Opening Nite at Capitol Theatre

Denny Magruder & Frank O'Brien did a very good job with the opening night show. It lasted for 3 1/2 hours without an intermission, but it didn't seem that long just taking every thing in. The variety of the type of entertainment was vast and covered almost every genre imaginable. There were so many highlights, depending on what you like to see. The video of Brad Paisley was special to me. I used to watch him with his guitar perform some songs sitting on the edge of the stage while the sets were being changed around for the big stars behind the curtains.




Another touching moment was when Slim Lehart kissed the stage. It was like a big home coming for a lot of the entertainers on that stage.

My personal memories of the Capitol go way back to my high school years in the 60's. I was in Wheeling Central's Band and we were called upon to be ushers for some of the biggest acts of the day when they performed there. I'm talking about acts like Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs, Brook Benton (with segregated seating), and Conway Twitty as a Rockabilly star. I bowled in the downstairs bowling alley and attended many teen dances in the upstairs ballroom. Donn Caldwell was the disc jockey and he brought in many of the entertainers to the dances. Bobby Vinton was a regular. One time, Bobby Vinton brought his band and backed up Ray Stevens in a live performance.

One other personal rememberance was a live performance in the summer of 1968 when I was involved with a local Up With People group known as Sing Out Wheeling. I played guitar and was one of the leaders of the group. We rented the Capitol Theatre and put on a free show for a sold out audience on a very rainy night. We accepted donations and made out okay. We had a chorus of maybe about 80 young people (14 to 23 years young) backed up by four guitars, piano, drums, trumpet and flute. When we held big shows, we combined forces with other local Up With People groups around the state, thus the bigger chorus.

I ate at the Bridge Bar & Grill before going in to the theatre. They were packed and you could tell that they weren't used to all the business. Hopefully that will be the 1st of many days when they are put to the test.