shoo-bop, shoo-bop, my baby, ooh It seems like a mighty long time

since we had a posting. Ann Adams, our friend in Hawaii inspired today's posting. She is an avid Barbara Lewis fan as you'll see below. In addition, we keep connecting the dots between Bill Haney's Atlanta Soul Brotherhood and The Heeey Baby Days.






"Working On Love" by the Mark Seven (Hawkinsville, Georgia ) as shown above is the same as "Working On A New Love" by Milton Marlin which is cut number 16 on "Bill Haney's Atlanta Soul Brotherhood." We're not sure which was was first recorded. Composer Herb Ryals is still blowing it out (Saxophone) in Albany, Georgia.



shoo-bop, shoo-bop, my baby)
(shoo-bop, shoo-bop)

Hello, stranger

(ooh) It seems so good to see you back again
How long has it been?
(ooh, seems like a mighty long time)
(shoo-bop, shoo-bop, my baby, ooh)
It seems like a mighty long time …



Hi Greg,

I still haven't figured out how to start an original thread on the blog
so I am emailing you. I will start listening to the 17 CD's all over
again beginning when I go on my jog this morning so I can determine
which songs I haven't ever heard before so I can let you know. I
remember that there are a lot and I don't understand why they weren't
"hits". There is not a song that I do not at least "like", and I "love"
most. I suppose they were regional hits. I of course knew about Wilbur
Walton's "Georgia Pines" because he and his band , The James Gang,
played at our high school dances. (I still haven't started reading the
book. Maybe I can this week.)

Warning: Chapter 7 is a little steamy

My husband and I just returned from our Valentine's (our 45th.
Valentine's together) weekend in Los Angeles to see Barbara Lewis in
concert. My quest to see her turned into a journey in "The Twilight
Zone". Over the last 5 years I have done extensive research on her
(which, by the way, led me to your "Heeey Baby Days" web site.) I found
an Internet contact, Marc Taylor (out of New York), editor and
publisher of "A Touch of Classic Soul", a wonderful publication on
"soul" artists. He interviewed Barbara Lewis and wrote a wonderful
article on her in one of his issues. He knew I have been trying to see
her in concert for years. I recently received an email from him
informing me that she was performing in the Art Laboe's Valentine's
Super Love Jam on the West coast. So I went online and did a search and
found a "Valentine's Super Love Jam" concert in San Jose Feb. 6,
ordered the tickets through Ticketmaster, bought the airline tickets,
and reserved a hotel room and car. We have a friend with "Hollywood"
connections and asked him to try to get us backstage passes so we could
meet her. Our friend is very good friends with Tom Moffatt, an icon in
rock and roll music, who lives here in Hawaii. He's a famous DJ and a
promoter and is responsible for bringing Elvis to Hawaii. You may have
heard about his recent book, "Showman of the Pacific". Our friend
called Tom, and Tom called Art Laboe and found out that Art was not
booked for San Jose Feb. 6 but was booked for Los Angeles Feb. 14. Tom
then called Barbara Lewis' manager and he told him that Barbara was not
booked for San Jose Feb. 6 but was booked for Los Angeles Feb. 14. Our
friend called my husband to tell him the news and my husband called me.
I just knew I had ordered tickets to the right concert so I went back
online and did a search. I found two Valentine's concerts with the same
name - "Art Laboe's Valentine's Super Love Jam" and "The Valentine's
Super Love Jam". I felt like an idiot because I had bought the wrong
tickets. We were able to pay a change fee with the airline and get our
tickets changed to Los Angeles and I was able to cancel our hotel and
car reservations without a fee, but we were stuck with the tickets. As
it turned out, Barbara Lewis' manager got us comp tickets. We flew out
Friday for the concert this past Sat. I took her beautiful orchid lei
and was able to meet her manager before the concert and have him take
it to her. She wore it during her performance and told the audience of
7,000-10,000 that there was a couple (Ann & Larry Adams), who had flown
all the way from Hawaii to see her and take her a lei. She asked the
spot light to find us, which it did. (She performed second.) Her
manager had agreed to take us backstage to meet her (per Tom Moffat)
after she went on. So we walked down and were escorted to meet her. She
was very gracious and very appreciative that we came so far to see her
perform. We had our picture made with her and she autographed the album
cover of our "Baby, I'm Yours", which my husband bought me shortly
after we began going steady. She also autographed one of her publicity
photos I had found on eBay. She told us she was nineteen when the
picture was taken. She signed the photo "Ann & Larry, thanks for loving
me for so long. Best Wishes, Barb Lewis". We stayed backstage maybe 10
minutes because we didn't want to "wear out our welcome". Before we
left I told her I wished she would record an album of classic love
songs. She said, "Well, I'm not dead yet". I told her if Etta James
could do it, she could. Barbara Lewis has the most incredible voice -
one in a million. She still sounds fantastic, and my husband and I
think she sounds even better "live".

