Beach Buzz

When I think of true legends when it comes to Beach music, the names that immediately pop up are Bill Pinkney, Joe Pope, Maurice Williams, General Johnson, Billy Scott and Clifford Curry. We lost Clifford this past week after several years of battling extended illness. Through it all, when seeing him, he was always positive and greeted you with a smile. Growing up in the Knoxville TN area, Clifford enjoyed participating in sports while attending Austin High School, but his real passion was music - and we are all better for the result of that! He became a singing member of several local groups, most notably The Five Pennies, during the late '50's and early '60's, while beginning to pen song lyrics as well. As his career progressed, Clifford's biggest national hit came about in 1967 with She Shot A Hole In My Soul - along the way he recorded both with groups and solo on labels such as Savoy, Excello, Elf, Bell, Buddah and Ripete Records.

What we knew Clifford best for, however, was his gentlemanly composure and six decades of devotion to R&B and Beach music, with the many hits: We're Gonna Hate Ourselves In The Morning, Need A Little Help Girl, (Baby Won't You) Shag With Me, Keep Your Legs Crossed, Romance Without Finance, She Shot A Hole In My Soul Again, Santa Bring Me Some Dancin' Shoes, Stacked In The Back, Two Soul Brothers (w/ Steve Jarrell), Sho Nuff, Three Time Loser, Intoxicated, Beach Music And Bar-B-Que, I Love Women, Don't Be Shy, Four O'Clock In The Morning (w/ Big Time), Cold Beer Hot Women and many more. He wrote songs recorded by some notable artists including The Tams, Sam Lay, Ruth McFadden, Johnny Jones, Big Jack Johnson, Roscoe Shelton, Bill Pinkney and Earl Gaines. He was a special talent and person - every time from now on when attending events at North Myrtle Beach I will remember the good times with the great Clifford Curry!

Look for The Castaways to light up the stage at SOS Fun Sunday

It's That Time Again: Yes oh yes it is upon us once again, time for another edition of SOS Fall Migration, 2016 style!! The North Myrtle Beach autumn version always includes two very special award winning events, namely Fun Sunday, this year on September 18th and Fun Monday on September 19th. Both are being sponsored this time around by The Shoe Center and Burger-Fi. Fun Sunday will be taking place on 1st Avenue beside of the OD Arcade from 1 to 5 PM. The featured bands are The Castaways, Midnight Allie and The Entertainers. Fun Monday will occur between Noon and 5:30 PM on Main Street with the scheduled entertainment being the Blackwater R&B Band, Hip Pocket Band and The Tams. That certainly makes for an outstanding two day lineup!!

Of course, there will be live entertainment at several of the clubs throughout the 10 days, also featuring an abundance of your favorite DJs. Other artists scheduled to perform in addition to those listed above include the Embers, Band of Oz, Jim Quick & Coastline, Fantastic Shakers, Carolina Soul Band, Lakeside Drive, Summerdaze, Holiday, Envision, Tim Clark, Shag Doctorz, Fat Jack, Marsha Morgan and more! And that is just in and around Main Street. A short drive away down Highway 17 is 2001 Nightclub, where they will feature bands several evenings during SOS to include: Blackwater R&B, Holiday, Catalinas, Embers, Too Much Sylvia and Gary Lowder & Smokin' Hot............ Keep in mind that the 2016 Carolina Beach Music Award nomination ballots have been collected and the leading candidates in all the categories are scheduled to be announced during SOS on the evening of Friday, September 23rd on 94.9 the SURF.........

Has any song on the Entertainers 2015 CBMA Album of the Year never made the Beach music charts? The title track, Summer Love, which was released earlier as a single, was nominated in the 2014 Song of the Year Award category and finished at #2 here at Beachmusic45 for that year. Maybe We Can Still Be Friends, also an advance track, was nominated for a 2015 Song of the Year Award and finished the year at #5. Satisfy My Woman, which began to chart almost immediately following the album release last July, finished at #25 in 2015 and hit #1 here in January of this year. Also charting since the album release here and/or on other charts: I'm Coming Home, Used To Be My Girl, One More Try For Love, I Think It's Love and Look Into The Eyes Of A Fool. The band had five songs here on the Smokin' Top 45 for August. OK, to be fair, there are twelve tracks on the CD, but that is eight of them that have charted, fully two-thirds of the release. I always thought that Don't Stop Now should have charted when it was released in 2013 - but wait, it DID chart on the SURF so that brings us to three-fourths of this record setting Entertainers release making the charts over the last 3 years!! Pretty amazing!

