Lee Bey's Soul Closet

First colored girl in the office: 1950s workplace integration

2011-12-22T05:00:00.000-06:00

Check out this oddity from the 1950s: A dramatically-acted government film about a company hiring its first black office employee.

The film, The New Girl in the Office, was made by the President's Committee on Government Contracts, an agency created by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953 (JFK changed the title of the agency in 1961, leaving me to believe the film is from the 1950s).

The New Girl in the Office stars Gail Fisher as Mary the aforementioned girl who gets a secretarial job in a white-owned company because of new federal equal employment policies. Employees are hostile and Mary is intimidated...you get the picture. The film features Ed Asner, Lou Gossett, Clarice Taylor and other actors whose faces would, along with Gail's, become familiar in the decade to come.

The film is 30 minutes long and is almost laughably dead-serious--and a little patronizing--in its earnestness. "She's gotta be so likeable, that any white girl with a chip on her shoulder would think twice before she starts any trouble," one character says.

Which isn't to say there aren't some laughs here, although unintentional. The Urban League leader who tells the very cute Mary at 11:32 that not taking chances causes one's pride to "shrink down to 10 inches" is clearly trying to send her a coded message of a different sort, ain't he? And I think the boss's secretary is passing--that's why she's accepting. The dark-haired male executive with the hot coffee fetish is also, I bet.

Some good old mid-century sexism is at play. The women are the cattiest about Mary; the guys seemed to take it in stride. One of the chicks threatens to quit, but instead of letting her go, the boss persuades her to stay to keep the other women from leaving. Pimp!

Of course, the secretaries end up accepting Mary. Even the one that threatened to quit. I wish she would have made a sequel in about 1970 when Mary goes back to school, gets her degrees, and decides to move up the ladder a little more.

As an actress, Gail Fisher was a bit of a ground-breaker herself. An early 1960s spot she did for All laundry detergent made her the first black person to have speaking lines in a national television commercial. She's best known for being Joe Mannix's secretary--and clearly he was digging on her--in the 1968 to 1975 television show Mannix. She died in 2000 at 65.

Dobie Gray, R.I.P.

2011-12-08T05:00:00.000-06:00

Singer songwriter Dobie Gray died yesterday in Nashville. He was 71.

Brother Dobie was probably best known for the 1973 ballad Drift Away--and we'll dig on that in a bit. But his first date with stardom came with 1965's The In Crowd, a hip if elitist manifesto to the benefits of belonging to the right group. Best lyric in the song: "We make every minute count/Our share is always the biggest amount." Gangsta!!

Gray didn't write The In Crowd, but he penned songs for scores of other folks, including Tammy Wynette, Etta James and Three Dog Night. And he saved a little gold for himself:

The forgotten funk of Dyke & The Blazers

2011-12-02T01:14:00.001-06:00

I discovered Dyke & the Blazers back 1985 when I bought a Rino Records compilation of 1960s soul that had the group's small 1969 hit, "Let a Woman Be Woman (And Let a Man Be a Man").

Damn, I was blown away. Deep, entrenched funk. Closer to Stax Records' stuff, but more stripped down and dare I say funkier. Arlester "Dyke" Christian handled the vocals with a voice ragged voice with a whine like an aged jet engine after a cross-continental flight, But that voice and that music was truth.

As the above clip shows, these guys could get as funky as James Brown ensemble, although Brown was a far better vocalist than was Dyke. But still: why weren't they famous?

At the cusp of what could have been stardom, Dyke was shot to death in Phoenix in 1971 in a possible drug deal. What a loss. But Dyke & the Blazers did leave a little something behind. Christian wrote "Funky Broadway," the jam later made famous by Wilson Pickett. Dyke's version ain't bad either.

The Sylvers...Reconsidered

2011-11-30T01:28:00.000-06:00

I always thought The Sylvers got a bit of a raw deal.

I mean, here is a family group that was talented as hell, with charismatic lead singers in Edmund and Leon, flawless harmonies and were beautiful to look at and could boast nine R&B top-40 hits in eight years. "Boogie Fever" in the clip above was a number one Pop and R&B hit. And yet with all that, they still labored under endless comparisons to that other musical family the Jacksons.

More than 30 years later, the Sylvers are worth re-examining. Because they were indeed bad in their own right. So let's blow some dust off this stuff and take a look.

And this one--"Fool's Paradise" from 1972--could be a Fugee's jam 20 years ahead of its time. And the choreography is off the hook:

Edmund died in 2004. Leon, of course, went on to be a super-producer and hit-writer, churning out almost all of Shalamar's hits back in the day. The Whispers, too.

'Pepsi Generation' meets R&B: circa 1970

2011-11-28T05:43:00.003-06:00

Lee Bey's Soul Closet has been on hiatus for more than a year. But it's time to open it up again. And we do so with this great video from 1970 featuring the group Chairmen of the Board--you probably know them by their 1970 hit "Give Me Just a Little More Time." Here is a lesser-known song that is still a jam, "You Got Me Dangling on a String."

The song has the same punchy, hook-laden post-Motown sound as the group's other work of the period--and that of their Hot Wax/Invictus labelmates like Honey Cone, 100 Proof (Aged in Soul) and others. The label was started by Motown's stellar writing team Holland/Dozier/Holland.

Lead singer General Johnson was as good as they came when it came to singing pop/soul, bending and stretching notes around the song's catchy beat. But the video is even better than the song. It's damn near a love-in, with mini-skirted women dancing and twirling around as a low-placed wide-angle camera captures it all--not to mention a fair amount of thigh, midriff and rumpshaking. (Personally, I'm liking the girl with the black-and-white striped top and black pants.)

And Johnson, frankly, is a handsome dude in that funky flared blue suit and Jim Kelly afro. He's about 30 here and at the top of his game. Johnson died last year age 69.

The shindig takes place at the Washington Monument in D.C. Can you imagine that happening today? Hell naw. Not with monuments on lockdown, security clearance and other stuff designed to protect our freedom. But if the sight of a three brothers jamming with beautiful women surrounding them doesn't send the message of freedom, I don't know what does.

Def by Temptation

2010-03-23T23:59:00.002-05:00

Not many black horror films made over the years. Help me out here: Blacula, Abby, maybe J.D.'s Revenge, Bones, Tales from the Hood. Beyond that, I'm struggling to think of more.

Ah yes--Def By Temptation, released 20 years ago this month. It starred Kadeem Hardison, Bill Nunn and James Bond III as a trio trying to keep a sexy succubus from killing the men of NYC. Bond directed and wrote the film.

I haven't seen it since 1990 and probably should watch it again, but I remember it being a not-at-all bad flick, despite the pretty low production budget. The idea of a sexy black woman as the "monster" in a horror movie seemed pretty cool at the time. And the hot actress who played her, Cynthia Bond--well, let's say if I were in that movie, she woulda ended up killing me, too.

Looking at the movie's details on imdb.com, the cast includes singer Freddie Jackson, Najee--remember his jam "Betcha Don't Know"--a pre-fame Samuel L. Jackson, Melba Moore, John Canada Terrell (the playboy character from She's Gotta Have It and Starleana Young (!) who my old skool R&B fans will remember co-wrote sang the female second lead for Slave and wrote the group's smash "Just a Touch of Love."

Ok, searching netflix this week.

When R&B Went New Wave...

2010-02-24T08:56:00.000-06:00

It doesn't get remembered much anymore, but there was a brief period in the early 1980s when elements of New Wave--a predominantly white musical genre--found their way into R&B.

And these weren't tunes designed to crossover into white markets. A segment of black teens were listening to New Wave music (such as the B-52s, the Vapors, Blondie and others), and influential black radio DJs like Chicago's Herb Kent--whose "Punk Out" show on the old WXFM was huge--were spinning New Wave jams for black audiences. So black music took steps to keep up.

Leon Sylvers III's wicked-as-hell bassline (coupled with Earnest Reed's guitar work) in Janet Jackson's "Come Give Your Love to Me" from 1982 has heavy New Wave elements. As does O'Bryan's "Gigolo":

Even jazz folks got in on it. Here's a forgotten (and partly inexplicable) one from Bill Summers & Summers Heat, "Seventeen."

And there is Andre Cymone, the talented protege of Prince:

Robert "Squirrel" Lester of the Chi-Lites Dies at 67

2010-01-22T19:34:00.000-06:00

We'll get back to the fun soon here at the Soul Closet. Lately, its been a place of mourning with Teddy Pendergrass and Willie Mitchell dying this month. And now we have another name to add to the roll: Robert "Squirrel" Lester, of the Chi-Lites--the group's second tenor, who died today at 67.

Lester's death death leaves Marshall Thompson as the last remaining original Chi-Lites member. Creadel "Red" Jones died in 1994 at the age of 54. The group's leader Eugene Record passed in 2005 at 64.

But those boy leave behind some great music.

And their biggest hit, performed live sometime between Red's death and Eugene's. The sounded good, still.

R.I.P. Teddy Pendergrass

2010-01-14T06:46:00.003-06:00

Teddy Pendergrass died Wednesday at 59 in Philadelphia. Pendergrass underwent colon surgery last year and, according to his son, had a "difficult recovery," news reports said.

So as we hang the purple bunting on the doorknob of the Soul Closet today, let's honor the Teddy Bear with a few clips.

And here: "Two Hearts<" with Stephanie Mills:

Willie Mitchell

2010-01-06T14:23:00.005-06:00

Willie Mitchell's name might not immediately ring a bell. But if you're over the age of 40, you have--no doubt--shook, finger-popped, nodded or flat out sang along to the music Mitchell created.

During the late 1960s and 1970s, the producer-songwriter was responsible for those iconic, deep-footed soul classics on Hi-Records, cut by folks like Al Green, Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles. You know the ones. But click on the links to listen anyway.

Mitchell died Monday. He was 81.

MAS*H...with a black cast?

2010-01-04T07:03:00.003-06:00

..well, not quite. But that was the intent with "Roll Out," a short-lived black-cast 1973 CBS series that was the brainchild of "MASH" TV show creators Larry Gelbert and Gene Reynolds. Rather than focusing on Korean War medics as did "MASH," "Roll Out" focused on the hi-jinks of the predominantly black 5050th Quartermaster Trucking Company in World War II. The show started Stu Gilliam, Hilly Hicks and Mel Stewart (best known as George Jefferson's brother Henry on a few eps of "All in the Family.")

