The CD & Record Show is still on! Obviously, the storms that raged through Alabama on April 27 caused a lot of damage and was responsible for many deaths. We at ARCA are very saddened to hear the horrific stories from everyone affected by this. Some of our own members were hit in one way or another. The Bessemer area where the Civic Center is (our show location) was not affected. There are no travel problems or power problems in vincinity. All interstates are open and the hotels in the area are fine. All of our dealers are still coming and are very much looking forward to it.
We hope to have a great crowd in spite of the storm damage throughout the state. The weather for both days of the show is supposed to be fantastic. Hope to see you there!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Almost Show Time
The 30th annual ARCA CD & Record show is April 29th & 30th. The show opens for general admission at 4 P.M. on Friday (April 29th) with a special early bird period at 1 P.M. Even with a date conflict with the Austin Show, which was scheduled much later than the ARCA show, we are nearing a sellout of dealer space. This year’s show will feature many of your favorite dealers as well as several new ones. We recommend you allow plenty of time to browse the huge dealer inventory.
Brother John of 97.7, the Peach will be our special guest Saturday morning (April 30th). Brother John has been around the Birmingham radio market since the early 70s and has been the anchor DJ of the Peach for the last five years. Come meet, talk music and share memories with Brother John between 10 A.M. to noon.
We are experiencing a large number of out of state visitors to our CD & Record Show Page. If you haven’t previously been to our show, please contact us if you need any recommendations/advice. We want your trip to be both productive and enjoyable. We can be reached at AlaRecordCA@gmail.com.
If you are bringing children, Alabama Adventure Theme Park. opens on April 30th. It’s located one exit away. After we close Saturday, head to the Schaeffer Crawfish Boil. for food and entertainment.
Brother John of 97.7, the Peach will be our special guest Saturday morning (April 30th). Brother John has been around the Birmingham radio market since the early 70s and has been the anchor DJ of the Peach for the last five years. Come meet, talk music and share memories with Brother John between 10 A.M. to noon.
We are experiencing a large number of out of state visitors to our CD & Record Show Page. If you haven’t previously been to our show, please contact us if you need any recommendations/advice. We want your trip to be both productive and enjoyable. We can be reached at AlaRecordCA@gmail.com.
If you are bringing children, Alabama Adventure Theme Park. opens on April 30th. It’s located one exit away. After we close Saturday, head to the Schaeffer Crawfish Boil. for food and entertainment.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
April Meeting - Special Guest
This was a last minute confirmation, but we are happy to announce that Brother John of 97.7, the Peach will be our special guest at this month's meeting on April 16. Brother John has been around the Birmingham radio market for quite some time and has been with the Peach for several years. In fact, he is their anchor DJ. He has agreed to come talk with us about his days in radio and should have some very interesting stories to tell. The Peach is the only station in Birmingham to still play all Oldies. I say Birmingham because, although the station was based in Chilton County, they have moved their tower, boosted their signal and are in the process of moving their studios to Pelham. You can now pick them up in Chilton, Shelby and Jefferson counties clearly. Guests and visitors are always welcome at our meetings which are at the Homewood Library from 2 until around 4:30, and, bring a friend.Wednesday, March 23, 2011
APRIL IS A BUSY MONTH FOR ARCA
Our monthly meeting is on the 17th. We are expecting to have a speaker and as soon as it is confirmed we will post more information. As always, visitors are welcome.
The 30th annual ARCA CD & Record Show will be held at the Bessemer Civic Center on Friday, April 29th & Saturday, April 30th. Available for purchase will be hundreds of thousands of records, CDs and musical memorabilia from dealers from all over the United States. General Admission hours are 4 to 9 P.M. on Friday and 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. on Saturday. General Admission is $3.00. Children under the age of 12 are admitted free. A two day general admission pass is available for $5.00. On Friday there is a special early bird period (1 P.M. to 4 P.M.) with $10.00 admission. It is recommended that customers bring cash, as most dealers do not accept other forms of payment. For more information see our CD & Record Show Page.
The 30th annual ARCA CD & Record Show will be held at the Bessemer Civic Center on Friday, April 29th & Saturday, April 30th. Available for purchase will be hundreds of thousands of records, CDs and musical memorabilia from dealers from all over the United States. General Admission hours are 4 to 9 P.M. on Friday and 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. on Saturday. General Admission is $3.00. Children under the age of 12 are admitted free. A two day general admission pass is available for $5.00. On Friday there is a special early bird period (1 P.M. to 4 P.M.) with $10.00 admission. It is recommended that customers bring cash, as most dealers do not accept other forms of payment. For more information see our CD & Record Show Page.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
March Meeting
Our March meeting on the 20th will be at our normal location in the Homewood Library.
Special thanks to Fred & Connie for hosting our February work day and to all the members who showed up.
