annees folles/Crazy Years 1920s

On the eve of the lavish movie The Great Gatsby! Gatsby fever has hit
New York with parties set in the style of the 1920s.

Those fabulous roaring twenties a term use to characterize the 1920s


A decade of distinctive cultural edge in New York City, Paris, Berlin, London o include many other cities who sustained a period of economic prosperity and stability.

French speakers called it the "annees folles ("Crazy Years"This emphasizing the era's social setting in artistic and cultural dynamism.

Economically the era saw a rise in the use of the Automobile, Telephone, motion pictures and with significant changes in lifestyle and culture.

The sprit of The Roaring Twenties had a unique since of feeling to it with new technologies

particularly automobiles, motion pictures and radio proliferated modernity to a large part of the population you could see practicality in both daily life and architecture.

At the same time jazz and dancing rose in popularity in opposition to the mood
and specter of World War 1. This period was also known as the jazz age.

Dance clubs became notoriously popularly during the 1920s. Their popularity peaked in the late 1920    and reached into the early 1930s.

Dance music came to dominate all forms of popular music by the late 1920s.

The most popular dances at this time were foxtrot and waltz and American Tango.

From the early 1920s, however, a variety of eccentric novelty dances were developed.

The first of these were the Breakaway and Charleston. both of these dances were based on African-American musical styles and beats. This was also to include the blues.


It was after two 1922 Broadway shows that the Charleston exploded as a dance entity.

Then there was a brief Black Bottom Dance craze which originated at the Apollo Theatre Harlem New York City which swept dance halls from 1926 to 1927, replacing the Charleston in popularity.


By 1927, the Lindy Hop, a dance based on Breakaway and Charleston and integrating elements of tap became the dominant social dance,

Developed in the Savoy Ballroom, it was set to stride piano ragtime jazz. later The Lindy Hop would develop into swing jazz.

During this period several entertainment venues attracted people from all races.

The Cotton Club featured black performers and catered to a white clientele, while the Savoy Ballroom catered to a mostly black clientele.

Fashion was a noted highlight in the 1920s for all races weather pour or rich most men and women wore elegant dresses and suits.

Immortalized in  movies and magazine covers, young women's fashion of the1920s was both a trend and social statement. These middle class women rebellious in nature were labeled flappers by the older generation did away with the corset of the Victorian age and donned slinky length dresses which exposed their legs and arms.

The hairstyle of the decade was a chin-length bob, of which there were several popular variations.

Butch Leake (CORNER TALK
REPORT)

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The Drifter Diaries/South African Connection

1974 Apartheid was still going strong! Nelson Mandela was still during time
in prison for his activist activities. The Original Bell/Arista Drifters landed
in south Africa to a tremendous welcome from fans who were ecstatic over
the Legendary group coming to South Africa to perform for them despite all
the political issues of entertainers visiting the country because of Apartheid.
For The Drifters this would be the first as far as an historical tour was 
concerned. We would perform before integrated audiences and on the
band podium black and white musicians would play together. 
This arrangement was a requirement that was unheard of at that time.
South Africa had some strange laws and practices during this period
when it came to social integration between blacks, Indians and whites!
but for the most part there was increased effort to keep us away from the ugly
side of life in that part of the world which for me was a signal to educate
myself more on what was going on there. We were so to speak goodwill
ambassadors but there was no hiding the scars of Apartheid.
The tour was sponsored then by The Quibell Brothers who now live in
Florida. On the show bill with us were Barbra Roy and Ecstasy Passion and
Pain and a Great South African Solo Artist The Late Margret Sengana.
Most of the Tour was situated around Capetown, Durban and Johannesburg
with stop overs in Botswana. In Botswana the clear signs of the ravages
of war were clear. Recently I ran into Ron Foster who was the Key board est
for Barbra Roy and we reminisce about those days. The audience attendance
were jam pack in all the shows we did. In Capetown we performed for
Dr. Christian Barnhard who as you might remember performed the first
revolutionary heart transplant at that time. Interesting some years later I
spent much of my time working and supporting then Britain's Queen
Elizabeth Heart Foundation charity.
In Capetown the social setting was very much a private one with black, white
and Indian professionals mixing under the radar of the security services
who's job it was to to keep such social gatherings from taking place.
In Johannesburg you had Hill brow a very cosmopolitan area in the heart
of the city up on a hill which all of the races of people integrated very
freely. We lodged while in Johannesburg at then a beautiful hotel called the
Landross Hotel which featured a unisex sauna where Apartheid ended when
you crossed it door step ( So Goes The Strange Laws During This period).
Part 2 of this historical tour will feature The show in it's entirety and some
of the political issues that surfaced around the visit.

