Roburt

Its suprising just what you can find on-line (old newspaper wise) ........... I have found soul related stuff in on-line newspapers for loads of cities across the US (& even in Canada) ..... So have stuff from New York, Miami, DC, Baltimore, Dallas, Kansas, Toledo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Montreal, etc. I'm sure that there's lots more out there on the web still waiting to be 'found' .... .... An ad here from the famous 'Red Dog Inn' in Lawrence, Kansas ....

A show staged at the end of the 70's now ...........

A big Balt area outdoor show staged in 1967 ............

A weird show at a local shopping centre ............ ........... a circus & fair + live music presentation ....

............ plus some articles ..............

Been doing so for 5 years already Bob. Have 1000's of bits that I have 'extracted from the Afro-Am including loads of show ads ...............

..... RE: King Davis Houserockers featuring Richard Thomas (AKA Rick Thompson) -- "We all make mistakes sometimes" The Rick (Richard) Thompson credited version of "We All Make Mistakes" on Columbia ....... Produced by King Davis Productions & released around June / July 69. The KDHr's Verve 45 escaping around March / April 67.

............ RE: King Davis Houserockers "We all make mistakes sometimes" Bill Risbrook was a member of the King Davis Houserockers (the group were actually managed by King Davis & I believe Richard Thomas / Richard Thompson was their lead singer). The group (along with a similar group that Billy Nichols was in at the time) played as 'covers bands' on the local New York club circuit -- the two groups even playing on the same bill one night at a local show. As the KDHr's the group enjoyed a 2nd 45 release in 1972. Billy Nichol had written a song that he had cut himself around 1972/73 but he couldn't get a deal for it's release. So when his friend Louie Risbrook asked if Billy had a song that the KDHr could cut he suggested "Do It (Till You're Satisfied)". The membership of the KDHr's had evolved from their days on Verve, three of the group's musicians (guitarist Richard Thompson plus sax player's Bill Risbrook and Carlos Ward) had formed Madison Street Express along with bassist Louis Risbrook (AKA Jamal Rasool). After percussionist Dennis Rowe, drummer Terrell Wood, and vocalist Barbara Joyce Lomas joined them they cut "Do It" and for the release of their new 45 took the group name Brooklyn Trucking Express (their new name almost instantly being shortened to just B.T. Express.) ............ the rest is history (the 45 becoming a massive hit in August 74).

So it seems that Oma was 'substituting' for Mary Wells around 1964 and not Tammi T later in the 60's. Other 'ladies' did get to substitute for Tammi, though some (Valerie Simpson) now claim that they didn't (mainly in respect of Tammi's memory). Seems Motown always wanted to team Marvin with a female on duets; getting him to sing on tracks with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, TT & Diana Ross. When one of those singers wasn't 'available' (due to disputes with the company, illness, etc.) others stepped up at least to provide 'marker vocal' tracks.

Dave, from your recent discussions with Oliver did you find out what he's currently up to ?? Still running that French night club ? Still have plans to record new stuff ?

Dave, was this 45 made under a 'limited press' agreement whereby you can't press up more copies ?? ... or would it be uneconomic to press up more copies not knowing how many of them would 'fly out the door' ?? It has to be just about your fastest selling release whatever the case !! Seems those folk that don't immediately chase up a copy from one of the existing stockists are gonna be out of luck.

Towards the end of Tammi Terrell's life, she wasn't well enough to get to the studio. Sessions were set up for MG & TT tracks to be cut & so Oma stepped in (as did Val Simpson) to do 'leader vocals' in place of Tammi. Obviously Tammi had some better days than others and it was always hoped that she would be able to get into the studio on a 'good day' and add her vocals to lots of those tracks. Sadly, she didn't really get the chance & so lots of proposed MG & TT tracks existed just with 'female marker' vocals on them. Some of these escaped at the time, credited as MG & TT efforts, many others only escaped years later without any credit going to the 'absent' TT. Of course, Marvin also had his good (co-operative) & bad days; so some of those tracks may just have been laid down (with any suitable female singer who was in the studio) when Marvin was there and happy to be cutting stuff.

