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. . . continued . . .
- - An extremely busy year for Paul was 1966. Not only was he managing the Shadows, the Children and the Mauds as well as running the Cellar, but he had also entered into a partnership with Bill Traut whereby he headed Windy City Management, a talent booking agency which was a division of Dunwich Records. Sampson's main function in this arrangement was to showcase Traut's groups at the Cellar. In the midst of all this insanity came the realization that a new location for the Cellar would have to be found. Sampson recounts, "It was clear that Mr. Gordon had other plans for the Eastman location. It wasn't really zoned for entertainment. Besides that, business was booming so much that the building was too small to handle all the people that were coming in."
- - The search for a new site began. A friend tipped Paul off to an old building owned by Grisby-Allison, and located by the railroad tracks across from Jimmy's Place [a popular hot dog stand] on Rt. 14. The entire building was vacant 'and' zoned properly. H. Miles Gordon owned the apartments adjacent to the building, so Sampson hit on the idea of convincing Gordon to buy the property, whereby he could lease the property from him. Sampson stated that he only wanted to lease the warehouse portion of the building, thereby allowing Gordon to lease out the rest as he saw fit. Once again, Gordon found the idea to be profitable, so he bought the property and leased the warehouse to Paul for five years. Soon after, work began on the new Cellar. Everyone took part in the renovation, including Ted Nugent, who drove the tractor which chopped all the weeds down. The Village of Arlington Heights tried to pass a law limiting the patronage of the new club to Arlington Heights residents, but this proved to be ineffective at best, since the kids were flocking to the New Cellar from all over.
- - The new location gave Sampson an opportunity to bring in national groups as well as presenting the best in local talent. Actually, he had gotten the Byrds for two concerts prior to 1967, but these concerts were held at Arlington High School to accommodate the large crowds. Buffalo Springfield was one of the first 'name' bands to play at the New Cellar in early 1967. Sampson remembers, "Neil Young was apprehensive about walking through the crowd to get to the stage. Apparently, he was afraid that the fans were going to try to rip the fringe off his leather jacket. Anyway, the group got a police escort to the stage. After they finished their set, they admitted that they liked the place."
- - Sampson continues, "Spencer Davis came in next. He and Stevie Winwood enjoyed themselves so much that they kept on playing well into the night. We finally had to drag them offstage!" The Who concert in June 1967 was memorable for the mini-riot that Pete Townsend caused when he went into his amplifier-smashing routine. Kids and cops charged the stage, not understanding what was going on. "The local media had a tendency to blow events like that out of proportion", Paul states, "We read the headlines and ignore the small print. The Cellar had a bad reputation from the start."
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- - Other problems were also in store for Sampson. He was beginning to find that the demands of the business were putting a strain on his family life. He explains, "The phone was constantly ringing. I did not have a spare minute to call my own. There was no way I could raise my family properly and still handle the business affairs. I had to rearrange my priorities." At the very bottom of the list was Windy City Management. Sampson began to gradually divorce himself from that operation. Bill Traut remembers, "Paul was a straight, loyal, devoted family man, yet his wife was constantly worried that he was fooling around with the girls at the office. Actually, nothing could have been further from the truth." Sampson gives a slightly different version, "I just weighed the pros and cons of Windy City. It seemed I was putting a lot more into that end of the business than I was getting out of it. At times, it was almost like I was being taken advantage of. Besides, commuting to the city everyday was a pain!" By 1968, he was completely out of Windy City Management.
