PROMOTERS AND VENUES
Johnny B. Moses, a local disk jockey at a radio station in Waycross, GA. booked such bands as the Bushmen, Strange Bedfellows, Roemans, Candymen, James Gang, King David and the Slaves, and a host of other bands. His weekend dances were known as the Bee Baby Hops. Johnny Bee booked bands for dances at:
Photo used by permission of the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame, Inc.
W A C L radio station, Waycross, GA
Photo used by permission of the Georgia Radio Hall of Fame, Inc.
Check out the website:
Georgia Radio Museum and Hall of Fame
Johnny Bee interviewing Pernell Roberts, who was born and raised in Waycross, Ga.
Current American Legion------------------------------------------------------- National Guard ArmoryGarlington Ave.
Waycross City Auditorium-Pendleton Street-----------------------------------------Old American Legion Jenkins Street
check out the history of music in Waycross, Ga, especially the city auditorium:
WAYX CITY AUDITORIUM : info courtesy Harris Atkins, Waycross, GA
Classic poster from the 60s advertising a dance in Waycross, Ga featuring the fabulous Candymen. Dance all evening for only $2.00
Johnny B. brings big talent to Waycross, Ga. Here Johnny B. is pictued with the soulful James Brown from Augusta, Ga.
The Woods, Tifton, GA
photo courtesy of Buddy Thomley
Summer of 67 The Woods had seen a band trailer we had decorated for the age of aquarius and asked me to paint The Woods with the day glo paint they had purchased. Gabrielle and Eve Ujhelyi painted this glow in the dark hip hugger flower child. The second features bands who had played there. All glowed in the darkness under blacklights. We also put on a primitive light show for the Lords of London and Strange Bedfellows.
Parent friendly ad posted at area colleges. Carter Choate's family were part owners of The Woods. Perry Key's father owned The Bowl in Moultrie where I saw The Zombies!
(The band appears to be Eddie Middleton-with mic-and the Ceros from Albany, Ga. Mark Yarbrough is the drummer)
(Special thanks to Patrick Edmondson for above pics and info)
The Bushmen Frequently played South Georgia College at the gym in their home town of Douglas, GA
The Chain Reaction were partial to Mathis City Auditorium in Valdosta, GA
Glenn Yarborough performed at Mathis in the
1960s.
thanks to Larry Bowie for identifying this pic
Dennis Yost and the Classics IV played Mathis
in the 1960s
thanks to Larry Bowie for identification
Here's a photo of the bar at the VFW in Valdosta, GA., from around 1969. On the left holding the Lucky Strikes is club manager Jack Johnson (my father) with an unknown bar patron. If you look closely, you can see the slot machines behind them. Back then, several clubs and bars in Lowndes County were alleged to be paying Sheriff Futch to allow them to have illegal gambling and slot machines in their clubs. The VFW featured local bands such as The Bulls, Papa Joe & The Rest, and Johnny Bass. The VFW closed in 1974, and Earl Walker reopened the club and renamed it The Knights of Georgia. It remained open until it burned down in 1982.
