On the road at present (another short break.... but somebody has to take em) so checking up on soul facts is more diffficult than usual at present -- as is finding decent internet access -- but I'll post a few things anyway.

Miami back in the 60's was a very strange place. Loads of great shows starring soul acts BUT two very different scenes.

There was the 'white audience' shows at venues such as South Beach hotels & posh clubs where Motown & top soul acts were regular entertainers whilst the acts themselves had to find different places to both sleep, eat & watch shows (they were allowed on the hotel show room stages but couldn't have a room or meal in the self same establishment).

Then there were the places where the black audiences went; the Continental Club being just about the top of these venues.

The likes of Sam & Dave, the Professionals, Roy Hamilton, Bettye LaVette, The Laddins (aka Steinways) were regular performers in the black venues whilst the best selling Motown acts were ever present performers in the South Beach hotels.

...... But some 'strange' acts crossed over to the white venues.

An outfit that landed regular gigs on the 'white' side of the divide were the Jesse Ferguson Gospel Jazz Singers. From their name their reportoire can't have been too familiar to the audiences they were playing for. Even stranger, the group decided a change in name might land them a higher profile & recording contract. So the Gospel Jazz Singers became Jesse Lee Ferguson & the Outer Limits (& they did land that record deal).

A guy who got regular bookings on both sides of town was Chuck Jackson, he got loads of bookings in the black clubs on the strength of his Wand R&B hits. When his revue played the white hotels in the later years of the 60's, it was billed as 'the Motown Sound that's a leader on every chart'.

An 'out of town' female to play 'white' gigs was Margie Hendrix -- well known to Ray Charles fans but hardly a household name (in her own right) in the pop charts or white households. The Original Drifters were still securing 'white' gigs in 1968 but I guess more as an oldies act who performed their early 60's pop chart hits.

Another 'lesser known' act to get quite a few 'white' bookings was Teddy Washington & the Soul Searchers. I don't think this outfit had a connection to DC's Soul Searchers (but I could be wrong).

Pity you can't catch such acts in the area these days.

Edited June 4, 201212 yr by Roburt

By all accounts, the Drifters & Margie Hendrix were ensuring that 'dancing & delirium till 5am' was taking place at Castaways.

Edited June 4, 201212 yr by Roburt

Anybody know if the Buck Ram group 'The Prescripion' (who look a bit like a pretend Fifth Dimension) managed to estabish themselves & land a record deal ??

Thanks for posting these. Great to look at and conjure up all sorts of images about who/what people could see back then and where.

Your right about Miami - an eclectic place back then. I suppose part of it may have to do with the fact that many middle class Americans discovered Miami as a holiday destination around that time. Punting a well know act like the Drifters to a bunch of holidaying New Yorkers probably made more financial sense than booking a Detroit quartet of unknowns.

Then of course you have the Chittlin' Circuit that would ensure that groups followed each other round the Southern States week by week appearing at the same venues on a rotation basis. ie. Get booked at one pace and you appeared at 10 others on the circuit.

When you speak to artists many have good memories of Miami and Florida in general, in respect of appearing there in that particular era. I don't think Miami suffered from the same dogma as maybe Mississippi or Georgia did. Perhaps because it was only just establishing itself?

Times have sure changed now though in Miami eh?

Regards,

Dave

Edited May 28, 201212 yr by Dave Moore

There are ads for Miami' Chitlin Circuit' venues on the 'Info on the Professionals' & '(Chicago) Soul Revue 1968' threads.

Here's another ad for a show at Castaways ...... as I said in the 1st post, I'm away at present & so can't really check the net for much info ...

this show featured Georgie Porgie & the Cry Babies .... plus .... Bobby Cloud & the Soul Explosions.

Did either of these outfits manage to land a record deal & if so, is anything they had out worth chasing ?

I have posted some similar ads to these on the net in the past. As a result of that a couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Emily Gibson of the Black Archives Foundation of South Florida. She had been checking the net & had come across one of those sites.

She told me that her organisation was staging an exhibition in Miami to celebrate the entertainment scene in the Overtown area of the city back in the 1950's/60's/70's and they would like to use some of the ads I had posted.

