Rocking at the 2i's

Sunday's marathon show at the 100 Club in Oxford Street, featuring many of the remaining British skiffle and rock and roll acts from the late fifties, was sold out. And deservedly so, since it's not often that this many half forgotten artists of the very first era of popular UK music perform together.
The six hour gig featured around a dozen acts. more or less equally divided between skiffle acts such as the Eastside Skiffle Group and Chas McDevitt, and the more rock and roll influenced singers like Vince Eager and Wee Willie Harris. Of course, it was all incredibly derivative - the only original number during the whole evening that I noticed being Wee Willie's Rocking at the 2i's - and tame compared with the American originals. But overall it was an enjoyable evening, and certainly the crowd had a good time.
The skiffle section left me rather cold with some rather plodding numbers interspersed with the occasional high spot, but the show came to life in the second half. Vince Eager and Danny Rivers rocked the joint with covers of US hits. Buddy Britten, who recorded in the early sixties, was less impressive, but Terry Wayne, looking remarkably young and dapper, got things moving again with some decent rockabiily - and a rather out of place version of Stand by me. Final act was Wee Willie Harris. who was almost as outrageous - and certainly as amusing - as he was in his prime. Dressed in a bright red suit he gave his all and eventually stripped off above the waist in true rock legend style.
Keith Woods and Ken Major are to be congratulated for staging such a successful show - Tales From the Woods' entry into the big time perhaps. Even if some of the music was dodgy at times, the evening itself was a huge success.

More great oldies

More personal top tens from the golden years of the early 60s, as recorded at the time. Some interesting ones here:
Jan 26, 1961: 1. Calendar girl - Neil Sedaka; 2. Sad mood - Sam Cooke; 3. Rubber ball - Bobby Vee; 4. Will you love me tomorrow - The Shirelles; 5. Piltdown rides again - Piltdown Men; 6. Angel baby - Rosie & the Originals; 7. Are you lonesome tonight - Elvis Presley; 8. You're sixteen - Johnny Burnette; 9. Many tears ago - Connie Francis; 10= Pepe - Duane Eddy, and What to do - Buddy Holly.
Jan 27, 1962: 1. It will stand - The Showmen; 2. I could have loved you so well - Ray Peterson; 3. La Bamba - Ritchie Valens; 4. Mr music man - Jimmy Jones; 5. The wanderer - Dion; 6. Lonesome number one - Don Gibson; 7. Farewell farewell - Johnny & the Hurricanes; 8. Crying in the rain - Everly Brothers; 9. I can't help falling in love - Elvis Presley; 10. I cried my last tear - Ernie K-Doe.
Jan 26, 1963: 1. Little town flirt - Del Shannon; 2. Tell him - The Exciters; 3. Everybody loves a lover - The Shirelles; 4= He's sure the boy I love - The Crystals, My little girl - The Crickets, and Trouble is my middle name - Bobby Vinton; 7= That's life (that's tough) - Gabriel & the Angels, Walk right in - Rooftop Singers, and Ruby baby - Dion; 10= Half heaven - half heartache - Gene Pitney, and Zip-a-dee-doo-dah - Bob B Soxx & the Bluejeans.
Jan 28, 1964: 1. Louie Louie - The Kingsmen; 2. When the lovelight starts shining through his eyes - The Supremes; 3. Drag city - Jan & Dean; 4= Baby I love you - The Ronettes, and Tonight you're gonna fall in love with me - The Shirelles; 6. Um um um um um um - Major Lance; 7. Girls grow up faster than boys - The Cookies; 8. Need to belong - Jerry Butler; 9= When the boy's happy - Four Pennies, Can I get a witness - Marvin Gaye, and Doo wahh diddy diddy - The Exciters.
Jan 29, 1965: 1. Shake - Sam Cooke; 2. Hold what you've got - Joe Tex; 3. You've lost that lovin' feeling - Righteous Brothers; 4. Leader of the Pack - Shangri-Las; 5. The name game - Shirley Ellis; 6. Night train - James Brown; 7. Amen - The Impressions; 8. Come see about me - The Supremes; 9. Dance dance dance - The Beach Boys; 10. Baby don't you do it - Marvin Gaye.

Another Hurricane dies - and Pookie Hudson

Back in May I did a little tribute to Johnny Paris of Johnny and the Hurricanes on The Vinyl Word, which resulted in some correspondence from his widow Sonja. I now see that a comment's been posted saying that another original member of the band has died - bass player Lionel 'Butch' Mattice. Butch played on all the early recordings but apparently he and the other original members broke with Johnny in 1961 because of personality differences and formed their own band The Fascinators. Johnny and the Hurricanes continued with a variety of line ups over the years.
There's some interesting correspondence on all this, including some reminiscences from Lynn Bruce, who played drums with the band in 1960-61, on this link http://faac.us/adf/messages/109997/128104.html?1163343396
Another great who has joined the ever growing celestial doowop choir is Pookie Hudson, lead singer of The Spaniels, who has died aged 72. Goodnite Pookie Goodnite.