photo and info contributed by Dudley Johnson
Other Georgia venues include:
The Community House-Ocilla, GA
The Bees Knees-Fitzgerald, GA
The Bowl-Moultrie, GA
Shrine Lake-Waycross, GA
National Guard Armory-Dublin, GA
Cracker Williams Rec. Center-E. Bay St. Jesup, GA
Legion Park-Fitzgerald, GA
Aquarama-Jekyll Island, GA
National Guard Armory-Fitzgerald, GA
National Guard Armory-Douglas, GA
Radium Springs Casino-Albany, GA
Poss' Lakeview-Athens, GA
Charlie Williams Pinecrest Lodge-Athens, GA
Georgian Hotel-Athens, GA
J&J Center-Athens, Ga
Atlanta, GA: Acworth Beach, Al's Corral, Big Hugh Babies Hop-A-Roonie, Bikini A-Go-Go, Cartoon Club, Comic Book Club, Fun Town Amusement Park, Georgia Terrace, Jefferson Park Auditorium, Kitten's Corner, Misty Waters Country Club, Muddy Rivers, Muhlenbrink's Saloon, Pat and Barbara's, Royal Paladium, Royal Pecock, Sans Souci Lounge, Scarlett O'Haras, Southeastern Music Hall, Stone Mountain (The Top), Uncle Sams
Augusta, GA: Bell Auditorium, Leonards Lounge, Harbour Light Bon Aire Hotel, Partridge Inn, Cactus Lounge, Julian Smith Sasino, National Guard Armory, Marine Room, Whiskey-A-Go-Go, Shamrock Club, Key Club, Celebrity Room, Cams
Columbus, GA-The Juwan Knight
Jeykll Island,GA- Aquarama B Room
Macon, GA-The Sandtrap
Savannah Beach, GA-Black Lace Lounge
Savannah, GA-Bamboo Ranch
Vidalia, GA-Vidalia/Lyons Elks Club
West Point, GA-West Point Teens Club
Lindsey Swida, center booked many of the same bands as Johnny Bee. Lindsey was a promoter in Dublin, GA.
Tom Odom, Valdosta GA, began booking bands in his college days at Valdosta State College
After his college days Tom became a founding member of Hahira Bluegrass Inc., sponsors of the Great Hahira Pickin'. Tom is seen above pickin' the washtub bass which he made. Andy the big guy with the ten gallon hat playing the little mandolin is Andy Patterson, co-webmaster of this site.
Greg Haynes started booking bands in Waycross, GA after Johnny B Moses left.
Author Greg Haynes in his promoter days with L.C.Junior, vocalist for the Tams Review.
(Source: The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music
Greg, center at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon, Ga with Jimmy and Wilbur, former members of the James Gang.
There’s a book waiting to be written inside most people. The unpublished text that rumbled inside Greg Haynes for five years turned into 553 pages and weighs a whopping 16 pounds. The first-time author unveiled his creation recently at the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in Macon.
The son of a Waycross minister, Greg caught the music bug early as he sang from the Baptist hymnal. His brother Felix would follow his father’s footsteps into the pulpit. When Greg heard a Top 40 song he liked, he raced to Kress, bought the 45 rpm record and “played it until the grooves fell off.” His music library was stacked with rhythm and blues and soul music that gave birth to Greg’s all-time favorite genre: Beach Music.
As a teenager, he became hooked on live music and launched a career as a promoter, booking bands for shows across the Southeast. His venues included the Waycross City Auditorium, Albany’s Radium Springs Casino, Charlie Williams Pinecrest Lodge in Athens, the Landrum Center in Statesboro and fraternity houses. By the time Greg arrived at The University of Georgia, he was friends with some of the biggest names in the business - like The Tams, Percy Sledge, The Box Tops and The Swingin’ Medallions.
I asked Greg to name his three favorite songs of the 1960s. Without hesitating, he fired back: 1) "Double Shot of My Baby’s Love." 2) "Double Shot of My Baby’s Love." 3) "Double Shot of My Baby’s Love."
Indeed, The Swingin’ Medallions was the party band of our college days. Back around 2000, Greg got the idea for the mammoth coffee table book, The Heeey Baby Days of Beach Music, complete with two CDs of music and a band directory. Plenty of us are pack rats, but Greg was able to pull from scrapbooks and trunks an incredible amount of memorabilia that make the Beach Music era sing from the pages. A mid-sized U-Haul wouldn’t hold all the stuff Greg has stored over the past 40 years. He’s a one-man museum.
