Special Guest at the September Meeting is Jon Adair of The Ramrods

We have a very special and interesting guest lined up to speak to us at our September meeting. He is Jon Adair, a member of the Birmingham band, the Ramrods. The Ramrods' story begins way back in 1959 when, along with the Premiers and The Epics, the Ramrods were among the first Rock 'n Roll bands from the city of Birmingham. Jon was originally the bass player, but soon moved to rhythm guitar. The Ramrods started as a five member band and later expanded to six, with several member changes along the way and adding horns. Jon remained with the band throughout its entire run. The Ramrods played the college circuit throughout the southeast and appeared with numerous national artists such as Arthur Alexander, the Four Seasons, Roy Orbison, Del Shannon and Tommy Roe.

The Ramrods released several local records, but the most popular one, by far, was "Night Ride" b/w "Moonlight Surf," both great instrumentals. "Night Ride" remained on the WSGN charts in Birmingham for several weeks. "Night Ride" and "Fire Tower" (another record by the Ramrod members) are included on this blog's player.

After a wild, five-year run, the Ramrods called it quits in 1964. Three members joined with members of the Webs, a Dothan band, to form the James Gang (not the Joe Walsh band), which had several regional hits over the next few years. Other members got out of the music business altogether. Jon Adair joined the Navy.

Jon is looking forward to coming and sharing with us his experiences in the music business. He even still has one of his original stage suits that the band wore as well as his original guitar. I believe that he is going to bring them with him.

Visitors are always welcome and this is one you don't want to miss.

ARCA TIDBITS

A link (see Link section) has been added on this blog to a dealer page which lists some dealers that ARCA recommends you consider for your vinyl, CD and other memorabilia needs.

Our ARCA CD & Record Show page has preliminary information for the 2011 show.

Special thanks to Mike & Pam for hosting our August Picinc!

ARCA Picnic

Instead of a normal meeting in August, we will have our annual picnic. There will be plenty of food, music & fellowship. Don’t forget your swimsuits! Please consult your member newsletter for details.

Our next regular monthly meeting will be on September 19, 2010.

Joey Roberts has been Cancelled

We are sorry to announce that our special guest for the July meeting, WSGN 'Good Guy' Joey Roberts has been cancelled. At this time, no rescheduling is on tap, but we will let you know if he is to appear in the future.

The meeting, as always, will proceed and we will have a good program to present. Please try to attend. Also, keep watching this blog for some special announcements coming soon.

A Genuine “Good Guy” To Speak at July Meeting

Joey Roberts, a WSGN Good Guy from the late sixties to early seventies, will be the speaker at our July 18 meeting. Joey will speak immediately after a short business meeting which starts at 3 P.M. The business meeting will be preceded by a social hour at 2 PM. Last month several visitors attended our meeting and we hope they and others will come hear Joey this month.

June Meeting

Jim Battan, Coyote J. (Calhoun), will be unable to speak at this month’s meeting. He will be rescheduled next year. We will instead have a normal meeting.
We will gather at 2 pm for refreshments and music conversation. There will be a short meeting at 3 p.m.

Vinyl Rarity #2 Beatles Penny Lane promo

Now that the 2010 ARCA show is history, it's time for another Record Rarity, this time from the Beatles. The promo for Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields Forever is on a greenish-yellow Capitol label marked P 5810. Penny Lane is clocked at 3:00 because of an extra trumpet flourish at the end. You'll know it even though it's only a couple of seconds. All the commercial releases have the 3:00 time on the label but the trumpet has been trimmed. This little oddity will set you back about $150 if you can find it. Look for an asterisk in the dead wax to be sure or just give it a listen. Watch for more Record Rarities on a semi-regular basis on the ARCA blog.

Thank You!

We’d like to express our gratitude to some individuals who have recently shared Alabama radio station music surveys with us. Fay Asher, Jon “Rock n’ Roll” Anthony, Howard Baer and Todd Jones have all submitted material in the last two weeks – THANKS! Our updated list of #1 songs is HERE. The full surveys are being entered in the ARSA data base. Please remember, if you have a music survey from any Alabama radio station for any time period please share a copy with us. You can either mail or email them to us, or even better deliver them by hand at our next meeting. We love visitors!

May Meeting

Our next meeting is this Sunday, May 16th. We’ll follow our normal schedule with social time at 2 PM followed by our business meeting at 3 PM. If you acquired any item of special interest at the show bring it to the meeting (our version of “show and tell”). BTW pictures from the show are now on our CD & Record Show Page.