I said I'd help and I had to send her high definition digital copies of about 20 to 30 such ads (some of which I had posted on the net in the past, others I hadn't but were relevant to the proposed theme of the exhibition). Anyway, they will be using lots of the stuff I sent.

The exhibition will be staged in the Ward Rooming House Museum and Gallery and will commence on June 23rd.

The Ward Rooming House Museum and Gallery is located in the Historic Overtown Folklife Village on Northwest 2nd and 3rd Avenues between 8th and 10th street. Designated by the State of Florida as the Overtown Main Street Community, the mission of the Folklife Village is to restore historic sites of significance in the Overtown community, creating a regional tourist attraction showcasing the legacies of Miami's Overtown and the Harlem Renaissance, as well as the Black cultural heritage of South Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

The Overtown area is where the likes of Sam Moore grew up and Jerry Williams lived when he was based in Miami (Overtown runs Nth to Sth from around 20th to 2nd, just above Miami city centre itself).

ANYWAY ............... a Miami 'Chitlin Circuit' show back in 1962 .....

Back in Jan 64, you could catch Major Lance at the Knight Beat and just 5 days later Garnet Mimms was on at the same place.

September 64 and a Detroit group plays some gigs at Clyde Killens Island Club.

Great stuff Mate.

Who was Voodoo Pete I wonder?

Regards,

Dave

Lots of 'island' influences in Miami, so probably Voodoo Pete was someone with links to Haiti or who wanted folks to think that he had such links (no idea why though).

Might have been Pete Smith under another name !!

Miami was always a popular place to play especially for northern US based acts / groups (from Chicago, Detroit, New York, etc) in the winter as they could escape the bad weather back home.

A group that already had a very long history by the 1960's was the Red Caps. The group had recorded "Poor, Poor Me" with George Tindley on lead and "Blueberry Hill" featuring a solo by Steve Gibson as the 50's expired. These cuts were paired for an early 1960 45 release on Rose Record's Stage subsidiary. In the spring of 1962, the Red Caps split into two groups with George Tindley going off to form the Modern Red Caps (who would later cut for Parkway, Smash, Lawn, Swan & United Artists). Steve Gibson (the leader of the original group) led another set of Red Caps and they played lots of live gigs. Steve hired new lead singers & these included Tammi Montgomery (Terrell) in 64/65 and Barbara Randolf in 66/67, but I believe that Barbara had been replaced by Pepi Mitchell before the middle of 1967.

Whoever the group's female lead singer was in October 67, they had secured a booking at the 7 Seas in Miami.

Edited May 29, 201212 yr by Roburt

A show staged in October 1965 that featured 4 local acts ....

congratulations on the exhibition of the ads you dug up

Lots of 'island' influences in Miami, so probably Voodoo Pete was someone with links to Haiti or who wanted folks to think that he had such links (no idea why though).

Might have been Pete Smith under another name !!

Miami was always a popular place to play especially for northern US based acts / groups (from Chicago, Detroit, New York, etc) in the winter as they could escape the bad weather back home.

A group that already had a very long history by the 1960's was the Red Caps. The group had recorded "Poor, Poor Me" with George Tindley on lead and "Blueberry Hill" featuring a solo by Steve Gibson as the 50's expired. These cuts were paired for an early 1960 45 release on Rose Record's Stage subsidiary. In the spring of 1962, the Red Caps split into two groups with George Tindley going off to form the Modern Red Caps (who would later cut for Parkway, Smash, Lawn, Swan & United Artists). Steve Gibson (the leader of the original group) led another set of Red Caps and they played lots of live gigs. Steve hired new lead singers & these included Tammi Montgomery (Terrell) in 64/65 and Barbara Randolf in 66/67, but I believe that Barbara had been replaced by Pepi Mitchell before the middle of 1967.

Whoever the group's female lead singer was in October 67, they had secured a booking at the 7 Seas in Miami.

Modern Recaps of course also released :

"Never Too Young" on Swan Records which used to get plays a couple or three decades ago.

George Tindley was leader of The Dreams on Rowax before putting out some great sides on Wand too. Not forgetting their outing on Doo Wop records "Ain't Gonna Worry About You" .

Great stuff John.