Special thanks to Fred & Connie for hosting our February work day and to all the members who showed up.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
January News
We are actively planning our 2011 show to be held on April 29 & 30. For the latest news check CD & Record Show Page.
Our meeting is January 16th. We gather at 2 pm for refreshments and music conversation. The business meeting is at 3 p.m. Visitors are welcome to drop by! We’re at the Homewood Library, located at 1721 Oxmoor Road, near Homewood Park. We meet in Room 110 in the lower level.
Our meeting is January 16th. We gather at 2 pm for refreshments and music conversation. The business meeting is at 3 p.m. Visitors are welcome to drop by! We’re at the Homewood Library, located at 1721 Oxmoor Road, near Homewood Park. We meet in Room 110 in the lower level.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
ARCA Christmas Party
The 2010 ARCA Christmas party is being held at one of our favorite locations! Connie and Fred are hosting our party at the Mountain Lakes retreat north of Birmingham on Saturday, December 11th. Please check your member newsletter for full details.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
November Meeting
Our next meeting is Sunday, November 21st. We’ll follow our normal schedule with social time at 2 PM followed by our business meeting at 3 PM. We’ll need to finalize Christmas Party plans and talk about the 2011 Record Show.
Monday, October 11, 2010
October Meeting
Our October meeting (Sunday Oct. 17th) is at 2:00 PM for refreshments, socializing and trading. We’ll have a short business meeting at 3:00 PM. Afterward, Brother Fred (Dahlke) has promised a FUN music trivia contest!
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Spectacular meeting with Jon Adair
ARCA very much wants to thank our special guest, Jon Adair, original member of the Ramrods, who spoke to us at this month's meeting. Like ARCA itself, Jon wants to see the musical heritage, especially in the Birmingham area, perserved for future generations to enjoy. His program was very entertaining and informative. Below, is a complete history of the Ramrods, and also be sure to check out their music in our player in the left column.
History of the Ramrods
The year was 1959. Rock and Roll had been around, officially, for about five years. Teenagers of the era had gotten hooked on this new form of music with thriving drum beats, pounding bass rhythms and up-lifting, fun lyrics as well as the sound of a fairly new instrument, the electric guitar, which had actually been around for several years, but was being more and more perfected in the 50s and also becoming the dominant instrument of Rock ‘n Roll.
However, by the fall of 1959, just as these young people were getting used to this brave music, still in its infancy, two of its biggest stars were out of the picture. Elvis Presley had gone into the Army
and Buddy Holly had died in a plane crash. Still, the music was there and teens like five guys from Woodlawn High School in Birmingham were no exception. Inspired by this music, Joe Lackey (lead guitar and vocals) had gotten together with Butch Fadely (piano), Jim McCulla (drums) and Larry Wooten (rhythm guitar) and decided to form a band of their own. Jon Adair, who was a friend of Joe’s, had al
ready been in two bands, ‘The Teen Beats’ and the ‘The Ray Royster Combo.’ None of the other guys had ever played in bands. Of course, all of them were in their mid-teens, 13 to 15 years old.
Joe asked Jon to come and sit in with them at a practice, which he did, playing rhythm guitar. Later, Joe and the other guys went to Jon’s house and asked him to join the band. When Jon joined, the rhythm guitar player, Wooten, was sick and couldn’t make the first gig, so Jon played rhythm alone. When Wooten returned, both he and Jon played rhythm, which the band really didn’t need two of, but the band had no bass player, which it did need, so they asked Jon to play the bass. He knew nothing about the bass and told them he definitely could not afford to buy another guitar, but wanting to be in the band, Jon compromised. He removed the two high strings from his 6-string electric and tuned the remaining four strings down one octave. It worked well enough to get by. In fact, this is what was used later on their first record, “Fire Tower.” This is how they played until Wooten left the band and Jon moved permanently to rhythm. It was also about this time that Butch Fadely left the band to join the Army.
The band took the name, the Ramrods, from the Duane Eddy tune and even adopted that song as their opening number on every show.
There were not many local bands around at this time. The Roulettes, the Premiers, The Epics and now the Ramrods were just a very few. That, of course, would soon change, especially after the Beatles hit America in 1964. Bands began to pop up everywhere, but, for now, the Ramrods and these other few had a corner on the market.
Many member changes would soon take place in the Ramrods, including addin
g Paul Newman on vocals. The Ramrods also decided to add a saxophone player, so Ronnie Eades joined the band. Ronnie would later move to Muscle Shoals and become a prominent member of the Muscle Shoals Sound as a session musician.
In 1961, a friend of a friend of a friend, met the Ramrods and wanted to record them. He, Wayne Bright, owned a recording studio in Muscle Shoals, “Bright Records.” The band agreed and laid down two tracks, “Fire Tower,” written by Paul Newman and “Sittin’ Alone,” written by Jon Adair. When the record was pressed, it had mistakenly listed the band as ‘Paul Newman and the Ramrod Combo’ instead of ‘The Ramrods.’
