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.

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