1/25/08 Reply to the email follows this one!

"Correct Me If I'm Wrong, But..." or "What The Hell Do I Know Anyway?"

by Blues Critic Radio DJ "DJ DT"

This letter is in response to commentaries recently by two legends of radio who are telling artists and labels not to send anymore singles because they will use them as "coasters"..

1/23/08

Dear Sirs,

This email is written out of deep respect for you guys. I'm a nothing compared to you. Our Internet radio station is wildly popular but you are in another league so forgive this uppity midget for addressing you...

Radio personnel are the most important (other than those making the music) to this music succeeding. I do have a concern though....

There's one thing you have left out of the equation. **What if there is no full cd?** or the full length isn't ready yet? It seems unjust to not play advance singles just because of a personal agenda, no? You mean to tell me that if Marvin Sease has a new joint and Malaco sends you a single you won't play it??? WOULD YOU DO THAT to Jive, Warner Bros or any other major label?

Back when Theodis Ealey put out "Stand Up In It" there was no full cd in sight. But how could you not play such an undeniable smash?

Malaco doesn't send full cds and they get the most airplay out there. Are you saying that a company should wait and not send out promotional singles anymore? Isn't that the point of singles? To promote the record?

Major labels send out singles and major radio stations play them if they like them or feel it would work for their format. Why should independents be different? I would think we'd want to help the underdog even more than the big dogs.

Also it appears to be common knowledge (from what I hear) that some of the biggest music pirates (bootleggers) are the djs themselves!!! I hope that's a myth. but perhaps companies have become gun-shy about sending out the full cd for this reason?

I guess I don't understand why you are making this a major issue. How does it harm you to support singles? The companies are spending the money to create the music and the product. It doesn't cost djs anything to play the music, does it? Sure, I'd rather be sent a full cd than a single but I can't tell the company how to promote their music, can I? We should all work together- company and DJ.

We all want companies to spend more money to make better quality product so it's only natural they want to control their investment as best as possible. What if they send the full length out right away and it gets bootlegged like crazy? Or all the cuts get played out so the cd is dead in a month or two? Why should a company spend more money to create better music if those who they rely on to spin their music are working against them?

Hey it's your show and you can run out any which-way-ya-damn-well-please but...I think singles are important and the traditional way.

Hey, please correct me if I'm wrong...

Hey, what do I know anyway? LOL, maybe I should start a column like that "What The Hell Do I Know, Anyway?" or "Correct Me If I'm Wrong, But...

-DJ DT of Blues Critic Radio

RESPONSE:

DJ DT,
First off let me say you have a right to your opinion. I've been in this business known as radio for over 40 years. God blessed me to be trained by two of the best programers in the business they were were E. Rodney Jones and Shelly Pope these gentlemen taught me to never let a record company or label dictate to me about what to play on the air. Radio stations play music to help generate sales. Now if a station is playing a song that isn't in the stores or the public can't buy it then there's really no purpose in playing it.
You spoke about Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It" it was a good song but the bootleggers were the ones that made the money off that song because for along time the bootleggers were the only ones that had it. You also mentioned that Malaco receives airplay. Well guess what they don't receive any on this station until I receive the entire CD. Let me make this very clear to you it makes no difference to myself or Vernon Campbell what company or label be it a major or independent "IF THEY SEND US A SINGLE, IT WON"T RECEIVE ANY AIRPLAY". One of main reasons that companies send out singles is so that these rookie PD's or MD's don't kill the CD in less that 60 days. Anybody that knows me will tell you I know how to work a CD, if you have any doubt just ask Stan Mosley he'll tell you what happens when I get on a CD. Keep in mind good music has no experation date on it. After having been in this business all these years I'm not going to let a company dictate to me what to play because I don't tell them who to record. Since you don't understand why this is a big deal let me tell you it's about RESPECT. Besides music stores don't sell singles, so why should we play them and if a company is smart it cost just as much to mail a single as it does to send the complete CD. Ecko Records sent a single from Denise LaSalle's CD and the complete CD was in the stores and when I ask for the complete CD I was told John Ward wasn't going to release the CD to radio at that time. If you check the stations playlist you'll see I didn't play the single. 
So as you say companies are spending the money to create music they are also wasting it doing double mailings.
 
As for your statement about DJ's being bootleggers, out of all the years I've been in this business I've never taken a cent to play a song nor do I make CD's. Quite a few of these artists in the industry know me and they will tell you I have no reason to bootleg a song or CD I have entirely to much love and respect for this business to do something like that, besides I pay SESAC, BMI & ASCAP for a license for the station and for the internet station every year.  I know how this business works, and for your information I own WLBM-FM.
The bottom line is it doesn't make sense for record companies to put out a single when the CD isn't ready and the public can't buy the single or for retail to have the ful CD before radio gets it.
 
Keep in mind I'm not going to be dictated as to what gets played on the air. End of story. 
 
G. Ball - Operations Manager
WLBM-FM   Danville, IL

9/10/07

" Everybody Loves Soul Music"

by Rick Phillips

I was hanging out with a white friend of mine the other night. We were listening to some Southern Soul tunes from my collection. He was asking me about the artists and who they were. He said "This is great music. Why haven't I heard this before?" That was an interesting question. He told me that it reminded him of the soul music he listened to years ago. He didnt know that people still recorded this kind of music anymore. I explained that they never stopped. I told him that there are radio stations all across the south that play Southern Soul. "Why don't they play it in Atlanta?" he asked. Another good question.