Here's a photo from the St. Louis Dispatch's TV listing book for October, 1973:

So the question for today is, "Was the show funny?"

Naw.

Which goes to show moonlighting--and I'm talking about Gelbert and Reynolds--is not always a good thing. "Roll Out" lasted 12 episodes and was later replaced in its CBS time slot with a show that had a lot more staying power (and laughs): "Good Times."

"No-o My Brother; You Got To Buy Your Own."

2010-01-01T07:00:00.003-06:00

You remember the commercial for "Hey Love," a mid-1980s late-night spot that advertised 1960s and 1970s slow jams? You probably can't recall the songs offered. But what you do remember--no doubt--is when one actor in the commercial asks to borrow the compliation and is rebuffed by the second actor with a line that became immortal:

"No-o My Brother; You Got To Buy Your Own."

The line became a part of pop culture lexicon for years, turning up with a wink on the tv show "Martin" and the movie "House Party." Even in 1989's "Say Anything," John Cusack's Lloyd Dobler character asks, "Hey my brother, can I borrow a copy of your "Hey Soul Classics"? Dobler's young brother replies: "No, my brother, you have to go buy your own." The line still resonates. I was at a gathering two weeks ago of 30- and 40-something black folks and the line was mentioned, bringing a laugh.

The commercial is still fun to watch. The guy who utters the line is John Canada Terrell, who would become better known as the pretty boy Greer Childs character in Spike Lee's 1987 breakthrough film "She's Gotta Have It."

The Gap Band

2009-12-31T06:34:00.001-06:00

Still sounds good. And if Charlie Wilson isn't one of the best vocalist/front men of any musical genre during the 1980s, I don't know who is.

And sure this sounds like their earlier hit "Outstanding." But it's still a jam. And I'm digging the video:

What Can I Say Monday? "Cherchez La Femme"

2009-12-28T02:32:00.008-06:00

"Cherchez La Femme" by the oddly-titled Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band is one of the more unusual--and memorable--hits of the mid-1970s.

The 1976 song is one part Big Band; one part Disco: an intelligently-written ditty of misfortune and heartbreak with a killer hook--"Cherchez La Femme"--and the sweet, twinkling vocals of lead singer Cory Daye. (Patti Austin sang background on the track.)

"Cherchez" was co-written by Buzzard band member August Darnell, who is playing bass in the above video, and his brother Stony. In the video, you'll note the group omits the middle part of the song which tells of Miggie Bonija, a woman tired of living in debt who nonetheless cheats on her hard-working man and, as Daye sings, she "goes next door, I know that she's just playing the whore." (Before Springer and Povich, kids, you couldn't really call a woman a "whore" on daytime TV.)

By the way, Darnell himself found success in the 1980s as Kid Creole, zoot-suited frontman of Kid Creole & the Coconuts:

"Cherchez" has held up over the years. Gloria Estefan did a remake in the 1990s. And in 2000, Ghostface Killah nicely borrowed from "Cherchez" for his "Cherchez LaGhost":

So what does the title mean? It's a French phrase that means if a man is in some kind of trouble, "look for the woman" to be the cause of it somehow. Writer Alexandre Dumas created the reference in the 1860s (he actually wrote "cherchons la femme") in the novel "The Mohicans of Paris," in a passage where a detective figures a woman was at the root of a crime. A Google search shows O Henry used the phrase in 1909, "Ah! yes, I know most time when those men lose money you say 'Cherchez la femme' - there is somewhere the woman."

See what you can learn by visiting the Soul Closet?

The Spinners

2009-12-16T15:50:00.006-06:00

My soul-loving 14 year old daughter, Cassandra, found the above video clip on youtube a few weeks back. It's the R&B group The Spinners, at the height of its power, performing "Mighty Love" at what I am guessing is the 1975 Grammy Awards.

"Mighty Love" is one of group's best songs if not THE best. On vinyl, it begins as a song of remembrance as lead singer Bobby Smith beautifully and wistfully expresses pain of lost love. Then co-lead singer Philippe Wynne, who joined the legendary group just three years earlier, rides in on his siren-like tenor, testifying to the power of love--and solidifying his place as one of the most electrifying singers of his brief era.

Here's the group again, lip syncing "Could it be I'm Falling in Love" on Soul Train. Smith takes us through most of the song, then Wynne slips in at the 3:38 mark, ending the song with as brilliant a piece of ad-libbing as you'll ever hear on wax.

Wynne leading the group on their biggest hit, "Rubberband Man" on the Midnight Special TV show.

Wynne left the band in 1977 for a solo career that never quite got off the ground. He did make some great music briefly with Parliament-Funkadelic, most notably his vocal gymnastics on "Knee Deep"--best part of that song: When Wynne, almost surprised, sings the killer line, "Could this be me? Immersed in funk so deep?" The great voice was stilled when Wynne died of a heart attack in 1984.

Bobby Smith, now 73, still leads the group, although, in addition to Wynne, four other original and early members of the group have died.

****
A Soul Closet Mystery:
Remember the Spinners song, "Games People Play"? There is clearly--or so it seems--a woman singing some of the verses. But whenever the group appeared on TV back then, I remembered my pre-teen self waiting to see what the woman with the feathery voice looked like, only to have the camera cut to Spinner member Henry Fambrough---a dude!--singing the girly part. What the heck? I mean, dig:

So was it a chick or Fambrough? Session singer Barbara Ingram was credited as the female voice, but according to Wikipedia, the group's songwriter and producer, the legendary Thom Bell, said it is actually Fambrough with his voice sped up. Ingram died in 1994.

Forgotten Soul: Alton McClain & Destiny

2009-12-14T06:00:00.002-06:00

There were a quite a few great girl vocal groups in the late 1970s disco/soul scene: The Emotions, High Energy, and more. I'd almost forgotten about Alton McClain & Destiny, a trio who made it big in 1978-1979 with this hit, "It Must Be Love."

"Love" is a great piece of late 1970s disco/R&B: Alton McClain's agile, feather-light soprano washes over a bouncing musical sea not unlike, say, The Emotions "Best of My Love."

Here's another clip of them singing the same song. The budget for this one didn't cover much beyond the camera, donuts and the cost of filling the pool behind them, but video is fun to watch. And they shake a little harder in this one:

Alton McClain & Destiny broke up in the early 1980s. Alton married the supremely gifted songwriter Skip Scarborough--one of my favorite songwriters--who will get profiled here in the Closet soon, trust me. Just for openers, Scarborough co-wrote LTDs "Love Ballad," wrote "Lovely Day" with Bill Withers (who also sang it); Phyllis Hyman's "The Answer is You"; Anita Baker's "Giving You the Best the I've Got." He also produced Confunkshun during their peak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But I digress...

Sadly, Destiny member D'Marie Warren (she's wearing black pants in the second video above) was killed in a car accident in 1985. Scarborough's sensitive pen was silenced in 2003 when he died of cancer. Alton McClain Scarborough is still in the game and sounding good. Here she is giving glory to the Lord last year at Mt Pleasant Ministries in Bethesda MD.

Christmas...with Soul

2009-12-11T06:00:00.000-06:00

We getting yuletide, now, here at the Soul Closet. And what better way to do it with Salsoul Orchestra's "Merry Christmas All" from 1976. Pound for pound for my money the second best Christmas song of the past 40 years. Salsoul Orchestra was the at-times 50 piece latin/soul/disco orchestra that backed up Salsoul Record's stable of artists during the label's heyday in the mid-to-late 1970s. "Merry Christmas All" comes from a their successful "Christmas Jollies" album. Denise Montana, who is still in the game, crisply handles the lyrics.

The late, great Eartha Kitt with the sexiest Christmas song on record:

This next clip isn't about Christmas. But its wintry. And it's got Soul:

So if "Merry Christmas All" is the second-best Christmas song of the past 40 years, what's the best one? Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas." Peace...

Afro Sheen

2009-12-07T06:00:00.001-06:00

Someone should study the cultural impact of the partnership between "Soul Train" and the Chicago-based Johnson Products Company. Owned by George E. Johnson, Johnson Products--not to be confused with Johnson Publications, which publishes Ebony and Jet--was a leading sponsor of the Train during its 1970 and 1980s heyday. And the commercials for Johnson Products' Afro Sheen and other hair goods featured proud and respectful depictions of black people--played out before a national audience.

George Johnson started the company with $500 in the 1950s. By 1971, Johnson Products was the first black-owned enterprise to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company's hold on black hair care products slipped when the Revlons and Avons of the world elbowed their way into Johnson's market. The company was sold in 1993 and ultimately became part of L'Oreal.

But the commercials, which aired almost exclusively with Soul Train episodes, are priceless:

The Afro Sheen Blow-Out Kit! I got one when I was 8.

And dig these 1980s Classy Curl spots, one with Matt and Ola, who themselves became near-celebs behind this campaign (and dig a young Stacey Dash, bouncing her curl around in the second spot):

And we close with three classy spots from 1975:

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

2009-12-04T05:00:00.003-06:00

Give yourself a little time and check out this performance by the incredible Sister Rosetta Tharpe, one of the most inventive artists of 20th century gospel music. Her voice had the heat of a blues singer--not surprising since gospel and blues are cousins--but when Tharpe straps on that electric guitar? Glory.

The mind-blowing performance above of Sister singing "Didn't it Rain," was recorded live at a Manchester England train station in April or May of 1964 as part of the American Folk Blues and Gospel Caravan show that toured the UK then. That's Cousin Joe Pleasant (who made great music with Sidney Bechet 20 years earlier) on piano introducing Tharpe.

