Roburt

A regular bunch of soulies from Peterboro & Lincoln used to travel up to attend the Mojo niters in the mid 60's … folk from Kidderminster were among the usual crowd at the Wheel in the mid to late 60's. I also know folk from Newark, Grantham, Derby, etc would gravitate to the clubs in Nottingham most weekends plus folk from Brum, Walsall, Northampton & the like were frequently @ the Nite Owl in Leicester … but other crowds must have travelled to the more mod / soul orientated cities on a weekend back then.

The topic on 60's London clubs proved popular, so (as there's a decent book just out on the 60's scene in the Midlands) I thought I'd start this one ... .. hopefully we'll get lots of input about clubs out of my sphere back then (in say Northampton, Peterboro, Harboro, Gloucester & the like) ... I'll open things up with info on (& an extract from) the book & a few old ads …

Don't think this place still exists …

Got some info back from Lou Ragland too …. I recorded Eddie Woods at Boddies recording studio. Eddie also sang as lead vocalist with Don Gregory and the MontClairs on gigs at the Music Box (club) In Cleveland. Wonder if that Boddies mastertape still exists … just maybe it was one of the unknown artist tapes that Numero got hold of (& released ?).

More Jerry O / Jerrio related bits … he seemed to live off his 'boogaloo' connection most of the time but broke from it in his White Whale & Wand days … @ the Howard Theatre in DC, they organised a special Boogaloo dance contest to coincide with his week long appearances in Nov 67 at the venue (guess he had to select the winning dancers).

As stated above, Melvin Dukes was Taurus and Eddie Woods was Leo. Their stage names were taken from each guy's astrological signs. An earlier 45 Eddie was on …

Got 2 bits of info back on them from Clevetown contacts …. Harvey Hall-Nickerson -- They were Eddie Woods & Melvin Dukes, older brother of Bobby Dukes . Usually backed by Harvey & The Phenomenals . Eddie Woods was a former singer with Don Gregory & the Montclairs . Alphonso Boyd -- The Imperial Wonders opened for them at Leo's Casino in Cleveland in 1967 or 1968. I didn't remember where they were from but they put on a hot show. We always made friends with the acts that we opened for in Cleveland, but we knew that Jules Berger was starting to find smaller acts to kick our a** when we began asking for more money. So my memory isn't deserting me, they were from Cleveland. I'll have to ask Lou Ragland what he recalls about them.

I have info on this pairing somewhere & even a gig ad for a show they did back in the day. I'm almost sure (grey cells dying fast) that they were from Cleveland and that the gig ad I have is for a show they did at a Cleveland club (it's not on this computer, so I'll have to search it out).

Lou Johnson on RSG … Season 3; Episode 1 -- 3rd September 65 ...

He even got to tour the UK back in September 1965 … as well as a number of gigs at the Flamingo he did other UK shows (including the allnite session @ the Twisted Wheel on 26th September -- in fact I believe he was the 1st US act to appear at the Whitworth St venue).

Seems that Lou Johnson passed away yesterday (his wife passed on the news to friends) … ANOTHER GREAT LOSS TO SOUL MUSIC … Tap to view this Soul Source News/Article in full

Live show … DC -- mid May 66 …

The show is still doing good biz in NY. Hope a UK start date is set soon (though I've seen it written that it will be the NY show cast that transfers to do a London run … so while it's doing well in NY there's little hope of it coming to London) ...

Colton Thomas has reported (via Facebook) that Cash McCall has passed. Born Morris Dollison Jr. on January 28, 1941 (in Missouri) Cash was best known for his big 1966 R&B hit "When You Wake Up" but to us soul fans, he's known for much more.

Al Levine also spent many years working in the record biz … Seems he had been part of New York based Ideal Distributors in the 50's but broke away from them to start up NEW DEAL RECORD SERVICES in the early 60's. From an original base in New York, that organisation expanded and set up bases in a number of cities. Seems Baltimore was one of the later bases they had (after New York; New Jersey; Florida; Hazelwood, Missouri & LA). They morphed into Interstate Rec Distributors in 65 but the larger outfit went bust in 1966 taking Rochelle Park, NJ based Garden State Rec Dist and Florida Rec Dist / Sunshine State Dist down with them.

This is the building on Guilford Ave (Balto) where New Deal Record Service Corp was based (#1601). After them, it was occupied for many years by Weant Press Incorporated (a printing outfit) and then sold off to a group of artisans / craftsman who make & sell their wares out of the place. It looks more than suitable as the base for a record distributor (loads of storage & office space). Bradley's Studios wasn't too far away (a bit further east & north of this location). Doesn't look like the building that housed the studio still exists.

Way before late 63 … it was already open for biz in June 63 but I can't put an actual date to the opening night for the club ……...

In Record Mirror.

"Jamaican Ska" was released (on Atlantic) in the US & UK as by the Ska Kings. It's the same group / version as above but at the time they were trying to break ska acts in the US and thought that group name would give the track more clout. The UK 45 & LP release just took the same name as the US one. The track was massive at 60's clubs like the Mojo in Sheffield (+ others across the UK). We did a certain dance to it but that was a dance picked up from UK based West Indians rather than the actual ska dance itself.

Don't recall UK dancers being aware of this dance in the 60's. But then there were numerous ones that passed us by, including the Mouse …

A plea from a R&B fan back in 1963 …

The Silhouettes were re-formed in 1980 when oldies doo-wop group shows were in vogue. They stayed together, earning decent money for live show appearances till 1993. The group's Earl Beal was with them throughout their 2nd incarnation.

There's a chance it was the same guy as he'd remained in the Silhouettes till 68 when that group fell apart. ALSO, although the doo-wop group were Philly based, he was originally from Donora, Pa -- a town located between Pittsburgh & Baltimore. From the Balto photo, Earl is obviously an oldish guy AND he looks a lot like the guy top left in this picture of the doo-wop group … RobbK will probably know a lot more than me about the Silhouettes.

Guess the group had local Baltimore management, who had arranged to cut their tracks locally & then had them placed with 'out of town' Okeh Records. Their tracks must have been licensed by Okeh a good few weeks before their 45 hit the shops. Their management obviously then got them to visit local 'black music' radio stns to help plug the 45. It's a pity that, when the 45 had been released in Nov 68, the group members didn't visit local radio stns till the end of Nov 68 … … as the local association of radio stn jocks was staging a big charity live show at a local top venue, the Embassy Rooms, on November 28th. If they'd made contact earlier, no doubt they could have been added to the local acts who'd been booked to appear on that show … BY THE WAY … Arthur Conley (who had been based in Baltimore in 64/65) had obviously retained his local links (& performed on this show) even though he'd headed off with Otis Redding in late summer 65. Otis had been masterminding Arthur's music career but after his death in Dec 67, Arthur seems to have renewed his links back in Baltimore.