Aug 22
It’s not every day that a living legend walks through your door. If you don’t care about Florida soul music, then the name Willie Clarke probably means nothing to you. But if you love the sound of southern soul, full of energy, emotion, and of course, “that driving beat”, then you understand what I mean. …
Aug 12
He was the best guitarist I’ve ever seen. Not the flashiest, not the fastest. He didn’t shred, though he could have if he wanted to. There was nothing he couldn’t play, and very few types of music that he didn’t listen to. Dan Hosker’s death on Saturday, August 11, 2012, was not a surprise. When …
Aug 06
Here’s another golden flashback from Dan Chandler’s WQAM archives! It may have seemed that the powerhouse station had an infinite supply of oldies, but in reality the selection was being tightly controlled by the time 1969 rolled around. The torn sheet that you see here makes it clear that only certain oldies could be played …
Jul 22
For every superstar, and even every one-hit wonder, there are countless performers standing on the outside, hoping their next performance – their next recording – will be their breakout. They give it their all, hanging on to their dreams year after year, even when it seems those dreams might never come true. Tambi Garret was …
Jul 03
An unknown acetate by an unknown South Florida band of the ‘60s! Those twelve words brought indescribable anticipation. I couldn’t wait to see it. To hear it. To document it. To spread the word to other collectors! The name of the group was “3rd Rail”, a name similar to the Joey Levine-Artie Resnick-Kris Resnick studio …
May 24
What is an Albany, New York group doing on a blog about Florida bands? Well, for one thing, I love the Bougalieu’s record – both versions of it. Love it a lot! But more importantly, this is a band that relocated to South Florida for a time, ‘til it was clear that the end of …
May 06
If ever there was any doubt as to whether the rivalry between radio stations WQAM and WFUN was for real, the following memo should put those questions to rest. The rivalry wasn’t just real – it was intense – and grew to monumental proportions after WFUN’s Morton “Doc” Downey’s dirty tricks on WQAM program director …
Apr 23
By 1966, nearly every town had countless bands that were well-known at their local high schools and dance halls, but were pretty much seen as nobodies everywhere else. Bradenton, Florida had it share of bands, some of whom sported members that went on to bigger and better things: The Thunderbeats with Larry Rhinehart …
Mar 21
Anyone who’s read Savage Lost, or who has ever seen my record collection, knows about my fanaticism for ‘60s garage bands. I love the energy and simplicity in a lot of the songs, and prefer the primal sounds to the more sophisticated music that followed. Complex arrangements and instrumental experiments are fine, but I’d …
Mar 09
Euphoria’s 1971 single on the Hit International label was mentioned on page 395 of Savage Lost, as one of the better local releases of the ‘70s. Time and space didn’t permit more details about the label, or its role in our local music scene, starting in 1969. This particular Hit label (as it was …