An Irreverent Fanzine.
Wholesome Presents... Ex Okays "Lord Monsoon"
Ex Okays Live at WholesomeStudio-b3. We absolutely love these guys. Catch 'em Live with Live Forest, The Hazy Seas July 18th. wholso.me/presents
Studio, ZineShecky Nuisance July 11, 2019 WholesomePresents..., Live Music, Ex Okays, Lord Monsoon, News
Radio LOBO Show! 14
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers • Vampire Weekend • Surfbort • Bhi Bhiman • Billie Eilish • Blanco Suave • IDLES •Kumbia Queers • Dead Kennedys • Tart • Pinky Doodle Poodle • The Cell Phones • Against Me! • NOFX • Ezra Furman • Girls • Tacocat • Bleached • Bikini Kill
RadioDJ LOBO June 28, 2019 DJ LOBO - Radio LOBO Show!, The Hives, Amyl and The Sniffers, Ezra Furman, Making Movies, Xenia Rubinos, Tijuana No, Tropa Magica, Tony Gallardo II, Kumbia Queers, Woody Guthrie, Cat Power, Bob Dylan, Jeff Tweedy, Margo Price, Johnathan Rice, Courtney Marie Andrews, Bhi Bhiman, News
Soul Station Feature: John Hammond
Shake For Me
I discovered the Southern Friedalbum in 1970, sometime after it was released. Most of it hit me right off. I was also drawn to it because Duane Allman is on four of the disc's tracks. I was already familiar with Hammond's Vanguard label albums, since the public library had them. I liked them, but really felt this album was in a different class: it had horns and a much different drum sound. Probably because it was recorded in Alabama. The lead track on side one was also put out on a 45 at the end of 1969, before the album was issued, and though it didn't light up the charts, it is easy to tell why it was chosen: Allman adds a lot when his slide enters during the second verse.
RadioDJ Pi June 14, 2019 WholesomeZine LLCSoul Station Feature, News, John Hammond, Duane Allman, Alabama, Southern Fried
Soul Station Feature: Jimmy Heath
C.T.A.
In April of 1953, Miles Davis recorded with sax player Jimmy Heath, and that session also produced a recording of Heath's composition, C.T.A. Sometime after this session, Heath's drug problems escalated and he did two prison stints, not getting out until 1959. During that time in jail he worked hard on his writing and composed several things that ended up on an album by several prominent, west coast players. It was originally called Playboys (in 1957) and later was issued as Picture of Heath, as all the tunes were written by him. Among the musicians on that disc are Chet Baker, Art Pepper, and the very prominent bassist, Curtis Counce. C.T.A. was also recorded, and this helped propel it toward becoming a classic, and quite significant jazz standard. actually WRITTEN by a jazz musician!
RadioDJ Pi June 13, 2019 WholesomeZine LLCSoul Station Feature, Jimmy Heath, Chet Baker, Art Pepper, Curtis Counce
Soul Station Feature: Pete Rodriguez Y Su Conjunto
Oye Mira
Pianist Pete Rodriguez had been leading his combo/conjunto for a few years before he made his explicitly boogaloo records 1966-67. The track his band members Tony Pabon (trumpet-vocals) and Manny Rodriguez (percussion), wrote, I Like It Like That, became somewhat anthemic to the rise of latin boogaloo, and though it must have received air play around NYC, it did not chart nationally. Some of the ingredients to the boogaloo Rodriguez help popularize were evident on his earlier records for the Remo label, such as this excellent guajira, also written by Pabon and Rodriguez. The piano solo Rodriguez turns in sparkles with dissonance and then really pronounces the vamp. To me, it is a latin grind, great dance music and still drawing on traditional Afro-Cuban song forms.
DJ π a.k.a. Paul Yamada
RadioDJ Pi June 13, 2019 WholesomeZine LLCPete Rodriguez, Oye Mira, Soul Station Feature, Tony Pabon, Manny Rodriguez, New York
WHOLESOME @ PRF BBQ 2019 at Workshop 4200
We'll be live at WORKSHOP 4200 at the PRF BBQ streaming live @ wholso.me/radio and live Wholesome Presents video sessions with Ex Okays, Maple Stave, Tart and Korean Jeans.
