L.S.U. Hey, Baby , Dr. Feelgood, Wilbur Walton, Marvelettes, Mel & Tim

We are still going through a learning curve regarding blogging, posting etc. so clicking on the link below may not take you to the L.S.U.'s rendition of the party classic. Looks like L.S.U. will be playing Georgia Tech in the Peach Bowl.


I am quite sure that I heard one of the bands (UGA's or Tech's) perform the classic during their slugfest which was a major disappointment for me but quite a banner day for some of my friends. I actually like Tech except when they play Georgia. After all, the great Dr. Feelgood & The Interns were a major attraction on North Avenue back in the day. Dr. Feelgood aka Piano Red recorded the original cut of "You Got The Right String Baby But The Wrong Yo Yo" although there are 1000's in BAMALAND who will tell you that Wilbur Walton Jr. originally recorded the song. Wilbur certainly did a great version which we are proud to have on the Hey Baby Days compilation series courtesy of Ripete Records.



http://tr.truveo.com/LSU-Hey-Baby-ESPN-College-Game-Day/id/3218081345


"Hey, Baby" courtesy of the L.S.U. band


Not sure how the L.S.U./Georgia Tech game will come out but it will be very difficult for the Tech band to match L.S.U.'s rendition of Hey, Baby.


We are getting some great emails and letters too. Thanks to May Ann Rogers and Woody Chastain for sending a note from Athens regarding the book. Nora and I were lucky to be invited to attend the Four Tops/Marvelettes concert recently in Athens. It's great to be around folks who love the music as much as we do. Only downer: The Marvelettes ( who were great) failed to perform my favorite Marvelette hit: "My Baby Must Be a Magician." Google it up on You Tube if you have never heard it. It's is a song that would be on the same list as "Backfield in Motion" and "Good Guys Only Win In The Movies" both by Mel & Tim.

more coming soon.

Billy Stewart at the Beach Club, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

December 1968 The Beach Club Myrtle Beach, South Carolina photos of Billy Stewart and band including Charles Stafford on guitar and Benny Deer on drums (Benny not visible in any of the photos)Benny Deer now resides in Tuscaloosa where he plays drums for an outstanding band called The Crowd Pleasers. Charles Stafford lives in Lexington, S.C. where he runs a talent agency, Atlantic Entertainment.



Throughout “The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music” we reference the great Billy Stewart. The Fat Boy owns a special place in Beach Music. Prior to the publication of the book, we had an opportunity to have a three way telephone conversation with two members of Billy Stewart’s band that was with Billy prior to Billy’s tragic death. Guitarist Charles Stafford and drummer Benny Deer provided great detail some of which is published in the book. Here follows a few additional excerpts from the interview that were not published because of space constraints




GREG: Charles, when did you hook up with Billy Stewart as his guitarist?

CHARLES: It was in July, 1968 and the Footnotes were finishing up a week at what we know as the Beach Club and I think we finished up on Sunday and Cecil Corbett called us in and he told us Billy Stewart was supposed to follow us, coming the night we were leaving, and he said that they had an accident in North Carolina. He said, “The band members have been killed or hurt, and Billy is going to come but he needs a back-up band. I know ya’ll know a lot of his stuff, do you think ya’ll could stay and back him up.” And of course, we jumped at the chance and said “Yes”, cause we did “Sitting In The Park”, “I Do Love You”, “Summertime” and “Fat Boy” so we stayed and arranged to be able to stay the entire week and that’s how we lined it up and how we first met them and how it ended up being the core of band. Benny was the drummer and Benny had been in the wreck. So Benny was there and a trumpeter and our band the Foot Notes. So much of Billy’s music would be keyed off his drummer, so it real easy to work with Benny because he had all the arrangements and so we backed him up that whole week and stayed. He was trying to get a band together and he would use some other pick up bands in other parts of the country and then at some point and time we backed him up in Columbia at one of these Woody (Windham Shows) with the Goodies Hop-A-Roonies, and that is when his road manager named Sims asked me to go on the road with him. I was graduating USC at the end of summer school, so I could not leave to go fulltime until then, but I would meet him at different jobs in the Southeast until I graduated, then I left for D.C.