And now, if you’ve eaten your Wheaties, you can carry Greg’s chronicle of the music of our youth to the couch and relive the days when the theme song was “Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy,” courtesy of The Tams. But behind this good man is a great woman, his high school sweetheart and wife, Nora. He quickly gives her credit, saying the project wouldn’t have happened without her. Recently, I was in Atlanta and met Nora to receive an advanced copy. The petite lady’s smile was as big as her husband’s book. She’ll admit that Greg has been a tad obsessive-compulsive about The Heeey Baby Days, but his only cure was to get the first edition into print.
Wayne County folks especially will enjoy the section on King David and the Slaves. We grew up with David and Moi Harris, Eddie and Butch Peede, Jack and Denny Brinkley, Russell Martin, Randy Replogle, Lee Riggins and Randall Bramblett. Harold Williams and Wayne Scarborough also played with the Slaves. We swayed and shagged to their music without realizing our friends were really famous. The Jesup band with its keyboard, guitars, trumpets, saxophones and drums played up and down the East Coast, including Myrtle Beach, the Mecca of Beach Music. They shared the stage with stars like Jerry Butler, Maurice Williams, Jackie Wilson, The Showmen, The Drifters, The Platters and The Tams. In Greg’s book, Chuck Leavell, keyboardist for the Rolling Stones, calls Randall Bramblett “the most gifted and talented southern singer-songwriter/ musician of the past several decades.”
Today, Greg is a leading industrial real estate broker in Atlanta. But he found a minimum of 4,000 hours to pour into his music project. For a closer glimpse and info on how to order this book, visit www.heybabydays.com.
As I listened to Greg’s compilation of favorite songs and thumbed through his masterfully done book, I found myself humming Bruce Channel’s “Heeey hey baby, I wanna know if you’ll be my girl.” Forty years evaporated, and I was back in college, partying to the music in a packed fraternity house basement.
Thanks, Greg, for unleashing The Heeey Baby Days from your soul and into our Beach-Music-loving hands.
Greg and his beautiful wife Nora (2004). High school friends in Waycross, Ga in the late 1960s, today married and......still friends!
Jack Mock, afternoon DJ circa 1965 to 1967
Oh yeah that fountain is functional as well as ornamental!! It along with the Famous Big Ape swimming pool at the Orange Park studios were part of the cooling system for the 50,000 Watt transmitter!!!
Jack Mock, DJ for the "monster" radio station WAPE (the Big Ape) in Jacksonville, Fl. The Big Ape was popular all over the southeast and promoted dances and concerts on a regular basis, the biggest being the Big Ape Convention where numerous bands performed on one stage.
The MIGHTY 690
WAPDE Battle of the Bands
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WAPE presents: The Beatles at the
Gator Bowl for only $5.00
Tedrick Youth Center, Jacksonville
Woodstock Youth Center, Jacksonville
Woodstock
Teen Hill Teen Center, Jacksonville'
Keystone Beach Pavilion
Jacksonville Beach Colliseum book huge acts, including the Big Ape Conventions
Other Florida Venues:
Daytona Beach-The Pier
Panama City Beach-The Red Rooster, Old Hickory, Old Dutch Inn
Pensacola-The Casino
Perdido Key-Flora-Bama
Tampa-The officers Lounge
Alabama Venues:
Auburn-Shepherd's Purse
Birmingham-Oporto Natijonal Guard Armory, Boom Boom Room, The Crazy Horse
Dothan-Natijonal Guard Armory, The Flamingo
Gadsden-Gadsden Convention Center
Monroeville-Land of a Thousand Dances
Tuscaloosa-Jaycee Civic Center, Brandon National Guard Armory
The Riots rock at the Rec. Center on Grove St. in Waycross, GA
Bill Moody, popular DJ for WBAM in Montgomery (The Big BAM), Al. WBAM was the sister station to WAPE and was equally popular.
WBAM promoted huge concerts just like the Big Ape in Jacksonville
Jim Faircloth, DJ in Tifton, GA promoted dances at The Woods, an extremely popular dance spout in South Georgia that booked many of the top talent in the nation.