Zine, RadioShecky Nuisance June 7, 2019 News, PRFBBQ
The Hives • Amyl and The Sniffers • Ezra Furman • Tropa Magica • Tony Gallardo II • Kumbia Queers • Making Movies • Xenia Rubinos • Tijuana No • Woody Guthrie • Cat Power • Bob Dylan • Jeff Tweedy • Margo Price • Johnathan Rice • Bhi Bhiman
RadioDJ LOBO May 24, 2019 DJ LOBO - Radio LOBO Show!, The Hives, Amyl and The Sniffers, Ezra Furman, Making Movies, Xenia Rubinos, Tijuana No, Tropa Magica, Tony Gallardo II, Kumbia Queers, Woody Guthrie, Cat Power, Bob Dylan, Jeff Tweedy, Margo Price, Johnathan Rice, Courtney Marie Andrews, Bhi Bhiman, News
Wholesome Presents... Ex Okays, The Hazy Seas and Lime Forest
Listen to music in a place where instruments were built! Wholesome, a creativity clubhouse in Workshop 4200 at the old Hammond Organ Factory, invites you to a Chicago rock explosion.
July 18th, run away from the tourists and check out a cool venue with local music talent and awesome art on the walls. Start the night with Lime Forest followed by your monthly dose of "scifi thug pop" from The Hazy Seas. End the night with some quirky prog-rock from Ex Okays. Doors open at 8:00PM with WholesomeRadio DJs. Live music starts at 8:30PM. Hosted by WholesomeZine WholesomeMerch WholesomeStudio-b3. Refreshments and Food available.
Please register here on Eventbrite. Names of attendees are required for entry to this FREE event.
ZineShecky Nuisance May 24, 2019 WholsomeWholesomePresents..., Ex Okays, Lime Forest, The Hazy Seas, News
Soul Station Feature: The Clique
The Clique are best known for their bright, sunny pop hits, especially their cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' Sugar On Sunday. The band was from Texas and their first 45 was also a cover, but a cover of a song on the initial 13th Floor Elevators album. Though neither recording is of the more energetic and visceral music the Elevators made, The Clique manage a wonderful balance between the edgy and forlorn folk rock style of the Elevators and their own passion for layered, pop vocal arrangements. After a local release on Cinema, the national label Scepter picked it up, and it reached #113 on the Bubbling Under Billboard listing in October of 1967.
RadioDJ Pi May 22, 2019 The Clique, Tommy James and the Shondells', 13th Floor Elevators, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Balanza y Su Ritmo
Con Carbon No Se Juega
It is not always easy to discover information about latin music from the 1940s and earlier. This is a good example. I have not been able to discover much about Balanza y Su Ritmo. This group had releases for the Ideal (based in California) label in the late 1940s. There may have been as many as seven 78s. There were also two releases on Ansonia; they may date from the same time. It is a jaunty big band and the pianist is quite good. There is a brief solo at the beginning of the record and more at the end. While this isn't quite mambo, it is a spirited guaracha and it is as good as that of the leading bands of the time in Cuba.
RadioDJ Pi May 22, 2019 Balanza y Su Ritmo, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Wynonie Harris
Oh Babe!
Wynonie Harris was a great and important singer for jazz, jump blues, r&b, and rock'n'roll. He had many huge hits from the mid 1940s into the early 1950s. Oh Babe! was one of his last, from 1950. It also reunited him with the Lucky Millinder Orchestra, the band that had backed him on his first successful releases. Oh Babe! did not come to him from blues or r&b writers and artists, as it was written by Louis Prima, a jazzy trumpeter and band leader from New Orleans. Prima had been performing since the late 1920s and began recording in 1934. During the mid 1940s his big band records had the energy and verve of nascent r&b and he made many fine records in this vein. Oh Babe! was released on his own Robin Hood label, and cut with Keely Smith, whom he would marry in 1953. Prima's record was popular but not as much as the Harris disc. But it is just as good, featuring tart, flag waving trumpet (and two trumpets toward the rousing end) a very solid beat and fine vocals from Prima and Smith. This is the original 78 version; there are several others out there, some shorter and all slightly different. I do not know what their sources are. But please, enjoy this great original!