This really bothers me. Do the larger cities think they are too sophisticated to listen to Southern Soul? There are a few DJs with limited time slots that are doing the best they can to reach the people with this music. In every major city you will find contemporary RnB stations but no Southern Soul. No Johhnie Taylor, no Willie Clayton, no Denise LaSalle, no Mel Waiters. What is wrong with these station managers!!! If somebody were smart and had a little money to work with they would get rich with a Southern Soul station. There's a market for it here in Atlanta. And yes...white folks would listen too! White people love the music
put out by Stax Records and they would love Southern Soul too. If they
heard it on the radio they would buy it.

Stax Records was an amazing collaboration of black and white musicians who created some of America's best music ever. Southern Soul seems to be mostly a black genre. I'm one of the few caucasions who even know about it. It would be great to expand the audience for Southern Soul and take it to all the people everywhere. Am I wrong?

That's my opinion. What do you think?

Rick Phillips
madhack@bellsouth.net

 

Charlie Brown's getting hooked on this Southern Soul Thang...

Written by Charlie Brown

I must say something. More than being a songwriter...a singer...whatever, I'm first... just a guy that's listened to way too much music. My wife tolerates my music thing as almost insane...but she just accepts that part of me, calling me “musically autistic” I must admit, when I first started really listening to this "southern soul" music maybe two years ago, I wasn't too impressed. But it has started to grow on me more and more every day.

Don't laugh, but last night I heard Jackie Neal for the first time. Not really a great voice, but something about that scratchy, cigarette scarred sound made me feel like I was right at the club and I was instantly in love. I only had to listen to "Down in Da Club" and "Work it in the middle" just twice and I was hooked. I had read about her tragic death before...but I didn't feel it at all until I heard her voice last night.

I still feel like too much of the product out there just sounds thrown together. But there is definitely a real demand for this type of music in the Adult R&B market. Several Adult/R&B stations here in Alabama are starting to come around. Some feature a “southern soul” day on their schedule, where they sprinkle in a few of the better produced/recorded “southern soul” tracks with their regular rotation. True enough, a lot of songs from the market sound like cheap demos. And as long as the DJ”s continue to support and play poorly produced/sung/written product, then it will continue to be difficult for the Genre to gain respect and support from the rest of the music world. But man...I've come across some quality stuff and I'm scratching my head wondering why it has taken so long to get noticed by R&B radio.

Jeff Floyd - "I found Love on a lonely highway", This is a quality played, produced, written, recorded song from beginning to end. I love it. I had never heard of Jeff Floyd before…but on that song…He sung his heart out. Not that airy, nasal delivery that all the copy-cat usher “singers” do in hip-hop. Jeff Floyd sings real soul from the gut….a lost art.

Rue Davis - "Between the Sheets", Another one of those songs that I showed to a few "mainstream music" friends and they were like "damn, that's smooth". That is really a good song. It’s late night…head bobbin’…sipping on a glass of brandy good. Marvin Gaye would be proud if he could hear it.

Little Kim Stewart and La Keisha - These are two very similar sounding female singers that can actually sing. In fact, with the exception of the Sir Charles' stuff and that Robert Hill cut, "B.Y.O.B.", Kim's "Give It Up" is one of the best songs I've heard from Hep Me records. LaKeisha’s 1800-Good Man is pure programmed southern soul, but the girl flat out sings it with a voice right out of a Sunday morning Baptist church choir.

And of course Ms Monique’s “Mr. Do Right” is just another very well produced, written, and sung song. The thing about Ms. Monique…well first of all…every photo I’ve seen of her, she’s simply beautiful. But what a lot of her fans may not know is how hard she works. Several DJ’s have told me how she works hard at the “little things” that an independent artist has to do to make it. Making calls to the radio stations, visiting, ect…she’s doing it the old fashioned way.

Willie Clayton - A lot of his songs have a good quality sound to them...but for me, it's "If you ever Get Lonely". There’s absolutely no excuse for this song NOT being played on regular R&B rotations. And I didn’t have to be “tricked” into liking it by having it played so many times a week. My head was bobbin’ the first time I heard it. I've played that song to death...it runs circles around "Crazy".

Floyd Taylor's "Going out on the town" is THE quality song from his last release...but everyone played "Baby I've Changed". "Baby I've..." is not a bad song...but "going out ..." is straight up kicking man. The obvious live musicians on “Going out..” make it so much more believable as a soul record. Which brings me to something. How can Malaco put out such great produced and recorded product and then some stuff that sounds so "small label" all at the same time?

Now I HAD heard of Johnnie Taylor from my mother’s “Soul Stirrers” records. Many Taylor fans don’t know this. But Johnnie broke into the music business because his phrasing and delivery was so much like his mentor, Sam Cook. Huntsville Alabama had been kind of slow on "southern soul" but NOT Johnnie Taylor. You could walk into any club in town on the weekend and hear "Big Head Hundreds" and "Last Two Dollars". But a few weeks ago I found "Everything’s out in the Open"...whew!!! The vast majority of his stuff appears to be polished, professional product....much better productions than the Ecko Tyrone Davis stuff. Don’t get me wrong. “Mom’s Apple Pie” still fills the “grown folks” club dance floors too. But it doesn’t touch that full, live musician sound of “Can I Change My Mind” or “If I Could Turn Back the Hands Of Time”. That “tat-tat” sound of the snare from that keyboard drum machine just ain’t the same.