Tharpe was born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas in 1915. Her 1944 gospel hit "Strange Things Happening Every Day" was a top 10 Billboard hit on the secular black music chart. No wonder: the song is straight boogie woogie behind its spiritual lyrics...in fact, listen closely and you wonder if it's really a bit of rock-and-roll a decade before the fact. Especially when Tharpe comes through with guitar solo at 1:32 mark:

This live version of "Down by the Riverside" has great solo at 1:30. (Queen Latifah: Learn how to play guitar and here's your Oscar) And wait..listen to Tharpe spitting rhymes in this one:

Tharpe's long career ended in October 1973 when she died following a stroke. She lost the use of her legs after a stroke three years earlier but still performed until the end. But we don't have to end on such a sad note. Sister wouldn't want that. So let's go back to Manchester for this slow burner "Trouble in Mind." Swing out, Sister; Swing out:

When Felix and Oscar were black...

2009-12-02T11:39:00.006-06:00

An interesting find from 1982: the short-lived ABC sitcom, "The New Odd Couple," with Demond Wilson as Oscar Madison and Ron Glass as the persnickety Felix Unger. It only lasted 18 episodes and although not as funny as Neil Simon's original renderings of Oscar and Felix..it ain't bad and its nicely cast. In fact, compared to "Tyler Perry's House of Payne," and "Meet the Browns," it's damn near Noel Coward.(And the opening titles and updated Odd Couple theme kinda rock.)

Jean Knight

2009-11-30T19:05:00.002-06:00

This song has been sampled more times than the counter goodies in the candy shop next door to the Jenny Craig. But it still sounds good.

Soul Closet Bureau of Missing Persons: "J.T."

2009-11-09T13:28:00.006-06:00

The holiday season is almost upon us. And if you were a kid in the early 1970s, this was the time of the year when CBS would air "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," and ABC would show those crazy Rankin & Bass stop-motion animated holiday specials like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." And for some of us, it meant the yearly viewing of "JT."

Aired by CBS beginning in 1969, "J.T." starred a young Kevin Hooks as J.T Gamble, a Harlem boy who saves an alley cat and nurses it back to health during the Christmas season. Ja'net DuBois--Wilona from "Good Times"--plays his mother. It's a quiet, nuanced film and only an hour long. And there's a sad spot in it--which was pro forma kids films back then--but has a happy ending.

Hooks, the son of actor Robert Hooks, was 11 years old when he made "J.T." He became a director in the early 1980s and enjoyed success sitting in the boss' chair on a number of films and tv shows including "ER," "24" "Prison Break" and "Monk."

"J.T." was directed by Robert M. Young, who later went on to direct eps of the newer "Battlestar Galactica" series. The film was written by Jane Wagner, who is comedian Lily Tomlin's long-time partner. Talk in 1973 of turning "J.T" into a tv series faded.

I hadn't seen the film since 1973 or so until I found the above clip on youtube. The two clips here represent about a 1/3rd of the film. So Happy Holidays.

Bonus:
I remember when CBS played this...

...something cool was about to come on.

History Lesson: Hazel Scott, Nina Mae McKinney & Dorothy Dandridge

2009-10-27T00:44:00.006-05:00

We go waaaaay back today to bring three classy female performers from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. The above clip is of the late Hazel Scott from 1955, performing for a March of Dimes film short. Charlie Mingus is on bass! And Rudy Nichols is on the skins.

The below video from 1932 is fun as all get-out. The clip begins with singer/actress Nina Mae McKinney singing to the Nicholas Brothers in the kitchen. Then later, Eubie Blake turns up in a chef's outfit on piano, and the Nicholas Brothers get down. Later, Nina then sings promises that everything she's got--and baby, she's got a lot--belongs to you. And then a bunch of skeletons appear at the very end:

And cute Dorothy Dandridge in this 1942 clip...although the guy Paul White, while spitting some mean rhymes, kinda reminds me of Miss J on "America's Next Top Model":

Donny Hathaway

2009-10-23T07:31:00.002-05:00

Let's end the week with some 1971 gold from the late Donny Hathaway. Note to the young'uns: This is live, baby. No autotune. No tricks and gimmicks. This is singing.

Frank's Place

2009-10-19T12:11:00.003-05:00

"Frank's Place" was a brilliant sitcom that aired for a season on CBS beginning in 1987. The show starred Tim Reid as Boston professor Frank Parish who moves to New Orleans after inheriting a Crescent City restaurant from a father he hadn't seen in decades.

The show was prematurely canceled by CBS for low-ratings, leaving behind 28 episodes of one of the most witty and sophisticated comedies on TV; a fine ensemble of actors in a production that, if made today, would be a stinging rebuke to the juvenile whoopin', hollerin,' neck rolling and assorted black sitcom coonery on TV right now.

The show's not on DVD, which is a shame. But the clips here provide a sense of the show's tone and direction.

(Neo) Soul Friday

2009-10-16T07:51:00.001-05:00

We close out the week with a quick trip back to the 1990s (which seems like yesterday to us old folks) to take a look at some neo-Soul/acid jazz acts from the day. No better place to begin than with the Young Disciples in full groove with "Apparently Nothing"--and stone jam that never gets played anymore--from 1991. The formidable Carleen Anderson is on fire...

Brand New Heavies with N'Dea Davenport at the mic:

Leena Conquest's "Boundaries" from 1994:

In Praise of Chicago Soul

2009-10-01T06:15:00.003-05:00

Chicago's 1960's soul scene isn't talked about nearly enough. Motown and Stax get all the glory while Chicago gets left behind. But the city turned out some great soul music in the 1960s and early 1970s, every bit as good Detroit's and Memphis's. Consider the The Chi-Lites. Gene Chandler. The Impressions. Not to mention the above track, the great singer/songwriter Barbara Acklin's groovy-as-hell "Loves Makes a Woman." Try not snapping your fingers to this one.

Chicago Soul was a little sweeter than its counterparts; a kind of soul that was chilled by the icy Lake Michigan breeze. Tight background singing. A lot more horns and a touch of pathos in the lyrics. For instance, listen to the absolutely beautifully-done "Find Another Girl" by The Impressions, with Jerry Butler at the mic. Let the lyrics soak in...Curtis' guitar winding through the song--and his falsetto sitting just behind Jerry's baritone during the chorus. This is the businesses, y'all:

Fontella Bass (what a great name) gets down with "Rescue Me."

Tony Clarke sings "The Entertainer":

Speaking of Gene Chandler, here he is, singing "Nothing Can Stop Me."

Tyrone Davis:

The Impressions, holding it down in 3-piece suits:

"I'm Gonna Miss You" by The Artistics...sweet!

Or "Right Track" a 1964 jam by Jerry Butler's brother Billy.

And we close out with this priceless 1972 Soul Train clip with the soulfully resplendent Major Lance singing "Since I Lost My Baby's Love." The good Major was better known for the 1960s hit, "Monkey Time".

Respect for Trevor Rhone

2009-09-22T06:26:00.000-05:00

Jamaican playwright Trevor Rhone died of a heart attack in Kingston last week. He was 69.

I never got a chance to see Rhone's plays, and the loss is truly mine. But I have seen--a few times--one of his works: "The Harder They Come" a mindblowing 1972 Jamaican film starring reggae superstar Jimmy Cliff as an ill-fated outlaw. Rhone, co-writer of the tight, powerful script, fearlessly used patois in the script which--along with the documentary-style cinematography--gives the movie a sense of realism. (Watch "Harder" and you'll forever laugh at the "yeah mon" pidgin English that passes for Jamaican dialect in most American movies.)

"Harder" is a uncompromising film with beautiful music woven into the scenes and the plot. Truth be told, the movie packs a bigger wallop than almost all of the far more celebrated movies of American blaxploitation genre (perhaps with the exception being "Across 110th Street.") "The Harder They Come" isn't talked about much these days. But it should be. Check it out. And when you do, give a nod to Brother Trevor.

The Sorels & Streets of Fire

2009-09-21T01:38:00.003-05:00

The only good thing in the 1984 film "Streets of Fire" comes at the end, when the vocal group The Sorels perform "I Can Dream About You." The performance is about 4 minutes of joy--even if it is diluted a bit with cutaways to the lead actors dully summing up the movie--as the Sorels bounce, clap, shimmy and moonwalk (!) their way through the song.

Yep, that's Stoney Jackson as The Sorels' lead singer, Bird. Robert Townsend, Grand Bush and Mykelti Williamson were Lester, Reggie and BJ, respectively. They're not the song's true vocalists, but they sell it so well--especially Jackson--that the song and the performance were re-cut into this music video and released as a single (and that's where things get a little interesting. More, after the clip):

The "I Can Dream About You" single became a big hit (#6 on the Billboard charts) for Dan Hartman, who wrote the song and sang the vocals. But the version of the song in the movie--and in the first clip above--wasn't sung by Hartman at all, but by C. Winston Ford, Jr., an relatively unheralded singer who was, according to rumor, at least, working in Radio Shack when he was picked to sing the vocals for the movie.

But when the single and the soundtrack were released, Ford's lead vocals were replaced by Hartman's. And though Ford was black and Hartman was white, their vocal styles were similar enough that most people never noticed two different men performed the song.

The actors who played The Sorels all found a measure of success after "Streets of Fire." The song's two singers, sadly, have died. Hartman died of a brain tumor in 1994. Ford who never became famous, but developed into a journeyman music talent whose work spanned gospel, R&B, rock and jazz, was killed in an car accident in Colorado in 2007. His childhood friend Philip Bailey of Earth Wind & Fire sang "Keep Your Head to the Sky" at Ford's funeral.

Brenda Holloway

2009-09-17T01:00:00.002-05:00

Motown was more than Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye and the Supremes. But you wouldn't know it by listening to any oldies station. Terrestrial or satellite, the folks at the controls are content--and have been for the past 30 years--to play "Baby Love," "Heard it Through the Grapevine" and "My Girl" until the wheels fall off them jokers.

So today, we're standing on a suitcase, moving that Nehru jacket aside and breaking out the lantern flashlight to lay a beam on some Motown artists and songs that deserve a little more love.

Did you click the vidclip above and check out that tasty-looking Brenda Holloway [fine and can sing, too? why didn't she have a bigger career] getting down in 1967 with "Just Look What You Have Done." Her biggest hit was "Every Little Bit Hurts" from 1964 and check this out: She opened for the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965, then co-wrote "You Make Me So Very Happy", a hit by Blood Sweat and Tears in the 1970s. Maybe she's home counting her stacks from her royalty checks.