Line ups at New Orleans

Unofficial line up for the New Orleans Jazz Fest this year:
Tab Benoit, Terence Blanchard, The Bluebirds, Bonerama, Calexico, Ba Cissoko, Jon Cleary, Harry Connick Jr., Henry Gray & The Cats, Gringo Do Choro, Roland Guerin Band, Richie Havens, The Iguanas, Roland Jack, Alexa Ray Joel, Leroy Jones, Sonny Landreth, Tim Laughlin, Rosie Ledet & The Zydeco Playboys, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Lindell, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Taj Mahal Trio, Shannon McNally, Morning 40 Federation, The New Orleans Bingo! Show, Judith Owen, Papa Grows Funk, Beth Patterson w/ Kalafka, Pine Leaf Boys, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Willis Prudhomme and Zydeco Express, Ra-B, Johnny Sketch & The Dirty Notes, Percy Sledge, George Thorogood & the Destroyers, Walter "Wolfman" Washington. Many more to come.
Line up for the Ponderosa Stomp at the House of Blues, New orleans on May 2:
Psychedelic legend Roky Erickson and The Explosives, master arranger Wardell Quezergue and the New Orleans Rhythm & Blues Revue, soul songwriter supreme Dan Penn, rockabilly wild man Dale Hawkins, R&B soprano Little Jimmy Scott, Texas Tornado co-founder Augie Meyers, Stax sessions guitarist Skip Pitts, Gulf Coast guitar empress Barbara Lynn, Excello harp master Lazy Lester, keyboardist extraordinaire Willie Tee, President of soul Rockie Charles, hillbilly bopper Jay Chevalier, tough Texas shouter Roy Head, and rockabilly wailer Joe Clay, Mardi Gras king Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, with more to come.

January top tens

More personal top tens from the early sixties:
Jan 18, 1961: 1. Calendar girl - Neil Sedaka; 2. Rubber ball - Bobby Vee; 3. Are you lonesome tonight - Elvis Presley; 4. Many tears ago - Connie Francis; 5. You're sixteen - Johnny Burnette; 6. Pepe - Duane Eddy; 7= A thousand stars - Billy Fury, and Doncha know - The Crickets; 9. Let's jump the broomstick - Brenda Lee; 10= North to Alaska - Johnny Horton, and Sad mood - Sam Cooke. Jan 17, 1962: 1. Lonesome number one - Don Gibson; 2. The wanderer - Dion; 3. Can't help falling in love - Elvis Presley; 4. Farewell farewell - Johnny & the Hurricanes; 5. Crying in the rain - Everly Brothers; 6. He's old enough to know better - The Crickets; 7. It will stand - The Showmen; 8. Unchain my heart - Ray Charles; 9. Revenge - Brook Benton; 10. I cried my last tear - Ernie K-Doe.
Jan 18, 1963: 1. Little town flirt - Del Shannon; 2. My little girl - The Crickets; 3. Zip a dee doo dah - Bob B Soxx & the Blue Jeans; 4. Beautiful dreamer - Tony Orlando; 5. Walk right in - Rooftop Singers; 6. Ruby baby - Dion; 7= Tell him - The Exciters, Trouble is my middle name - Bobby Vinton, and Big girls don't cry - Four Seasons; 10= Some kinda fun - Chris Montez, and Chains - The Cookies.
Jan 18, 1964: 1. Louie Louie - The Kingsmen; 2. Baby I love you - The Ronettes; 3. Drag city - Jan & Dean; 4. When the lovelight starts shining through his eyes - The Supremes; 5. Tonight you're gonna fall in love with me - The Shirelles; 6. When the boy's happy - Four Pennies; 7. Can I get a witness - Marvin Gaye; 8. Need to belong - Jerry Butler; 9. Girls grow up faster than boys - The Cookies; 10= Do the dog - Rufus Thomas, and Whisperin ' - Nino Tempo & April Stevens.
Jan 19, 1965: 1. You've lost that lovin' feeling - Righteous Brothers; 2. Shake - Sam Cooke; 3. Leader of the pack - The Shangri-Las; 4. Night train - James Brown; 5. Dance dance dance - The Beach Boys; 6. Baby don't you do it - Marvin Gaye; 7= Oh no not my baby - Maxine Brown, and Come see about me - The Supremes; 9. Ain't it the truth - Mary Wells; 10= Going out of my head - Little Anthony & the Imperials, and The jerk - The Larks.

