Roburt

Nothing wrong with afternoon events. When clubs had to stop niters coz of council / police attention, they'd move to dayers instead & we were quite happy to go along to these ... though going to venues such as the Windmill in Rotherham on a hot sunny summer afternoon (with the sun sneaking round the room's curtains & lighting up the whole room) did rather dilute the atmosphere. Some do's out our way are now Sunday afternoon / evening affairs & are great events -- the Banbury EASE YOUR MIND soul do being one such great venue. So afternoons are fine with me (any day of the week too) ... mind you, I am 74.

From the above 2 charts it's plain to see that black radio was still giving just about every 'decent' 45 a fair crack of the whip in 67. By 73/74, unless your 45 was on a 'big label' it stood little chance of getting radio exposure. Many soul acts were ripped off with regard to record royalties but still signed deals & cut stuff to go on 45 ... that's coz a chart placed 45 would result in lots of extra bookings for higher fees & so having a successful single would result in them earning more from their live work. If their 45 charted on a stn from another city, then they'd get bookings over there too. Other acts were much more 'once bitten, twice shy' about such things. Having been ripped off by their initial record label, they'd show little or no interest in signing with a 2nd record company. Many, who took the 2nd option (not recording), were shocked when I'd say to them ... BUT you were good, you should have recorded more. Then your group would probably be known by soul single collectors around the world & not just by club goers in your home city.

WJMO --- JULY 67 ... AND IN AT #30 is ....

No, definitely.

How Frankie & the Spinners evolved into Frankie & the Spindels / Spindles ... (with a good few other acts thrown in too -- Nina Simone signed the Swordsmen included) ... Frankie & the S's had their 1st 45 out that November, ("Count To Ten"), hence the need for the name-change.

Mood-Mosaic version is the original & obviously, is far far superior .

Beat Club used "A Little Bit Of Soul' in 67 ... (1) BeatClub 22 - Intro and Go-Go-Girls - Little Bit O' Soul (1967) - YouTube ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=53NB-mdbz-c Sandy Sargent (of RSG) led the show's dance girls. It then used Bunny Sigler's "Let The Good Times Roll" ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEyj6gqk55E&list=PLYKtjSUVADTbxiochOEi6PGu6HJIssPtf after that it used Otis R's "I Can't Turn You Loose" in 67 ... (1) BeatClub 27 - Intro & Go-Go-Girls (1967) - YouTube ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo2f5_x5IGE AND in 68 it used "Little Girl" by Syndicate Of Sound. then .. "Good News Week" .... (1) BeatClub 37 - Intro & Go-Go-Girls (1968) - YouTube ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCFqIddZboo Then it was back to Otis R & his version of "Shake". The show seemed to change it's theme music most weeks, so no doubt Mood-Mosaic was used one / some weeks around then. Incidentely, Mark Wirtz's guy Keith West performed his song on the show in 1967 (ahead of cutting "Grocer Jack", he'd been lead singer with UK beat group THE IN CROWD).

Mood-Mosaic version was played in many UK soul clubs in 1966/67 ... the Wheel being one of those. The track was arranged & produced by the 'Teenage Opera' guy -- Mark Wirtz (that song more commonly known as "Grocer Jack, Grocer Jack" by Keith West).

The day after John 'Stand By Me' Kennedy was starring on Carr's Beach, this guy topped the bill @ the venue. A few weeks later the same guy was topping the bill @ an adjacent black beach resort, Sparrows Beach (owned by the same black family) ... FOOT NOTE: James Brown didn't seem to be in 'headlining' mode yet + poor Sugar Pie DeSanto had been changed into a double act.

Back in the late 50's & early to mid 60's, only one venue was more important than the east coast chitlin-circuit theatres (Royal, Howard, Uptown, etc) and that was ... Carr's Beach, Annapolis. Being a Beach resort, they only staged live shows (for blacks) between May & September, but during that period of each year they booked all the top black acts. Those acts were booked to play the venue by Balto label owner Rufus Mitchell (Ru-Jac). Rufus always had his hand on the pulse of what was happening in Baltimore soul circles. In summer 61 (June / July), they had one guy jointly topping the bill twice in just a 2 week period ... a young singer who titled himself John F Kennedy ... (see attached ads). On his first booking there, it states DIRECT FROM DETROIT, but he wasn't a Detroit based singer (perhaps he'd just returned from a booking there) ... On his 2nd appearance on the beach he's called the YOUNG PRESIDENT OF R & B ... so he's a young guy and seems to be riding on the back of President JFK's popularity with the black community (so guess his real name wasn't JOHN F KENNEDY but something not too distant from that). Now, in the mid 60's, two Baltimore groups came together to form Frankie & the Spindles, one of these being Frankie & the Spinners, led by Frankie Kennedy. Frankie had been born in 1948 and his full name was Franklin C Kennedy / F Kennedy -- not too far removed from John F KENNEDY. Anyone know if the guy performing solo on Carr's Beach in summer 61 was in fact, Frankie of the Spindles ? BTW, in September 71, the Chi-lites record label had no intention to immediately put the group's LP track "Have You Seen Her" out on 45. Frankie & the Spindles quickly recorded a version of the song, Lucky 'A' released it as a single and it instantly started to get lots of radio plays (especially in Balto / DC / Norfolk / Philly areas). Seeing the reaction the 45 was getting, Brunswick relented & the Chi-Lites version was issued on Brunswick in mid October 71.

2 or 3 decent books on black radio & it's decline too.

