Roburt

You can't keep those 'Smiths' out of anything.

I remember both sides of the Island 45 getting played to death in UK mod / soul clubs back in summer 1966 (even though it was soon in the UK Top 30 pop charts). Bought the single myself though I never got a copy of the Island LP (or a US copy). Can't help with the "Barefootin" 45 US demo question.

Seems the tour ran from 17th October to 27th November 1964 and took in a few venues in 'Gods Country' as well ........... .... Sheffield, Huddersfield, Leeds, Hull, Dony + a few near-by spots (Chesterfield, Cleethorpes, Nottingham, Mancaster)

Anyone know if this was reported over here back at the time (9th November 1964)..........

Bob, I believe that the Emkay tracks were recorded first (1975/76) but were released in 1979 after the other version. Kent was recruited by Motown & went to LA to begin working with Hi Inergy in 1976 after having cut Jamal Trice in St Louis and those tracks getting Jamal signed to Motown in 76. He worked with Hi Inergy for about 12 months before the group's first 45 release escaped. Act III were Donnie Harley (who Kent thought had lots of potential) & her brothers Fonnie (ex of the Lyrics) & Lavorn (Kent wasn't too impressed with their singing abilities).

I think roller rinks were much more a US thing than a UK thing. I asked a couple of Cleveland contacts about roller rink music & they confirmed that live soul acts would play at two of the local roller rinks. It seems that soul acts played at the Playmor Skating Rink and at Skateland back in the day (1960's / 70's). Here's footage of 2 Cleveland area rinks. Some of the time they would feature an organist and other times a DJ spinning 45's (guess it depended on the age of the crowd who usually attended during certain time slots) ........... these two clips have organ music added as their soundtracks .......... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OocRAAaUifQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgroduLhmX8

Another of the group's records that escaped a couple of times I believe ......... Emkay #1006 Act III -- (A Side) Got To Get Away C/W (B Side) Turn Me On The story behind this release: Kent Washburn was in St Louis working for the CMC Corp. The company had brought him to St Louis to produce local acts such as the Hypnotics. During his St Louis years he became friends with Willie Mitchell and his brother James. They ran the the Hi label down in Memphis. Anyway, word got around that there was this new production company up in St Louis and as a result this Memphis based group contacted Kent. He thought that the female singer had something going for her vocally, but the other two in the group (her brothers) didn't impress him. He still cut the two tracks on them (mid 70's) and he really loved the chick's voice. However he could not convince her to go solo, so that was the end of that as far as he was concerned. The Emkay 45 didn't escape till the early 80's after he had relocated to LA (initially to work for Motown).

Do you know any of the story behind these tracks & their 45 release ?? Were the group a popular club act in their local area ?

US ........ Windy C, Curtom, Gemingo, Bamboo, Checker (the blue label with each letter on a checker's piece), 20th Century Fox and yellow Stax UK ...... Cameo Parkway, EMI label demos, 70's CBS demos, Action, Soul City, Salsoul and People. Some great Euro label designs as well.

B&S #82 -- April 14 -27th 1972 1 Ramsey Lewis -- Wade in the water 2 Chiffons -- Sweet talkin guy 3 Drifters -- At the club 4 Detroit Emeralds -- You want it you got it 5 Betty Wright -- Clean up woman 6 Fontella Bass -- Rescue me 7 Roscoe Robinson -- Thats enough 8 Supremes -- Floy joy 9 San Remo Strings -- Reach Out 10 Sly & F Stone -- Running away 11 Joe Tex -- I Gotcha 12 Velvelettes -- Needle in haystack 13 Chakachas -- Jungle fever 14 Bobby Sheen -- Dr Love 15 Ronnie Milsap -- Ain't no soul 16 Jimmy Conwell -- Cigarette Ashes 17 Donnie Elbert -Can't help myself 18 Lunar Funk -- Mr penguin 19 Johnny Nash -- Stir it up 20 Betty LaVette -- Let me down easy 21 Philip Mitchell - Free for all 22 4 Tops -- Bernadette 23 Tempts - Take a look around 24 Joe Simon -- Drowing sea of love 25 Jerry Butler -- Moody woman 26 Timmy Willis Mr. soul satisfaction 27 Honey cone -- One monkey don't stop show 28 Jackson 5 -- Sugar daddy 29 Elephant Band -- Stone penguin 30 Bobby Patterson -- How do you spell love 31 Mike Jackason -- Got to be there 32 Liitle Anthony & Im -- Gonna fix you good 33 James Brown -- King heroin 34 Reffa -- Day dreaming 35 Chuck Berry -- R & R Music 36 O'Jays -- Workin on your case 37 Eddie Holman -- Hey there lonely girl 38 Denise LaSalle -- Now run & tell that 39 JB's -- Gimme some more 40 Bobby Womack -- Thats way feel bout ya 41 Sapphires -- Gotta have ya love 42 Staples -- Respect yourself 43 San Remo Strings -- Festival time 44 Mardi Gras -- Too busty thinkin bout my baby 45 Delfonics -- Tryin Make a fool of you 46 T McCall 47 Stylistics 48 Gladys Knight 49 Bobby Powell 50 James Brown As can be seen from the above, the NS 45 UK reissue sales surge was well underway at the time.