They soon followed with their second record, “Sleezy,” b/w “Slouchy,” both written by Joe Lackey. These were recorded at Homer Milan’s studio at 1st Avenue and 20th Street in Birmingham in 1962. It was released on Queen Records, which was a subsidiary of King Records.
Member changes continued with the addition of Fred Guarino on drums, Johnny Mulkey on lead guitar, Frank Bethea on bass, Bubba Lathem on piano, Durwood Bright on sax and Dwight Anderson on sax. Bright would later play with the Townsmen and Anderson with the Tikis.
In 1963, the Ramrods went into Baldwin Recording Studio in Woodlawn, which they did quite often after shows
to record various tunes. On this trip, they recorded two original songs, written by Johnny Mulkey, “Night Ride” and “Moonlight Surf,” both surf sounding instrumentals. They took the tracks to Rick Hall, who ran Fame Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals. He liked them and agreed to press the songs. The band had thought that their songs would be on the Fame label, which, although still a local label, was fairly well known. However, Rick was starting a new label, R and H, and released the Ramrods on it. Theirs was the first record on this label, the label number being RH-1001. This was an obvious disappointment to the band not to have been on Fame, but Hall had done a good job of mixing and producing the record and the band was happy with the result.
“Night Ride” started as a ‘Pick Hit’ on WSGN in Birmingham in 1963, but soon made it to WSGN’s Top 40 where it remained for thirteen weeks, reaching as high as #5.
During the band’s tenure, they toured all over the southeast, playing the college circuit and other venues and either opened for or backed up major national artists. A short list includes Del Shannon, the Four Seasons, Arthur Alexander, Tommy Roe, Chris Montez, Roy Orbison and Charlie Rich, but there were many, many more.
Also during this time, they had played shows with another Alabama band, the Webs, from Dothan. One member of the Webs was a guy named Bobby Goldsboro. By 1963, the Webs were traveling with Roy Orbison as his backing band, which had been arranged by another Dothan guy, Buddy Buie. Of course, Buddy was becoming a well-known songwriter and record producer. He had also become Orbison’s tour manager as a bonus for getting the Webs with Roy.
However, by the fall of 1959, just as these young people were getting used to this brave music, still in its infancy, two of its biggest stars were out of the picture. Elvis Presley had gone into the Army
and Buddy Holly had died in a plane crash. Still, the music was there and teens like five guys from Woodlawn High School in Birmingham were no exception. Inspired by this music, Joe Lackey (lead guitar and vocals) had gotten together with Butch Fadely (piano), Jim McCulla (drums) and Larry Wooten (rhythm guitar) and decided to form a band of their own. Jon Adair, who was a friend of Joe’s, had al
ready been in two bands, ‘The Teen Beats’ and the ‘The Ray Royster Combo.’ None of the other guys had ever played in bands. Of course, all of them were in their mid-teens, 13 to 15 years old.Joe asked Jon to come and sit in with them at a practice, which he did, playing rhythm guitar. Later, Joe and the other guys went to Jon’s house and asked him to join the band. When Jon joined, the rhythm guitar player, Wooten, was sick and couldn’t make the first gig, so Jon played rhythm alone. When Wooten returned, both he and Jon played rhythm, which the band really didn’t need two of, but the band had no bass player, which it did need, so they asked Jon to play the bass. He knew nothing about the bass and told them he definitely could not afford to buy another guitar, but wanting to be in the band, Jon compromised. He removed the two high strings from his 6-string electric and tuned the remaining four strings down one octave. It worked well enough to get by. In fact, this is what was used later on their first record, “Fire Tower.” This is how they played until Wooten left the band and Jon moved permanently to rhythm. It was also about this time that Butch Fadely left the band to join the Army.
The band took the name, the Ramrods, from the Duane Eddy tune and even adopted that song as their opening number on every show.
There were not many local bands around at this time. The Roulettes, the Premiers, The Epics and now the Ramrods were just a very few. That, of course, would soon change, especially after the Beatles hit America in 1964. Bands began to pop up everywhere, but, for now, the Ramrods and these other few had a corner on the market.
Many member changes would soon take place in the Ramrods, including addin
g Paul Newman on vocals. The Ramrods also decided to add a saxophone player, so Ronnie Eades joined the band. Ronnie would later move to Muscle Shoals and become a prominent member of the Muscle Shoals Sound as a session musician.In 1961, a friend of a friend of a friend, met the Ramrods and wanted to record them. He, Wayne Bright, owned a recording studio in Muscle Shoals, “Bright Records.” The band agreed and laid down two tracks, “Fire Tower,” written by Paul Newman and “Sittin’ Alone,” written by Jon Adair. When the record was pressed, it had mistakenly listed the band as ‘Paul Newman and the Ramrod Combo’ instead of ‘The Ramrods.’
