Roburt

Many of the above PLUS Sam Dees at Morecambe (Pontins) Weekender and also at Dingwalls in Camden (have a recording of that show somewhere on cassette). Loads of the acts at the Cleggy & old Prestatyn Weekenders + some that put in appearances at the old NS Weekenders in Yarmouth. .......... must also say Chuck Jackson, anywhere I have seen him perform.

I seem to recall having a CD with most of the JC tracks cut in the period when this was recorded (but not with my collection at present). Probably this one ......... https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Johnny-Copeland/dp/B000GFRIX6/ref=sr_1_13?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1390096779&sr=1-13&keywords=johnny+copeland I love loads of Johnny's work even though he hated being called a soul singer and always insisted he only ever wanted to cut blues songs.

Wasn't that label / 45 Ike Turner related, back when he was based (with Tina) out of St Louis. He cut lots of locally based (& visiting) artists in local St Louis studios up till his package relocated to LA.

I've never really known enough about the AFN Europe broadcasts. Only a few of their shows were soul related but I know for a fact that when the US DoD put on touring shows that featured soul singers, those singers / performers would be interviewed on the network to publicise their shows and which bases they would be appearing at. There was an AFN studio at either Mildenhall or Lakenheath in Suffolk as Kenny Hamber & his package were interviewed there when he toured US bases in Europe and the UK. Lots of US bases had their own base newspapers / magazines and these would feature info on celebs that visited the bases, including singers & DJ's. There's a library in Norwich which keeps lots of historic info / documents on what occurred on the US bases in Norfolk & Suffolk but they didn't seem to regard keeping recordings of the normal AFN radio shows or the base newspapers / magazines as a priority. I would have thought that somewhere on the net someone would have a site that dealt with AFN Europe, their DJ's and what the network got up to. I haven't thought to look for such a site though.

You did a great job with those Kent / Carnival CD's Ady. No wonder Joe appreciated us Europeans (mainly thanks to you I'd say).

Another new book, this one looks really interesting ........... ... this ones by & about the life / career of Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie ....... ..... SOME INFO ..... I have some exciting news. I have a book coming out. It will be called “Let the Drums Speak !” Working with a wonderful writer named Ed Dennis, I have chronicled my life from a modest upbringing in Elkton, Maryland through my journey to becoming drummer for the stars. We wanted to do this project our way (without a big publishing company at this point).

Johnny River's live show is in LA and its tonight. Another interview he just did & more info on the show here (he does mention Soul City Records here) ............... ... https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-ragogna/from-whisky-a-go-go-to-th_b_4521991.html

Just been watching PBS and last night's Travis Smiley Show was being re-broadcast. His guest was Johnny Rivers and Johnny looked well for a guy his age. He was saying that he is doing a live show this week to celebrate his time at LA's Whisky AGoGo Club back in the 60's (didn't catch where the show was but somewhere in the US, most likely LA I guess). He talked about his time being the resident live act at the club back in the mid 60's, how the mobile recording truck equipment only had 3 tracks, so they could only mike up the stage area (the 'live' audience reaction to the band's songs were added back in the studio by all accounts). About all the celebs that dropped in to the club back then and that how it was the R&B music he heard in his youth that influenced all the stuff he did himself. Unfortunately the pair didn't get around to discussing Soul City Records, Willie Hutch and the like.

AND WHILST I'M DEALING WITH BETTYE .................. ....... thought I may as well post up a link to a good article about a show she just did at the famous Howard Theatre in DC ......... ..... it has videos attached at the bottom that show Bettye in full flow ............ https://www.dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2014/01/12/bettye-lavette-in-concert-at-the-howard-theatre-by-sydney-chanele-dawkins/

