Lord, that we are about to receive.."

This is my beloved Aunt Martha Beverly (my Grandmother's big sister), whom I affectionately referred to as Aunt Mothie.
She was the best cook in the land--I kid you not! Anyway...

..did I tell you about the time I was outside playing (I was 10 and the year was 1961) and we lived with Aunt Mothie in Milwaukee?

I ran in to get me something to drink and on the way noticed a plastic bag in front of the vent in the kitchen on the floor.

I leaned down to get a closer look and to my HORROR, this skinned creature was staring from inside the bag with the most chillingly scary snarl- it was dead though.

It's claws were curled like it wanted to jump out the bag and bite me! I jumped back with bucked eyes and forgot all about my koolaid!

As I ran back down the stairs I regretted bending in for a closer look--ugh!

Later that evening after playing outside on 15th & Hadley, me and my sister and cousins (Mozie, Janet, Janice, Michael, Kirk, Kenny, and Trudy) went in for dinner and after washing our hands we sat down to the table for a feast of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, string beans, and homemade rolls dripping with butter.

As the platter of chicken was passed to me, I reached in and said "Mmmmm, Aunt Mothie I want me TWO pieces!!! I LOVE fried chicken!!"

Aunt Mothie replied, "Good..just don't take what you ain't gonna eat!!"

I thought to myself--"Shoooot, I really want me 3 pieces but I'll settle for two!! Hmph" *rofl*

We were chomping and smacking on that delectable bird when I commented, "Aunt Mothie, this is GOOD but why is the meat so reddish and dark?? I never saw chicken meat 'this' color.." as I still chomped..crumbs and grease encircling my lips.

Aunt Mothie replied, "Awww Fool, you know that's that COON!!!"...

At the INSTANT she spoke those words "the creature by the vent" popped into my mind's eye with it's snarling, skinned body and fanged teeth and claws!!!

I felt faint. I felt a child heart attack coming on. The mouthful of 'chicken' suddenly felt like fried roadkill and my stomach started turning and burning and glowing from under my shirt in the color of green..*bwa ha ha ha ha ha haaaa*

Aunt Mothie was like.."and you BET-TA eat BOTH pieces ma'dam..!!!!" Ohhhh the HUMANITY!!! LOL!

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Comment by Edie Antoinette on March 17, 2011 at 1:56pm
Hahahahahahahaha! Vee, you....could'a....bought....me.....for....HALF....a....penny.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the humanity!!!!! LOLOLOL!!!!! I had put the creature out of my
mind until she said what she said---then I remembered!!!! With it in my mouth!!!!!!
I'm surprised I survived that moment. I wanted to fall out and start twitching! LOL!
Comment by Vee's Treasure Suite on March 17, 2011 at 12:59pm
I am killing myself laughing. This is priceless!
Comment by Edie Antoinette on January 11, 2010 at 7:03pm
Glad you enjoyed it Cindy! I can't believe I had 'coon' in my mouth...yeck!
Comment by The Spa on December 29, 2009 at 10:48pm
LOL! Them older folks ate all KINNA stuff! But they would cook it so good you didn't know it was ..whatever it was! It was 3 in the morning and I was STILL sittin at the table looking crazy. My auntie said I put it on my plate so I was gone eat it. My stomach had other ideas. LOL
Comment by Boo on December 29, 2009 at 10:24pm
I know how you felt, one morning my aunt and I was having breakfast and my uncle came in to join us he said to my aunt " I didn't know you made the scrambled eggs and brain. I was sick for a week, just thinking about that just makes me SICK.

Introspection

Entr'acte

  1. play Norman Brown — Night Drive
  2. play Norman Brown — Feeling
  3. play Norman Brown — Still
  4. play Miles Davis — miles 1
  5. play miles 2
  6. play miles 3
  7. play miles 4
  8. play miles 5
  9. play Marvin Gaye — I Met A Little Girl
  10. play Santana — 01 Singing Winds, Crying Beasts
  11. play Santana — 02 Black Magic Woman-Gypsy Queen
  12. play Mongo — 02. Afro Blue



The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me"). 


As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even 
harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.

 

The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created. 

The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon). 

If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available. 

Enjoy.  "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967) 
 
 "I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year) "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" (Phila, 1966) "Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
   
 "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)
   
 "If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)
 



Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.

Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a
well-known penning Double Exposure's
"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay." 
 While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).

The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. If, by chance, you know of a way to get in touch with Frankie Beverly or his management, please drop me an e-mail. It would be absolutely great to do an interview with him about his pre-Maze work. He's still playing out, most recently doing a New Year's Eve show in Atlanta.
:: Funkinsoulman ::

Power...Through Simplicity ♪♫♪

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