Our friend is going to make arrangements for us to meet Tom Moffatt. He
has invited him to dinner with all of us this coming Sunday night but > I'm not sure if Tom can make it. I hope he does because I plan to ask
him if he knew what was going on in the South during the "Hey Baby Days
of Beach Music" when he was the "showman of the Pacific" bringing Elvis
and other big acts to Hawaii. I plan to ask him if he knows about your
book. If not - I plan to give him my "extra" copy. Remember, I ordered
a used copy from Amazon.com when I found out that they were all sold
out. It was OK that I got a new one when I ordered the other 15 CD's
because the band listing CD was missing from the used copy and there
was a personal note from the person who gave the book as a gift. I
wanted my own copy without a personal message. I will give Tom my
"used" copy if he doesn't have one. I'm sure he'll find it interesting
because he knows all the famous bands, and some of the bands in your
book went on to become famous. But I can't afford to purchase the 15
CD's for him, which I am sure he would love - especially the "live"
recording of James Brown and the one of Ike and Tina Turner. If you
would be interested in having Tom have the 15 CD's, hopefully, you can
take care of it. I think it could help promote your book. Of course I
don't know how many copies are still available for purchase from the
site that sells the CD's or if there are others who still have copies
to sell - like the bands mentioned in the book. You might not even be
interested, but I wanted to let you know if you are. I just have this
feeling that you’re going to do a follow up book or a revised edition
with additional bands. Am I right?

I look forward to hearing back from you soon. Maybe you can tell me how
to post an original thread on the blog instead of adding a comment
after a post.

Fond Aloha,
Ann Adams

Ann,

Great stuff as usual. Give me Tom’s address and I’ll see what I can do regarding the Heeey Baby CDs. Hopefully, he’ll plug the CDs and Ripete will get a few orders from way across the sea. I am still interested in your giving me your top ten from the Hey Baby Days 17 CD collection. That is your top ten of cuts you never heard before. Were you familiar with Wilbur Walton’s “Twenty Four Hours of Loneliness.” Everyone down South knows “Georgia Pines” but in the U.K., the former title was the big one.

Sounds like you had a grand time… glad you got to meet Barbara… did you get any photos? As it relates to an additional book, that is a possibility and the blog is one of the chief tools I am using to obtain additional band information. We are now updating the directories which we hope to replace online very soon.

The Magnificent Willie T at UGA

HELLO!


I stumbled on your site and I love the music, but can I join? Are you
a music club ? I loved the music. I dreamt about laying on the stand
at the beach.