GREG: Now what was the Woody Windham shows called?

CHARLES: It was called the Woodie with the Goodies Hop-a-roonie. He was the #1 DJ in Columbia and would bring in acts like the Platters and Billy Stewart.

GREG: How did you first hook up with Billy?

CHARLES: The Footnotes were backing Billy Stewart in Columbia and the manager said, “can you go on the road with us and be his guitar player and musical director until we can get the whole band together? ”

GREG: So you were the musical director, too?

CHARLES: Yeah, well it wasn’t too impressive but whenever we went to play dates in North and South Carolina we really wouldn’t have a band; we’d have a pick-up band and we had a few little charts but most of it we would just do head arrangements. So I’d get with the bands and we’d go to these places and I’d sit down in advance if I got there early enough and say here’s the songs we are going to do in these keys. Sometime it kind of succeeded and sometimes it was a struggle. That’s how we got started together.
,
GREG: I was trying to see if we could get Benny on?

CHARLES: He would have the lengthiest stories and I am glad we hooked up with Benny; he called me out of the blue that time. I don’t know when he started with Billy and of course he was with him until he died.

GREG: Yeah, I knew that. Hold on a second let’s see if we can grab him.


BENNY: Hello, hey what’s happening?

GREG: Hey Benny, I got Charles Stafford on the phone.

BENNY: Okay then

CHARLES: What’s happening man?

BENNY: I am just hanging in there.

CHARLES: Same here.

GREG: I want to talk to you guys about Billy Stewart so we can memorialize him in this book and Benny I want to start with you. I’ve gotten a lot of information from Charles on things but I want to go back when you first got with Billy and I wanted to stay in that 60’s period when he was putting out one hit after another through Chess. How did you hook up with him?

BENNY: I was playing with a group out of New York in Harrisburg, PA at a place called the Lawson Hotel. The night I met Billy and them, they came in and were looking for a drummer. The bass player and I had worked together previously. He was Billy’s best bass player named James Ragland.

GREG: Is James the one that was killed in the wreck?

BENNY: Yeah, he was the one that was killed; he was the one that was sitting next to me.
GREG: And the reason…you tell me something about you were lucky for some reason, you were in the right place.


BENNY: No, something just told me to get out the car. I kicked out the back window, James made sure I was alright, he said “Man you alright?” and I said, “Yeah” and I kicked out the back window and I was worried about -- --------- my front feet so I thought he was coming behind us, so when I immediately kicked out the back window I slipped down because there was dew on the ground and I slipped down an embankment and when I slipped down the car exploded and trapped them in the car.

GREG: How many people were killed?

BENNY: Three that time.

GREG: Were they all band members.

BENNY: There were all band members; there was the bass player (Ruffy), the guitar player and baritone player, boy named Penn out of Boston.

CHARLES: Who was the guitar player?

BENNY: Rufus Nance who is Calvin Hill’s uncle. Calvin Hill the football player.



BENNY: William Penn

GREG: So he was the baritone/saxophone player. That wiped out a big part of the band.

BENNY: Cuba, the trumpet player got burned really badly.

CHARLES: Who was that?

BENNY: That’s the one I had seen, he was on fire and I put him out.

CHARLES: And what was his name?

BENNY: His name was Ronrico Sanchez.

CHARLES: And they called him Cuba.

BENNY: Right, Cuba.

GREG: You put him out of fire and what did he play?

BENNY: He played trumpet.

GREG: So who was left? You and the trumpet player ?

BENNY: That’s all .

CHARLES: So you were the only one to get out of the car without any real serious injuries

BENNY: Right, but my side was kind of swollen and when they took me to the hospital in Richmond. They thought I had blood in my urine that I had punctured my kidneys but it wasn’t. After that you know they shut down the band and everything so I was lucky. We lost everything, all the equipment, clothes, everything and you know I was lucky too because some of the guys had weapons in the car, bullets were going off

GREG: What about the date? … This was about May/June 1968?

BENNY: The exact date was July 24, 1968.

CHARLES: It was that late in the summer?

BENNY: Yes, we had just left the Apollo Theater and then that Sunday we played in Newark and all the three of us in the rhythm section left something at this club so I got there shoes and things that were left. So we left and that happened on a Wednesday or Thursday but I know it was the 24th of July 1968 at 5:45 am in the morning.