This is Jim on the left with Bobby Goldsboro, taken after a show in San Antonio in 1978. A lot of people told them that they looked like brothers.
Bobby and Jim had reconnected after several years of not having been together. They had become fast friends in the mid 60's when Jim would book him into small clubs around Georgia. Because they were similar in size and close enough with hair color and style, Jim would decoy the autograph seekers hanging out by the entrance to the various venues. He would get out of a car with an empty guitar case and with his head down walk toward the crowd while Bobby would slip undetected through another door leading backstage.
The Woods, Tifton, GA is hopping in the 1960s.
The Buckinghams and Syndicate of Sound were two of the top bands to perform at The Woods.
The Inn Place in the Holiday Inn in Valdosta, Ga packed in the late night crowds.
The Bulls perform at the Inn Place
Coat of Arms Teen Center in Savannah, GA was another popular teen dance spot.
Blimp Hanger one
Glynco Teen Club, Brunswick, GA 1960s
Hangers 1 and 2
Glynco Teen Club Brunswick, Ga 1960s
(hanger pics courtesy John Stevens)
Also promoting the bands and music of the era were the music stores in Jacksonville, the best around. Musicians from all over the Southeast would buy their instruments at Marvin Kay's and Paulis Music Co.
WVOK radio station also brought in the big name talent.
Another Jacsonville dance venue.
St. Simons Island and the Aquarama at Jekyll Island, GA were also hot venues for dances.
Extremely popular DJ for WQAM in Miami, Fl promoted bands and dances in the South Florida area.
WQAM broadcast tower, 560 on the radio dial
WQAM Tiger
WQAM Team
Rick Shaw: Tiger sweatshirt/on air/promo photo/with Monkeys
Rick Shaw: with Neil Sadaka/Saturday Hop/with Pat Benson/with Jan of Jan and dean
Rick Shaw: on air/with Navy Blue Angels/on air/retirement
WMBM of Miami Fl.
Sweet soul music on this station
Jack Armstrong of WFUN radio station, Miami, Fl
Gary Stevens of WMCA
LenTalent agency from North Carolina
booked bands in the Virginia area as well
Wolfman Jack
Robert (Bob) Weston Smith (21 January 1938 – 1 July 1995) was a gravelly-voiced, American disc jockey who became world famous in the 1960s and 1970s under the stage name of Wolfman Jack.
One of radio’s most distinctive voices, “Wolfman Jack” was born Robert Smith in Brooklyn, New York on January 21, 1938.
A longtime fan of radio, Smith first hit the airwaves as “Daddy Jules” on Newport News, Virginia station WYOU-AM. In 1962, Smith became “Big Smith” for station KCIJ/ Shreveport, Louisiana. Here, he drew upon his love of horror movies and rock and roll to create the raspy-voiced, howling persona of “Wolfman Jack.”
In the mid 1960s, the Wolfman crossed the border to Mexico and joined the 250,000-watt powerhouse XERF-AM. Thanks to XERF and later XERB-AM, the Wolfman reached most of the southwestern United States while selling everything from coffins to inspirational literature.
In 1969, the Wolfman returned to America and KDAY/Los Angeles. The following year, he began an association with Armed Forces Radio that would last until 1986. In 1972, he moved back to his hometown and joined WNBC/New York.
For all of his fame, many of Wolfman Jack’s fans had never seen him until 1973, when he appeared in George Lucas’ hit film American Graffiti and began an eight-year stint as host of NBC-TV’s Midnight Special.
“Wolfman Jack” died on July 1, 1995.
"Wolfman Jack" was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1996.
WFUN: Miami's 24 hour station
In the 1970s, Casey Kasem pickedup where the 60s left off.
Casey Kasem has been counting down musical hits for millions of fans for the last 25 years. Currently he can be heard on "Casey's Top 40 with Casey Kasem," "Casey's Countdown," "Casey's Hot 20" and his five minute program, "Casey's Biggest Hits." His trademark trivia teasers -- which he developed in 1954 -- are now a familiar part of "American Top 40" and are a standard in the radio industry.
