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Hitsville
2007: Another great one!
As the US Airways Flight 268 from Philadelphia touched
down at Orlando International Airport at 2pm on Friday
the 7th September it signified the arrival in the
State of The Hitsville Soul Club’s VIP guests
at the 3rd Annual gathering of the club’s rare
soul collectors. Mr Johnny Stiles, Mr Luther Randolph
and Mr Weldon McDougal III who were the owners and
producers of Harthon Records and DynoDynamic music
were in town to party with a group of fans who had
collected their music for over 30 years.
Over the next 48 hours or so we would be treated to
a veritable feast of soul music varying from the early
60s transitional soul, through the halcyon late 60s,
the very best of 70s dancers and right up to the minute
discoveries and releases. Once again the venue was
the Best Western, Lakeside Resort in Kissimmee and
although year we ‘lost’ the record show
at short notice we made up for that with an afternoon
session of an informal Question and Answer few hours
with the guys who became known to us as The Harthon
Trio. |
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THE
PEOPLE
Just about everyone who attends this event is
a record collector and this year was no different.
Both UK and the US were represented with a number
of first timers in attendance, especially from
UK. The Gloucester Crowd hit the floor at 9pm
on Friday and left it at 6am on Sunday! A quartet
of more enthusiastic folks would be hard to
find. We also had for the first time Keiron
O’Doherty join us. Keiron is a long time
and knowledgeable DooWop fan from New Jersey,
who met the "Brits" at Kev Roberts
NJ gig and was blown away by the reception the
artists received. It was great to see Keiron
renew friendships across the pond. One other
special thing happened this weekend too. Original
"Hitsviller" Alan Pollard had to miss
last year’s festivities due to ill health
and it looked like he may be absent this year
too. Fortunately, with the help of Judi, his
wife and Joanna his daughter he made it! It
was great to have Alan and Judi back with us,
and it was great to see Alan behind the technics
again, where he belongs. |
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THE
MUSIC (CLICK
ON THE LABELS AND ENJOY!)
Where to start? On the Thursday evening Dave Greet,
Howard Griffin, and myself were later joined by
Dave (DJ) Bywell and had the decks set up at the
now infamous DJ Villa. Lot’s of vinyl all
over the place, Technics blasting, and at 0430am
we slinked off to bed, with all good intentions
of getting up at 7am out the window!
Down to the Hotel to set up, quick sound check
and it was off to the Airport to pick a few people
up. By 5pm everyone was safely esconced at the
venue and it was over to Disney’s Animal
Kingdom for dinner with our guests before making
it back to the gig for an 830 kick off. For lovers
of traditional Rare Soul, Friday night’s
music was nothing short of outstanding. One after
another, records were played that had people thinking
"I need one of those". Plays of note
for me from the DJ line up that included Mark
Holmes (Orlando), Jeff Lemlich (Deltona), Howard
Griffin (Widnes), and Alan Pollard (Wales) were
things like:
Margie Joseph - Medicine Bend - UK
Stax (one of the surprise hits of last year).
(MH)
Arthur Prysock – All I need is you tonight
– Old Town (MH)
The Prolifics - I Don’t Need No Help (I
still haven’t found one of these!) (JL)
Purple Mundi - Stop Hurting Me Baby - Cat (JL)
Pat Sands and The Pebbles - Loving Him - Sussex
(JL)
Sonji Clay - Deeper In My Heart - Music Maker
(Jeff L’s traditional ender)
JT Rhythm - All I Want Is You - Palmer (AP)
Nomads - Something ‘s Bad - Mo Groove (AP)
Soul Bros Inc - Pyramid - Golden Eye (AP)
Wrapped Around Your Finger - Poets - J-V (HG)
Shirley Edwards - Dream My Heart - Shrine (HG)
Don Gardner - Cheating Kind - Sedgerick - (HG)
Springers - Nothing’s Too Good For My Baby
- Whale (HG)
To
have a listen to some of Howard Griffin's set
on Friday night, click the button below. You'll
hear a very enthusiastic crowd of soul fans!
