Brian's Music Musings

Last night I aired the Rex Garvin interview on my radio show. I think the most fun was breaking out of my mold a bit, and playing a few of the recordings he made with the Mighty Cravers. Although Emulsified, Sock It To Em JB, and Go Little Willie are not records I would normally play, they sounded good last night. I may just play them in the future. After all, I may have set a precedent last night. Rex Garvin was interesting, and very proud of the accomplishments he made. And well he should be. I will be posting the interview this week on my web site.

Look for my next shows on rockitradio soon. I usually can't seem to get those made as often as I would like, but every couple of months I send off two shows and they get posted. You can listen to them anytime you want to, and the shows rotate through. There are a bunch of DJ's with just as many different styles of presentation and musical tastes. Also, if you love the vintage radio airchecks, you can purchase them at rockitradio, and help support them.

Vince Castro continues to upload music to youtube. He has not had a computer for all that long, but he has done some really good work. Just type in his name and you can see a bunch of videos where he has put vintage pictures to the music. He has recorded some new material, but there is no commercially available CD yet. You can check out my page on Vinny along with the Tonettes HERE!

Not too much new and of interest in the way of records this week, at least that would be interesting to most people. I always look for variations on some of the records on my web site, and even a different color on the label is interesting to me. I always thought the Jimmy Charles/Johnnie And Joe reissue on Glenville was just issued on an orange label, but it was also pressed up in pale blue. I suppose when things like that are important to me, I will never have everything, or even be close! The one exception to my "rule" is the Colonial label out of North Carolina. I have never seen so many variations of promo and stock issues on any label. And the order they are in is mind boggling.
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Be on the lookout for a new Carl Dobkins Jr. CD in the next couple of months. I hope to interview him and help promote the disc on my radio show. I am excited to hear how it sounds and to know that Carl is still active with music.
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Speaking of interviews, next Saturday on my radio show, I will air my interview with Rex Garvin. He is an interesting guy that is very proud of his history - and should be. He currently is not involved with music much, but is still actively working in another profession and is very happy. He was in the middle of everything back in the mid 1950's, and lived in Harlem.

The story of the Gallahads has lot's of twists and turns, and ends up as a great group that should have been successful, not really getting the attention they deserved. Lead singer Jimmy Pipkin was raised in the Seattle area, and the group first recorded on the Nite Owl label. They ended up down in Los Angeles, and recorded for the Delfi and Donna labels, amongst others. Somewhere in the mix of being dissapointed with the direction the group and music was going, they went back to Los Angeles. Another Gallahads group was formed by taking a local group called the Chants, and changing their name to the Gallahads. They released Sad Girl and Keeper Of Dreams on the local Beechwood label, before it was picked up by Art Laboe's Starla label. There was one other release that stayed with Beechwood, but not long after that, another incarnation of the Gallahads with Pipkin recorded I'm Without A Girlfriend. It was a local hit in Los Angeles and a few other regions as well. They continued to change personel, and recorded a few more records before the end of the line. Shown is the original first label for Sad Girl, and I will add that one along with the Starla label, for the unofficial Gallahads.
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I have been listening to some Wolfman Jack reel to reel tapes this week. They were part of a syndicated show that he must have produced in the mid 1970's. They say "Gold" on the tape box, but during the shows, he just says "The Wolfman Jack Show". They were set up especially for radio stations and included cue sheets showing where the breaks where. In fact, the idea was to let the tape roll, and when the break came up, the station engineer would just insert an ID that was the correct amount of time and the tape would continue on. As I have listened to 6 parts of the show, I have found a few interesting things, at least to me as a fellow DJ. Some of the music sources are direct from scratchy 45's. Heck, that was a common source back then. I just thought he could have found slightly cleaner copies. Then again, did it really matter? He played a wide range of music, and I would think the tapes could have been played years later and still sounded good. Maybe even today? He inserts a few funny bits, and has that Wolfman persona. They sometimes sound a little rushed or slapped together, but still - it's the Wolfman!
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I finally got a copy of the Rosie and the Original 45 on the Starlite label, issued in the 90's, I believe. It was actually not Rosie and the Originals, in spite of what it said on the label. It doesn't sound like her either. When Ace contacted Rosie before they compiled her songs for two different CD's they produced, the writer asked her about the record. It was the first time she had ever heard about it. Anyway, I plan to add that to my Rosie and the originals site just so people are informed. A quick Google check using the artist name and Starlite didn't bring much to light.

So, every now and then I laugh because of a typo on Ebay. I probably shouldn't because I make enough of them myself. It's true, I would be lost without spell check. Even on this blog. Two different sellers both with Dave Clark 5 records, posted within an hour of each other. As of this writing, Clock and Clack are still showing, and just made my day. Doesn't take much, eh?
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Just a few minor updates this week to the color radio site. A 78 of Oscar McLollie's "All That Oil In Texas" was added to my page on him. I have quite a few of his records, but still not all of them. He certainly is one of my favorites, and if you have heard much of his music, you would understand why. He was a very prolific recording artist, mainly for the Modern and Class labels. He could croon a ballad, and belt out a jumper, with no problem. The Popular Five, who can be traced back to the Chords (Sh Boom), had a final recording on the Mister Chand label, and I added that promotional record. The label was a subsidiary of Mercury, but had the smiling face of Gene Chandler on it. Mister Chand - ahh, that's the connection. Of minor note, I added pictures of the red vinyl release of the Blue Jays record on Classic Artists. You just click on the label pictures. As was the case with most of the classic Artists releases, they were available in black and red vinyl versions.
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I have gone back to researching my Crescendos page. I have two sources that show they backed up Lowell McGuire, so I will be adding that record soon. I have listened to most of the Nasco material for the label, and to my ears, Bobby Jenkins, "My Baby's Gone" sounds like it could be them. There only a few of the Nasco issues that had vocal groups backing a single artist, and the reason they used the Crescendos for McGuire was that they were available and I'm sure cheap. There is a vocal group backing Billy Fortune on Trapped, but does not really sound Crescendos-ish. I suppose I should also start looking (listening) at the Excello sides as well.