Record companies always knew the power that radio stns had on their sales market ... so lots would 'butter them up' by giving promo / plugging jobs to radio DJ's or by sending their acts to play free live gigs on radio DJ promoted events. Baltimore was always considered an influential market in black music circles -- some 45's were even test released just in Baltimore initially (if the 45 didn't take off there, then it wouldn't get a national release). The 'Music That's Made It' WSID ad shows the changes by around 1973 -- in the 60's, many black stns were driving the market forward; spinning new unknown tracks & breaking them to record buyers -- by the mid 70's, they were almost exclusively following trends and just concentrating on spinning the hits.

Bunny Jones led a fascinating life ....

An extra bit of info, connected to my last post ... The Foundations manager ran his own record label (TREND) -- after first running his own chain of record shops. The Foundations live act was always filled with cover versions of obscure soul tracks. They said it was coz they had a large record collection -- really it was their manager (who's chain of shops imported US 45's to sell) who had the large stock of soul records. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TZABCzz7ac

Some gud stuff in there too ...

Nina Simone in action in Harlem in 69 ... don't know if Doris Willingham was still singing backing for her. Summer Of Soul | A Questlove Jawn | Trailer | Hulu - YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFpPsW4ZKoE

It seems strange now but lots of UK pop groups had a soul song as their signature 'live show' tune ... Some are well known, others not so .... GENO WASHINGTON -- Michael ALAN BOWN SET -- Headline News JIMMY JAMES & VAGS -- Hi Diddley Dee Dum Dum & Ain't Love Good, Ain't Love Proud The MOVE -- Open The Door To Your Heart & Zing went the Strings Of My Heart AMEN CORNER -- Our Love Is (In The Pocket) & I Don't Want To Discuss It And Amen HOLLIES -- Stay & Just One Look THE ACTION -- I'll Keep Holding On & Baby You've Got It Zoot Money BRB -- Stubborn Kind Of Fellow & Please Stay The Artwoods -- I Take What I Want & I Feel Good (Benny Spellman song) Herbie Goins & The Night-Timers – No. 1 In Your Heart Ronnie Jones & BJ's -- You're Looking Good Chris Farlowe -- In The Midnight Hour ETC. ETC.

One week in London -- December 1965 ... when you could go to 100's of different nights over a 10 day period & see dozens of great live acts (most UK based though) ... Hedgehoppers Anonymous didn't qualify, but there were loads of good acts on at the silver Blades Ice Rink ... BACK THEN it was normal to board over say an ice rink or a swimming baths pool, to put on a dance (R&B night even).

Owned by Chess; run by THE GOOD GUYS ... E Rodney Jones was one of the good guys ... he had a few records credited to him; which no doubt he used (at various times) as his WVON show theme tune. His was the voice used (as that of a radio DJ) in the film MAHOGANY ...

Nina live @ Carnegie Hall ... YOU CAN SING A RAINBOW ... she had started out wanting to be a classical pianist & you can tell that from this track ... ww.youtube.com/watch?v=jf65e9YX50Q

Seems that Andy Stroud was quite an astute manager. As stated above, he hooked up with Nina in 1961 when her career was a bit in the doldrums. She'd had hits in 59/60 /61 but no 45 hits since then up to 1963. She'd cut a live album @ NY's Village Gate in 62 and this had captured her dynamic stage act. Nina was a very difficult person to deal with (when she was feeling out of sorts). She'd turn up late for gigs; sing what she wanted, not what her audience wanted; fall out with club owners (she was booked into the Village Gate on a regular basis from the end of the 50's to the end of the 60's -- but that didn't stop her claiming the club's owner treated her badly coz he was Jewish); she'd sell (or Andy would) the rights to her songs when she needed the money & then complain if future royalties didn't come her way from later sales. Anyway, Stroud decided to book Nina into Carnegie Hall in Manhattan (just about NY's most prestigious music venue). He needed help landing the gig as he was a black, unknown to the Hall's management team. But land the gig he did and the show went ahead. Seeing it as a 'career relaunch' Andy organised for the concert to be recorded. This took place & an album escaped on Colpix in 63 (containing 7 tracks). Eight more would escape on her 'Folksy Nina' album in 64 but there were still more 'unused tracks' from the concert. In all 18 songs she'd performed that night had been recorded & in 1990's, the master tapes from that recording were uncovered in a NY vault (the remaining unissued tracks also escaping in 2005). I guess Andy Stroud wouldn't just have put that one master tape in the vault, he'd have placed all the tapes he regarded as having 'value' in there. Whether that included the Getto Kitty tapes I have no idea. BUT IF IT DID, then they must still be around somewhere in New York.

Dave makes mention of Tony & Tyrone's close friendship with Carolyn & Aretha Franklin, but he didn't extend that to include the 3rd sister -- Erma. Erma had lost her Epic record deal in 63 & wouldn't sign with Shout (where she had big hits) till 67, so her career must have been at a bit of a low point in the mid 60's, albeit that she was still a singing sister of the future 'Queen Of Soul'. In 65, Aretha was still signed to Columbia and had a top 20 R&B hit with "One Step Away" (which was coupled with "I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face" on the 45). So Erma must have landed these booking partly coz Aretha was 'back in fashion' & on the charts. Seems Erma was also a friend to Tony & Tyrone as she took them on a tour down the US east coast with her in 1965 ... see attached Baltimore club ad from August 65 ...

In the early years, there was a Hammond organ (seemingly abandoned) in the backstage area. It was discussed that it should be acquired but those old things are very heavy, so it was not touched. No idea when it did go & who got it.

Seems someone's lost their ID from last year ...

Back to Nina Simone again ... and her old backing singer ... well Doris has a reissue out here ...