Post by JerseyDigger29 on Jun 9, 2006 21:55:55 GMT -5
Hey, everyone - I need help from anyone out there who is interested in Wildwoods history, music history, or research, for a project from the heart that I've been working on for sometime.
Basically, these claims that some of us have been making about the Wildwoods being the Birthplace of Rock and Roll - although I firmly believe it - cannot be honorably justified until someone proves it in a scholarly manner.
Rock and Roll was NOT born at the Hof Brau with Bill Haley and the Comets' first performance of "(We're gonna') Rock around the Clock." Although the Comets did perform it at the Hof Brau, they were about 7 years too late to claim it as the birth of rock.
The truth, according to an award-winning scholarly site called www.hoyhoy.com, as well as several others, was that Bill Haley and the Comets were a struggling up-and-coming Country and Western Band until they created the "first #1 hit of the rock and roll era." (Based on sales to the record-buying white teenager audience).
Bill Haley used to hang out at the Riptide Club across the street on east Oak Avenue and watch the Treniers, a black family band who had been performing rock and roll already for several years - as had other black musicians. Haley asked the Treniers what "that great sound was called." They told him and the rest was history.
The truth, along with almost all forms of music history in America, was that rock and roll was created by black musicians who didn't get the credit they deserved because white teenagers who were buying the records only heard the records that were made by white artists (in the beginning). Even Elvis, who came along later in the 50's was at first thought of as being black, or a so-called "race singer." But even he was too late to take part in the birth.
It is widely acknowledged, even by the Beatles, that the first truly-identifiable R&R song was "Good Rockin' Tonight. The song first appeared in 1947 by Roy Brown but at first wasn't a true R&R song because it didn't have the classic R&R beat with the accents on the second and fourth beats.
Later in 1947, WYNONIE HARRIS, a "Blues-shouter" did a remake of Brown's hit, but added a more energetic performance and the first performance with the beats on 2 and 4.
The true birth of R&R was the remake of "Good Rockin' Tonight" by Wynonie Harris, first performed in 1947, with the first recording of it coming out approximately in 1948. This one preformance created a landslide of other black musicians performing their own rock songs. Even Roy Brown got in on the bandwagon after Wynonie Harris's version came out.
If we are to claim to be the true birthplace of rock and roll, IMO, we are honor-bound to prove it. Otherwise we have no right to the title. After all, many other cities also claim the title, but they can't all be correct. It wasn't born in New Orleans, or Kansas City, or Chicago, or L.A., or NYC. It wasn't even born in that city in Ohio that has the Hall of Fame.
The truth: Disc Jockey Alan Freed was the first to name the new musical form R&R, but he did so in the early 50's - TOO LATE! And besides, he just gave it the official name that had been used by black musicians since the 1800's, (but in the beginning, even they used the term in association with religious or spiritual music. True R&R took on a more secular - and sexual - meaning to it after Wynonie Harris in 1947).
Anyway, back to my project to prove it. To claim the title honorably, I need to prove that the originator(s) performed in Wildwood sometime between 1947 and 1949.
To do so, I have been bugging MR. Bright at the museum for any and all info from the Wildwoods of that time period. I can't go solely on the great photos he has because they don't show all the artists who performed here and they mostly don't mention when or where
people played, in general.
So I am in the process of going through every single page of the old newspapers on microfilm to find the ads for all the old clubs and bars and cafes, etc. I finished 1947 and came up with a lot of legendary singers and orchestras from the Big Band era, but none of our R&R forefathers. Today, I finished up to July 1948. This is a huge task. You have no idea how many legendary and "godlike" musicians and entertainers performed here after WWII.
The music scene in the Wildwoods after WWII appears to have been segregated by race. IN GENERAL, the black musicians seemed to perform mostly at the SURF CLUB, the RIPTIDE, the MARTINIQUE (Louis Armstrong, etc.), the famous black club at Spicer and Park Boulevard which is today "Island Ice Cream," and at many of the smaller neighborhood bars and cafes.
I have proved that people like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino and other greats performed here but so far I have located them later in the very early 50's.
To claim to be the true birthplace of R&R, I need to find printed references, ads, letters, performance contracts, etc. mentioning any of the following artists as performing here between 1947 to 1949. I tend to think they would have mostly appeared at the Surf Club, which was like heaven for black musicians, the riptide, the club at Spicer and Park or the tiny bars and cafes where up and coming artists first appeared.
The forefathers are (1947 to 1949):
Wynonie Harris
Roy Brown
Jimmy Caravallo(
) a follower of Wynonie's music.
Fats Domino
Ike Turner (Yes, Tina's guy. It seems, he was quite the legend in the beginning of his career.)
Little Richard and Chuck Berry did play here, but they came later apparently.
If you have, or know of, any performances by these people during those years, please let me know. Remember, a lot of lesser-known acts didn't get very much paid advertising in the beginning of their careers. Even the Supremes were paid "chicken feed" when they first appeared here. Later on they began to get paid properly.
If I can't prove these guys were here between 47 and 49, we have no moral right to the title. All we can claim is that Wildwood was the launching pad for all the great entertainers of the R&R era. The Twist didn't come along until 1960.
