The Grooveyard - The Story of Les Vogt and Fred Latremouille

[winston]

In another thread I said I would reveal the story behind the new name of this forum when I got some time and so here it is.

The Grooveyard was a club. It was a music haven for teens that was established in New Westminster B.C. The venue opened up to packed audiences every weekend in 1965.

My old friend and promoter Les Vogt whom I met the following year, had come up with the idea of buying a building to give teens a place to go see live acts. He focused his efforts on a building that housed a club called The Hollywood Bowl. Les and another friend of mine Fred Latremouille (a local DJ) initially were going to be partners in this new venture and Fred wanted to call the club The Grooveyard.

Fred backed out prior to buying the building for reasons known only to him but the name stayed. A local R&B band called The Nocturnals invested in The Grooveyard along with Les and they became forever associated with the venue.

All the bands that played The Grooveyard and were booked by Les' Jaguar Booking Agency. The Jaguar Booking Agency was 50% owned by another lifelong friend of mine - Red Robinson. Red was the top DJ in Vancouver in 1965 but he was also a concert promoter and he still is. Some of the Vancouver bands that played The Groove yard included the Night Train Revue, The Nocturnals, The Epics, Soul Unlimited, The Stags, The Shockers and The Shantelles. Ike & Tina Turner were featured one weekend when the group were cancelled at the last minute in Seattle. Bo Diddley, Paul Revere & the Raiders, The Sonics. The Frantics and the Kingsmen were just a few of the US bands to be featured there.

Les is also known for helping Roy Orbison make a comeback and also as fate would have it, playing in LA. A city that he never wanted to play in, but Les talked him into it. It was also the city where Roy met some of the huge stars that would assist him with his comeback bid. Tom Petty was at that show and met Roy backstage as did The Beach Boys... The Eagles... Bruce Springsteen... Boz Scaggs... Linda Ronstadt... and Huey Lewis.

But that is a story for another time.............so there you have it. The name of this forum is a tip of the hat to one of Canada's premier booking agents and a member of the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame.

[BCGUY]

Very cool bit of history there. I spent quite a bit of time in New West, years later. I never knew about The Grooveyard or it's history. That's quite an impressive list of bands to play New West at that time. How many years did it operate for?

Red Robinson is going just as strong as ever it seams promoting bands for his showroom.


Thanks for sharing that.

Cheers,

[beatlefreak]

Thanks for the story!