him from WNEW FM and a few other stations as well as Ch 9, 11 and Discoteen on Ch 47 before it went spanish
Of all the places I looked up for info who would have thought i would have found it on www.humptheshark.com
Where it says slot really meant late Saturday night
Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert
First Show 1973
Last Show 1981
Genre Music
Network ABC
Slot Day Sunday
Slot Time 1 am
Hi Patsy I notice that multiple posts of the same message occurs. That should be fixed as well as way for us to get e-mail that did reply to our posts and not everyones
Pkoch you are wrong. Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert was on ABC back then. It was a NETWORK show and back then Ch 5 was still an independant channel showing syndicated reruns.
I doubt that any network could produce a show with that kind of quality music that was out back when Rock Concert was taped.
I worked there for about a year after Ron D opened it back up. Who is/was your dad? Prior to the change over the manager of the Academy was from the UA chain. His wife and daughter were his assistant managers. Yeah I know all about the archive room. I wish I had the time to snoop around in there but they usually had the consession stand locked. The spiral stair case you talk about was above the dressing rooms. Before you got to it there was a big a$$ blower motor with a 12" wide belt. That was part of the old air conditioning system. I left there shortly before Elton John played there and one of the things he asked for was to have the chandileer working.. They had to lower it with extra lines to make sure that the cable it was held up with did not snap. On a few occasions I had to climb the ladder on the back wall stage right side to get up to the fly level. Man that was a scary feeling knowing therer was nothing between you and the ground.
I lived in Coolidge for 2 years from 2000 through 2002. The person who I knew in town told me that there were only 2 theatres there.He grew up there and his mother (who since passed in 98) and father had lived there for over 40 years. The Chamber of Commerce is indeed located on Central avenue. If it had not been demolished most of the buildings from the 40’s are gone. Even a one time major department store sits on Central ave with it’s doors shuut. I stated on the Casa Grande Paramount page that when the I-10 Freeway was built and bypassed Coolidge traffic through town dried right up. Although there is a Main Street in Coolidge it is not really the main street any more. Arizona Ave (rt 87) runs through what ever business district there is. It has 2 lanes each direction (N/S) a middle lane for turns and parking on either side. Main street has 2 lanes and parking. There is not a whole lot going on there. The streets roll up at about 6PM.
I was living in Coolidge AZ at the time the Paramount was being renovated. It gave me a thrill to see that a peice of Americana was being saved. At the time I was there the area had no movie theatres at all. i was told there used to be a couple of movie houses in Cooledge but when the I-10 freeway was built and took most of the traffic off of Rt 87. Coolidge as a town dried right up.
Wow thats two theatres in one night I find are now gone. I guess since I moved out of Brooklyn in 1998 to much has changed in 8 years. It makes me want to crawl under the covers like when I was a kid and didn’t like what was going on.
Hey Rat I always knew it as Low Eeez… :P
Hey ERD just like any other forums there is a thing that is called “Thread Drift”. It happens and there is not much can really do or say about it. If you are refering to the Don Kirshner post it does relate to the 46th Street because about 8 shows were taped there. And some times you have to post something so others will be reminded that this thread is still active.`
Long live the Lowes 46th St
(Bananafish Garden)Where ever that name came from. They even renamed a local park that was called Satilitte Park to Bananafish Park.
Hey Sonoman that’s Rocker not Rob. Yes it was the Anderson. I just could not recall the name cuae there were 2 other theatres on Second Ave back then that and the Orphium. I was just looking on another window and found nothing here on CT for the Anderson which is/was located at 66 Second Ave http://www.noehill.com/cockettes/newyork.asp this is the only thing I have found so far on the Anderson. I was at that particular show in Nov 71.