Adriane

P.S. I especially love Willie T_Magnificents


Adriane,

All you got to do is click on the link "Follow This Blog" on the right side on the main blog page and add your email address. You can also add an image if you desire. Regarding whether the blog is a music club, that's an interesting thought. Since there are no dues and we don't have formal meetings, I think we are more of a collective body interested in preserving and archiving information about 60s bands that had a dominant R&B format. Willie T & The Magnificents from Burlington, N.C. is a great example of that type of band. We have a story in the book about the band and their travels back in what we refer to as the Hey Baby Days of Beach Music. The band was a party favorite and I continue to hear various stories about them from back in the day, some of the stories are probably true. I got to see them a couple of times at the Lambda Chi house at UGA and I can certainly echo what many have said about their great show. Recently, I learned that on occasion the band stayed at the frat house following a party. A business associate of mine remembers seeing Willie T asleep on a couch in the frat house following a party. That's what I call Bulldog hospitality. Surprisingly, most folks were not aware that Willie T & the Magnificents had no relation to the Willie Tee of "Thank You John", "Walking up a One Way Street" and "Teasing You" fame. I don't think they cared because they liked the band. The Burlington band helped create a great awareness for the New Orleans based Willie Tee...

Finally, the band is still performing with some of the original members. There is a band web site.


Regards,


Greg

From St. Louis to Burlington, the Inmen = Beach Music

Two sets of outstanding Inmen

Images from "The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music"

Top Image: Bob Kuban & The Inmen who had a top ten hit in 1966 with "The Cheater" and on the right side of the page is their lead singer, Walter Scott

Bottom Image: Don't Know why they dropped "Sensational" from the drum head because The In-Men Ltd. from Burlington , NC were sensational


Hi Greg

Re: http://www.heybabydays.com/More_Stories_03.pdf

I'm from St. Louis and was wondering if there could have been TWO In-Men that were considered beach music. Bob Kuban's was also known for a great horn section and the Cheater appears on a Beach Music comp:

GOOD VIBRATIONS-15 CAROLINA BEACH MUSIC CLASSICS DISC 1

but maybe that was a compiler's goof?

I went to Vandy in the early 80s and got to like Beach Music...

R. Emmett McAuliffe


Emmett,

Forgive my long reply but your question sparked a blog posting.

No goof, “The Cheater” is listed in the top 100 records of the Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music.” "Triple Shot of Rhythm and Blues” is another great one but was released well after the prime time of the Hey Baby Days.

One of the historic North Carolina beach bands was the Castaways (mentioned in Alabama’s “Dancing On The Boulevard”) J.D. Cash was lead vocalist for one of the derivations of that band, the Castaways Ltd. Well after the strange disappearance (murder) of Walter Scott, lead singer for Bob Kuban and the Inmen and the vocals in “the Cheater," J.D. joined what was then and now called Bob Kuban’s Brass. One day, J.D. told Bob that a lot of the music that Bob's band was playing at the time was "Beach Music." Bob did not know what J.D. was talking about, because he knew he wasn't playing Beach Boys or Jan & Dean music. After J.D. explained what Southerns considered Beach Music, Bob replied, "Oh, you mean Imperial Music" In Missouri, we might have titled the book" The Heeey Baby Days of Imperial Music.”

My understanding from one of my colleagues in St Louis is there is a dance called the Imperial, which looks like a relative of the shag.

Although, it says that it did not make the book, we were able to get More_Stories_No_3 in the book. We posted a few stories on the site known as More Stories that we had intended for the book but because of timing issues, most of the “More Stories” did not make the book. The part that relates to the In-Men in More-Stories_No_3 is as follows:

Greg

Just an aside. I remember playing a fraternity house on Milledge Avenue in the fairly
early stages of the band- we didn't even have a good P. A. system at that point.
Next door, a band was setting up to play, and we quickly learned they were Bob Kuban
and the In Men.We were intimidated (they had just released The Cheater) because they had
all the expensive instrumentality that we were yet to get, and they were already well known.
It was an eye opener that brought to light how good the bands were then, and what we would
haveto do to compete with all that talent.

The South was LOADED with young musical talent in the 60s. (Who needs Neil Young
anyhow?).

Glenn (Brown )


A follow up question for Glenn:

Glenn, in the paragraph above you reference Bob Kuban &The In-Men. Is there any possibility that the gig you reference was at the Chi Omegahouse on Milledge on Friday February 4,1966?
If so, the remarkable band you heard was notBob Kuban and The In-Men Ltd. from St. Louis but
the In-Men Ltd. of Burlington , NorthCarolina. They were an incredible show band.

