Be My Baby...Ahhhh words forever instilled in my
mind from a beautiful saturday night way back in 1977.

As i sat down and prepared to look at Sha Na Na.
I was excited because days earlier i had heard
the 1960's hit Be My Baby and was blown away
by the sound of Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes
(she was known as Veronica Bennett at that time)

Then the moment came and my 10 year old mind
was in awe of the beauty of Ronnie Spector, my
breath was taken away and i fell instantly in
love.

Ya'll know how it is when a child has a crush on
a celebrity and i thought nobody would ever
replace Jayne Kennedy in my heart, but Ronnie
had me hooked badly....LOL

I remember telling my Mama that someday i was
going to marry her and have 50 kids...Oh my
Goodness the mind of a child is amazing huh....LOL

Today 29 years later when i still think back to that
night i smile and laugh. It was a great time to be
10 and in love.

Although i have never seen Ronnie in person, thanks
to the Internet and YouTube i now have access to
countless videos by The Ronettes and it makes my
memories of that summer in 1977 that much sweeter.

Written by Solemannking 7/23/2006

Here is the link to the Sha Na Na performance....LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD0166KpAhs

THE RONETTES...BE MY BABY and SHOUT


2 of the original Ronettes performed in the last video, Ronnie Spector and Nedra Talley (in the gold dress) Ronnie's sister Estelle Bennett was unable to perform due to a stroke, but you will see her come to the stage at the end....

RONETTES... BE MY BABY - ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME 2007

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Comment by Edie Antoinette on April 19, 2009 at 3:09pm
That ain't no Photoshop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ROFLMBO (j/k)
Comment by Edie Antoinette on April 19, 2009 at 3:07pm
They be tearin him...UP!!!! LOL

Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on April 19, 2009 at 3:04pm
Oh Lawd...ROFLMBO. Photoshop is a helluva of a tool....LOL
Comment by Edie Antoinette on April 19, 2009 at 3:02pm
Lest we not remember...this one!!!! BWA HA HA HA HA HA @a white Sammy Stephens!!!!!

Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on April 19, 2009 at 2:59pm
The White Sammy Stephens, look at them eyes....ROFLMBO
Comment by Edie Antoinette on April 19, 2009 at 2:49pm
I wouldn't touch him with (5) 10ft poles!!!!! Oyyy if he ain't a scary lookin blarney!!!!! LOL
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on April 19, 2009 at 2:24pm
His Booking Pic, is one Scary Pic....LOL


His booking number: 1873015. His “housing location”: the Twin Towers Correctional Facility — the world’s largest jail, covering 1.5 million square feet, in a grim industrial area a few miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

When Phil Spector woke up yesterday morning, the 69-year-old music producer and former Beatles collaborator found himself in surroundings very different from his 30-bedroom “castle” in the suburb of Alhambra.

Gone was his 28-year-old Playboy-model bride. Gone was his chauffeured Mercedes-Benz. Gone also was his usual selection of elaborate wigs, Teddy Boy loafers and pinstriped, long-tailed coats.

He had been found guilty of seconddegree murder for shooting Lana Clarkson, a 40-year-old former

B-movie star whom he picked up from the House of Blues on the Sunset Strip, in 2003. After he was booked by the Sheriff’s Department, the Sixties music legend was driven from the courtroom to the Twin Towers facility where he was subjected to the standard pre-admission strip-search, issued with a fluorescent jumpsuit and then shown to his cell in a segregated part of the jail.

It was not known yesterday if he had a cellmate. A spokesman for the Sheriff’s Department told The Times that Spector had not been subjected to solitary confinement in “the hole”. “There’s no such thing as ‘the hole’,” he said. “We always separate recognisable or high-profile inmates.”

Spector will almost certainly remain in Twin Towers until his next court appointment on May 29. It is then that Judge Larry Paul Fidler will decide his sentence — a minimum of 18 years, legal experts say — before placing him in state custody. From there he will be sent to one of California’s state prisons. By the time he completes his sentence he will be at least 87 years old.

Having spent the past six years living in semi-freedom on $1 million bail during which he sat silently through not one but two murder trials, the first of which was rendered void when the jury could not reach a verdict Spector must have dreaded being taken into custody.

