Room 222

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

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...

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?"

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?

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

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.

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

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

Evelyn Champagne King

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]"

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?

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

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"

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

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?

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"

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

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

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

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

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

Stars & Stripes (and Plaid) Forever

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.