Marvin Sease. Of course I'd heard of "Candy Licker". not one of my favorite songs..a lil too vulgar to me. It’s no secret that sex sells. But the songwriters from the 70’s had to be creative enough to write clean, respectable songs about making love, or they weren’t going to get a lot of airplay. I think a lot of artist have started to depend so much on expletives and straightforwardness about sex, it’s made the music lose some of its class, fans…and respect. Hey...leave some details to the imagination. Anyone can just come out and say it. But it takes a truely gifted artist to turn a bedroom encounter into art. But anyway, back to Marvin a while back I stumbled across "Clean up what I messed up" and was REALLY surprised. Now I’m a fan. Can’t stop playing that song either.

There are so many others I’ve "found". Some of these are old to the veteran fans. But these are all newly discovered treasures for me: Omar Cunningham’s “Hell at the House”. Quinn Golden’s “Bottoms Up”. Ronnie Lovejoy’s “Ain’t gonna let nothing bother me”…which is a speeded up “Sho Wasn’t Me”…but I like it anyway. J. Diamond Washington's "Ten Toes Up". Roni is new artist who I think is promising. She’s looks nice and her voice and phrasing remind me of Sheba Potts-Wright. She could probably be a lot better with some well written material.

I’m sure that I’m just scratching the surface. So I’ll keep digging and making discoveries. Thank you so much Blues Critic for your website. It is an excellent resource for southern soul “greenies” like me.

But again..Jackie Neal...I'm in love...a bit too late, but I can still turn on "Down at Da Club" again and again. Thanks Jackie.

admin@charliebrownmusic.com

http://www.charliebrownmusic.com/

Lately I have read numerous commentaries as to why Southern Soul is not
as big as it should be. Everyone seems to have an opinion on the
subject, but nobody seems to have an answer. I have heard that it's because
of poor production quality. In some cases this is true but there are a
few whose production standards are as high as any genre out there.
Others blame it on the DJs. But I think the DJs are doing the best they can
given what they have to work with. They have to deal with program
directors and short time slots and other things that we can't imagine. Some
may say that the concert promoters have the same artists on every show.
Although they should include some new acts, they still got to make a
buck with established acts. Concerts are a big gamble! Internet sites
like Boogie Report... bluescritic.com ...soulandbluesreport.com
...chittlincircuit.com ...BigK9 and Daddy B Nice are doing a great job in
promoting Southern Soul. I don't pretend to be smart enough to know what the
answer is but I do have a suggestion. A Southern Soul Summit!!! A "THINK
TANK" where the powers that be can sit down and come up with a plan of
action. It could include record label owners, DJs, concert promoters,
producers, artist promoters. I'm not talking about a music event. Im
talking about a real "sit down and hash it out" meeting. Southern Soul
will always be around but will never live up to it's potential unless the
world knows about it. That's my opinion...I could be wrong. What do you
think?

Rick Phillips
madhack@bellsouth.net
 

"The State Of Black Radio"

by Herman Anderson

It seems as though the same problems and turmoil that has been bothering our formats--not just Southern Soul and blues--but ALL black {African-American is so PC} radio formats has struck again. In other words, no respect: heavy turnover: no appreciation: little or no pay and of course, absolutely, positively no respect for the elder statesmen and stateswomen of the industry by the youngsters. DID I LEAVE OUT ANYTHING!

It really blows my circuits when I hear classic songs daily in the mainstream media being used to hock and huck everything from headache powder to toilet tissue yet my three year old nephew doesn't even know that the song being sampled on that rap track he's listening to his Ipod was originally sung by a recently deceased soul artist.

We have gotten older. Our influences have been shuffled and scuttled to independent labels to make room for the flavor of the nanosecond which will be circumvented by a newborn artist by the time you have read this treatise.
We as an industry used to appreciate the men and women who paved the way for us. Now, we relegate the to reference section of our minds only to be pulled up after we've heard that they passed away. And the real irony is that more of our still living legends are readily accepted outside our borders and formats than they are by us.

While I am no longer a Southern Soul and blues dj [per se], I keep up with what happening and I am noticing some of the same mentality creeping into other black formats. If you really want to celebrate Black History Month, recognize that all--all American music has its roots in the soil that is black music.

And begin to appreciate our musical legends the the same way country fans and formats appreciate theirs.. [I began in country and I know! the only black format that comes close to doing that is Gospel]

Some may agree/some may hate but that's just my feeling.

Thanks,

Hermon Anderson of WKXG Greenwood, MS

memories1540@yahoo.com

*Blues Critic editor Dylann DeAnna wrote a commentary entitled "Music Ain't Got No Color?" which was in part inspired by songs of Mighty Mo Rodgers

now the man himself has the final word!

