Who was in the band ? When & Where is their next gig?

Upcoming appearances of members of the Never Gonna Give It Up Club: ( We'll be adding others as soon as possible)Support these bands !!!!!!!!!!!!!


Swingin' Medallions February 12, 2009 Martinez GA Savannah Rapids Pavilion 3300 Evans to Locke Road http://www.medallions.com/index5F/images/feb14-new.jpg

Tyn Tymes February 14 7:00 PM Gadsden City Foundation/ Gadsden Convention Center, Gadsden, Alabama

Fantastic Shakers January 29 8:00 pm-12:00 am Raleigh, NC-TJ's
4801 Leigh Drive

Pieces of Eight April 25 Cliff & Carolyn Ellis Foundation/ Dunes Golf Resort/ Myrtle Beach , SC Tickets Available at Cliff & Carolyn Ellis Foundation

Embers Thursday, January 29, 2009 Carolina Lounge Wilmington NC

Catalinas January 31 SAT N. MYRTLE BEACH, SC SPANISH GALLEON - OCEAN DRIVE LIVE 7-12 PM

Jesters March 7 Calabash Cotillion, Alpharetta, Georgia
http://www.thejestersband.com/dates.htm

The Legends of Beach Friday, March 27, 2009 8:00 pm
LOB with NC Symphony - Blue Skies Golden Sands
Progress Energy Center Meymandi Concert Hall, 2E. South Street, Raleigh, NC (MAP)
For ticket info log onto www.progressenergycenter.com
http://www.legendsofbeach.com/?mpf=frame


Band of Oz Thursday, January 29 Old Town Civic Peterburg, Va. 8:00 PM


Ron Moody & The Centaurs February 14 ACCA Valentine Dance Richmond, Virginia


Hack Bartley & Shuffle March 7 Sports Break, Greenwood, Sc

Tams ( with Charles Pope) January 31, Rascals, Lake Park, Georgia

Tams ( with Robert Smith) February 14 Grand Ole Opry Nashville with Little Anthony and Little Richard










more to come... check back often



Who was in the band ? That depends. When are you talking about 1964 or 1984 or maybe even 2004 or even last Saturday night. We tried to accumulate as much of this information as possible. Julian Fowler accumulated many names of the members of band from the Carolinas and others helped with other states.

The listing of members of various bands can be found at www.heybabydays.com/bands We will be doing a major overhaul of the listings in February when corrections and additions will be made, Captain Craig will do an encore performance as he helps us make all the updates.


Many of the bands that were featured in the book still have a version of the band still playing today with varying numbers of band members from the 1960s aka “The Hey Baby Days of Beach Music." Many more of the bands have periodic reunions when members from all decades show up to play. Any of the musicians included in the book that are still playing today were inducted into a special club that we refer to as The Never Gonna Give It Up Club. We broke it down in that section of the book first listing bands still playing under the same name with at least one member from their 60s band. We then included other bands or performers still performing but not necessarily in their original band from the Hey Baby Days. We have also referred to this part of The Hey Baby Days project as “a work in process”; it is still in process. So check out our directories and let us know who was left out that was in the band. We will be adding other bands and other directories as well.

Want to know where and what members of the Hey Baby Days bands are doing now ? Check out the directories. If we don’t have the answer, check back at the end of February when the directories have been updated.

This is why it changed from being called a "Sock Hop" to a "Show & Dance"

P

So I was Wrong, "Ain't No Big Thing"

Photos from Top:

Tip Tops
In-Men Ltd.
Pieces of Eight
Calvin Lindsay & Hysterics
Tempests
Scotty Todd

Above: A few of the bands from the Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music that have recorded their version of “Ain’t No Big Thing” We'll add others soon.

Many moons ago, I was talking with Marion Carter of Ripete Records about cover versions of the classic Beach Music songs. I felt pretty sure that the Tams’, "I’ve Been Hurt" was the most covered of all the classics but he said it was “Ain’t No Big Thing.” We put on the web site, a link called “MOST COVERED songs and listed the various highly covered songs of “The Hey Baby Days of Beach Music. “ I wasn’t just wrong about it not being “I’ve Been Hurt”, I was wrong about "I've Been Hurt" being the most covered song originally recorded by the Tams. It appears that “Dancing Mood”, an early Tams 'recording written by Ray Whitley was the most covered Tams song. It seems that there are many reggae versions of the Tams classic.


As far as “Ain’t No Big Thing” is concerned, at least 22 versions have been recorded including the original by the Radiants. Most of the cover versions were by bands that are included in the book.