Shorty Long's "Function at the Junction," is an absolute jam from 1966.

The Marvelettes' "Too Many Fish in the Sea."

Jr. Walker & The All Stars, doing "Shotgun" live on Shindig in 1966.

[I saw Junior Walker in the mid 1980s at Biddy Mulligans. Twenty years after "Shotgun," he could still jam.]

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles aren't forgotten, but the poignant "Come Round Here" could use a little more love. Smokey's falsetto is rockin' here...and how the Miracles and the other background singers sorta wander against the groove--tight.

Oh wait. Back to Brenda Holloway. Look at this video. She's past 60 now and the voice still sounds good. And she still looks good. She could be my mama...or rather my lil mama...if she wasn't married:

Bern Nadette Stanis!

2009-09-10T01:09:00.001-05:00

Thelma is still looking good, y'all. I shot this photo a few days ago of actress Bern Nadette Stanis, who played Thelma on the 1970s sitcom "Good Times." She was at the African Festival of the Arts in Chicago's Washington Park. She was a warm and gracious woman who got greeted like family by almost everyone who stopped by her booth.

"I said to her, 'You were every black teenage boys fantasy,' " one smiling brother said as I stood with a group of men by her booth. The brother is right. There is hardly a black man in America over the age of 40 who will not nod when three words are uttered: "Thelma was fine."

Let's roll film [And try to tune out the sight and sound of Jimmy Walker's Neo-Coon character, JJ]:

She's lookin' 80s-fine on this clip from the "Cosby Show."

She turns 56 in December. She is also a painter, a writer...and a stone fox.

Jamaica

2009-09-06T20:44:00.004-05:00

Not too long after Farrah Fawcett's death, I was chatting with a buddy about hot girl posters from our childhood. Farrah's poster made her a household name, of course.

"Do you remember the one with the Jamaican woman in the red--" my buddy said. He didn't need to say anything else. Heck yes I remember.

In 1970s, the above poster of the moistened, nubile and bra-less honey in the very wet JAMAICA t-shirt, was ubiquitous. It was a brilliant marketing piece: water, adventure, beauty and maybe the promise of sex was all conveyed in the simple photo of a happy woman in a clingy shirt.

So who was the woman? She is Sintra Arunte-Bronte(who was actually from Trinidad.) Anyway, read more about her here in this 2001 story.

Alexander O'Neal

2009-08-28T22:51:00.004-05:00

I always liked singer Alexander O'Neal. He has a great voice and sung some stone jams in the 1980s as one of the many acts benefiting from Prince's Minneapolis Sound.

But O'Neal seemed a little more worldly than the other performers in the Purple One's extended family. First off, he had the sound of a 1960s soul singer (and his best material never quite put his voice to its fullest use) and he was already past 30 when be broke big. In videos, he appeared little raffish; a little roguish....like the brother had lived some before he found himself before a mike.

So the Soul Closet shuts this week with a look at Alexander O'Neal. Above, her turns up on Cherelle's "Innocent" from 1985. And below, a personal fave--both video and song: "Fake" from 1987.

And we close out with "Criticize" from 1987. And, man, if I ruled the world, Alexander would show up in an episode of "Mad Men"--dressed the way he is in this video--eyeballing Joan in the elevator while stroking his chin, and daring anybody to say anything.

To the Land of Funk...!

2009-08-26T01:00:00.000-05:00

The Soul Closet has much love for Lakeside, a group that was part of that great--and sorely-missed--wave of self-contained R&B funk bands of the late 1970s and pre-Hip Hop early 1980s.

The above video for their hit "Fantastic Voyage", apparently cribbed from a Netherlands broadcast in 1981, showcases the band in its prime. Mark Wood--as underrated a lead singer as they come--brings the heat and the band is as tight as that brother's stripped pirate shirt. My favorite part? The transformation and subsequent breakdown at 1:26.

But you know what else is cool? That almost 30 years after, them brothers can still get down:

Sade

2009-08-24T07:44:00.003-05:00

It's been a l-o-n-g time since I've listened to Sade. We gonna fix that today, even it comes at the expense of me feeling old. I can't believe it's been 25 years since I bought her debut album, "Diamond Life" on vinyl. I've never seen her in concert, though. I gotta fix that. Until then, enjoy:

Blue-Eyed Soul Closet (part 2)

2009-08-21T01:00:00.002-05:00

Quite a few folks have knocked on the Soul Closet's door since yesterday's post on blue-eyed soul, so a follow-up is order.

And maybe a little clarification, too. The discussion is really about white acts who contributed to soul and R&B canon, as opposed to those who ripped off black music and high-tailed across town to play before white audiences. So again, a Michael McDonald gets the soul brother shake; a Michael Bolton gets to kick rocks. Hall & Oats get in. Rick Astley (sorry, reader James) does not.

One Soul Closet reader suggested the Average White Band. Agreed. AWB's "School Boy Crush" is about as funky as it gets.

Josiah, a buddy from high school gave a shout out to Ambrosia, a group (frankly, one I'd forgotten about) whose song "Biggest Part of Me" was played on black radio back in 1980:

And remember the 1987 hit, "Making Love in the Rain" by Herb Alpert? It still gets played during "Quiet Storm" programs. Alpert handled the horn playing of course and Janet Jackson does the backgrounds. But white Lisa Keith does the soulful slow burn on lead vocals.

Reader Quintin dug in the crates for the name of Gino Vanelli. His "I Just Wanna Stop" also got heavy rotation on black radio in the 1970s

Hall & Oates "Rich Girl."

And dig this white girl, Chris Clark, who sang on the Motown label in the 1960s. I'd never heard of her until a year ago when I downloaded this song by mistake. She is fierce.

Blue-Eyed Soul Closet

2009-08-20T01:19:00.002-05:00

Soul and R&B are black musical genres, of course. But the field has always been open to white--and non black--artists who know how to bring it. And up until recently, pretenders, fakes and hijackers need not apply. Teena Marie and Bobby "What You Won't Do For Love" Caldwell? In. But Michael Bolton? Hell naw.

Those who brought something to the game were welcomed and made part of the family. Like Toto, a white AOR group from the 1970s and early 1980s who created the classic "Georgy Porgy". It helps that an uncredited Cheryl Lynn--who is black--sings the hook, but that's just icing. The bass is velvety as the inside of a Crown Royal bag. And lead singer Bobby Kimball doesn't try to mimic the wild runs and phrasing of "black" singer. Indeed, he finds his coolness in restraint--like a Peabo Bryson does to even better effect--and pulls off a heck of song.

I cringe with the next song, though. Not because it isn't a brilliant piece of 1970s blue-eyed soul--because it is--but because of that commercial for a glorified mop uses it as a jingle and has ruined it for me. But here goes:

The Native American band Redbone had a R&B jam in the early 1970s with "Come and Get Your Love."

Even Elton John--for a moment there--in the early 1970s, long before all that "Candle in the Wind" bullcrap:

And you gotta get Michael McDonald in on this:

We close the door with this super-oldie from the O'Kaysons, "I'm a Girl Watcher."

Adventures in 'Afro American' Advertising

2009-08-18T10:58:00.003-05:00

Time for more black advertising from the late 1960s and early 1970s, courtesy of my stack of old Ebony magazines from the era.

We begin our journey with the happy young couple of above. Look at the husband...the kiss-up. Striving, trying to impress the boss. So much so, you know he invited Bossman over at the last minute and now his wife not only has to be beautiful, but she's got to cook all that shrimp and hang them evenly around that bowl. Mama told her--told her--not to marry that guy. He was to cheap to spring for wedding rings. Now give her a couple of pops of Old Forester so she can get though the night.

The above ad: You see that, don't you? That soap doesn't just get her clean. I mean any cheap-azz bar of Lava could have done that. This soap gets her surgically clean. That's the difference right there. Do you think when she came out of this shower, her man said, "Come here baby...mmmm, you smell not just clean, but surgically clean!"

Theory: It was 1969. Simplicity was tired of churning out countless patterns of do-it-your-self poodle-skirts and mock-turtle neck outfits. "We need be happening, Man. With-it. Today. Dig," somebody said. So they threw caution into the wind and create this pattern. Never occurred to them--not until 1970, I bet--that the dress will reveal two things nobody wanted revealed in 1969: (a) the wearer ain't wearin' drawers (b) the wearer is wearing a big pair of above the navel bloomers because the thong wouldn't be invented until 1974.

Look. At. That. Car. A 1970 Buick Riviera. Great name. Great car. But wait a second. Look at that guy. And that jacket. You think maybe he's the guy from the Old Forester ad above? His wife got rid of him after Bossman's visit, but he bounced back with a new car, a new woman with straighter hair, and a brown vest to go under that jacket. He gave up the Old Forester, but he'll be drinking Colt .45 in the back seat of that car by 1978.

Adina Howard

2009-08-12T00:01:00.004-05:00

"It's hot outside," a woman said to me last week. "But not enough to make me come out the house with some Adina Howard shorts on."

Adina Howard. Dag, I had forgotten all about that girl.

It's been 14 years since Adina dropped the "Do You Wanna Ride" CD, which featured the above track, "Freak Like Me" (not to mention "You Got Me Humpin'" "Horny for Your Love" and "Baby Come Over)".

"Freak Like Me," and the video were racy then, drawing the ire of parents and feminists. Other videos by female R&B/Hip-Hop acts of the era drew the same fire. I can remember the clucking of tongues over the thrusting and jiggling in Oaktown 357's "Juicy Gotcha Krazy" video and B Angie B's "I Don't Wanna Lose You Love" video.)

Fifteen years onward, "Freak Like Me" seems pretty tame now when viewed against what the industry has put out since. What also grabs me now? Adina can really sing. No wonder "Freak" went platinum.

But that song, so far, is about as good as it's gotten hitwise for Adina. Her next album didn't do as well. In 1998 she did a song "T-Shirt & Panties" with Jamie Foxx for the movie "Woo". (You know you don't remember that movie and don't feel bad. Jada Pinkett-Smith probably forgot about "Woo"...and she was in it.) And I guess Adina's "Nasty Grind" made a little noise in 2004, but nothing like "Freak" a decade earlier.

