Roburt

I'm sure that with a copy of a mint condition version of any 45 as 'the original' to go from, a modern printing plant could reproduce a near identical copy of any old label. Of course, it probably wouldn't be on the exact same kind of paper & certainly wouldn't have any patina (?) so your OVO specialist would probably still be able to tell the difference.

A 1964 piece about Donzella Petty-John, the lead singer (!?!?!) of the Nelodods who cut "Come See About Me" ... (SEE ABOVE) ....... Nella was from Havre De Grace, a very small town which is about half way between Wilmington & Baltimore.

Choker Campbell maintained his old ties back in Ohio, even after he relocated to Detroit & hooked up with Motown. Even when he took gigs up in Idlewild, he found a way to work over in Ohio ... taking the 'Idlewild Review' across to Cleveland ...... I guess the revue headed off to Cleveland the day after it finished the summer season in Idlewild.

Another pitfall of touring back in the day ............ falling ill. If this happened in the south, most hospitals wouldn't treat black artists. Luckily (!?!?!) for Maxine Brown she fell ill in Detroit .........

The Paperboy has been turning heads with his studio & live work for a good number of years now. Both back in his Boston days & even more so since he relocated to NY. He used to get involved with the live soul gigs staged by 60's artists held in Brooklyn .... I'm sure there's many a good tale he can tell about his work with 'soul legends'. He's also a 'really decent kind of chap' & owns a great record collection.

The B&E track was even issued on an Island 45 in Lebanon !!! Just 2 of the B&E cut's Belgium releases (both picture sleeves) ...........

"Harlem Shuffle" by Bob & Earl must figure, as must Fontella Bass's "Rescue Me" .... "Rescue Me" got at least 4 seperate (different) releases with at least 3 of these (Chess 8023, Chess 8090 & Chess 6145009) all being re-promoted & restocked by record shops on a number of occasions. "Harlem Shuffle" was released in at least 7 different incarnations here (Sue, Jay Boy, Island, Contempo, Contempo-Raries, Old Gold, Sue EP). In the above, I'm only counting UK releases. If you add in US, Canadian, European, Lebanese, Caribbean, Indian, Australian, New Zealand, Sth American, Sth African, etc ... then each of these cuts must have 30+ releases on different labels & at different times (60's / 70's / 80's / 90's).

C L Blast R I P View full article

What Happened Miss Simone - Book Review Latest addition to the review section. A review of a recently published biography by souledtrafford View full article

An Indian Stateside label (EMI) 78rpm from 1964 (sourced from A & M) ...........

Seems that 6 acts + the band were featured the week the Revue played the Harlem Apollo ..........

Don't have it (or even like it) but you're right, the Frank Foster was a St Ahd Rhythm production ........ he must have been about 40 when he cut it ...........

Well most Triode 45 track's weren't connected with St Ahd Rhythm Inc but I know Johnny Honeycutt's "I'm Coming Over" was.

I know lots about the premier black beach resorts on the US east coast -- Carr's & Sparrow's Beaches. These flourished right thru till the late 60's when blacks weren't allowed on 'white beaches'. But with the breakdown of segregation, these beach resorts fell into decline. The big shows by major black artists stopped & the people just stopped coming (I have a whole chapter in my book about the 2 resorts and the acts that played on them). .... HOWEVER .... across in Michigan there was a whole town (Idlewild) that grew up along similar principals. Blacks from the cities (Chicago, Detroit, Toledo, Flint, Grand Rapids, etc.) would head there for the weekend, staying in a local motel (or even buying a house locally). The place was in it's prime in the 40s / 50s / 60s but fell into decline at the same time as Carr's Beach (& for the same reasons). When it was a thriving holiday spot, the entertainment there was top notch. All the top acts of each decade would star there at venues such as Paradise Nightclub, Flamingo Bar, El Morocco & Red Rooster Lounge. Lavern Baker, Little Willie John, Arthur Prysock, Della Reese, the 4 Tops, Jackie Wilson, Lloyd Price, Etta James, B B King, Aretha Franklin, Bill Cosby, George Kirby and more were regulars (the 4 Tops even met their wives there). The resort (located in northwest Michigan) was a mecca for black entertainment. During summer months in the 1950s over 20,000 people would dance at venues in Idlewild. In the 60's Jackie Wilson would sing "Lonely Teardrops", "Baby Workout" &"Whispers". Twist competitions were held on a regular basis, visitors would dance the night away. Lloyd Price worked up in Idlewild for the whole summer one year. He had a full band to support him and in that band were the Funk Brothers; Benny Benjamin, James Jamerson, Earl Van Dyke. They were all working up there in Idlewild for the summer season. I don't know how that fitted in with playing in the studio or backing Motown artists up on live shows. I'm posting a photo below of dancers performing at the Paradise Club and it's impossible to identify the band members who are providing their music. However, on the drummers kit is a big R A logo ... so I'm guessing that the drummer is Richard 'Pistol' Allen However, the Paradise Nightclub burned down in 1970. The 700-seat Flamingo Bar still overlooks Idlewild Lake but stands empty. The Red Rooster lounge and restaurant is still open some days but only after 4 p.m. -- properties lay empty and decaying. The place is a shadow of it's former self. BUT it isn't totally forgotten and a number of web sites exist that detail what went on in this 'Black Eden' back in the day ........... https://www.blackpast.org/aah/idlewild-michigan-1912 https://fundrazr.com/campaigns/cKCj0 https://www.davehoekstra.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/idlewild_mich_black_mecca.pdf https://www.mlive.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/08/idlewild_the_black_eden_marks.html Anyone know any other soul music linked facts that relate to this place ????