Greg-

It's been too long ago for me to remember which sorority or fraternity it was but it was
basically across the street from the Theta house on Milledge. We were told it was Bob
Kuban, but maybe not. Whoever it was, they were good enough to intimidate the hell out of
us- I think I was still sixteen at the time. They were already everything we were trying to
become.

Glenn: The Chi Omega house is right across from The Kappa Alpha Theta house on
Milledge (same side of Milledge) Now, Could it have been February 1966 ?

Greg: I think you’re right.

As it turns out, the In-Men Ltd. of Burlington Carolina were contracted to play for Chi Omega at UGA on Friday night February 4, 1966. This was the night that the Athens Rogues were playing next door at the Theta house.

As to whether there was another band called the In-Men (other than Bob Kuban) that played Beach Music, the answer is a resounding yes, the In-Men Ltd. Of course, if the In-Men Ltd. were playing a gig in St Louis back then, they may have been accused of playing Imperial Music,

We met Bob Kuban prior to the publication of “The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music”. He was very gracious in allowing us to use a few paragraphs from his great book, â"œ My Side of The Bandstand,” in the Hey Baby Days. Bob’s background and interests were so similar to many of the musicians that were in the Southeastern Beach Bands that his band’s inclusion in the book was a necessity.

Finally, there are 17 CDs in the Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music Series. Cuts from both Bob Kuban’s In-Men ( Brass) and Burlington, North Carolina’s In-Men Ltd. are included. There is a listing of all the music included in the series listed at www.heybabydays.com.

Thanks for contacting us.

Regards,

Greg Haynes

The Spontaneous Joe Ray Dowell

1965 Spontanes Joe Ray Dowell kneeling 3rd from left






Joe Ray & Spontanes Jay Ray Dowell "framed"

We have been listening more intently to “Bill Haney’s “Atlanta Hot Soul” CD as released by Kent in 1998 and found the first of what we think will be several connections to the Hey Baby Days. For anyone who likes the up-tempo sounds of R&B, the party music that many call Beach Music, the CD has some gems. ‘Stepping Stone (I Use Love)” by Joe Graham is a catchy number that would have been perfect for the parties of the 60s. Another song that caught our ear was “So Much Love” by the Five Jays with vocals by Joe Dowell.

One of the better party bands of the late 60s was the Spontanes of Gastonia, North Carolina. You could find them often on the UGA campus back then with their very talented lead singer Joe Dowell. The late Ron Gittens writes about those years when he was a member of The Spontanes in the book.

For a brief period of time, the band was called Joe Ray and the Spontanes. Several years ago, a relative of Joe Ray Dowell contacted us about any recordings that might be available with Joe Dowell. I referred them to Ripete Records. Three of their cuts licensed by Ripete are included in the Hey Baby Days of Beach Music Series:

1. Share My Name (Disk Two) The Spontanes
2. Don’t You Care About Love (Disk Seven) Joe Ray & Spontanes
3. 123/Uptight (Disk Eight) Joe Ray & Spontanes

It understandable why several of the early recordings of the Spontanes such as “Share My Name” are popular with Northern Soul enthusiasts. Written by band guitarist, James Bates, it was recorded in 1965 by the band and we note in the band directory for the Spontanes that James Bates sang lead on this effort. The flip side “Please Don’t Break My Heart,” was also written by Bates but with Dowell providing the lead vocals.

The earliest photo of the band that included Joe Ray Dowell was identified as circa 1963. The band started around 1960. He is also shown in the 1965 photo above. He apparently left the band sometime after that photo was taken but returned around 1968. His first stint in the band was omitted from the directory of the band but we will soon correct that omission.