A sound clip of the Tip Tops version of the song can be heard at:

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

Click on The Tip Tops “Ain’t No Big Thing”

Here’s the list we have compiled:

Radiants
Tempests
Tip Tops
Wingtips
Scotty Todd
Calvin Lindsay & Hysterics
Catalinas
In-Men Ltd.
Jesters
Spontanes
Embers
Holiday Band
Soul Inc.
The Fabulous Flares
Pieces of Eight
Medium Cool
The Electrons
Jimmy James & The Vagabonds
The Jordan Brothers
The East Coast Band
Café
Angel Rissoff
Dirk & Tony (added)
Bob Marshall & the Crystals (added)
Little Joe & The Latinaires (added )
Rickey Vee & The Stardusters (added)

Know any more, let us know… We are up to 24 !

As for the Radiants, they have several more great songs that belong on any Beach Music juke box including:

“Voice Your Choice”
“Don't It Make You Feel Kinda Bad”

Mark VII Beach Music Yesterday & Today

Greg,

I just joined the hey baby days blog today. I am not very proficient at blogging. Anyway, I grew up in Summerville, Georgia and graduated from high school there in 1971. I had the great opportunity during the late 60's or early 70's to see the Mark VII play and it could have been at Prom in Summerville in 1970 or 1971. I had wondered what had happened to that band for years because I do remember them playing "beach music" and other great dancing tunes. It looks like you had put together some book on beach music and bravo to you!!! Good luck in your endeavors. (Summerville is about 24 miles north of Rome)

Thanks
Dave Hotchkiss


Dave,

The stretch between Summerville and Ft. Payne, Alabama is one of the most scenic in the state. I have gone through there many times over the last couple of years on business. Regarding Mark VII, it was not too long before we went to press with the book that I finally able to find a member of the Mark VII, Gary Coley, and he graciously sent us a photo of the band that was used in the book. We worked for five years trying to locate the Mark VII type bands and were lucky enough to find a majority of them but there were still some that we missed.


I saw the band perform one time and liked them. They had three or four horns and played the great party music of the times. They were one of the Swingin' Medallion knock off bands that were very popular in the mid to late 60s. I booked them to play for a sorority at Valdosta State and got great reviews. They recorded at least one single which I have and will try to add to the blog later. One visitor to the site indicated that they had recorded an album. If there is an album by the Mark VII from back in that period, my expectation is that there will be at least two or three covers of the Tams.

Regards,


Greg



Thanks Greg,

One question is beach music still alive and kicking in Myrtle Beach?
Secondly, do you think there is a market for old and maybe some "new" beach music?

Dave


Dave,

Yes and Yes ! Beach Music is very much alive in Myrtle Beach and there is a world wide market for Beach Music. I think Ripete Records www.ripete.com ships quite a few of their many compilations all over the world.

There’s both “new” Beach Music and “eternal” Beach Music. I enjoy a blend of the standards along with newly crafted music still being made by the pioneers bands plus many new very good ones that have come on the scene.

I get emails from many of the different groups and would be happy to send you their links. Also, we have linked many of the bands that are still performing to the Bands page at www.heybabydays.com Click on the little website icon under a certain band if they have a web site, it will take you directly to their site. You may be surprised that many of these bands have current CDs or ones made in recent years. The music as a whole is quite remarkable.

Regards,

Greg

What's all the Kommotion about ?

What’s all the Kommotion about? That what we are trying to determine! Sometimes 1+1 does not equal 2 but rather 3. Again, I refer to Marvin Taylor’s comment, “If you remember the 60s, you weren’t there." Wayne Logiudice was there but in a conversation with him yesterday, he indicated that some of the items we had related on the blog were out of sequence and that he did not play drums on the session that produced “Yessiree, Yessirree.’ He said it was probably Tommy South, brother of Joe South but he was not positive. We are not sure how we came to the conclusion that Wayne played the drums on the Vee Jay recording by Ray Whitley but It was incorrect.


As to “Little Black Egg”, Wayne Logiudice and the Kommotions recorded their version in Atlanta at Lefevre Studios. It was produced by WQXI deejay Pat Hughes. It was engineered by Chips Moman and was released on the Bell label. At this time, we are not sure what participation Larry Utah had in the production but his name is also associated with the session, which took place on Ellsworth Industrial Drive in Atlanta, Georgia. This may have also been the same studio where several Bang releases were also recorded. Many Bell releases came out of Chip Moman’s American Studios in Memphis so the logical conclusion that the Kommotions’ ”Little Black Egg With the Little White Speck” engineered by Chips Moman and on the Bell label was recorded in Memphis proved not to be so logical.