Can you send me a good copy (600dpi) of the Red Caps ad Mate? I'd appreciate it.

Regards,

Dave

Anybody know if the Buck Ram group 'The Prescripion' (who look a bit like a pretend Fifth Dimension) managed to estabish themselves & land a record deal ??

Wonder if this is the same Prescripion, that where on Antlier Records?

Wonder if this is the same Prescripion, that where on Antlier Records?

it has to be the same group, antler records was a buck ram label

Bob, I believe the main items in the proposed exhibition will be original posters created for shows that Clyde Killens promoted in Miami back in the 60's.

He was gonna throw these (over 100 of them) in the trash about 20 years ago but asked the Black Archives Foundation if they wanted them first. They jumped at the chance & so have had these items for a while now. However they wanted other things in the exhibition to give it more 'depth', so took many of my items as well to fill out what will be on show.

The Black Archives of South Florida web site has quite a bit on the Clyde Killens (RIP) collection on their website -- a full list of all the show posters that still exist (though ones that are catalogued as '5 Big Acts' & similar don't really ID them well enough). They also have examples of letters to the show room owners, booking letters for many acts & even a few copies of the contracts he entered into with some acts. I guess examples of all of these will also be in the exhibition.

Edited May 29, 201212 yr by Roburt

As well as having two distinct 'entertainment' scenes, Miami artists had 2 options if they wanted to cut records in the 1960's.

Sign with one of the small local outfits & hope that the likes of Atlantic came in to license their 45 for national distribution

.................... OR ..............

sign with an 'out of State' label such as Duke / Peacock / Backbeat OR a Philly based label such as Arctic.

The Bell Brothers went with the former whilst the likes of Della Humphrey went with the later.

DAVE, do you know why so many Miami acts had 45's released by Philly labels .... who were the guys at either end that set up the links to enable this collaboration to occur ??

As well as having two distinct 'entertainment' scenes, Miami artists had 2 options if they wanted to cut records in the 1960's.

Sign with one of the small local outfits & hope that the likes of Atlantic came in to license their 45 for national distribution

.................... OR ..............

sign with an 'out of State' label such as Duke / Peacock / Backbeat OR a Philly based label such as Arctic.

The Bell Brothers went with the former whilst the likes of Della Humphrey went with the later.

DAVE, do you know why so many Miami acts had 45's released by Philly labels .... who were the guys at either end that set up the links to enable this collaboration to occur ??

Hi John,

I'm not 100% sure but I'd certainly put some of it down to the Radio DJs Mate. When you look at the strategy of Hy Lit, Jimmy Bishop, Sonny Hopson, Georgie Woods, 'Jocko' Henderson etc they were all involved in Labels, Publishing, Artist Management etc. Also, Philly during the late 50s early 60s was THE pop music centre of the USA. With Dick Clark syndicated to every major city, Bernie Lowe's Cameo Parkway set up inventing different dances on a weekly basis, Frank Virtue harnessing the future MFSB gang, etc. I'd be stunned if the local Miami musical 'moovers and shakers' weren't 'plugged in' to that scene in some way. I know that Bishop and others went to Detroit looking for a tie in with Motown in some way. (Think Mr Gordy sent them away with a flea in their collective ear). Have you spoken to Henry Stone? If anyone would have an insight it would be him. I'm not sure how his health is but he was more than compis mentis a few years ago. Might be worth a shout.

You discovered anything in relation to the Rita DaCosta 45? I seem to remember Pandorra being a Florida label.

Regards,

Dave

I have a large original boxing style globe poster of the significant's revue, who were from st petersburg FL

New acts used to gravitate to the local radio stns in most every US city back in the 50's & early to mid 60's. They hooked up with a local DJ at the stn & this helped them get gigs (though they would earn very little appearance money). Some acts even cut rudimentary tracks down at the radio stn studios.

Kenny Hamber hooked up (in Baltimore) with Sparky Mellon at WSID and then Hot Rod, Jocko (who had started out in Baltimore before moving on to Philly & New York) and Fat Daddy. The radio DJ 'brotherhood' set Kenny up with a record deal in Philly with Jimmy Bishop. After that, Kenny used to drop in at Jimmy's B's Philly radio stn (can't recall the stn call letters at present - was it WDAS) coz that's where Jimmy's office was (where he ran his artist management agency & Arctic from on a day to day basis). Kenny also hooked up with other Philly based 'movers & shakers' and landed jobs on local TV dance shows, etc.