Mighty Mo Rodgers

It has often been posed, can whites sing the Blues? I think a more important question is what is Blues. Blues means to sound black yes, but even more so it is Black- of -Tongue. The oral vernacular text (OVT) that's signifyin' on all things American. And yes, it comes to deny the lie of our nothingness. Thus it is more than music. The power of Blues transcends place/time making it a truly international music. White people need Blues as much as black people, but it has never been an easy exchange. They come together out of an unresolved dilemma. The racial issue haunts America. The only country in the world that went to war over racial slavery. And Blues comes out of all of this. So many unresolved issues. It is so much easier to sing about drinkin', fightin and screwin'. And just havin' a good time. And this is not to say that Blues ain't that. But it ain't just that. As August Wilson, one of my heroes wrote, "The blues is the best literature that black Americas have. It is our best poetry. The entire cultural response is felt there in the blues". So from this I gather, Blues just ain't no 1-4-5 chords or a guitar or harp lick or piano riff. It's greater than the sum of it's parts and cannot be contained or defined in "thingness".

That's why you really can't buy Blues. You can only buy and sell "the blues" a commodity, that is packaged by the mercantile world that sells shoes or potatoes. This Holy Howl reinvents itself every 25 or 30 years so as to out run itself as slaves did. It's chant "remember me" remember me" And the best of those who do Blues are at best just facilitators. On a good night, when the stars are right, something profound is felt. And that, that you "feel" that comes through, is Blues. Those who honor Blues, those who are humbled by it, are given some of it's secrets. I don't believe you can pick it. It picks you. And if you are white it brings to you an extra burden. But if this be your "charge" so be it. Does not Andre Watts or Price or Battle have the right to do European classical music? Which is white. Though they be black. When you truly love something and you come to it with a good and open heart no one has a right to deny your expression of your love for it.

For Blues of all the musical sounds in the world was born out of an abysmal darkness. It could have only come from a divine intervention to what it is today. A sound that has gone around the world.( Really makes the world go round symbolically) and a billion dollar business if you count all the sub-genre sounds that have come from it. Hip Hop today is the Nu Bluez for better and for worse that is almost totally commodified. But that's ok, something else will come along produced subconsciously the Blues People to out run the hounds. I took a lot of flak for "The Boy Who Stole The Blues" (LISTEN). Even today I have an old friend who championed my music and yet he won't speak to me. He does the annual Elvis birthday event in Hollywood. So Elvis was and is his ultimate hero or rock god, and I destroyed all that. The song is a metaphor to border crossings and the price you pay. Elvis loved black music and because of poverty and proximity he absorbed the sound and feel of what he really loved. Did he sound black? On Sun, yes. But when he left, his management machine turned him into an imitation of himself. If the Elvis of lore had not happened, he would have just been called poor white trash or a redneck. And that's the heart of the problem. Those blacks who grew up with him. Those who were is opposite but really the same, said "you forgot us. You see he came from their class in a way he was one of them. But the temper of the times would not let him be and say what and who gave him "the gift", the Blues People. His love for the music was genuine and because Blues comes out of love Elvis was anointed to go forth. He made it ok to sound black he opened the door and as they say the rest is history.

Is he the king? White America made Paul Whitman the king of jazz, and Benny Goodman the king of swing and Elvis the king of rock and roll. And hip hop would have had a white king if the powers today did not have major black players in the financial musical game. I say, Little Richard, a man who is a cripple, black and gay is the real king. The ultimate outsider. And that's the way it should be. Yes "white people just cannot know what it's like to be black", no more than I can know what it is like to be a woman. But I keep trying. And this is where "feel" comes into play. Feeling is empathy, a common humanity that makes us all human. Blacks in America come out of what I call a 400 years hellocaust. Yet to know what it is like to be black is to NOT see black folks as "the other". To not know, is really to not want to know. For if we really found out, we would see that yes, I am my brothers keeper. For me it ain't no handicap being black. I like being black I can see "clearly" from the bottom up. And from that place your humanity keeps you grounded. "Fame, that I talk about as a bitch (from Kerouak) separates us. It did it to Michael, Monroe, and so many.

I stay humble, and ONLY become more mighty in my humanity to the muse. I want more blessings. And Blues is a very deep well.

written by Mighty Mo Rodgers
 

visit our Mighty Mo Rodgers page

visit Mighty Mo's official page

"Just Another White Boy With The Disco Blues"

by Ronno Mix Aka Rob K 

First want to say I found this site because I was looking for touring dates for The Candy Licker - Marvin Sease and also For Miss Peggy Scott Adams. (We are big fans of both artists!!!) I started going thru the artist profiles (and albums) and was totally delighted that Little Milton (your fav from what I read) and several others including John Colbert aka J. Blackfoot were also included!!!

I also came across various commentaries inc yours. And Want to comment on yours. In particular the "Music Aint got no color..."

