Dome Shadows
We are remembering one of Houston's most famous night clubs...
Your Subtitle text
Links/Announcements
ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Walt Boenig Big Band has a Mother's Day Concert, see below for details, or go to his website, under links:

Mother’s Day Concert
Featuring Laura Taylor on Vocals
May 11, 2008
2:00 PM
Reed Whipple Cultural Center
Free (Call to reserve a seat)

Brunch served at 12 Noon
$20.00
Call 702-229-6211
For reservations
(Also reserves seat for concert)
Here are some sites and references to the Dome Shadows Night Club found on the internet by Googling the name: Dome Shadows. The first one was actually the site that inspired me to build this web page. Its city-data.com/forum/texas/houston. There I created a thread on the forum, "Marshall Stewart's Dome Shadows Night Club"



How many of you remember Marshal Stewart's Dome Shadow? It operated for three or four years, 1969-1973. It was located just west of the Astrodome. A friend, Van Bevill, encourage him into getting into the niteclub business. He opened the Dome Shadow in December of 1963 and Judge Roy Hofheinz  took him to court for infringing on the name of the Astrodome. Hofheinz lost and Stewart won, making the Domeshadows popular over night.
In 1969 I worked as a niteclub photographer for about one year. I worked the Dome Shadows and another club owned by Stewart on S. Main. The club on S. Main was a black club and I also worked in a country western club, the Stampede, owned by Van Bevill. 
I remember when disco came in and the dance floor had to be lit up. Stewart was kind of hacked by it but went ahead and put the dance floor lights in and it kept the crowds coming.
Marshall went on to 16 clubs over the years.

Here is a photo I took of the club back in the 90's. The property was still there. It has now been razed and made into a condo development.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/houston/252365-marshall-stewart-s-dome-shadows.html






Maye broke through in a big way in 1964, the one season of everyday playing time he would enjoy in his big league career. In 153 games he hit .304, with 179 hits, 96 runs and a league-leading 44 doubles. But early in 1965, after another strong start and on the verge of full-fledged stardom, Maye injured his ankle, and upon his recovery was dealt to the Houston Astros. The move to the cavernous Astrodome didn't do much for his batting numbers, but, with Houston offering a much hotter R&B climate than Milwaukee, it did bring new focus to his music career. He landed a management deal with Huey Meaux, who set Maye up with more regular gigging than he'd ever done before. An engagement at the Dome Shadows, a Houston club, was an auspicious one, however. The joint's name was clearly a reference to the Astrodome, then brand-new and, as the world's first indoor stadium, billed as the Eighth Wonder of the World. Astros owner Judge Roy Hofheinz sued the nightclub's owner, M.M. Stewart, over his use of the word "dome". Stewart responded with a $1 million countersuit, and booked Maye in part to thumb his nose at Hofheinz. "What I do after the curfew is my own business", Maye was quoted at the time, thumbing his own nose a little in the process.

http://www.spectropop.com/ArthurLeeMaye/index.htm


I have a recollection of the Ramones performing at the Dome Shadows also in the late 70s. Could that be? Did they have bands play at the Dome Shadows?


Yep, they played there , must have been the fall of 78. I remember the warm-up act was a pretty boy heavy- metal hair band . They looked shocked when the Ramones fans started booing and throwing stuff on stage .

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/index.php?showtopic=5088&st=50





 June 21, 2006, 9:15PM
He's doing doo-wop with a twist

By KEN HOFFMAN
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
TOOLS
Email
    
Get section feed
Print
    
Recommend
Comments
    Yahoo! Buzz

DEAN Scott ruled the Houston nightclub scene in the '60s. His regular appearances at the Dome Shadows and Van's Ballroom were guaranteed sellouts. Generations met their first true loves at his shows, and today, some of them grandparents, they still swoon to Scott's deep baritone doo-wop voice.

Only now, Scott is performing at oldies shows. He's doing the same songs from the '50s and '60s — for people in their 50s and 60s.

Even Scott thinks it's a little strange to be singing songs about asking Mary Lou for a date and begging Dad for the car on Saturday night.

So Scott and his band, the Deja Boomers, put a twist on great oldies by substituting age-appropriate lyrics that make sense for his fans in 2006.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/hoffman/3991056.html



Audience Participation by Leo O'Neil
Sometimes people in the audience say some memorable and entertaining things. Here are the top three so far.

