Roburt

There are quite a good number of great tracks that were made available by numerous labels on those 'LITTLE LP's' back in the 60's and early 70's ...

If Diana hadn't had such an influence on Berry G, who knows what great leads Mary & Florence could have delivered for the group ... certainly we would have gotten a few more meaty outings from them .. R.I.P. Mary ...

My son worked in New York & lived in Hoboken (across the river) for a few years either side of 2000 .... When visiting him, I'd always wonder into the Brill Building & 1650 Broadway but the door keepers were always quick to let you know you weren't welcome. Also used to drop in @ Colony Music Centre too, managed to pick up some decent (old) sheet music bits there.

That's my head bobbing about right in front of Bettye on the video above (Eddie Hubbard is behind me).

We used to (sometimes) shoot down to London early on a Sunday morning in the mid 60's. We'd head straight to the early morning street market on Petticoat Lane. This was just around the corner from the New All Star Club. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL_NTDK_40o

Some more London venues that were hosting US soul acts back in 1968 ...

I agree, Richard came over really well on Johnny's show. No one should be shocked that Johnny seemed so interested in the subject though as he was one of the top pirate radio DJ's who played all the new soul sounds back in the mid 60's. He also used to hang out in Soul City Record Shop to get to hear the latest import soul sounds

And info on the actual events that inspired the movie (though the info that opens the clip contains errors of fact) ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYyFR1GbDN4

Another show worth watching later this week ... ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI ...

Jesse J Lewis is a very interesting character & I believe he's still around. His on-line bio's mention very little about his record biz exploits though they do mention his long time business & entrepreneurial activities .... https://alafricanamerican.com/2013-honorees/jesse-lewis-sr/ Jesse Lewis Sr. is currently leading a charitable organisation helping those effected by Covid 19 in Birmingham, Al. -- the CAP 19 Initiative..... he's contactable via ... The Jesse J. Lewis, Jr. Foundation, 119 3rd Avenue West, Birmingham, Alabama 35204, US --- e-mail: admin@alcap19.com AND PROBABLY ALSO VIA ... info@birminghamtimes.com He's listed as co-writing some songs with the likes of Sam Dees (Just Out Of Reach, Let Me Be Your Full Time Groover, Mother of Shame, etc.). He's also credited with producing stuff for Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson, Rozetta Johnson, Bill Brandon & Lorraine Johnson . From 1963, he owned & ran the Birmingham Times, a weekly black-oriented newspaper. I'd guess if there is any detailed article on Jean Battle, it would have appeared in his own newspaper back around summer 67.

Ady, the review of JB's UK 45 was in B&S 87 (end June 72). The 45 had actually been released a few weeks earlier (not sure of the time to print for B&S back then but it must have been 2 to 3 weeks). So I guess any article on Jean B would have appeared in a B&S between # 87 & 90. The Sir Shambling page on Jean B tells very little about her personal info. If there had been a B&S article on her, I'd have expected John (or one of his site's readers) to have made mention of this fact. Billboard mag only has a couple of mentions of her. Both just recommendations for "Unsatisfied Woman" (8th May / 19th June 71).

Ike & the group appearing @ the Music Box in Cleveland back in the day ...

Lou didn't get his own film finished, but he does feature in this one about Cleveland soul artists (film out next year) ... https://www.soulcitycleveland.com/

Lou spent what would prove to be the last few weeks of his life trying to put his 'musical affairs' in order. Over the last few years, as well as working with the young in a neighbourhood recording studio, Lou also did lots of filming. He had the use of lots of video camera equipment and would film himself & others on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I believe time caught up with him. Although he had much of the footage he needed to form his intended documentary, I don't think he found the time to piece it together into anything like the finished product he desired.

Charles 'Chuck' Brucato was the leader & song writer for Motown (Rare Earth) group RUSTIX. He has 29 different songs credited to him @ BMI. The group had 2 x LP + 5 x 45's released but they never enjoyed a UK release of any kind. "TIME" isn't a song that's credited it him by BMI but as his group had no UK releases, I can't think that someone at EMI UK would have used his name on the UK 45 promo by mistake as they had his name in mind from a different song / record. https://briefandtothepoint.blogspot.com/2010/01/rustix-great-band.html https://badcatrecords.com/BadCat/RUSTIX.htm SEE HERE ALSO ...

Pity Kegsy won't be contributing to this thread; I know how much he loved his 'taylor-mades' ...

Lou @ the 100 Club, in London & @ Dingwalls back on that UK tour ...

Lou Ragland hadn't been feeling too good recently and was in a lot of pain. So on Monday, he went for a check-up. After some hours in hospital and lots of tests, he was told he has incurable cancer. Even though he was advised to go into hospice, Lou is facing the news bravely & has decided to go on with his everyday life as much as is still possible. He says, as long as he can get pain relief drugs, he'll be fine. REASON FOR MY POST ... Lou visited the UK three times; on the Ric Tic Review, on a UK tour in 1990 and to perform at the Prestatyn Weekender. He really loved each visit & all the UK fans he got to meet. He told me that the first fans to really accept him as a singer in his own right were the Brits (in the US he was mainly valued for his guitar playing, his studio skills, etc.). IT WOULD BE GREAT to get a few messages from folk that got to meet him or for who a track of his has a special meaning. I will then collate them all & forward them all onto Lou. I'm sure reading such stuff will lift his spirits in this trying time. Lou; how he looked yesterday & an inset picture from a bit ago ...