A Great Show!!!

The 29th Annual ARCA CD & Record Show is now in the books and, by all accounts, was a rousing success. Luckily, the threat of rain never materialized and attendance was up significantly from last year. Most dealers seemed very pleased with the way the show went and we would like to thank each and every dealer for coming and participating in the show. ARCA always prides itself in providing high quality dealers and this year was no exception in the least. Every dealer was very professional and provided only the best in product for the public to choose from.

We would also very much like to thank those of you who came to the show. We didn’t see very many people leave without bags and bags of records and CDs. We sincerely hope that you will tell your friends about us. Anyone can be added to our mailing list to be notified of the next show. At this time, the final dates for the 2011 show have not been set, but as soon as they are, they will be posted on this website.

Lastly, our honored guests were simply terrific. Dave Roddy, Revolver and Dollar Bill Lawson all appeared on Saturday and received their Honorary Member plaques. They then posed for photos and signed autographs and simply enjoyed talking with everyone. Tim Hollis came on Friday and signed several of his books. Thanks so very much to all of our special guests for appearing and being a vital part of ARCA.

Fortunately, all of the hard work is done for this year, but it’s now time for us to start planning next year’s show. Keep checking this website for updates.

Show Time!!

ARCA hopes that your visit to our 2010 CD & Record Show will be both enjoyable and successful.

I know that the ole weatherman is talking about a chance of rain this weekend, but that’s alright, you can stay nice and dry in our big showroom browsing through thousands and thousands of 45s, LPs and CDs. Be sure to bring those wish lists. With the large number of dealers coming and a complete sell out of dealer space, you should be able to find anything and everything you’re looking for. If you don’t have a wish list and just want to take pot luck and see what looks good to buy, go for it!!

There are very few music stores left in most cities and buying stuff off of the internet is difficult. It takes time to search for what you want, time to ship the item to you and then the item may not arrive in the condition promised by the seller. Here, you pick out the items you want, pay for them and take them home with you, and, by the way, no shipping charges! To help you in your shopping, if you have difficulty in finding something, we can announce it and hopefully a dealer will let us know if he’s got it.

There are many new dealers coming this year as well as all of the regular ones, so the selection should be phenomenal. Please don’t think that this is all high-dollar stuff; quite the contrary. Most items can be had for very little money, such as albums and 45s for a dollar or less and CDs starting around $3.

Don’t forget our special guests, Tim Hollis on Friday night, then on Saturday morning come and meet Rockin’ Dave Roddy, Revolver and Dollar Bill Lawson

The show begins at 4 P.M. Friday and ends Saturday at 5 P.M. General Admission is $3. Kids 12 and under are free. There is a special early bird admission period from 2 – 4 P.M on Friday ($10) for a first look. Parking is always free. Remember to keep your ticket so that you can depart and re-enter on the same day. This allows you to shop for a while, leave to eat lunch, etc. and come back in to shop some more.

Have a great time and good hunting!!

The Alabama Record Collectors Association

April 18th Meeting and Other News

MEETING - Don’t forget, our meeting is this Sunday, April 18th. We’ll follow our normal schedule with social time at 2 PM followed by our business meeting at 3 PM. The primary topic for our meeting will be details/plans for our upcoming CD & Record show on April 30 – May 1. I know we sold out of dealer space weeks ago, but we’ll get all the details at the meeting. Don’t miss it!

NEWS - Many of you know David Johnson, the executive director of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. David who has been the director for the past 21 years, said he received an e-mail Tuesday from the chairman of the hall of fame board of directors that stated he was no longer the director of the hall of fame. Details HERE.

CD & Record Show on track to be a Great one!!!

Forty days and counting!! The ARCA CD & Record Show is almost here and promises to be the best one in many years. It’s almost a sellout with the dealers, with only a couple of spots left; we should be full in a week or two. We have most of our regular, popular dealers returning with many new or former dealers returning after a short absence. Our dealers come from all over the United States. There should be a great wall-to-wall mixture of 45s, LPs, CDs, music videos, as well as other music memorabilia to choose from. All genres of music will be well represented. Also, if you have a music collection to sell or simply a few records or CDs you’re trying to get rid of, you may be able to do so at the show. While there are no guarantees, the chances are very good that you can sell your music to one or more of our fantastic dealers.