CHARLES: Ya’ll were on your way to Myrtle Beach, SC.

BENNY: No, we had to go to NC. We had to do a show with Steve Wonder first before we came to Myrtle Beach. Steve Wonder had just had an accident too and was waiting on us to get there. He was doing a show for to raise money for Shaw University cause he was on the Board of Trustees.

GREG: How did ya’ll manage with the band that first night?

BENNY: I don’t know that’s when Charlie and them took over. (Charles Stafford & The Footnotes) I stayed behind to attend to all the funeral arrangements.

CHARLIE: Well, who played the Steve Wonder show?

BENNY Well, that didn’t materialize, I don’t think. Steve went on and did it by himself.

CHARLIE: Billy came down to the Beach Club the Sunday after the accident. We had played the previous week and Billy came down and another trumpet player that was not traveling with ya’ll showed up and I thought you had come in the first night but you did not come in?

BENNY: No, I came in after the funeral. I made the James Ragland and Rufus Nance’s funerals.

GREG: Where was everybody living? Where were all of you based in Washington?

BENNY: Yeah, Washington was the base but Rufus would commute from Baltimore, MD and when we had a long time off, Penn would go back to Boston.

GREG: Benny, were you on any of Billy’s recordings?

BENNY: Oh yes, my first thing was “Cross My Heart” when I came into the band.

GREG: Okay and this was Chess Studio?

BENNY: All of it was Chess and then we did “A Sweet Love” or something and then I did another tune I did one with Charlie and them in 69 – what’s the name of the song? A couple of songs we did with Earth, Wind, Fire producer, Charles Stepney. He was producing this and he fell in love with my playing. They wanted to keep me at Chess, Leonard Chess said we want to keep the drummer and Billy said no “I got to have him.”


GREG: Where you on the recording sessions of most of the big ones, like “I Do Love You and “Sitting in the Park”?

BENNY: Oh no, that was way before my time.

CHARLES: Yeah, that was before “Cross My Heart”

GREG: What did Billy do before…did he have a band early on?

BENNY: What Billy told me – how he got with Chess cause him and Marvin Gaye had a group. He taught Marvin Gaye how to sing.

GREG: That’s what I understand

BENNY: Him and Marvin started traveling with Bo Diddley. When Diddley did a recording at Chess and Billy went into a room and did his thing and they heard this cat, and they said “Wow” and forgot about Bo Diddley and that’s how Billy got found. Marvin left them and went with the Moon Glows cause they were singers and that’s how it was started.

Events from Hey Baby Days featuring Check Mates, Rockin' Gibraltars, Rubber Band, Gene & The Team Beats, Gentrys, Five Aces and Drifters

December 2, 2008 Hacienda Pinilla, Guantacaste, Costa Rica

This is the first international post for the Hey Baby Days blog from a slice of paradise on the Pacific Ocean. We have been going back through a mountain of material that we have received from many sources and beginning today, we will present some items straight from the Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music.

SnagFilms Film Widget

Marvin Taylor, Wilbur Walton, Jack Brinkley, King David & The Slaves

From: Marvin Taylor
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:16:41 -0500
To:
Subject: Hey Greg!

Hi Buddy

So glad to see the project is still growing and moving. In that vein, Bryan Cole and I just finished a project together - we finally produced one with ourselves as the artists! Remind me of you mailing address and I will send you a copy. You can check it out at www.myspace.com/coletaylorsongs;


Marvin Taylor

http://www.myspace.com/marvintaylorsongs;


Five Feathers Music
2935 Wendy Lane
Marietta, GA 30062
Tel. 678-560-0205
Toll Free 1-800-929-7026
Home of BAND IN THE POCKET
Excellent Backing Tracks for Practicing Musicians



Marvin,

Great to hear from you; are you and Java Monkey still playing? If so, we would love to post venues and dates. I really enjoyed seeing y'all those couple of times. The time with Francine Reed was special. I guess you have heard that your old band mate Wilbur Walton is performing and recording. The Hey Baby Days ride again

Regards,

Greg

Wilbur Walton, Buddy Buie, et. al.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YpVtW4cKvo




P.S. What about a joint concert? K Otics, Swingin’ Medallions, Wilbur Walton and the Strange Gang and the Rockin Gibraltars

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T


Greetings,

I found your information online while searching for a friend of mine
from Georgia named Jack Brinkley. Jack and I worked at several of the radio stations in southern Georgia. In the information online someone wrote in 2006 that "Jack still has a great voice" so I'm curious if anyone may know how to contact him.