I need your help, those microfilm ads take forever to read.
Thom
thom@thewildwoodsreporter.com
TheWildwoodsReporter.com
Basically, these claims that some of us have been making about the Wildwoods being the Birthplace of Rock and Roll - although I firmly believe it - cannot be honorably justified until someone proves it in a scholarly manner.
Rock and Roll was NOT born at the Hof Brau with Bill Haley and the Comets' first performance of "(We're gonna') Rock around the Clock." Although the Comets did perform it at the Hof Brau, they were about 7 years too late to claim it as the birth of rock.
The truth, according to an award-winning scholarly site called www.hoyhoy.com, as well as several others, was that Bill Haley and the Comets were a struggling up-and-coming Country and Western Band until they created the "first #1 hit of the rock and roll era." (Based on sales to the record-buying white teenager audience).
Bill Haley used to hang out at the Riptide Club across the street on east Oak Avenue and watch the Treniers, a black family band who had been performing rock and roll already for several years - as had other black musicians. Haley asked the Treniers what "that great sound was called." They told him and the rest was history.
The truth, along with almost all forms of music history in America, was that rock and roll was created by black musicians who didn't get the credit they deserved because white teenagers who were buying the records only heard the records that were made by white artists (in the beginning). Even Elvis, who came along later in the 50's was at first thought of as being black, or a so-called "race singer." But even he was too late to take part in the birth.
It is widely acknowledged, even by the Beatles, that the first truly-identifiable R&R song was "Good Rockin' Tonight. The song first appeared in 1947 by Roy Brown but at first wasn't a true R&R song because it didn't have the classic R&R beat with the accents on the second and fourth beats.
Later in 1947, WYNONIE HARRIS, a "Blues-shouter" did a remake of Brown's hit, but added a more energetic performance and the first performance with the beats on 2 and 4.
The true birth of R&R was the remake of "Good Rockin' Tonight" by Wynonie Harris, first performed in 1947, with the first recording of it coming out approximately in 1948. This one preformance created a landslide of other black musicians performing their own rock songs. Even Roy Brown got in on the bandwagon after Wynonie Harris's version came out.
If we are to claim to be the true birthplace of rock and roll, IMO, we are honor-bound to prove it. Otherwise we have no right to the title. After all, many other cities also claim the title, but they can't all be correct. It wasn't born in New Orleans, or Kansas City, or Chicago, or L.A., or NYC. It wasn't even born in that city in Ohio that has the Hall of Fame.
The truth: Disc Jockey Alan Freed was the first to name the new musical form R&R, but he did so in the early 50's - TOO LATE! And besides, he just gave it the official name that had been used by black musicians since the 1800's, (but in the beginning, even they used the term in association with religious or spiritual music. True R&R took on a more secular - and sexual - meaning to it after Wynonie Harris in 1947).
Anyway, back to my project to prove it. To claim the title honorably, I need to prove that the originator(s) performed in Wildwood sometime between 1947 and 1949.
To do so, I have been bugging MR. Bright at the museum for any and all info from the Wildwoods of that time period. I can't go solely on the great photos he has because they don't show all the artists who performed here and they mostly don't mention when or where
people played, in general.
So I am in the process of going through every single page of the old newspapers on microfilm to find the ads for all the old clubs and bars and cafes, etc. I finished 1947 and came up with a lot of legendary singers and orchestras from the Big Band era, but none of our R&R forefathers. Today, I finished up to July 1948. This is a huge task. You have no idea how many legendary and "godlike" musicians and entertainers performed here after WWII.
The music scene in the Wildwoods after WWII appears to have been segregated by race. IN GENERAL, the black musicians seemed to perform mostly at the SURF CLUB, the RIPTIDE, the MARTINIQUE (Louis Armstrong, etc.), the famous black club at Spicer and Park Boulevard which is today "Island Ice Cream," and at many of the smaller neighborhood bars and cafes.
I have proved that people like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino and other greats performed here but so far I have located them later in the very early 50's.
To claim to be the true birthplace of R&R, I need to find printed references, ads, letters, performance contracts, etc. mentioning any of the following artists as performing here between 1947 to 1949. I tend to think they would have mostly appeared at the Surf Club, which was like heaven for black musicians, the riptide, the club at Spicer and Park or the tiny bars and cafes where up and coming artists first appeared.
The forefathers are (1947 to 1949):
Wynonie Harris
Roy Brown
Jimmy Caravallo(
) a follower of Wynonie's music.Fats Domino
Ike Turner (Yes, Tina's guy. It seems, he was quite the legend in the beginning of his career.)
Little Richard and Chuck Berry did play here, but they came later apparently.
If you have, or know of, any performances by these people during those years, please let me know. Remember, a lot of lesser-known acts didn't get very much paid advertising in the beginning of their careers. Even the Supremes were paid "chicken feed" when they first appeared here. Later on they began to get paid properly.
If I can't prove these guys were here between 47 and 49, we have no moral right to the title. All we can claim is that Wildwood was the launching pad for all the great entertainers of the R&R era. The Twist didn't come along until 1960.
I need your help, those microfilm ads take forever to read.
Thom
thom@thewildwoodsreporter.com
TheWildwoodsReporter.com
