JDWyker <JDWyker@Charter.net> wrote:
Dear Mighty Field Hands !
I just got an email from Nashville .
Doctor and Singer/Songwriter/Guitar Master Jim Coleman emailed me and said that AIN'T BETTY SWAMP MAMA-LAMA and her Aussie husband Singer/Songwriter/Journalist KEITH "Keef" GLASS (FYI they met right here by our digital cyber campfire..)
The Beslin/Glasses have been up from Mobile and stayin' with Jim ....I'd love to be a fly on the wall !
It's great to know that they are safe !
The Swamp Mama-Lama needed a break bad...she cares for babies that were prematurely born...and she just stays at that hospital TOO much...I hope they are havin' fun in Nashville !
Mo' Later .,..
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwyker
MFVR
JIM COLEMAN...who's music you will hear on The MFV NET RADIO SHOWS 24/7 sent me this from
Nashville !
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwyker
John D. Wyker aka SAILCAT
Mighty Field of Vision Net Radio
Please Pass this link on !
Thing I have learned from watching the news on TV during the last
eight days:
* The hurricane only hit black families' property
* New Orleans was devastated and no other city was affected by the hurricane
* Mississippi is reported to have a tree blown down
* New Orleans has no white people
* The hurricane blew a limb off a tree in the yard of an Alabama resident
* When you are hungry after a hurricane, steal a big screen TV
* The hurricane did 23 billion dollars in improvements to New Orleans: now the city is
welfare, looters and gang free and they are in your city.
* White folks don't make good news stories
* Don't give thanks to the thousands that came to help rescue you, instead bitch
because the government hasn't given you a debit card yet
* Only black family members got separated in the hurricane rescue efforts The Rubber Band with Johnny Townsend, Tippy Armstrong, Johnny Wyker and me played at a club in Biloxi, Mississippi with the Vikings in 1967.
Jim Coleman, M.D.
http://www.jjcoleman.com/index.html
Subject:
Re: Robert "Big Bob" Nix Chimes In With A Few Details On "The Vapors" in Biloxi
Date:
Mon, 26 Sep 2005 19:58:29 -0400
Ahhh Biloxi....The Bird Sisters (twins)
The drinking age was 18 in Mississippi, and, it was my experience, that wherever the drinking age was lower, so was the age of consent
We didn't play a whole lot of clubs because we were lucky enough to get a record deal that let us play more one nighters.
But, I can tell you that The Vapors was
Top 5 with a bullet.
It was owned/run by one of the nicest guys that you could work for named Gene Jernigan.
Nix may remember that The Vapors was where we learned Good Vibrations.
Man, we studied that thing because everyone said that it couldn't be done.
We played with Little David and the Giants, who were really nice guys, and later had a record I really liked.(did the title have the word circles in it or the word green?)
We also met a left handed guitar player there that we really liked (he reminded me of Barry Bailey) and I seem to remember a couple of us fantasizing what it would be like to have him in The Candymen.I think that Eternity's Children was the group Bruce Blackmon of Starbuck fame was in before Starbuck and the had a wonderful record called Mrs. Bluebird.
They also had a girl singer named Linda Lawley who I did some record dates with in New York. Very Soulful and a good sense of humor.
& here's Jim Coleman's http://www.jjcoleman.com/index.html post on The Vapors:
"The Rubber Band with Johnny Townsend, Tippy Armstrong, Johnny Wyker and me played at a club in Biloxi, Mississippi with the Vikings in 1967.
