Mike

Some background snippets on some classic recordings from The Honorable Milton Wright and a member of the Ambassadors As to be expected over time there has been a fair few threads in the forum regarding Milton Wright and his recordings. As Box regs may be aware, nowadays he's still out there involved in music but due to his daytime job nowadays he is better known now as the Honorable Milton Wright, Judge of the Boston Municipal Court in Roxbury Massachusetts. After reading recent discussion the Honorable Milton got in touch with this site and during the email exchange I asked if he could pass on any background information on his recordings. He was good enough to take the time to pass on the below... 'I recorded the vocal version with the Terra Shirma Strings. The instrumental version was released and the vocal versions were not released until later. I never received royalties for either tune. I wrote both tunes and sang on both. I left Michigan and recording and finished my law degree at Boston University. At any rate "The Rollin River Song" which was misnomered "Like A Rolling Stone" and released as an instrumental was always recorded with a vocal track. The players loved it. I loved it. Ollie didn't. Or so I was led to believe. Anyway, those tunes belong to me. I'm not out to hurt anyone now. But I would like to begin now to be appropriately compensated. I am happy that so many people enjoyed my music. It is a gift from God that I cherish. Luckily I am still full of music and have pursued several new avenues including writing a musical ( script and music) and acting. Thank you for your interest.' As says he's still involved in various music related productions and can view a recent video of how he manages to involve singing with his daily courtroom routine via the Faith and Values Website Another artist who also recently got in touch with the site after reading a recent thread ( this time directly by joining and posting in the forum ) was the sax player from the Ambassadors of Too Much Of A Good Thing fame. He posted the below in the thread and as stated does deserves more exposure so its reposted below "Came upon this little discussion and thought I’d clear a couple of things up. I’m the sax man from the Ambassadors. That’s the Ambassadors from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The group started as the Seven Dwarves. In 1964, they added two horns–a trumpet and a sax, very unusual for the time–and became the Ambassadors. Our first gig was at the Silver Springs Fire Hall, near Lancaster. In 1965, we cut our first record, Too Young for Me (flip side: Pork Chops, an instrumental) on the Fleet label. We cut a second disk, I Want a Love (flip side: Those Things Called Girls), which was never marketed. Only one copy of that record exists: a metal and acetate dub. Our third record was Too Much of a Good Thing, on the Pee Vee label (flip side: Whole Lotta Soul). The group had several drummers and bass players over the years, and we lost one singer, who was no longer with the group at the time of Too Much. The Ambassadors continued playing through December 1966, then disbanded. In 1984, most of the original members reunited, with a couple of new guys, to play a reunion concert. It went so well that we kept going, playing with various personnel until 1992. We continued with the same music: the sweet soul sound of the sixties. Since 1992, we have reunited several times for one-time concerts, the most recent being in October, 2004. We played behind a number of acts in the ‘60’s, including Lee Andrew and the Hearts. But we never played behind the Trannells–also from Lancaster, by the way. They were their own band. Our only connection to them was that our bassist on Too Much once played with them. Our records are occasionally available on e-bay. A brand new copy of Too Much of a Good Thing–never played, still in original sleeve–recently brought $370. By the way, the Ambassadors from Philadelphia, referred to on this site as the Uptown/Atlantic/Arctic group, was a different group. 'Nuff said. It's great to see interest in our band after more than 40 years!...." There is a cd being released to coincide with a re-union at Yorkstown featuring original tracks (it seems) from Ambassadors and other local bands such as Del Chords, The Del Chords, The Tranells, El Dantes ,The Exciting Invictas ,The Crystalaires The Ambassadors Seven Dwarfs The Emperors The Chateaus The Magic Monorays The Thundering Sentries can view brief details and a few photos via link below link out of date Have to say always find such posts and emails as above great enjoyable reading and thanks go to both artists for passing on

Here's details of two events, that while am sure that there's a chance that they may not get all the lips licking as stand alone events, they may be of interest if you do get caught up in any spend time with your family moments over the upcoming bank holidays. The Tate in Liverpool is celebrating its 20th Birthday, as part of the celebrations they have a Northern Night lined up which includes the showing of the northern related film that won the highly regarded Becks annual contemporary arts award. Not to sure on the blurb below but does seems a lot of other things going on during the day. On Saturday 3 May from 19.00 - 23.00 Tate Liverpool will be hosting its very own Northern Soul night with a rich line-up of well-known Northern Soul DJs including Phil Saxe, Ste Hodge and other DJs from the Vertigo club night in Manchester. Long After Tonight, a mesmerising film by Beck's Futures award-winning Matt Stokes of a Northern Soul reunion, will be screened as revellers demonstrate their dancefloor prowess. Tickets for this event are free, but booking is essential. For more information on the birthday weekend activities visit http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool. The Story of the Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection 13 May - 19 October 2008 The V&A Museum has the The Story of the Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection' is at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London SW1, May 13 to October 19 The display will show the changing image of The Supremes from the early days when they were known as The Primettes to the glamorous Hollywood designs they wore at the height of their fame, and look at their continuing stylistic influence on performers such as BeyoncÃÆ’©. The display will include dresses worn by Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Florence Ballard for live performances, television appearances and on album covers. Original television footage, photographs and magazine spreads will examine The Supremes as the stars of Motown Records whose highly visible success story helped change racial perceptions during the time of the American Civil Rights movement. http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/supremes/index.html