Where was Joe Ray Dowell during those two or three years that he was not with the Spontanes? The Military? After all, this was near the height of the Vietnam era. Then again, he may have been on a musical sabbatical in 1966 and 1967, maybe even doing gigs under another name, such as the Five Jays. It is very hard to be certain but after listening to the voice of Joe Ray Dowell on several of the Spontanes records that compose the Hey Baby Days of Beach Music series listed above and then listening to “So Much Love” by The Five Jays with vocals by Joe Dowell, we have concluded that the voices are one in the same. Liner notes that are included with “Bill Haney’s Atlanta Soul Brotherhood” are excellent but a bit vague as it relates to the Joe Dowell and the Five Jays.

The following is a short excerpt from an interview conducted by Rod Dearlove (RD) with Bill Haney (BH) that appears in “Voices of the Shadows” Magazine.”

BH: “ The Five Jays were just a traveling band and until this day, I don’t know where they’re at.”

RD: “I’m glad you touched on that, ‘cause the Five Jays… it’s not mock-Motown, but quite up-tempo. How did that come about? Did they just come to town?”

BH They came to town and somebody told me how good they were and you should go see them. So I went to listen to ‘em and that afternoon, sat in the hotel room where they were staying. I had just written a song… it had a very commercial sound at that time and we did that all with studio musicians. Joe Dowell was the lead singer and he had a brother in it too. Can’t think of his name. As a stage act, they were very good.”

The guess from this vantage point is that Bill Haney went to the club in Atlanta and saw a blue-eyed soul band from the Hey Baby Days that were traveling out of the Carolinas. He just happens to have a song that fit the very good stage act, which ironically was a hallmark of the Spontanes traveling the circuit in the late 60s. As a teaser, when the recording begins, you may think that Bill Haney had intended the song for Willie Tee.

There is still not much known about The Five Jays who recorded for Bill Haney in Atlanta in 1967 but I am sure that fans of the Spontanes may be able to add something since shortly thereafter, Joe Ray Dowell was back on stage with the Spontanes.

Update: we assumed that the Five Jays made their recording at the studio in Atlanta referenced in the CD booklet, "the Feathers." I did not remember a studio in Atlanta in the 60s called "The Feathers." If it were a studio where soul music was being recorded , we should have known about it and investigated in greater detail. We have come to the conclusion that the studio was actually Lefevres which was located in the Chattahoochee Industrial District of NW Atlanta about six miles where I am sitting right now.
Lefevres = The Feathers The may be a case of the Queen's English versus Southern

Soul-Jers and More Kommotion

sitting L-R Jim Cole , Ray Brannon and Tony Wilcher
top L-R Chuck Brannon and Steve Cook


“These are the Soul-Jers, five troubadours with a sound called “soul music.” They’ll play anywhere, anytime if it moves them near fame fortune and star billing on the Ed Sullivan Show. They’re after the Whole Bag.”

Anne Rivers Siddons Atlanta Journal Magazine 1967

Was the bag, James Brown's brand-new bag because in 1967 , the Soul-Jers had a 45 minute James Brown show ?






News article showing the Soul-jers live… perhaps in the midst of the aforementioned 45 minute James Brown show… but where are the capes?





The Soul-Jers of Atlanta, not the Bushmen of Douglas

Far left (Original Guitarist) -Phil Thomas
On Ladder, Tony Wilcher holding Ray Brannon's head Bottom of Ladder l-r Jim Cole and Chuck Brannon









Thanks to Tony Wilcher (above) for providing the Soul-jer images










A little more Kommotion






Hey Greg,


I just read your latest blog entry. I know that it is not a big deal, but I wanted to make a few further corrections.

1.) When the band , The Kommotion was first organized in Georgia. Wayne was not singing with us (members were Jimmy Calloway, Emory Gordy, and Rick Bear). We were using a singer named Lynn Westbrook, a local black musician. Occasionally Arthur Conley and the Corvettes sang with us. Wayne started to come around and sit in with us and eventually became our regular singer.