When we played at the Vapors in Biloxi with the Rubber Band they had these great dancers in cages at the side of the stage. I hooked up with one of them, her name was Linda DeGeorge which I still remember after all of these years. I'm really sorry I let that one get away. Hahahaha"
& here's Robert Nix's post:
ROBERT,
THAT CLUB WAS THE 'VAPORS' IN BILOXI. WE THE 'CANDYMEN' PLAYED THAT VERY SAME CLUB. NOT LONG AFTER WE PLAYED THERE, CAMILLE HIT TOWN. THE REST IS HISTORY. I'M SURE RODNEY' (MEMORY CELL) JUSTO HAS MORE MEMORIES OF THIS GIG. I DO REMEMBER A GREAT JUKEBOX THAT WE WORE OUT 'JOSE FELICIANO'S RECORD OF 'LIGHT MY FIRE' AND 'HITCHCOCK RAILWAY' ON. THERE WERE LOTS OF NICE YOUNG LADIES THAT HAD LOTS OF SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY THAT WE, OF COURSE, BEING THE SOUTHERN GENTLEMEN WE WERE ACCEPTED!
LOVE YOU GUYS MUCH,
ROBERT NIX!!!
KEEP THE BABY FAITH!!!!!!!
Here's a Vapors Club memory from the WEB:
: I too am a long time Eternity's Children fan. Grew up in Biloxi, played in a local band in high school. Used to go hear the Children at the Biloxi Hotel and at the Vapors in about 1967. Along with Little David and the Giants, they were the hottest groups around at ! ! the time....great memories. I see messages here by Bruce, and it looks like Roy maybe, and also saw one from Charlie Ross. Would love to hear from any of you guys just to find out what you are all up to these days.
Tuscaloosa Music
Web Radio Inspired by Tuscaloosa Native Eddie Hinton
By Johnny Wyker
EVERYBODY in The World knows about BAMA's Worldclass Football Program ...but have you ever wondered about where Rock and Roll Music and especially Southern Music would be today if not for the T-Town Musicans contributions to The Golden Age of ROCK !
In The Late 60's and early 70's T-Town was as fertile with great performing musicans and songwriters. The kids of today...and especially BAMA Fans maybe unaware of this...but T-Town was soon to be as important to World of R & R as The Nile River Valley was to the success of early Egyptian farmin' and transportation success.
In The Late 60's and 70's and for the next few deacdes The world famous CHUKKER BAR was the favorite waterin' hole for many of todays most important and gifted Southern Music Icons !
The list is too long to get everybody's name mentioned in this article but my favorite quote was about the period when people were writing CLAPTON IS GOD on the building walls in England....almost every kid in T-Town could blow Clapton away with Southern Guitar playin'....and their were more than just hot shot guitar pickers in T-Town....
Let's start The T-Town Musican's list with The the most famous and highest paid player on the scene today ...Keyboard man for The STONES CHUCK LEAVELL...
LEAVELL was a regular at The CHUKKER in The early 70's and playin' free Sunday concerts at The Quad as well as Frat house parties and he also played on The MOTORCYCLE MAMA Album that produced the 1972 hit by the same name..
Also a part of this scene was JOHNNY TOWNSEND who is one of The World Class Singers of All Times...TOWNSEND got his start with The RUBBER BAND and later went on to be the singer/songwriter of one of Rocks Finest Songs ...I still never get tired of hearin' SMOKE FROM A DISTANT FIRE by The SANFORD TOWNSEND BAND of The 70's era !....
Another T-Town musican that went on to bigger and better thangs was CHARLIE HAYWARD...HAYWARD has been THE bass player and written many of the songs with The CHARLIE DANIELS BAND from day one up until today !
There were many other great Southern Rock musicians that died before their time...but they left their mark on recordings that can still be heard on the radio today... The late great guitar stylist and arranger.songwriter TIPPY ARMSTRONG is a fine example of what I mean.Even when JIMI HENDREX came to play in T-Town and we were all introduced to HENDREX and when he heard TIPPY's name his ears stood up and he suddenly became very focused and started naming records that TIPPY had played on when he was a session guitar player at FAME STUDIOS and he also became one of the world famous MUSCLE SHOALS SOUND SWAMPERS...one example of ARMSTONG's fine playin' can be heard on The JIMMY CLIFF album MANY RIVERS TO CROSS.