The Hottest: It was 1979, Come On In And Dance are the words (and the song title) original Chairmen of the Board member Danny Woods sang on the single! What is going on in terms of dancing in today's Beach music? Two new line dances are being popularized by their songs - the H.Lee Shuffle from the Funtastics and the Carolina Soul Slide by the Carolina Soul Band. There is another new line dancer, it is called the Cyclone, invented I believe by champion shagger Brennar Goree - it is done best to Baby Workout!.......Shagging is still the thing but you may be either doing a slower shag or cheek to cheek to some of the way down low to mid-tempo tunes that are headed up the charts. Smoothies for sure! Lesa Hudson does a wonderful job on It's A Better Thing, Lakeside Drive Band gives us a good one with My Angel Baby, I'm Gonna Love You Darlin' is another mellow one as sung by Jerry Shooter with the Carolina Breakers. Too Much Sylvia takes us way back on Melodies And Memories and also slowin' it down is One More Try For Love from the Entertainers

Slow and way down low describes One And Only from Midnight Allie, the title track from the KHP compilation released earlier this year. New tune Forever My Love by hitmaker Paul Craver fits the lower tempo bill. Also new, Oh Honey from Jackie Gore and Rhonda McDaniel has a little faster tempo but may still be considered a smoothie. The right Reverend Bubba D. Liverance and I went back and forth on his latest charter Tender Moment. I said I couldn't decide if it should be called an uptempo ballad, a smoothie or what...the lyrics definitely do tell a story! He countered with his thoughts as an "uptempo smooth ballad" that works for the fast shaggers and the slow shaggers - or maybe it should be described as a "slow fast" song? LOL. At any rate, it is a big time hit!

What else it is making a splash that we may not have mentioned recently? A fast paced boogie track by a studio group, Big Time Mamma from BB & The Blasters, debuted at # 32 on the August Smokin' Top 45. Why I Love You, the advance track from the just released CD from Blackwater R&B Band, is already charting. A Little Bit of Love is the latest charting hit from the Smokin' With Fire 2 album for Gary Lowder & Smokin' Hot. Rick Strickland has yet another climbing hit on his hands with I've Got My Mind Made Up. The recent Same Kind Of Crazy As Me is moving up the charts for Jim Quick & Coastline as is 1-4-3 for the Swashtones. New and already hot is the Karen Clayton/Phil Wilson duet on Baby Don't Go. Charlotte, NC's Sonja Grier's latest Run For Cover, has done very well so far. Another Charlotte vicinity artist, Summerdaze hit #1 on the August edition of the Smokin' Top 45 with I Got To Know; and the Band of Oz has zoomed up the charts with their recent release of Your Heart Is In Good Hands, hitting #2 on the Smokin' 45 and #1 on 94.9 the SURF.

The legendary group lives on! Performing as the Chairmen of the Board, featuring Ken Knox & Company, the complete band will be headed to the UK to do six shows between September 16th and September 25th. They are expected to do a combination of the '70's Invictus label national hits, plus later material as well. The whirlwind tour was announced by music veteran Kev Roberts of GoldSoul, which is one of the top promoters of Soul, Motown and Disco events in England and Spain.

Internet station RememberThenRadio.com was initiated 3 years ago in California by lifelong music aficionado Steve Soskin. The original idea was to provide a platform to honor the storied past of Doo Wop and Oldies music. As it evolved, other genres were included - Steve even did a Beach show as The Brooklyn Beach Boy aka The Shag Master! Merging personal and professional lives with fellow music lover Barbara Cornagie, the home base for the station relocated to Charlotte NC. Originally from Philadelphia and New York respectively, Barb and Steve are now ingrained in the local music scene, becoming good friends with Beach celebs like Maurice Williams, Gene Pharr and Chris Beachley. The station has grown by leaps and bounds to become a successful host for shows that feature Beach, Boogie, Blues, Soul, R&B while maintaining a solid presence of Oldies and Doo Wop as well. Featuring a combination of live and voice tracked programming, the DJs are from all over the U.S. and abroad. With a style diversity that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else, RememberThenRadio is all about keeping the music alive 24/7. Be sure to check it out!

