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I'm interested in knowing as much as possible about some of the musical acts, [[including early Motown) that were performing at clubs like The Twenty Grand in the early 60's. What was it like in the Black & Tan clubs, as well as some of the other clubs in the Black Bottom.
Here is a whole thread about them from several years back:
http://www.atdetroit.net/forum/messa...tml?1182037506
[[Good to see our now departed friend Gannon there, and Jim G who literally wrote the book on this era of music in Detroit)
The so-called black & tan clubs evolved over the years from being a name used for white-owned clubs with black performers working in front of a mostly or entirely white audience, to being a name used for any club where mixed audiences watched primarily black entertainers. In whatever era, these clubs were almost always located in a predominantly black neighborhood.
Black & tans in Detroit started out mostly in the Paradise Valley area on the east side north of Black Bottom, but eventually spread out to other parts of the city, especially in the Dexter/12th St. area on the west side. One of the biggest and most well-known black & tan clubs was the Flame Show Bar at the top edge of Paradise Valley at John R & Canfield. My parents lived just a couple of blocks away for a few years and saw a lot of shows there, when they could afford it. My folks always talked about seeing T-Bone Walker there with Bobby Layne and some other players sitting next to them.
Had the opportunity to see the Royal Jokers live......