To reference a Wishbone Ash track, "So Many Things To Tell You....So Many Things To Say" I want to begin by saying that there are so MANY to blame - AND THATS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE FENCE!!! But directly its on an individual basis!!!! Music is an unbelievable social barometer to how people think. Let me explain. Many folks hardly wish to EXPLORE what is out there for public consumption. To me Tony McPhee of The Groundhogs is just as 'relevant' as Little Milton. The Tubes are just as 'relevant' as say Marvin Sease. Peggy Scott Adams /Bette Lavette is just as soulful and musically important as Joan Armatrading (vice versa)

To the chase, Both black and white sectors hardly 'cross paths' when it comes down to the point of appreciating good singing good playing. I mean Joan A hardly has any real black following here as say Living Colour (Vernon Reid and Co) Its like the late Arthur Lee of Love fame is mostly appreciated and listened to by a near 100 percent white audience

In contrast Frankie Beverly and Maze hasn't any real white following as opposed to...fill in the blanks. For example there are radio stations across the country with a demographic of a certain sector of a population who listens in WALR in Atlanta has about 15 % white audience. They play stuff from ConFunkShun The Isleys Tempts Stephanie Mills Brick The Blackbyrds The Ojays Angela Bofill

WALR are one of the sponsors who puts on the Flashback Series (every August) at The Best Buys Amphitheatre in South Atlanta. But hardly any white folks come out for these great shows. I've asked several black associates about this and the answers range from "they are afraid of getting mugged/purses taken" to "they dont want da brothas hittin on their woman" Unbelievable!

If someone like Todd Rundgren was playing...the audience would be make of...fill in those blanks again....a handful of black folks would be attendance at most. We have witnessed this too! OUCH! No difference with artists like Bobby Rush, Mr. Sease J BlackFoot Mel Waiters etc. I personally interviewed Bobby about 12 years ago for a magazine I was with and learned that he wanted to "crossover" at that time. Makes perfect sense for as many folks to hear your music as sustenance in the field is in part based on those who are into your music. Young or old and everything else in between. But my wife and I have GONE to gigs in the 90's to see Bobby (Tupelo Ms) Marvin Sease/Peggy Scott Adams (Sams's Town Tunica Ms) and its rather weird to see venues which host a variety of performers still cling onto the same old same old!!! When we saw Betty Wright and the late Wille Hutch at Sam's Town May 15th 1998 - it was a 99.99 black audience. Even though the show was poorly under-attended!!! The same situation when we saw Lakeside in Huntsville Ala on March 19th 1999. The venue was in an old Holiday Inn facility. And the audience was.A few years back we went to another 'oh no' dreaded sponsored 'ethnic event' -The Black Expo in Indianapolis to see The Ojays The Whispers The Dramatics and The Temptations at Conseco Fieldhouse. Sporting events are held there Bob Segar performed there...etc etc.

I will say no more...you tell me...........

Now does it 'exclusively' have to do with where the event is advertised? I necessarily don't believe so!!! People in general are still 'afraid' to mingle for really the most dumb assed reasons that aren't sensible or logically reasoned out - even in the most remotest sense of the word(s)!!!  On the flip side.....you discussed to a certain degree of a black artist claiming you were exploiting black culture by selling black music. You went on to say that 'what I was accused of wasn't true, I was now able to put myself in this person's place.' I wasn't there...but I do sense an aura of 'whoring' on da part of de brotha. Maybe the 'whites' sometimes just dont get it. Ouch Ouch Ouch...enough already

Maybe the brother "sometimes doesn't get it either." Ask Ronnie Wilson of the Gap Band what his views of Lonnie Simmons were. Ask Archie Bell what his views of Gamble/Huff were. The Whispers on Dick Griffey........No....a sh*t is a sh*t is a di**khead...no matter whom they are....colorwise or whatever! So whazat...a-okay that a brotha porked over another brotha. Depends on whom one is talking too! Sick and twisted!

You talked about the 'approval' by the black community of the white blues & Soul Artist...a strange dynamic of being white and wanting that approval.

When we saw Bobby At the Trace Inn (Tupelo), he asked us after the show what we thought which to him WAS A VERY IMPORTANT ISSUE. I told him it was bawdy saucy....but musically classy all at the same time. The music , for the most part didn't take a back drop Exclusively as a vehicle to drive his own aspirations. Bobby's Band was ON to the max! And so WAS he! It surprised him. what I said Good Music is Good Music.

..But There are exceptions to the rule....We had seen Millie Jackson years ago (who closed the show for B.B King and ZZ HILL) and her performance was WAY too geared for the guttural aspect. She did about 4 numbers stretched into blased 2XS raunch and rude acrobatics! Very little musical substance to say the least.

You asked in your closing statement(s) why aren't mainstream radio stations playing Southern Soul? (1) For one, not to 'offend' those NOT familiar with the music!!! (2) The folks who run the stations themselves are 'ill-versed' in this music. (3) The dj's who DO have free reign , not Clear Channel controlled, only gravitate to their OWN PERSONAL FAVORITES which is about 3 to 4 at most, leave out many who never get the chance to be heard!!! (4) Black folks dont 'listen to THAT music anymore!!!! Trying to posture the pious but pathetically still having one foot stuck in the gutter. (5) The ones who 'claim' they support this music, REALLY dont at all. I could go on with other indicatives...but wont

I've been involved with radio here in Nashville and have some really interesting stories about the station I was with!!! I did live on the air interviews w/ Little Milton (2 part in Dec 2004 and many others. I'll never forget the time, I was to call Milton at his apartment in Memphis and the producer 'Blocked" any outgoing calls because he was having a sh*t fit about something that I had nothing to do with! So I had to go on my cell phone and call Milton and 'apologize' that we were having "technical difficulties" in our lines and that we "couldn't call out" Could He call us!!! This WAS right at the time the live on air interview was to start. WAS I PISSED TO THE HILT!!! This also cut into the time for the interview!!! Ugh! Did I have to think fast and luckily I had the cell with me...otherwise...fill in the blanks It still went over well though.