The web site that deals with the Soul TV show gives details of the people who appeared on it ................. ...... strangely the show (that Bettye appeared on) which I lifted details of from TV listings in a US newspaper doesn't seem to be on their list ......... ....... Here's what the web site shows ....... April 16, 1970: Guests: Gloria O. Smith (Miss Black America), The Five Stairsteps, The Delfonics, and Carla Thomas Host: Hal Jackson April 23, 1970: Guests: South African singer Letta Mbulu, Ronnie Dyson, Tyrone Davis, and cartoonist Brumsic Brandon Host: Len Chandler April 30, 1970: Guests: The Sweet Inspirations, poet Gylan Kain, magician Frank Brents, and others Host: Len Chandler May 7, 1970: Guests: Arthur Prysock, Mel and Tim, composer Carman Moore, Laura Mann, King Curtis & Kingpins Host: Maxine Brown May 14, 1970: Guests: singer Ruby Andrews, singer Donnie Hathaway and others Host: Jerry Butler May 21, 1970: Special for Pan-African Solidarity week, with “The Ritual” by The National Black Theater, led by founder and actress Barbara Ann Teer May 28, 1970: Guests: vocal group The Manhattans, blues singer Little Milton, actress Novella Nelson of “Purlie”, and others Host: Jerry Butler June 4, 1970: Guests: Holly Maxwell, Sonia Sanchez, Joe Lee Wilson and Timothy Person Host: Jerry Butler June 11, 1970: Guests: Kim Weston, Isaac Douglas & the Isaac Douglas Singers, Bobby Hebb, and others Host: Ellis Haizlip ......... seems that they were into Chicago soul back in 1970.

Here's a piece about the TV show that Bettye was on ............. https://www.thirteen.org/soul/about-soul/host-ellis-haizlip-andsoul-history/ Tapes of some of the editions of the show still exist ....... a link to the show that went out on November 1st 1972 & starred New Birth ...... https://www.thirteen.org/soul/november-1-1972-2/#.UtNK0PRdWME

Back in April / May 1970, Bettye LaVette cut her version of the then current Schaefer Beer ad for the company's Talent Hunt Contest and her effort ended up being one of the contest winners. In mid May, her take on the jingle was aired on numerous US east coast radio stations. Anyone know if a copy of the jingle still exists (or those made by other winning entrants such as the Three Degrees, Carl Hall or the Main Ingredient) ? It seems likely that the publicity generated by her win helped Bettye land a spot on top US TV black music show Soul. The edition of the show she was on aired across the States in early June that year. Anyone know if a tape of that show still exists ?? with Bettye being an 'in' performer across the US (& overseas) in recent years, it would seem timely for someone to turn up copies of these old recordings.

Info about Universal Picture's upcoming movie 'Get On Up' here ................. https://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/first-look-at-chadwick-boseman-in-james-browns-biopic-get-on-up#.UtMJuTpMB7k.facebook ........ A BIT MORE INFO ....... It’s a man’s world in Get On Up, the second feature film from director Tate Taylor (who loved women so well in his debut The Help). Taylor was thrown plenty of scripts about “women-in-pain” after his box office success but it ended up being the life and times of James Brown that most intrigued him. “As I dug in and started to discover more about him, the good and the bad, I loved the reasons he was often bad and I loved the reasons he was good,” says Taylor. “I love that he would stop at nothing to keep reinventing himself so he could stay current, and as a result he changed music.”

Another of his newish tracks ....... "Black Sugar" ....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWa_TRdiDVA

I'm liking the music made by Quentin Moore in recent times. He's from Texas and had a new album out last summer. It's beginning to get UK radio plays and builds on his first release back in 2009. Some of his cuts have a Curtis Mayfield vibe to them, which can't be bad. Read a bit about him here ....... https://www.examiner.com/article/soul-singer-quentin-moore-to-release-sophmore-cd-this-weekend-grapevine He's on Facebook, so check him out over there ...... https://www.facebook.com/qmooremusic You can listen to snippets of his tracks on-line as well ........ 2009 album ........ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vintage-Love-Quentin-Moore/dp/B0033F96NG/ref=dm_cd_album_lnk 2013 album ........ https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/quentinmoore3 AND there are clips of him & his tracks up on youtube ....... LIVE ........ you can skip the first 45 seconds .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEQssqdIjEE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5Q8i2G3POc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzm1n01FDxE

Another of his songs. This one he cut at the studio on the Freedom Soul Singers ....... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LZdxcvLy4I

One of Paul Leka's songs was cut in two entirely different ways by soul acts .......... "Rolling Dice" ........ .... the Jimmy Jackson take .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y6i4IZq-J4 Unfortunately the Hitchhikers version isn't up on youtube, so a label scan will have to suffice ........

