Noun

mothers

1. Plural form of mother.

Mothers (formerly the Carlton Ballroom) was a club in Birmingham, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Mothers opened above an old furniture store in Erdington High Street on August 9, 1968. The club, run by promoter Phil Myatt, closed its doors on 3 January 1971. Between these times, more than 400 acts performed there, many of whom went on to greater success.

Possibly the most significant of the live recordings that took place in Mothers was Pink Floyd's Ummagumma, a double-album on EMI's new label Harvest. It was released in October and featured two live sides, part recorded at Mothers on April 27, 1969 and part at Manchester College of Commerce in June 1969.

The Who performed Tommy and Traffic's world debut took place at Mothers along with fledgling rock bands like Black Sabbath playing some of their earliest gigs there.

Some of the better known rock bands to play Mothers include: Family, Fleetwood Mac, Edgar Broughton Band, Traffic, Free, Roy Harper, Blodwyn Pig, Strawbs, Quintessence, Steppenwolf, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Jethro Tull, Jon Hiseman's Colosseum, Skid Row (with Gary Moore), The Nice, Tyrannosaurus Rex, The Who, Fairport Convention, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Soft Machine, The Chicago Transit Authority, Canned Heat (there is a reference to the club in the sleeve notes of their 1969 compilation Canned Heat Cookbook) and the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

Mothers was voted number one rock venue in the world by America's Billboard magazine and John Peel, a regular DJ at the club, was quoted as saying: "People are amazed to hear that for a few years the best club in Britain was in Erdington."

Roy Harper later told Brum Beat magazine:

That was the first club outside London that meant anything at all and that's why there's been this long association [of Harper] with Birmingham. I played there about six times between 1968 and 1970. I have always enjoyed playing here.

A mother is the biological or social female parent of a child.

Unsourced

• Heaven is under the feet of mother.
  • Muhammad (PBUH)

• A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
  • Tenneva Jordan

• A mother is a woman who shows you the light when you just see the dark.
  • Grimaldos Robin

• All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.
  • Oscar Wilde

• Him whose mother is no more, distress carries off.
  • Anonymous

• Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children.
  • Brandon Lee in The Crow

• Mothers, of course, are all right. They pay a chaps bills and don't bother him. But fathers bother a chap and never pay his bills.
  • Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 1.

• When mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
  • Anonymous

• When your mother asks, "Do you want a piece of advice?" it is a mere formality. It doesn't matter if you answer yes or no. You're going to get it anyway.
  • Erma Bombeck

• You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool mom.
  • Captain Penny - Cleveland Kid Show Host 1950s