The Steel Guitar Forum

It is with great sadness that I report that Cain's Ballroom, The House That Bob Built" in Tulsa OK., is going Rock 'n' Roll. The new owners feel that Rock will draw better crowds than Western Swing. What amazes me is that they want to do away with the Bob Wills Birthday Bash forever when it only goes on once a year. It's hard to imagine that Cain's Ballroom will no longer be host to the muic that made it so popular all these years. Watching the Jazz show a couple of weeks ago, I now know how the people felt when the Savoy Ballroom ceased to exist. It's like losing a part of your life. It's been a part of mine since I was born.

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Dayna, although it's sad and pretty stupid for Cain's to drop the Wills Birthday Bash, hasn't the Ballroom had rock and roll there for nearly 40 years?

Of course that wasn't a full time thing, but Cain's has been a popular point for any bands with punk in their heart as it's one of the surviving venues that the Sex Pistols played on their ill-fated 1978 US tour.

Personally I like the idea of someone like Beck playing Cain's, but that's because Beck has the experimental heart that Bob Wills had, they both expanded their bands by mixing styles. But to drop the Birthday Bash, no way!

Heard about this last night. I'm just glad I hadn't booked my air ticket to Tulsa yet! This is an outrage. Aparantly the new owners have declared that they have absolutly no interest whatever in Western Swing. Dammit! This is history we are talking about here. I wonder what is going to happen to all those great photos that have graced the walls for these many years. Covered in rock and roll graffitti.

This makes me very sad, but it also makes me real angry. Grrrrr!!

I don't mean to sound flippant, but this is happening to all the old ballrooms, and it does suck.
Sure Cain's has built up a rep for a rock venue, but for the new owner to totally avoid Western Swing,.... that's pretty harsh.

Why can't a club have country and rock on different nights?

Well Jason, as I see it, that is the whole thing about Cains. For the last twenty years or so they have been putting on rock shows, but the guy who ran the place back then always kept that one weekend open for the Bob Wills Day, which was always very well attended.

This just seems like a slap in the face, especially just three weeks away from the scheduled dates. A lot of poeple will have already made their travelling arrangements for the show, and will probably turn up at Cains expecting to see the Playboys.

All I can say is that whatever "goodwill" the new owner "had" in the community, is bye bye now.


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This is sad news that we have lost yet another country music venue to rock & Roll.How ironic that just last week in the Dallas morning news, the front page read prime real estate for sale, that being the Longhorn Ballroom that we lost several years ago to other music groups, that eventually all but destroyed the place. Do not know what the future holds for the Old Longhorn.

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This is a true crying shame.I'm from Oklahoma, and for all the fun I've heard people poke at my home state, I've heard lots of people express reverence for Bob Wills, his Tulsa years in particular. Looks like we're going to need more lodging in the Turkey,TX area for people who want to gather and remember Bob Wills.
Someone else raised a great question: what's going to happen to all those great photos that line the wall? I hope they will stay where they are, but if they're going up for sale I want to be there!
One more thing:when we were in Tulsa for the celebration last March, we took pictures of Mr. Wills' headstone for findagrave.com .If you can't get to Tulsa and you want to see the great man's headstone, you can see photos of it there.

I agree with most every post here. It's a shame to lose a landmark and a piece of history. I guess it just goes to show that the old saying "money talks" (equivalent present saying -- "show me the money") is actually true.

Apparently, there's more money in rock than there is in Western Swing music.