SOCALLED

DAVID KRAKAUER

FRED WESLEY

HISTORY THE APOLLO THEATER IN NEW YORK CITY

IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS CLUBS FOR POPULAR MUSIC

IN THE UNITED STATES, AND CERTAINLY THE MOST FAMOUS

CLUB ASSOCIATED ALMOST EXCLUSIVELY WITH AFRICAN-

AMERICAN PERFORMERS.

AN APOLLO HALL WAS FOUNDED IN NY IN THE MID-1860S BY

FORMER CIVIL WAR GENERAL EDWARD FERRERO AS A

DANCE HALL AND BALLROOM. UPON THE EXPIRATION OF HIS

LEASE IN 1872, THE BUILDING WAS CONVERTED TO A THEA-

TER, WHICH CLOSED SHORTLY BEFORE THE TURN OF THE

CENTURY. HOWEVER, THE NAME “APOLLO THEATER” LIVED

ON. THE APOLLO WAS DESIGNED BY THE ARCHITECT

GEORGE M. KAISER, WHO ALSO PATTERNED THE FIRST BAP-

TIST CHURCH IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK AT 79TH STREET

AND BROADWAY.

Founded in 1913 in a different location, the new Apollo Theater was owned = by various Jewish families up until World War II. When the Apollo �rst opened, it was one of New York City’s leading burlesque venues, opened and operated by two of the city’s most in�uential burlesque operators – Jules Hurtig and Harry Seamon. Open to white-only viewers, the Hurtig and Seamon’s (New) Bur-lesque Theater would remain in operation until 1928 when Bill Minsky took over and transformed it into the 125th Street Apollo Theater. Sidney S. Cohen, a power-ful theatrical landlord, purchased the Apollo in 1932 upon Minsky’s untimely death. The Apollo Theater �nally opened its doors to African American patrons in 1934, 20 years after the building’s original opening, showca-sing “a colored review” entitled Jazz à la carte.Ella Fitzgerald made her singing debut at seventeen on november 21, 1934 at the Apollo. Fitzgerald’s name pulled in a weekly audience at the Apollo and she won the opportunity to compete in one of the earliest of its famous “Amateur Nights”. She had originally intended to go on stage and dance, but intimidated by the Edwards Sisters, a local dance duo, she opted to sing instead, in the style of Connie Boswell. She sang Hoagy Carmichael’s “Judy” and “The object of my affection”, a song recorded by the Boswell Sisters, and won the �rst prize of $25.00. One unique feature of the Apollo was “the executioner”, a man with a broom who would sweep performers off the stage if the highly vocal and opinionated audiences began to call for their removal.

A “MUSICAL DREAM” OF A NEW ERA ABRAHAM, INC. A “Musical dream” of a New Era Abraham, Inc. is a musical dream of a new era. An unprecedented collaboration between three cultural visionaries – David Krakauer, champion of klezmer music and world-class chamber clarinetist ; funk legend Fred Wesley, celebrated for his work with James Brown ; and hip-hop renegade and beat archi-tect Socalled – Abraham, Inc. heralds a time when boundaries are eroding, mutual respect is presumed, and musical traditions can hit with full force without concession or appropriation. This palpable future is illustrated by the close and easy working style of the collaborating artists, and the truly hybrid musical form which results. Abraham, Inc. is a head-on musical col-lision, one that signi�es new possibilities for cross-cultural respect and engagement.In this opening of a new musical space – a place for honest interplay and respectful collision – one can imagine the same kind of human engagement on a broader scale. At a time when relations between Afri-can Americans and American Jews have often been characterized by mistrust and unwillingness to engage in sustained dialogue, Abraham, Inc. imagines a world in which constructive creation among cultures is pos-sible and people �nd the “easy common ground” that Krakauer, Wesley, and Socalled have found in their rehearsal process.

ART AND SOULTHE APOLLO PERFORMING ARTS SERIES PRESENTS

DAVIDKRAKAUERFRED WESLEY & SOCALLEDSATURDAY 7 MARS 2010,9:00 PM

ADRESSTHE APOLLO THEATER FOUNDATION, INC.WWW.APOLLOTHEATER.ORG

253 WEST 125TH STREETNEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA 10027BETWEEN ADAM CLAYTON POWELL, JR. BLVD & FREDERICK DOUGLASS BLVD.(ALSO KNOWN AS 7TH AVENUE & 8TH AVENUE)