Thanks

Jason,

Jason,

Last time I saw Jack was at a distance at Eddie Peede's memorial service. He, Randall Bramblett and other members of the famed King David and the Slaves band paid tribute to Eddie by singing "My Girl." (A favorite of Eddie’s) Randall sang lead but I did see Jack with his group "Second Chance" at the Jekyll Island Beach Music Festival and YES, he still has the great vocals. For a ride back to the past, check out Jack doing a promo for one of my productions back in the 60s at Vintage Sounds, scroll down the band page at www.heybabydays.com (battle of bands) Regarding getting in touch with Jack, I think he lives in either Odum or Screven, Georgia. If phone number is not in book email me back and I'll contact some people who may know.

Regards

Greg Haynes

http://www.heybabydays.com/sounds.htm


Next posting to have a bunch of vintage photos from The Heeey Baby Days!

The Fourmore of Atlanta, Red Hots, Tempests, Original Celestials, Cardinals (Augusta, Georgia) and Big ? Ben Atkins

The Fourmore of Atlanta

Greg,

Great to hear from you! My name is Mark Stone and I played saxophone in an Atlanta group called “The Fourmore of Atlanta". We were based out of Tucker, GA, and there were originally four in the group, sort of like a Beatles band, and then they added a sax to get the "soul" sound in, and that was our identity from then on out.

I have a few photos of the group, dressed in our specially designed outfits, made in Buckhead (same tailor that made Tommy Roe, Billy Joe Royal, and others) - very neat outfits (may still have these in storage). Our amplifiers were "rolled & pleated" black from the Vox Shop, same as Rollin Stones.

Would like to contribute to your effort. The book before left us out, but we were a factor then, winning the biggest battle of the bands competition in the Southeast at the time, the opening of the Atlanta Merchandise Mart. Got a recording contract with Mercury ...or at the time would be Bill Lowery studios, plus other things.

Backed up Chuck Berry, played several jobs at the old Atlanta Auditorium (now Georgia State), where they would feature several groups on stage, beginning in the afternoon on into the evening. We played on same shows with Paul Revere and the Raiders, James Gang, Mamas & Papas, Billy Joe Royal (several times), Joe South, Tommy Roe, Ian Whitcomb, Jan & Dean, and many others.

Anyway, I'll stop for now - let me know if you would like for me to send in the photos.

Our group was comprised of:
Stan Ruffin - lead singer, keyboard & guitar
Mickey Norris - lead guitar
Gary Anglin - rhythm guitar
Mark Stone - tenor saxophone
Eddie Johnson- drums

Thanks!

Mark Stone

Mark,

One of the reasons we started the blog was to accelerate the information about bands that were unintentionally left out. Please send us any vintage 60s photos that you have of the band so we can post. There were quite a few of the Beatles type bands that made a transition to the soul sound and vice versa. The timing is hard to keep up with because we have accounts of bands making transitions to other genres at about the same time. (Some to soul and others to harder rock) One of the tell tale signs was whether or not the band wore the same stage outfits in 1968 or 1969. The "soul music/R&B/Beach" oriented bands had a tendency to dress alike until their play list changed. We will add a post about The Fourmore of Atlanta." Also, we are seeking information about other Atlanta based bands of the mid 60s: e.g. The Sol-Jers, Wayne Lacadece and Kommotion and others. If you have any information about them or know someone who does, pass the inquiry along.

Regards,

Greg Haynes


Red Hots, Tempests, Original Celestials, Cardinals (Augusta, Georgia)


Greg

You left out the 1961 Red Hots , The Tempests, and The Original Celestials. My name is Bobby Byrd and I was the bass player and singer for those groups

Bobby:

We know we missed some great bands; there were so many but we hope to continue to collect the information and photos so we can expose them on the blog and if we have a Second Volume, we want to have them included. I think we had photos of the Tempests, the Celestials and the Red Hots in the Augusta section. These may have been later editions of the bands. We put a lot of Augusta bands in the book but know it was a hotbed for music.

