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IF YOU ARE WITHIN 100 MILES OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, LISTEN TO THE PETE CHASTON DOOWOP SHOW ON KCXL-AM RADIO, 1140 ON YOUR DIAL, EVERY SATURDAY FROM 2 p.m. till sunset!!! We just keep on a-doowoppin', playing the hard-core doowop sounds, including the collectibles and the new doowop. Tune in
and groove along!!!!

Listen to my doo-wop show every Saturday from 2 p.m. till sunset on KCXL, 1140 on the AM dial in Kansas City! Most of what I play are mostly from the original 45 rpm records!

60 Seconds of BaBa (.wav 180,708 bytes - this is an MP3 Layer 3 .wav file)

If you want the whole thing, you will have to contact Pete.

* * * * *
You can order some books and The brand new CD

by Pete Chaston. Here's the list and below is the address.

30-Year Reunion Sessions... You've probably heard this CD on the Nationally Syndicated "Dr. Demento Show" This CD has to be heard to be believed. $15 per CD.

Jokes and Puns For Groan-ups by Pete Chaston & Jim Moore,

"JOKES AND PUNS FOR GROAN-UPS" contains some of the WORST JOKES YOU'LL EVER READ!
It's so bad that it's good. Get a copy for someone you don't like! Or read it yourself at your own risk! review December 1996 infoZine. The book costs only $15 (CHEAP!!!) and is available from Chaston Scientific, Inc.

Hurricanes! by Pete Chaston

The hurricane is truly the most majestic storm on earth. No other weather feature quite resembles the uniqueness of the hurricane. An excellent source for residents in hurricane prone coastal areas. Fourteen general chapters and three technical sections make this an excellent textbook. -review by William R. Eubank. The book is available from Chaston Scientific, Inc.

Weather Maps How to Read and Interpret all the Basic Weather Charts by Pete Chaston

"Weather Maps" is a standard reference on how to use weather maps to analyze and forcast the weather. It is used by professional weather forcasters, weather amateurs and enthusiasts, and is a standard text in college and universities. The book is available from Chaston Scientific, Inc.

Terror From The Skies! by Pete Chaston

"Terror From The Skies!" documents some of the most unusual weather to have ever occurred on this planet, and discusses the potential impact on the earth's climate if the stratospheric ozone layer is indeed being deminished.
The book is available from Chaston Scientific, Inc.

                                       Chaston Scientific, Inc.
                                           P.O. Box 758
                                        Kearney, MO 64060

"THE CHANNELS" - Interview with EARL LEWIS, lead singer of The Channels,

on The PETE CHASTON DOO-WOP SHOW on KCXL-AM radio

on Sat., August 15th, 1998

The following are highlights from my live on-air interview with Earl Lewis.

Earl lived on 98th Street in upper Manhattan when The Channels formed in 1956. At that time there were many many doo-wop groups harmonizing in Harlem and throughout the New York City area. The group went to Bobby Robinson's record store on 125th Street, since Robinson would record promising new groups. Robinson liked "The Gleam in Your Eye" but liked "The Closer You Are" even better. The group also had "The Girl Next Door". Robinson recorded the group for the Whirlin' Disc label on the same day that The Continentals recorded "Dear Lord". Earl Lewis says the Channels were "shaking in our boots" after hearing the great "Dear Lord" sound, but then they recorded their material. Earl had to play hookey from school that day, June 30th, 1956, in order to record, and it was his graduation day from high school.

When they started singing "The Closer You Are", there was no falsetto in it. Earl was figuring out how best to fit in with the group's harmonizing, and went with his high falsetto, which has been his trademark ever since.

Earl first heard "The Closer You Are" on the radio on station WADO on the "Jack Walker, the pear-shaped talker Show". He says the whole family was "like in a daze" since it was Earl and the group on the radio for the first time. His mother told him,

"There are no super-stars in this house. You'll wash the dishes and take the dog out, just like everybody else".

Almost immediately after "The Closer You Are" broke as a big hit in the New York City area first, the Channels started appearing on stage. In August 1956 they were on the Dr. Jive Show at the Apollo Theater on 125th Street in Harlem, which was the first of many appearances at that legendary theater.