Yes, a question from the audience? You, there, with the Afro:
Q: Mr. Soul Closet, does that mean we can't see the video for "Nasty Grind"?
A: Yes we can see it. But it's not really safe for work and parents should use a little caution. 'Cause Adina ain't talking about bad coffee. And she is nekkid. Like D'Angelo was in that video back in the day.

Adina's still out there making music. Her MySpace page features a load of tracks and current music.

The Coolest Thing You'll See Today

2009-08-11T07:50:00.003-05:00

Let's pretend it's 1974 again. It's Saturday afternoon and the "Fat Albert" episode ended about three hours ago. You played some strike-out, or maybe a little hoops with that de-spoked bicycle rim nailed onto the back of somebody's garage that ya'll use for a basket. But you're tired now, so you run back home for a drink of water or Kool-Aid. You pass by the television on your way to the kitchen. Your sister's watching "Soul Train."

And for two minutes and 34 seconds, the rest of the day can wait.

Soul! LIVE!

2009-08-10T01:00:00.003-05:00

Martin V., my boy in Arizona, posted on his Facebook page yesterday this fonky clip of Marva Whitney singing live--and backed by the JBs--on the Mondrian-inspired pop art set of the Mike Douglas Show in 1969.

Dig it. Now dig it again. It's okay.

The Soul Closet is turning over the day to live performances. Check em out:

Otis Redding:

Sam & Dave bringing it--unfortunately before a crowd of astoundingly dispassionate Germans:

Labelle. Live on "Midnight Special."

And we close it out with Sly and the Family Stone live on "Soul Train." Actually live, y'all, not lip synching.

Forgotten Jam Friday

2009-08-07T07:58:00.006-05:00

It's Friday--finally--here in the Soul Closet. Time to dig in the crates for some old skool jams that you might not often hear. We kick off with the 12" version of "All Night Thang" a 1980 cut by The Invisible Man's Band, a group composed of members of The Five "Oooh Child" Stairsteps. You can't hear nothing this fonky on the radio no mo..

This 80s jam from Aurra. Or where they Deja by then?

I STILL have this on vinyl: Unlimited Touch, "Searching to Find the One" from 1981.

Next: "This Beat is Mine" by Vicky D.

Billy Ocean, 1980. Before he went mainstream and stuff in the mid 1980s. Makes me think of the old WDAI (Disco 'DAI) in Chicago.

And we close out with Carly Simon. Carly Simon? Yep. Produced by Chic (you can tell when you hear it.) Believe it or not, I found this years ago in the basement of my (then) mother-in-law. And I swiped it! With permission, of course.

Wigs

2009-08-03T07:59:00.001-05:00

Wigs
Originally uploaded by ChicagoEye

Goodbye, Reverend Ike

2009-07-30T10:11:00.003-05:00

The Right Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II died this week. He was 74.

The name probably means little today. But in the late 1960s and 1970s, there was probably no bigger name on the cultural/religious landscape than Eikerenkoetter's--shortened to the better-known "Rev. Ike."

The flamboyant, money-loving and wavy-haired Rev. Ike was heard by more than 2.5 million people on radio and television. He preached the gospel of prosperity, encouraging his faithful to envision themselves rich. In the Big Apple, subway billboards for his NYC based church would read: "Don't wait for pie-in-the-sky, by and by. Get yours now, with ice cream on top!"

Then he'd put the call out for donations and he himself got rich. But credit where credit is due: he didn't hide his riches or apologize for them. "My garages runneth over," he once said.

The New York Times, Fortunate Magazine--even the London Times--wrote about him. Ike was famous enough that his name became a punchline on shows like "Sanford & Son" and "Good Times." And Richard Pryor's cameo in the 1976 movie "Car Wash" as a flamboyant preacher surrounded by riches and honeys was clearly a jab at Rev. Ike. And if it wasn't, Pryor's work here, on his short lived NBC show a year later, was:

Ike's popularity waned in the 1980 and 1990s--and no wonder with so many other prosperity preachers getting in the game. He had a stroke in 2007, according to the New York Times, and had been laid low since.

"JD's Revenge"

2009-07-27T01:00:00.000-05:00

A guilty pleasure: "JD's Revenge," a 1976 film about a slain 1940s New Orleans gangster who possesses the body of a bookwormish law student--played by Glynn Turman--in order to get his, well, revenge.

"JD" is one of the more unusual films of the blaxploitation genre. It has the customary low budget, but rises above it with sharper-than-normal writing, use of the supernatural--and the casting of the Turman who has the acting chops to convincingly play a law school student and a reincarnated, swaggering, switchblade-carrying hoodlum.

The dialogue is at times hilarious. The movie is worth renting if only to see the scene when Turman tells his woman: "Whatsa matter baby? Don't you like yo Daddy's conk?" And if you can't wait to rent it, check out the entire movie here.

The cast includes Lou Gossett, Joan Pringle (who is lovely as all get-out), the dependable Carl Crudup as Turman's best friend.

"JD" is something of a cult film now. I would say a remake would be in order, but in some ways, the very entertaining 2001 Snoop Dogg/Pam Grier film "Bones" kind of accomplishes that:

Old School Detroit TV: The Scene

2009-07-24T16:20:00.006-05:00

It's Friday afternoon and I just got back from lunch with two friends. One of them is Peter Cook, an architect from D.C. whom I've known for years. He praised The Soul Closet (as is customary, of course), but mentioned a tv show from his youth in Detroit called "The Scene."

"It was kind of a, well, low-budget 'Soul Train'," he said. Indeed it is. And it is fun to watch. There were dozens of these local dance shows across the country in the 1970s and 1980s. Anyway, here's more of "The Scene."

(I'm likin' the dance in white spandex and red cowboy hat in this one:)

My buddy, the esteemed Professor Lester Spence of Johns Hopkins University--a native Detroiter--puts a little perspective on this when I put a link to this post on my Facebook Page: "There was a moment there, when folks are straight banging to house and electro."

Ladies and Gentlemen: The Time

2009-07-24T07:21:00.002-05:00

The Soul Closet ends the week with the title track from The Time's 1984 album, "Ice Cream Castles."

When Hip Hop Came to Madison Avenue

2009-07-20T00:13:00.002-05:00

Two clips from the early days of the marriage between rap/hip-hop and advertising. Above is Young MC's groundbreaking 1990 commercial for Pepsi Cola. Next is one of the late 1980s spots the Fat Boys did for Swatch watches:

Ce Ce Peniston

2009-07-10T02:06:00.005-05:00

Ce Ce Peniston . Keep On Walkin'
Uploaded by capitainfunkk - Music videos, artist interviews, concerts and more.

The Soul Closet closes for the week with this jam from dance music diva CeCe Peniston. Her biggest hits included 1992's "Finally" and "We Got a Love Thang." But for my money, I'm liking "Keep on Walkin'," which is today's featured clip.

A Soldier's Story

2009-07-06T12:12:00.004-05:00

I saw "A Soldier's Story" in a packed theater in 1984 a few days after its premiere. It was kind of an event: a serious film with a black cast--adapted from black Pulitzer Prize winner Charles Fuller's play--that dealt with racism and identity in the context of a southern army base in World War II. And it was a murder mystery on top of that.

The movie starred Howard Rollins Jr., as an Army captain sent to the base to investigate that murder. Rollins (who died in 1996) was an A-list actor, then, having been nominated for an Oscar for his performance in "Ragtime" a couple of years earlier. But the film really belongs to the supporting cast, which included Denzel Washington, David Alan Grier, William Alan Young (the cat who would later play the daddy in "Moesha"), and Robert Townsend--when they were all young and on the come-up.

Adolph Caesar (who died in 1986) turned in an Oscar-nominated performance as the bitter and conflicted Sgt. Waters, spitting lines with the fury of a machine gun (as the clip above can attest. (Warning: if you haven't seen the film, there are spoilers in the above clip.) There is even a musical performance by Patti Labelle:

Despite all this, "A Soldier's Story" is kind of a forgotten movie. Looking at it now, the film is plagued by its low $5 million budget ("The Color Purple," which was released the next year was made for $15 million). And Rollins, the star of the film and a compelling actor, seems to have little to do under Jewison's direction. As a result, the heaviest lifting, actingwise, is done by Washington and Ceasar, who played the same roles in Fuller's play. (Warning: course language in this clip below)

Still "A Soldier's Story" is worth checking out. So check it out.

The Sylvers

2009-07-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

A reader suggested I post some clips of The Sylvers. I think she was suggesting this as penance for putting up that clip of Celine Dion singing "Bad" while dressed as MJ. So I'll post two Sylvers, a Debarge and a Five Stairsteps and hope for absolution.

And the Five Stairsteps (singing live!)

LaToya & Rebbie

2009-06-30T06:31:00.001-05:00

Ok, I promise this will be the last Jackson-related item. But while doing the previous posts, I ran across these two videos. Above is sister Rebbie Jackson singing that stone jam "Centipede" on the old "Solid Gold" TV show in 1984.

But my favorite is this 1980 clip of LaToya singing "If You Feel The Funk."

Bonus Track, y'all. Jermaine Jackson performing "Let's Get Serious."

The King of Pop Culture, Too (part 2)

2009-06-29T00:09:00.006-05:00

We posted a few examples last week of Michael Jackson's influence/stamp on pop culture. Scroll down a bit if you missed it. There is everything there from a clip of the "Jamie Foxx Show" to the forgotten soul singer Alfonso's eerily MJ-like cut, "Girl, You Are the One" from 1982.

So today, we continue the theme a bit. The above cut is 1973's "Misdemeanor" by Foster Sylvers--who sang lead for another family band, The Sylvers--sounding for all the world like Michael Jackson.

The cloying Celine Dion--I swear--performing "Bad", while dressed and "sounding" like MJ. She has a straight face. But you won't:

From India, y'all. Inspired by the "Thriller" video:

Denise Pearson, lead singer of British Bubblegum Soul group Five Star is kinda MJish--in their 1985 song "All Fall Down":

And to say nothing of The Osmonds--a group that is all but forgotten now--but were running neck-and-neck with the J5 for a while there. In this 1971 clip from the "Flip Wilson Show," Donny Osmond is clearly--clearly--ripping the hell..ur, I mean, "paying homage", to Michael Jackson's vocals:

[the above clip reminds me of what Carver said to Kima in an episode in Season Two of "The Wire" while watching white corner boys acting/talking black: "Thieving [motherlovers] take everything, don't they?"]

