Our Monthly Club Meeting will be this Sunday,
December 9th at the Homewood Public Library.
2:00 PM

RECORDS & CD’S---MUSIC---FOOD---FRIENDSHIP
GOODTIMES---GUEST SPEAKERS
MEMBER PRESENTATIONS

*******Next club meeting will be January 13th, 2008, the 2nd Sunday********

BRC CHRISTMAS PARTY
At this month’s meeting we will once again play “Dirty Santa”. If you want to join in on the fun just wrap up a 45, LP, CD or a slice of music memorabilia and show up. Don’t know the rules? We’ll teach them to you. Drop by and be a part of the fun with or without a wrapped gift.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT JANUARY’S MEETING
Our January club meeting will be an “in-house” record/cd show with a twist. We will invite at random 40 non-members from our mailing list to this meeting. We want to make this meeting a mini record show. To have the space to do this we will be meeting in Room 101. This room is in the basement as our regular meeting room is so you will be able to find us I’m sure. Bring a box of records or cd’s so our guests will have plenty of music to look through.

Answer’s to last month’s trivia questions:
1.Which group mentioned above was the headliner for the first integrated concert in Alabama? Shirelles
2. The Shirelles helped what future star get some early exposure by having her fill in when members took some time off? Dionne Warwick
3. Trudy Williams, lead singer for The Six Teens on “A Casual Look”, was how old when she recorded the song? 12
4. “A Casual Look” had a line in it that lead the group, The Students, to record what song? “So Young”
5. “The Ballad Of The Green Berets” was parodied by what group and what was the title of their song? Beach Bums were the group. The song was “Ballad of the Yellow Berets”
6. The group in question 5 had a future superstar in it. Who? Bob Seger
7. Who is the sky pilot in the Animals song, “Sky Pilot”? Military Chaplin
8. Who allegedly wrote the American revolutionary song, “Yankee Doodle Dandy”? A British military doctor

This Month’s Music Theme: Christmas Music
With Christmas right around the corner, let’s look at some of the Christmas music we heard on the radio growing up. I remember hunting for a rockabilly cd at our record/cd show one year and the dealer, after seeing me trying to find one cd with all the songs I wanted on it said to me, “There is no Holy Grail.” Well he was right but if I had a Holy Grail of Christmas music here is what I would have on it. I don’t know who did the original version of this first song but I know Elvis made the song “his”. “Blue Christmas” was such fun to listen to and I still get a kick out of his recording. Speaking of Elvis’s Christmas music, be sure to give “Santa Claus Is Back In Town” a listen. He really rocked the holiday season. Brenda Lee also made listening to Christmas music fun. Her “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree” added some punch to Christmas. I saw Brenda in concert a few years back and was glad she included this song in a medley of her songs. Used in the movie, Home Alone, “Hey Santa Claus” by The Moonglows is a doo wop holiday song I enjoy a lot. Another doo wop recording, “White Christmas” is one song I would include twice due to the fact I enjoy 2 versions of it. The Drifters do the most commonly played version but The Statues do a real nice recording of it also. In fact the only place I get to hear it is at work. It is part of the music mix we get. Another song used in a movie is Ray Charles’ “That Spirit Of Christmas”. You may have heard it in “Christmas Vacation”. The Tune Weavers do a take-off of their hit, “Happy, Happy Birthday Baby” with their recording, “Merry, Merry Christmas Baby”. It has that 50’s feel for your Christmas fun. Another one that is a take-off of a previous hit is Carla Thomas doing “Gee Whiz, It’s Christmas”. Very bouncy little song that has that Stax/Volt sound. My favorite Christmas carol is “Silent Night”. The BEST version of this song I have ever heard is done by Stevie Nicks. She puts a lot of feeling in the song and I listen to it many times during this time of the year. Along this same line of music, Harry Simeone Chorale’s “Little Drummer Boy” IS Christmas. Back to the rockers of the season. Bobby Helms’ starts the rockin’ again with “Jingle Bell Rock” and The Tractors keep it going with “I Was A Bad Boy This Year”. Give this one a listen if you like your Christmas music rockin’ and rollin’. Chuck Berry keeps us going with “Run Rudolph Run”. Bryan Adams does a modern version of this song and does a good job but Chuck’s is the best. Let’s slow it down with a few. How about Charles Brown’s “Please Come Home For Christmas”. Definitely a Christmas classic. And another one that falls in that category would be Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Paper”. He never sounded better. One song that I’ve heard by many artists that I would include is “All I Want For Christmas Is You”. The version I enjoy the most is Vince Vance & The Valiants. Lisa Layne does the vocals here and does a knock-out job. One that has a different slant to it is Eartha Kitt’s “Santa Baby”. She provides us with a sultry Christmas song. One that you may never have heard is Peter, Paul & Mary’s “Children Go Where I send You”. Has the same type feel as “Twelve Days Of Christmas” but a much better song. I have the live version that includes a choir in the background. Excellent. I’ll end my Christmas cd with that “wall of sound.” How about Darlene Love’s “Marshmallow World” & the Ronettes’ “Sleigh Ride”. These are 2 very good songs done with that Phil Spector touch. Well there it is. Christmas songs that I would include on my cd. No, wait a minute. No Christmas cd would be complete without Seymour Swine & The Squeelers doing “Blue Christmas”. Not a rocker, slow, carol or romantic but one of the best fun ones. Now that makes it complete. I know I left out many good ones but I only have so much space. Have a Merry Christmas and I hope you get some good music from Santa.