This book on Motown looks like it will make a good read ......... Motown: The Sound of Young America -- Adam White https://www.amazon.co.uk/Motown-Sound-America-Adam-White/dp/0500518297/ref=sr A bit pricey but it looks a quality product. Don't suppose there will be tons of new info in it for committed T/M fans though. Looks to be lots of 'new to me' photos though .........

More on the pitfalls of touring back in the 60's, this bit from Motowner Willie Tyler ........ I guess people still tour like that, but I don't think the venues are as far away now as they were in those days. We would be driving forever. We'd be driving through the Appalachians, driving down the mountains and they'd be icy, icy roads. The driver would have to go very, very slow. We had two drivers and we'd be driving at night. We'd always drive through the night and get to the hotel in the morning. Check in, rest up, shower, go to the venue, come back, check out and then drive again to the next one. It was a grueling schedule. I remember we were working a place called the Carter Barron in Washington DC. It was a big venue and the acoustics were really bad. Sound was bouncing all over the place during the sound-check and I thought, "Wow, this is going to be really difficult for me." I'm the only talking act and it was a Saturday night with the potential for a rowdy audience. So I wondered how I was going to get through it. When we got there... we all felt this... there was something about the place... it was not a good feeling. So, the show started and the leader of the band for the Motortown Revue was Choker Campbell. He was onstage, this large stage. When the show started we all still had this feeling. "There's something strange here." The Contours opened. If the Contours were on a given tour they always opened. Martha and the Vandellas were on second. Martha is singing and then all of a sudden way up in the balcony - four shots went off. And as soon as the four shots went off we knew they were shots. Choker Campbell took one look at the band and stopped them. Didn't look at the audience. He grabbed all his sheet music, the band grabbed theirs and walked off the stage - as did Martha and everyone else. That was it. Show over. When something like that happens - you can't follow that.

Thanks for the info Dave. Back in the short period that I attended niters @ the Nite Owl in Leicester (May to October 67) I used to hang out with a crowd from the Walsall area. Once spent Saturday daylight hours in the town looking for soul / ska records with the local niter goers. Then @ the Wheel we were friendly with the Kidderminster mob (late 67/68/69) but never visited their home town back then. Never made it into Wolverhampton at all then but I guess the Walsall crowd would have attended soul nights in Wolves (were they a regular thing back in 67 ?).

Mary Wells was on the shows in late 1963, so Motown can't have been aware of her intention to dispute her contract & leave the company at the time. One of her last 45 releases on Motown was still on the national US charts in mid July 64 and her 1st 20th Century 45 made it's chart debut in October that year, so the whole dispute must have blown up around May / June 64 I guess. Proposed 45 releases on her were pulled by Motown (Motown #1061 & #1065) in July & August 64 (otherwise we would have gotten her take on "When I'm Gone" and not Brenda's which escaped in Feb 65) so that legal proceedings must have been in full swing by then. GETTING BACK TO the 63 Motortown Revue shows ........ I'd have been a bit pissed if I had gone to the show in Baltimore and seen just 5 acts, whereas two weeks later I could have attended a DC show and seen 9 acts. Strange goings on indeed. Mind you, the show would have remained about the same length (time-wise) so each act must have performed more songs on the shows staged in Baltimore.

It seems that the line-up on the Motortown Revue shows was quite fluid. Above are 3 of the 1963 shows ...... In DC (Howard Theatre) there were 9 acts + the band. In York, PA (where the Soul Clinic were from) there were 8 acts + the band (Mary Wells being there with the Supremes & Sammy Ward missing). In Toledo there were 7 acts + the band (with Stevie Wonder now topping the bill). .... HOWEVER ... only 14 days before the DC shows kicked off, the package had been playing their last date @ the Royal Theatre in Baltimore but on these dates there were only 5 acts + the band (and one of those acts was Jimmy Ruffin) ..........

Another youtube clip (very short) put up by a SouthernSoul member ..... ... Otis standing up @ Buddy Guy's Legends Club (he was in the audience) to sing a couple of verses of the song ... this was shot just weeks before he passed ....

Is anything known about Tiny Records? Perhaps it was the group or their manager's own label and was used to get a record out on this band that had been paying it's dues backing major artists up (on shows all along the US east coast) for many years before their 45 escaped. Certainly nothing else was released on Tiny and this outing was soon licensed for release on DC based Rouser (Tiny also being based out of DC). Lots of the live work the band did was up in Baltimore or across on Carr's Beach. They backed up just about every act that played the DC, Baltimore, Annapolis area over the years they were active. Example of this are two 1963 shows (when they were 18 strong) in Baltimore (Lou Johnson's "Reach Out For Me" can't have been that popular in Baltimore in mid Oct 63 as his billing on that show is a bit low key) .......

Gavin Christopher R I P View full article

Sure that this has been discussed on here in the past.