They soon followed with their second record, “Sleezy,” b/w “Slouchy,” both written by Joe Lackey. These were recorded at Homer Milan’s studio at 1st Avenue and 20th Street in Birmingham in 1962. It was released on Queen Records, which was a subsidiary of King Records.
Member changes continued with the addition of Fred Guarino on drums, Johnny Mulkey on lead guitar, Frank Bethea on bass, Bubba Lathem on piano, Durwood Bright on sax and Dwight Anderson on sax. Bright would later play with the Townsmen and Anderson with the Tikis.
In 1963, the Ramrods went into Baldwin Recording Studio in Woodlawn, which they did quite often after shows
to record various tunes. On this trip, they recorded two original songs, written by Johnny Mulkey, “Night Ride” and “Moonlight Surf,” both surf sounding instrumentals. They took the tracks to Rick Hall, who ran Fame Recording Studio in Muscle Shoals. He liked them and agreed to press the songs. The band had thought that their songs would be on the Fame label, which, although still a local label, was fairly well known. However, Rick was starting a new label, R and H, and released the Ramrods on it. Theirs was the first record on this label, the label number being RH-1001. This was an obvious disappointment to the band not to have been on Fame, but Hall had done a good job of mixing and producing the record and the band was happy with the result.“Night Ride” started as a ‘Pick Hit’ on WSGN in Birmingham in 1963, but soon made it to WSGN’s Top 40 where it remained for thirteen weeks, reaching as high as #5.
During the band’s tenure, they toured all over the southeast, playing the college circuit and other venues and either opened for or backed up major national artists. A short list includes Del Shannon, the Four Seasons, Arthur Alexander, Tommy Roe, Chris Montez, Roy Orbison and Charlie Rich, but there were many, many more.
Also during this time, they had played shows with another Alabama band, the Webs, from Dothan. One member of the Webs was a guy named Bobby Goldsboro. By 1963, the Webs were traveling with Roy Orbison as his backing band, which had been arranged by another Dothan guy, Buddy Buie. Of course, Buddy was becoming a well-known songwriter and record producer. He had also become Orbison’s tour manager as a bonus for getting the Webs with Roy.
Jon Adair remembers fondly one concert both groups played together at the Cloud Room (Cascade Plunge) in Birmingham. After the show was over and the band was putting their instruments in the car, Bobby took out his acoustic guitar, sat on the hood of a car and told the guys that he was working on a song which he hoped to record as a solo. 
He played “See the Funny Little Clown,” written by Bobby. A short time later, it became Bobby’s break-out solo hit and reached #9 on Billboard in early 1964. Bobby was now a solo artist with many hits to follow.
By the time 1964 rolled around, the Ramrods had been together for almost five years. Only Jon Adair and Joe Lackey remained as the nucleus of the original band from 1959. Jon had joined the Navy on a deferred enlistment program as a senor in high school and when he graduated in 1963 had to go straight to boot camp. However, when he completed it, he returned home where he rejoined the band. In April of 1964, the Navy called him to active duty. It was only a few months later that the Ramrods decided to disband.
What had actually happened was that the Webs, minus Bobby Goldsboro, were now touring with Roy Orbison as his backing band. Roy renamed them the Candymen, after his song title, “Candy Man.” The Candymen would later form the nucleus of the Classics IV and then the Atlanta Rhythm Section. In late 1964, Buddy Buie, who was Roy’s tour manager, was itching to form a new band, one to help showcase his songs. He took three members of the Ramrods (Guarino, Mulkey and Latham) and members of the Webs, including Wilbur Walton and Jimmy Dean and formed the James Gang. They made several records, mostly written by Buddy, but their biggest song was “Georgia Pines,” co-written by Buie. This song was also recorded by the Candymen. Their version peaked at #81 on Billboard, but the James Gang version received more regional airplay.
As for the remaining members of the Ramrods, after finishing his stint in the Navy, Jon went into the business world, as did Joe Lackey and Frank Bethea. Other members, as already mentioned, played in various local bands for a while.
Sadly, we have lost a few of these guys over the years, Joe Lackey, Harry Looney and Fred Guarino. Who knows, maybe one day there will be a reunion of the remaining members.
The Ramrods can really be considered one of the pioneer bands in the Birmingham area, one who inspired many other young musicians who also began to form bands and become prominent artists in their own right.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
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 m
ember 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.
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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.
ember 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..JPG)
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.
Friday, September 3, 2010
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!
Our ARCA CD & Record Show page has preliminary information for the 2011 show.
Special thanks to Mike & Pam for hosting our August Picinc!
Saturday, July 24, 2010
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.
Tuesday, July 13, 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.
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.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
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.
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