Butch Leake (CORNER TALK REPORT)
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The Brill Building/The Music Temple

The Brill Building (built 1931) as the Alan E. Lefcourt Building and designed by Victor Bark Jr. is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the Manhattan borough of New York City, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood. It is famous for housing music industry offices and studios where some of the most popular American music tunes were written. The building has been described as "the most important generator of popular songs in the Western world......Wikipedia
This building housed some of the the most prolific publishers, songwriters and producers of the times. By 1962 it is noted the Brill Building contained over a 165 music businesses on on it's premises. Musicians/Artist alike could find all that was needed to cut a deal. That is could find a publisher and printer, cut a demo, promote the record and cut a deal with radio promoters, all within this one building.
Many of the greatest songwriters producers etc worked within this building Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Bert Berns, Neil Diamond, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Marvin Hamlisch, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield and Phil Spector just to name a few.
Artist who were  headquartered at the Brill Building were Bobby Darin, The Drifters, Connie Francis, Lesley Gore, Ben E. King, Darlene Love, Liza Minnellie, Tony Orlando, Gene Pitney, The Ronettes, The Shangri-Las, The Shirelles, The Sweet Inspirations, Doris Troy, Frankie Valie & The four Seasons Seasons, Dee Dee Warwick and Dionne Warwick.
Over a period of time the building took on what was noted as the Brill Building Sound which was somewhat  inaccurate as a lot of the music came from outside the building from such places as that other important address on Broadway at 1650.

Butch Leake (CORNER TALK REPORT)

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Bell/Arista Drifters/The Pivotal point

By the late 60s Atlantic Records had all but ceased to release new recordings on the Drifters and the group of the nostalgic heyday had begun to fade away into the pages of history. The next recording session on 11/8/67, had only three voices - Johnny Moore, Rick Sheppard and Bill Fredricks. December of 1967, Charles Baskerville leaves the lineup and is replaced by baritone Milton Turner who sang with Bill Fredricks in The Packard's. Guitarist Abdul Samad also leaves around this time and is replaced By Butch Mann the former guitarist for Ruby and The Romantics of the (Our Day Will Come) fame. Milton Turner leaves in 1969, and is replaced by another Charles Thomas, who later changes his name to don so as not to confuse it with the original Charlie Thomas. Both Don and Charlie were from the state of Virginia. From this point on The Drifters as a group spiraled downward. Atlantic Records had only been releasing one record a year on the group from 1967 Thur 1971, non making it to the top 100 in the charts. In 1970, the group broke up over internal problems relating to management. Bill Fredricks stayed because of closeness with management who was then Faye Treadwell wife of the late George Treadwell. Johnny, Rick and Don wanted to go it alone, but nothing came out of these plans. Rick left and became a police officer, even though he continued singing with his own review. Johnny rejoined Bill Fredricks and the management. Don Thomas also returned for a short period.
1972 was to be the pivotal point or what you might call the Resurrection with the signing of the Drifters to then Bell Records through Greenway Music headed by writer and producer Roger Greenway. The lineup by this time featured Johnny Moore, Butch Leake, Bill Fredrick's and Grant Kitching's and it was this rendition of The Drifters that would propel the brand to the heights of it's former glory. There are those who try and down play the significance of the this lineup but there is no mistaking that the success of this signing brought the brand back from obscurity. Even now in 2013 the current brand of Drifter groups have yet to duplicate the success of the Bell/Arista years. Recently in 2012 the brand went gold with the release by Sony Music who now is custodian of the Bell/Arista catalog a CD titled The Drifters "Up On The Roof" the very best of... This CD sold 200,000 units but it was largely the Bell/Arista songs which carried this CD to it's gold status. It remains to be seen if the current official lineup of Drifters will duplicate the success? There are still the pros and cons of the Drifter sound and style that has to be met as far as hardcore Drifter fans who grew with the group over the years are concerned. The young generation of fans have know Idea of the significance of truly what made The Drifters what they were over the years and in my opinion current management miss the mark somewhat! maybe it's not needed we shall see. In the back round "The Drifter wars" continue as former members and the proliferation of wannabe drifter acts compete in this now cottage industry on both sides of the Atlantic. The story will continue to be recorded and written here as we move into the next decade of Drifter drama stay tuned......
Butch Leake (CORNER TALK REPORT)

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