Yet for a long time after the murder it looked as if he might walk away a free man. Indeed, the Los Angeles Times claimed yesterday that Spector was the first celebrity found guilty of murder on Hollywood’s home turf in at least 40 years, after the infamous acquittals of O. J. Simpson, the football player, and Robert Blake, the ex-Baretta TV actor.

When the verdict was read out in court, the prosecution team celebrated as both Spector’s wife and the jury forewoman wept. Spector briefly gaped before returning to his blank frown. “He took it very stoically,” said Doron Weinberg, his defence lawyer. “He wanted to know what is next.”

The answer to his question is twofold: he will almost certainly face ruinous wrongful-death lawsuits from his victim’s family, and his legal team will begin an appeal. In the meantime, he will remain at the Twin Towers jail at 450 Bauchet Street, a mere nine miles or 15 minutes away from his former life and former home.
Comment by Edie Antoinette on April 19, 2009 at 10:08am
Phil Spector Guilty of Murder!
E! Online, Apr 14, 2009 9:47 am PDT
The boy genius has given way to the convicted murderer.

Phil Spector, the legendary record producer, eccentric and recluse with a reputation for building walls around people as much as his signature music, was found guilty of second-degree murder by Los Angeles jurors today in the 2003 shooting death of cult-movie star Lana Clarkson.

Emotions occasionally spiked at the courthouse: Spector's wife Rachelle sobbed; the jury forewoman broke down at a post-verdict press conference; prosecutors spoke of justice served. Spector, however, was described in reports as seeming unmoved.

The 69-year-old Grammy winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, who was taken immediately into custody, faces up to life in prison when sentenced May 29.

This was Spector's second judgment day on the Clarkson case. In 2007, a jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of convicting Spector.

At the second trial as at the first, prosecutors said Clarkson fell victim to a man who had a history of waving guns at, and acting violently toward, women, especially when he'd been drinking. Spector's defense argued she shot herself.

There was one new twist at the new trial, but it ended up being a nonfactor, unfortunately for Spector.

At this trial, jurors had the option of convicting Spector of a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. They not only didn't take the option, they also convicted the former hitmaker of using a gun while committing a crime.

The jury forewoman, whose name was not disclosed, told reporters deliberations were "painful." "We all have hearts," she said. "We all have people we love."

For L.A. prosecutors, the guilty verdicts were a welcome change. They previously failed to win convictions against celebrity murder defendants O.J. Simpson and Robert Blake.

Spector's fame dates back to 1958, when, at age 19, he wrote and sang his way to No. 1 on the chart with "To Know Him Is to Love Him."

As a young producer, Spector dominated the pre-Beatles 1960s with hit ("He's a Rebel") after hit ("Da Doo Ron Ron") after hit ("Be My Baby"). The songs were predominantly recorded by girl groups and were exclusively backed by the aural sensation known as the "Wall of Sound." Spector's magic touch continued through the 1960s, with "Unchained Melody," the Beatles Let It Be, John Lennon's "Imagine" and George Harrison "My Sweet Lord," among other standouts.

But over the past 30-40 years, Spector's fame gave way to a kind of infamy—the mad genius who, per lore, pulled gun on Lennon and the Ramones, or who, per Ronnie Spector, of the Spector creation the Ronettes, treated her more as a captive than wife during their troubled marriage.

Spector's alleged gun-waving ways caught up to him at trial, if not on night of Clarkson's death at his Alhambra, Calif., castle-style home. At Spector's first trial, five women testified about being at the other end of a gun drawn by Spector. Their testimony was allowed to be introduced in the new trial.

Spector and Clarkson, the queen of Roger Corman's Barbarian Queen movies, met Feb. 3, 2003, at L.A's House of Blues, where the 40-year-old Clarkson worked as a hostess and where Spector visited shortly after midnight.

About five hours later, after the pair was driven to Spector's home, Spector walked out of his mansion, and, per testimony at the first trial, told his driver: "I think I killed somebody."

(Originally published April 13, 2009, at 2:25 p.m. PT)
Comment by Shelley "SoleMann" King on November 23, 2008 at 7:29pm
Brother Will, i truly feel you on that
Comment by Edie Antoinette on November 10, 2008 at 10:00pm
Wow! Now that's very very tight that you found that! Man you are the KING of finding stuff!!!!! *clap clap clap*

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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