Albums you want to check out include The Time-Life Treasury Of Christmas I & II, Chris Isaak Christmas, Doo Wop Christmas, Malt Shop Memories: Christmas & Rockin’ Little Christmas.

Christmas Music Trivia:

1. Who is Seymour Swine?

This month Jerry finishes his Louisiana Ride story
Louisiana Ride Part 2
Several nights into the Club Dallas gig, we realized there was something magic in the air! A packed house, with waiting lines at the door became the norm!
Being young of body and spirit, our days and nights were filled with excitement. Especially meeting the many performers playing along the Bossier City strip. For most of us, the experience was our first. Most of us handled it with some semblance of maturity. I said most: Sonny was another story!
John and Inez Dyer owned the club; however, Inez seemed to wear the pants. After about 3 months, John and Sonny, went to the strip in Bossier City, they bar hopped all afternoon almost till time for us to play. They were both inebriated. Inez became infuriated and threw Johns clothes out. She fired Sonny. I told her we came as a package and so we all left. After shipping our equipment home, Sonny and I hitched a ride all the way to East Thomas. We managed to catch another ride to Sumiton. The rest of the band came later, with Bobby. I never saw him again.
Two years later I was walking out of the Allstate Restaurant. It was around 4:00 AM. I had just finished the night (with The Cavemen) and a breakfast. I noticed a tour bus, pull in front of the restaurant. After a closer look I realized it was The Happy Goodman family. The driver got out with a thermos. I suppose he was going for coffee. After asking if Bobby was aboard and being told yes, but everyone was asleep, I stood there for a few minutes with memories rushing through my head. It was a strange feeling in that brisk morning air. Glancing to my left at Hollis Gas station, I was really set back. I worked there at nights, part time, many years before and gassed up a Van, pulling a trailer, with Roscoe Gordon written on it. We had chatted for several minutes and he said they were on tour. Here is Bobby, asleep, on the bus and a memory of meeting the band we replaced in Shreveport, to my left! The irony of it all kept me awake for hours.
About The Goodman’s:
Howard “Happy” Goodman, often walked to my granddads home on Sundays. He would go to church with granddad and eat lunch with them. Later he would walk back, several miles, to his home in Quinton or Flat Creek (don’t know for sure)
The Happy Goodman Family began to gain notoriety for their singing around 1950. During the1940's and' 50's there were various combinations of all eight brothers and sisters, with Howard always being there. , Sam served in the Air Force, while Bobby, was a truck driver and played for some rock and roll bands. Brother Rusty, did some military service as well while singing with the Plainsmen Quartet and recording with Johnny Horton. His voice is still remembered today as the bass on “North to Alaska”. (Way Up North). Howard married, and soon his wife, Vestal, joined the group. These two later became known more than, the rest of the family! After all the sisters married, Howard and Vestal went into evangelistic work. Sam joined them again followed by Rusty in 1962 and Later Bobby, (after leaving Shreveport, La, with “The Dukes”) started singing and playing bass with the family!)
They became Grammy Award winning artists.
Next month as promised…”Pappy’s Club”
Jerry Grammer

From England Dave
Jerry
As usual I am amazed at the clarity in your tale - it is as if it was only yesterday -- so clear is the memory that the reader can feel the atmosphere -- for me, with something close to envy - as those days seem so heady! -- also it springs to mind how many of you were entertaining , singing and playing as part and whole families ( take the Johnson’s for instance )
And as I have said before it is so amazing and informative how your careers intertwine with those of others. For example the bass singer on Johnny Horton’s " North to Alaska " -- this also is so strange that you mention this for since I first heard that deep voice on Johnny’s recording --and even though I cant sing - -to this day I copy that "WAY UP NORTH" for various reasons at least once a week - -small world huh ??
Dave

See ya,
Charlie