HOLLYWOOD SPORTATORIUM cracks me up (especially since it’s in Florida).
It honestly sounds like some jokey name they came up with in an episode of The Simpsons or something.
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Also known as the Snortatorium,or the Sweatatorium it was a legendary now long defunct and torn down venue in South Florida…it was a total shit hole but a very beloved shit hole and was THE place for shows in South Florida during the 70s and 80s(they tore it down in 92-there is actually footage on YouTube of it being demolished)…everyone from Elvis to Maiden played there…there was a riot at a Rush show there in 81,I believe and a dude climbed out on the railings at a Lynrd Skynrd show and fell and broke his neck and died in the mid 70s…it was a shit hole in every way,the sound sucked and it was out in the fucking boondocks of Hollywood,Florida but it was so great in many ways…they also held wrestling matches out there and there was a car racing speedway across the way from it…there was one road in and one road out…it was a huge part of my coming of age teenage years…I saw all the best bands there and I saw shit go down at that place that I could never describe in writing…the parking lot scene was like something out of Caligula…total debauchery…the good old days,bro…never to be seen again…
I’ve always been in love with A Momentary Lapse of Reason and A Delicate Sound of Thunder is tops for PF live. I would have been 6 at the time, but have enjoyed the VHS over the years, and now the awesome blu-ray they just put out. That must have been one hell of a show.
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It definitely was,my friend…and a very hazy one haha…David Gilmours tone was so crisp and pure…the show was 3 hours…I’ll never forget it…
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dude. this discussion alone could take this thread south. speaking of wrestling, i grew up in MEMPHIS, local wrestling was on every fucking saturday morning (with the cartoons). and yes, I saw andy kaufman wrestle at the mid-south coliseum. it was one of his shows you hear about, he wrestled a lady.
Hahaha I remember that era of Kaufman…that was some high art hahaha…remember when Jerry Lawler slapped the ever loving shit out of him on Letterman…he had the neck brace on and shit…that dude was something else…ever see the obscure film called My Dinner With Blase?..its just him and Classy Freddie Blase eating breakfast at a fucking Sambo’s restaurant(remember those? They actually existed,there used to be one in the city I live in)…they just eat breakfast and talk shit for 80 min and then Andy does some gross shit and they basically get kicked out of the place
…it is an interesting curiosity to say the least…
Anyway,the Sporto held as many wrasslin matches as they did concerts…it was a big money maker for them…Dusty Rhodes, Nature Boy,Harley Race,Bugsy McGraw,Andree the Giant etc etc…all the greats went through that place…I’ll have to dig out a few wrestling stubs while I’m digging through my concert stubs this weekend…those were some true hardcore white trash redneck gatherings,man…god damn…
Sweet TKK stub,dude…
What the fuck was The Bomb Gang Girls and why does that ring a bell? I’m having a senile moment…
I fucking loved SAMBO’S.
We had the sole remaining restaurant up in Santa Barbara. I just Google’d them to check status and sadly (well, for me, at least, haha) they finally succumbed to changing the name — at the beginning of June this year, not surprisingly. Goddammit, 2020.
The history of SAMBO’S is really interesting and there was never any intended racism in the name. The founders were two black dudes named . . . . SAM and BO. But, yeah, turns out the name “Sambo” has a lot more connotation than just delicious pancakes.
Anyway, I’m gonna pour out a shot of syrup in memory.
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The Sportatorium sounds awesome!
The Hollywood Palladium (CA, not FL, obviously) was pretty decrepit prior to it’s full renovation about 10 years ago. Honestly they did an amazing job of restoring the place, but there is definitely something beautifully rock and roll in the nastiness of places that are just gross, dangerous, and completely lawless.
Their group of back-up singers
Yeah I knew about the history of Sambo’s…nothing racist in thier intent at all…although I didn’t know the last one existed in Santa Barbara…what a trip…I loved that place too…they just turned the one down here into a Denny’s which still exists …
Totally agree about the Rock n Roll feel of old nasty ass places…the Sporto had that shit in spades…the first time I walked in that place I went into the restroom and there were motherfuckers just pissing into a giant industrial size garbage can and it was full to the top with piss and garbage was just floating around on top…it was a crash course in sleazy debauchery…the stories at that fucking joint are legendary…I miss it like hell…everything is so sanitized these days…and now we can’t even go to those fucking places now…sigh…
Slack- ahhh of course…the Bomb Gang Girls…of course…
I always remember the Palladium cuz that’s where Richard Pryor did his come back stand up,Live on Sunset Strip…I know its been in some other films also…I think there is a scene in The Blues Brothers there,if I remember correctly…is it close to the Roxy and Rainbow and Troubadour and all that shit.?..I’ve been there I just can’t remember…its been a minute…
Nah, Roxy/Rainbow/Whiskey a Go Go are all right next to each other. Troubadour is around the corner. Palladium is at the other end of Hollywood.
All this talk is really making me miss concerts.
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Dude, I am in serious concert withdrawal…it is painful…
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I feel ya, Brothers!
I was driving my wife to the mountains today and Iron Maiden’s “Number of the Beast” came on the car and I just had that feeling in my blood. When the show starts and everyone is so excited and it’s just a mess of people shoving and screaming and high fiving and having the absolute best time of their lives. I can’t wait to be at a show going fucking nuts again!
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The coolest gig stuff I have is a broken Melvins drum stick and a Melt-Banana setlist in Japanese signed by all 4 of them.
Killer. I’ve got a Skinny Puppy drumstick and a CULT tambourine. I don’t have any setlists.