CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations
to all the members of the Cincinnati Oldies & DooWop Association. After the third try in 10 years a non-profit corporation
has been formed in Cincinnati “to promote, preserve, perform and play the music of our youth.”
The
first “official” meeting with a president and board of directors was held at Johnny Roberts’ Taft Field
Tavern on Saturday, January 19th. “Big Kid” Mike McNutt; CODA President, presided over a lively discussion
attended by 30 or so members. He introduced our board members, Tom Uehlein Vice-President; “Coach” Rudy Tassini,
Treasurer and Kevin Armstrong, C.P.A. as the members who will take care of our financial affairs. The other board members
include Harold Wethington, Gary McCann, Steve Percy of WAIF, Bob Reilly and Ken Mullen of WGRR. These nine very capable people
will make the decisions CODA needs to make over the next year. I’m sure they will swiftly move our club in the right
direction, but getting an organization such as this off the ground can be a daunting task! We wish them all the best of luck.
THANK YOU
The members of CODA would like to thank Fred Bohn and Bob Arzen of the
Pittsburgh Old Record Collector’s Club (PORCC) for all their help. We hope someday we can be just a fraction as successful
as their organization. Since their first show in September of 91’, the greatest groups in the world have graced the
stage for PORCC audiences. No club will ever match their line-up of stars. The following are just some of the groups that
have performed for PORCC. (Groups that have performed more than once are marked with an asterisk*) The Eldorados*, Harptones*,
Channels*, Solitaires*, The Spaniels*, Velours*, Mellows*, Crickets, Wrens, Dubs* Edsels, Orioles*, The Jive 5, Vocaleers*,
Magnificents, Del Vikings, Cardinals, Clef Tones, The Excellents, The 5 Keys*, the Teenagers, Philadelphia Students, The Paragons,
Moonglows, Swallows, Eternals*, Nutmegs, Jarmels, Zodiacs & Gladiolas, The Drifters, Dupree’s, Emotions, Chantels,
Laverne Baker, The Marcels, Coasters, Cadillac’s, Dreamlovers, Flamingos, The Legends of DooWop, and Johnny Maestro
& The Brooklyn Bridge, just to name a few.
I am also proud to report that Street Corner Symphony was not only
the first group from the Cincinnati area to perform for PORCC, but also the acapella group to perform there. SCS had the honor
of performing for PORCC in May of 99’. Continuing in that vein Uptown took their acapella
show on the road and performed for PORCC in December of 2000, opening for the great Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge.
Both of these groups came home with memories they will never forget.
(The preceding paragraphs were taken from the first newsletter
printed for the CODA Club in February 2002 written by John Volz.)
CONGRATULATIONS…
To all of our members who have continued to support, and have chosen to join and/or re-join the
CODA organization to “keep the music alive”. Without your support we would be sitting at home listening to our
music with no appreciation of the greatest music ever produced. OUR Club allows us to enjoy this music with friends and family who remember what it was like to understand
the words and the harmony, to know that each song held a meaning; your first kiss, your first date, the first time you danced
with that special someone, music you could sing along with and found out you didn’t sound half bad.
THANK YOU…
I have been going through some of the CODA files and I would like to thank the following people
for their continuous support from the year 2002. (An asterisk* indicates uninterrupted membership) In alphabetical order…
Ronnie “Jitterbug” Beard, Wiley Bowling*, Bill “the Chef” Bowman*, Danny “The Mayor” Jackson*,
Gary “Mr. Happy” McCann, “BigMike” McNutt*, Ken “WGRR” Mullen*, Butch New*, Steve “WAIF”
Percy*, Linda “The Secretary” Smith, Barb and Phil Stanley* of UPTOWN, Rudy “The Pittsburgh Kid” Tassini*,
and our Vice-President Harold Wethington. AND, a special thanks to all who decided
that this is a club worth existing and sharing with others. We have lasted for 10 years thus far and we have to be enthusiastic
to recruit new members, bring back old members and make this club grow again.
Thanks to ALL our CODA members…
(From your Secretary Linda
Smith in February of 2012)
Just a little tidbit:
Rock and roll dominated popular music in
the 1950s. The musical style originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and quickly
spread to much of the rest of the world. Its immediate origins lay in a mixing together of various black musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music; in addition to country and western. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, and is credited with first using the phrase "rock
and roll" to describe the music.Artists such as Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Big Joe Turner, and Gene Vincent released the initial early rock and roll hits.
Elvis Presley, who began his career in the mid 1950s, soon became the leading figure of the newly popular sound of rock and roll with a series of network television appearances and chart-topping records. His energized interpretations of songs, many from
African American sources, and his uninhibited performance style made him enormously popular—and controversial during
that period.
Acts like The Crows, The Penguins, The El Dorados and The Turbans all scored major hits, and groups like The Platters, with songs including "The Great Pretender" (1955), and The Coasters with humorous songs like "Yakety Yak" (1958), ranked among the most successful rock and roll acts of the period.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB…
Debra Barnhill (Chuck Zimmerman), Linda and Paul Meyer, Cindy Telinda
(Dan Telinda). And welcome back to Ronnie Lee Williams of the American Graffiti Band.
CODA
BIRTHDAYS
FEBRUARY
7- Evelyn Sexton 19- Tim Copenhaver
26- Beverly Adkins 28- James Price
CODA BIRTHDAYS
MARCH
4-Pam Carrelli 5- Gail Sexton 9- Susan Glass 12- Mary
Fields 16- Mac Brown 17- Chalk Sexton 18- Judy Sharp 20- Dorothy Wethington 25- Deborah Meyer 31- Jerry Plumley
DATES TO REMEMBER…
FEBRUARY 19 2012: ANNUAL ELECTION and CODA Social at Jim & Jack’s,
from 1PM to 5PM with the CODA Band. New officers will be announced after the ballots are counted. All voting will commence
at 3PM.
At
the February Social we will be raffling off an IPOD with 12-14 hours of oldie and doowop from the private collection
of Jim Bracht. He and his wife Lois contribute a lot of time and energy to support our club. This is the second one he has
produced and donated to the Club, and it gets better and longer. Practice makes perfect. Our CODA drummer Bob Stevens won
the first one, and he still says there are songs he hasn’t heard for a long time or never heard before, but it is all
good. There will be a limited number of tickets at 6 for $5.00 so do not miss out.
MARCH
18 2012: CODA Social at Jim & Jack’s with the CODA Band, from 1PM to 5PM.
APRIL
15 2012: CODA Social at Jim & Jack’s with the CODA Band, from 1PM to 5PM.
BAD NEWS:
It
is not with any pleasure that I am telling you that we have lost another friend and CODA member to an untimely death. Lenny
Texter has been a member and supporter, along with his wife Joanie since 2006. Lenny died suddenly to a massive heart attack
on January 22, 2012. Our love and prayers go out to his family.
UNTIL NEXT
TIME…TAKE CARE…
Linda Smith
Your Secretary
