Harlem: Week Of 6/30/08 - Big Joe Turner!

Boss Of The Blues

BIG JOE TURNER

This week Harlem takes a look at one of R&B and Rock n' Roll's biggest single influences. Joe Turner came up from the pre-war boogie woogie underground and became a post-war blues shoutin' success. The late 1940s were very good to Joe, but it was the 1950s that would prove to be his career highlight. Even though he was already in his 40s, Big Joe's music became an early proponent of rock n' roll. This Harlem show is accented through interviews with music historian Billy Vera and the late Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records. Find out why Big Joe Turner is the true "Boss Of The Blues", this week on Harlem.

Harlem Airs on the 50s on 5:

Monday at 1pm ET

Tuesday at 9pm PT - Midnight ET

Friday at 6pm ET

Sunday at 11am ET

-MTC

Harlem - Week Of 6/23/08 - The Cleftones

The Cleftones

This week, Matt The Cat talks to two original members of one of New York's greatest '50s vocal groups; The Celftones. You'll hear lead singer Herbie Cox and sometimes leader and songwriter Berman Patterson speak about segregation, touring with Alan Freed's Cavalcade of Stars and recording for mobster Morris Levy. It's the most revealing HARLEM ever!! We'll dig deep into the vaults to pull out some great, almost forgotten Cleftones sides as well, so don't miss HARLEM, all week on the 50s on 5.


Harlem Airs On The 50s on 5:
Monday, 6/23 @ 1pm ET
Tuesday, 6/24 @ 9pm over LA - Midnight over NYC
Friday, 6/27 @ 6pm ET
Sunday, 6/29 @ 11am ET

Harlem - Week Of 6/16/08 - 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 6/16 @ 1pm over NYC
Tuesday 6/17 @ 9pm PST - midnight EST
Friday 6/20 @ 6pm EST
Sunday 6/22 @ 11am over Boston

Harlem - Week Of 6/9/08 - Bo Diddley Remembered!

Bo Diddley

1928 - 2008

This week Harlem pays respect to the true originator of rock n’ roll, Bo Diddley. When Ellas McDaniel burst on the scene as Bo Diddley in 1955, he took the entire world by surprise. No one looked or sounded like that in the mid 1950s. Matt The Cat tells Bo’s story and plays some Diddley classics you’ve never heard before, such as the original “Love Is Strange”, which was written and originally recorded by Bo (a year before Mickey & Sylvia would have a #1 hit with it). Let’s remember Bo for what he was; a creator, a trailblazer and a man who wasn’t afraid to be himself and sound different. We get behind the beat, this week on Harlem.

Harlem Airs on The 50s on 5:
Monday, 6/9 @ 1pm ET
Tuesday, 6/10 @ 9pm PT – Midnight ET
Friday, 6/13 @ 6pm ET
Sunday 6/15 @ 11am ET

-Matt The Cat

Best Summer Song Poll!

The Night Prowl Show's

Best Summer Song Of All-Time POLL!

Help us choose the Official Night Prowl Summer Song!

Thanks to all the Night Prowlers who nominated summer songs over the past week. Now it's time to vote for the Night Prowl's Summer Song of 2008! Go to The Plattah Chattah Forum (click the link) and voice your choice for best summer song. The songs were nominated by you and now the winner will be chosen by you. The poll will be open until Saturday, June 7th at 23:59 ET.

...and the nominees are:

"One Summer Night" - The Danleers

"Summer Song" - Roy Orbison

"Summertime" - Sam Cooke

"The Long Hot Summer" - Jimmie Rodgers

"Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer" - Nat King Cole

"Under The Boardwalk" - The Drifters

"Summertime, Summertime" - The Jamies

"Summertime Blues" - Eddie Cochran

"Summer's Gone" - Paul Anka

"Now That Summer Is Here" - The Videls

VOTE NOW!

The Gunslinger Dies At 79! G'bye Bo!

BO DIDDLEY

December 28, 1928 - June 2, 2008

There will always be only ONE Bo Diddley. He didn't look or sound like anyone else in 1955 when his debut single on Checker Records (Checker 814) was dropped on an unsuspecting world and in 2008, he was still as unique as ever. The glasses, the jacket, the square guitar and that beat. Oh, that beat. I think Bo's legacy will be that infectious "Bo Diddley Beat" that has crossed generational lines and is as catchy today as ever. The beat was largely based on the African "hambone" rhythm, but Bo really made it his trademark right from the start.

Ellas Otha Bates McDaniel was 79 years old when he passed away in the wee hours of Monday, June 2, 2008. He died of heart failure. In recent years, Bo had survived a stroke and a heart attack. He was a survivor, who endured long after the hit records stopped coming. He continued to tour and musically innovate. His recent work involved new sounds, beats and even hip hop influences. Bo never settled on playing his breakthrough hit "Bo Diddley" over and over on the oldies circuit. He was always striving for the next "thing". Maybe now, he's finally found it? Music lovers everywhere will miss this father of rock n' roll, this one of a kind. Our music needs more unique individuals like Mr. Diddley.

Tonight on the Night Prowl Show, Matt The Cat will honor the music and legacy of the GREAT Bo Diddley. Don't miss a single "beat".

Rest in peace, Bo. You may be silenced, but the "beat" goes on....forever!

-Matt The Cat

Harlem - Week of 6/2/08 - Imperial Records Story!

This week, HARLEM salutes one of the most influential record labels in the development of rock n' roll...

Imperial Records

Lew Chudd formed IMPERIAL RECORDS in 1946 in Los Angeles to better serve the Mexican and ethnic community. By 1949 his sights were set on another musical form that was being ignored by the major labels, New Orleans rhythm & blues. He hired bandleader Dave Bartholomew to be his New Orleans A&R man and producer and rest is R&B history. Bartholomew signed Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis and The Spiders and Imperial had a soul bucket full of hit records that would end up becoming Rock n' Roll staples. Get the story behind the story of IMPERIAL RECORDS with Matt The Cat, this week on HARLEM.

Harlem Airs On The 50s on 5:
Monday afternoon 6/2 @ 1pm over Baltimore, MD
Tuesday evening 6/3 @ 9pm PST and Midnight EST
Friday night 6/6 @ 6pm over Seaside Heights, NJ
Sunday morning 6/8 @ 11am over Philly, PA