But moreso, it was a Brotha DJ who thought he knew everything being at the station for "all these years" as he always use to brag!!! The owners eventually got rid of him...as they said, "oh he finally showed his true colors" like they didnt see it all along!!!! BTW the station owners were BLACK...so you tell me.....

The point here is that so many things go uncorrected that need to and what shouldn't gets twisted out of portion, screwing things up beyond belief!!! Music suffers because of this Just want to add a bit...the reason I did the analogy about Tony McPhee / Little Milton Tubes/Marvin Sease is simple. Good Blues is Good Blues John Lee Hooker used the Groundhogs when he toured the UK in 1965. Tony is A huge fan of Hooker and folks like Chester Burnett and from what I understand Milton as well! As for the Tubes /Marvin. The bawdiness of each's on - stage delivery!. Both have been wildy outrageous when we seen them. But there's the MUSIC which hardly at all suffers. The musicians are tight as a glove when it comes to the talent dept.

Also when it comes to people screwing one another. Color Makes no difference. I remember asking Sugar Of The Ohio Players about that and his response was, "what's the difference between a Black Robber Baron and a White Robber Baron!!"

When I interviewed Ronnie Wilson (Gap Band), he blatantly said, " We were Lonnie Simmons' whores- Record Tour and Stay High all the time!" "We signed one dumb contract after another"

It kills me to know Why These People Stay With These Creep/Buttholes in the first place! Yeah its that brotha / homey syndrome. Ill' get pissed if white boy f***s me , but its 'okay' when my n***a jacks me up overundersidewaysdown! Not all cases, but there is too much of its 'unfair share'

Then they 'holla' later on, that they we're exploited to the hilt! Sad to say there still is a healthy % out there that hates the business side of things AND THE HIGH FLYING VULTURES KNOW THAT!!! AND GUESS WHAT FOLLOWS THEREAFTER! OUCH OUCH OUCH!

As for the station I was with (AM Station) It was great to play songs that I KNEW the audience never heard before by a 'familar artist name.' Most of the dj's only stuck to what they wanted. For example , I had loaded quite a few Mandrill tracks into the system there and was told NOT by management but by these stinkin thinkin idiot dj's , 'we dont play that sh*t here.' What?

I remember one time, it was on a Sunday (the 12PM - 5PM timeline) , I had a partner for awhile, Chris, who helped me program the music. We were playing some really different music. I'll never forget this , we were playing "My Pearl' by Automatic Man (the group featured Michael Shrieve of Santana and the top flight talents of keyboardist /vocalist Bayete) Great song!

Now that guy I told you about who got canned (finally) comes in around 4:15PM and 'starts telling Chris off" why you playing this garbage' (in a very intimidating ghetto voice) Check this out! Before I could say anything, Chris fades the song out and puts on a 'safe' Patti Labelle number. (No offense to Patti since I enjoy her as well esp her days with Labelle - the Nona Hendryx and Sara Dash era). When "Youngblood" exited the control room, I said Chris, "Why did you do that for...look its our shift...he has not right coming in here and telling me OR you what we should or shouldnt play! Response...."I dont want to deal with him and I'll do whatever that will not cause waves." My response.. "Chris look you are visably shaken up by this....is it because he's black and you're white?" Nothing said as Patti was finishing out "Love Need And Want You"

I hate that stuff - its totally disgusting! Don't get hung up with SOMEONE else's insecurities or inhibitions!!! But that still happens and others WILL take advantage of that scenario!

I want to conclude by saying this about radio - even if everything ran right (hardly) there still the major constraint of the time factor (24 hours in a day) that severely limits how many artists get played in a single day.

I always thought about this when I was on the air. Okay 60 minutes = 1 hr. There's the CNN news , The radio station liners, commercials etc which cuts things back to about 50 minutes total. Lets say for the sake of saying, each song is about 4 minutes and change a piece. Only about 10 songs an hour can be played!!! Times that by 24 and its 240 songs so lets say 250 to round things up. Heck for some artists thats their whole catalogue of material and not counting anyone else either! Little Milton for example.

And to me that extremely limits an artists release -if there are say 10 songs on there and you want to play at least 5 of them PLUS other people's material. That to me can get very stiffling! Cause I know that when you are on the air, not everyone stays with for the whole duration. So that person may hear one song two maybe and formulate their 'opinion' of that album release - which may or not be favorable! Sad to say that this can be a big detriment to an artist not getting prime material heard by an audience. But since there ARE so many folks who have recorded great stuff over the years....well I dont think I have to go any further.


Rob K. kooldrude@att.net

 

Rick Phillips reflects on James Brown

 I remember the first time I saw James Brown in concert. I was a 14 year old white boy who had heard him on a black AM radio station. It was the same station I listened to on my transsitor radio each night before falling asleep. Saving my dimes and nickels I finally had enough to by "Live At The Apollo". I played it over and over until I memorized every lyric. Finally I heard he was coming to town and wild horses couldn't have kept me away. On the day of the show I boarded a bus and headed down town...white folks in the front ...black folks in the back. I often wondered why, but I was just a kid and this was the early 60's.

