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The Cotillion opened with great fanfare on December 7, 1960. Opening night was a glamorous affair with arriving guests greeted by valet parking and tuxedoed doormen. Once inside, couples were drawn to the spacious maple floor to dance the night away to the music of the Ted Weems Orchestra. The early years of The Cotillion featured a gallery of great artists and sold out shows – Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Kenton, the Mills Brothers, and Gordon & Sheila McCrae. As the times changed, so did The Cotillion, bringing rock ‘n roll and a new generation of fans to see Dick Clark’s Cavalcade of Stars featuring Gene Pitney and Bobby Goldsborough, the Everly Brothers, Paul Revere & the Raiders, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Sam the Sham, Freddy & the Dreamers, the Yardbirds, the Animals, Vanilla Fudge and the “battle of the bands” that featured an ever changing line-up of local rock acts. And country music fans were not left out. Forging an alliance with KFDI, the new country radio station in town, The Cotillion’s dance floor was packed to the music of the Texas Playboys, Ray Price, Buck Owens, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Ernest Tubb and George Jones. And later with Hank Williams Jr., George Strait, Tim McGraw and Chris LeDoux. But, it became quickly apparent that to flourish in a market the size of Wichita diversity and versatility were the name of the game. The Cotillion found an eager audience for sit-down shows featuring comedians Danny Thomas, Rowan & Martin and more recently Sam Kinison, Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Jamie Foxx and Dave Chapelle. The ever growing Mexican population in Wichita and the surrounding areas were being entertained at The Cotillion too. First, to the Tex-Mex sounds of Little Joe Y La Familia, Sunny & the Sunliners, Ruben & Alphonso Ramos and today to the regional sounds of Los Tigres del Norte, Banda El Recodo, Conjunto Primavera and Grupo Montez de Durango. In fact, it would be impossible to find a generation of Wichita music fans that have not attended a memorable concert at The Cotillion - the night the building had to be cleared due to a called-in bomb threat at a sold out Stevie Ray Vaughan concert, swinging from the chandeliers with Molly Hatchet, the Ohio Players in a musical showdown with Zapp featuring Roger, getting funky with James Brown, holding court with the king and crown prince of the blues B. B. King and Bobby “Blue” Bland, groovin’ with smooth jazz greats like David Sanborn, Jean Luc Ponty and Spyro Gyra, Metallica opening for W.A.S.P., moshing with Pantera, the shock-rock of Marilyn Manson, the violent aftermath of N.W.A. to the feel-good spectacle of MC Hammer. We’d like to hear from you if you have a fond memory to share about The Cotillion. But, we’d especially like to invite you to be here the next time memories are made at The Cotillion …
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