Unfortunately at 0115 (Just as Dave Greet was
hitting full flow and 45 mins before the end of
the night), the equipment developed a fatal fault
and we had to call it a night. There then followed,
as people slept or retired to party round the
pool, a manic hunt that involved hundreds of miles
and lots of tired driving to replace the complete
rig which we managed to do by 2pm the next day
in time to do the planned Q and A with the Harthon
Guys.
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Our
Saturday afternoon with Luther, Johnny and Weldon
was a real anorak’s delight in a comfortable
atmosphere where we just sat and enjoyed light snacks
and had all our questions answered by the guys in
reference to their many legendary recordings. Click
on the button below to listen to the entire Harthon
Q&A session:
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We
got right back on the decks Saturday evening and
it went a little something like this:
There Must Be Something-Friday,Saturday
and Sunday-Dig (JT)
Sonny Herman-What About Me-Utopia (DF)
Maxine Brown-Am I Falling In Love-(On a nice HMV
ISSUE) (DF)
Captions–Turn out the Lights–Kayham
(AP)
Robert Parker–I caught you in a Lie–Nola
(AP)
Cal Green - I’ll Give You Just A Little More
Time-FilmTown(DB)
Eddie Day/Four Bars - Guess Who Loves You-Shrine
(DB)
Sy Hightower-I Know You’re Lkeaving Me-Carmen
(DB)
Percy Stone-Chained -Ram (DG)
Frankie Beverly-I Want To Feel I’m Wanted-Fairmount
(DG)
Chuck Holiday-Just Can’t Trust Nobody-Gloria
(DG)
Othello Robertson-So In Luv-Baby Luv (MU)
Conquistadors - Sadness and Madness-Signett Demo-(MU)
Colt 45s-Lady Lady-Jerry (MU)
Four Tracks–Voodoo Man–Mandingo (TP)
Devotions–Do Do De Dop–Nation (TP)
Thee Midnighters-You’re Gonna Make You Cry-Whittier
(TP)
Revels-I Want A New Love-Trent Town (TP)
DeLites-Lover-Cuppy (TP)
Living Color-Thank The Lord For Love-Madhatter (R$M)
The Admirations-Heaven Is In Your Arms (Paree) (R$M)
Paris-Sleepless Nights-Doc (R$M)
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As young Tommy Potts played the final record
of the allnighter those that were still there
couldn’t help but be impressed by the
guys. They’d kept each other and a few
50 year olds, bouncing around a dance floor
‘til 6 in the morning with some great
records and their boundless energy. They then
topped it by packing all the sound gear away
and heading to the pool for a dawn dip. Great
show guys. Enjoyed every minute of all your
sets. Many Thanks.
Kit packed away, it was breakfast with the
Harthon Trio and we were joined by Keiron
and Luther’s daughter Cory, who had
come down from Jacksonville to see what all
the fuss was about. Although she knew her
father was a musician she didn’t fully
appreciate his standing as far as soul fans
are concerned. It was nice to see her get
the chance to see the esteem in which her
Dad is held.
Final autographs were done and Johnny, Luther
and Weldon were away in the limo back to the
airport and onto Philadelphia. They’d
had a great time and I’d like to congratulate
all the Hitsvillers for the way the trio were
embraced. Fantastic job guys.
All that remained now was get everyone up
to the Villa, get the music playing and order
the now traditional Indian meal that we eat
round the pool. This was accomplished with
Dave Bywell only missing out on $40.00 this
year, so well done Matey!
By Tuesday everyone was en route home - Mission
accomplished! Big thanks to all who came and
attended. The ethos of Hitsville is alive
and thriving. Especially BIG thanks to Bev,
without whom, none of it could have happened
once again.
See you at the next one...
Dave
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