........... RE: The album was recorded at Connecticut Recording Studios, Bridgeport, CT. In my opinion, it is one of the top albums that were ever recorded ....... ...... MORE SOUL ARTISTS WHO CUT AT THIS STUDIO ............. Paul Leka was a native of Bridgeport, Connecticut where his Connecticut Recording Studio was located (on Main Street). He had already enjoyed success in the music business, having worked with the likes of Bobby Darin, the Lemon Pipers, Steam (“Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Kiss Him Goodbye”) and Lefte Banke. Judy White had cut one of his songs in 1968 and he recorded an outfit called the Freedom Soul Singers for Epic in 1971. In 1973 he had gotten Gloria Gaynor's recording career started, producing her Columbia track “Honeybee”. He had also been working with a locally based soul singer, Jimmy Jackson, but saw the Hitchhikers as an act he could really make a great soul based album with. So by 1974, when Kenny Hamber & the Hitchhikers went into Connecticut Recording Studio, the facility was already well established. The studio had been in existence for a number of years but in 1973 it had been refurbished and updated.

I'm assuming he's on a cruise around the Caribbean and will therefore only have 6/7 hours in each destination. If I'm correct & that's what you are doing Michael....... when in Barbados ..... its only about a mile from the Cruise Terminal into the centre of Bridgetown. Not too far to walk or lots of mini buses on local routes into town (If no buses from Cruise Terminal building, walk up towards Kensington Oval cricket ground to find main road that buses shoot up & down). Bus stn (& adjacent minibus area) just on west side of town centre itself. MESEN, I'll be on a cruise to the Bahamas in just over a week BUT already been told not to bother looking for record shops in (funky) Nassau. There aren't any.

Very little information seems to have survived concerning 521 Records and the artists who cut for the label. HOWEVER if you search the net, you can find the odd bit ......... THIS FOR INSTANCE ......... ............... Latin Soul guy ANDY GONZALEZ said this in a long interview .......... Andy Gonzalez: .... But I have a 45 of a Rhythm & Blues thing; it was the very first recording I ever did –me, Jerry, Lewellen… Lewellen was the one that wrote the arrangements. It was “Freddy Tartt and the Emanons,” like “no names” but backwards. Freddy was a guitarist from the projects where I used to live. (LAUGHTER BY ANDY AND ERIC) EEG: So that was your first “official” recording, before Monguito. Do you remember the date? Andy Gonzalez: Yeah, I have a copy of it. That was before Monguito. [it was] 1964. The playing wasn’t that bad, but the singing was horrible. It’s still funny to listen to. (LAUGHTER BY ANDY) ........ he's obviously talking about Freddy Tartt on "I Can't Go On" ..... and I guess that means that Freddy came from the North Bronx area too. Andy Gonzalez would have been around 13 years old when he played on the Freddy Tartt cuts, I wonder if Freddy was that young also ?? LINK TO FULL INTERVIEW ....... https://www.herencialatina.com/Andy_Gonzalez/Andy_Gonzalez.htm

BARBADOS: In the centre of Bridgetown there's a big department store; Cave Shepherd. That USED to have a great record department (as the owners of the store, a local conglomerate had bought up the local assets of W.I.R.L. -- studio, warehouse, stock). I used to go there every visit to the island and buy cheap old 45's & LP's. Unfortunately they closed the record department down some years back. Just across the river bridge (south side) there was a shop that sold import (Jamaican) reissue LP's (old 60's Wand stuff & the like) but again I doubt that it's still there.

Two more on the label. Guess the Little David one just about confirms that he was the guitar player in Jimmy Oliver's Soul Twisters .......... Seems that the releases that state 'Brooklyn 16' in the label address must have been a 2nd series of releases that came after the 1962/63 singles.

Valentine Adams "I Found A Love" Yep, I have that track on an old bootleg CD ('Lost Deep Soul Treasures Vol.1') Seems from the details on the label that it may even have been cut at the club ............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_uQJn1M5gQ What's her other track ("I Need Someone") like ?

I'll make a start on them Ian ......... I HURT ON THE OTHER SIDE, SINCE I FELL OFF MY RIDE, SHE WAS REAL REAL WIDE, GONE BLIND, NEED A GUIDE, can't make out the rest on first hearing.

I'm certain Jimmy Oliver never had any actual involvement with this UK recording of his 1958 hit song .......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiwHpIo-3rQ