[bomp] East L.A. and South Central and Arthur Lee

[ItsBoss9@xxxxxxx]

> Love managed to encompass L.A.'s black scene, Chicano scene

Huh? What do you mean? 

Well, Arthur, just prior to his Sunset Strip period, was workin' out with 
Arthur Lee & the L.A.G's at the Montebello Ballroom... a very Thee Midniters, 
Thee Ambertones kind of place.  Of course, your West Side Rhino Records people 
proved ignorant and probably racist when they wrote in the liner notes of the 
Love box set "While Lee's American Four and LAG's performed cover gigs in the 
not-so-hip L.A. suburb of Montebello."  That shit was written by Phil Gallo, and 
it passed through Rhino's vast editorial staff.  Yes, the company also did 
some East Side Sound releases, but what the fuck kind of shit is that?

The Montebello Ballroom was a totally wild place in its time.  Earlier this 
year, we did a video interview with Little Willie G. of Thee Midniters in 
there, and the funniest thing was when he was explaining to the young man who 
worked there, in Spanish, how crazy the "parties" were, with "jovenes" all over the 
place drinking and taking acid... uh, "not-so-hip suburb" doesn't come to 
mind.  The liner notes also say that "I've Been Tryin'" was recorded by Ronnie & 
the Pomona Casuals when in fact it was a big record for Li'l Ray.  But Arthur 
did have two songs on that Ronnie & the Pomona Casuals album too.  So if you 
look at it, Arthur kind of came out of that East L.A. scene right into playing 
with Love.

Then, of course, Arthur bounced around the South Central scene, even trying 
to work with Sam Cooke's SAR label.  Most people don't know much about the 
music that came out of black L.A., especially because Barney Hoskyns did such a 
horrible job of covering that in his book, while at the same time claiming that 
the L.A. music scene was "racist."  While I'm sure there was some racism over 
the years, that's not what produced Big Jay McNeely, the Robins, the Coasters, 
The Johnnie Otis Show (which encompassed talents from Etta James to Leiber & 
Stoller -- Fairfax Jewish kids working in the black circuit), Richard Berry,  
Jesse Belvin, The Hollywood Flames, Bobby Day, the Olympics, Bobby Womack, 
Round Robin, the Vibrations, the Rivingtons, Dobie Gray, Bob & Earl, Jackie Lee, 
Brenton Wood, BIlly Preston,  the Chambers Brothers, Ty Wagner (!), the Watts 
103rd Street Rhythm Band, plus the guys who became War, who in the '60s were 
the Creators, the Afro-Blues Quintet and Senor Soul.  That's just scratching 
the surface.  Barney Hoskyns whines in his book "with all the record companies 
in L.A., how come L.A. didn't have a Motown?"  Well, look at that list... we 
didn't need a fucking "Motown" with its confined, programmed and eventually, 
genericized sound. But we did have Brenda Holloway, a bonafide Motown recording 
artist who opened for the Beatles at Shea Stadium... along with Cannibal & the 
Headhunters. 

The black stuff that came out of '50s and '60s L.A. was more '50s Rock 'n' 
Roll style than Motown "Soul".  Those white garage band hits so well-loved... 
"Papa Oom Mow Mow"  and "The Bird's The Word" (Trashmen covering Rivingtons), 
"Louie Louie" (Kingsmen covering Richard Berry) "Hang on Sloopy" (McCoys 
covering Vibrations) "Good Lovin'" (Young Rascals covering Olympics)... these were 
all originally hits out of L.A.'s black scene, however un-unified it may have 
been.  Even the Rolling Stones first U.S. hit "It's All Over Now" (covering 
Bobby Womack)  was a song out of L.A.'s black scene... as was Bob & Earl's "Harlem 
Shuffle," which the Rolling Stones did years later to revive their career.  
(Imagine that, the Rolling Stones recording a song in these days based on Round 
Robin's "Slauson Shuffle".)  Arthur Lee came out of all that back in the 
'60s, dig?

Domenic Priore

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