One night at "The Dome Shadows Club" a cajun guy with the thickest, swampiest accent I ever heard approached the stage. He had made a few requests earlier and I was intrigued by his personality and, of course, his wonderful accent.
This time he asked, "Can you play "L'il Taint?". I asked him to repeat the request several times to make sure I was hearing it correctly. Finally, I told him we didn't know "L'il Taint".
He said, "Come on, man, you played it last night". I then asked him to sing a bit of the song.
What I heard was his version of the great Sam Cooke song, "Change Gonna Come".
"I was born by a river ... in a L'il Taint"!!


http://home.flash.net/~texas1/trues2.htm



Hey Scott, I very much enjoyed your music downloads. I try to be careful who I send eMail to, not to just anyone I don't know. When I saw your location and age I decided it would be cool if I gave a comment. I'm 57 years old & live in Lake Charles,La. Up until '92 I played in night clubs for the 30 yrs. At an early age in life, I learned that to have any success at this profession I had better be able to play different styles of music that people were listening to. Anyway,I heard that attitude strongly played in your music. I applaud your performance. As I read your article in Guitar Player and listened to the downloads I realized that when you were first born and growing up [in Houston,"?" ] I was already playing clubs there like Van's Ball Room, Dome Shadows,Bamboo Hut[in Galveston]& Big Oaks Club[Texas/La. line,then hwy 90,now I-H10],well known in Hstn. in those days. Playing,traveling & surviving all those years, I have been blessed to have the memories. As of 13 years ago I gave my life to the Lord and have been playing in a pentecostal church[in Lake Charles] and traveling/recording with T.B.N.Ministries using those same styles, jamming & ministrying for Jesus. I love getting to hear other gifted musicians and I was blessed today by you. KEEP ON KEEP'N ON !!!!!!- - - - - God bless in your journey. D.Owens

http://www.worldwideguitar.com/html/visitors.php


I remember Kindred Spirits on Richmond near the Loop. The one I went to on Buffalo Speedway was in the 90's and called the Ranch. Had 3 clubs, I think, but I was only in the techno one.


The orginal Kindred Spirits was in a strip center on Buffalo Speedway next door to Luby's (now gone) at Bissonnet. It had an upper level and was a very nice club, much nicer than the location they moved to at the loop.
The Ranch actually started out on South Main in a small strip center and their advertisements said "Houston's Highlight is the Ranch". Betsy Worden bought it out and moved to the old strip center on Buffalo Speedway around the corner. It was the largest square footage Gay Women's bar in the country. One club was the Ranch which was primarily country and western, the techno club was called Extasy and at the far end was the quiet bar called Ms. B's. There was also a large patio outside with a bar, barbeque pit and volleyball court. She lived at the end of the building in a loft style area filled with antiques and a huge antique oak bar several feet long was the centerpiece of this. At the other end of the building she had one tenant, a small frame shop that you didn't even notice unless you were looking pretty hard for it. It was quite the place to go at the time. The whole place was torn down after she closed up shop and now it is a small subdivision with new two story houses. A little more trivia on this, before Ms. Worden moved in, several years earlier there had been a club housed in one end of the building called Dome Shadows which was a rock and roll place I believe. It burned at one point, but that area of the building was rebuilt. Where Ms. B's was located was once a primarily black club called Mr. B's and most of the interior of this was left intact when the Ranch went into operation. It was always said by Both Betsy Worden and her employees that the building was haunted, they would hear noises before the place opened and late at night such as doors opening and shutting and the beer taps coming on by themselves particularly down at the Ranch/Dome Shadows end of the building that had burned.

http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/index.php?showtopic=
7804&pid=230500&st=0&#entry230500



 
 Please email me at garyyantis@gmail.com Copyright 2021. Gary Yantis. All rights reserved. To see my other work go to SkilCrafted.com
Dome Shadows Forum



Do NOT use this first Face Book page, use the second one at the bottom. We have a Face Book page. Please join the page and become a friend! The first Facebook will be discontinued when most of our members move over. And remember that I have a new email address: garyyantis@gmail.com



Everyone, please use our new Face Book Page with the
name Dome Shadows in it.
Website Builder