1964

28 recorded events from 1964.

4

Saturday

Rex Ballroom

James King and the Farinas

Bognor Regis, West Sussex, England

+ The Scorpions

A rare early-1964 south-coast excursion. The Rex Ballroom was one of Bognor's two main pop dance halls of the period, alongside the Shoreline Club. Supporting home band The Scorpions; no further bill detail preserved.

15

Wednesday

The Mayor's Charity Ball, Banqueting Hall, Tamworth Castle

James King and the Farinas

Castle Street, Tamworth, Staffordshire, England

+ Eugene Burton and His Orchestra

The Banqueting Hall inside the Tamworth Castle complex (Castle Street) — converted from the medieval Norman keep for civic and society use. A Wednesday-night mayoral fundraiser: the society / dance-band half of the bill handled by Eugene Burton and His Orchestra, with the Farinas providing the modern-pop interval. Promoted by Phil Dix, the Tamworth-area teenage-dance impresario whose Assembly Rooms Farinas residency bracketed this date on either side.

25

Saturday

The Assembly Rooms

James King and the Farinas

Corporation Street, Tamworth, Staffordshire, England

+ Roy Stewart and the Cyclones

Phil Dix's Saturday-night residency at the Corporation Street Assembly Rooms — the Farinas' first of two back-to-back late-January bookings in the room. Local R&B outfit Roy Stewart and the Cyclones opened.

1

Saturday

The Assembly Rooms

James King and the Farinas

Corporation Street, Tamworth, Staffordshire, England

+ The Trentside Four

A second Saturday booking at Tamworth Assembly Rooms, one week after the 25 January appearance. The Trentside Four were regular co-billers in Phil Dix’s Tamworth diary.

7

Friday

Casino

James King and the Farinas

London Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Mecca / Rank's Casino Ballroom on London Road, opposite Leicester railway station — a Friday-night Farinas slot on the regular club-residency pattern. No supports listed.

18

Saturday

The Marcam Hall

James King and the Farinas

March, Cambridgeshire, England

Billed as James King & The Farinas, part of the Marcam Hall's regular Saturday-night R&B calendar. The hall — a former Regent cinema converted in 1962 by local businessmen Ken Wallis and Fred Manchett — became one of Cambridgeshire's key mid-sixties pop venues until fire destroyed the building on 31 December 1965.

1

Friday

Casino (early) / De Montfort Hall (late)

James King and the Farinas

London Road / Granville Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

+ Bobby Gray Orchestra (at De Montfort)

Two shows, same night — separately billed and paid. De Montfort Hall (Granville Road) is Leicester City Council's 1913-built civic concert hall; its regular Friday-night ballroom-dance programme paired the Bobby Gray Orchestra's society / dance-band sets with a modern-pop support interval handled here by the Farinas. The early-evening Casino slot (London Road, opposite the railway station) and the late-evening De Montfort slot were paid independently — a typical Leicester double-bill for in-demand local acts of the period.

2

Saturday

The Corn Exchange

James King and the Farinas

Market Place, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

+ The Moquettes

The 19th-century neoclassical Corn Exchange in Leicester's old market square, converted to occasional dance-hall use through the early-1960s pop boom. Supporting band The Moquettes were a Leicester beat outfit — not to be confused with the later Birmingham-based group of the same name.

c.

June

Clarence Ballroom

James King and the Farinas

South Wigston, Leicestershire, England

The surviving diary places the Farinas at the Clarence Ballroom in South Wigston during the week of 22 June, but does not establish the exact day. The card is therefore shown at month precision.

5

Friday

Casino

James King and the Farinas

London Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

Another Friday-night Casino residency date — the Farinas' regular Mecca / Rank slot on London Road, opposite Leicester railway station. No supports listed.

6

Saturday

Peter Smith's Pit (early) / Lancaster Hall (late)

James King and the Farinas

72 Charles Street / London Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

+ The Contacts (at Lancaster)

Two shows, same night, short walk between venues. Peter Smith's Pit was a Leicester coffee-bar / R&B basement club at 72 Charles Street (open late 1963 to late 1965); Lancaster Hall was the Mecca-owned ballroom on London Road, Leicester (no relation to the Lancaster Hall in London W2). Local R&B support The Contacts at Lancaster only; the Pit's early-evening slot ran without listed supports.

11

Thursday

100 Club

The Farinas

100 Oxford Street, London, Greater London, England

+ Graham Bond's Organisation (headliners), Dave Davini and the D Men

100 Club, 100 Oxford Street — the jazz cellar (originally the Feldman Swing Club, renamed 100 Club in 1964) which from 1963–64 began running R&B nights one to two evenings a week. Graham Bond's Organisation and Dave Davini and the D Men shared the bill. This 11 June Thursday booking is the Farinas' first documented 100 Club date and a significant London break-in.

⤢ ⤢ ⤢

12

Friday

The Drill Hall

The Farinas

London Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England

+ Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds, the Beatniks

Headlined by Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds (London R&B) — poster advertised the Farinas by their shorter billing, without the James King prefix. The drummer of support act The Beatniks was Rob Townsend (b. 7 July 1947, Peterborough) — the future Family drummer who would replace Harry Ovenall in September 1967. This is the first documented on-stage overlap between Townsend and the Farinas, three years ahead of his joining the band — a Peterborough-scene thread that would not close until the Mk II lineup formed.

13

Saturday

Lutterworth Town Hall

James King and the Farinas

Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England

A small-town civic-hall booking on the Leicester-area weekend circuit — Lutterworth Town Hall sat on the market square of the south-Leicestershire town, one of a string of Leicester-belt civic rooms (Wigston, Oadby, Blaby) the Farinas worked through 1964. No supports listed.