2.) Chips Moman had nothing to do with our recording of “The Little Black Egg.” It was all done locally in Atlanta (approx late 1964). Pat Hughes set the recording date up and was the producer. We did record with Chip in 1965 when we were in Memphis on tour with the Yardbirds. It was their first American tour and Jeff Beck was on guitar at the time. We and The Yardbirds went into American Studios and basically did jam sets together with the two bands. I have no idea what became of the recordings. If I am not mistaken, The Swinging Medallions had their first hit out and were also on that tour (not the recording).

3.) Sarah Vaughn's ex husband manager's name was C. B. Atkin's. He was one of two husband/managers that she had and they both cheated her.

Once when The Kommotion were doing a stint at The Royal Peacock with Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, C. B. who was a friend of Curtis's came to some of the shows. C. B. was a gambler and hustler as well as a personal manager and he saw the good reception that we received at the Peacock. That is when he asked Wayne to go to NYC with him. Wayne wanted to take the whole band, but C. B. wouldn't do it. Finally C. B. agreed to take me and Emory. The first place that I ever went in NYC was to Joe Glaser's office and then straight to the Apollo Theatre. Joe Glaser owned Associated Booking Corp. who at that time booked about 90% of the acts on Ed Sullivan. He was Louis Armstrong's personal manager for many years. He booked everybody from Count Basie to Sonny and Cher. We haven't even gotten a room yet. We were booked onto a guest set with Wilson Pickett based only on C. B.'s and Joe Glaser's word.
C. B. later became one of Muhammed Ali's managers. From there ........blah blah blah

Rick





Rick,


Thanks for the updates. I can certainly see how some of the information got confused. The third name I got on that recording of “Little Black Egg” was Larry Utah… at least I thought it was Utah but after further research, I found that it was actually Larry Uttal who owned Bell Records at the time. Since many of the songs on the Bell label were recorded at American Studios, it is easy to see how the Chips Moman tie in came about. Wayne must have gotten the sessions at American Studios mixed up with the one at Lefevre where the Kommotions recorded, “Little Black Egg.” Regarding the sessions at American, has anyone asked Chips Moman about the existence of any of the tape? Maybe we can talk sometime this week. I want to develop a band directory like you see at the site. I will try to get a preliminary one to you for review in the next day or two.

Regards,


Greg

P.S. A recording of a jam session of the Yardbirds and the Konmotion at American Studios in 1965 would certainly be interesting.

More Atlanta Soul

Images above:

Open book with photo of Sam Cooke is "Honkers & Shouters" by Arnold Shaw. Buddy Skipper of Jetty Jumper fame recommended this book to me . I have really enjoyed it so far. It is very detailed, includes a great deal about the record companies as well as stories of how some of our favorite R& B groups evolved. It appears that Mr. Shaw may have left a few artists out but it is certainly an interesting and entertaining retrospective.

Also pictured is the cover of "One Hit Wonders" by Wayne Jancik. There were many Beach Music bands and artists included in the book. The fact is that many of the all-time greats of Beach Music bands and groups never attained the status as high as "One Hit Wonder," as defined by Billboard Magazine. Many of those included in the book will surprise you. I have referred back to the book through the years because of its detailed information on some of the bands.

Finally, The image of the liner notes from the CD illustrate what we talk about below. It is laid over a copy of The Hey Baby Days, illustrating that you will need to get your microscope out to read the very interesting article about Atlanta's Unacknowledged Master of Soul Music, Bill Haney.

We will relate some of the more interesting connections between these publications and The Hey Baby Days over the next few weeks



Recently, a gentleman (Buddy L.) called me and asked for some assistance in evaluating a first edition of Gone With The Wind. Seems he was the beneficiary of his great aunt’s estate which included a couple of early editions of the book including the Limited Edition set published in 1939. I have been a collector and seller of rare books for almost 15 years, an illness that I caught from my brother who has never met a book he didn’t like.

The whole point of this posting is to relate how one things leads to another and to illustrate how many unconnected dots still remain out there as it relates to the production of R&B music of the 60s.