Another one that died too young was a very extremely gifted drummer boy named LOU MULLENIEX who was memorilized in The SANFORD TOWNSEND song from their first LP...the song is titled "LORDY LOU".
Lou was workin' and playin' recording sessions with everyone from The METORS to DR. JOHN...He died before he was 19 but he also left his mark on the great records that were made during what I call The GOLDEN AGE of R n' R and SOUTHERN ROCK !
This list of The late great pickers from T-Town would be incomplete unless unless I mentioned my old friend...who I met in The ROTC Drum and Bugle Corp when we were both Freshman at The Univresity of Alabama in 1963....I'm talkin' about "The last of The Great White Soul Singers EDDIE HINTON !
In fact HINTON is becomin' one of Rock's newest Cult Heroes...after his death.... AT The UNA George Lindsey Film Festival earlier this month they had over 6.000 flicks entered this year and by far the biggest hit was a Documentary on the life and times of EDDIE HINTON titled DANGEROUS HIGHWAY....Hundreds of people were turned away ...and even though some had to sit on the floor for over and hour and a half to see this HINTON Documentary they felt lucky to be able to see this new Film...it is not For Sale yet and will not be until after it is shown at 12 more Film Festivals...but the GOOD NEWS is there is a VHS VIDEO starring EDDIE HINTON and WYKER that you can order from The Net at http://www.cdbaby.com/all/sailcat
I think it's note worthy that two of the world's most unique singing voices were also water boys for The Tuscaloosa High School Basketball team...that would be TOWNSEND and HINTON...
T-Town also produced another great guitar picker by the name of JIM COLEMAN....COLEMAN who is now a Doctor in Nashville and was also one of CHET ATKINS' Doctors..Coleman has written a book about his friendship with CHET and hopes to find a publisher for it.
In The late 60's the much older HINTON recorded an unreleased LP on the then 17 year old wiz kid JIM COLEMAN called The Coleman Hinton Project... It was recorded over a period of years and they even flew to England where HINTON put The London Sympony on the tape.....the same string section that THE BEATLES had used on many of their recordings..
Somethang must have happened on the flight home because the master tape went missing and was asummed to be "LOST FOREVER" from 1969 until The Master tape was found under the mattress of the bed that HINTON slept on at his mother's house... The tape was saved and restored and turned in to a CD....some cuts from this fine CD are available on a new CD on The Australian RAVEN Label it's called EDDIE HINTON "IT's A MIGHTY FIELD of VISION The Antology from 1969 to 1993.
DUANE ALLMAN and HINTON and WYKER were roomates when DUANE was thinkin' about formin' one of the hottest bands to ever come out of The South ...The band would later be known as The ALLMAN Brothers Band... DUANE begged HINTON to be his first choice as singer... HINTON flat turned him down because he had plans of his own and he told DUANE that he should ask his brother GREGG to be his new singer....The rest as they say is History !
After Duane's death CHUCK LEAVELL was taped to join The ALLMAN BROTHERS Band and his keyboard playing is featured on the unforgetable ALLMAN BROTHERS HIT titled JESSICA !
T-Town could also claim The two ALLMAN BROTHERS as their own because in 1965 when The RUBBER BAND had it';s big hit record on COLUMBIA RECORDS titled LET LOVE COME BETWEEN US.. Wyker had just met DUANE and GREGG in T-Town....they were called THE ALLMAN JOYS and no one had ever heard of them at this time...and they needed exposure and a little money to live on so WYKER hired The ALLMAN JOYS to open for them at The Old FORT BANDON ARMORY.
WYKER also introduced The ALLMAN's to a young drummer named BILL CONNELL of T-TOWN and the night he graduated from Tuscaloosa High School CONNELL hit The Road with THE ALLMAN JOYS to play some gigs in NYC's GREENICH VILLAGE....CONNELL later went on to be one of the most "in demand" drummers in The Record Business....not only did he have talent he had the good looks and later worked with Wyker's band SAILCAT and he appeared on DICK CLARK's AMERICAN BANDSTAND in The Summer of 1972 performing SAILCAT's big hit record MOTORCYCLE MAMA...