News and details of a new weekender being held on the Essex Coast Sep 5-7th. Plus a look at Barbara Gaskins career (the voice of Ecstacy, Passion and Pain and Barbara and Brenda) Here's the details... A new WEEKENDER on the Essex Sunshine Coast SEPTEMBER 5-7 Join us for a great Weekend away at the Seawick Holiday Park, Beach Rd, St. Osyth nr. Clacton-on-Sea, Essex just off the A133 Sat nav; CO16 8SG Approx 1 hour London, 30 minutes; Colchester. 2 Great dance floors featuring the cream of Modern Soul, Tent Anthems and a touch of Soulful Garage and the very best in Northern Soul. DJs include; GARY DENNIS, ANDY DAVIES, TERRY JONES, SHAUN ROBBINS, MICK H, JAMES TROUBLE, TIM BROWN, NEIL JONES, DEREK MEAD, SOUL SAM, ANDY JACKSON, COLIN CURTIS, RALPH TEE, NIGE BROWN, KENNY BURRELL, ANTON LUDWIG, SEAN CHAPMAN, KEV ROBERTS plus more to be added. in 2 rooms plus the PUB FOR CHILL-OUT GROOVES. And not forgetting our star attractions; LIVE....BARBARA GASKINS (the voice of Ecstacy, Passion and Pain and BARBARA and Brenda) with full LIVE Band plus PAs from ANGELA LEWIS BROWN, GEROD HARRIS Plus more to be added. Call centre for tickets or book on line 0845 815 9797 SEPTEMBER 5-7. Stay the WHOLE WEEKEND from only £29! Our special LIVE Act from the USA Miss BARBARA GASKINS - Barbara and Brenda/Ecstasy, Passion and Pain The 70's produced some excellent groups and up there with the best of them was the relatively short-lived Roulette Records act Ecstasy, Passion & Pain. Althought they only released one album and a handful of singles for the label, their impact was to be felt well into future decades. Formed in 1973, in New York, it's seemingly fluid membership of between 5 and 8 persons was entirely dominated by Barbara (Gaskins) Roy. We'll come back to Ms. B. later, let's explore her colleagues first, all of whom were instrumentalists (as was Barbara with her jammin' big guitar) which allowed the group to perform as a self-contained unit. The other members included Althea "Cookie" Smith, rare for an unusual young lady in that she was the group's drummer, while the remainder of the percussion work on their recordings came from Carl Jordan, later replaced by Alan Tizer. Joseph Williams Junior provided musical support on bass and Jimmy Clark was co-guitarist (with Ms. B.) for their entire Roulette recordings. Then there was keyboardist Ronald Foster... Billy Gardner took over keyboard duties later from Foster. It should be noted that any contributions by the group members, other than Roy, to the actual recordings were nullified by the presence of Philly star muscians "M.F.S.B." who were given credit on the original releases. Barbara, as well as commanding her jammin' big guitar, was the group's lead vocalist, nominally supported on backgrounds by other group members but more 'properly' supported by those "Sweethearts Of Sigma Sound"- Barbara Ingram, Evette Benton and Carla Benson. She was also responsible for writing much of the group's material. Barbara, born in Kinson, North Carolina, began her career as one half of the duo Barbara & Brenda, Brenda (Gaskins) being her niece. Together they recorded three singles for the Heidi label, "Hurting Inside," "Special Kind Of Love" and "One More Chance" before coming under the guidance of Luther Dixon and moving to Musicor's subsidiary, Dynamo. Another trio of singles were released by Dynamo, "If I'm Hurt You'll Feel The Pain," "Never Love A Robin" and "Don't Wait Up For Me Mama." A further recording, "That's Enough" remained unreleased until it's appearance on a 1997 compilation "Kent's Magic Touch." With their lack of success Brenda decided to quit the business. Made of stronger stock, Barbara hung in there from her New York base and began playing guitar for Inez and Charlie Foxx ("Mockingbird") and on various recording sessions in New York waiting for another break. In 1973, Ecstasy, Passion & Pain was formed and shortly afterwards, through manager Phil Braxton, the group had a recording contract. Getting a deal with Roulette Records, Ecstasy, Passion & Pain recorded roughly 28 sides that included demos and finished masters. 10 cuts made it to their one and only album, several were single-only releases and 13 had to wait 25 years to be released! A stream of hits started with their first release "I Wouldn't Give You Up" from late 1973 which hit #-17 on the R&B charts. Next came "Good Things Don't Last Forever" #-14 R&B, #-93 pop. The follow-up "Ask Me," regarded as a classic, hit #-19 R&B and went to #-52 on the pop charts. A side note; the song was such an underground classic that Nigerian-born Canadian disco legend Carol (Uchenna Ikejiani) Jiani cut a version in 1982 that swept the club scene and landed her a worldwide hit. "One Beautiful Day" followed hitting #-14 R&B and #-48 pop. The next release 1975's "There's So Much Love All Around" was first an A-side single and then the b-side to two later releases proving Roulette's faith in the song and the group. Thanks to legendary mixologist Tom Moulton's handy work on "Touch & Go" it became their signature tune as well as an enduring classic. The highly sought-after 12" single is their only Roulette release to be cut on a 12" single. Two more releases in 1977 "Passion" and "Dance The Night Away" failed to match the success on "Touch & Go". By the end of 1977 just as disco was entering it's golden age E.P. & P. disbanded. During the years 1977 to 1981 Barbara continued with session work and formed her own successful label, Roy B. Records. As a label owner she had a string of hits with Pizzazz's "I Heard It Through The Grapevine," Soccer's "Dancin' Game," Melody Stewart's "Get Down, Get Down / Action Satisfaction" and culminating with a reunion of E.P. & P. for the 1981 club smash "If You Want Me". Another chart/recording hiatus ensued from 1981 to 1986. Her label had folded and E.P. & P. never really managed to stay together after the brief reunion. By 1986 Barbara had surfaced on RCA Records with the release of "Gotta See You Tonight" followed by another 12" single "Gonna Put Up A Fight" in 1987. However their was no album forthcoming. As of 1989 she was still signed to RCA when she recorded her part for the studio group, Togetherness, assembled to support Paul Simpson on the song "We Are The Ones" from his Simp-House / Cooltempo album, "One". The Togetherness group consisted of Barbara "Ecstasy, Passion & Pain" Roy, Will Downing, Rochelle Fleming, Loleatta Holloway, Toney Lee, Ray Simpson, and Fonda Rae. An incredible line-up to say the least! Sadly Barbara's career seems to be on-hold after this point. Thanks to sampling she can be heard on the 1990's hits: "Son Of A Gun" by JX and "Just Wanna Touch Me" by Fidelfatti, and by virtue of re-release the entire E.P. & P. catalogue can be heard on the U.K. Westside c.d. "Good Things (The Roulette Recordings 1973-1977)" For more details http://www.goldsoul.co.uk