A take on the "Smooth Criminal" video. From China:

And we close out the day with Kim Fields' cute "Dear Michael" from 1983:

The King of Pop Culture, Too

2009-06-26T06:54:00.010-05:00

The security guard at the Aon Building--she of bright brown eyes and a pretty smile--sat behind the guard's desk yesterday, bummed. The light was gone.

"Michael, man," she told me. "That hurt my heart to hear that." She said she was a kid when "Thriller" came out in late 1982. She pestered her mother to get her a Michael Jackson jacket and a "Thriller" T-shirt to wear with it. And when she got it, she was the envy of her school.

You can't overstate the pop culture force Michael Jackson was during the late 1970s and early 1980s. He reshaped music, yes. But also fashion, dance, hair styles and--with the then-ground breaking 1984 Pepsi commercial above--advertising. No musical artist since has been able to that. In fact, the nearest example I can think of is not an entertainer, but an athlete: Michael Jordan

Listen to "You Are The One," a pretty decent, but now-forgotten 1982 Old School track from Alfonzo:

Weird Al's demented parody of MJ's "Beat It" video (and song):

MJ turned this otherwise mediocre song into a pop classic (and, now, an insurance company jingle) by simply singing the seven-word hook:

Alfonso Ribeiro makes fun of his "Pepsi Kid" origins in this episode of the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air":

We close the Closet with this inspired bit from the late 1990s "Jaime Foxx Show." Look what happens at 1:35. I include this because by then, in the public eye, the Wacko Jacko persona had almost eclipsed the pop superstar Jackson. But Jamie and the terribly underrated Christopher B. Duncan--and the reaction from the audience--give MJ his due:

Claudine

2009-06-25T01:00:00.004-05:00

I rented "Claudine" on Netflix a few months ago. Three thoughts occurred to me. More on that later.

"Claudine" was released in 1974 and starred Diahann Carroll in the title role as a Harlem mother with six kids. James Earl Jones co-starred as Rupe, her love interest. The movie is a love story, but it's also a tart commentary on racism, poverty, sexuality and parental responsibility. And it's funny with a great score by Curtis Mayfield.

The role earned Carroll an Oscar nomination for Best Actress in 1975, but she lost to Ellen Burstyn, who grabbed the statuette for "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore." Carroll was recommended for the role by Diana Sands, who was originally cast as Claudine, but was dying of cancer.

And now to my three thoughts about "Claudine."

(a) "Claudine" is good piece of filmmaking with crisp writing punctuated by Carroll's performance. Her Oscar nomination wasn't 1970s tokenism; she really was that good.

(b) Today, the movie would be made differently. The plot of the struggling single mother with a houseful of boisterous kids who finds love would pass muster now, but the scene where Claudine beats her daughter? I wonder. Or the subplot with the oldest son being a frustrated revolutionary: today they'd make him a snarling gang member. And somebody would have to die. And what of Claudine herself? She is smart, vulnerable and sexy. Today she'd be a wounded figure who would find herself through the course of the movie, probably in some confessional melodramatic scene.

And that led to my third thought: Lord have mercy, "Claudine" has "Tyler Perry Remake" written all over it.

(c)And with that, I was going to make a smarty-assed comment about my fear of Perry doing some slack-plotted, simplistically-written remake complete with face-slappings, neck-rolling "she told him" scenes, and--of course---set in Atlanta.

But as I think about it, maybe him remaking "Claudine" isn't a bad idea. A new movie could shine if Perry is properly inspired by the original's tight well-done script. Taraji P. Henson as Claudine...Boris Kudjoe/Morris Chestnut/Jeffrey Wright as Rupe..and nobody--and I mean nobody even remotely connected with the writing or acting in "Meet the Browns" or "Tyler Perry's House of Payne," who knows? It might be good?

Until then, the original is worth checking out. And here's an excellent and very pointed interview with Carroll discussing the role:

Ola Hudson Dies

2009-06-10T09:34:00.003-05:00

Ola Hudson--fashion designer, mother of guitarist Slash, and the subject of this stunning 1970 print ad for Dewar's White Label--died of lung cancer on June 5. She was 62.

Moms Mabley

2009-06-08T08:41:00.003-05:00

It's Monday. Nobody wants to go to work. We need a laugh. Let's let Moms Mabley--the funniest comedian of the late 20th century, I swear--provide some.

The Fifth Dimension

2009-06-03T01:00:00.001-05:00

Founded in 1966, the singing group The Fifth Dimension was a fixture on the late 1960s/early 1970s pop culture scene. The five-member vocal group--Marilyn McCoo, Billy Davis Jr., Florence LaRue, Lamonte McLemore (Davis' cousin) and Ron Townson--sang deeply-harmonized pop with just enough soul to keep things interesting.

The group gets down with Laura Nyro's "Stone Soul Picnic" in the clip above. The vid below is a medley of their hits.

The Fifth Dimension stayed intact until 1975, when McCoo and Davis (who were married) left the group and became pop stars as a husband-and-wife duo a few years later. Townson died in 2001. According to a Wikipedia entry, the group has had 25 personnel changes since 1975. The group now tours as Florence LaRue and the 5th Dimension, with LaRue as the only original member.

Breakwater

2009-06-01T01:00:00.000-05:00

That's a 1980 jam by R&B group, Breakwater. Sounds good, doesn't it? You can listen again. I'll wait.

Now check this one out from 1978. Same group.

One more and I'm done:

Room 222

2009-05-27T07:21:00.005-05:00

Today, the Soul Closet brings back a forgotten hit show of the 1970s: "Room 222." Set in Walt Whitman High School, the program largely centered on an American History class taught by the idealistic Pete Dixon, played by the supercool Lloyd Haynes. Denise Nicholas--looking mighty good, too--was guidance counselor (and love interest for Brother Dixon) Liz McIntyre.

"Room 222" premiered in September, 1969 and ran until January 1974. Here's a network promo of the show:

The 30 min "dramedy" was popular during its day, but dropped from sight after brief syndication runs in the 1970s. One of its co-stars, Karen Valentine, became a 1970s icon as cute student teacher Alice Johnson. But despite his good looks and charisma, fame eluded Haynes, the show's lead actor. After a few forgettable movies, Haynes did turn up as a judge on four episodes of the TV show "Dynasty" in 1981, according to IMDB, followed by a two-year run on the soap "General Hospital."

Haynes died of cancer in 1986. He was 52.

"Room 222" is on DVD, at least. Its first season was released in March. Here's an episode from a later season, featuring actor Bruno Kirby about two years before he would play young Clemenza in "Godfather II." And even here, he's trying to get his hustle on.

Cancer. With Soul

2009-05-22T06:55:00.011-05:00

My kids laugh when I tell them smoking was glamorous and sophisticated when I was a kid in the 1970s. In movies, the line "May I offer you a light?" often led to romance--not a trip to a lung specialist. Being able to look cool holding a cigarette was a good thing. And stores stocked candy cigarettes for the young set.(I preferred Pall Malls.)

We close the week with an ode cancer stick advertising--with a little Soul. Here is a set of circa 1970 cigarette ads from Ebony Magazine.

Why does the woman have a black eye? The Tareyton cigarettes' ad campaign/tagline was "I would rather fight than switch" brands. Lung disease and a black eye. Nice. Dig the commercial.

Black folks and menthol cigarettes. I bet this is how it started.

This Winston ad makes fun of its own then-successful, but ungrammatical slogan, "Winston Tastes Good Like a Cigarette Should." The brother in the last quote balloon breaks it all down.

Oh come now. This ain't even subliminal.

And speaking of Pall Mall cigarettes. My father and all his friends pronounced it "Pell Mell" rather than the way it looks: "Paul Maul". All these years I thought they were wrong. Turns out they weren't.

Welcome to Club Soul Closet...

2009-05-18T01:50:00.001-05:00

No video..we're gonna spin some wax today showcasing some early hip-hop/freestyle/dance/electro. If I don't, who will? Contemporary music stations play the Top 40 only; classic/oldies stations play the same [melonfarming] songs in 2009 that they played in 1979. If I hear "Heard it Through the Grapevine" or "Baby Love" one more time, I'm kicking the speaker in, whether the radio belongs to me or not...

Where was I? Oh. Some of these old jams still sound good, like C-Bank's "One More Shot" (click link above), replete with breaking-glass sound effects, tight production by synth wiz John Robie and melancholy vocals by lead singer Jenny Burton.

Hit the link below and check out C-Bank's "Get Wet"--dig the lyric "Get wet, or, my darling, I will do it myself." Well.

The late Sharon Redd, with "Beat the Street."

Here's Lime's "Babe, We're Gonna Love Tonight."

Remember this? "Must Be the Music," by Secret Weapon?

The NYC Peech Boyz' "Don't Make Me Wait."

The Peech Boyz again: "Life is Something Special" with the formidable Bernard Fowler--who is still in the game--handling vocals.

Blame me if you don't get any work done today. It's okay.

"What is Hip?"

2009-05-15T18:11:00.004-05:00

Just to the right, there is a link to soul singer Lenny Williams' site. This song--"What is Hip?" from his years as lead singer of the formidable R&B/funk group Tower of Power--is just one of the reasons why.

Git down, y'all.

Who Do You Love?

2009-05-14T08:52:00.003-05:00

Bernard Wright and his 1985 hit "Who Do You Love?"
(Well...I love the girl in the video. She need to hit a brother up.)

Randy Crawford &The Crusaders

2009-05-12T07:34:00.002-05:00

The incredible Randy Crawford, backed by the Crusaders, in that 1979 jam "Street Life." Written by Crusader's pianist Joe Sample and Will Jennings, "Street Life" spent 20 weeks atop the jazz charts and, in its full version, is more than 11 minutes long.

Soul Closet's Bureau of Missing Persons.