Young Kemal Amen Kasem, the son of Lebanese Druze parents, dreamed of becoming a baseball player but instead wound up a high school sports announcer. His easy going style and crackling voice has since taken him to the very top of his profession. Over the years, he's done countless voiceovers for commercials and cartoons, has made guest appearances on dozens of television shows, has hosted many specials including the Annual American Video Awards and his own televised musical countdowns, and has cohosted Jerry Lewis' Labor Day Telethon since 1981.
Well-known for supporting a great number of philanthropic causes which have taken him around the world, award-winning Casey is the consummate humanitarian. He and his wife, actress Jean Kasem, maintain a high profile on the charity circuit, and are spokespersons for anti-smoking, anti-discrimination, anti-alcohol abuse and drunk driving, vegetarianism, and much more. Together, they have a five year old daughter, Liberty, and Casey has three older children, Kerri, Michael and Julie.
Born Kemal Amen Kasem, Casey Kasem grew up in a Lebanese-American household in Detroit, Michigan. He made his radio debut while in high school and studied radio broadcasting while a student at Wayne State University. He became involved in radio acting with roles on shows like The Lone Ranger. In 1952 he was drafted into the U.S. Army where he was a successful announcer and dj for the Armed Forces Radio Korea Network.
After returning from Korea, Casey Kasem spent most of the next two decades working his way up to national prominence as a radio announcer. In 1970, working with childhood friend and Hollywood producer Don Bustany, Kasem proposed a countdown radio show loosely based on the 1940's and 1950's hit show Your Hit Parade. The result was American Top 40 which debuted on July 4, 1970 on 7 radio sations.
From 1977 to 1981 Casey Kasem narrated all of the national promotional announcements for shows on NBC television.
American Top 40 quickly became one of the most popular syndicated radio shows in the country and then around the world. By 1986 the show was featured on more than 1,000 radio stations in 50 countries around the world as well as Armed Forces Radio and the Voice of America. American Top 40 spawned a television spin-off, America's Top 10, that ran from 1980 through 1990 and featured Casey Kasem counting down the week's top 10 hits and playing music videos.
Casey Kasem is not only well-known for his radio work, but also as a voice-over actor. His best-known voice-over work has been in the role of Shaggy in various incarnations of the Scooby-Doo show. He left the role of Scooby-Doo in 1995 in a dispute over a Burger King commercial, but Casey Kasem returned in 2002 when it was determined Shaggy would be a vegetarian like Kasem. He has also appeared in a wide range of other shows including The Adventures of Batman and Josie and the Pussycats.
When his contract with ABC Radio, owners of American Top 40, expired in 1989, Casey Kasem left after the two parties could not reach financial agreement on a new contract. Shadoe Stevens took over as new host, and Casey Kasem began his own competing show Casey's Top 40. Casey Kasem proved the most popular, and American Top 40 folded in 1995. Legal control of the name reverted to Kasem, and American Top 40 returned in 1998 with its original host.
Casey Kasem was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1992 and the National Broadcaster's Hall of Fame in 1995. Casey Kasem was presented the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) Presidential Award for Sustained Executive Achievement in 2001. In addition, Casey Kasem is continually recognized for his many efforts to fight discrimination against the Arab-American community, his own ethnic group.
In 2004 Casey Kasem retired from hosting American Top 40. He passed the hosting duties on to Ryan Seacrest. However, Kasem has not resigned completely from radio countdowns. He continues to produce American Top 20 and American Top 10, both Adult Contemporary countdown shows, for Premiere Radio Networks. Now in his mid-70's, Casey Kasem is a radio and top 40 living legend. He credits his success to a "guy next door" voice and his interest in telling the stories behind artists and songs with a focus on the positive.