From Our Forum:

"Living in Toronto, Canada, I was impressed by the outfits that the Motown and Stax acts were wearing way back when, in the early to mid-sixties. Some great suits, shirts, and shoes, all in wild colours and fabrics. Fashion at the far edge of the style bar.

The first place that the tours hit, going east, was Toronto, as it was only a five hour drive from Detroit, and acted as the shake down for a new tour. The bars closed at midnight in those days, and one of the favourite places "after hours" was the Bluenote Club on Younge street. The Bluenote opened at One o'clock and closed at 6 am. The house band was made up of a rotatiing group of well known Toronto players, and for an admission price of 3 dollars, it was always a great show.

Why? Because all the visiting players from Detroit would come in and "sit in" with the house band. Imagine being able to see the Tops, The Shirelles, and Mary Wells, along with Billy Mercury, Shawn Jackson, Jay Smith, and Robbie Lane, all on one night! And they were having fun too, as the show was very free-form, do what you want to do, sing whatever you want to sing; if the band knew the changes, they would play it. Fast and furious, and non-stop, for five hours straight.

The crowd was also into the fashion and dance thing, with lots of guys buying custom made suits from Studio 276, and Mister Mann's men's shops on Younge street, and custom made shirts from the Little Brick Shirt House, and shoes from Clark's of England. The image was similar to that put forward by the Righteous Brothers, with drainpipe slacks, with high waists, Winklepicker shoes with elongated toes, and tight and high jackets with suede or velvet collars, with pastel coloured shirts in pale green or mustard, with long drop collars and billowing sleeves, in silk and sateen.

In winter, capes of moolten wool, with red silk linings, or double breasted "gangster overcoats" in dark grey herringbone with black velvet collars, and handkerchiefs in the breast pockets of the overcoats, with trilby hats, and walking sticks with hidden beverage containers to ward off the chill. A take off on the British TV series "The Avengers." The style was called "the Beau Brummel look."

Dance style was tight and fast with lots of intricate foot and hand moves, and lots of turns and dips. Floor moves like splits and back flips were considered cool and so was the "James Brown" stuff. Remember that 95 percent of this crowd was white, as at that time Toronto had a very small black community. In fact we used to get "invites" to go to the few "black" clubs that exisited, to "cross-pollinate the dance styles." The BlueNote was the only club where both white and blacks were on an equal footing, and mingled freely. It was considered a "neutral" location, neither one thing nor the other.

The BlueNote Club lasted untill about 1970, at which time the scene had changed, and nobody was wearing suits any more, either on stage or off stage. Too bad, I liked the look, and the sounds, too. Nothing quite like a Hammond B3, along with a Stratocaster, a Jazzmaster, and a tight horn section, with a driving drummer setting the pace." -- BUNTINGJ

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