Remember three years ago when Zero to 180 featured its first ‘Musical Roll Call‘ vis-à-vis Little Royal and his regal rail line, whose crew consisted solely of the finest and funkiest soul luminaries of the early 1970s including, incredibly, The … Continue reading
Years ago I remember being spellbound by a Mojo feature article that interviewed several of the musicians in The Famous Flames who had toured Vietnam with James Brown in 1968 and played for a large number of very grateful soldiers … Continue reading
Is Cincinnati aware the degree to which Manzel‘s two 45s “Space Funk” (from 1977) & “Midnight Theme” (1979) have become revered dance tracks around the globe? Note the trippy backwards drumming intro that immediately draws in the listener on “Space … Continue reading
Impressive musicianship and stellar vocals make for another slice of Cincinnati funk on Counterpart Records that is able to command a decent two figures at auction: “Hang Up Your Hang-Ups” Umoja 197? As with 400 Years of What‘s “Get Down … Continue reading
How cool that a 45 released on Shad O’Shea‘s Counterpart label – “Get Down People” by 400 Years of What – sold on Ebay for over $500. However, if it weren’t for Buckeye Beat’s comprehensive listing of 45s released on Cincinnati’s … Continue reading
Music writer/historian, Randy McNutt, in King Records of Cincinnati, points out the irony of “How You Gonna Get Respect (When You Haven’t Cut Your Process Yet)” – a Hank Ballard single “obviously aimed at the R&B market” – being voiced by mostly … Continue reading
My ambitiousness got the best of me with the posting of the two-part history piece, “Quirky 45s That Bubbled Under (1959-1976).” If you go to Zero to 180’s home page now (as of April 2020), you might be frustrated that … Continue reading
Fun Facts & Trivia — Best Tweets from King Records Month 2018 As with the previous piece (“King’s Jazz Legacy“), it seems silly to keep all this rich history from last year’s King 75th Anniversary tucked away in a file attachment. … Continue reading
It always helps to have streaming audio within arm’s reach to make music history more of a ‘multimedia’ experience. From reading Young Gifted and Black: The Story of Trojan Records by Michael de Koningh & Laurence Cane-Honeysett, for example, I … Continue reading
Billboard, in their January 8, 1972 edition, would report this quirky news item in the Cincinnati division of their “From the Music Capitals Around the World” column: “Rusty York, who heads up the Jewel Recording Studio[s] here, learned last week that … Continue reading