Here is the last one, for awhile at least.
http://scottymoore.net/charlotteColiseum.html

Thanks for reading.
Jim

PS Happy Valentines Day

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Nice informative pages done on the Charlotte Elvis venues. After construction on a "new" Charlotte Coliseum for the NBA Hornets, the original Charlotte Coliseum was renamed first to the Independence Arena. When corporate sponsors came and it was known as Cricket Arena then as Bojangles Arena. (Bojangles is a Carolinas based fried chicken chain and Cricket a cell phone company.)

After the Hornets left Charlotte, the "new" Coliseum across town was leveled! This meant the old Coliseum could again take on the Coliseum name and became the Bojangles Coliseum as it is now known.

The acoustics in the Bojangles Coliseum are astoundingly terrible being among the worst I've ever seen as one might expect in a domed stadium but this one is worse than most.

The Ovens Auditorium right next door is a much better music venue but has far fewer seats. So, big acts would go in the Coliseum. Other really big acts to play the Coliseum in addition to Elvis included Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Kid Rock, Queen and many more. Additionally the Coliseum was the traditional home for annual Rock & Roll Reunions sponsored by a radio station where I worked for about 15 years. These reunion shows featured acts of the 50's and 60's including Little Eva, Danny & The Juniors, The Cookies, The Shirelles, Herman's Hermits, Sam Moore, Mitch Ryder, etc. I got to be very familiar with the big room and the neighboring smaller auditorium where the acoustics are much better.

Another venue in town called the Grady Cole Center however was the traditional R&B show arena where people like James Brown, Sam & Dave, Parliament, George Clinton and etc would play. In recent years several important mid-sized venues have opened such as the Neighborhood Theater while the Grady Cole Center is now mostly used for college basketball games.

The Verizon Wireless Amphitheater near the University of NC Charlotte campus is an outdoor venue where many huge acts today play during warmer weather.

While in Charlotte for a show at the Cole Center 48 years ago this very month, James Brown and his band recorded the multi-million selling number 1 hit "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" at the famed Arthur Smith Studios. Arthur Smith's primarily was a studio used by traditional country acts in the region, but would sell studio time to anyone. You can hear the country flavored Sun Studios style tape echo all through the song. The song was recorded "live" style with no multi-tracking or overdubs whatsoever.

Hoping to recapture some of that hit making Mojo, James Brown would return to Charlotte to record his final album. This was at Reflection Studios and again it was done on traditional tape instead of digital at J.B.'s insistence. However J.B. died with the project unfinished and it remains unmixed and unreleased even though J.B.'s vocals were largely finished. Longtime collaborator Bobby Byrd and J.B. had an infamous parting of the ways during pre-production on this final James Brown project.

It seems likely that Byrd was the only person who could have and would have finished the project after J.B.'s funeral if he hadn't been expelled from the project. And now Byrd is gone too. J.B.'s death left another unfinished project behind, a documentary that Spike Lee was filming about Brown and much of it was filmed in Charlotte. The film has also never seen the light of day, possibly because it includes music from the Reflection sessions and clearance on these recordings is impossible to obtain at this time due ongoing legal entanglements of the Brown estate.

Thanks for posting Jim....I've always been a Scotty fan. Love the website. Thanks for keeping us updated on new pages..

Dan

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This Ain't No Dress Rehearsal..We Are Professionals & This is the Bigtime - Waylon

Thanks Dan.
Great stuff Dave.

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Thanks for posting,Scotty is a Facebook friend of mine but is also a very close friend of one of my best buddies who I've known for over 40 years.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

You're talking about Lew. I know Lew, nice guy (lefty). Scotty doesn't do FB. That was started by our friend Jerry Townsend when he was selling signature T-shirts. Scotty doesn't even have a computer.

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