Our Monthly Club Meeting will be this Sunday, June 8th at the Homewood Public Library. 2:00 PM
*******Next club meeting will be July 13th, 2008, the second Sunday********

“The Day The Music Died” May 14th, 2008
At this month’s meeting we will take time to share stories & memories of our friend,
Ben Saxon. Drop by and be a part of this celebration of Ben’s life & legacy.

“A long, long time ago….I can still remember
How that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance
That I could make those people dance
And, maybe, they’d be happy for a while.”

How appropriate those words from Don McLean’s song, “American Pie” describe our friend and founding BRC member, Ben Saxon. We lost Ben on May 14th, 2008. He loved music and it did make him smile. I think he loved music twice as much as most of us because he could tell us what the flip side of a hit record was.
Ben became my “friend” as he did many just by being a DJ on BRC’s “The Heart & Soul Of Rock & Roll.” People would turn their radios on and listen to the show and smile and dance and find some peace of mind with the great songs that were played. It was a couple of years later that I actually met my “friend” when I went to a BRC meeting and eventually joined the club. Then after being asked to serve as an officer I got to know Ben even more and learned just how much he loved music and why he took his chance as the song says and played his music on the radio for people.

Ben’s friendship and leadership will be missed by many. As an example of how many people will miss him, look no further than the Birmingham Boppers who were in Panama City and were unable to attend the funeral. On Saturday they took a moment of their day and paused to remember Ben.

Ecclesiastes 3:4 says, “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.” Ben gave us the times to laugh and dance while he was here. As his close friend, David Bryan said, “Thanks for the memories, Ben.”

This year’s 2008 BRC Record/CD show will be dedicated in honor of Ben.

At the end of last month’s newsletter I asked what you thought of when you hear the name David Gates. People that I have talked to since said one word, “Bread.” That was the name of the 70’s pop music group David Gates formed. They had such hits like “Make It With You”, “It Don’t Matter To Me”, “Baby, I’m A Want You” and “If”, which was a # 1 hit in the UK for Telly Savalas (Kojak). Thus because of these mushy pop love songs Gates will always be thought of as an easy listening music genre performer. But wait just a minute. Let’s go back a few years and see what he was doing. You don’t have to go back to far and you’ll see that he wrote a song we have all heard of called “Popsicles & Icicles”. A big hit for The Murmaids. But further back he was doing teeners and some rockers. It started in 1957 with a record called “Jo Baby” on the Perspective Sound label with a flip we will discuss in a moment. These same 2 songs were also released on Robbins. On the same label he recorded as Ronnie Franklin & The Vibes. These songs were “Pretty Baby” & “Crying For You.” About 2 years later he came out with “Walkin’ & Talkin’” with the flip side “Swingin’ Baby Doll” on East West. He then did the very collectible “You’ll Be My Baby” on the Mala label backed with “What’s This I Hear.” Over the next 2 years he had 2 more releases on Mala before moving on to Del-Fi. He had 2 releases for them including a surf 45 with the songs “Oakie Surfer” and “Blue Surf”, an instrumental. Over the next 2 years he recorded for JADS, Manchester, Planetary and Vee-Jay. About this time he did more studio musician work and producing. He worked with Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Merle Haggard, Phil Spector, Brian Wilson and Elvis. He produced the Glenn Yarbrough hit “Baby The Rain Must Fall.” OK, and now the kicker. In 1964 Gates wrote the title song for the motion picture, “Hey There It’s Yogi Bear”.

So when you hear the name David Gates or hear a song by David Gates & Bread, you now know the rest of the story. But wait a minute, what about the flip side I said we would discuss later. The flip side of his first record, “Jo Baby”, was a song that was later recorded by our very own Sammy Salvo. The title was “Lovin’ At Night”, my personal favorite of Sammy’s recordings. It was the flip on both the Perspective and Robbins labels and was written by Gates.

For a listing of early David Gates’ recordings, try these links.
http://els51.law.emory.edu/rcs/artists/g/gate1000.htm
http://www.jlindquist.net/bread/brsolo.html

CD with David Gates’ early recordings
http://www.deadog.com/page/DDR/PROD/Bread-1001a

Listen:
“Lovin’ At Night” on Perspective:
“Lovin’ At Night on Robbins: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CbJVlgIsK9c
“Walkin’ And Talkin’” : http://youtube.com/watch?v=OfAnvv8TM-0
“Swingin’ Baby Doll”: http://youtube.com/watch?v=rCykmTspduM

UPCOMING CONCERTS:
Leon Russell: Friday, May 23rd. Workplay. 9 PM. $30

ZZ Topp: Thursday, May 29th. Verizon Wireless Music Center. 7:30 PM. $31 - $42

City Stages: June 13th, 14th & 15th. Downtown Birmingham. Tickets at Books-A-Million, Moe's, Publix and ticketmaster.com $28 per day at gate or $45 for weekend pass.

Doo Wop Live: Saturday, July 12th. Alys Stephens Center, UAB. 2:30 PM & 7:00 PM. Drifters featuring Charlie Thomas, Gene “Duke Of Earl” Chandler, Carl Gardner’s Coasters, Bobby “Tossin’ & Turnin’” Lewis & Kid Kyle, 13 year old Doo Wop singer. Tickets range from $100 - $300. http://www.aptv.org/events/eventname.asp?Name=Doo%20Wop%20Live%20in%20Bi...!

UPCOMING RECORD SHOW:
July 20th. Atlanta. Marriott Century Center Located at I-85 & Clairmont Rd exit 91.

Rock’N’Roll has lost a founding father. Bo Diddley died of heart failure on Monday, June 2. He was 79.

At the July club meeting we will need volunteers to help place address labels on our BRC Record/CD Show postcards. Come lend a hand.

Also, who was the guy that sang “Pretty Little Angel Eyes”? Let’s take a look at his musical career.

See ya,
Charlie