During their first stage appearance, the house band was Rubin Phillips' band. When the band started playing, the Channel who starting the tune with "The closer you are...." came in on the wrong note. So then the whole group looked at the band as if the band made the mistake, and they had to start singing from the start again. The fans, including family and friends, were screaming and cheering, "Give them the right note, give them the right note" After the show, the band leader said to Earl and the group, "If you ever do that again, I'll never play another note for you." But after that, everything was fine. The group went on to do the Jocko show and also appeared on one Alan Freed stage show. In fact, Freed at the time wanted to manage The Channels but the group decided against it.

The Channels were usually part of a performing "package" that included The Dells, The Five Satins, The Mello-kings, The Flamingoes and The Spaniels.

Ironically, the Channels never appeared on the west coast until about 1990 when they did their first California performance. They have also performed in England.

"The Gleam in Your Eye" followed "The Closer You Are", and subsequent recordings included "Flames in My Heart", "I Really Love You" and "Altar of Love". Flip sides were usually up-tempo and quite good, such as "Now You Know", "Stars in the Sky" and "Why Do You Do", which has both a cha-ca and a rock version.

In 1957 the next major hit for the Channels occurred. The group became disenchanted with their label and moved on to the End/Gone record labels. When they went into the studios of Gone Records, Richard Barrett, record producer and lead singer of The Valentines, was there. The Valentines were disbanding in 1957 and Barrett was concentrating then more on promoting his groups, such as The Chantels. Barrett told the Channels, "Oh listen, I have a song for you" and showed them how he wanted them to do it. The tune was, "That's My Desire", and highlighted Earl Lewis' distinct falsetto. The Channels rehearsed it, recording "That;'s My Desire" about a week later, and as Ear put it, "the rest is history".

The Channels then went to the Fury label to record "Bye Bye Baby" backed/with "My Love Will Never Die", which went on to become one of their biggest hits.

In 1959, the group finally recorded one of the songs they auditioned with in 1956, "The Girl Next Door." It was on the Fire label. Disk jockey Alan Freed loved the song and played it on his show, but Earl says he never heard the record himself on New York City radio,

Earl says he doesn't know how he keeps his voice in shape, but stated that in the old days he wouldn't talk with anyone, even on the phone, when he had to perform that day, to conserve his voice. Nowadays, that doesn't bother him.

The Channels recorded a series of records on their Channels label in the early through middle 1970s, including beautiful versions of "Gloria" and "We Belong Together", and also recorded an album then called "Earl Lewis and The Channels - Take One", which included such masterpieces as "You Came to Me" (originally done by The Duvals), the Cadillacs' "Gloria", and the Continentals' "Dear Lord".

In 1990 the Classic Artists label issued the groups "You Promised Me Love", which is a little-known but outstanding example of Channels singing. In fact the flip side, "Do What Lovers Do" showed up in a Disney movie several years later.

Earl Lewis retired in the mid-1990s as a training technician for the U.S. Postal Service and moved to upstate New York. He says that while administering the postal civil service exam, some people would recognize him as the lead singer of The Channels, even though he would introduce himself as Michael Lewis. Earl said that one woman once said to him after the test, "Listen, don't give me that Michael Lewis business; you're Earl Lewis because I saw you at Radio City." She blew his cover. Earl says it was distracting when people would recognize him as he tried to perform his duties for the postal service.

Earl says that (at the time of this interview) "the Channels are working more than ever; I don't know what happened, and I appreciate it."

Earl's wife, Theresa, or Terry Lewis, does the marketing, which makes this a family business. Terry sells the Channels' CDs, hats, shirts, buttons, etc. at the shows and from their home.

The CD, "Especially for You" by Earl Lewis & The Channels is an excellent CD having 13 songs, a mixture of ballads and uptempo tunes. Earl includes one doo-wop song in Spanish, since he is fluent in Spanish and appreciates that many Spanish-speaking Americans enjoy doo-wop music. This CD includes the beautiful "No Man", which Earl wrote in 1958 but did not record until 1997, and has a redone version of "You Said You Loved Me", the outstanding song first done as the flip of their "Gloria" in 1971.

