Carolina Soul Blog

Sunday Gospel goes digital

2010-07-26T02:21:02Z

Here’s the most contemporary offering in our Sunday Gospel series, “Protector Of My Soul” by Tony Edmondson, from the 2007 CD release “He Can Make It Right”. Mr. Edmondson is a singer and guitarist who grew up on the soul scene in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Production credits go to Curtis Brooks and Lindsey T. Parker, two individuals with roots in soul music in nearby Kinston. Enjoy!

Carleen & the Groovers photos - located!

2010-07-20T19:13:33Z

Another week, another Milestone! Check out the Now-Again website for recently uncovered photographs of Carleen Jean Butler of the legendary Charleston, South Carolina funk outfit, Carleen & the Groovers.

Chuck Wells, located!

2010-07-14T03:27:10Z

We are excited to announce that we have just located Mr. Charles “Chuck” Wells, a native of Wilson, North Carolina who cut several 45s in the 1960s. One of the sides, “The Love Knot” (Goldleaf 340) has lived on as a Northern Soul spin. More to come….

Just Make It In

2010-06-27T15:02:55Z

HSE (Hoyt Sullivan Enterprises) was an industrious gospel label, based out Greenwood, SC. Despite hundreds of records by nearly as many artists, little is known about label owner Hoyt Sullivan himself. Few artists who recorded for the label even interacted with the elusive beauty supply salesman, bringing into question how much input, if any, he had in shaping the wealth of religious recordings released on HSE and associated labels, including (but not limited to): Su-Ann, Ken-Tone, Sav-All, et al. Liner notes written by the Pickin County native shed some light on Sullivan’s commitment to his cause.

Let me tell you about myself. I am a sinner saved by the Grace Of God through the blood of Jesus Christ. Before God came into my life I was an alcoholic, a thief and a liar. I was everything that the Devil wanted me to be. I am fifty-nine years old but really just twenty-two years old. That is how long I have been fighting the Devil.

Sisters Betty, Linda, Doris, and Miriam Gerald of Mullins, SC recorded numerous singles and albums for HSE. “Just Make It In” b/w “When I Get To Heaven,” was their second. Backed by their father on piano, the familial harmony and naturally incongruent sound of 8+ hands clapping make for a sturdy offering of down-home Carolina gospel.

Special thanks to the fine folks at JustMovingOn.Info for maintaing a phenomenal site, providing the Gerald Sister photo seen above, and for supplying terrific information on obscure gospel recordings from sea to shining sea. Hallelujah!

Nasty Rock, Around the Clock

2010-06-19T16:07:23Z

Dave Tompkins’ book How to Wreck a Nice Beach: From World War II to Hip-Hop did not just pop up over night. Dave has been writing vocoder-sensitive articles for a myriad of magazines for a myriad of years. One of the more Carolinacentric ones appeared in Stop Smiling Magazine some several years ago. “The Night-Time Master Blaster” is the tale of Fuquay-Varina vocoderist James L. Garrett, whose electronically elegant single, “Nasty Rock” was broken wide open over the airwaves of Charlotte’s WPEG (soon, the world!) thanks to the Night-Time Master Blaster himself, Les Norman. “Les had a good heart,� Garrett said. �He reached out when he didn�t even know us. That�s how we got to New York. That�s how we opened for the Isley Brothers and the Manhattans.�

Dave will read from his book today at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, 3pm. The after party at 5 Star on Morgan St is alleged to feature a vocoder and Roland 808, courtesy of Davy DMX. Although a James L. Garrett appearance is unconfirmed, we are posting his 1983 master(blaster)piece here at Carolina Soul to pay homage to yet another eccentric moment in Carolina music history.

How to Wreck a Nice Beach

2010-06-17T04:50:15Z

Music historian and Charlotte native Dave Tompkins is a national treasure. His influential writing for magazines as far flung as Grand Royal and The Wire made hip-hop writing an art form unto itself. An admirer of the odd, Tompkins latched onto the synthetic magic of the voice-manipulating vocoder early in his life, and set to the task of penning a book on the subject not long thereafter. A resident of Brooklyn, Tompkins will be returning to the Old North State to read from his new book, How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop.

Although the flyer does not reflect this, Dave will also be reading at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on Saturday, June 19th at 3pm.

Visit HowToWreckANiceBeach.Com for more entertaining details.

Carolina Soul & Consumer Culture on The State of Things

2010-06-08T18:15:18Z

Josh Davis and I enjoyed talking to Frank Stasio on The State of Things this afternoon on North Carolina Public Radio. You can read a detailed description of the show and listen to archived audio here.

