Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The Temple of Rock Paris style

I'm doing rewrites on my next book set in Pigalle. Just yesterday I worked on a scene that takes place in an infamous disco called Bus Palladium or the Temple of Rock by people in the 60's. It's a climax in the story. I've been there and then what do I find...there are five things I don't know about the place.

Welcome to the Bus Palladium.  (Photo: The Daily Ninth)
1. In the 1930s
In the early twentieth century, the Bus Palladium was called The Red Angel. The dance bar had a checkered past and in the 30's a reporter covering the red light district of Pigalle wrote about what was a usual occurance: " On the night of February  11, 1932, a brawl bursts out after midnight at the bar-dancing Red Angel on rue Fontaine. The 'Parisians' mounted from the Saint Martin district to fight with a Corsican pimp ... "


2. The Bus Palladium music
Who's in, who's out? You like nitroglycerin is the Bus Palladium on rue Fontaine? There's a crowd for Liverpool Lads . " Serge Gainsbourg's tribute to Bus Palladium in 1968 and the Beatles.(Here's a better link thru youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BeyOUCI5w_8


3. An ultra-popular place in 1960-1980

It was impossible to park on rue Fontaine because of the long lines waiting to get in! "says Nicolas Lespaule who remembers the Bus Palladium where he was a DJ,  "popular, very exclusive, with many people OUT and very few people IN . " The Bus Palladium so inspired Nicolas Lespaule he made ​​a show, 'Hearsay Love Bus.'

4. Rock'n'Roll dress code 

During the '80's, "with the glitz and rhinestones as we know them , " Nicolas Lespaule recalls the Bus was a casual place. " What was funny, he notes ,' is that people were dressed simply,  with a leather jacket and boots,  then stayed until closing at 3 o'clock bus, then spun to change in order to finish the evening elsewhere! " 


5. Karaoke and Slams

In the 90's the Bus kept up with the times and had a Karaoke night every month.  The singer of Dionysus - a very French band, was thrown into the audience during a slam.

Cara- Tuesday 

2 comments:

  1. And to think I missed all that. Time to catchup, but where to start?

    By the way, Serge rules!

    ReplyDelete
  2. The direction of the music video is just wonderful, and with the sound off I would have known from its style that it was French!

    ReplyDelete