Also in this album is a version of the Flamingoes, "I Only Have Eyes for You" I mentioned to Earl that Flamingoes got that haunting "glub-glub"-type background sound by having one of the group start with "shoo-bop shoo-bop" and when he was on the first "bop", the next guy would come in by singing the "shoo", so that "shoo" and "bop" were being sung over each other. Earl said the guys "had a hard time with it" but it "finally came out right".

In the commercial shows, the Channels perform only their more popular songs, but at the hard-core do-woe shows, the Channels sing any of their recordings that the fans and record collectors want to hear.

Earl says he likes performing better than recording, but he plans to do another CD down the road.

As for future plans, Earl promises to keep performing until "the day is over" and considers it a blessing to be able to keep performing and that the people love The Channels.

Earl Lewis is a true gentleman, and we are indeed fortunate to have more Earl Lewis and The Channels recordings to add to the history of outstanding songs from the early days of do-woe.

Here's a plug for the Channels' CD, "Especially for You", which is well worth obtaining:

His wife, Terry sells it from their home. To order the CD, the cost is $15 plus $3 shipping & handling, and to order the cassette tape, the cost is $10 plus $3 shipping and handling, with check or money order made out to: TERRY LEWIS and sent to:

Terry Lewis

P.O. Box 374

Circleville, NY 10919

Thanks, Earl, you are legend in group harmony music. God bless you. --Pete Chaston

* * * * *
You can order some books and The brand new CD

by Pete Chaston. Here's the list and below is the address.

Wensis-Sla, the Chaston-Groditski Originals... You've probably heard this CD on the Nationally Syndicated "Dr. Demento Show" This CD has to be heard to be believed. $15 per CD.

"THE CHANTELS" INTERVIEWS ON THE PETE CHASTON DOOWOP SHOW ON KCXL RADIO IN LIBERTY/KANSAS CITY IN 1997

The first part are the highlights from the interview with ARLENE SMITH, lead singer of The Chantels; part two is a separate article which includes the interview with the rest of The Chantels.

Here are the highlights from the interview with lead singer, Arlene Smith:

1. Arlene Smith, lead singer of THE CHANTELS, was born in New Rochelle, New York, but the family moved to the Bronx because of her father's job.

2. Arlene and her girlfriends were in the choir at St. Anthony of Padua School, where they sang Gregorian Chant (Latin hymns), since the Mass at that time was still in Latin. Arlene's natural high soprano voice, with its unique angelic sound, coupled with the beautiful harmonizing required to sing Latin hymns, fine-tuned her voice and the voices of the rest of The Chantels for their subsequent singing of doowop group harmony music.

3. As teenagers, Arlene Smith and her friends formed The Chantels in 1957 and auditioned for songwriter-producer Richard Barrett, who was also the lead singer of his own doowop group, The Valentines, from 1954 through 1957. The Chantels auditioned with two songs Arlene had written, "He's Gone" and "The Plea". One day, they were told to report to another studio, different from the one in which they were rehearsing. After The Chantels belted out, "He's Gone", Arlene then asked, "When are we going to do the recording?", and was informed that they just did! The Chantels did not know that they were actually recording "He's Gone", which was then released and became their first hit record.

4. I (Pete Chaston) then asked Arlene Smith when was the first time she had heard her song on the radio, and she said it was when her family was in the living room listening to their radio. It was quite a thrill. Next, at intermission time from a play in a theater, someowne was standing near a window with a radio on, and Arlene Smith and her group's recording of "He's Gone" came on. Arlene says, "I was screaming inwardly, that's me! that's me!" What a thrill!

5. The pressure was on to come up with a second hit, so Richard Barrett brought the group a demo of "Maybe". Arlene didn't like the middle part, so she rewrote and redid it, even though her name as co-writer does not appear on most copies of "Maybe". "MAYBE" came out in late 1957 and became The Chantel's biggest hit.