- - While the pace continued to be furious, Sampson continued to bring in the big groups and reap huge profits. The definite high point in the Cellar story was the Cream concert in November 1867. According to Paul, "I wanted Cream in the worst way. The same person who found me the Cellar got me in touch with their manager. That I was able to get them to play was amazing; that I got them for only $3,000 was unbelievable! On the day of the concert, the line of people wrapped all the way around the building. After I got up on stage to introduce them, I noticed that the place was packed so tight that the people in the first few rows looked like they were going to die of gangrene. I could not get back to my office, I was virtually trapped at the front of the stage, so I stood there, not more than five feet away from Eric
Clapton during the entire hour show. He was exciting! They really seemed to enjoy themselves. This was the most memorable Cellar evening. Two thousand people at $4 a head - we made $5,000 profit!" There were, of course, other lesser highlights; here's a sampling of random observations and recollections by Paul Sampson:
- - "Paul Butterfield gave a great concert, and Corky Siegel was always an audience favorite . . . The Byrds could have been as big as the Beatles, but they were too weird . . . Albert King was overwhelming; the kids really dug him . . . I loved the blues, but I wasn't sure the suburban kids could dig them . . . Joe Kelley really opened the door for blues in this area . . . the blues concerts at the end - Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Young, John Mayall - were legendary . . . Sly Stone was a very polite gentleman, and he cooked; too bad only a handful of people saw him there that night. . . . Three Dog Night was fantastic, and I got them for only $500 . . . Baby Huey and the Babysitters were the first black group to play at the Cellar, and what a great show they put on . . . Steve Miller was super; my daughter Sue still gets excited when she tells her friends that she once ate lunch with Steve at the Arlington Grill . . . "
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- - "The Steppenwolf tour in 1968 was set up almost entirely by me. Every place they played they made money. Wouldn't you know it, the night the night they played the Cellar a tornado went through Arlington Heights. I had three feet of water in my parking lot - a total disaster . . . Of the local groups, Flock was very exciting . . . Rotary Connection was a crowd pleaser. When Minnie Ripperton began to wail, she sounded like a beautiful siren . . . The Mauds were exciting, but their white soul sound never really caught on . . . Then there was the Ides of March. I didn't think their sound would catch on, though their leader, Jim Pererik, wanted to bring them to the Cellar. When 'Vehicle' hit the top of the charts, however, I decided to take a chance on them. They brought the house down with two full sets of high energy music. Pererik is one of the nicest guys you could ever meet . . . Of the all-girl groups. the Shape was probably the best; They could rock as well as any of the guys, but they all came from rich, North Shore homes, and their parents never let them take their music careers seriously . . . The best studio group in the area during the late 1960's was C.T.A. [ later became 'Chicago' ] they played on sessions with the Mauds, Three Dog Night, you name it . . . The MC5 showed us what punk rock was all about . . ."
- - The good times rolled on at the Cellar, and it seemed like it would never end. A regular crew of friendly faces helped keep things running smoothly through 1968 and 1969. Jim Revelle and Jeff 'Worm' Wehrmeister were handling a lot of the business affairs. Sampson was still on the stage, introducing the groups with a smile; Art 'Andy' Anderson greeted kids at the door and was the official ticket taker. Lt. Jack Aldrich of the Arlington Heights Police Dept. walked around and patrolled benevolently through the crowd with those now famous earphones on his head, hoping to shut out the high decibel music that was going down. Peggy, Kathy, Yogi and several other girls took care of coat-check, concessions, and clean-up. They were a tight knit group, and Sampson made sure that things were kept under control. He recites his official policy, "If I observed an obviously drunk person in the crowd, I pulled them into the office and gave them a choice. Either their friends or parents could come by and drive them home, or I would turn them over to the Police. I was not going to be responsible for some kid wrapping his car around a telephone pole! Surprisingly, a lot of parents viewed me with resentment, and felt that I was responsible for getting their kids drunk. We used to have some fights between the 'greasers' and the 'freaks'. The potheads gave me no trouble; it was the boozers who got rowdy and caused disturbances. I somehow got the feeling that the whole scene was a passing fad." . . .
. . . continued at the 'Cellar Article Page 3' Link below . . .
Copyright 1978 Illinois Entertainer - All Rights Reserved
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For Engagements and Bookings Contact:
Creative Soundz, Inc.
Box 375
Mount Prospect, IL 60056
Tel: 847-299-5522
Fax: 847-299-5534
Email: soundzinc@aol.com
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