CLEVE DUNCAN R.I.P.

One of the most distinctive voices in 1950s doo wop and vocal group R&B passed away on November 7th. Cleve Duncan was the lead singer of The Penguins and sang lead on “Earth Angel,” one of the most important early roc k n’ roll records, because it crossed over from the R&B charts to the pop charts and established rock n’ roll as a viable form of pop music. Duncan was 77.

I interviewed Cleve back in 2006 and you can listen to it on my interviews below.

Cleve was a kind and soft-spoken kind of guy and rock n’ roll and rhythm & blues wouldn’t have been the same without him. His sweet voice will be missed.

Night Prowl Halloween Show

2006

I’m proud to say that the Night Prowl Show, which I hosted on XM Satellite Radio from June, 2001 to October 2008, was famous for over-the-top Halloween shows. Early on, I got the crazy idea to use teenage tragedy songs or “Death By Teenage” songs as I like to call them as a Halloween theme, along with the traditional musical fare that we’re all used to. The teen tragedy song is really one of the most ridiculous and emotionally extreme trends to ever hit popular music and I thought the car wrecks, the gore, the ghosts and graveyard scenes of these songs really exemplified Halloween sentiment at its finest. I produced Halloween Night Prowl shows from 2001-2007, but I honestly feel that it all came together in this 2006 edition of my Halloween Spooktacular! Thanks to Warren (The RollaCoastah) of New Jersey for recording and preserving this show, as I did not record it myself. It’s because of Warren that we can all enjoy this Halloween show today. Not only will you hear the best, the craziest AND the rarest teen tragedy songs ever recorded on this program, but you’ll also her the greatest, spookiest and weirdest Halloween song of the 1950s and ’60s, REAL ghost stories as told by listeners, Willem Dafoe’s reading of the Poe classic, “The Raven,” and Cross Country Kelly’s interpretation of “The Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner.” This is all contained within one, FOUR hour show.

Stream it now below and prepare yourself for radio like you’ve never heard it before. Let’s hope someday I’ll be able to produce a show like this on a grand scale once again. This program is literally the best radio has to offer, if I do say so myself. Enjoy and share it with everyone you know.

You can stream the 2006 Night Prowl Halloween Show through the link below. Enjoy!

Friday Night Cat Fight Podcast

“Rock Island Line”

This week’s “Friday Night Cat Fight” features the classic American folk tune, “Rock Island Line,” which was first discovered by musicologist Alan Lomax in 1934. Lomax was making his way through the South recording and preserving folk music for the Library Of Congress. It was at a penitentiary in Arkansas that he came across Kelly Pace and his group and they sang “Rock Island Line” for him. It is documented that this tune was very popular among inmates, who sang it as they worked the prison yards. Leadbelly also heard the tune while in prison and he first recorded it in 1937. The version by Leadbelly up for competition this week, though was taking from a 1940 session he had with the Golden Gate Quartet.

There are also five more versions of “Rock Island Line” vying for your vote, including the most popular one to date by British Skiffle sensation Lonnie Donegan. His version was released in 1955 and went to #8 on the US charts in 1956. Charting versions by Don Cornell and Johnny Cash are also featured.

Listen to the podcast in full and then vote for the version you truly DIG THE MOST at The Friday Night Cat Fight!