6. Arlene used to sneak her radio under her pillow at night to listen to a New York deejay called "Dr. Jive". She says the first groups she was enthralled with were The Harptones and The Moonglows, and she adored the song, "Cherry Pie" by Marvin and Johnny. Then she discovered deejay Alan Freed on radio station WINS. Later, when The Chantels were big stars, they toured with THE ALAN FREED SHOW.

7. On the bus (the Alan Freed Show's people travelled from city to city via bus) the person assigned to sit across the aisle from Arlene Smith was Laverne Baker (of "Tweedle Dee", "Jim Dandy" and "Saved" hit fame). (Laverne Baker died in March 1997 at age 67.) Laverne Baker took The Chantels under her wing and quieted the guys down so that Arlene and the other girls could do their homework. On the Alan Freed tour, The Chantels had the opportunity to perform with other great goups (e.g., The Spaniels). Arlene says that Alan Freed was a gentleman, a nice person, a businessman who loved the groups and the music.

8. Other early hits by The Chantels included "Every Night", "Whoever You Are" and "I Love You So'. The song, "If You Try", was written for the group by a member of The Flamingoes. Arlene Smith also backed up an obscure group called The Tunemasters on a beautiful ballad called "I Lied", but her high soprano vocie is so powerful that the song sounds like an Arlene Smith song rather than a song by a male doowop group. In late 1958, The Chantels also backed up RIchard Barrett on a song called, ":Summer's Love".

9. As on the time of the interview, Arlene Smith was teaching elementary school in the Bronx, New York City. She varies between the first and third grade each year. Arlene received her Master's degree while her mother simultaneously earned her Bachelor's degree! Arlene has also written some as-yet unpublished children's books.

On a personal note, Arlene Smith is one of the most down-to-earth and truly nice persons I have interviewed in the music field. She is a living legend in doowop music. Arlene says that her fans on the East Coast have dubbed her, "The Queen of Doowop"!

PART TWO of THE CHANTELS INTERVIEWS ON THE PETE CHASTON DOOWOP SHOW continues The Chantels story with an interview with the rest of the original group members, LOIS HARRIS POWELL, JACKIE LANDRY, RENEE MINUS WHITE and SONIA GORING.

--from THE PETE CHASTON DOOWOP SHOW on KCXL radio in Kansas City.

Listen to my doo-wop show every Saturday from 4pm to 8 pm on KCXL, 1140 on the AM dial in Kansas City! Most of
what I play are from the original 45 rpm records!

PETE CHASTON'S DOO-WOP SHOW

THE PETE CHASTON DOO-WOP SHOW is on KCXL, 1140 AM on Greater Kansas City radio every Saturday from 4 to 8pm.

>>>DOVELLS INTERVIEW ON PETE CHASTON DOOWOP SHOW<<<

Here are some highlights from the on-air interview with Mark Stevens of The Dovells, of "BRISTOL STOMP" fame, on The
Pete Chaston Doowop Show on KCXL radio in Kansas CIty on March 14th, 1997:

1. The Dovells began as The Brooktones, after Overbrook High School in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area, but their
manager changed their name to THE DOVELLS after staying at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach.

2. The Dovells first recording of "No, No, No" was a regional (Northeast U.S.) hit, released in 1961.

3. The inspiration for the "BRISTOL STOMP" was another fabulous recording, "EVERYDAY OF THE WEEK" by The
Students. Also a factor, according to Mark Stevens, was "PRETTY LITTLE ANGEL EYES" by Curtis Lee. All three
recordings have similar beats

4. At first, the "Bristol Stomp" didn't do much, but after it was played on the air by a disk jockey in Cleveland and by another
in Chicago, an order came in for 100,000 copies. Dick Clark, whose daily TV program, "AMERICAN BANDSTAND" was
based in Philadelphia at the time, always kept appraised of what was selling. When he found out that the "Bristol Stomp" was
selling, he immediately booked The Dovells to perform on American Bandstand and the record took off, becoming one of the
biggest doowop hits of all time.

5. According to Mark Stevens of The Dovells, the "BRISTOL STOMP" has sold from 17 million to 18 million copies as of
1997, making it one of the biggest hits of all time.