As already stated, we have a great lineup of special guests and Honorary Members coming, beginning with author Tim Hollis on Friday and continuing with a rockin’ Birmingham band, “Revolver,” a former Birmingham radio ‘Good Guy’ DJ, ‘Rockin’ Dave Roddy from WSGN, and ARCA’s great friend and current DJ with 102.5, The Bull, Dollar Bill Lawson on Saturday. All will be meeting show goers, signing autographs, posing for pictures and telling stories about their musical lives. They are all very much looking forward to coming and being a part of this great event.

Don’t forget, admission is only $3 and is good all day; in other words, you may leave the show and return later the same day. There is also plenty of free at-the-door parking and children under 12 get in free. If you’re coming in from out of town, there are many restaurants and hotels in the immediate area (literally within eyesight of the complex) and we are just off of Interstate 59 in Bessemer, AL .

Please spread the word and remember those dates, Friday, April 30th from 4-9 (early birds 2-4 - $10 admission) and Saturday, May 1st from 9-5. Location is the Bessemer Civic Center just off exit #108 on I59. See you there!!!

Book signing at CD & Record Show by local author, Tim Hollis

Birmingham author, Tim Hollis, will have a book signing at the ARCA CD & Record Show on Friday evening, April 30th from 6-8pm. What’s a book signing got to do with a record show? Two of Tim’s over 20 books are music related. The first, “Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records," deals with all the details of the forgotten music of the Disney films and shows and the artists who performed them.

The second book is “Birmingham Broadcasting” which covers the radio and television market in Birmingham. About 1/3 of it talks about the various radio stations and personalities, including ARCA Honorary Members Bill Bolen, Dave Roddy and Dan Brennan, as well as DJs like Joe Rumore and Neal Miller. There are many great photos and a lot of great information packed into this book.

Tim started writing as a young boy and never stopped. His first book, completed in 1990 was a biography about one of the most beloved people ever to live in Birmingham, 'Cousin Cliff' Holman, who passed away last year. Since then, Tim has written over 20 books, all dealing with real subject matter of interest to people in Birmingham and Alabama.

Tim also helps maintain the website http://www.birminghamrewound.com/, which has a lot of great information about the city with a lot of archival photos, ads and stories.

As well as writing, Tim collects all types of things, mostly classic toys.

Come meet Tim on Friday evening and pick up a copy of one or both of the books. He will be glad to sign them and also tell you how you may get copies of his other great books.

Dollar Bill Lawson added to CD & Record Show guest list

One of the funniest men in Birmingham radio is coming to the ARCA CD & Record Show this year. Bill Lawson, affectionately known as Dollar Bill is a native Birminghamian and has been a staple on the radio since 1971.

Over the next few years, Bill worked at stations in various parts of Alabama before landing at WERC in Birmingham in 1979. During the 70s, WERC and WSGN were the two most listened to Rock & Roll stations in Birmingham and Bill was in the middle of it as WERC's evening DJ.

However, by the end of the decade, FM had all but taken over the airwaves. One of the biggest stations was WERC’s sister station WKXX, Kicks 106. AM’s weak, mono signal couldn’t compete with the stereo power of FM. In 1980, WERC changed its format to Adult Contemporary. Bill talked the Program Director into allowing him to host an oldies show beginning at 10pm every night. He used his own records and those of friends. WERC switched to Talk in 1982 and Bill hosted a call-in talk show. He stayed with it until a great opportunity opened up for him in 1985. Country station, WZZK had the top morning team in Birmingham, Patti & the Doc. However, the team was shaken when Doc passed away suddenly. Bill took over the vacant slot and the show became Patti & Dollar Bill. Ratings went even higher and the pair ruled the market for close to twenty years. However, in 2002, WZZK forced Patti to “retire.” She, at first, had said she would stay out of radio, but when Bill was also forced to leave, they teamed up again, but had to wait out a 6 month ‘no-compete’ clause. They moved to WDXB, the Bull 102.5. The Bull had been a smaller regional station, but moved its tower to Birmingham to increase its signal strength and thus the market. With the powerhouse team of Patti and Dollar Bill, the station gave WZZK a run for its money. Unfortunately, in 2008, Patti was forced to leave the Bull, a replacement was hired and the team of Dollar Bill & Madison was born. The station is as strong as ever thanks to the staying power and humor of Bill Lawson.

By the way, some of Bill’s funniest stories involve his days of flying in WERC’s traffic helicopter. When you see him at the show, ask him to tell some.