The Day The Music Died

February 3rd, 1959

"The Day The Music Died"

It was 48 years ago this week that we lost Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson in a tragic plane crash near Clear Lake, IA. This date would become a defining day in music history. It was the first great tragedy of Rock n' Roll and it certainly wouldn't be the last.

Friday, Feb 2nd, Matt The Cat will dedicate the show to these three great performers with plenty of music, soundbites and stories as we celebrate their fantastic careers.

Saturday, Feb 3rd, The 50s on 5 will feature special segments every hour honoring Buddy, Ritchie and JP. So tune in all day on The Day The Music Died to the 50s on 5.

Record Collector Thursday!

Jerry Osborne Joins Matt The Cat Thursday Night!

Jerry's Rockin' Records Price Guide has long been the standard for record collectors. Jerry comes on the air live with Matt The Cat to discuss some of the greatest collectible records of all time. If you're a record collector, what should you look for? How can you tell an original from a reproduction? What makes one record worth more than another? All these questions and more will be answered by the record expert, Jerry Osborne.

8pm EST - 5pm PST

For more info on Jerry's Rockin' Records Price Guide, visit: http://jerryosborne.com

iPod vs. The 45

America loves its conveniences. But most of the time, convenience comes at a cost. It might be a higher price paid financially for it or in the case of the iPod and other MP3 players, convenience comes at a cost of a medium's soul.

Dramatic? Maybe, but there are some facts here that should be noted. It is no secret that converting a wav file (the type of file that music on CDs are encoded in...16 bit, 44.1 khz) to an MP3 file uses a 10:1 compression ratio. That means that your CDs are ten times more compressed as an MP3, then they are when you listen to them off a CD. The math even works out. At a generous conversion rate, a 3 minute song will be 30 mg as a wav and it will become 3mgs when it is converted to an MP3 file. There is NO QUESTION that MP3s don't have the presence and range of frequencies found on CDs and records.

Now, in the iPod's favor, a section of my living room that is taken up with shelves holding thousands of LPs, CDs, 45s and 78s can fit into a little, portable device. I've done the calculations and it looks like a 60g iPod is too small, but as soon as Apple comes out with the 100g iPod, my entire record collection could fit on it. WOW. It blows my mind to think that I could take a vacation and bring all my R&B 78s from the 1940s with me. That, my friend, is convenience at it's finest.

The question is, and this is where the opinion comes in, do I want to take my entire record collection to Fiji? I think there's something to be said for housing a library of antiquated music media. OK sure, there's the collector side of me that just loves gathering like things together. Then there's the history side of me that wants to preserve this great music for all time. Then there's the fetish side. Yes, I said fetish. Hear me out on this now. In some ways, it's the act of putting on a record and listening that really makes the iPod look small. Follow me now:
1. A song you haven't heard in ages jumps into you heard. You HAVE to hear it.
2. You know you have it on 45, so you go digging for it (I'm anal, so all my 45s are alphabetical by artist and then within the artist category, they are arranged chronologically by release date). I'm such a loser.
3. You find it and take it over to the turntable. Slide it out of its sleeve, place it on the platter, grab the record cleaning brush and get all the dust off it. Gently move the tone arm and drop the needle in place.
4. You listen. Of course you listen intently, because you've gone through the above steps to make this music listening experience possible.

OR

You could just turn on an iPod and go right to the song and groove to it while you ride the subway, read the newspaper or workout.

See, it's all a matter of one's taste and also I think your decision reflects on how you view the importance of music in your life. If you are more of a casual consumer of music, the iPod is for you. But, if music reaches down into your very soul and you love everything about it; the label, the smell, the feel, the look, then antiquated media is for YOU! Oh and did I mention records sound better? That's a fact!

Yes, convenience comes at a price and that's a price that I'm not willing to pay.

Harlem: Week of 1/29/07 - Chicago R&B!

This week Harlem heads to the "cradle of rhythm and blues"...CHICAGO!
South Michigan Avenue, home of
CHESS and Vee Jay Records and some of the greatest R&B and Blues of all time. Matt The Cat digs up some groovy sides by the likes of Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Bo Diddley and The Moonglows. Don't miss CHICAGO RHYTHM & BLUES, this week on HARLEM!!

HARLEM Airs on the 50 on 5:
Monday 1/29 @ 1pm EST
Tuesday Night 1/30 @ 9pm PST and 11pm in Chicago
Friday Night 2/2 @ 6pm EST
Sunday Morning 2/4 @ 11am EST and 10am in The Windy City

Latest 78 RPM Finds...

I found some beauts this weekend at a local record show. Check out these nice 78 RPM labels.



I'm on a quest to collect all 12 of the Cardinals 78s released by Atlantic between 1952-1956. This weekend I found "Off Shore" b/w "Choo Choo". For anyone keeping track, that makes 6 Cardinals 78s to date. The epic search continues. I also found 78s by Ruth Brown, The Clovers and Big Joe Turner's first release for Atlantic. It was a good weekend.