Time sure flies when you get old! The last ten years have come and gone in a blink of an eye! In 2006, I was spinning the tunes and booking the DJs for Rayz Thursday Night Deck Party, being held in the Top 40 Venue of the now defunct Longbranch Saloon in Raleigh NC. The legendary nightspot had to temporarily close its doors that summer for required city code renovations. The expense occurred ultimately led to it eventual downfall despite re-opening and closing twice more over the next 6 years after the work was completed. How did I get off on this topic? LOL, anyway, what were the hottest tunes in Beach music 10 years ago? Let's take a closer look at the Beachmusic45 Top 10 for year ending 2006, which was the first year it was compiled.

1) My Big Sister's Radio - Mighty Mike Schermer It has to be one of the biggest Beach music hits of all time, Mighty Mike was a California Bay Area Blues guitarist, singer and songwriter at the time this was released on his Next Set album. It stayed on the Beachmusic45 charts for the better part of two years - the explosion of the tune brought Mike to NMB to be the headliner at the Carolina Beach Music Awards. The Schermer written tune was later recorded by his fellow bluesman and friend Tommy Castro.Big Sister's RadioMy Mark

2) If 10's Gonna Kill Me - Rickey Godfrey Band This group, led by Rickey and Bobby Simmons, was something special for what turned out be a somewhat short lived period in the middle part of the decade. Rickey's raw soulful vocals and masterful guitar playing was something to behold. This was one of their several hits, which included Can't Change My Heart, Hotel Happiness and later She's The One I Love.

3) I Want A Love I Can See - Angel Rissoff Our New York based beach buddy continues to bring us good tunes today. Angel took this Smokey Robinson written Temptations recorded original and made it his own. His 2005 Where Have You Been album was our Grand Strand introduction to Angel using his own name as a solo artist. He had previously been part of the Little Isidore and Little Leopold projects that yielded Beach hits as well.

4) Hold On To The Blues - Lonne Givens Still a major dance floor filler today, this song was so popular from this Chicago Blues/Soul artist that is appeared on two competing Beach music label compilations. Lonne joined us on Fun Monday at the event during 2006 Fall SOS.

5) Sweet Mama Do Right - Coastline Band This hot track was the next big hit for Jim and the guys, following up on the success of Sweat. It was actually voted as the 2005 CBMA National Dance Song of the Year.

6) Something Smooth - Rick Strickland One of the many monster hits from 2005's 120 Soul Street compilation from one of the best vocalists ever to pick up a microphone. Rick was voted Best Songwriter at the 2005 CBMAs for this outstanding composition.

7) What's Going On - Sammy O'Banion Longevity is the a big part of the key, Sammy has been writing, performing and turning out amazing recordings for 50 plus years, as evidenced by Don't Walk On By, a #1 hit for him in 2016.

8) I Got A Feeling - Craig Woolard Band The fine tuning of this rendition by Craig and the band landed it somewhere between the Al Wilson and the First Choice versions. It also landed them the 2006 CBMA Song of the Year Award.

9) Crazy For Your Love - Johnny Williams This came from Johnny's 2005 Vol 1 album, one of two songs to hit the beach (the other being Movin On Down The Line) and become local hits. From Baytown TX, Johnny became friends early on with Joe Tex, who had a big influence on his bluesy country rock stylings.

10) Big Blue Cadillac - Kevin Mark Another track from outside the genre, left handed Blues guitarist Kevin hails from Canada. This was from his late 2004 Rolling The Dice album. He would later have another significant Beach hit with If Your Phone Don't Ring.

Artists, DJs, Club owners etc. send me your latest news for potential inclusion in Beach Buzz at nealfur@aol.com.