Do you mean this type of place Roger ??? ....

When there wasn't all these shops to buy them from ............. ... (a partial list of US shops in 1960 that sent in returns to help Billboard compile their charts) ....

Born in San Fernando, Trinidad. He's the father of Gary Des'Etages who cut great soul tracks for Fish's First Experience Records about 10 years back. Gary played Prestatyn Weekender in the early days (2004). Plus I seem to recall that he provided backing vocals for one of the big US modern acts who played the weekender -- Ann Nesby ?).

The Esquires wanted folks to 'Get On Up' to the Night Beat at the Sir John Hotel in December 67 ....

This thread has gone the way of all previous OVO threads .... Those that think only OVO nights are 'real soul' night's & so loose their rag at any opposing view ... & those who just wanna enjoy a nite out & don't GaF what type of format is played as long as they hear good sounds & have a good time. The OVO's think they have the Soul Poice on their side; nobody else cares if they do or not. I'm told that God says only play original vinyl; but I've never believed in religion so know he don't exist.

Its a great sunny day here today, so here's the Spinners with a sunny (70's sounding) track ............ "Put The Romance Back" ..........

An extract from the book on Mary Wells ..............

Another good xmas buy book ............... https://www.amazon.co...50463606&sr=1-1

There's a lot of 'selective memories' on here ... and thats the folk who were actually around on the scene back in the mid to late 60's ...... Soul was the in music back then, so around 50% of those that went to soul clubs were only there coz it was the place to be (they soon moved on when soul wasn't the flavour of the day). Of the rest; I'd say 40% didn't collect vinyl at all, so they had no idea what label a 45 had been issued on & whether it was OV or not (BTW, OV was a term I NEVER heard used once in the 60's). Don't forget, back then, you went to a soul club to pull birds .... around 50% of those who attended were female and hardly any of the ladies had the slightest interest in the actual records (aside from wanting to dance to them). So that leaves about 10% at most who even cared about the records themselves or what label's particular tracks were on. So, yes, like any guy who actually wanted the records for themselves back then; I spent many hours in record shops, 2nd hand shops, sending for set-sale & auction lists & ordering records that I found on those. I bought from Soul City Record Shop (visiting at times or by mail order) & even sent off to Randy's Record Shop in Gallatin Tennessee and bought stuff from them (their small catalogues were a great source of info on non UK released 45's by artists of interest to me). ... AS FOR .... named DJ's back then ... apart from Jimmy Saville, Johnny Walker, Emperor Rosko & the like, I didn't know of any (unless Owlin Robin from the Nite Owl counts and I'm sure he doesn't). You could hear all the soul tracks on pirate radio & most people just taped the ones they liked off the radio. I attended allniters in the north & midlands every week from early 67 right through to 69 and I never knew any DJ's names (wasn't interested in who they were as long as they told me what the last record was when I was interested). I knew of Pete Stringfellow, DJ at the Mojo, but only because he owned the club, booked the acts, DJ'ed, chatted with me on a regular basis and chased all the best looking girls in the club ... so he don't count as just a big name DJ. I knew of Owlin Robin from the Nite Owl but only coz I attended the niters there for 6 months and his name was on the club's ad every week. I attended the Wheel every week from the 14th October 67 (Jnr Walker live) thru to summer 68 (they didn't book good US acts in the summer months as everyone went off to Yarmouth or Newquay instead of going to Mancaster). In all that time, I had no idea at all who Roger Eagle was (though I must have asked him at least twice every Sat night what the last record had been). So no 'big name DJs' spinning at niters back then. ........... now to the 45's ................ OV was unheard of .... we were so desperate to get the big sounds, we would have had them on EMI's or boots if they had been available ... so for a big track like Gene Chandler's "Nothing Can Stop Me" we were quite happy to have it (& DJ with it) on a US Constellation 45 (from 1965) but there were none around in quantity. We'd have had it (& played it) off the US Brunswick LP ('The Girl Don't Care' -- 1968), on the Stateside 45 demo or issue that was known (1965 release but hard as hell to find back then) or on a Soul City 45 (a summer 68 release that made the UK pop charts). If I had been DJing back then (which I did on occasions) & had played my G.Ch. on Soul City and someone had come up to me & said .. "That's not OV, you can't play that" ... I'd have thought he was a nutter even though anyone could have walked into any high street record shop and purchased a copy of the Soul City 45. We bought copies of Bunny Sigler's "Let The Good Times Roll" on French EMI coz you could get them from high street record shops and that was a lot easier than spending hours in 2nd hand shops looking for an original UK or US version. When we got the French 45, we DJ'ed with it no problem. So attitudes back then were very different from today's OVO malarky, people were allowed to go out to a soul club just to have a good time and dancers just danced but didn't think twice about whether they were allowed to get stuck in just coz a track wasn't being played off OV.