My mate Alan Omokhoje worked for EMI in London in the mid to late 80's (after running Move Records). His family were originally from Nigeria and so they (EMI) eventually sent him to work over in their Lagos office. Never thought to ask him to sort out all the locally pressed old soul 45's in their warehouse for shipment back to me here in the UK.

Funny you should say that ..................

Is it the one in post #2 of this thread ?

The Philly baseball team just honoured the Philadelphia International / TSOP musical team ahead of one of their home games. The (few) fans that arrived early for the game were treated to a free 70's soul show ................ .............. it looks like Bunny enjoyed himself ..............

Seems my memory of those days isn't totally shot then .......... A piccy of Tommy Vann with his mid 60's group 'and the Echoes' (they recorded under that name after the split from Tommy) .....

I've had a copy of this WABQ Roadshow poster from 1967 for many years. Nice to see it up on the R&B H of F website ............

Next Saturday (17th August) sees the 2013 R&B H of F Induction Ceremony being staged in Cleveland (Ohio). Loads of top acts will be there on the day, including the Temptations, The Four Tops, Jackie Wilson, the O’Jays, James Brown, The Dramatics, Otis Redding, The Dazz Band, Little Willie John, The Supremes, The Hesitations, Little Jimmy Scott, The , Gerald Levert, The Marvelettes and others. Tickets for the event are FREE but you have to apply ahead of the day & will only gain admission to the ceremony if you have a ticket. INFO HERE .... https://www.rbhalloffame.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=60 The Temptations have already accepted their nomination award ........... https://www.eurweb.com/2013/08/the-temptations-accept-early-induction-into-rb-music-hall-of-fame/ R&B H of F page on local outfit the Hesitations ........... https://www.rbhalloffame.com/page/17/?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=60 R&B H of F page on local outfit S.O.U.L ........ https://www.rbhalloffame.com/page/9/?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=60 R&B H of F page on local outfit Sly, Slick & Wicked ........... https://www.rbhalloffame.com/page/11/?option=com_content&view=article&id=54&Itemid=60

Here's one that Ady should have been using for the last few years ............. (if you look at the 'US Trade Ads' thread it just may look familiar)

RCA blowing their own trumpet WAY BACK in the day ............ .. so just how long (3 / 4 years ?) did they keep putting out stuff on both 45 & 78 ??

I presume you don't mean the guy from Cleveland who went on to lead the Drifters for years, but the Chicago guy who worked a lot with Jack Daniels. This guy ................ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNCel91PoS8 If so, he gets mentioned on about 6/7 pages of the 'Chicago Soul' book BUT those entries really just skate over his full career details. Guess Boba will have a much more full SP on his life / career.

Don't think too many current hip-hoppers would be too pleased having this used to promote their latest release .......

RE: 25. TOO YOUNG - TOMMY VANN I was about on the UK scene back in 66 and didn't realise that Tommy Vann had registered over here that early. He was just about the biggest white R&B-er on the Baltimore club scene back in the 60's (even more so than Bob Brady) and a main stay (house act) at Club Venus that booked all the top Motown acts in the late 60's / 1970. ....... more on Tommy .............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAg5w9YWncg

Wonder if its too late to wing off a letter to Dept. B for promo copies of these two ............

Mitty's 1972 gospel remake of her biggest hit ............. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i9r_hkqROo

More info on Mitty's career here ............... https://blogs.suntimes.com/hoekstra/2012/11/the_giving_soul_of_mitty_colli.html