Here is more info:
Anderson Theatre – was located at 66 2nd Ave. in the lower east side of NYC – 5,000 seats – theater entrance structure is still there with that same address but it is now a pharmacy business. The theater wrapped around a corner building and part of the theater was also on the south side of 4th Street. The 4th St. side of the theater is long gone replaced by some modern housing – began as Yiddish Playhouse circa late 1800s or early 1900s, then used as a music venue in the late 1960s – Rock n'Roll Hall of Fame Group, the Yardbirds (1968); Cockettes – early 1970s
http://www.world-theatres.com/#BROADWAY_THEATRES
Wow another treasure going to hell. I know the used to be many theatres down on the Lower East Side but ithis was one i never knew about. Those interior pics made me feel like taking a header off the balcony. Sometimes when I search through this site and see some theatres that were closed before my time as well as in my time that sit there shuttered and rotting away or converted to some Asian fruit stand or a CVS it really hurts me. My former home away from home was demolished by the A-holes of NYU. The former NY Academy of Music. I spent about 7 years working there in the 70’s and now it’s gone forever. How many other beautiful structures are going by the way of the wreckers ball or just plain abandoned?
PS. Control Data Corperation introduced computerized ticketing in 1969 under the name of “Ticketron” Years later another company took them to court because they claimed Ticketron had a monoply on venues in the U.S. and they lost. Here is the irony about that. The company that took them to court was none other then Ticketmaster. Now who is the monopoly? A few years back Pearl Jam wanted to tour and sell their own tickets for the venues they were planning to play. They did it for the fans who were tired of paying high prices for concert venues where Ticketmaster was at. Ticket master refused to let them do it. Later on a deal had been cut where as the ticket prices would be lower. TMaster has a good racket going. They get you for the price of the tickets and a surcharge for each one. They toss in what they call a facility charge plus they get a percentage from the promoter and the act. Makes you wonder why the cost of going to a concert is astronomical.
Funny you should bring up theGrateful Dead. I was in 10th grade at Grady Vocational HS. I called up and said I was doing a review for the HS newspaper and they gave me backstage passes for Nov 11 through the 14th. At that time the Dead had played 2 other venues in Manhattan. One of them was the Fillmore East and another theatre down the block on 2nd ave. It was something I would never forget and i got to meet Allison Steel the Night Bird from WNEW FM 102.7. Man that was a fantasy come true.
I didn’t know they lt up the blade considering the present state the building is in. I have been driving on H street the last few days. There is a crane set up towards the back and the building sits exposed to the eliments. It is sad to see that the rest of the area is so run down.
“The work is proceeding in every part of the site now.†The next milestone will be replacing the roof on the old movie theatre space this winter. The masonry wall extensions can be seen on the south wall of that space, as well as the rear of the Joy of Motion studio that occupies the former Safeway. The increased height will enable theatre and dance companies to creatively set and light their performances in both the fixed-seat theatre (276 capacity) and flex-seat theatre (300 capacity). Both spaces will be ready for the fall season in 2006, which will include gala opening events and performances in late October.
http://www.atlasarts.org/
I agree with you on that Ed. I lived in the Coney Island area for a good deal of my life. I beleave the building is owned by Horrace Bullock. He is the guy who owns Kansas Fried Chicken. He was also supposed to buy some property from a man named Hy Singer who owned the lot where Stuches Arcade used to be. Thhe building had about 400 building code violations and he backed out of the deal and the property on the other part of the block is owned by who ever owns Nathans and they were not willing to sell. Mr Bullock was hoping to build a self encloed ammusment park extending from Stillwell Ave to West 21st that would have included a renovatrion of the Abe Stark Skating Rink. This plan went wel lback before the city and the NY Mets made plans to have a minor league team play in what used to be Steeplechase Park. The main reason for the redevelopement of the area is that on one hand Coney is getting flooded with Russian imigrants and from Stillwell and west the high rise apartments are mostly welfare except for Sea Gate.
Wow I almost want to cry knowing that it is not totaly destroyed. Do you know if by chance the stage rigging is still there? I know there used to be a plan to turn it in to a casino if they ever legalized gambeling in NY.
I used to date a girl back in 1973 and we went to see Fidler on the Roof when it played at the Mayfair. Was it $1 back then I am not sure.
Since I am in here does the Quantum Leap restaruant still exsist? They had some really good food. It was located accross the street from the Mayfair what would be the North west corner of Fresh Meadow Lane
I did something here and don’t know what but it said it took my name off the mailing list for this thread. I hope not.