As well as the Royal Theatre, Balto had another couple of similar venues that would at times stage live shows. All had gone (as live venues by 67 though) ... The city was also a strong outlet for juke box product (in it's bars & cafes), which led to it also becoming a centre for the pushing of 'Little LP's -- 4 track 7" records). In addition to the venues in the city itself, in the summer months local tourist areas would also stage live soul shows. Sparrows Beach was one such location but the main one was Carr's Beach (South east of Baltimore, east of DC) ...

DC & Baltimore almost acted like one destination. Acts from each city would play gigs & even record in both. Baltimore was classed as more of a 'breakout' location than DC was but even record company packages that ventured down that way on promotional visits would go to both ... in AUGUST 1966 for instance, Capitol Records sent some acts down there ...

I really have little idea who they were. They were definitely DC based (not Baltimore) and I would GUESS that as they had such a high profile back in 69 they probably got to record but their tracks were either never released or they were put out under another group name.

BTW, the O'Jays and the Fashions were both George Kerr acts (in the studio) back at that time. They hadn't actually met before doing the Baltimore show though (the O'Jays had cut their studio session with George back in late summer 67 whereas the 4 sisters who made up the Fashions hadn't made it into the NY studio with George until around March 68) ... The O'jays 1st two Bell 45's had sold well (both being decent R&B chart hits) but they had gone off the charts in earlt March 68. So when the above tour had ben set up (early May 68) they weren't 'hot' and so had to accept less than perfect terms & conditions to secure bookings. Their 3rd Bell 45 came out just before the tour started and was soon climbing the R&B charts. By the end of May, "The Choice" was getting lots of radio airtime &b so Lou was able to 'strong arm' the show venue's owners into treating the guys better than would otherwise have been the case. Neither of the Fashions 45 sold well enough to make any national chart and so life on the road must have been quite hard for them (probably why the group didn't last too long).

In June 1968 @ Baltimores Civic Centre a big soul revue show was staged (see ad) ... Lou Ragland had just gone on the road as bass player in the O'Jays backing band (he wasn't a bass player at that time but he needed the job & the O'Jays needed a guy to play bass immediately). Anyway, the package headed straight out of Cleveland to Boston for their 1st show. The O'Jays toured constantly back then (they'd just started their stint with Bell Records but hadn't had a recent top selling record so needed to tour to eat) & their old tour manager had grown weary of living life out of a suitcase so had decided to stay home in Ohio. When the group's entourage got to Boston they found no hotel had been arranged for them, the club owner wasn't willing to feed them & he even cheated them over their appearance fee. So the guys were stuck with little money, no accommodation and no easy way to reach their next destination. Drastic action was needed instantly. Lou had spent 6 months touring (white clubs) the previous year as part of Terry Knight's backing band and had learnt just what went on when 'on the road' and how to overcome any adversity. So Lou was appointed the packages new tour manager & set about sorting things out for the guys. Within days of this, the package arrived in Baltimore for their show st the Civic Centre. At that time Bobby Massey was still a top member of the group on tour & Lou got on really well with Bobby (they are still very close friends even today). So Lou sorted out all the logistics; food, accommodation, etc. and the rest of the guys headed off to set up & do a sound check at the venue. Later in the day, Lou himself went to the Civic Centre and got to witness part of the show that night. He can't really recall some of the acts on the show (& he actually doubts that Shorty Long turned up to do the show at all) but he does recall that the Dells were magnificent on the night. He remembers that the 5 Stairsteps put on a good show too. ALSO that the Magnificent Men were really great live, that he immediately booked them to do a gig at a Cleveland Theatre that he part owned at the time (the Liberty Theatre). He tells me that the black audience back in Cleveland were wowed by the Magnificent Men's performance too, and didn't care a jot that the entire group were white guys.

If anyone has a strong interest in what happened (soul wise) in Baltimore in the 1960's, then I can recommend my book on Kenny Hamber as a comprehensive starter. Kenny was born in the city, grew up there & started his career there. He only moved away (heading north) at the end of the 1960's. My book, to put his music career in context starts by detailing the background to black culture in the city. From the 1930's onwards Balt was always a jazz stronghold with many clubs featuring live acts nightly. When doo-wop came along, lots of the best early groups were from Baltimore. Strangely though, they seemed to mean more outside of the city (live show wise) as the local clubs stuck with jazz acts and largely ignored the doo-wop groups (who if they got to enjoy a hit 45 would end up back there playing the Royal Theatre as part of an R&B review show). Kenny got into the biz in the early 60's and was always championed by local radio DJ's .. but he had to head out to land record contracts.

two radio charts from stns in the city ...