CONNELL later went on to play with BOBBY WHITLOCK of DEREK and THE DOMINOES as well as many other hit acts of The Day...When The Disco Thang came into being and turned Pop Muisc upside down CONNELL packed up his drums and became a World Class Televsion Producer with ALABAMA PUBLIC TELEVISION for the next few decades ..
BILL CONNELL is one of the real unsung Heroes from that period in The History of T-Town Musicans that helped to change the face of Rn'R ..with the music that we would later come to be called SOUTHERN ROCK !
In the late 60's and early 70's T-Town had a BIG Hippy Community...They had a Food CO-Op where they would buy food in bulk... mainly Brown Rice and great home grown vegatables.Everyday for Lunch and Supper you could stop in and eat all you wanted....Everyone could eat FREE ...but people were encouraged to donate a little pocket change if they had any....
I think that this period was a beautiful time...The Hippies were all PEACE FREAKS...and they wanted to help everybody and it was like a great big happy family.This atmosphere of PEACE and LOVE may have been part of the r eason that so many great entertainers of today came from T-Town.Add all of the places that bands could work like The Frat parties and you had everythang you needed ...just add Talent and HARD WORK and BINGO...T-Town was responsible for some of today's biggest Stars of American Southern Music !
So get on The Net and go to www.mfvr.com and listen to some great INDIE music that you will love !
If you make music and have a CD and would like some worldwide Net Radio Exposure PLEASE send your CD and contact info to
MIGHTY FIELD of VISION, 805 PROSPECT DRIVE, DECATUR, AL, 35601
"The MIGHTY FIELD of VISION is Producing real results by simply connecting the existing Dots !"
6-25-07
Hello, my name is Jim Coleman and I was friends with all of the people who were mentioned on this web site. But, I was unable to open any of the photos. I would really like to see the pictures of Lou Mullinex who was my best friend in high school and he and I played together in the Rubber Band with Johnny Townsend and Tippy Armstrong. Are these pictures available anywhere else ?7-12-07I found this web site [ED. NOTE ~ ZERO, NORTHWEST FLORIDA]and it has many of my old friends on it.
Lou Mullinex was my best friend in high school and he and I played together in the Gents and later in the Rubber Band with Tippy Armstrong, Johnny Townsend and Johnny Wyker.
I am unable to see any of the pictures you have posted no matter which browser I try to use.
Is there a way you could send me the ones of Lou ?
I am Jim Coleman.Robert:
It was great seeing you in Montgomery last Saturday night with the RG's.
'The Rockin' Gibraltars proved one of the major axioms in the book:
R&B bands are like vintage wine, they just get better with time. Thanks for all the support you have given the book and the Hey Baby Days web site. Consistently over the past couple of years, your blog ,
http://robertoreg.blogspot.comthe
Swingin' Medallions web site
http://www.medallions.com/and Beach Music Online
http://www.beachmusiconline.com/have been the three big sources of referrals for the site. Thanks for keeping the music and times alive.
Regards,
Greg
Hey y'all:
Back in February of '03 when I started blogging, everything was simple.
You stole images any way you could [all you need to do is right click on the image, copy "properties" & type
">
& you can rob anything you want off the Web that ain't tied down...
Which leads up to this email:
Robt Cash Register !
I love your blog...
but the last one with all of the old pictures of band memebers some of the pictures did no come through...maybe overloaded Yahoo...
JIM COLEMAN wrote me and several others that would love to see The Pictures...Is there anyway you could post just the pictures ?
Just and idea for thise that want to see them !
Keep up the good work Brother !
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwyker
www.mfvr.com
wwwwwwwwwwyker:
Man, I luv aw uv yuh
butzzzzzzzzzzzz,
When I got started on the Web, not only did I steal, I used comcast & myspace before google let you post on blogger but
I lost a lot of stuff but I back!