The overall effect during the '60s led to a full-color, Mod L.A. soul scene that produced incredible, unique sounding records A great read and some tip top photos as well Been up for almost a year old but thought its still worthy of a pass on. Its a sort of travelogue both through time and the Crenshaw District area of LA . While not as famous or well known as other similar city areas, there was certainly a lot going on there during those now far off decades as this great piece shows. Photos, flyers and more... Clip from the site As black musicians became more common in Hollywood, the avant-garde and psychedelic music scene in turn gravitated to spaces in this district surrounding Crenshaw Boulevard. The overall effect during the '60s led to a full-color, Mod L.A. soul scene that produced incredible, unique sounding records. This travelogue is not meant to be definitive documentation of all the artists who broke from here during that time, but will give you a good idea of the kind of action that was going on.... Get over to the Dumb Angel Blog for the full wack http://dumbangelmag.blogspot.com/2007/07/south-central-los-angeles-r-venues-of.html Once over there rest of blog is worth a look over as well

Was a bit of chaos over the last couple of weeks on here regarding refosoul and the site search. Changes in the background meant that had to rewrite from scratch some of the custom parts of site. This did take a lot longer than first thought and as it was a 'live' upgrade some of the features went walk about for a while Hopefully the back is broken now and though a few minor things still need sorting, the main features are all now back up and fighting. The search engine is now fully open to members and as before offers fast full site wide searches It searches the full soul source site content (over 700,000+ items) in less than a second Refosoul is back at almost full strength, the upgrades and such should mean its faster and more solid than previous. The main parts such as player and uploading are solid and now in a postion where approaching full final version at long last ( a few misc bits such as the improved playlist feature outstanding) The upgrades and such also have a effect on all other site features and should mean that site is in a lot better state both performance and feature wise than at any previous time. Thanks to all members who assisted with testing, feedback and such Cheers, best foot and all that mike