1971

A few missing dates

Confirmed events are indicated by a ♫
Events are only confirmed if printed evidence is available, i.e.. Magazine, Advert, Ticket, Poster etc. or if verified by two independent sources. Internet sourced dates are not classed as evidence due to errors being copied from site to site.
All acts are listed exactly as they appeared in the advert.
It will be noted that in the early years, some of the more famous bands had differing names and may have been lower on the bill. This usually means that they were, as yet, relatively unknown.
Additional information and corrections to this list are more than welcomed.

All the gigs and events at the California Ballroom during 1971
Date		Valid	Event	Comments
Jan	8	♫	Disco with Carl Edwards	Adm 4/-
	9	♫	The Equals	With Carl Edwards Disco
	15	♫	Disco with Carl Edwards	Adm 4/-
	16	♫	Rufus Thomas	With Carl Edwards Disco
	22	♫	Disco with Carl Edwards	Adm4/-
	23	♫	The Pyramids	With Carl Edwards Disco
	24		Slade	Listed as "California Club" Dunstable
	29	♫	Disco with Carl Edwards	Adm4/-
	30	♫	Jimmy Ruffin
Feb	5	♫	Disco with Carl Edwards	Adm4/-
	6	♫	Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
	12	♫	Disco with Carl Edwards	Adm4/-
	13	♫	Edwin Starr
	18	♫	Disco with Carl Edwards	Adm4/-
	19	♫	REGGAE PACKAGE SHOW Winston Groover Denzil Dennis The Hammers US Flattop
	26	♫	Disco with Carl Edwards	Adm4/-
	27	♫	Bob & Marcia
Mar	5	♫	Bruce Benson Fiasco Disco	We believe this was the first gig Bruce did at the California
	6	♫	Laurel Aitken
	12	♫	Bruce Benson Fiasco Disco	Adm4/-
	13	♫	Desmond Dekker	with Bruce Benson Fiasco
	19	♫	Bruce Benson Fiasco Disco	Adm4/-
	20	♫	Jackie Edwards	Bruce Benson Fiasco
	26	♫	Bruce Benson Fiasco Disco	with Go-go girls
	27	♫	Tommy Hunt of the Flamingos	Bruce Benson Fiasco
Apr	2	♫	Bruce Benson's Scene of Sound	with gorgeous dancers Bruce will give away lots of money
	3	♫	Cupid's Inspiration Pebbles
	9	♫	Nothing in the press
	16	♫	Bruce Benson's Scene of Sound	with gorgeous dancers Bruce will give away lots of money
	17	♫	The Flirtations	Bruce Benson Fiasco
	23	♫	Bruce Benson's Scene of Sound	with gorgeous dancers Bruce will give away lots of money
	24	♫	Root Jenny Jackson
May	1	♫	The Joyce Band Review Chancery Lane	Bruce Benson's Scene of Sound
	8	♫	Coloured Raisons Black Velvet	and resident groover Bruce Benson
	15	♫	Show Stoppers backed by The Red River Rock Band	and Groovy Groovy Bruce Benson (look, that's what it says in the ad. I'm not making this stuff up you know!)
	17	♫	EVERY MONDAY Night out with the stars	The ad says you got to meet the stars. Did anyone go to these and actually meet anyone sort of... starlike?
	22	♫	Nicky Thomas
	29	♫	Sweet with Bruce Benson	Sweet's gig-list has this down as "Green Ballroom" Dunstable
	31	♫	Whit Monday Show Lou Christie	with Bruce Benson
Jun	5	♫	The Fantastics	with Bruce Benson
	12	♫	Arthur Conley	with Bruce Benson
	19	♫	Desmond Dekker	with Bruce Benson
	21		Traffic
	25	♫	The Lovers Concerto with Brucey Benson
	26	♫	Johnny Johnson & the Bandwagon
Jul	2	♫	Tammi Lynn
	3	♫	Laurel Aitken Madrigal
	9	♫	Brucey Benson
	10	♫	The Flirtations
	16	♫	Disco Bruce Benson	with Ray Jay Day
	17	♫	Jimmy Ruffin
	19	♫	RADIO 1 CLUB Hosted by Tony Blackburn with Idle Race 12 noon - 2pm 8pm - midnight THE COCA COLA SHOW with Idle Race and Pebbles and compere Bruce Benson Also Go-Go Girl Competition	Date courtesy of Karen White - Archives Researcher, BBC Written Archives Centre. We now have the advert to back this up.
	23	♫	Disco with Bruce Benson
	24	♫	Lucas and the Soul Sound
	30	♫	Disco with Les Dunston
	31	♫	Red River Band	with Bruce Benson
Aug	7	♫	The Foundations	with Bruce Benson 70p
	14	♫	Greyhound Motown Magic Group....... Worth	with Bruce Benson 70p
	21
	28	♫	The Fascinations	with Bruce Benson 80p
	31	♫	Bank Holiday Monday Rave	with Bruce Benson and Ray J Day 30p
Sep	4	♫	The Elgins	with Bruce Benson £1
	11	♫	Bob & Marcia	with Bruce Benson 70p
	18	♫	Delroy Williams - Trojan recording artist	with Bruce Benson 60p
	25	♫	Bruce Ruffin	with Bruce Benson 80p
Oct	2
	9	♫	Nicky Thomas	with Bruce Benson 80p
	16	♫	Jimmy James and the Vagabonds	with Bruce Benson 80p
	23	♫	The Tams	with Bruce Benson £1
	30
Nov	6
	13	♫	The Maytals	with Bruce Benson 80p
	20	♫	Grand Funky Disco with Soul man Bruce Benson and James Brown type group Tamo Shanteh	Adm 40p
	27	♫	The Flirtations	with Bruce Benson 70p
Dec	3	♫	Radio Luxembourg Show with 208 DJ Paul Burnett	with Bruce Benson 50p
	4	♫	Rufus Thomas	with Bruce Benson 70p
	11	♫	The Elgins Back by public demand	with Bruce Benson £1
	18	♫	Children's Christmas Party with Nigel Tomkins from Opportunity Knocks	with Bruce Benson 10am - 12 noon 20p
	18	♫	Al Green	with Bruce Benson £1
	23	♫	Grand Funky Disco	with Bruce Benson 30p
	24	♫	Christmas Eve Spectacular Johnny Johnson and the Bandwagon Nicky Thomas The Live Shocks	with Father Christmas himself, Bruce Benson £1.50p
	27	♫	Grand Funky Disco	with Bruce Benson 30p
	31	♫	Arthur Conley	with Bruce Benson Adm £1