Baltimore was an important 'radio breakout' city, where many record companies did their best to break new 45's .... so although it had no really decent recording studios (till the late 60's) and no strong local black record labels, it was still viewed as an important market by record biz execs.

Jerry Williams, when based in Miami, would travel up to Baltimore to promote his new product (if he could get radio plays in the city, then stns in other cities would also start to play his track). On one visit, he took Paul Kelly with him to WWIN in Baltimore. Jerry W was networking with all the DJ's he knew but he also introduced Paul Kelly to them all. Paul was trying to get his new 45 played ("The Day After Forever / Stealin In The Name Of The Lord") but it had been out a while & was getting nowhere. Lots of people (the church, etc) had taken against the lyrics of "Stealin .. " and so the other side had become the plug side. DJ Rockin' Robin took a copy of the 45 off of Paul K and gave it a spin. He liked what he was hearing ("Stealing"), so immediately put it on the air. He liked the cut so much, he played it a few times on one show & the stn's switchboard lit up. The track took off, other stns started playlisting it & in no time at all it was on the national singles chart.

So, in that case, it was Jerry Williams who had helped break a Miami 45 but Jerry wasn't the normal guy who hooked up Miami artists with Baltimore, New York or Philly contacts. Henry Stone was just about locked in with Atlantic/Atco/Cotillion back in the late 60's and early 70's. I guess it was an influencial black radio DJ down in Miami who introduced artists to Jimmy Bishop & Arctic Records but I would like to find out who it actually was.

Edited May 29, 201212 yr by Roburt

Got a better copy of this at home (but its not on this laptop)

.... but even this poor copy of a Feb 1964 ad is worth posting.

The Vibrations followed Dee Dee into the Knight Beat (followed by the Impressions).

BTW, when did the Vibrations start basing themselves out of Philly (they were using Philly musicians in their backing band some years before they signed with G & H's Neptune Records).

Here's a copy of an example of the posters Clyde Killens had designed to promote the many many shows he promoted in Miami ...

.... and here's the newspaper ad for that self same show ....

May 62 and Detroit meets Philly on the same bill ......

Got a better copy of this at home (but its not on this laptop)

.... but even this poor copy of a Feb 1964 ad is worth posting.

The Vibrations followed Dee Dee into the Knight Beat (followed by the Impressions).

BTW, when did the Vibrations start basing themselves out of Philly (they were using Philly musicians in their backing band some years before they signed with G & H's Neptune Records).

John,

The Vibrations were based in Philly once their reasonable success at Okeh started petering out in 1967. Clive Davis was already looking at Gamble and Huff with a view to distributing their releases and asked them to take over the production responsibilties of the group from Carl Davis. Of course Carl Fisher was already established there, (Philly), through his songwriting for The Volcanos and work with Dyno-Dynamics in 1965. (Through Weldon McDougall) . Their early G & H stuff was recorded at Sigma in 1968 but stayed with the Columbia company (Okeh, then Epic), but once the group looked like it's shelf-life was coming to an end they were released and G&H signed them to their new Chess distributed Neptune label and put out their first 45 for that label in 1969.

Keep the Philly stuff coming Mate!

Regards,

Dave

There was the 'white audience' shows at venues such as South Beach hotels & posh clubs where Motown & top soul acts were regular entertainers whilst the acts themselves had to find different places to both sleep, eat & watch shows (they were allowed on the hotel show room stages but couldn't have a room or meal in the self same establishment).

I believe that Jay Proctor tells a stories of when they toured in the South of the USA and he was forbidden to stay at the same hotels as the rest of the band, he did anyway, the group would eat with room-service and the guy delivering was usually a black. He said the group would make humour of it and pretended not to understand what hotel and restaurant owners said to them. Bizarre !

There's some more Philly related acts to come, but I thought i'd post up this piccy of a Windy City act that played Miami in 66 ...

Paul Kelly was on this show ....

One of Clyde Killens posters just seems to say '5 Big Acts' ...........