It was C.J. Bryant, business manager and husband of Sarah Vaughn who first got Wayne & The Kommotions an audition at Amateur Night at The Apollo theatre in December of 1965 and a three day paying gig the following week on the Jackie Wilson Percy Sledge show at Pickens Theatre in Brooklyn. Then the next week, they were back at the Apollo on the Otis Redding show whose back up band at that time (pre Bar Kays) consisted of musicians who ultimately formed the Winstons.

1966 was a year of transformation for the Kommotions . Rick Bear, the drummer was drafted, Joe South drafted Emory Gordy Jr. to Lowery Music and Master Sound and John Ivey wandered off to Europe to play for Stevie Wonder,

So if you are still wondering what all the Kommotion is about, here’s the executive summary;

A band was formed in the early 60s in Atlanta, Georgia. It had a lead singer by the name of Wayne Logiudice who could sing, dance and do most all the microphone stand tricks made popular by Joe Tex. The musicians in the band were nonpareil. (That’s French for damn good) Many of the musicians that played as the Kommotions went on to play on world stages backing and playing with such acts as the King, Stevie Wonder, The Atlanta Rhythm Section and who knows whom else. This unique and talented band has remained under the radar screen long enough. Hopefully we can continue to update and add to the story that we tentatively title.” Lost Soul: The Story of Wayne Logiudice and The Kommotions.’ Wayne has promised photos so let’s hope that comes to fruition.

Here's a story too good not to pass on: During the first trip to New York, the band was parked outside Carnegie Hall with C.J Bryant. A man with longer hair and a ponytail stood alone outside on the sidewalk. "Hey, I know that guy, he's from Atlanta", Rick Bear remarked according to Wayne.
But he was not from Atlanta, he was from Wales, it was Tom Jones.

Cruising with Clifford Curry down I -16

Top Photo: Clifford with the Five Royals (early 60s)

Bottom Photo: Clifford at The Beach Club, backed by the Caravelles (mid 60s)


Nora Marion and I were returning yesterday afternoon from Savannah to Atlanta. It was raining and sort of all around dreary when the cell rang. It was area code 615 which is Nashville. On the other end was a bit of sunshine, Mr. Clifford Curry. Anyone who knows Clifford knows what a great sincere person he is ... always wishing everyone well. He was calling to wish Nora and I a happy New Year. This is not anything out of character for Clifford. He sent us a post card once thanking us for including him in The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music. Of course, that was all backwards because we should have sent him a post card thanking him for his contributions to the book and for all the good times he has provided so many people for so long beginning back in the Hey Baby Days.

Clifford has a new song song coming out on a compilation CD that Jerry Goodman is set to release. He also indicated that he was finalizing a song being co written by Salty Miller of Monzas', "Hey, I Know You" fame. Clifford is not slowing down much for someone who has been entertaining for a half century.


Here's an interesting tidbit that I am not sure we have in the book or not but it involves Clifford Curry's first appearance at the Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

During the course of accumulating information, photos, etc. for the book, two of our main contributors, Tommie James and Sonny Long told about the time that their bands backed up Clifford Curry for his first appearance at the Beach Club. The problem with that I thought was that Tommie was a member of the Caravelles and Sonny was with the In-Men Ltd. One of them must be mistaken I thought. Maybe it was actually two different times and one thought that it was Clifford's first appearance when it was really not. Both of these guys are stand-up types and would never intentionally mislead so I wrote it off as a mistake of fact.

Sometime thereafter, I ran into Clifford at an event and sort of laughingly told him the story of how two different bands hold the distinction of backing him up on his first trip to the famed Beach Club. He smiled and said, "They're both right!" There was a period of time that Cecil Corbett operated two Beach Clubs, both in close proximity of one another and that particular night, Clifford appeared at both clubs, one where the Caravelles were performing and the other where the In-Men Ltd. were performing, both backing the Master of shooting the hole in the soul.

I encouraged Clifford to write his memoirs because it would be of great interest to all those who love the music of "The Hey Baby Days." I plan to follow up with Clifford over the next few days, so if you're reading this posting and want to recall a memory of Clifford Curry, send it on.

The Hots Spots of The Hey Baby Days of Beach Music

The two venues shown above were two of the hottest clubs of the 60s where great R&B/Beach Music was being played. The top photo of the Collegiates was taken next to the marquee sign out front of Cecil Corbett's Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The next photo shows the Ember's van parked outside of the Ember's Club in Raleigh, North Carolina. We'll add more photos of great 60s party venues in the coming days. Got a photo of your favorite 60s good time band venue. It doen't have to be a club... there were all types of places where these bands played...National Guard Amories, VFW's, Frat Houses, etc. etc. Inside band stand photos work too. Keep following this posting for more places of the Hey Baby Days.