6. As of the time of this particular interview, Jerry Gross and Mark Stevens and band are still performing, to the delight of fans
of The Dovells.

7. The name, the "Bristol Stomp", came from Bristol, Pennsylvania, where kids were stomping around to many of the uptempo
songs of the day.

8. Overbrook High School was not only where The Dovells attended, but was also the school of The Orlons ("DON'T
HANG UP", "SOUTH STREET") and Dee Dee Sharp ("MASHED POTATO TIME").

9. The Dovells went on to have a string of successive hits from 1961 thorugh 1963. Their biggest hits were: "NO, NO, NO" in
1961 "BRISTOL STOMP" & "LETTERS OF LOVE" in 1961 "DO THE NEW CONTINENTAL" & "MORE-ITTY
MOPE STOMP" in 1962 "BRISTOL TWISTIN' ANNIE" in 1962 "HULLY GULLY BABY" & "YOUR LAST CHANCE"
in 1962 "THE JITTERBUG" in 1962 "YOU CAN'T SIT DOWN" in 1963

10. The e-mail address for Mark Stevens ismstevens@waterw.com tell him, Pete Chaston sent you!

IF YOU ARE WITHIN 100 MILES OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, LISTEN TO THE PETE CHASTON DOOWOP
SHOW ON KCXL-AM RADIO, 1140 ON YOUR DIAL, EVERY SATURDAY FROM 4 P.M. UNTIL 8 PM!!! We
just keep on a-doowoppin', playing the hard-core doowop sounds, including the collectables and the new doowop. Tune in
and groove along!!!!

Listen to my doo-wop show every Saturday from 4 pm to 8 pm on KCXL, 1140 on the AM dial in Kansas City! Most of
what I play are mostly from the original 45 rpm records!

"THE SPANIELS INTERVIEW ON PETE CHASTON DOOWOP SHOW"

The following are the highlights from the interview of POOKIE HUDSON, lead singer of THE SPANIELS, on The Pete Chaston Doowop Show on KCXL radio in Liberty/Kansas City, Missouri on February 21st, 1998.

1. Pookie Hudson's full name is THORNTON JAMES HUDSON. He now resides in Washington, D.C.

2. All of the Spaniels came from Gary, Indiana, outside of Chicago. Pookie Hudson had a group called The Four Bees in high school, but three of the four members graduated fin 1952, and Pookie still had one more year of high school, so that group dissolved. Then when new friends joined Pookie to form a new group, they called themselves Pookie Hudson & The Hudsonaires.

3. Then they all graduated in 1953 when they were approached by Vivian and Jimmy Carter who were forming a new record label, which at that time did not yet have a name. They wanted to sign the group to be one of its first recording artists. The label was formed and was called Vee-Jay Records. Pookie didn't want his name to stand out in front, so they worked on anew name for the group, going through names of birds and flowers. In 1953 a lot of early rhythm and blues groups took such names, especially the names of birds (e.g., The Ravens, The Orioles, The Cardinals). One of the members asked the wife of their bass singer, how did we sound? She replied that they sounded like a bunch of dogs. So as Pookie told me, "So the next thing I know, we ended up calling ourselves The Spaniels".

4. The first recording the group did for Vee-Jay was "Baby It's You" in 1953. Pookie composed the song but then the rest of the group joined in and made it a group composition. However, Pookie Hudson wrote most of the songs that the Spaniels recorded. In fact, Pookie says he has written about 250 songs that the Spaniels recorded, including the classic, "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight."

5. "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight", recorded in 1954, was the biggest hit for the group. Pookie told me that all versions of that song, by all of those who recorded it, have now sold over 100 million records! Pookie says he wrote this song back in 1952 with no intention of recording it. The inspiration came about when he dated a young lady named Bunny James, whose mother would say it's time to go home when midnight rolled around, so he would leave her house to walk home and would then start singing this tune he was making up as he walked along, which became "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight". Then he finally finished the song and took it to the group who recorded this song in 1954, which was never intended to be recorded since it was a love tune to Pookie's girlfriend. But the group worked on it, then went into the recording studio in 1954 and cut the record.

