Roburt

When The Volumes (minus Eddie Union) wanted to use a different name, Peterson must have suggested his old group's name ... YOU'RE CORRECT Robb

TODAYS NEWS ........ DVLA Auction: 11-series plates caused a stir because of their usefulness in spelling out names: the highest price of the auction was for DH11 LON, which sold for £80,000 because it looks a bit like 'Dillon'. Since September 1989, when private plates first went on sale, the DVLA has amassed £1.7bn from our desire to hide the age of our cars, or display something dubiously linked to a name. Last year alone, the DVLA raised £16m over the course of six auctions.

Lou pointed me towards this youtube posting .......... It contains quite a few 'rare' photos of him (though they will all see the light of day next month).

My bio on the Volumes for their 2011 return to Prestatyn can be found here ... https://www.soul-weekenders.co.uk/artistMar11n.html There's also a photo of the 4 guys performing that I took back in 2009.

As it says in my article the members of the Magnetics who cut "The Train" in 1962 for Allrite were Bobby Peterson, Sharon Peterson, Tony Johnson (lead singer), Jackie Perkins and Candi Bell. The members of the Volumes / Magnetics who cut "Lady In Green" for Bonnie were Gerald Mathis (lead singer), Bobby Peterson, Elijah Davis, Ernest Newsome & William 'Pete' Crawford. Finally the members of the Volumes were came over to sing at Prestatyn in 2009 were Eddie Union (ex 1960's Volume), Elijah Davis (ex 1960's Volume & 'Bonnie 'Magnetic), William (Pete) Crawford (ex 1960's Volume & 'Bonnie' Magnetic) and Bobby Peterson (ex 1960's Volume & 'Allrite' + 'Bonnie' 'Magnetic). After his spell in the group, Tony Johnson (ex Allrite Magnetic) teamed with Tyrone Pickens as the duo Tony & Tyrone. Ex 1960's Volume members Ernest Newsome and Gerald Mathis passed away prior to 2009 when the group came to the UK. Another of the Volume's ex lead singers Jimmy Burger had by 2000 become a minister and was no longer prepared to go back to performing secular music. Thus the 4 guys that played Prestatyn in 2009 included the only 3 surviving members of the group that cut "Lady In Green". All the above facts are as told to me by Elijah Davis, William (Pete) Crawford, Bobby Peterson and Eddie Union (though Eddie had no knowledge at all of the groups Magnetics period as he wasn't involved with the other guys at all during those times).

Out in the car this morning, so tuned into Radio 2's 'Sound of the Sixties' show. Just after 1 hr 8mins into the show Brian Matthew gave brief bio details on Lou Ragland, played "I Travel Alone", had a bit more to say on Lou's career & then moved on. You can listen to the show here ..... https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b01bl4dw Can US based people listen in ? ... as I will let Lou know & get him to listen in if they can.

RE: TMG plates ...... Used to see a car with the plate All TMG (A11 TMG) on at the Cleggy Weekender years ago but can't say I've seen it there in recent years.

Tracks on a typical 'JAZZ FUNK' CD ......... Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions (Original 12" Mix) Ronnie Laws - Always There (Original 12" Mix) Gil Scott-Heron - The Bottle (Original Version) (Original 12" Mix) Donald Byrd - Change (Makes You Want To Hustle) (Original Full LP Version) Wilton Felder - Inherit The Wind (Original 12" Mix) Spyro Gyra - Shaker Song (Original 12" Mix) Azymuth - Jazz Carnival (Original 12" Mix) Johnny Hammond - Los Conquistadores Chocolates (Original Full LP Version) Eddie Henderson - Say You Will (Original 12" Mix) John Klemmer - Brasilia (Original Full LP Version) Harvey Mason - Till You Take My Love (Original 12" Mix) Dizzy Gillespie - Unicorn (Original 12" Mix)

Betty played quite a few club dates in Florida in the mid 60's (some around Miami) .. but then loads of non-local soul singers did dates in Miami, so I guess that wouldn't have been a great indicator that she was actually from Florida. Southern soul fans had been trying to track her down for years and it was one of them that eventually 'unearthed' her around 2004 and told her how many fans for her old recordings there still were around the world.

Boba, there was (in some instances) lots of x-over between tracks played on the 2 Step, Rare Groove & Modern Soul scenes (i.e. the same cut would be played on all 3 scenes). An instance of this was Lou Ragland's "Making Love". This was known instantly to MS guys as Lou already had a really high established profile with NS / MS fans. So this cut was played from a new release (on a 12" EP put out by Lou on his own Casino label). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbseqjMSJTk On the 2 Step scene (on which tracks were initially spread by DJ's doing fans cassettes/ CD-R's) it was known as "(Got a Girl) on the Otherside of Town". The cut is just about the perfect tempo for 2 Steppers. After the 2 Step scene had picked up on it, the track was 'booted' to meet the demand from 2 Step record buyers. Before too long it was also played on the Rare Groove scene & I believe it got a RG release on CD. The daft thing was that many 2 Steppers who knew the cut really well (& would always dance to it when out in clubs) had no idea who it was by or what it was called. The wife & I popped into the florists in the main area at Euston Station (a big London railway stn) & the track was playing. As the black girl running the shop made up our order, I commented that I loved the Lou Ragland track playing over the shop's PA system and she had no idea what I was talking about even though it was her tape that it was being played from.

I put .... A 45 FAN ... on my wife's car ....... she wasn't that impressed.

I wonder what became of these ladies who were tipped for big things on the Miami club scene in 1966. I guess they failed to hook up with any record label type guys, went home & settled down to family life.

Local singer Perk Badger progressed from gospel to cutting soul sides .........

Boba, Would that set of Vashionettes down from Chicago (see link in Post 7) have any connection to the "Mighty Good Lover" singers? (many times dancers in clubs would progress to being singers as they then got more gigs).

More good acts on locally .......... Jerry Williams had relocated to Miami by this time.

Two fine singing ladies perform in the 'Knight Beat' room at the Sir John Hotel (with Chuck Jackson, Marv Johnson & Jerry Butler to follow shortly afterwards) ........

James Brown (plus Nat Kendricks) back in Miami ... to cash in on the success of "Mashed Potatoes".

An earlier visitor (though not down from Detroit this time).

....... and still more .........

And yet another visitor from the Motor city.

Another act down from Detroit to play a Miami club .... with singers from New York & Chicago to follow.

Copy writers at newspapers had no idea (usually) who & what they were composing words / ads about. Because of this, spelling mistakes (& worse) were very common. This can make searching (on line) for info on someone more difficult & can fail to turn up all related items. Searching for "Spyder Turner" would have failed to unearth this ad.

DJ Butterball in the WMBM studio.

WMBM radio DJ King Coleman. He provided the vocals on the 45 "(Do the) Mashed Potatoes" by Nat Kendricks & the Swans.

The Steinways 2nd Oliver 45 on a local radio station chart in 1966.