Taboo

Journey with Club Owner and Restauranteur Nino Cutraro, from his humble beginnings growing up in southern Sicily to becoming the mastermind behind some of the most celebrated nightclubs and restaurants in America, including Taboo, Metropolitan Music Café, La Notte, Intermezzo, Mare Mediterranean, and Bella Piatti — all launched in metro Detroit.

Cutraro’s venues quickly gained a reputation for over-the-top music, sound, and lighting; Taboo and La Notte were the venues of choice for TV and cable productions like “Saturday Night Music Machine” by NBC-Channel 4, long before “American Idol.” The allure was further heightened by hosting celebrities, athletes, and entertainers like James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Madonna, Prince, Joe Cocker, Wilson Picket, Robert Palmer, KISS, Alice Cooper, Vanessa Williams, Stevie Wonder, Sheila E., Anita Baker, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Mark Wahlberg, Sugar Ray Leonard, Magic Johnson, Gloria Gaynor, Francis Ford Coppola, Grace Jones, Luciano Pavarotti, Michael Bay, Sophie Myles, Gregory Peck, Pam Oliver, Clive Davis, Lou Rawls, and Jimmy Buffet, just to name a few.

Notably, "Taboo" reveals the historic moment when James Brown, “The Godfather of Soul,” and Aretha Franklin, “The Queen of Soul,” shared the stage for the first time as part of an original Cinemax (HBO) show — “Soul Sessions: James Brown and Friends” — that aired in May 1987.

It all left an extraordinary mark on the local and national music scene.