2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 5,800 times in 2010. That’s about 14 full 747s.

 

In 2010, there were 3 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 30 posts.

The busiest day of the year was September 10th with 86 views. The most popular post that day was About Rockin Steve.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were oldwax.blogspot.com, wpmd.org, en.wordpress.com, en.wikipedia.org, and search.aol.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for evelyn freeman, john dolphin, huggy boy, jesse belvin, and ed townsend.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

About Rockin Steve August 2007
3 comments

2

“Didn’t It Rain” by Evelyn Freeman & the Exciting Voices December 2007
4 comments

3

The death of John Dolphin August 2007
7 comments

4

Record shops and in-car record players December 2007
4 comments

5

Frank Wilson on Soul – Northern Soul’s Rarest – updated May 6, 2009 December 2008

California Eagle: Police Stop Teen-Agers Drink Party (Apr. 1, 1954)

Thurs. April 1, 1954

“Police Stop Teen-Agers Drink Party”

“SANTA MONICA—Police raided a crowd of 600 dancers at the Chase hotel Saturday night and stopped the dancing when they found scores of teen-agers among the heavy-drinking patrons. The dance reportedly was promoted by Jack Lauderdale, former owner of the Downbeat Record Shop and at present operator of the La-Dale motel, both in Los Angeles; John Dolphin, owner of Dolphin’s Record Co., Vernon and Central, Los Angeles, and his disc jockey, Richard “Huggie Boy” Hug.”

“Capt. Reinbold, of the Santa Monica police, said there were many juveniles drinking when he arrived, that one 16-year-old was already so drunk he could hardly stand up, and that there were no chaperons in evidence.  He also said that no permit had been obtained.”

“Police arrived about 10 o’clock; when summoned by the hotel. They ordered the dancing stopped, and also broke up fights that had broken out outside.”

Comment:  No doubt crazed by the wild beat of rock n roll, rhythm n blues.  In 1950, the Eagle gave a lot of ink to Dolphin when he opened his shop, but the amount of coverage seemed to relax as the Dolphin advertising budget slacked off.

The Passions

Harold Garcia, Sammy Handy, Kenny Sinclair from the Six Teens, Earl Sinclair and William DeVase, bass were the Passions on both Era and Dore.

On Era, they rendered the uptempo “Jackie Brown” b/w “My Aching Heart” (1063); reissued on Capitol (3963).

After this fine two-label release stiffed, The Passions were laid off to the Era sister label of Dore, after the cousins who ran Era, broke their partnership for the less effective “Tango Of Love” b/w “Nervous About Sally” (505) in 1958.

In 1959, most likely because of a competing East Coast Passions group, which had hit big with “Just To Be With You,” they became the Colognes on Lummtone, after which Sinclair and DeVase joined the Elements/Elgins vocal group.

Ed Townsend

Ed Townsend had scant success with Aladdin, Dot and Carlton.  However, his fortune improved when Townsend recalled, “Nat Cole brought me over to Capitol, I met him in Las Vegas when I sang with Horace Heidt.”

Townsend’s powerful ballad, “For Your Love” b/w “Over And Over Again” (3926) was his breakout local and national success, hitting top 15 nationally and top 10 in L.A. and on border radio.

“For Your Love” was enhanced by “the full sound of the combining of two gospel groups, one white, one black, in the background of this studio session.”

Supplementing this background were Gwen Johnson and Betty Wright, who went to school with the Blossoms.  Arranger Rene Hall recalled how Townsend was strongly opinionated about how he wanted the session to sound.  “That would be an Ed Townsend trademark.  He liked background singers that sing in the Broadway production style and violas instead of violins.  I only followed his style.  He’d say, ‘get me plenty of violas and keep those high screechy things down as much as you can,’ that’s what he called violins.”

Bells Of St. Mary’s

Kell Osborne arrived in L.A. in 1959 from Detroit where he had moved with future members of the Temptations.

In L.A., “I met Lester Sill, who was manager of the Coasters and president of Trey Records and manager of Phil Spector,” he recalled

About his disc debut, “Bells Of St. Mary” b/w “That’s All Right Baby” on Trey (3006), Osborne said, “I didn’t like that too much. Phil Spector was very young, great guitar player and was easy to work with, but he was so young, hadn’t made any hits yet. I was the first artist he got a hold of. After he became famous, he wouldn’t speak to me.

“It was a 40 voice spiritual choir from L.A., The track was already cut, it was all tracks. I thought it was great. Lester flew me to Phoenix, AZ and I couldn’t open my mouth, so he gave me a whole bottle of castor oil. Lester thought I had a voice that was like Jackie Wilson, Lester had big plans for me, but I was mpatient. It hit in Baltimore, MD of all places.”

Among other singers, Osborne recalled “Lester had Bobby Sheen also.” In 1963, “The Bells Of St. Mary” was given to Sheen’s Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, also produced by Spector.