You let me know what you want & I'll look in "bob's stuff" and maybe something might pop up,
right Julia!
Best,
rr
Hey y'all:
We got a LIGHT SKINNED GIRL
who 'bout ready to take away Bessie Smith http://www.myspace.com/queenofblues
crown as QUEEN OF THE BLUES!
You can listen now @ http://myspace.com/alisonheafner
& you can buy her CD like you're supposed to NOW!!!!
YOU CAN NOW PURCHASE ALISON HEAFNER'S NEW CD! SEND CHECK OR MONEY ORDER FOR $17.95 TO
245 ROBIN LANE BATESVILLE, MS 38606..................---- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2006 9:06 AM
Subject: Joe
I went to see Joe yesterday at the VA hospice. I played guitar for him and sang. He seemed to enjoy it. He looks so bad, Johnny. He has lost a lot of weight and doesn't look like the same person. He looks like he is about 75 years old and about to check out. His phone number is 205-554-2000, ext. 4895. I know he would like to get a call from you.
The above just came in from JIM COLEMAN....
I talked to Rudd last week when he was in DRUID CITY HOSPITAL...I hate to say it but it might be too late to do a show for JOE while he is still alive,,,,but maybe we will have a chance...even after the sting of his death has passed I think we should still do somethang to remember JOE by....at the MFV Party yesterady we had all kinds of offers from some great talent that offered to join JOHNNY TOWNSEND's efforts to do a show for JOE...and The MFV will supply the rest if needed !
as MARLIN GREENE says "It's later than it's ever been !"
Love to all that know/knew and loved Joe Rudd !
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwyker
These shots JIM Coleman took of Joe Rudd reminded me of what Cancer can do to a person...Joe was a very handsome man. I have great memories of bein' with JOE RUDD and in my memories JOE is 10 feet Tall and Bullet Proof...and makin' that Telecaster smoke with his fine fire of hot licks !
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwyker
-
---- Original Message ----- Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2006 6:29 PM
Subject: Joe Rudd
I went to the memorial service for Joe in Tuscaloosa yesterday. These pictures look exactly like what Joe looked like when I went to see him a week before he died.
> From: robert register <
robertoreg2003@yahoo.com>
[ed. note: Joe Rudd died the night we had the book signing at CHUCK'S FISH]> Date: 2006/11/25 Sat PM 07:35:10 EST
> To:
rarereads@bellsouth.net> CC:
jdwyker@charter.net> Subject: Greg Haynes' Masterpiece, HEEEY BABY DAYS, Brought More Joy To The V.A. Hospice Today!
Greg:
Charles Morgan will not be back in town until Monday but with his permission, I still think we can do some good
on Saturday at Chuck's Fish.
This morning wwwwwwwwwyker forwarded me
Jim Coleman's email concerning Joe Rudd being in Tuscaloosa's V.A. Hospice. I called Joe and asked him if he wanted to see the book and he told me he wanted me to come by about 5 this afternoon.
When I got to his room, Joe was alone so I opened the book on the side of the bed and showed him the picture of the Distortions, the Battle of the Bands poster with the Distortions and all the other Tuscaloosa related pictures.
About that time Joe's brother and other members of his family showed up and they were so excited that Joe got to see the book. Joe's brother really has tried to get the book. Somebody at the
Tuscaloosa News told him he could get it at
Books-A-Million and when he drove out there, they didn't even have it in their list of books available. His computer was down so he drove into a
Holiday Inn Express and used their computer to order it from the website
http://heybabydays.comHe was really disappointed that he couldn't have the book Fed Ex'ed.
Everyone was so happy with the book. Joe's brother had all the family gather around Joe's hospital bed to get their picture taken while Joe was looking at the book. Then Joe's brother had me hold the book next to Joe and he took a picture of Joe and me with the book.
Joe responded the most to the picture of
The Old Dutch.
He said loudly
,"Oh, I remember that place!" No way to express our gratitude to you Greg for what you have accomplished and shared with us.