2009-05-04T10:37:00.004-05:00

Al B. Sure was in Chicago a few days ago, which reminded me: Whatever happened to his virtual twin, 1990's R&B singer Christopher Williams?

And while I'm at it, can we put out an APB on Williams' contemporary Keith Washington?

Report all leads to the Soul Closet's Bureau of Missing Persons.

Taste of Honey

2009-04-28T11:14:00.002-05:00

No words today. Just listen to the two ladies jam.

Evelyn Champagne King

2009-04-27T11:02:00.003-05:00

A friend and I were at restaurant yesterday when this 1982 video by R&B singer Evelyn "Champagne" King came on. We were transfixed for a second or two over the 80s-style "high tech" graphics of the vid. "Looks like they were just figuring things out, weren't they?" my friend said.

Ms King was 22 in this video, and was already a vet on the disco/R&B music scene. "I'm in Love" was #1 on the R&B charts back in '82. That fonky synth bass and catchy hook bear the mark of singer/producer Kashif, who made jams for darn near everybody during this period, including Howard Johnson ("So Fine"--now there's a old school jam you don't hear anymore) and Soul Closet reader Melba Moore--not to mention himself.

As for Ms King, she's just shy of 50 now and is still around.

Oh, and the nickname "Champagne"? Supposedly its a riff on her childhood nickname "Bubbles."

"Boss [Derogative Racial Term]"

2009-04-22T01:00:00.003-05:00

Honestly, we forgot about this movie. But with the never-ending debate over the propriety of using the n-word, it's striking to find a 34-year-old movie that not only uses it in the the title---and, liberally thoughout the screenplay---but also in the theme song. Fred Williamson plays the title role. Literally. "Boss [Derogative Racial Term]" is his name in the movie.

Released in 1975, "Boss [Derogative Racial Term]" is a western starring Williamson and his frequent co-star and blaxploitation fixture D'Urville Martin as bounty hunters who appoint themselves sheriffs of a white town. Warning: The movie trailer above is not for the easily offended.

How many films used the n-word in the title, you wonder? At least 17, according to imdb.com and Williamson starred in three of them, including "The Legend of [N-word] Charley," from 1972 starring Williamson and its 1973 sequel, "The Soul of [N-word] Charley".
The there is "The Six Thousand Dollar [N-word] from 1979 about a bionic Brother.

The olden days of film gave us such titles as "Tossing a [N-word] in a Blanket" from 1898; "The Laughing [N-word]" from 1907; "The [N-word] in the Woodpile"---you could have guessed that one was coming---from 1904; "Ten Little [N-word] Boys," from 1912; and "The [N-word]" from 1915.

Who Remembers Captain Sky?

2009-04-20T07:51:00.003-05:00

We re-open the Soul Closet with a quick nod to a forgotten Chicago-born funkateer, Captain Sky. As I write this entry, I'm looking at a copy of his 1979 LP "Pop Goes the Captain," which, with its cosmic motif and funky cartoon art, looks like a George Clinton joint. Sounds like one too...

Born Daryl L. Cameron, Captain Sky had a few R&B hits in the late '70s and early "80s, including "Wonder Worm" from 1979 and "Station Break" from 1981.

Click on the above video and check out the Captain doing his thing on "Soul Train."

Byron Stingily

2009-04-08T01:00:00.001-05:00

We all turn into our parents, sooner or later--denouncing the day's music and hailing the music of "our day" as being better.

But in this case, I am right. Exhibit A: Byron Stingily's 1996 jam "Get Up," which still sounds good 13 years later.

Billy Stewart Sings "Summertime"

2009-04-06T01:00:00.003-05:00

Of all the versions of the classic "Summertime," this 1965 bid by Billy Stewart is--by far--the most amazing. Stewart was a vocalist for Chicago's Chess Records who had a couple of soul hits the year before with "Sitting in the Park" and "I Do Love You." Then he struck gold with "Summertime." Sadly, a car accident claimed the life of this great singer in 1970. He was only 33.

Backed by Chess's all-powerful session musicians---the track's drummer is Maurice White, who late became frontman/guiding light of Earth Wind & Fire--the 300lb Stewart stutters, trills and double-clutches his way through the song, then ends it with a display of vocal pyrotechnics the likes of which have been rarely captured on wax (or CD, mp3, wma...) since.

Dig it.

Pointer Sisters

2009-04-03T01:00:00.001-05:00

The Pointer Sisters--a talented bunch--had a string of hits in the 1980s, beginning with "Jump" and other video-ready tunes. Me? I always preferred the Pointer Sisters v.1 of the early 1970s. This was back before music videos, and when everybody had a variety show or a talk show--Carol Burnett, Mike Douglas, Dinah Shore...and at some point in the show, they'd say, "Ladies and Gentlemen: The Pointer Sisters."

...and these four (or three, if June Pointer couldn't make it) sisters would come out and just sing. Their dress was vaguely reminiscent of the 1940s, and so were the songs, but yet they were as funky and contemporary as all-get out.

Mama and Daddy would come in from the next room because black folks were so rarely on tv then, you had to yell out. "Can you turn that up?" they'd say.

Yes,we can (can).

Paging Mos Def?

2009-04-01T01:00:00.002-05:00

I posted a 1970 clip of Jesse Jackson on "Sesame Street" and noted the resemblance between the then-young Rev and actor Will Smith. Well, today my vinyl record collection reveals a uncanny resemblance between jazz bassist Ron Carter and Mos Def. Talk to me...y'all know I'm right.

Jesse Jackson on "Sesame Street"

2009-03-30T01:00:00.001-05:00

The Reverend, from a 1970 episode of "Sesame Street" that I fondly remember from my childhood. Dig the young Rev. Jackson. Looking at it now, two things come to mind: it's hard to deny the impact and beauty of this moment, and Will Smith, do I have a role for you, Brother.

And while we're here at Sesame Street, check out this clip featuring En Vogue. Back when there were four in the group, and I was crushin' on all of them. Especially Cindy Herron.

The Warriors

2009-03-27T09:07:00.002-05:00

A scene from Walter Hill's 1979 classic "The Warriors."

"House of Payne" vs "Amos n Andy."

2009-03-26T15:40:00.003-05:00

Forgive me for allowing the 21st century to intrude a bit into the Soul Closet today. I did a mild rant on my Facebook page, expressing my disdain for "Tyler Perry's House of Payne." I think "House of Payne" is pandering, embarrassing, mediocre and unfunny.

A few of the folks who commented on my FB page compared "House of Payne" to "Amos n Andy," and I presume they meant the black-cast television show of the 1950s, rather than the radio show which featured white guys doing stereotypical black voices. The radio show had a long run, but the "Amos n Andy" tv show was run off the air--quick--by the NAACP and others for its depictions of scheming and shiftless Negroes.

I saw an episode of "A & A" on a bootlegged VHS when I was in college in the 1980s. I expected to be outraged, and--dare I say it--I laughed. I can see why it was banned though: Who wants to see Ralph Bunche holding court on NBC News, only to flip the dial and see Kingfish's scheming azz, talking in "dese" and "dos". So I present above a clip "Amos n Andy" and below, "House of Payne." Maybe the NAACP can do that thing one more time.

Kool & the Gang

2009-03-18T08:01:00.002-05:00

Kool & the Gang's 1982 jam, "Big Fun."

Stars & Stripes (and Plaid) Forever

2009-03-17T01:00:00.005-05:00

I've been thinking about adding a new feature to the Soul Closet: class pictures. So I decided to prime the pump with my own. Here is Mrs. Hudson's 1st grade class, James Madison Elementary School, Chicago IL, 1971. See if you can pick me out.

School picture photography is lost art. My kids go to great schools, yet they bring home drab, washed-out looking photos printed on the cheapest of paper. But look at this picture bursting with color--befitting such a funky era.

The Bill Cosby Show

2009-03-16T01:33:00.001-05:00

For years, I'd been telling my kids Bill Cosby had a sitcom that predated the 1980s "Cosby Show." My recollection of it was sparse: Cosby's character was a high school teacher named Chet Kincaid; the show was funny, and there was an episode in which he drove his girlfriend to the dance in a garbage truck.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Cosby "sang" what has to be the funkiest theme song (written by Quincy Jones) in the history of television. When the first season of the series, which premiered in 1969 and ran for two seasons came to DVD in 2006, I snapped it up and screened it for the kids and we dug it. Especially the theme and opening title.

Melba Moore, Cleavon Little & Charles Gordone

2009-03-13T09:52:00.006-05:00

I got a friend request from Melba Moore today on Facebook. Turns out it was actually her. We've always had great love for Ms. Moore. As I accepted the request, I was reminded of this 1970 Ebony cover that I have featuring Moore, Cleavon Little and Charles Gordone. And Melba is wearing that dress, baby.

A talented trio. Moore and Little won Tonys in 1970 for their roles in Purlie; Gordone won the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play No Place to be Somebody.

Funkin for Jamaica

2009-03-12T06:23:00.000-05:00

All rise: Tom Browne's 1980 jam "Funkin for Jamaica." Among the personnel: Tom Browne on the horn, the great Marcus Miller gets funky on the bass, and Toni Smith (who co-wrote the tune) gives Chaka Khan a serious run for her money on vocals.

Whaddaya Know...the Revolution WAS Televised!

2009-03-11T01:00:00.002-05:00

..how else to explain this astounding find: James Brown singing "Say it Loud (I'm Black and I'm Proud)" in a room full of white folks in 1968, and they're clapping and smiling and singing the chorus with him!

You were bad, Godfather. Superbad.

(The show was "Playboy After Dark" by the way.

Baubles, Dangles & Beads?

2009-03-10T01:00:00.000-05:00

Sure, they look all funky and hip, but I wonder: Who wore these things, outside of that overly stern woman on the Mothers Board? See there, that girl on the left? Every Friday, she begged her mother and father to go to Kresge's and buy her a pair of these glasses. Then in March, 1970 the parents relented. The girl wore them to school Monday and was feeling pretty good. Then she saw her manless and lonely Home Ec teacher (the woman on the right, actually) wearing a pair just like these. And by Tuesday, the girl on the left had put them in the bottom of her jewelry box, where they were forgotten forever.