HARLEM: Week of 1/22/07 - Answer Records

The Soul That Came BEFORE Rock n' Roll is on

HARLEM

This week HARLEM features sequel songs and answer records from the early days of rhythm and blues. You'll hear the complete "Annie" trilogy from Hank Ballard and The Midnighters as well as the answer records to Jackie Brenston's "Rocket 88" and Big Mama Thorton's "Hound Dog". Matt The Cat digs through racks and stacks of hot wax trax in order to bring you a full show of nothing but answer records and sequel songs, this week on HARLEM.

Harlem Airs on XM5:
Monday Afternoon 1/22 @ 1pm over NYC
Tuesday Night 1/23 @ 9pm PST and Midnight EST
Friday Evening 1/26 @ 6pm over Jersey City
Sunday Morning 1/28 @ 11am over Boston

Pookie Hudson - RIP

Pookie Hudson

June 11, 1934 - Jan 16, 2007

The last couple of years have not been good ones for fans of Doo Wop music. We've lost some of its founding fathers in recent years. Today, we lost another with the passing of Thornton James "Pookie" Hudson of the Spaniels. Pookie and the group were the first artist to be recorded and released on the then new Vee-Jay label back in 1953 with "Baby It's You". Their classic "Goodnite Sweetheart, Goodnite" followed a few months later. The group formed in Gary, Indiana in 1952. Other Spaniels classic include, "You Gave Me Peace Of Mind", "People Will Say We're In Love", "You Painted Pictures", "Everybody's Laughing" and their up-tempo rendition of "Stormy Weather".

I had a great honor of interviewing Pookie for two hours on July 14, 2006 at the XM studios in Washington, DC. Pookie lived just north of DC. He was a tall man and had an incredible presence. He had been sick with cancer for a long time, but when I met him, he had beaten the horrible disease. He looked strong and was determined to keep on singing and performing. A few months ago, the cancer came back and attacked his liver. We never heard from Pookie again. I know I speak for all the Night Prowlers when I say that Pookie Hudson will be greatly missed, but his music, memory and legend will live on, as long as there's a Night Prowl Show.

Goodnite, Pookie, Goodnite!

-MTC

Harlem - Week Of 1/15/07 - James Brown

Before he was Mr. Dynamite,
Before he was The Hardest Working Man In Show Business,
Before there was even Soul Music,
He was a great rhythm & blues singer…

The Late, Great
JAMES BROWN

This week HARLEM takes a look at the birth of a true legend. James Brown’s career began in March of 1956 with the release of his first 45, “Please, Please, Please” b/w “Why Do You Do Me” (Federal 12256) and he never looked back. Matt The Cat is going to spin both the A and B sides of every JB single that Federal released in 1956 with the full story behind the story. These records are truly the building blocks of soul music. Please join us as we honor the late, great James Brown with a look at how he began his fantastic career.

Harlem Airs on the 50s on 5:
Monday 1/15 at 1pm EST
Tuesday 1/16 at 9pm PST – Midnight EST
Friday 1/19 at 6pm EST
Sunday 1/21 at 11am EST

Harlem: Week Of 1/8/07 - Clyde McPhatter

"Clyde McPhatter's high tenor takes off like a guided missile. It soars higher and higher until it hits its target...dead center and explodes...blowin' you mind"
-Matt The Cat

CLYDE McPHATTER

Clyde McPhatter should be remembered as one of the most influential of the early '50s R&B singers. His sweet, angelic tenor was first put to gospel singing, but in 1950, it turned to secular music when Clyde joined Billy Ward & The Dominoes. After scoring numerous hits with The Dominoes, McPhatter left to form his OWN group, The Drifters. Depression, alcoholism and the changing sound of R&B would eventually ruin his career and his life, but this week HARLEM remembers one of the true great, CLYDE McPHATTER.

HARLEM airs on the 50s on 5:
Monday 1/8 @ 1pm over NYC
Tuesday 1/9 @ 9pm PST - midnight EST
Friday 2/12 @ 6pm EST
Sunday 2/14 @ 11am over Boston

Harlem: Week of 1/1/07 - Elvis On Harlem!

BEFORE HE WAS CROWNED
"KING"

Elvis was busy being influenced by RHYTHM & BLUES!

This week HARLEM prowls around the back alleys of Memphis searching for the original R&B versions of songs that ELVIS made immortally popular. January 8th marks what would have been Elvis' 71st birthday. Don't miss this amazing opportunity to hear three different versions of the classic "Good Rockin' Tonight" as it progressed from Roy Brown to Wynonie "Mr. Blues" Harris to ELVIS himself. There's good rockin' this week on the 50s on 5's HARLEM with Matt The Cat.

Harlem will groove you on the 50s on 5 all week:
Tuesday Night 1/2 @ 9pm over LA & midnight over NYC
Friday 1/5 @ 6pm over Portland, ME
Sunday Morning 1/7 (The day before what would have been Elvis' 72nd birthday) @ 11am EST and 10am Memphis time

Happy New Year and thanks for supporting Harlem and The Night Prowl Show.

-MTC