Roburt

Last I heard (a few years back), he'd moved to Nashville (from LA) but had retired. I'm sure if he'd passed, we'd have heard.

On the BBC website ... Saturday is Prom night 2 ...

The 'public' view of NS dancers is indeed as quoted (baggy pants, vests, etc). . . . . With help, I took a bunch of Brits on a Soul Trip to Vegas in early 1998. While there, Nancy Yahiro organised a nite in Long Beach with Brenda Holloway & a SanFran soul band as the live entertainment. Guys on the trip acted as DJ's but we also all danced. Lots of local mods / soulsters turned out too (Nancy's crowd & those that knew them). When we Brits took to the dance floor, we weren't in baggys & vests or doing backdrops ... the locals all accused us of being imposters and not real UK NS fans. See photo taken during the trip ... this was the day we took over the Vegas Motown Cafe (located in NY, NY Casino) and we were filmed by an LA tv stn news team.

Also big on the Balto club scene in 66 ... Frankie & the Spinners. They were soon interesting record companies but couldn't record using that name ... so they became Frankie & the Spindels / Spindles . . .

Sorted how to copy youtube vids on here (thanx to pointers on anuda thread) ...

Same month & year ... obviously another locally based singer >> Benny Johnson ... It's the same guy who was on Today (why'd he not have a Balto label release ?).

On discogs it states .... 5 Miles Out had played concerts throughout the south, and they had some popularity in the city they came from, Burlington, NC. In 1974 they consisted of six members: Larry Miles, Michael Brown, Gerome Ferguson, Donnie Fuller, Clara Hamilton, and Tony Price.

This just reinforces my earlier statement .... Seems Mayfield Records (of Portsmouth) are about to put out another album by their house band, Mayfield. All the tracks have been put out as digital singles in the past and haven't really registered (with me anyway). But they're decent soul cuts & I'll certainly be buying the (physical) album. An old digital & actual release from them ..

We could do with them trying to play "Fife Piper" and "Two In The Morning". Don't think they'll attempt to do "Scratchy".

Anyone got any idea who these 2 could have been .... playing Balto clubs in mid 66 ... CALVIN BRROKS & THE CAVALIERS + LITTLE CHUCK & THE BOOGALOO STOPPERS ... Calvin Brooks can't be the Detroit guitarist who later had releases on Expansion ... he'd only have been 10 years old then. I guess that Little Chuck could be Chuck Brown, though he would have been 30 years old by then so why the 'LITTLE' ? Across the city at the same time ...

The Manhattans were wowing their audience in Baltimore in Aug 66 ... performing "That New Girl" live (my fave of their Carnival releases).

Heikki (as always) has interviewed the Manhattans & Joe Evans. They touched on this subject .... Joe: “The Manhattans got very, very popular in the areas, where I did most of the promotion – New York, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, the East Coast. I was not big enough at that time to have all of that nationally. I had spots in the west, but I didn’t have a complete distribution out there. I had 35 distributors, but I didn’t have all covered all out west.” “But the main reason was, when they would be in the theatres, the other artists would come around and they would be talking ‘we’re with ABC Paramount, and they’re doing so and so, you should be with them, too’. I once overheard this. But these groups didn’t last long. They didn’t come up with another hit right away, and the company dropped them. I was determined to develop my group, and develop them correctly, to establish their name. I built the group on solid, solid foundations, and wherever they played they could always go back, whether they had a hit or not. They left me and they went with another company, but they didn’t come up with hits for many years.” Indeed, during the next four years chart-wise the group didn’t fare as well as with their Carnival singles with the exception of one song, which eventually paved them the way to bigger things. The group, however, never made it to the West Coast until in 1973. In spite of an existing contract, Joe decided to put his business interest and feelings aside and started negotiations about selling the contract first to United Artists, Kapp and Jubilee, who all made it a condition that Joe continues to produce the group. Then Joe came to an agreement with Atlantic Records. Joe: “I was going to put them with a company that I knew could get records out on them and promote them, because that’s mostly what they needed. I took more time with the material for them than with anybody else, because I knew them. I knew what they could sing, and I could write music even without going to them. They’d be out of town, and I’d be writing music, and when they’d get back I’d record them.” Bobby Schiffman ... a manager at the Apollo Theatre in the late 60s. ... Blue: “Bobby knew we were looking for a manager, so he got in contact with an attorney to let him know the Manhattans wanted to be managed by someone. We felt that Bobby Schiffman, who knew music and had the control of the Apollo and the acts that came there, was a good person to recommend us.” Bobby hooked the group up with an attorney named Jack Pearl. Blue: “He represented Hermine Hanlin .... She needed an act and we needed a manager, so Jack put us together and we signed with her in 1969. Jack also became our musical attorney.” Jack Pearl was affiliated with King Records and worked as their attorney and even vice president ever since the 40s. So that's how the Joe Evans proposal that the group sign with Atlantic never came about & how come they signed with King / DeLuxe. We just need the story on the Olympics now.