PHONE (212) 531-5300 FAX (212) 749 2743

The club fell into decline in the 1960s and 1970s, but was revived in 1983, when it obtained federal, state, and city landmark status. It fully reopened in 1985, and was bought by the State of New York in 1991. It is now run by a nonpro�t organization, the Apollo Theater Foundation Inc., and draws an estimated 1,3 million visitors annually. In 2005, Ben Harper and The Blind Boys of Alabama released an album Live at the Apollo in honor of the Harlem music scene. It is the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a nationally syndicated variety show consisting of new talent. On december 15, 2005, the Apollo Theater launched the �rst phase of its refurbishment, costing estimated $65 million. The �rst phase included the facade and the new light-emitting diode (LED) marquee. Attendees and speakers at the launch event included President Bill Clinton, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Time Warner CEO Richard Parsons.To date, the Apollo renovation is America’s most expensive and advanced refurbishment of a landmark theater. On december 28, 2006, the body of JamesBrown (“Soul brother #1”), who had died a few days before, was displayed at the Apollo Theater as a memo-rial to his life and career. The memorial was covered heavily by both television and print media. This tribute to Brown once again brought the legendary Harlem theater back into the public spotlight.Buddy Holly was allegedly the �rst white rock and roll per-former to play at the Apollo on august 16, 1955, but that claim is challenged by Jimmy Cavallo and the House Roc-kers who say they performed there in december 1956 and Dale Hawkins who says he performed there in july 1957 about a month before Holly. Daryl Hall & John Oates played the grand re-opening in 1987, which was released on an album that year. Other rock groups that have played at the Apollo include Korn in 1999 premiering their album Issues, The Strokes in 2001, Damon Albarn’s project Gorillaz in april 2006, Björk in may 2007 and Spiritualized when they performed their acoustic mainlines gig at the venue in november 2007.

TRANSFORMATIONAND RENOVATION THE THEATER IS LOCATED

AT 253 W 125TH STREET IN HARLEM IN WHAT IS NOW ONE

OF THE BEST-KNOWN BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS IN NEW

YORK CITY AND PROBABLY THE COUNTRY. WHEN THE

APOLLO RE-OPENED IN 1934 THE AREA AROUND 125TH

STREET WAS A TRANSITIONAL NEIGHBORHOOD. IN THE

DECADES BEFORE THE APOLLO, THE THEATER HAD CATE-

RED TO WHITE AUDIENCES WITH WHITE SHOWS FEATURING

BURLESQUE.

When Sydney S. Cohen and his partner, Morris Suss-man, reopened the Apollo on january 26, 1934, they published an ad in the New York Age which referred to the Apollo as “the �nest theater in Harlem”. The first show was called “Jazz à la carte”. All the proceeds of this show were donated to the Harlem children’s fresh air fund. After Sydney S. Cohen’s death, Morris Suss-man and Frank Schiffman got together. Schiffman ran the Harlem Opera House and a merger between the two theaters was formed. Schiffman’s motivation for featu-ring black talent and entertainment was not only because the neighborhood had become black over a two hundred year period of gradual migration, but because black entertainers were cheaper to hire, and Schiffman could offer quality shows for reasonable rates. For many years Apollo was the only theater in New York City to hire black talent. The Apollo Theater is still a very large and working theater today. The song “I may be wrong (but I think you’re wonderful)” by Harry Sullivan and Harry Ruskin, written in 1929, became the theme song of the theatre.The Apollo grew to prominence during the Harlem Renaissance of the pre-World War II years. In 1934, it introduced its regular amateur night shows. Billing itself as a place “where stars are born and legends are made”, the Apollo became famous for launching the careers of artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Jackson 5, Patti LaBelle, Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Ben E. King, Mariah Carey, The Isley Brothers, Lauryn Hill, and Sarah Vaughan. The Apollo also featured the performances of old-time vaudeville favorites like Tim Moore, Stepin Fetchit, Godfrey Cambridge, Dewey “Pig-meat” Markham, Moms Mabley, Marshall “Garbage” Rogers, and Johnny Lee.

IN POPULAR CULTURE Lou Reed makes a reference to the Apollo in his song “Walk on the wild Side”. / Immortal Technique references the theatre in his songs, “Crossing the Boundary,” and “You Never Know”. / The song “Without love”, from the Broadway musical “Hairspray”, contains the line, “Without love, life is Doris Day at The Apollo”. / In the Futurama epi-sode, “Anthology of interest”, crustacean Dr. Zoidberg is grown to giant size and wreaks vengeful havoc on New York. When he reaches the “famed Apollo Theatre” (his words), Zoidberg angrily yells, “Boo me off stage on open mic night, huh ? I’ll show you !” and then kicks it to pieces. / Substantial parts of the �lm “Down to earth” featuring Chris Rock take place at the Apollo. / In one The Simpsons episode, “Krusty the Klown”, who on his show usually changes “C’s” to “K’s” held his unfortuna-tely titled Krusty Komedy Klassic (KKK) at the Apollo Theater. / Robot Chicken did a segment setting a spel-ling bee at the Apollo. / Jimi Hendrix won the �rst prize in an amateur musician contest here in 1964. / In an episode of the television show Family Guy titled “Peter Grif�n : husband, father... brother ?” Peter goes to the Apollo Theater to see an amateur comic where he embarrasses himself and racially (clarify) says “Well time to hit the old dusty trail”. / A battle between the Hulk and the Abomination in the upcoming The Incre-dible Hulk takes place outside the theater. / The band Cobra Starship has a song on their album “While the city sleeps, we rule the streets” entitled “It’s amateur night at the Apollo creed”.