Regards,

Greg Haynes

Yes, unfortunately you did not have any pics of me and the original Celestials, Red Hots Tempests But it is ok I was a bass player and I also had the Cardinals with Billy Walker before he went to the Prophets I taught Tommy Witcher the bass.

Bobby

Do you have any old photos of the bands that we can publish on the blog and any subsequent book printings? We were very proud of all the information we got from Augusta but knew there was much more. Would love to present more detail if you have the time or inclination.Regards, Greg Haynes


Big? Ben Atkins (may not be the size he once was but still has the “Big” Sound)

Greg,

I don't know yet how to get on the blog, but did go to the site & read some of the postings. Someone was asking about Big Ben Atkins and I just wanted to say he is still playing with a large horn section, Hammond B3 organ and some girl singers. Still out of Columbus, MS as I understand. Ben is not BIG anymore. Don't know how he lost it, but is now at a very respectable weight. Did not affect his sound though, he still rocks like the old times. He has played at my wife's Mardi Gras krewe ball the last two years and I wouldn't be surprised if he did not play this year. Loved the book and look forward to figuring out the blog because this is great information.

Rick Stephens
Tuscaloosa, AL

Rick

Thanks; we'll update blog and let people know. Appreciate your response.

Regards, Greg

Double Shot, Cyril Vetter, Deacon John, Jump Blues of New Orleans

Hi Greg:


You haven't heard much from me lately since I've been rocking back and forth in the dark closet what w/ the market meltdown and the Tiger meltdown occurring simultaneously! I did want to say that I checked out your blog and it's pretty cool. Also, I'm going to send you the link to a widget, which will allow you (or your readers!) to check out the Deacon John documentary. So if you get an email from clearspring, don't delete it...click on the link and check out "Going Back To New Orleans, The Deacon John Film." I hope all's well w/ you.

Stay well and stay in touch,

Cyril




Cyril,

Great to hear from you... interestingly I was in Athens last night to see the Four Tops and at dinner prior to the concert, someone, not me (believe it or not) brought up "Double Shot." said a friend of theirs from Athens wrote the song and got royalties every time it was played. Don't want to use the name but It wasn't Don Smith or Cyril Vetter. I quickly set the record straight and before the night was over, I had a copy of the book in the hands of all six couples. I told them that they could learn more about the most productive twenty minutes of Cyril Vetter's life in the book. I was not sure what type of royalty he was receiving but I told them that it wasn't for writing the song. However, I still have a few convinced that the Medallions cut their hit version of yours and Don’s song at the Phi Delt house at UGA. UPDATE: Cyril Vetter e-mailed to confirm that there is in fact a gentleman from Athens, Georgia who receives a portion of the publishing royalties for "Double Shot" (of My Baby's Love) which is certainly fitting given the song's history in the classic city. The Swingin' Medallions played the song constantly at fraternities long before they committed their party fried version to vinyl. The record get sets even straighter.

Agree, it's been meltdown city, market, Tigers and to some, the Dawgs. As big of a Dawg fan as I am, I think that 9-2 in the S.E.C. is very respectable. Expectations for Georgia were so high that anything less than the National title was a letdown.

I am very excited about putting the Deacon John widget on the site. A friend of Nora’s and mine from high school and college lives in New Orleans not far from your friend, J.C. She says that she has met Deacon and said he is such a nice person. She even knows Clarence "Frogman" Henry. I never knew she was as much into the music but I urged to get his the Deacon John Jump Blues DVD.

Finally, at Nora's family reunion at St. Simons in July, one of her first cousins who is from Metairie was in charge of the entertainment and it was ALL the music of New Orleans and she had the Deacon John DVD. I have to get the DVD. My son, Gregory was awarded my Deacon John CD.

Going to reprint the email in the blog. Hopefully we will have a lot of folks that will check out Deacon John. We just recently started the blog and have had a lot of interest.

Regards,

Greg