The Scene was a nightclub on West 46th Street, Manhattan, New York City operated by Steve Paul between 1964 and 1969. It was notable for historic performances by The Doors and Jimi Hendrix, among many others.
The Scene, also known as "Steve Paul's The Scene", was located in the basement of 301 West 46th Street, in New York's Theater District. Steve Paul had started his entertainment career as a publicist for the Peppermint Lounge. Paul opened the club in 1964, initially as a club for actors, musicians and theatre workers from Broadway. At the time, the only musician in the club was a resident pianist. Regular musical acts commenced in 1966. [1] The shift in focus to musical acts was quite popular, and involved such acts as The Young Rascals, The Lovin' Spoonful, and Sammy Davis, Jr. Blood Sweat and Tears with Al Kooper played some of their earliest gigs there. B B King played there for 2 nights and Jimi Hendrix sat in both nights. It also became a popular club with Andy Warhol and those associated with him, including Edie Sedgwick. [2]
The club's initial popularity waned, resulting in a period of closure until reopened with the assistance, financial and otherwise, of such persons as Peter Yarrow, Allen Ginsberg and Tiger Morse. [2] In its second incarnation, the club became particularly popular with Jimi Hendrix, who regularly performed there after hours, in jams with other notable musicians. [3] [4] The first New York performances of the Jimi Hendrix Experience were at The Scene, on June 3 and 4, 1967, subsequent to Steve Paul seeing the band at the Monterey International Pop Festival. [1] Other acts featured included The Velvet Underground, Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, Traffic, Fleetwood Mac and The Chambers Brothers. [4] Admission to the club was strictly controlled by Steve Paul, who was twenty-three years old at the time of the commencement of the club's second incarnation. Other regular attendees included photographer Linda Eastman, who later married Paul McCartney, and Tiny Tim, who often opened the sets. [5] In 1967, The Doors played for three weeks at The Scene, becoming the biggest draw in the history of the club. [4] Much of the 1970 documentary Groupies was shot in and around The Scene.
The club closed on 12 July 1969<UniVibes magazine issue 47, April 2004</ref></ref>. According to Sterling Morrison, of the Velvet Underground, the closure was prompted by Steve Paul's refusal to pay protection money to the New York Mafia. This resulted in fights being started at the club, placing its liquor license in jeopardy. [6]
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential electric guitarists in the history of popular music, and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame describes him as "arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music."
The year 1967 was an important one for psychedelic rock, and was famous for its "Summer of Love" in San Francisco. It saw major releases from The Beatles, Small Faces, Eric Burdon & The Animals, Big Brother and The Holding Company, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Moby Grape, Traffic, Pink Floyd, Love, The Beach Boys, Cream, The Byrds, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Velvet Underground, Procol Harum, The Monkees, and The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Electric Ladyland is the third and final studio album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the final studio album released before Hendrix's death in 1970. A double album, it was the only record from the Experience produced by Hendrix. The band's most commercially successful release and their only number one album, it was released by Reprise Records in the United States on October 16, 1968, and by Track Records in the UK nine days later. By mid-November, it had reached number one on the US charts, spending two weeks there. In the UK it peaked at number six, where it spent 12 weeks on the chart.
The Speakeasy Club, also known as The Speak, was a club situated at 48 Margaret Street, London, England, and served as a late-night meeting place for the music industry from 1966 to June 1978. The club took its name and theme from the speakeasies of the American Prohibition era. The club was owned by Iraqi-born entrepreneur David Shamoon, along with Blaises and The Revolution Club.
Chelsea Girl is the debut solo album and second studio album by German singer Nico. It was released in October 1967 by Verve Records and was recorded following Nico's collaboration with the Velvet Underground on their 1967 debut studio album. It was produced by Tom Wilson, who added string and flute arrangements against the wishes of Nico. The title is a reference to Andy Warhol's 1966 film Chelsea Girls, in which Nico starred.
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The Village Gate was a nightclub at the corner of Thompson and Bleecker Streets in Greenwich Village, New York. Art D'Lugoff opened the club in 1958, on the ground floor and basement of 160 Bleecker Street. The large 1896 Chicago School structure by architect Ernest Flagg was known at the time as Mills House No. 1 and served as a flophouse for transient men. In its heyday, the Village Gate also included an upper-story performance space, known as the Top of the Gate.
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The Bag O'Nails was a live music club and meeting place for musicians in the 1960s and situated at 9 Kingly Street, Soho, London, England.
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My Dinner with Jimi is a 2003 comedy film written by Howard Kaylan, dealing with events in 1966-67 which led up to the night in 1967 when the Turtles encountered the Beatles and Kaylan had dinner with Jimi Hendrix in London, England. The film also depicts other 1960s rock icons like Brian Jones, Frank Zappa, Donovan, Cass Elliott and Jim Morrison. The film was given an extremely limited theatrical release in Toronto in late September 2007.
Gary Kellgren was an American audio engineer and co-founder of The Record Plant recording studios, along with businessman Chris Stone.
Howard Sounes is a British author, journalist and biographer.
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The Boston Tea Party was a concert venue located first at 53 Berkeley Street in the South End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, and later relocated to 15 Lansdowne Street in the former site of competitor, the Ark, in Boston's Kenmore Square neighborhood, across the street from Fenway Park. It operated from 1967 to the end of 1970. Its closing was due in part to the increasing cost of hiring bands who were playing more and more at large outdoor festivals and arena rock concerts.
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise was replaced by Moe Tucker in 1965, who played on most of the band's recordings. Their integration of rock and the avant-garde achieved little commercial success during the group's existence, but they are now recognized as one of the most influential bands in rock, underground, experimental, and alternative music. The group's provocative subject matter, musical experiments, and often nihilistic attitudes also proved influential in the development of punk rock and new wave music.
Stephen Neal Paul was an American talent manager and nightclub owner. Paul was the one-time manager of Johnny Winter, among other related performers, as well as being the owner of The Scene, a popular New York City club from 1964 to 1970, and the founder of Blue Sky Records.
"It's So Far Out, It's Straight Down" is an episode of the 1960s Granada Television news/documentary series Scene at 6.30. It aired in the Granada region of the British Independent Television network on 7 March 1967. The episode focuses on the burgeoning London underground movement and psychedelic music scene of the time. It features interviews with Paul McCartney of the Beatles and leading underground figures connected to the International Times newspaper and Indica Bookshop, such as Barry Miles. It was directed by John Sheppard and produced by Jo Durden-Smith. The episode also includes footage of the band Pink Floyd performing at the UFO Club.