I thought the newspaper ad might be more specific, but it seems that it isn't that much better ...

Here is the ad that I assume is for that show (staged in Oct 66) ....

ALSO NOTE at the bottom of the flyer that upcoming act Sam Early & the Sweet Daddies will be playing the venue after

.... '3 years across the tracks' so I guess they were just finishing a long engagement at a local 'white audience' venue.

Cal Roberts is still performing ......

see here for info on him ....

https://www.doubleexposureinc.com/legendslive/bio/croberts.html

.............. ALSO .................

A few memories of a dancer at 'CASTAWAYS' and other venues in the Miami Beach area .....

1. TOMMY STRAND AND THE UPPER HAND WERE PLAYING AT THE CASTAWAYS ALONG WITH SOME OTHER BANDS

2. JOE HART, THE FATHER OF TELEVISION PERSONALITY JEANNIE HART, OWNED THE CASTAWAYS

3. ANOTHER BAND BY THE NAME OF GEORGIE PORGIE AND THE CRY BABIES PLAYED AT THE CASTAWAYS AS WELL (I BELIEVE THAT THE SISTER OF THE LEAD SINGER WAS IN THE BAND AND, I THINK, PLAYED THE KEYBOARD)

4. CAL ROBERTS SANG THERE AS WELL AND SO DID HELEN GLOVER

5. ONE NIGHT I WENT TO WORK AT THE CASTAWAYS AND LEARNED THAT THE SAX PLAYER IN ONE OF THE BANDS, A GUY NAMED " DIZZY" HAD MYSTERIOUSLY DIED

6. A GUY NAMED "LARRY" WAS A GREAT GUY WHO WARNED ME,JUST A KID FROM MISSISSIPPI AT THE TIME, TO STAY AWAY FROM THE MOBSTERS, AS HE HAD BEEN MARRIED TO A GIRL WHOSE FATHER WAS IN THE MOB AND IT WAS NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BREAK AWAY

7. I SAW FATS DOMINO AT THE 'NEWPORT HOTEL PUB' AND WAYNE COCHRAN ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. COCHRAN HAD A HABIT OF JUMPING OFF STAGE AND BUSTING UP BOTTLES OF BOOZE. HE WAS QUITE AN ENTERTAINER. ( COUNTLESS YEARS LATER I SAW WAYNE SHOW UP AT MY FORMER CHURCH IN MARGATE AS A PASTOR.)

8. BY THE WAY, FUN THING ABOUT THE CASTAWAYS....YOU COULD SIT AT THE BAR THERE AND SEE PEOPLE SWIMMING THROUGH WINDOWS BEHIND THE BAR....LOTSA' FUN!

9. I ALSO DANCED AT THE MARCO POLO BRIEFLY WHEN A BAND LED BY "JUSTIN" (CAN'T REMEMBER REST OF NAME) WAS THERE. WILSON PICKETT WAS A GUEST PERFORMER IN OUR SHOWS AS WELL AS A LEANER AND MEANER "CHUBBY" CHECKER. I THINK THAT THE GREAT PETER MARSHALL BAND WAS THERE AS WELL.

Mike Vetro and "The Treasure Chests" were another group that played the '7 SEAS' Club & Lounge in the Newport Motel (see earlier ads I have posted here).

also .... a Ken Dixon states that he played with The Brass Dimension in the WRECK BAR (in Castaways -- see earlier ads) in 1969. They were, by default, the house band and backed up singers Dorian, Cal Roberts, Helen Glover and The Fabulettes. He says that the best bar in the area was one block west of the strip on 163rd Street, 'The Funky Broadway'. Tommy Strand and The Upper Hand played there.

A pic of the Newport Hotel (where the 7 SEAS club was sited) on Miami Beach.

Edited May 31, 201212 yr by Roburt

Another Philly artist hits Miami ...

Marie Knight followed the Impressions (& was on with them) ....

A 'white audience' show on Miami Beach in September 1970.

Jesse Lee Ferguson had got tired of his group being the Outer Limits and by this time they had become the Jet Setters.

Support act Little Willie has to be southern soul icon Little Willie Johnson who recorded down in Miami shortly after this show was staged (though he wasn't from Florida). What the white audience made of this deep soul & gospel singer I can only guess.

