ANOTHER SATURDAY NITE AT THE TARENA...

OK—ANOTHER Saturday Nite at The Tarena!!! (circa 1964)

"Nag" by The Halos:

"Big Foot Mae" by Hal Paige:

"Annie Get Your Yo-Yo"

by Little Junior Parker

Little Anthony with his first group, THE CHESTERS with "The Fires Burn No More"

And another classic ballad out of The Burgh;

"I Wonder" by The Laurels

Jesse Belvins’ "Beware"

Back ROCKIN' with

"Richard Pry, Private Eye"

by The (early) Spinners

 

"The Slop" by The Olympics

"Down In Mexico" by the Coasters

 

And close the night with:

Jesee Belvins (again) with his

“Goodnight My Love”

Man, I miss The Tarena…

(And You Too, Carmella...)


 

James Brown and also The Cadillacs Score Big on February 4, 1956 ~ In The Evolution of Rock 'n Roll...

In March of 1954, a Harlem vocal group called The Cadillacs  
released a GREAT ballad about a girl named Gloria and although it was a major Doo-Wop hit at the hops, it never achieved real popularity at the time…

On February 4, 1956, The Cadillacs did enter the Billboard Pop Chart with "Speedo", which will top out at #17 and become a Doo-Wop classic.

Here they are doing Speedo and a few others in this mini-documentary...

 

  SO, WHAT ELSE HAPPENED ON FEBRUARY 4, 1956--THE SAME DAY THAT THE CADILLACS ENTERED THE BILLBOARD CHARTS??? 

It was on February 4, 1956 when James Brown And The Famous Flames recorded 

"Please, Please, Please" at King Studios in Cincinnati.

  The single would go on to become a Billboard #5 R&B hit, selling over a million copies, but nine subsequent releases would fail to live up to the success of their debut.  

It would take over two years for the group to return to the charts with the #1 R&B hit, "Try Me". 

And with that hit, the man who would become “The Godfather of Soul” got the world to think about what’s coming next…

 
FIFTY-SIX YEARS AGO IN THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK ‘n ROLL… 

February 3 in the Evolution of Rock 'n Roll...

February 3

In the Evolution of Rock ‘n Roll:

1959:

Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper play their last show as part of the "Winter Dance Party" tour, stopping this night at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, IA. Admission: $1.25. The last song of the night: The Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace."

1962:
Gene Chandler's "The Duke Of Earl" tops the Cashbox Best Sellers chart for the first of a five week stay…

1978:
The TV movie Dead Man's Curve, which was based on the lives of Jan and Dean, airs on ABC.

1979:

The Blues Brothers' album Briefcase Full of Blues hits #1

Sales of Etta James’ Music Skyrockets After Her Passing…

The late, great Etta James makes a powerful impact on the Billboard charts this week, following her death on Jan. 20.

On the Billboard 200 chart, she nets her highest-charting album ever as "The Best of Etta James - 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection" rises from No. 162 to No. 46 with 8,000 sold (up 149% over the previous week)

 according to Nielsen SoundScan in a tracking week that reflected only two days of sales after her passing. Until this week, the R&B/blues legend had never gone higher than No. 68, when "At Last!" rose to that position in 1961.

For the week ending Sunday, Jan. 22 (2012) Etta  James' overall catalog of albums sold 30,000 copies. That marks a 378% increase over the previous week, when her collected albums moved just over 6,000 units.

James also debuts on the Billboard 200 at No. 59 with the 1997 hits collection "Her Best" (7,000; up 4,226%) and re-enters at No. 96 with  "At Last!" (5,000; up 907%).

For the week, James' catalog of songs sold 118,000 downloads (more than half of that were "At Last's" sales) -- for an overall gain of 1,091% compared to last week.

RELATED STORY

R.I.P. ETTA ~
YOU'RE STILL ROCKIN' AND STRONGER THAN EVER!!!

Groundhog Day? How about 20 years of February 1 in THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK'N ROLL...

GROUNDHOG DAY!!!














February 1, 1957: Atlantic releases "Youngblood"/"Searchin" by the Coasters.

Written and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the song stays on the charts for most of the year.

Leiber and Stoller will go on to produce and record numerous hits by the Coasters and other Atlantic artists such as the Drifters, Ben E. King and LaVern Baker.

Check out this related story... 

February 1, 1958: Jerry Lee Lewis hits Number One with "Breathless."

In April, he scores again, with my FAVORITE Jerry Lee tune, "High School Confidential."

   

February 1, 1961: "Shop Around" by the Miracles is MOTOWN's first national hit...

It's #2 on the Billboard Chart and topping the Billboard HOT 100 SINGLES list for eight weeks...

February 1, 1965: James Brown records "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag,"

THIS IS A HIT!!!

 
 A revolutionary single that ushers in a whole new era of soul music. Released that summer, it tops the R&B chart for eight weeks and even cracks the pop Top Ten.

February 1, 1966: Big Brother and the Holding Company and the Jefferson Airplane headline the First Annual Tribal Stomp at San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom

February 1, 1967: The debut album 'Buffalo Springfield', containing 12 original songs, is released. First pressings omit "For What It's Worth," which is subsequently added to the album when it becomes a hit. "For What It's Worth," which reaches #7, is Buffalo Springfield's only Top Forty hit...

February 1, 1967: After signing Aretha Franklin, Jerry Wexler records "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" at Rick Hall's Fame Studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The song hits Number Nine on the pop charts…

Twenty years of watchin' some rodent forecast the weather on the first day of February...While Rock 'n Roll cruised on in THE EVOLUTION OF ROCK 'N ROLL...