Music

The University of Georgia Redcoat Marching Band has grown from 20 military cadets in 1905 to more than 350 musicians and auxiliary members performing complex and entertaining halftime shows all over the Southeast today. Throughout the past century the Redcoats have been invited to participate in every major bowl game in the country and in the inaugural parade of Jimmy Carter in 1977. The University of Georgia Redcoat Band: 1905-2005 covers the first 100 years of one of the finest musical organizations in America.

Danceland! For hundreds of thousands of couples from all around the Calumet region of Northwest Indiana and Chicago's East Side, the name alone conjures up memories of dancing and romancing to thousands of live big bands. Opening night in October 1929 drew over 2,000 people to the beautiful ballroom with the famous maplewood dance floor. It continued to thrive with live music four nights a week and 12 months a year throughout the Big Band Era, despite the Great Depression and World War II, and into the rock ‘n roll era, until it burned to the ground on Sunday morning, July 23, 1967. Almost everyone's marriage in the region began with a dance at Madura's Danceland. In the 38 years Danceland was open, it had only two owners and managers, Michael (Mike) Madura Sr. and Michael (Mick) J. Madura Jr., father and son. It remained a family business for all those years, with three generations of the Madura family having worked there in many capacities.

Cincinnati, Ohio, might have seemed like an unlikely choice to host the nation's largest annual R&B concert, but thanks to local promoter Dino Santangelo, the Ohio Valley Jazz Festival would become the Granddaddy of Them All. The first festival was held in 1962 at the Carthage Fairgrounds, but the event would continue to grow—moving to Crosley Field in 1964 and then Riverfront Stadium in 1971—to become the nation's biggest two-day stadium concert. The Ohio Valley Jazz Festival would eventually feature the most popular R&B artists of the day and draw audiences from as far as 500 miles away. The festival pioneered stadium concert production, generated millions for the regional economy, and eased the Greater Cincinnati community's difficult cultural transition throughout the turbulent 1960s and 1970s.