http://www.neworleans.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=321498&catid=396&Itemid=2322
Legendary Music Hall Commemorates 40th Anniversary at Harrah's
Feb 2, 2010
"What a long strange trip it's been" for Bill Johnston. Forty years
long to be exact.
In January 1970 Johnston and his partners Don Fox, Brian Glynn and
John Simmons opened a music venue at Tchoupitoulas and Felicity
streets that, in its relatively short life span of a dozen years,
entered the New Orleans pantheon of historic places. The venue was
called simply The Warehouse because that's what it was. Or what it
had been until Johnston & company transformed it into THE place to go
for live entertainment in New Orleans.
The Grateful Dead, Fleetwood Mac and the Flock were the opening night
acts booked at The Warehouse on January 30 and 31, 1970. Following
them it was one great name after another. Before closing in 1982, the
Who, the Allman Brothers, Elton John, Chicago, The Band, Grand Funk
Railroad, Foghat, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Ted Nugent and an array of
rock and roll immortals too long to list here played at The Warehouse
for enthusiastic capacity crowds. The Doors did their last live show
there in December 1970. After the Dead were "busted down on Bourbon
Street" they did a show there. The Warehouse was a magical place,
fondly remembered by all who worked, performed or attended a concert
there. For as little as $3-$5 general admission you could see some of
the top performers of the postwar generation.
Many of those memories were captured for posterity in "A Warehouse on
Tchoupitoulas," the title and subject of a documentary in its final
stages of production. And, on the weekend of January 29-30, The
Warehouse's 40th anniversary was commemorated with a live performance
at Harrah's Casino Theater, during which an abridged preview of the
documentary was screened. Johnston, now the Entertainment Director
for Harrah's New Orleans, was the executive producer of "The
Warehouse Revisited" live show and was clearly one of the stars of the evening.
For the live show, under the musical direction of keyboardist
Lawrence Sieberth, the seven-member house band and three male
vocalists performed songs made famous by bands that played at The
Warehouse. Following the showing of the documentary excerpt, the band
kicked off the main event with its rousing rendition of Chicago's
"Beginnings" and it was off and running from there. Before it was
over, nearly two hours later, they had performed about two dozen
songs ranging from rockers like The Who's "We Won't Get Fooled Again"
and the Allman Brothers' "Ramblin' Man" to ballads like Elvin's
Bishop's "Fooled Around and Fell in Love" and Procol Harum's "Whiter
Shade of Pale."
And, of course, there was the Dead's "Truckin'" which musically
recounts the saga of their "long strange trip" before and after the
Bourbon Street bust. A medley of hits by the Doors, a frenetic
version of Joe Cocker's "A Little Help from My Friends" and a smooth
rendering of the Eagles' "Take it Easy" were among the other
highlights of the evening. Despite the fact that it was concert-style
seating, a few people still got up and danced in the aisles like they
might have done at The Warehouse when they were 30 or 40 years younger.
The house band, consisting of Sieberth, Cranston Clements and Jimmy
Robinson (guitars), Matt Perrine (bass), Doug Belote (drums), Don de
la Houssaye (sax), Alan Linker (trumpet), Maurice Trosclair
(trombone) and vocalists Quinn Rainwater, Skeet Hanks and Chuck
Lofton, were dead-on in capturing the sounds of the bands that graced
The Warehouse stage in the 1970s and early '80s. In many instances
during the songs, if you closed your eyes you would swear you were
hearing the original bands that performed there back in the day. It
was a stellar show throughout, augmented by colorfully creative
lighting that gave the stage a '70s pre-disco era ambience.
During The Warehouse's heyday it was favorably compared to the
Fillmore East in New York and the Fillmore West in San Francisco as
one of the top live performance venues in the country. In fact, many
of the same groups performed at all three places on their tours.
However, unlike the two Fillmores, The Warehouse's floor space was
wide open. No concert-style seating. You either stood and danced
while the groups were playing or you sat on the hard concrete and
listened. It was a no-frills hall with very few chairs and tables and
very little interior retouching. It looked like just what it was: the
inside of a warehouse but its patrons didn't care. Neither did the musicians.
Designed to comfortably accommodate 3,500 people, The Warehouse's
capacity was often exceeded by hundreds. Many of those in attendance
for those concerts were in physical conditions that transcended
"normal." A number of those interviewed for the film, belatedly
confess to being in one or more of these conditions back then.
Jessy Williamson of Glass Pictures is the documentary's producer.
Unfortunately, no live footage of any of the performances at The
Warehouse is known to exist. What the viewer sees are black and white
stills of some of the famous musicians (with snippets of their songs
playing in the background) and many not-so-famous faces in the crowd,
along with recent interviews with Johnston and others who worked
there. Some locally known celebs who went there are seen and
interviewed on film as well.
The documentary is still in production, conducting its final
interviews and seeking funding sources to finish up with the
soundtrack. Expected release date is the fall of this year and more
details will be made known as soon as they are announced.
And...though not officially confirmed...there have been hints that
the film may be premiered at Harrah's Theater, along with a rerun of
this past weekend's retrospective show.
Stay tuned...!
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