RadioDJ Pi May 22, 2019 Lucky Millinder Orchestra, Wynonie Harris, Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: The Answer
I'll Be In
The early success by The Turtles might have prompted their label to do more in the folk rock vein. This is perhaps the most interesting and hard rocking 45 that emerged from that label, White Whale. The Answer were apparently from Berkeley, and within a year they split up and two members became The Drongos; they also had a 45 on the same label, White Whale. This side rocks harder than most Bay Area folk rock, though the vocals are distinctive of that sound and done very, very well. From November of 1965. A great and not well known 45!
RadioDJ Pi May 21, 2019 The Turtles, White Whale, The Answer, Bay Area, The Drongos, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Smokestack Lightin'
Look What You've Done
For a time, the band Smokestack Lightnin' was popular at the Whiskey A Go Go in L.A. Taking the group name from a Howlin' Wolf song, they did feature blues, blues rock and some gnarly psyche. Their earlierst 45s were done in 1967 before they got signed to Bell. From the end of 1968 to the start of 1970 the band cut four 45s and an album. Much of their material is very good, in part because of producer Bones Howe and also because singer Ronnie Darling's raspy voice handles the material very well. This track is from their second 45 and once the organ enters, it gives off an early scent of The Doors. The guitar solo is also quite sharp and edgy. Perhaps their most commercial release was their last, a version of the Delaney Bramlett gem, Hello, L.A., Bye-Bye Birmingham, but it came out at the same time as the one by Blue Cheer.
RadioDJ Pi May 21, 2019 Smokestack Lightnin', Whiskey A Go Go, Howlin' Wolf, Ronnie Darling, Bones Howe, The Doors, Delaney Bramlett, Blue Cheer, Soul Station Feature
Soun Station Feature: Frank Culley
Frank Culley, who became known as Floorshow, was a hard blowing sax player who was at one time the leader of a house band used by Atlantic Records. He had two hits for the label, Cole Slaw and After Hours Session, both in 1949. He also added his sax to many Atlantic r&b records. Prior to blowing for Atlantic, he cut two discs for the Lenox label. I've only heard the first of the two, which is probably from the end of 1947 or the start of 1948. One side, The Pig Is Diggin', is quite interesting because it has many boppish aspects, as well as some wild honking. But it is nowhere to be found. So I offer up the B-side of Lenox 513, which pretty much limits its bop moments to the very end, but which has some wild, trick-bag playing and whistles from Culley. In a few years this kind of jazzy r&b would be called rock'n'roll.
RadioDJ Pi May 20, 2019 Frank Culley, Floorshow, Atlantic Records, Lenox
Soul Station Feature: Don Sleet
The Hearing
Maybe trumpeter Don Sleet is better known than I think, but I tend to doubt that. While Sleet was fairly active in the late 1950s and into the time he recorded his only album (1961), after it was released, his drug problems increased and they plagued him for many years. He died at age 48. Sleet is on records by Lenny McBrowne, singer Gloria Smyth (who may be less known than Sleet!) and he also apparently recorded with Howard Rumsey and is on a Shelley Manne big band record. His lone album, which was on Riverside, features Jimmy Heath and Wynton Kelly. It is a great record, and here is one of its several great tracks. Thanks to Louis Ludwig for hipping me to this fairly overlooked player and recording!
RadioDJ Pi May 20, 2019 Don Sleet, Lenny McBrowne, Gloria Smyth, Howard Rumsey, Shelley Manne, Jimmy Heath, Wynton Kelly, Louis Ludwig, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Space Opera
Country Max
During one of my visits in 1972 to the CBS office in St. Louis county, I received a promo of an album by Space Opera. Parts of this record clicked with me right off. Very few people I played it for liked it. I could not find anything about the group or the album. Somewhat recently I discovered that two members of the group had been involved with a project that Uni Records released in 1968 as by Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit and Greenhill, that all of Space Opera were from Texas and had known T-Bone Burnett. Unable to gain traction at home, by the beginning of the 1970s, Space Opera was in Canada, and that is where they recorded the self titled album which was initially released there on Columbia. The U.S. release was on Epic. The album contains great country rock, jazzy folk and stupendous prog psyche (listen to Over And Over). The 45 release is as good as 70s country rock ever got and to me, it beats the hell out of The Eagles and many other similar bands!
