Week 1: 1/15/26-1/18/26
Hello from the other side. Now that we’ve launched, I guess it’s officially time to make some sense of our chaos. We (Paul and Chris) sort of fluidly go in and out of doing our own research independently and also teaming to try and figure out some of the harder (or more fun) things together. All the while, we work with Jeromy Carriere to develop features and make sure the user experience is always improving.
So here’s a first take at a little weekly report, going behind the scenes on building/growing/maintaining the Delaware Music History Archive …
We launched the archive on Thursday January 15, and from Thursday’s launch through Sunday January 18, we added 136 new shows (broke the 2,000 show mark!) bringing us to 2,118. Within those 136 new shows came 144 new bands to the archive (this includes Delaware and non-Delaware bands alike), bringing us to 3,452 bands. We also added 209 new assets (news clippings, photos, video, etc).
Some thoughts on our research explorations and findings from the week …
Paul: had some Blue Hen Mall shows already, but struck a vein with a series of country acts playing the mall in Dover between 1987-1995 promoted by music store owner Earle Teat (highlights include Tammy Wynette, Kitty Wells, Porter Wagoner, Marty Stuart and Merle Haggard) … I knew I would find a non-festival Merle Haggard show at some point … We figured out a Chic show at DSU never happened, losing Chic from the archive, but then the same week, I found them playing the Delaware State Fair in 1979… Found yet another Fugazi ticket stub (I guess that brings us to 4 since we launch our Fugazi episode – but man, Facebook’s search results are really mystifying to me… connected with Chuck Treece – what a legend. Chuck grew up between Philly and DE, spent his high school years in DE, leaving Delaware for Philly after high school (1982), as many do – but most of us don’t immediately start a legendary skate rock band (McRad)… One of the other amazing finds of the week was Darren Walters sending us a hip hop flyer from 1987 featuring B Get Busy, a rapper who was on a legendary (pricy) Wilmington golden era hip hop 12” by Disco Beave
Chris: really happy with the immediate response post-launch with lots of new local submissions from folks in the music community in Delaware … Figuring out the venue (Coda Tavern) for Delaware thrash metal band Solitude we’ve had a video of for a while… Receiving very organized list of shows we didn’t have from Ethan Miller – if only everyone was so organized! … Loved being surprised by a Betty Roché LP arriving in the mail (even if it was just Paul sending it to Chris to kept in the DMHA physical archives) … Getting a stack of videos from Joshua Fit For Battle’s Larry Everett to digitize for YouTube (such as this Black Eyes set at UD) … Stoked to have a 17 year old at a punk show approach to let me know how much he is enjoying the website and finding out about Delaware punk history …
And then, no need separately whose highlight this is … we are still ecstatic to have heard from Delaware early 80s legend Al Duvall … one of the first hardcore kids ever in the state, if not the first… a big influence on the generation to come in the 80s … received a bunch of flyer scans and photos from him, and can’t wait to pick his brain more!
And last, since the map has an overwhelming amount of data to sift through, we’ll each highlight something we recommend you check out each week …
Paul: Delaware Correctional Center shows … BB King played the prison in 1972 the day before he played Mount Pleasant High School (more about Delaware’s rich history of high school shows later), Buddy Rich played in 1981 the same day he played another show at a more conventional venue… Buddy was quoted in the article saying that he had a great time and would like to come back … and come back he did… in 1983, he played the prison again
Chris: Sister Rosetta Tharpe playing Rosedale Beach on my birthday in 1959 … With the help of Tamara Burks and her extensive research, along with our own visits to Library of Congress, we’ve learned about Rosedale Beach, a Chitin Circuit stop / resort in southern Delaware from the late 1930s until 1962. You can learn more about Rosedale Beach and Tamara Burks work to preserve the history here:
Rosedale Beach in News Journal 2025 and DHCA Remembering Rosedale Beach and Tamara Burks Rosedale Beach Lecture