Anyone know which set of SOUL SETTERS the act also on this bill would have been ??

Back 'across the tracks' & Xmas 1969 saw upcoming Cleggy star William Bell entertaining the punters ...

The Prolifics ... who earlier had gone by the name of the Moovers (Deep City).

Edited June 3, 201212 yr by Roburt

The Prolifics again -- this time along with some big stars ....

The Barn (see above) still exists, though now the building houses a 'Crab House' restaurant ....

https://www.crabhouseseafood.com/locations.html

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g34438-d524065-Reviews-Crab_House-Miami_Florida.html

Edited June 3, 201212 yr by Roburt

Ruby Andrews hit Miami over Xmas 69 ...

Local DJ Nickie Lee had started out on WAME but when that stn went country

... he switched to WRIZ ... Like other radio DJ's, he made some records ...

He's the "And Black Is Beautiful" guy (on Mala). Here he is with a cover of

a Prince Buster song that had been No.1 on the Miami radio stn charts in Jan 67

..

You can't mean Margie Alexander. You must mean Margie Hendrix.

Some good photos of the Clyde Killen collection of Posters on Flickr.

Here's Joey Gilmore;

25 Great Posters here;

https://www.flickr.com/photos/clender/sets/72157603899711082/with/2257572581/

Sean

Nickie Lee doing some promotional work for his new radio stn

not too long after he had joined WRIZ .........

Already posted an ad for the Xmas 1969 show at the Continental Club ...

that featured (then) Stax artist William Bell .. soon to be singing for us in Cleggy ....

The Continental had been called the King O' Hearts back in the early to mid 60's.

The club had opened in mid April 1960 and it was where Sam & Dave 1st performed together in July 1960. They were resident at the club for about 4 years (until one of their Roulette releases took off& they started touring).

.... WELL .... as Eddie Floyd is in London this week promoting his new CD project "Don't Forget About James" with his son Anthony Floyd, thought I would post up another ad for December 69 shows at the Continental.

Stax was really in control of the club that month as this ad for 3 different acts (one of them being Eddie Floyd) illustrates ......

To celebrate the fact that there will soon be a big box set CD of all the Arctic Records catalogue (issued & unissued stuff) released and out for 60's soul fans to purchase .... AND ......

coz the 'powers that be' are putting together an 'Arctic Revue' package to play a few special live shows ....... here's an old Miami club ad for a show undertaken by a very young Della Humphrey ...

Della (who I believe lives in the Atlanta area these days) will be one of the stars who will be performing on the 'Arctic Revue' shows ...... CAN'T WAIT .......

Do you have more ads from shows with The Fabulettes/Marvells?

LARS ..... Yes, I'm sure I have a few. I'll take a look.

Not sure I fully understand the Marvel(l)s / Fabulettes story .......

I know the Mar-vels (their name seemed to get written / spelt a number of different ways) were around by 1963 and for 2/3 years they recorded under that name.

Then they were renamed (on their records & by their new record label) as the Fabulettes ... BUT .. as they already had a 'high profile' on the Miami club scene, I believe they still did live gigs in their 'home town' as the Marvells.

Anyway, after cutting as the Fabulettes for around 3 more years they were reduced in number (from 4 to 3) when Annette Snell quit & headed off to New York with Paul Kelly.

So by 1969, the group were a trio and Annette Snell was a solo artist.

If anyone can add more to their story (as I have laid it out above), please feel free to do so ....

..... anyway back to the ads ..... I'm not sure if Annette Snell was still a group member for this mid July 1968 gig but the picture of the group used in the ad shows 4 members ......

I wouldn't have minded being in the audience for this Miami show .....

the line-up was even better than an old Prestatyn Weekender live bill.

....... and it included the Marvells once again .......

Anyone able to put names to the faces in this pic of the Marvells / Fabulettes ..

Marvels Advert from Oct 1969 showing 3 members.

Annette Snell was certainly solo by this time.

Incidentally, I once saw where she'd signed a little spot on the wall, inside the doorway of Muscle Shoals Sound, only a few months before she was killed in the Air Crash.

Sean

Anyone know much of anything about these ladies ......