Artists Talk
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Lloyd Price and Adam & Jeree Wade
Wednesday, February 25, 2015, 6pm
Aaron Davis Hall – Theater B
134th Street & Convent Avenue
Manhattan
In support of the presentation of On Kentucky Avenue, The City College Center for the Arts in partnership with New Heritage Theater Group and Voza Rivers will host a discussion celebrating artists that performed at Club Harlem. R&B Legend Chuck Jackson (Any Day Now), Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Lloyd Price (Lawdy Miss Clawdy), and Jeree & Adam Wade (Writer and Producers of On Kentucky Avenue) will share stories about the good times had at Club Harlem
Kentucky Avenue, Atlantic City was a major center for entertainment long before casinos came to town. Club Harlem, the most famous club on Kentucky Avenue was the center of night life in Atlantic City. “KY and the Curb” as it was known, was the place for visitors and locals to frequent nightclubs that attracted top performers along the East Coast. The clubs were filled with celebrities, including those who performed at other venues, politicians and people looking for a good time. People would drive from Philadelphia, New York, Washington D.C. and even Boston to enjoy a weekend of entertainment from the 1930s to the 1960s. Club Harlem attracted such stars as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Ethel Waters, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Cab Calloway, Dinah Washington, James Brown, Bobby Womack, Sister Sledge, Mama Lou Parks and her Soul Jazz Review. Crowds from all walks of life filled the streets and clubs, for the programs on Saturday nights and the “breakfast shows” on Sunday mornings. It was difficult to even walk down Kentucky Avenue at times because of all the people waiting to get into the various clubs and the restaurants.
By the late 1960s the area was changing. Most of the clubs were gone by the time Resorts, the first Atlantic City casino, opened in 1978. But the excitement, the fun, the great name in entertainment, the mingling of people and the Magic of Kentucky Avenue will always be a part of the Atlantic City experience.