The Elements / Elgins

The Elements, Kenny Sinclair, Darryl “Cappy” Lewis, his brother Carl Lewis and Jimmy Smith emerged from the Six Teens with William DeVase, who had sung with Sinclair in the Colognes on Lummtone, also known as the Passions on Era and Capitol.

Their only release, the fine “Lonely Hearts Club” b/w “Bad Man” came out on Titan (1708) in 1960. A Beaumont, TX classmate of Smith from Texas, Oscar McDonald replaced Carl Lewis and the group moved on to the Flip, the original home of the Six Teens as the Elgins.

In 1961, Brown issued “My Illness” b/w “Extra Extra,” which used the opening (“…read all about it”) as by the Elgins (1724), with the title “My Illness” almost immediately changed to the more appetizing “Heartache, Heartbreak,” the opening lines (“heartache, heartbreak, and lonely misery”) of the song. Smith recalled, we always referred to it as ‘My Illness.’”

After a one-disc career as the Elements on Titan, the newly renamed Elgins put down one historic 45 for Flip, “Uncle Sam’s Man” b/w “Casey Cop” (353) in 1960. This tearful goodbye-to-a-serviceman’s sweetheart as he heads off to sea was patterned by Darryl Lewis from the bridge (“darling can’t you see that I’m going overseas”) of the Six Teens’ major Flip label hit, “A Casual Look” (315) from 1956.

The Elgins’ presentation featured strong unison harmonies overlaid with Jimmy Smith’s impassioned lead and soaring falsetto. “It’s what you call a weave, doing falsetto over the top, dropping back into the harmony, back to the lead,” said Smith. “It was a different thing.” For their next releases, the Elgins moved over to the Lummtone label in 1961.

Frank Wilson on Soul – Northern Soul’s Rarest – updated May 6, 2009

One copy of this disc escaped from the Motown files in a transaction that involved drugs and a drug addled employee of the firm who took qualuudes from a medical professional (doctor  / famed / deceased / record collector) for the company’s file copy  of this 45.  The doctor who collected 50s vocal group harmony records turned it around in a big trade and later that copy sold for upwards of $20 gs.\

Now comes the following from the latest Goldmine (so you don’t have to click thru three links to get to the text – shame on you Goldmine! – oh the hardship):

“Sold by Kenny Burrell, this version is one of only two surviving copies of Wilson’s record known to exist — and it’s the only one in acceptable playing condition. Motown kingpin Berry Gordy originally ordered the record destroyed.

“As the story goes, Wilson, who became a producer for Motown, was hired in late 1965 to head up the label’s West Coast operation in Los Angeles. The deal was contingent upon Wilson giving up his recording and performing career. But Wilson recorded a demo of “Do I Love You.” Upon finding out, Berry gave the order to have it wiped off the face of the earth. But, two copies escaped.

“U.K. record dealer John Manship, who specializes in Northern Soul rarities, held the auction for Burrell’s record. The total amount of the sale, which started in the middle of March and ran to April 29, was £25,742.”

That’s sort of the back story:  Wilson, who sang with the family group the Wil-Sones on Highland and the  Remarkables on Audio Arts, joined Motown when it moved west.  He recorded the Soul single, then Gordy told him to make a decision:  either you’re a vocalist or a songwriter.  He chose writer, Gordy stopped the release.

Wilson is now a preacher and lives in Pasadena.

It Was You

The Feathers

The Feathers came together in 1954, when lead tenor Johnny Staton and his brother and first tenor Louis Staton relocated from El Centro, a California border town, to South L.A., where they settled.

Johnny Staton recalled, “we had twelve children, brothers and sisters. We used to get together and harmonize in church.” Following a stint in the air force, Johnny began performing at various talent shows with his brothers, Louis and Izell and sister Lenore. Izell sang bass. “My brother Louis said we had a very light bass, so why not name the group the Feathers?”

After about four months with this membership, Izell and Lenore left and the group and added neighborhood friends, second tenor Don Harris, baritone John “Sonny” Harris and bass Mitchell Alexander.

For their earliest song, Johnny “thought of a young lady I was with when I got ready to leave for the service. She had said, ‘Johnny, darling, please don’t go.’” For the flip side, Staton recalled another girl. “During my high school days, there was a girl called Nona Wyatt. All the boys would try to get her, she was so beautiful, but she never paid me no attention. I used to tease her, hit on her. I don’t think she ever found out about the record.”

Censored Chuck Higgins Cover – why withdrawn?

As best I can tell, the title “P:achuko Hop” is misspelled – should be “Pachuco Hop.”  Faced with this embarrasing gaffe, Combo withdrew it – from the marketplace, that is.  BTW, the lovely model is reputedly DJ Huggy Boy’s wife o’day.  Really, an enchanting relationship