RadioDJ Pi May 17, 2019 Space Opera, Uni Records, Whistler, Chaucer, Detroit and Greenhill, T-Bone Burnett, The Eagles, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Dwight Twilley
Phil Seymour and Dwight Twilley knew each other in Tulsa, but decided they wanted to make music and be discovered in Memphis. They eventually contacted Ray Harris, a former Sun artist, and Harris introduced the them to rockabilly. Back in Tulsa they met and recorded with U.K. producer Denny Cordell; he had started Shelter Records with Leon Russell. Their initial 45 was recorded in 1974 and released in 1975. Hitting #16, it would prove to be the biggest hit for the Dwight Twilley Band. A second 45 and an album followed in 1976 and still with Shetler, they also had an album through Arista in 1977. Seymour would depart in 1978, and quite sadly, pass away in 1993. The Twilley Band made great rockabilly (in part because of guitarist Bill Pitcock IV) and fantastic pop. Their vocals might suggest the Everlys and Lou Christie, but their arrangements and delivery is indeed unique and special. I was lucky to have seen this band three times and they were killer!
RadioDJ Pi May 17, 2019 Phil Seymour, Dwight Twilley, Ray Harris, Denny Cordell, Shelter Records, Leon Russell, Dwight Twilley Band, Bill Pitcock IV, The Everly Brothers, Lou Christie, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station π: L.A. Rock 65-66
Check out my new show tonight for a snapshot of mid 1960s L.A. I feature one great, great band you may not have heard of, The Preachers. Wow are their records a revelation! Other bands included are The Arrows featuring Davie Allan/Davie Allan and the Arrows, Love and the Chocolate Watch Band. Did you know that as the Hogs, an early version of the Watch Band covered Allan's Blues Theme? Well, you can hear them both tonight. It's a rad show!
RadioDJ Pi May 16, 2019 DJ π - Soul Station π, Greg Hatza, Lonnie Smith, Hammond B3, King Curtis, Blue Mitchell, George Benson, Mono, News
Should Station Feature: The Bad Plus
Jazz musicians have been attracted to pop tunes since there has been jazz. I would like to think that it is partly because the musicians have big ears and open minds, though the overwhelming number of jazz versions of Beatles songs in the 1960s probably had more to do with dreams of $$$$ than anything else. Still, when the piano trio The Bad Plus made their debut, tongues and fingers wagged at the band playing music by ABBA and Nirvana. The trio has clearly gotten past that, and the pianist, Ethan Iverson has become a star. He left and was replaced by Orris Evans last year. I think the most engaging of their pop and rock covers is the Tears For Fears cover. The arrangement and approach reminds me of how Hampton Hawes deconstructed Bacharach with perhaps his most adventurous trio, consisting of Henry Franklin and Michael Carvin. Iverson isn't as amazing as Hawes, but still, this is damned fine. From Prog, the trio's fifth album (2007).
RadioDJ Pi May 16, 2019 The Beatles, The Bad Plus, ABBA, Nirvana, Ethan Iverson, Orris Evans, Tears For Fears, Hampton Hawes, Henry Franklin, Michael Carvin, Burt Bacharach, Soul Station Feature
Soul Station Feature: Cannibal & The Headhunters
Get It On Up (Get Up The Courage)
East L.A. was a hot bed of hybrid rock, soul and boogaloo in the 1960s. Mexican American bands like Sunny and the Sunliners and Thee Midnighters were wildly popular and had hits, too. Thee Midniters caught on with a cover of Chris Kenner's Land of 1000 Dances at the end of 1964 and Cannibal and the Headhunters followed in a month. The Frankie Garcia (he was Cannibal) version did a little better and has certainly been remembered much more so than the one by Thee Midniters. Kind of a shame as Thee Midniters were an incredible band and they outlasted Cannibal and his group, too. Garcia and company were done by the beginning of 1969 when they had their farewell, a hot dance number that owes a lot to older dance grooves by the Isley Brothers and the Righteous Brothers.
RadioDJ Pi May 16, 2019 East L.A., Sunny and the Sunliners, Thee Midnighters, Chris Kenner, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Frankie Garcia, The Righteous Brothers, The Isley Brothers, Soul Station Feature