Soon after I’d paid
My sixty
Or seventy pence,
I found myself
In what I thought
Was a miniature London.
I saw girls
In chandelier earrings,
In stiletto heels,
Wearing evening
Dresses,
Which contrasted with
The bizarre
Hair colours
They favoured:
Jet black
Or bleach blonde,
With flashes of
Red, purple
Or green.
Some wore large
Bow ties,
Others unceremoniously
Hanged
Their school ties
Round their
Necks.
Eye make-up
Was exaggerated.
The boys all had
Short hair,
Wore mohair sweaters,
Thin ties,
Baggy,
Peg-top trousers
And winklepicker shoes.
A band playing
Raw street rock
At a frantic speed
Came to a sudden,
Violent climax...
Melodic, rhythmic,
Highly danceable
Soul music
Was now beginning
To fill the hall,
With another group
Of short-haired youths...
Smoother, more elegant,
Less menacing
Than the previous ones.
These well-dressed
Street boys
Wore well-pressed pegs
Of red or blue...
They pirouetted
And posed...
Pirouetted and posed.
Painting The Past
For us it was The Greystone Ballroom. Mowtown artists on the stage, new dance every week, the new bop, Hugging the side of an art decco hall waiting for someone to ask for a dance by lowering their hand to the hip and extending the arm backward with the palm twisted up, stylin' :D
Wow, sounds great...
I would have loved to have visited, but it was a long way from suburbia, London :)
Born London, residing London Metropolitan Area.
The City Tore It Down
Orchestra Hall survived but not the Graystone Ballroom. A pity. It was history - just too expensive to retore. some history is on the net. Neo-gothic architecture, that indoor ceiling was gone by 1961 when I danced there and listented to The Temps and the Miiacles and Stevie Wonder. I wonder what happened to the outdoor sign and the exquisite indoor domed ceiling? - slc
That is a shame...interesting memories...
1961, Motown was only just being born it iwasn't it...it influenced the Beatles a lot, and so the whole of British (and American) Pop music, so easy to forget the beautiful melodic influence of that music.
Born London, residing London Metropolitan Area.