Joe Rudd is not long for this world but this afternoon he looked like he was feeling no pain and his mind was definitely back in the HEEEY BABY DAYS OF BEACH MUSIC!
Best,
RR
http://robertoreg.blogspot.comGreg, you really made the Rudd family happy tonight.
|
Dr. James J. "Jim" Coleman |
|
|
NASHVILLE, Tenn. James Jackson "Jim" Coleman, M.D., age 57, died April 18, 2008, at his home in Nashville, Tenn. Dr. Coleman was a Board Certified physician in Pulmonary/Internal Medicine. Prior to moving his practice to Nashville, Tenn., in 1992, he practiced in Portland, Ore. and Tuscaloosa, Ala.
He is preceded in death by his daughter, Catherine Ashley Coleman, and his father, Clayton Noyes Coleman, Sr.
He is survived by his daughter, Lauren Coleman of Franklin, Tenn.; his mother, Mrs. Addie Shirley Hoole of Tuscaloosa; brother, Clayton Noyes Coleman, Jr., D.M.D., of Santa Fe, N.M.; sister, Emily Coleman Moore (Robin) of Tuscaloosa; aunt, Mrs. Anne Shirley McNeff of Tuscaloosa; niece, Katherine Moore of Columbia, S.C.; nephew, Henry Moore of Birmingham, Ala.; and several cousins.
Dr. Coleman was educated in local schools, received his undergraduate degree from The University of Alabama and his medical degree from The University of Alabama Medical School. He graduated from both institutions Cum Laude. Other honors include: Phi Beta Kappa as an undergraduate and Alpha Omega Alpha and The Award for Excellence in Basic Sciences from the University of Alabama School of Medicine.
In addition to his love for medicine, he was also an accomplished musician. He learned to play the guitar while in Tuscaloosa Junior High School and played in local bands, The Gents and The Rubber Band. He composed music as well as lyrics and produced several CD's that demonstrated his skill as a guitarist, composer and singer. His taste in music was eclectic and his interests and talents ranged from classical to jazz. His latest interest was composing, playing and singing gospel music.
A graveside service will be 2 p.m. on Thursday, April 24, 2008, at Evergreen City Cemetery with Rev. Kenneth Fields officiating and Heritage Chapel Funeral Home, a Dignity Memorial Provider, directing.
Honorary pallbearers will be Dr. Bony Barrineau, Delaine Mountain, Michael Kavanaugh, Buddy Martin, Chuck Leavell, and Drayton Wear.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The William Stanley Hoole Special Collection Library at The University of Alabama or to the charity of choice. Published in the Tuscaloosa News on 4/23/2008. |
From Sonny Edwards http://www.myspace.com/sonnyedwardsmusic
Dr. Jim, wasn't always a doctor. When I got to Tuscaloosa, in '69 Jim was one of the best guitar players in a town full of great musicians most of you have heard of. They left T-town by different routes, and wound up in bands like The Allman Brothers, The Charlie Daniels Band, The Sanford- Townsend Band, Wet Willie, the Rolling Stones (I could go on). Some joined bands and wrote their names in the history of Rock n' Roll, while others did the same in places like Muscle Shoals, Macon, Nashville, L.A , San Francisco, New York, Chicago and Miami, becoming legendary studio musicians. Most knew and had a lot of respect for Jim. Jim could have gone in any of those directions, and been a phenominal success. But his mom wanted him to go to medical school. And he was a phenominal success as a doctor as well, a leading Internist and Pulmonolgist in Nashville, Tn. He was Chet Atkins physician, and they became close friends under adverse conditions in the last years of Mr. Atkins life.
A graveside service will be held at Evergreen Cemetery in Tuscaloosa, Al., on Thur., April 24th, 2:00PM. The cemetery is between 10th and 12th Aves., w/ access off of Paul W Bryant Dr., across from Bryant-Denny Stadium.
Jim Coleman
Rest In Peace, Brother
We Will Never Forget You