1976

Complete...ish

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 1976
Date		Valid	Event	Comments
Jan	03		Nothing in papers
	10	♫	Devils Den with Dave Holland	Adm. 50p
	17	♫	Donald & the Blackbyrds	Adm. £3
	19		James Brown	Blues and Soul magazine lists James Brown, the Luton News says Rosko Adm. 50p B&S states that this was arranged at short notice and took place on a Monday. The 19th was a Monday. Looks like Rosko was cancelled. Chrissie Venables remembers going to this gig, her boyfriend picked her up from school.
	24	♫	People's Choice	Adm. £1.50
	31	♫	Trammps	Adm. £1.50
Feb	07	♫	Chairmen of the Board	Adm. £1.50
	12	♫	John Glenn and the Mainliners - Ireland's newest Sensation plus The Moonshine Ramblers	Adm. £1
	13	♫	Nostalgia of the Forties Night	Couples in 40s dress Adm. free otherwise 50p
	14		Nothing in papers
	21	♫	Fatback Band & Muscles	Adm. £2.50p
	27	♫	Disco	With Dave Holland in the main Ballroom Adm. 50p
	28		Al Matthews	Blues & Soul lists this the Luton News doesn't
	28	♫	3 into 1 Equals	Dave Holland in the main Ballroom, Vista Bar with Paul Gray and the usual Pool Bar facilities Adm. 50p
	29	♫	Sunday Soul	In the Devils Den for solid funk with Brother Louie Adm. 40p
Mar	04	♫	Colonel Condor The Airtight Lids	In the Devils Den with Brother Louie Adm. 50p
	06	♫	3 into 1 Equals no group this week	Instead Dave Holland - Devils Den Paul Gray - Vista Bar Disco
	13	♫	Nostalgia of the Forties with the Millionaires Orchestra	Adm £1.50
	18	♫	Schlitz Night The beer that made Milwaukee famous	In the Pool Bar. Bottles of Schlitz for 10p! Adm. free
	13	♫	Nostalgia of the Forties with the Million Airs Orchestra	Adm £1.50
	20	♫	Bobby Womack making his debut at the California	Blues & Soul lists this as the 10th which was a Wednesday. Adm. £1.50p
	27	♫	The Miracles making their Debut at the California	Adm. £2
Apr	03		Brass Construction	Listed in Blues & Soul but nothing in Luton News
	10		Nothing in papers
	15	♫	Disco	With Dave Holland, Paul Gray and Brother Louie Adm. 50p
	16	♫	California Ballroom Dunstable regretfully announce that on Friday 16th April there will be NO DISCO as this is Good Friday and it is against the law to enjoy yourselves. Anybody found laughing - singing or enjoying yourselves in ANY WAY 'WILL BE SENTENCED TO DEATH' (under section 69 of the happiness act) BUT SERIOUSLY FOLKS..... Good Friday is a religious holiday and the Disco on this week will be held instead on Thursday 15th April. Don't forget the Pool Bar will be open on Friday 16th April
	17	♫	The Drifters making their ONLY appearance in Dunstable in 1976	Adm. £1.50
	24	♫	Sheer Elegance with Dave Holland and Paul Gray	Brother Louie in the Devils Den Adm. £1
	30	♫	Manhattan Transfer with the 21 piece Passadena Roof Orchestra one of only two appearances in the UK	with Dave Holland & Paul Gray Adm. £2
May	01	♫	Jimmy Ruffin	Blues & Soul lists Al Green Adm. £1.50
	08	♫	Main Ballroom closed for private function	Pool Bar open
	09	♫	Sunday Soul	With the latest American Funk sounds, Brother Louie in the Devils Den Adm. 40p
	12	♫	Attention! Soul Import Recordings situated at the California Ballroom Proudly announce their American Record Shop is NOW OPEN	This was run by Louie Martin. The shop was underneath Mick Ilka's flat at the top end by the car park.
	15	♫	Junior Walker & the Allstars	Adm. £2
	22	♫	Jimmy James & the Vagabonds	Adm. £1
	29	♫	Nothing in papers
	31	♫	Dunstable Round Table present..... Soul Carnival Party Night featuring The Detroit Emeralds featuring James Carl & Ivy	Of course we all know that it was James, Carl and IVORY don't we. Don't we? Adm. ?
Jun	06	♫	Greg Edwards direct from Capital Radio	Adm. £1
	07	♫	Nothing in papers
	12	♫	War	Only listed in Blues & Soul, nothing in the papers however, in a photograph on the 'Pictures of You' page, there are posters on the wall with these dates
	19	♫	Ohio Players
Jul	03		KC & the Sunshine Band	Only listed in Blues & Soul
The summer of 1976 seems to have been very quiet. Danny McGarry, a close friend of Mick Ilka says not much was happening in the Ballroom apart from Pool - all the tables had been moved in there. We suspect that the conversion of the Devils Den into Didoz was taking place and it may be that the building work made it unsafe for people to use the entrances. Certainly, by September 11th the Devils Den had been moved up into the Vista Bar. Danny remembers pulling up the dance floor and re-laying it upstairs. Didoz opened on Dec 1st. One thing that did catch our attention was an advert in the paper on the 12th July. John Jones was selling his entire record collection of around 1000 singles for the huge sum of £120.
Sep	4	♫	Fatback Band	Adm. £3
	11	♫	The New Devil's Den Opens	In the old Vista Bar
	18	♫	Real Thing	Adm. £1.50
	25	♫	Kool & the Gang	Adm. £3
	30	♫	The Smitty Disco Roadshow	In the Devils Den with Paul Gray Adm. 25p For those of you unaware, Smitty was one of those atrociously smelly teenage perfumes.
Oct	12	♫	Don't forget The California Pool Hall with 20 full size American Pool tables and the Pool bar with 10 tables	Open Monday to Thursday Adm. Free
	22	♫	The Big One is Back!	Friday night disco in the main Ballroom with Brother Louie and Paul Gray. Smoking Robbie in the Devils Den Adm. 50p
	23	♫	Osibisa	Adm. £2
Nov	6	♫	Chi-Lites	Adm. £3.50
	12	♫	Kojak comes to the California John Kojak Harvey	with Paul Gray and Brother Louie Adm. 50p
	13	♫	Johnny Guitar Watson one of only 6 UK appearances	with Paul Gray Adm. £2
	26	♫	Brass Construction Promotion Night	To celebrate the release of their 2nd album. Free B.C.LPs, T-Shirts, stickers etc. With Brother Louie & Paul Gray
Dec	01	♫	Opening night of Didoz	Your own exclusive nightclub-restaurant is now opening its doors for membership. £40 per annum. Membership covers husband and wife plus two guests at £1 per head.
	11	♫	Jimmy Helms	Adm. £1
	18	♫	F.B.I	You may have seen them on tour with the Fatback Band. With Paul Gray & Brother Louie Adm. £1
	24	♫	Heatwave	Adm. £3
	26	♫	Sunday Night Soul	In the Devils Den with Brother Louie Adm. 50p
	27	♫	Last of the funk in 76	with Brother Louie in the Devils Den Adm. 80p
	31	♫	Real Thing	Ballroom Adm. £4
	31	♫	Bruce Guest. International all round entertainer. Plus festivities and dancing to our 4 piece combo	Didoz - Members only