It was just the way things were back then. When the bus stopped at the "Atlanta City Auditorium" I bought my ticket and walked into an entirely different world. The few white people that showed up were making their way up to the balcony.  Quite the opposite of what I was used to at the movie theatres I had been to all my life. Not knowing what to expect I took my seat and looked down at what looked like a sea of black folks. I had never seen so many "colored people" at one time in one place. Women dressed as if they were at church and men in sharp looking suits. I could feel the anticipation in the air.

Finally the the lights dimmed and a spot light was shining on the announcer who asked if we were ready for STAR TIME. He named off all the hits that by now I was familiar with. "Ladies and gentlemen.. the hardest working man in show business"...James Brown and The Famous Flames!!! There he was. I watched him float across the stage. I saw him sweat. I heard the women and girls scream at every little move he made. He had a wall of horns so powerful it gave me chills. I looked on in awe as he fell to his knees begging "Please, Please, Please". This man was giving everything he had, working the crowd like an evangelist until someone wrapped a gold robe befitting a king on his shoulders.

They tried to lead him off the stage but he threw off the robe as if he were filled with the holy ghost and had to testify one more time. On the ride home I knew I had witnessed something incredible. My whole heart had been injected with a powerful dose of SOUL. A feeling that knew no color barrier. A feeling that would influence my musical taste from that moment on. It was a life changing experience.

James Brown was truly the greatest entertainer that ever lived.

Rick Phillips

madhack@bellsouth.net

Who Stole the Soul from the Blues?

Blues Foundation policies not helping most black musicians

by Bonnie McKeown, aka, "Barrelhouse Bonni"

The world is going to end soon, declared the crusty old author Kurt Vonnegut, in the Aug. 24 2006 Rolling Stone. America's addiction to oil will bring world war and environmental collapse, Vonnegut said; it's hopeless.

Except for one thing: the Blues.

"You must realize that the priceless gift that African-Americans gave us musically is almost the only reason many foreigners still tolerate us", Vonnegut said. "That the specific remedy for the worldwide epidemic of depression is the blues."

Growing out of some of the toughest human conditions in the world, blues has struck a universal note. "Blues is the classical music of Black people," wrote Ralph Metcalfe Jr., music promoter and historian.

Yet, like other forms of American roots music, blues gets lost in the scramble for the latest marketable new thing. A few giant record companies and media chains control hundreds of stores, venues and radio stations. Their advertisers want pop music that is safe, bland, even trashy.

As the great old generation of blues men and women pass from the scene, the blues sinks further in the marketplace. Bob Putignano's column from New York in the December 2006 issue of Big City Rhythm & Blues magazine notes, "Each day does not pass without some disturbing news about an artist not being able to go out on tour, a label running into financial stress, and about how clubs are not as willing to book blues based music." Blues record companies constantly lament their tiny 1-2% share of the market. Schools keep cutting arts subjects out of the curriculum; in many cities, students are starved for musical instruments and teachers. If young people don't hear blues, how can they get into it?

Standing against this tide is a diehard network of blues societies, largely-volunteer radio DJs, festivals, and small local venues. For national leadership, many blues fans look to the Blues Foundation in Memphis. The Foundation states that its mission is to preserve blues history, celebrate blues excellence, support blues education and ensure the future of this uniquely American art form http://www.blues.org/about/index.php4

But what is the Blues Foundation doing to fulfill its mission? Its two major events are not education, nor outreach to find new fans. Rather, they are competitions among existing musicians! The Blues Music (W.C.Handy) Awards and the International Blues Challenge (IBC) aim at generating even more new bands, not new fans. The blues music business is already crowded and sometimes vicious. In Chicago, which advertises itself as the world blues capital, tourist clubs are paying musicians a pittance. With the infighting over smaller and smaller crumbs in a tiny pie, the blues could soon die of backstabbing.

The main Blues Foundation competition is the Blues Music Awards in May, formerly named after W.C. Handy, a highly educated African-American composer in the early 20th century when vaudeville was evolving into jazz. Handy, a trumpet player, discovered black people in the south playing a primitive music, which they called the blues. One wonders why the dignified, historic name Handy Awards was dropped, just last year.

The awards themselves show that today's African-American blues men and women are not being encouraged to emerge in their 40s and 50s. Of 25 Handy Award categories in 2006, 10 went to white musicians, 15 to black. Of the 15 black artists receiving awards, six were deceased and all but one of the rest were over 65. The opposite was true for the white awardees; all were under 65. The message to up and coming black blues artists, intended or not: You are worth nothing until you are old or dead.

How does the Blues Foundation determine the winners? Record companies and current recordings dominate the process. Record companies and some artists submit recordings, limited to releases in that year, to 100-125 blues business people whose identity is screened from the public. The Foundation website does not say who chooses the "committee of 100". The committee goes through two rounds of nomination; fortunately, those with vested interest in a song or artist are excluded from Round 2. Foundation members (memberships cost $25; you can join at www.blues.org) then vote among five nominees in each category.