Buddy L. grew up in Atlanta and is about my age. The critique of the book wandered from what appears to be his genuine May 1936 printing of the book signed by Margaret Mitchell on the ffep to bands he enjoyed back in the 60s. After, he went through a litany of nationally known acts, I asked about local Atlanta area soul bands. The first band out of his mouth was the Soul-Jers. I should have known. When I asked about Wayne Logiudice and Kommotion, he smiled. Yea, he knew and liked them too. He mentioned another band that won a battle of bands called the Four out of Twelve or something like that. He also mentioned a friend of his Tommy Dean who lived right down the street from where our office is located. It’s hard to imagine living and growing up on Piedmont Road near Peachtree in Atlanta. Anyway, his friend has a band that currently plays around Atlanta called the League of Decency, which I remember seeing at a company party at least 10 years ago. They were very good… had the required horns. I looked up the band on the web and they are still pounding it out with a play list that will take you several minutes just to scan. Only thing I didn’t see in the list was a Tams’ song. Interestingly, their apparent booking agent is Pat Andrews who took over on drums when Ervin Hicks left the Pieces of Eight. More indication of all the unconnected dots.

Anyway, back to books, I am going to post a little later today an image of a pile of books and other material that I continue to pour through gleaning for overlooked or unexplored tidbits. One of the more interesting pieces is the liner notes from one of two CDs sent to me from a gentleman across the big pond, Ady Croasdell. “Bill Haney’s Atlanta Soul Brotherhood” produced by Kent is exceptional for its notes and especially the music. And to think I thought Soul music had completely died in 1969. Bill Haney was still producing it in fairly good quantities here in Atlanta and in Muscle Shoals. Ady sent this to me prior to the publication of the Hey Baby Days but I never took the time to read the notes thoroughly… but then again I never seemed to have a microscope at the right time.

The notes are great but most people who would have the most interest are my age or older and there is NO WAY MOST OF THEM HAVE EYES GOOD ENOUGH TO READ THE SMALL FONT. That is why we used large font in the Hey Baby Days.

Regardless of the size of the font, the material is very good, the music is great and Bill Lowery’s name is spelled Lawry several times. Maybe I should not have pointed that out because we misspelled a few names in the Hey Baby Days. There are several items in the liner notes and about the music that interested me which I point out later. Until I played the CD when Ady sent it to me back years ago, I had never heard most of the music but I did hear distinctive parts of several of the songs that reminded me of several well known performers of the Hey Baby Days including Willie Tee and the Tams.

More Later…

Bands that played the Myrtle Beach Pavilion

One of the biggest draws ever at the Pavilion was Harry Deal & The Galaxies who put on vinyl the party classic "39-21-40 shape/ Hey, Baby"








The Myrtle Beach Pavilion no longer stands but its memory lives forever in the minds and hearts of those who love the music Image courtesy of Mickey Bradford The Imperial Combo featured on the Marquee.








ABOVE: The Catalinas in the studio; read about their first trip to the MBP in the book.





More bands that played the MBP Pavilion will be added soon.

Hello My friend:

I saw your book & website...hey it's great!! I found an old photo of my group (Ed). We played a lot @ the Myrtle Beach Pavilion in the 1960's It's a bit grainy but here it is.We had a record out in 1966.."Brandy Wine Blues"
Also, I found a photo of Dick Holler & Merlin Jones & Don Smith(wrote "Double Shot" ) Thanks. You have permission to publish my old Picture

Sincerely,

Ed Baggett


Ed,

Thanks. We will publish it to the blog and start adding photos of the many other bands that played the famous venue. The photo is a bit grainy but it's from the 60s so it and others from the 60s will always get our attention. I know we have an excellent photo of the MBP that was used in the book that we'll place at the top. In the interim, the Dimensions will lead off what should be a long list of bands and performers.

We previously published the Dick Holler photo back in either November or December. What we would like to do is a blog interview with Dick. What great memories he could probably share !

Regards,


Greg