Between all the great questions that Frank asked us about Curt Moore of Greensboro, David Lee of the Shelby area, and other important figures on the Carolina Soul scene, the Paradise of Bachelors record label slipped through the cracks. Brendan Greaves and I are heading up this enterprise, and our first release later this summer will be a David Lee retrospective compilation. Read more at the Paradise of Bachelors blog, particularly these posts:

http://paradiseofbachelors.com/2009/10/20/trip-to-shelby-and-charlotte/

http://paradiseofbachelors.com/2009/10/31/you-been-gone-too-long/

http://paradiseofbachelors.com/2010/01/26/if-everybody/

And as a bonus, check out these pictures snapped this weekend in Cleveland County, North Carolina:

David Lee at home in Mooresboro.

The former Washington Sound on Buffalo Street in Shelby. David Lee ran his record shop in this building from the early 1970s through 1995.

Across the street from the shop, where Buffalo meets Weathers, the one-time Washington Theatre and Washington Center, where Ann Sexton often performed, and where David Lee met her for the first time.

Bimb� Cultural Arts Festival, #41

2010-05-21T22:27:07Z

Venerable Durham, North Carolina cultural arts festival Bimb� enters its 41st year, tomorrow, Saturday, May 22, at the CCB Plaza downtown.

1976 looks to have been a good year, with three Carolina Soul outfits on the bill, Blue Steam and Duracha, both of Durham, and the allegedly never-recorded Black Genesis of Raleigh. (Newspaper advertisement comes from The Carolina Times.)

Full line-up for 2010, also promising, is below. More details at http://www.ci.durham.nc.us/departments/parks/bimbe_index.cfm.

12 p.m. - Procession of Elders (Led by the Magic of African Rhythms)
Presentation by African American Dance Ensemble

12:45 p.m. - Special Presentations
Patricia Taborn�s Modeling Agency
Winner of Poetry Slam Contest
Campus Hills Angels

1:30 p.m. - Dezrick Dixon (Gospel)

2 p.m. - Mixed Water featuring Veeda (Jazz)

2:45 p.m. - Ohenemma (African music)

3 p.m. - Rough Draft (Old Skool)

4 p.m. - Casino Crisis and Lil Y.I.T.

4:45 p.m. - Crucial Fiya (Reggae)

5:30 p.m. - TA Grady Steppers

5:45 p.m. - Tyrand (R&B)

6:45 p.m. - Brian Dawson�s DJ Musical Medley

7:30 p.m. - Feature Headliner Act: Special Ed and Slick Rick

The Voice of the Triad

2010-05-20T17:08:58Z

If you spent any sizable amount of time consuming popular music in the Triad 1993-present, you are most likely familiar with Manard “Busta” Brown. Most ‘80s babies, like myself, had the privilege of growing up with Busta at 102.1-FM WJMH (“where hip-hop lives”), and growing old with Busta at older-sister station 97.1-FM WQMG. Although the circumstances surrounding Brown’s cordial dismissal from Entercom Entertainment Corporation is a nauseating narrative of corporate radio politricks and money over manners, this week’s story for Go Triad is an uplifting one, chronicling Brown’s arrival at community radio resource 90.1-FM WNAA where he continues to host the “Afternoon Thang” Monday through Thursday, 3pm-5pm. “WNAA is 24/7—a station for the people,” said Brown in a recent interview. “You have other programming here that is very informative, and the music is good too, so this was the best fit for me, as far as being connected with the Triad.”

Although Brown’s photo album is an exhaustive directory of Black entertainers—past and present—here are a few of our favorites.

Busta Brown and LL Cool J

Busta Brown and Jerry Rice

Busta Brown and the Kings of Comedy

“Smoothed Out on the R&B Tip”

2010-05-18T18:48:58Z

James Funches, who we profiled in Sophisticated Fight Song, has played in a number of memorable ensembles over the last three decades, teaching music within the Forsyth County School System for the better part of that time. Reggie Buie, a native of Chicago, grew up next door to drummer Isaac �Red� Holt, one of Ramsey Lewis� preferred timekeepers, who would one day comprise one half of the soul-jazz franchise, Young-Holt Unlimited. The two were making decent money backing Carolina vocalist Janice Price, when a performance opportunity arose at Wayne�s Lounge, located in the long-demolished Ramada Inn on N. Marshall Street in downtown Winston-Salem. Buie loaded drum patterns and bass lines onto floppy disks, and the duo played smoothed-out standards and R&B numbers for a consistent crowd. �I wasn�t crazy about it until I saw the first check,� reflected Funches of the sessions. �We got paid like there was six of us!�

Recorded on April 29th, 1993, new jack swing�s newly minted song book was put to good use, with Today�s �Why You Gettin� Funky on Me� (from the House Party Soundtrack), Johnny Gill�s �Fair-Weather Friend,� and perhaps the genre�s most infamous offering, �Poison,� by Bell Biv Devoe.