Anyone know if the Savoy theatre and hotel are still around. it was down the street from where BONDS used to be in the middle of the block.
Sorry to say this but Marty Markowitz will only do something if there is something in it for him. As I had stated in an earlier posts I have had some dealings with the jerk. Then again if anyone can pull this off maybe he can.See Marty is a jerk but he is smart. He has been a NY State Senator for many years and now he is the borough president.He must have realised many moons ago that he could scam more money being a local politician then being a congressman or U.S Senator. He made a good deal of money off his summer Concert series that used to be held at the Midwood HS football field till the local community board got to many complaints from the locals about noise traffic and crowds. He then moved them to Asher Levy Park at W5 st and Surf ave in Coney Island. His other venue he calls the Martin Luther King Jr Concert series at Wingate High School next to Kings County Hospital. It was at this particular series thatdue to high winds a lighting truss was blown over and injured the late great Curtis Mayfield. He wound up paralized from the neck down and succumbed to his injuries a few years later.the following is from the NY Daily News Sept 5, 2004… The story said he moonlighted as a non profit promoter but he got grants from national endowments for the arts as well as corperate sponsors. With the exception of paying the peformers, Sound and lighting guys who also doubled as stage crew the rest of the people working the shows were all volenteers. The man was making a nice penny putting on these shows with out ever putting a dime of his own in to it.
Freakish gust of wind
Curtis Mayfield at Wingate Field, 1990
By DAVID HINCKLEY
Curtis Mayfield
No one provided a better musical chorus for the optimism of the early ‘60s civil rights movement than Curtis Mayfield.
A guitar player, singer and writer out of Chicago’s rugged Cabrini-Green housing projects, Mayfield led the Impressions through upbeat anthems like “Amen,” “It’s All Right,” “People Get Ready” and “Keep on Pushin.’”
He first joined the Impressions in 1958, age 16, just before their national hit “For Your Precious Love” split lead singer Jerry Butler off from the others.
Mayfield kept the group together and they returned to the charts in 1961 with the otherworldly “Gypsy Woman.” Soon he was writing songs with an irresistible blend of rhythm and melody that became calls to a better, brighter day.
A decade later Mayfield would explore some darker ruminations with “Freddie’s Dead.” But while that attached him permanently to the “Superfly” culture, the anthems ike “People Get Ready” and “Amen” remained resonant.
So it was no surprise that on the night of Aug. 13, 1990, more than 10,000 people poured into Wingate Field in Brooklyn for a show Curtis Mayfield would headline.
Outdoors concerts were a long tradition in New York, from the Philharmonic and the rousing Goldman band to pop and rock. For a couple of bucks, fans could spend a warm night watching some of the biggest acts in the country.
The only complaint was that most of them ended up in Manhattan, which is why, in 1982, Brooklyn state Sen. Marty Markowitz decided to bring some of these artists to the eastern side of the bridges.
Moonlighting as a nonprofit concert promoter was an unusual gig for a public official, but Markowitz feared no one else would pick up the ball. Big promoters like Ron Delsener were busy with their own shows, and besides, Brooklyn didn’t have any outdoor facilities where 8,000, 10,000 or 15,000 fans could easily gather for a show.
The best Markowitz could find was the field at Boys High, so that’s where the Martin Luther King Jr. concert series was launched in 1982. Shows were free, and Markowitz got the biggest R&B artists he could afford on a budget covered by sponsors and donors.
The shows caught on, and three years later he moved the series to the larger Wingate Field, run by the city Parks Department. He also added a second weekly series at Midwood Field, with a more eclectic roster that included pop singers, orchestras and Latin artists.
Armed with attendance figures to bolster his case, Markowitz began lobbying for a permanent outdoor concert facility in Brooklyn. But it never became a budget priority, which left him with what he had. His crew put up the stage the day of the show and took it down the next morning so the field was open for recreation again.
Fortunately, the Wingate patrons brought their chairs, or sat on the ground, so the crew didn’t have to set out thousands of seats. Just a stage, sound system and lights.
