Commercial Music Department, Georgia State University, 2002.
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[item], [series], Alex Cooley collection, M027, Popular Music Collection. Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA.
Alex Cooley has been a promoter of musical acts and entertainment in the Atlanta area for more than three decades. Recognized for his music industry efforts by Clear Channel Entertainment with a 2004 Atlanta Heroes Award, Cooley is "a legendary promoter in the Atlanta market." From 1969-1972, he produced two Atlanta Pop festivals, co-promoted a pop festival in Texas, and was the force behind two Puerto Rican music festivals. In the 1980s, after partnering with Peter Conlon, the duo promoted more than 300 shows a year, including concerts at Phillips Arena and the Fox Theatre. Cooley and Conlon also produced the Chastain Park Summer Concert Series and created the Music Midtown Festival in downtown Atlanta.
More than a month before the three days of Woodstock in August of 1969, there was the July 4-5 Atlanta International Pop Festival. Held at the Atlanta International Raceway, this outdoor music concert "set the standard for large-scale festival events." Later that summer, Cooley partnered with Angus Wynne to form the Interpop Superfest company and from August 30th to September 1 held the Texas International Pop Festival. A year later, the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival was held in Byron, Georgia. "Like Woodstock the previous summer, the event was promoted as "three days of peace, love and music. On the bill were Jimi Hendrix, the Allman Brothers, Jethro Tull, B.B. King, Ravi Shankar, and others....While the Atlanta festival never garnered the national attention of the festivals in ...NewYork, and ...California" it was considered the Woodstock of the South.
Commercial Music-Recording classes were first offered through Georgia State University's School of General Studies in 1969 as an Associate of Science degree program. In 1983 a Bachelor's of Science degree was offered through the College of Public and Urban Affairs. By the 1991-1992 school year, a Bachelor's of Music with a Concentration in Music Industry was made available under the direction of the School of Music. Currently, a Bachelor's of Music can still be obtained through the school's Music Recording Technology program.
The Alex Cooley collection is comprised of administrative information
and promotional materials for festivals and concerts of the early 1970's in
both the Atlanta area and Puerto Rico. The bulk of materials are from various
production companies and musical events. The files of the first series,
Organized into 2 series:
Files within each box are first arranged alphabetically, then chronologically, according to the contents.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Georgia State University Library online catalog (GIL). Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
This series contains administrative, contractual and legal information about Alex Cooley's promotional companies as well as the festivals and shows produced by those companies. Folders of particular interest are the correspondence folders and those containing information on the Atlanta International Pop Festival (also referred to as the First Atlanta Popfest), the Second Annual Atlanta International Popfest and the Texas International Popfest (also known as Interpop Superfest). The Minutes folder contains the minutes of planning meetings that were held a month before the Texas International Pop Festival. These documents relate specifically to the process of planning, organizing, promoting and facilitating the late August 1969 festival.
The items in this series illustrate the means by which Alex Cooley's productions were promoted and publicized. These materials include promotional photographs for the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, the group New Riders of the Purple Sage, and a Puerto Rican beach. There are press kits, programs, schedules, press passes, tickets and newspaper and magazine articles, as well as press releases. Included in this series are posters and flyers advertising shows in Atlanta at the Electric Ballroom, the Bistro, and Rose's Cantina. Also represented are various performances by solo artists from a range of rock and classical acts to live theatre, including the Atlanta Jazz Festival, the rock group KISS, and the play, "Stomp."