Janet Jackson

2009-03-09T01:00:00.002-05:00

The Soul Closet opens this week with two videos from Janet Jackson. What strikes me most as I views these: How much modern pop divas still perform the moves Janet did 20 years ago.

Did I just say "20 years ago"? I feel old now. Gotta take a Geritol. Go head and watch the vids. I need to take my nap.

Lola Falana on "The Muppet Show."

2009-03-06T01:31:00.001-06:00

Frankly, I miss them both.

The Great Biz Markie

2009-03-05T00:01:00.001-06:00

Biz Markie turns 45 this year. Rap and hip-hop have been around long enough for its pioneers to reach middle age (Big Daddy Kane will hit 41 in 2009. Roxanne Shante? 40. Melle Mel will be 48. And Kurtis Blow turns the big 5-0.) But I digress...

Few voices in hip-hop over the past 20 years are as unique as that of the great Biz Markie. I still remember "The Vapors from his Goin' Off album back in '88, and do not sleep on Biz' live and fonky performance of "Schizo Jam" on jazzman Don Byron's superb and (underheralded) 1998 CD "Nu Blaxploitation."

But Biz' career is indelibly marked by this 1989 song, "Just a Friend" and the accompanying video, both of which are hilarious (check the Mozart get-up) and poignant at the same time. If mainstream rap would remove the manufactured scowl and get down like this just one time today...

1988 Was a L-O-N-G Time Ago.

2009-03-04T01:00:00.002-06:00

This 1988 ad for Isoplus promised to help the Sisters keep their hair this way, but for the life of me, I've forgotten why. This was a hot style when I was in college and every other young woman came out of the Touch of Class beauty shop rockin this look and, in retrospect,looking rather poodleish about the head. But we brothers can't laugh too hard. Back then, every fifth male was cutting his hair like this dude.

Cleopatra Jones

2009-03-03T01:00:00.001-06:00

In the back of the Soul Closet are a pair of platform boots and a fur jacket belonging to one of the baddest sisters on film: Cleopatra Jones, played by the stunningly f-i-n-e, 6'2" Tamara Dobson, as a federal agent seeking to put the smackdown on an overacting Shelly Winters.

Dobson's plays the role with charisma, and given that the former fashion model had only one credited screen appearance before 1973's "Cleopatra Jones," she did a pretty good job as a female lead. Sadly, her career post- "Jones" career was all too brief. She was only in seven features between 1973 and 1984, including a sequel, "Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold." By 1978, she was Samantha in the quite-decent Saturday morning sci-fi series "Jason of Star Command." Her last role was in the 1984 made-for-tv film---predictably titled---"Amazons."

Dobson was diagnosed with MS in 2000. She died in 2006.

And now back to the action. I saw "Cleopatra Jones" at the United Artists Theater in downtown Chicago about six years after its release. When she opened up the hidden trap door in the Corvette and broke out the machine gun in the scene below, everybody in the theater went "oooooooo!" Including me.

Pre-Shaft: In a Robert Hall Suit.

2009-03-02T00:50:00.006-06:00

Some slogans are timeless. "For the man accustomed to paying $100 or more for his suits" is not one of them, I'm afraid. This was the latest offering in 1970 from Robert Hall, the now defunct clothier. And yep, once again, the model in the vaguely-priced Crown Juilliard line suit is Richard Roundtree, who would later become Shaft. John Shaft paid more than $75 for his clothes, I bet. Why, just look.

Minnie

2009-02-27T08:00:00.006-06:00

We were wannabe bad-asses, walking across the hot asphalt playground of Caldwell Elementary school in July 1979 when somebody---I don't even remember who--came up to us.

"Y'all heard? Minnie Riperton dead." We hadn't heard. And our bravado took the afternoon off when we did.

Breast cancer. She was 31. That honey sweet soprano voice that kissed the stratosphere--silenced.

...but, as it turns out, not forgotten. Thirty years after Minnie's death, people still worship the voice and the music. More than a few Soul Closet readers have emailed me: "You need to put some Minnie on there." And so today I have. The Closet closes for the week with the great Ms Riperton singing "Reasons."

While the backing track is identical to the album, the vocals are sung differently here than on wax, leading me to believe she sang it live here on Soul Train (the synch is off, as is often the case with YouTube vids), but she hits some outrageous notes with astonishing ease.

..and what the heck? It's Friday: Here's Minnie preforming "Lover & Friend."

And a live performance on the old "Mike Douglas Show", singing "Seeing You This Way." Check out how well she handles herself in the interview with Douglas at the song's end.

..and also from "Mike Douglas," a live performance of "Loving You."

Family, 1970

2009-02-26T08:17:00.004-06:00

This is a 1970 ad for Esoterica skin creme. But let's set that aside for now and look at the picture of family. Mom and Dad are salt-of-the-earth, church-going Baptists. I bet he prefers to be called "Father", even by his wife. He is a supervisor at work; and his wife may be a teacher, but she is certainly on the Mothers Board at church. They seem old, but they are not yet 50. In fact, the mother is probably only 45. They are proud of their daughter, who is in her first year at Spelman.

But look at Junior, there on the right. He oughta to be in college, but he's not. Drifting. Borrowing money from Mama because Dad stopped speaking to him after the big fight in 1969. Dad tried to get him a good gig down at the job--even pulled some strings to do it--but did Junior follow up? No.

Mama prayed for him. She never gave up. And sometime around 1977, Junior started getting his bag together. He went to school, got a job and later became a minster at the church. Mama's prayers got answered.

Jeff Perry Shoulda Been Famous

2009-02-25T03:53:00.001-06:00

For the life of me, I could never figure out why Jeffrey Perry wasn't a huge R&B star of the 1970s. I guess the field was crowded with so many greats back then, there was only room for so many.

Here's a rare appearance of him on a 1976 episode of "Soul Train," singing--quite happily, I should add---"Love Don't Come No Stronger." Perry's career did enjoy a bounce in the mid-1990s. Kenny B., a Chicago steppers' dj I used to know, started playing, "Love's Gonna Last," a track from Perry's forgotten 1979 MCA album. The song became a staple on WVAZ where Kenny B., spun records and gave Perry's career as shot in the arm.

The 1979 album, "Jeffree," is worth tracking down. It's beautifully sung, and Perry wrote all the songs on the joint. Why MCA let this album bomb is beyond me. I found a pristine copy of it for $5 at the old 2nd Hand Tunes in Hyde Park, and no you can't have it.

Buffalo Gals

2009-02-24T03:06:00.003-06:00

After managing the rock groups the New York Dolls and the Sex Pistols, Malcolm Mclaren took a detour into hip-hop in 1983, creating this early UK jam, "Buffalo Gals."

Honey Cone

2009-02-23T07:00:00.001-06:00

I dug deep in the Soul Closet---ok, it's youtube--to find a pair of jams from the early 70s R&B girl group, Honey Cone. Both "Want Ads," and "Stick Up" were number one R&B hits. And if the group sounds a little bit like the Supreme, there's good reason. The legendary songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote for Honey Cone (and named the group) after leaving Motown.

The three stone foxes of Honey Cone were, from right to left: lead singer Edna Wright, Carolyn Willis, and Shelly Clark. Ms Clark has a Honey Cone myspace page right here, yall. On her page she's got great music. I learned that she is married to one of the coolest and most iconic cats in all of R&B: EWF's long-haired bassist Verdine White.

Homemade HammerTime!

2009-02-20T03:00:00.000-06:00

I wonder if Vanilla Ice had one, too?

Bobby Caldwell

2009-02-19T01:28:00.002-06:00

I had a conversation about a year ago with a white guy who loved black music. He said he hated when white artists sing soul music because "what right do they have to claim that? It's so artificial."

I agreed up to a point. There was nothing more fake than, say, a Michael Bolton herniating his way through a soul classic in the 1980s. On the other hand, the very white Michael McDonald, to me, is quite authentic. So is today's artist, Bobby Caldwell, singer of the late 1970s jam, "What You Won't Do For Love."

The song is part of the R&B canon, having been remade by everyone from Phyllis Hyman to Tupac. I like how this early music video begins with Caldwell in shadow (the cover of "What You Won't Do for Love" LP was just like this), then reveals him after the vocals began. I can only imagine the surprise back in 1978: "Dang, that's a white guy?"

Yes it is. But he's got the soul of a Brother.

When Gordon from "Sesame Street" was a Pimp

2009-02-18T05:22:00.003-06:00

The Soul Closet brings forth today "Willie Dynamite," a 1974 film starring Roscoe Orman as a pimp who finds himself squeezed after refusing to join a collective of other macks. Brother Orman is best known as Gordon on "Sesame Street."

"Dynamite" is Orman's first role on film and he clearly had the makings of being a real movie star. He's charismatic, intense---and he pulls off one of the most outrageous wardrobes committed to celluloid. In her final role, the late Diana Sands is excellent as a former streetwalker at odds with Willie. You just wish she, and the rest of the cast, where in a better movie.

The clip above is the best part of the movie. Roger Robinson steals the show with a Pimpspearean performance as Bell, the lead mack. You'll see Orman, Nathaniel Taylor who played Rollo in "Sanford and Son," and character actor Don DoQui who appeared in "Robocop" and countless other features (he died Feb 9th of this year).

International Fashions. 1971

2009-02-17T06:04:00.001-06:00

This is a 1971 ad for International Fashions. But it really should be an ad for a movie. Call it "Pimp Force '72: The Man from P.I.M.P." In it, pimps from France, the U.S., and Nigeria unite and go undercover to keep neo-Nazis from taking over the pimp trade.

Admit it: If there were such a movie, you'd be on Netflix right now trying to get for Friday. I know I would.

Run's House v.1

2009-02-16T06:24:00.001-06:00

From the 1985 movie, "Krush Groove." Back when hip-hop was still young, fresh and edgy--before Madison Avenue, Clear Channel, big record labels and reality TV took an authentic voice and lifestyle of the streets and jacked it up.

Anyway, "Krush Groove" is based on the early days of Def Jam records, and featured appearances by Run-DMC, Sheila E., the Fat Boys and New Edition. The acting is a little wooden, but the musical performances more than make up for it.