Like all summer promoters, of course, Markowitz’s team was at the mercy of the weather. The official policy was that if there were anything more than “light” wind, rain or thunder, the show was called off â€" though the unspoken rule is that you give the show every chance to go on, largely because you disappoint thousands if it doesn’t.
Weather didn’t seem to be an issue on Aug. 13, 1990. The stage, sound and lights had been routinely assembled in the afternoon and at 7:30, soon after the sun had set, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes played their opening set.
Moments after they finished, Curtis Mayfield started up the steps to the stage, carrying his guitar and surveying a crowd that was already rising to applaud.
Then, in about the time it would have taken him to raise one hand and acknowledge the welcome, Curtis Mayfield was flat on his face on the stage.
He did not yet even realize that he had no feeling or movement from the neck down.
The crowd didn’t know that, either. The crowd did know, to its horror, that a blast of wind had sent one of the light towers pitching forward, landing directly on Curtis Mayfield.
The towers weigh several hundred pounds. The impact broke his neck.
He was rushed to Kings County Hospital, where he was placed in intensive care. Reports on the severity of his injury surfaced quickly and several days later were confirmed.
Eventually, he got the best outcome he could have hoped for. He lived.
Though it was a very different life. The man who used to wake up in the morning with a melody in his head and work it out on his guitar spent four years learning to breathe well enough so he could hold a short conversation and sing a few notes.
Happily, he had hung onto the copyrights from most of his songs, so he could afford rehabilitation and as comfortable a life as possible.
He accepted a string of honors through the ‘90s and released a new album in 1997, though he admitted his life was “hard, very hard.” He died on Dec. 26, 1999, age 57.
The morning after the accident, Markowitz called it “a terrible tragedy” and said the collapse was caused by “a freakish gust of wind” that no one could have foreseen.
At the next show, held on schedule the following week, the whole crowd was asked to sign a huge get-well card.
At the start of the next season, Markowitz announced that the continuing popularity of the series and the tragedy of Curtis Mayfield left no doubt that Brooklyn needed a first-class outdoor concert facility.
The last people to put on anything there totaly destroyed the place. THE HUGE chandeleer that was rebuild that hung from the center cieling was taken down and who knows where that is if it is still around. I heard it cost $50k to restore.
That is strange I posted something in here last night and now it is not here. :(
I was not aware of that one but there will never be a place like the NY Academy of Music.
EdSolero WHT huh? If I am not mistaken WHT was Wometco Home Theatre.A friend of mine use to have it and had an antenna on the roof with the converter box.
Disney and RCMH? Wow thats a new one on me.
Hi Gustavelifting . Marty Markowitz is the brooklyn boro president and he is also a real A**hole. I have had dealings with him in the past when he was a state senator for Brooklyn. For almost the last 20 years he has run 2 free concert series in Brooklyn. He got public as well as private funding for the concerts but he some how was able to get away with hiring the sound and lighting companies without going to an open bid. I tried to get involved with doing his shows and he was a jerk. I doubt he would lift a finger to help save the Kings unless there was something major in it for him self.
LOL Ed sometimes the threads tend to drift when you think about old memories. Speaking of Chiller Theater i was looking at a web site the other day from Zackely. Remember him from WNEW FM and a few other stations as well as Ch 9, 11 and Discoteen on Ch 47 before it went spanish
Of all the places I looked up for info who would have thought i would have found it on www.humptheshark.com
Where it says slot really meant late Saturday night
Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert
First Show 1973
Last Show 1981
Genre Music
Network ABC
Slot Day Sunday
Slot Time 1 am
http://www.jumptheshark.com/d/donkirshner.htm
Hi Patsy I notice that multiple posts of the same message occurs. That should be fixed as well as way for us to get e-mail that did reply to our posts and not everyones
Pkoch you are wrong. Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert was on ABC back then. It was a NETWORK show and back then Ch 5 was still an independant channel showing syndicated reruns.
I doubt that any network could produce a show with that kind of quality music that was out back when Rock Concert was taped.