The club always catered for different crowds; even back in the 60's ...

Just shows how easy it is for digital releases to go unnoticed (by me at least) ... This track is decent but it's 11 years old now ... from DC ... the Ambitions -- "Barely Crawlin'" - YouTube >> www.youtube.com/watch?v=qesShr-bBB8 there's also a video of them doing it live up on youtube.

"Swinging On A Star" was April 63 (US) / Oct 63 (UK) release ... the shows were staged in Aug 64. He'd had 4 more UK 45's released by then. "You Satisfy My Needs" was a Aug 65 (UK) release.

It's news to me that both the Olympics and the Manhattans had / were signing with Atlantic in late 68 ... The US music mag section was usually on the money & they were right with all the other Atlantic acts -- Dusty, the Soul Survivors & Otis Clay all had Atlantic label releases in 69. Anyone got an 'in' with regard to the Atlantic Records vault and can say what tracks (if any) each group cut for the label ... The Olympics certainly were label hopping around that time, but nothing produced by Leiber & Stoller ever escaped on them.

Big Dee Irwin, starring in Weymouth ... "I Only Get This Feeling" was way in the future, but "You Satisfy My Needs " was just around the corner ...

New York -- WLIB ... Nov 68 ...

I was chasing an import copy of "Call On Me" in late 67 (right after I became a regular @ the Wheel). It was played @ the Wheel way before then, so others would have been buying copies from US suppliers ahead of that. I SUSPECT, it was individuals doing their own personal deals to get copies of this Duke 45 that transpired, not a 'mass import' situation. NOW, BY OCTOBER 68, the situation had changed as EMI (& others) got involved ... Why UK Cameo Parkway copies of it had dried up soon after early Sept 67 I have no idea (though the UK label ceased to exist from Sept 67) ... in the US, the Parkway label died in early 68 (the Olympics "Looking For A Love" being the last release). How did the US MGM distributed late Parkway 45's come about ?

US ad for the LP that was released here in the UK ... It was Vogue Records Ltd, of 113-115 Fulham Rd that released it here. They also put out the 2 x BBB 45's + an EP on Vogue Pop in 62 plus another 45 by him in 63 on Vocalion. Vocalion became a Decca Records label in 63. In 64 Decca was also responsible for UK releases on Atlantic, London, RCA Victor, Brunswick & Warner Bros.

Of course, black radio wasn't the major player on US airwaves; the pop stns had many more listeners (most of the time) and what they played was more influential in getting a soul 45 onto the Hot 100. But lots of soul stuff did break through & get major white radio airplay ... Top selling 45's in 2 US cities at one point in 66 ... most would have achieved their sales via radio exposure ... more soul stuff selling in Detroit at the time; lots of the 45's being local product. Nice to see a top Mojo / Wheel spin @ #5 in Detroit.

Even the BBC (it seems) cottoned on to "Call On Me" ... they included on one of their BBC Radioplay compilation albums, but not till 1990 (so it's in CD format & not vinyl) ...

I like lots of new releases; both of old tracks & newly cut tracks .... I even get them in digital format, if cheap, free or sent to me. BUT, I don't value them in digital form (my age I guess). I have been supplied with lots of unreleased tracks over the last 10 / 15 years in digital form but tend to leave them on old computers & therefore lose them .... that's the reason I always prefer cuts in a physical form (vinyl or CD).

Bobby Bland was still obviously cutting lots of tracks for Duke towards the end of the 60's & into the early 70's but lots of them were being left in the vaults (unlike "Call On Me"). Some of these tracks escaped in 1996 on the MCA CD 'That Did It' ( & a couple are escaping again thanks to Soul4Real) ...

Bobby Bland 45's were always popular in Houston ... But he sold right across the USA and not only in the black / R&B market. "Call On Me" was the B side of the 45 when released & it was tuva side that got the black radio plays & that initially made the R&B charts. When it shot up the R&B charts, white stns also started to pick up on it -- but their DJ's liked "Call On Me" better and so played that side. "Thats The Way Love Is" made the national R&B charts in early Jan 63 and stood @ # 7 when the effects of white stn plays meant "Call On Me" also entered the R&B charts (@ #20 - 2nd Feb 23). BUT ... BUT .. it was tuva way around on the Hot 100 chart. "Call On Me" entered 1st and stood @ #60 in late Jan, whereas "Thats The Way .." had just entered stood at #81 & then #80 ....