19

Friday

'Kinky Ball', Granby Halls

James King and the Farinas

Welford Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

+ Escorts (Liverpool), Tornados, Interns, Valkyries, Mule Skinners, David John and the Mood, Contacts, Berkeley Squares

Leicester's indoor sports / events arena off Welford Road (demolished 2001), hosting a promoter-branded multi-act package show under the 'Kinky Ball' banner. Eight named supports: the Liverpool Escorts (whose The One to Cry would hit UK #49 the following month), Tornados, Interns, Valkyries, Mule Skinners, David John and the Mood, Contacts, Berkeley Squares — a crowded bill typical of the multi-act Leicester teenage-dance format of the period.

7

Tuesday

100 Club

James King and the Farinas

100 Oxford Street, London, Greater London, England

+ The Pretty Things

The Farinas' second 100 Club booking, opening for The Pretty Things — the Phil May / Dick Taylor outfit whose Rosalyn Fontana 45 had been released in early June. A Tuesday booking, outside the Thursday R&B main slot, reflects the Pretty Things' ballroom-club diary at peak first-single-promotion activity.

21

Tuesday

100 Club

James King and the Farinas

100 Oxford Street, London, Greater London, England

+ The Pretty Things

Return Pretty Things openers, two weeks after the 7 July date. A further Tuesday booking as the Fontana-signed headliners worked through their Rosalyn promotion calendar.

22

Wednesday

Casino

James King and the Farinas

London Road, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

A Wednesday-night Casino booking — midweek R&B-night slot — sandwiched between the two London 100 Club dates in the Farinas' July 1964 touring pattern.

23

Thursday

Palais De Danse

James King and the Farinas

Humberstone Gate, Leicester, Leicestershire, England

+ Foursights

The Mecca-operated Palais De Danse on Humberstone Gate (opened 1938; the Mecca dance operation had wound down in 1963 but the building re-operated as a pop dance hall through 1964–65). Local R&B support Foursights.

6

Thursday

100 Club

James King and the Farinas

100 Oxford Street, London, Greater London, England

+ Graham Bond's Organisation

Graham Bond Organisation double-bill, opening the 100 Club's August Thursday R&B residency alongside the Bond / Heckstall-Smith / Bruce / Baker unit. The Farinas' third 100 Club booking of the summer.

20

Thursday

100 Club

James King and the Farinas

100 Oxford Street, London, Greater London, England

+ Graham Bond's Organisation

The fifth documented Farinas booking at the 100 Club in 1964, following 11 June, 7 July, 21 July and 6 August. It was their last known appearance there before the Fontana single’s release on 28 August.

Record Release

Friday · 28 August 1964

'You'd Better Stop' / 'I Like It Like That'

Fontana released the Farinas’ only commercial single, “You’d Better Stop” / “I Like It Like That,” in the UK as TF 493. The original A-side label credits Harris; the B-side is the Chris Kenner song. Jim King sang lead, before Roger Chapman joined the group. The single did not chart and no Fontana follow-up appeared.

⤢ ⤢

“A bit weighted down by a monotonous beat and this is not helped by a lack of distinctive melody. I like The Farinas' sound, however, and there is a very nifty bit of harmonica work. The vocal stands out, and the good points about the group itself make me look forward to hearing them with better material.”

11

Friday

St. Mary's Hall

James King and the Farinas

Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England

The St. Mary's Hall parish-hall booking — a Peterborough-local circuit date in the weeks following the Fontana single's release. No supports listed; the Farinas were by now working parochial halls and Midlands ballrooms while the 45 failed to surface on the charts.

2

Friday

The California Ballroom

James King and the Farinas

Whipsnade Road, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England

+ The Zombies, The Escorts

The large Mecca-operated dance hall on Whipsnade Road in Dunstable, Bedfordshire — the main pop venue of the Luton / Dunstable belt. On this bill: The Zombies (St Albans), whose She's Not There was entering the UK Top 40 that same week on its way to UK #12, and the Escorts (Liverpool), whose The One to Cry had charted UK #49 in July. A high-quality multi-act pop bill.

3

Saturday

The Assembly Rooms

James King and the Farinas

Corporation Street, Tamworth, Staffordshire, England

+ The Joysticks, The Blackouts

Phil Dix Saturday-night booking — the Farinas back on the Corporation Street Assembly Rooms diary eight months after the January pair. Co-billed acts The Joysticks and The Blackouts would show up together again on the 17 December 1965 Orford Cellar Norwich bill, suggesting an East-Midlands / East-Anglian touring pair in the Dix-adjacent diaries.

TV Broadcast

Unverified record

Monday · 16 November 1964

The Beat Room

Wood Lane, London W12, London, Greater London, England

A Farinas appearance on BBC2’s The Beat Room is cited in later recollection and attached to the 16 November 1964 episode. The surviving programme listing does not name the band, so this remains a specific but unverified broadcast claim rather than a confirmed television debut.

More broadcast info →

12

Saturday

Gaiety Ballroom

James King and the Farinas

High Street, Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, England

+ Gary Freeman & The Contours, The Pathfinders

Small-town ballroom in Ramsey, north Cambs — a High Street room on the regional beat circuit. Supports Gary Freeman & The Contours and The Pathfinders were East-Anglian regional beat acts. A last booking of 1964 before the quieter opening weeks of 1965.

c.

1964

Unknown Venue

James King and the Farinas

Rugby, Warwickshire, England

+ Gulliver's Travellers, The Fortunes

An early-1964 Rugby booking is listed with Gulliver’s Travellers and the Fortunes, but no exact date or venue has been established. The useful diary stub is retained at year precision rather than displayed as 2 January.