Early Handy award winners were solid blues men and women. http://www.blues.org/bluesmusicawards/pastyears.php4

In 1982 they included Albert King, Bobby Blue Bland, Sippie Wallace, Buddy Guy, Jr. Wells. Are there good musicians following in their legacy out there today? Yes, and though their names are not household words, their faces can be found on the covers of Big City Rhythm & Blues, Living Blues, and several fine European magazines. But they don't have a record deal every year, so you won't find them at the Handy (sorry, I'm still calling it Handy) Awards. Instead, you'll find some big names of pop and rock stars who happen to do a blues album.

Blues is not the music of successful pop and rock stars. It is the cry of a people who suffered 500 years of slavery, poverty, brutality, and discrimination. And, some say, even that cry is being stolen from them.

Besides having a tough time winning Handy Awards at the top end, the middle aged African-American professional musicians also face obstacles trying to break into the bottom of the national blues scene. For 20 of the 22 year history of the International Blues Challenge each February, the rules favored amateurs over professionals. Only after an outcry when Joey Gilmore was disqualified as first place winner of the 2005 competition due to an obscure 10 year old record deal, were the rules changed to fully admit professionals. The rules had excluded many African American full time musicians in favor of mostly-white amateurs with money to promote themselves.

It doesn't stop there. National and local Blues Challenge winners are awarded agents and festival slots. Hearing these amateur bands, fans will not necessarily learn what real blues sounds like. And amateur acts that take blues festival or club stages tend to put veteran professional musicians out of a job.

The contest rules on judging also fall short. The Blues Foundation's website under IBC Scoring Criteria says only: "Everyone has his or her own interpretation of what is and is not Blues. Any given three-judge panel will include members with varying opinions of blues, covering the spectrum of blues whenever possible, from the most traditional to soul/blues and rock/blues.

In reality, with very few African-Americans in the local or national judging panels, the evaluating is not always balanced. Even though the IBC scale is supposed to be "4 points blues content, 3 points talent, 2 points originality and 2 points stage presence," bands emphasizing original rock or folk-rock tunes have won first place in local competitions this year.

Go back to the definition of blues. The key is not making up something original and clever, although that can be entertaining. Rather, the blues is based on feeling. Ever since the blues first developed from African-American field hollers, feeling has been the most essential ingredient," writes critic Bill Dahl under "What is the Blues: Essays" on the Blues Foundation web site, www.blues.org.

One problem might be that it's hard to judge "feeling." Many of us hesitate to use our right brains when we are designated a "judge." Again, the African-American culture puts greater weight on feelings and relationships than the mainstream European American culture which values facts and theories. Perhaps having more black judges would bring back the feeling.

Willie Dixon, musician, producer and songwriter, was fond of saying that blues are the roots, other music is the fruits. And today, white critics like David Whiteis have pointed out that the roots of blues are in the feelings and community of African American culture. Separate the roots from the fruits too far, and you won't have any more blues.

Could it be that an unconscious form of discrimination ”the separation of the music from the people who make the music-- has eroded the heart and soul of the blues, and that is why it's not winning more fans? Don't we need a conscious effort to reconnect today's aging masters of the art with African American young people, who are recently showing signs of interest? Don't we need also to put these musical masters to work educating and entertaining people of all ages and backgrounds, instead of so much emphasis on contests pitting them against each other?

With better fed, happy professional blues men and women leading the way for other fans and musicians, blues will again be able to do its magical work: helping save the world by changing sorrow into fun!

Your comments are welcome; send them to me at : bonni@barrelhousebonni.com

Appendix: WC HANDY BLUES MUSIC AWARD winners, May 2006

African Americans (15 awards) and year of birth:

--Little Milton Campbell, 1934-2005: Album of Year, Soul Blues Album, Soul Blues Male Artist, Song of Year

--Clarence Gatemouth Brown, fiddle instrumentalist, 1924-2005

--Buddy Guy: Entertainer of Year, 1936

--Zac Harmon, Best New Artist, 1957

--Etta James, Traditional Female Artist, 1938

--BB King, Traditional Male Artist, 1925

--Eddie Shaw, horn instrumentalist, 1937

--Willie “Big Eyes� Smith, drum instrumentalist, 1936

--Mavis Staples, Soul Blues Female Artist, 1940

--Hubert Sumlin, guitar instrumentalist and Traditional album, 1931

--Historical Album of Year, Chess Recordings Vol. 2:, 1952-58: Muddy Waters , others

Non African Americans (10 awards and year of birth)

--Marcia Ball, piano instrumentalist, 1949

--Tab Benoit, Contemporary album, 1967

--Mookie Brill, bass instrumentalist, 1960

--Al Kooper, Comeback Album, 1945

--Janiva Magness, contemporary Blues Female Artist, 1957

--Charlie Musselwhite, harmonica instrumentalist, 1944

--Paul Oscher, acoustic album and acoustic artist of year, age not given, under 65

--Rod Piazza & Mighty Flyers, band of year, 1947

--Kim Wilson, contemporary blues male artist, 1951

Bonni McKeown, the white middle class author of this article, is a freelance writer and blues piano player in Charleston WV. She spent three years on the West Side of Chicago and co-produced Chicago bluesman Larry Taylor’s debut album They Were in This House. Her website is www.barrelhousebonni.com.

used with permission...