Sunday School

2010-05-16T17:19:02Z

When Crawford Cornelius Jr. passed away in April of 2008, he was remembered for not only his music, but for his industrious tenure as a schoolteacher in the Columbia, South Carolina area. Befittingly, this song is appropriate for churchgoers and kindergarteners alike, blurring the line between church ballad and lullaby.

Bring It Back, That Ol’ Tre Fo Rap

2010-05-14T18:35:24Z

(Click Article to Enlarge)

Wax Poetics is a fantastic publication, for whom I have been granted the liberty of telling many a Carolina tale over the years. The latest, from Issue 40, sheds some light on the roots of Winston-Salem’s permanently burgeoning rap scene. Due to lack of infrastructure and negligent radio, rappers from Winston never seem to gain true traction, and no one’s willing to back me on the brilliance of PWISD’s “Scared of the Tre Fo” (Keep your heads up, fellas). The magazine is available at Borders, Barnes and Noble, and a grip of independent bookstores, most of which can be located here. You’ve got ‘til the end of month.

The Voice Gets a New Voice

2010-05-04T20:55:48Z

If you’ve never tuned in to North Carolina’s A&T’s collegiate frequency, 90.1-WNAA, you are assuredly missing out on some of the state’s finest, commercial-free programming. The latest addition to the Voice’s rich roster is local legend, Busta Brown, who spent ten years at 102 Jamz before making a grown-and-sexy migration to 97.1 WQMG. Despite generating meaningful, socially constructive content and unifying generations of Triad listeners in the process, WQMG declined to renew Brown’s contract. Brown is now at 90.1 where he continues to host “An Afternoon Thang.” Advantages: He can play old school hip-hop and mention weed. Disadvantages: He is not getting paid for his services. “For me,” explains Brown, “doing the show here is not about the money—it�s about continuing to connect with my audience.”
“The Afternoon Thing,” can be heard from 3-5pm, Monday-Thursday on 90.1-WNAA.

The Educators Band

2010-04-21T01:54:00Z

The Educators Band—an off-shoot of the same-named group that came together in Washington, DC and made “Everybody Doing Their Thing (Parts 1 & 2)” (Dy-Rich DM 4538) there in the mid 1970s—is open for business:

The best band for your event. Call us for sound reinforcement, sound installation. For your entertainment needs at (803)236-2929 or (803)236-7552.NEW MYSPACE.COM/THEEDUCATORBAND RICCOSAX@YAHOO.COM Specializing in Weddings, College Dates, Grad Chapter Fraternity’s,Soritey ‘s. Concert openers,with William Bell, B.B. King, Betty Wright, Bill Pickney Drifter’s.Dennis Edwards of TEMPS.

Leader/saxophonist Ricco Richardson moved to South Carolina a few years after producing that funky 45 with Clifton Dyson, and he has been there ever since. Merging with a local group, Blackrock, and combining names as “Blackrock Educators”, Richardson was involved in their rarity “Isn’t It Nice” b/w “Give Into Love”, released on Bobby Cohen’s eponymous imprint in 1979. The Blackrock affiliation did not last very long, and Richardson reverted to his band’s original handle. In addition to the dynamic sax-man, the current line-up also consists of Gregg Johnson (lead guitar), Thomas Kelsey (bass guitar; ex-Profiles Band and Revue* of “Boo-Koo-Stump” Carolina Soul fame), and Tim Faber (drums; also ex-Profiles Band and Revue). Local South Carolinian “James Brown, Jr.” is available on request.

*Note: “Profiles” was actually a typographical error for “Profilers”. The defunct Columbia, South Carolina outfit is still remembered locally by their correct band name. Some music enthusiasts in town also remember their unmistakably-titled synthesizer-funk jam, “Boo-Koo-Stump” (Columbia World Of Music 0055-J), which you can hear at the end of this entry.

The current line-up again, in picture form (in upper advertisement only), from left to right, Kelsey, Johnson, Faber, and Richardson:

“Have patience, dedication, and of course, talent.”

2010-04-19T17:42:49Z

Midnight Blue’s rendition of the Leiber-Stoller composition “I Who Have Nothing” is right up there with Moe The Rooster as a frequent topic of email received here at Carolina Soul, and in this case, the writers always ask how they can hear the song again. As a response, we are offering an mp3 right here in this blog posting.

Midnight Blue is clearly a well-remembered Columbia, South Carolina group, and this song in particular must have been their hottest. Indeed, within a year after its local release on Samarah, it was picked up by Motown of all labels. On the strength, Samarah gained some momentum and diversified beyond just releasing records, as shown by this 1988 listing in a trade journal:

The success of “I Who Have Nothing” must have funded more off-beat releases like King Clyde’s or a seasonal offering that I have yet to come across, “What Is Christmas Without A Toy?”, by Drake and Company, featuring saxophonist Skipp Pearson.