Blues Boy and Moonchild

It's not easy turning an English village hall into a Mississippi juke joint but it nearly happened at the Longthorpe Memorial Hall in Peterborough last night. Former Ichiban blues men Artie 'Blues Boy' White and Travis 'Moonchild' Haddix put on a show which would not have been out of place in Chicago or the deep south, with off colour jokes from a bemused looking Artie and searing guitar from Travis, and the locals were politely enthusiastic. Not many people could get away with wearing a bright pink jump suit on stage and Artie isn't one of them. He was far from dynamic, sitting on stage like an immobile Mr Blobby, but his deep soulful voice carried him through, as did his slightly lewd stories. Travis, meanwhile, bounced around beside him and showed that he is an excellent guitarist and blues singer. They were well supported by the Mike Carr Allstars, whose jazz routes showed through at times but who proved themselves well able to transfer their talents to the blues.
Travis, who is from Cleveland, said that he had never played with Chicago-based Artie prior to the show the previous evening in Stamford, but you wouldn't know it. They seemed like old friends, even if Artie did seem to be a in a trance most of the time. This was my first visit to one of the Shakedown blues gigs in this unlikely corner of the UK, but full marks to promoter Gerard Homan for putting the shows on and attracting blues artists of the first rank. I will definitely go again.

Thinking about New Orleans

It's another year so naturally my thoughts turn to New Orleans and whether I can afford the time (and money) for a Jazzfest trip this year. There's not much information about the line up yet, apart from Jerry Lee apparently performing. But we do know that the Ponderosa Stomp will be back in New Orleans, but only for one day it seems - May 2 at the House of Blues. Artists announced so far include Dan Penn, Dale Hawkins, Augie Meyer, Barbara Lynn, Roy Head, Lazy Lester and Al 'Carnival Time' Johnson. Here's all that's available so far http://www.knights-maumau.com/news.php?PHPSESSID=40c954d0ca701e72cad0229acef946e9
January 27 is another big night at the House of Blues with a tribute to Fats Domino, including appearances by Dr John and Allen Toussaint among others. Fats will also be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award from Offbeat magazine. And Cosimo Matassa is due to receive a long overdue Grammy next month for his incredible contribution to rock and roll and New Orleans R and B. On a sadder note I read that Joel Neville, wife of Aaron for 47 years, has died of cancer.
Watching the movie Runaway Jury, a thriller set in pre-Katrina New Orleans, last night made me nostalgic for the great city I knew. Not sure what to expect if I do go this year, but I hope I can make it.

Ms Winehouse

It's a week ago now but I enjoyed seeing Sam Moore on Jools Holland's Hootenanny. It's good to know that there are still a few of the great soul men still standing. But the star of the show for me was Amy Winehouse, who not only looked fabulous but had what seemed like a great soul voice to match. I will be investigating further.

New Year top tens

Another trip down memory lane.
Jan 8, 1961: 1. Are you lonesome tonight - Elvis Presley; 2. Rubber ball - Bobby Vee; 3. You're sixteen - Johnny Burnette; 4. Many tears ago - Connis Francis; 5. Doncha know - The Crickets; 6. Corrine Corrina - Ray Peterson; 7= Let's jump the broomstick - Brenda Lee, and A thousand stars - Billy Fury; 9. Last date - Floyd Cramer; 10. My girl Josephine - Fats Domino.
Jan 6, 1962: 1. Lonesome number one - Don Gibson; 2. Multiplication - Bobby Darin; 3. Happy birthday sweet 16 - Neil Sedaka; 4. Crying in the rain - Everly Brothers; 5. So long baby - Del Shannon; 6. Run to him - Bobby Vee; 7. He's old enough to know better - The Crickets; 8. Rock-a-hula baby - Elvis Presley; 9. Let's twist again - Chubby Checker; 10. The avenger - Duane Eddy.
Jan 6, 1963: 1. Zip a dee doo dah - Bob B Soxx & the Blue Jeans; 2. Chains - The Cookies; 3. Rumors - Johnny Crawford; 4. Love came to me - Dion; 5. It's up to you - Rick Nelson; 6. I can't help it - Johnny Tillotson; 7. Teenage has been - Barry Mann; 8. Under your spell again - Lloyd Price; 9. Stop the music - The Shirelles; 10= 2000 pound bee - The Ventures, and If you were a rock and roll record - Freddy Cannon.
Jan 8, 1964: 1. Baby I love you - The Ronettes; 2. Can I get a witness - Marvin Gaye; 3. Run Rudolph run - Chuck Berry; 4. Louie Louie - The Kingsmen; 5. When the boy's happy - Four Pennies; 6. Gotta dance to keep from crying - The Miracles; 7. Whispering - Nini Tempo & April Stevens; 8. Swinging on a star - Big Dee Irwin; 9. Fine fine boy - Darlene Love; 10. We wish you a merry Christmas - Big Dee Irwin & Little Eva.
Jan 8, 1965: 1. Oh no not my baby - Maxine Brown; 2. The jerk - The Larks; 3. Going out of my head - Little Anthony & the Imperials; 4= You've lost that lovin' feeling - Righteous Brothers, Night train - James Brown, and Dance dance dance - The Beach Boys; 7. Needle in a haystack - The Velvelettes; 8= Sidewalk surfing - Jan & Dean, and Getting mighty crowded - Betty Everett; 10. Leader of the pack - Shangri-las.