............. the uk soul scene is slowly watered down by the just want to have fun ......... Kinell, you mean people are attending soul nites just coz they enjoy having a good time with their mates ......... .... the Soul Poice will have to put a stop to that or we don't know what it could lead to !!!

Re-issues were starting to make an appearance back then (from 68 onwards). As soon as the Soul City label had kicked off & they had a hit with the Gene chandler 45, most labels started putting out reissues -- Motown, Stateside, Atlantic, London, President and more. Soul City record shop (which we bought from by mail order) started out in 66 and DG started the record label in 68 No one then turned up their noses at a Soul City 45 being played (it didn't even occur to us that having the 'original' UK or US issue was much better than having the Soul City version). Getting US 45's was very difficult but you had to go that way if the UK 45 had been deleted and the track was in big demand, but the routes / systems by which you got US 45's were far from straightforward, I seem to recall EMI importing French copies of Bunny Sigler to sell thru main street record shops to meet the demand here as we didn't have the means to source such 45's ourselves. PLUS ... don't forget that many back then liked soul purely coz it was the 'in music' at that time. They attended clubs like the Mojo / Wheel coz they were the places to be 'seen'. By 1970, many had moved onto UK blues / rock groups (the likes of Jimi Hendrix coming over here & hitting big sparked a big change in the scene) and lots were starting to refer to 'our music' as Tamla-Toytown and were slagging it off all the time.

Back then many on the scene weren't into records at all (though I always collected). What mattered then was what clothes you wore, did you do the latest dance, did you have a scooter, did you go to the right clubs & attend live shows that featured the 'right acts'. The most important factor in the decision to travel to a niter in the early days was who was on live. In most towns, you couldn't get to see a US based act but had to make do with the local soul covers groups -- it was even hard to get to see the likes of Jimmy James, Geno, Alan Bown, Zoot Money, Herbie Goins, Sonny Childe, etc in a town venue as they were so in demand (across the UK & Europe) that they could pick & chose the gigs they took. To see Ike & Tina, Ben E King, Edwin, Jnr Walker, Alvin Cash, Billy Stewart, Oscar Toney, etc you had to travel to a big city & attend a club venue there. The allniter's simply made it easier to do this, travelling over there on a late train / bus and then back home on the 1st train / bus the next day. Of course, an 'allniter in-crowd' soon built up in each town & these were the guys that most on the scene back then 'looked-up to'. So, many (most) didn't collect records and were more than happy having all their sounds on tape / cassette (the 60's equiv of CD's / mp3's).

Another cheap internet scan I'm afraid (away from home again, so don't have access to my own stuff) ... Gilda Woods with her Jilmor Production's mate Cathy Morrell flank RCA's Winston 'Buzz' Willis in Las Vegas. Seems the ladies must have liked dressing up as 'young dollybirds'. Buzz Willis had started out in the Solitaires before heading off to college (in Cleveland) and then doing promo work for MGM / Verve. After that he landed a job with RCA, soon becoming the label's youngest Vice President. He went onto create the first Black Music Division for the company.