Alex Cooley and Peter Conlon Papers
Alex Cooley, known as "the unofficial mayor of Atlanta music," is credited as the man who brought rock and roll to Atlanta. In his lifelong career as a concert promoter, Cooley put on thousands of shows, bringing to his hometown almost every major musical act in the world for millions of music fans. He owned and operated some of the city's legendary rock music nightclubs, in addition to founding the Music Midtown festival in 1994.
Cooley brought a variety of high-profile performers to such Atlanta venues as the Fox Theatre, the Omni, Chastain Park, and the Lakewood Amphitheater. In 1974 he opened Alex Cooley's Electric Ballroom, where many stars made their Atlanta debuts. He also owned the Coca-Cola Roxy, the Tabernacle, and the Cotton Club. During these years Cooley was also instrumental in efforts to preserve and renovate the Fox Theatre.
Peter Conlon joined the Jimmy Carter Presidential campaign as a political aide and organizer in the primaries and the general election, as well as the 1976 Democratic National Convention in New York City. Mr. Conlon organized the 1977 White House Conference on Small Business and helped write the legislation implementing the administration's small business policy. At 26, he served as the national fund-raising director for President Carter's 1980 re-election campaign, organizing benefit concerts across the country and afterwards working at the White House for the remainder of Carter's term.
In 1980 Cooley and his partner Peter Conlon established Concerts/Southern Promotions, which, as the most active and prolific concert company in Atlanta and the Southeast, presented nearly 400 shows a year. The business was bought in 1997 by SFX Entertainment, which in turn was purchased in 2000 by New York–based Clear Channel Communication Inc., recognized as the largest promoter of live entertainment events in the world. Cooley and Conlon remained the local directors of the company they founded.
In 1994,Conlon and Cooley created the Music Midtown Festival in Atlanta. With Cooley's retirement in 2004, the company became Peter Conlon Presents, in late 1997, SFX Entertainment bought Alex Cooley/Peter Conlon Presents, then changed hands in 2000 when radio giant Clear Channel Communications entered the concert promotion business and acquired SFX.
Scope and Content
This collection contains paper related to the promotion of musical acts and includes contracts, expense receipts for venues, technical equipment, rentals, catering, and advertisement. The collection also has ephemra including tickets, photographs, memorabilia, and awards. Some of the contracts are signed by the artists, but most are unsigned photocopies. There are detailed food and drink requirements, technical requirements, and some stage layouts listed in the contracts for each artist. Of some interest are the artifacts related to various performers including Billy Joel, Willie Nelson and The Highwaymen, and numerous materials related to the first Atlanta International Pop Festival.
Alex Cooley and Peter Conlon Papers
The audiovisual materials related to this collection are housed in the Walter J. Brown Media Archives.