6. "Baby It's You" established the group in 1953, but they performed more regionally, going only as far as Michigan and Ohio then. However, when "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight" was issued and became a major hit, then the group began touring nationally.

7. The Spaniels hit the scene about the same time as a whole bunch of other classic groups, with whom the Spaniels shared the stage in shows around the country: the Dells, the El Dorado, the Mangles, the Flamingoes, the Clovers, the Cadillacs, the Cardinals, although the Clovers and Cardinals appeared a little earlier. Pookie says, "It was group heaven then." "We were in good company; put it that way."

8. Pookie Hudson left the group for about a year, but loved the music so much that he had to get back into it, and has never left it since. So, the Spaniels then regrouped and did "You Gave Me Peace of Mind" and "Stormy Weather" about the same time. Pookie wrote "You Gave Me Peace of Mind" while working making box-cars. He would sit outside and watch the stars, which was his inspiration since it was so restful and peaceful. This song is one of his personal favorites today.

9. In 1958, The Spaniels were offered the opportunity to record "THE TWIST". They were staying at a hotel called the Casbar in Washington, D.C. since they were performing at the Howard Theater there, where they met a gospel group also staying and performing in D.C., called The Nightingales. At the Casbar, the Nightingales were staying down the hall from the Spaniels, and they called the Spaniels to come down the hall and hear them perform this song called "The Twist" and two or three other tunes that they also put together. However, since they were a gospel group, the Nightingales said they couldn't do these songs and gave the song, "The Twist", to the Spaniels. Some of the original lyrics included the words, "can't get over, can't get under", and it was considered too raunchy for a gospel group, so they couldn't put "The Nightingales" on such a song. So the Spaniels took the tune back to Vee-Jay Records, put the label found "The Twist", with its original words, too suggestive, so the Spaniels did not record it. Then the next thing the Spaniels knew, Hank Ballard had the tune and recorded it in 1959 with his group, The Midnighters. Of course in 1960, nineteen-year-old Earnest Evans, recording as "Chubby Checker" (a play on "Fats Domino"), was recording novelty tunes and had his next one called "Toot" coming out, and his label put "The Twist" as the b-side to "Toot". (The back-up group to Chubby Checker on "The Twist" was never named on the label, but they were The Dreamlovers of later "When We Get Married" fame in 1961.) Dee-jays started playing "The Twist", which became one of the biggest hits of all time, rising to number 1 in 1960, and when reissued in 1961 following the Joey Dee & the Starlighters "Peppermint Twist" craze, rose to number 1 again. However, the history of that recording goes back to The Nightingales, then to Pookie Hudson & The Spaniels and then to Hank Ballard & The Midnighters before reaching Chubby Checker and the Dreamlovers.

10. Pookie says that most of the songs that he wrote and the group then put together were recorded by Vee-Jay; the label rejected only a few.

11. Pookie Hudson currently is raising money to open a theater in Washington, D.C., called the Landmark Theater, to which tourists and others can go to see great groups and artists perform, especially since at the present time, due credit to these groups is not being given by some of the music community. Unfortunately, as Pookie points out, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio has yet to recognize the full realm of contributions by these pioneer groups to musical history.

please forgive the blur

A note on how things were at that time: Legendary pioneering disk jockey, Alan Freed, who coined the words "rock and roll" in Cleveland in 1951 and starting playing great group harmony records by black groups for a white and black audience, typically wanted to put his name as co-author of songs. Examples include songs by the Moonglows and ostensibly the Five Keys. When Pookie Hudson wrote "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight" and Freed wanted to put his name on the record as co-writer, Pookie politely refused. Freed then never played any Spaniels records on his radio shows and never had the Spaniels appear on his road tours. Unfortunately, this was an ugly side of the business, and Freed later got caught in the "payola" scandal of 1959-60, charged with taking money to push certain records. He moved from New York to California and soon died a broken man.

Listen to my doo-wop show every Saturday from 4 pm to 8 pm on KCXL, 1140 on the AM dial in Kansas City! Most of what I play are from the original 45 rpm records!