Doo Wop:
-Tribute to Pookie Hudson and the Spaniels (Singing: Good Night Sweet Heart)
-Tony Del Vecchio and Yesterdays News
-Vito Balsamo and Golden Group Memories
-Earl Lewis and the Channels
-Eugene Pitt and The Jive Five
-Frankie Lyman's Legendary Teenagers
-Bobby Thomas Orioles
-A Tribute to The Late Johnny Reed

Variety:
-Frank Dell and The New York Connections (Blues)
-Young Redd Foxx (Comedian)
-J.W.Lance (Country)
-Susan Agin and All Tuned Up (Broadway)
-Keisha St Joan (Jazz Trio)
-The American Indian Dance Troupe

Click here to order online...

If you would like to hook up with Soul-Patrol offline at this event, please contact our NYC Coordinador Cheryl Russell via email for discount tickets, to participate in our meet and greet with the artists and more at these events


--Bob Davis
earthjuice@prodigy.net



Profile: James "Pookie" Hudson



One of the things that is going to happen at the Doo Wop and Variety Show on October 21 at Queensborough Community College is a special tribute to the legendary "Pookie Hudson, lead singer of the Spaniels. Pookie i8s a longtime member of Soul-Patrol and has been a great friend of ours for many years, as you can see in the photo above of Pookie and Soul-Patrollers AdamsRib and ZieLove :)
So I thought it might be nice to profile Pookie and the Spaniels here in the Newsletter.

Thornton James "Pookie" Hudson was born on June 11, 1934 in Des Moines, Iowa. Hudson received his nickname from an aunt who babysat him. He was the only child of Ardath Robinson. His father, who he never knew, was rumored to be a gypsy. James Hudson married his mother while she was pregnant and shortly after his birth the family moved from Iowa to Gary, Indiana. Hudson attended Roosevelt School from first grade until he graduated in 1953. He developed a love for music and singing at a young age and shares the bloodline with famous performers Josephine Baker and Fats Waller. In 1948, while only in junior high school, he formed his first Doo Wop singing group, The Four Bees with fellow members Billy Shelton, Gerald Gregory and Calvin Fossett. The group eventually broke up when one of the members graduated.

The Spaniels were created in 1953 at Roosevelt High School. The teenage celebrities included Hudson as the lead singer, first tenor Ernest Warren, second tenor Willie C. Jackson, baritone Opal Courtney, Jr and bass Gerald Gregory. Upon graduation in 1953, the group became the first artists to sign with Vee Jay Records, the first large, independent African American-owned record company. The group's initial release Baby It's You reached number ten on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart. In the spring of 1954 that The Spaniels reached the height of their Doo Wop success when Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight hit number twenty-four on Billboard's Top 40 and rose to number five on the R & B chart. The multi-million dollar single was just one of hundreds of songs written by Hudson. To date, the song continues to be a popular favorite among Doo Wop, classic rock and R & B music fans.

In the 1950s, The Spaniels were the top selling vocal group for Vee Jay records. When the label went bankrupt in 1966, Hudson embarked on a solo career and began recording for several other labels. In 1969, the group reunited and returned to the music of their youth. Their song Fairy Tales became a national hit in 1970. Hudson continued to perform with various Spaniels groups until he reassembled the original group.

In 1992, Hudson was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame. Today he continues to perform with two Spaniels groups, one in Washington, D.C. and the original group still based in Gary. Hudson is raising money to open a Doo Wop museum in Washington, D.C. where he resides with his wife, Delores.

Bio Courtesy of HistoryMakers.com



If you would like to hook up with Soul-Patrol offline at this event, please contact our NYC Coordinador Cheryl Russell via email for discount tickets, to participate in our meet and greet with the artists and more at these events


Click here to order online...


--Bob Davis
earthjuice@prodigy.net







Commentary: Why a Variety Show?


Well here is what the dictionary says that it is...

"variety show
n.
A theatrical entertainment consisting of successive unrelated acts, such as songs, dances, and comedy skits."


The Variety show format that most of us "old heads" are most familiar with was the format used on TV shows like Ed Sullivan or Hollywood Palace. These shows were diverse and perhaps the most fun aspect of them was the fact that you really didn't know what was coming next. The diversity was what made it fun, because even though you may have tuned in to watch a specific thing (ex: Beatles, Supremes, etc) you wound up being introduced to an artist, a style, a joke, etc that you simply hadn't been exposed to before. Of course in the late 1960's this type of format became passe', as people became more narrowed and focused in their interests.

In my opinion we lost something, when we lost the Variety show. For example, TV Variety shows were a prime mechanism for Black artists to be introduced to mainstream audiences during the 1950's and 1960's. In today's world of "narrowcasting", how does new talent get exposed to the mainstream? This is a major problem for many artists right here on Soul-Patrol who struggle each day to make people more aware of what they have to offer. Too bad there are no longer venues like Ed Sullivan or Hollywood Palace, for artists like Leon Ware, Will Wheaton, Laurena, Louise Perryman, Nicole Wright, Nadir, Marlon Saunders, Sonny Boy, Susaye Greene, Angela Johnson and others to come into our living rooms via variety shows. Shows like American Idol are hardly a replacement for the kind of diversity that once existed in TV Variety Shows.

So I'm looking forward to the variety show aspect of the Doo Wop and Variety Show on October 21 at Queensborough Community College. I have no doubt that not only will I have a blast not only seeing/hearing some great doo wop from several legendary performers, but I am also going to be exposed to some artists that I have never heard of in the past who are going to turn me on to some truly great entertainment. Perhaps this is something we need to return to as a way to expose talented people?

--Bob Davis




Calling NYC, LA, Chicago, Washington DC, Ptittsburgh, Cleveland, Tampa, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Memphis, St Louis, Miami and London/UK: How About Some Soul-Patrol Events In Your City??


Now I know that there are some of you out there who think that we only do events in NYC or Los Angeles. Nothing could be further from the truth. Soul-Patrol has active chapters in Chicago, Washington DC, Ptittsburgh, Cleveland, Tampa and Philadelphia. And we would like to establish chapters in Detroit, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Memphis, St Louis, Miami and London/UK. But we need to know who you are and where you are located at...

If you live in or around these cities and you are interested in hanging out with us at some of our offline events, hit me back via email. Click on the city nearest to you below...

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