Going Beyond "The Burg" with Larry "Butch" McGee

The only local legacy that's comparable to that of Pittsburgh's sports teams is that of it's rich musical heritage. And on this Super Bowl Sunday 2011 I'd like to share the story of a guitarist from Pittsburgh by the name of Larry "Butch" McGee. He was born on the Southside and raised in the Hill District by a single mother with a family of twelve children. His infatuation with the guitar began with Elvis Presley's 1957 appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Larry was twelve when he got his first guitar. "My mother raised us herself and I knew that she wouldn't be able to send me to school for music, or pay for me. So I figured I had to learn from what they call the school of hard knocks, in other words from any source that I could. And this has been my philosophy or strategy since I was a kid. So anybody that was great or good, I drew upon them and studied them. It wouldn't just be people on guitars. I'm inspired by Herbie Hancock and George Duke. They didn't play the guitar. Jocko Pastorious was a bass player. I didn't limit myself as far as who I tried to learn from."

I recorded an interview with Larry McGee five years ago and I explained that I was interested in creating a resource for people to learn about Pittsburgh musicians focusing on the records that they made. There are a ton of Pittsburgh musicians who relocated to New York and LA and became very famous. These people are relatively easy to learn about. What I'm more concerned about are the ones who didn't necessarily "make it." What was going on here locally in Pittsburgh is much more interesting to me than what people from Pittsburgh were doing elsewhere. "I'm glad you said that. A lot of the ones who didn't make it where so great to me. George Benson had just did a record with Quincy Jones called Back on the Block. He invited me to the session, and after that we went back to the hotel where he was staying in Hollywood. Out of the blue he asked me in front of all of the people 'who was the greatest group you've ever seen?' And I said it was the Altairs and he said to the people 'See, I told you.' So that gives you some idea of how some of the people who didn't make it were really great. George Benson's been around the world more times than I can count. He's seen talent."

McGee's musical career began in 1962 when he was approached by Benson and William Herdon of the Altairs. The Altairs were a Pittsburgh group who cut a record for Amy Records, which was a label based in New York. That was their first and last recording. McGee replaced Benson who moved on to start another group before leaving Pittsburgh to tour with Brother Jack McDuff.

Donnie Elbert "Your Red Wagon (You Can Push It or Pull It)"
b/w "Never Again" (196? Gateway, 45-761)
Van Harris & the Vanguards "Hey, Hey (Feel Alright)" Pt.'s I & II
(196? ABC, 45-11155)

One of McGee's earliest recording dates was with Donnie Elbert. Elbert was an artist from Buffalo, NY who scored a big Pittsburgh hit in the mid-sixties with "Have I Sinned" on Deluxe Records. The Pittsburgh-based Gateway Records label wound up releasing three singles by Elbert circa 1965. I never knew if the recordings were actually made in Pittsburgh, or perhaps they were just licensed by the label. That is until McGee told me that he played on "Your Little Red Wagon (You Can Push It or Pull It)." This may be my favorite of the six tunes and it's the only side that McGee plays on.

Pittsburgh-based band leader Van Harris hired McGee to back the likes of The O'Jays, Peaches and Herb, The Dells, Chubby Checker, The Drifters, Fontella Bass and Jackie Ross to name a few. Harris assembled a band, Van Harris & the Vanguards, that featured himself on drums, McGee on guitar, David "Sugar" Cain on keys, Donald Jackson on bass, George Green on sax and Jimmy Rodgers on trumpet. McGee speaks very highly of bandmate David "Sugar" Cain. "He used to sing, write songs, play guitar, drums, organ, everything ... way back then. And in my opinion he was like the most talented person I ever met, or played with." The group's only record was "Hey, Hey (Feel Alright)" which was recorded for ABC Records in the late sixties. It's a somewhat obscure record, but not entirely hard to find. For as great as that record is it's kind of strange that it isn't in much more demand.

Lonnie Smith Move Your Hand LP (1969 Blue Note, BST-84326)
Lonnie Smith "Move Your Hand" Pt's I & II
(1969 Blue Note, BN-1955)
Lonnie Smith Drives LP (1970 Blue Note, BST-84351)

McGee's early touring experiences were with Bobby Watley and Winston Walls. In 1969 he went on tour with Blue Note recording artist Lonnie Smith. Lonnie Smith and George Benson had traded back and forth playing on each other's first few LP's. McGee is featured on the albums Move Your Hand and Drives. The title track from the former being an amazing hunk of jazz funk, which was issued as a single. If I'm not mistaken McGee also appears on Smith's Live at Club Mozambique LP, which was shelved for twenty-five years before it's 1995 release. In 1971 Larry replaced Benson once again in Brother Jack McDuff's quartet who he toured with extensively.

Larry McGee Revolution "The Burg (Pittsburgh, Pa)"
b/w "Happy Bicentennial USA" (1976 Boogie Band)
Larry Mcgee & Saxon Sisters
"We're Number One (Super Steeler Disco)" (1980 Boogie Band)

McGee was still residing in Pittsburgh when he wasn't on the road. The Steelers back-to-back Super Bowl wins in 1975 and 1976 inspired a number of records that were either specifically about the Steelers, or they were what you might call very "Pittsburgh-centric." McGee recorded one of the earliest of these records and in my opinion it's the best one. It's titled "The Burg (Pittsburgh, Pa)" and there's more demand for this record today than there was thirty-five years ago.

"We did a minimum order, so I think there were 500 (copies made). Ralph Cominio, the owner of Asterik Studios, made those provisions for me. He made the arrangements and I paid the bill. We recorded that in the spring after the Super Bowl. I was living in Wilkinsburg. The studio was in Wilkinsburg too. The Boogie Band got together in '74 and we made the record in '76." The Boogie Band was initially the name of the group, but the record is credited to the Larry McGee Revolution on the Boogie Band record label. Larry played lead guitar and sang lead vocals with Lamont "Monty" Ray on rhythm guitar, Joe "Chipper" Gray on bass, Willie "Spiegal" Gay on drums and Keith Stabbler on keys. "All the musicians except Keith played with me regularly for at least two years. I was trying to think of a name for the label and I wanted to name it after one of my groups. That was the current group. The idea of Revolution, I liked that name at the time. It's like we were going through a different phase. Those two things are what inspired me to change the name of the group and use that for the record label."

WAMO and WYEP gave the record significant airplay. "There was a guy named Del King. He was a DJ on WAMO, and the Program Director for a while. He helped me get that on the air and WAMO played it regularly. We were on a TV show in Pittsburgh called Vibrations. It was a local show and the host was Bev Smith. We did 'The Burg' on there. We were scheduled to do the one song and they liked it so much that they asked 'Do you have another song?' But we hadn't rehearsed anything else. I wish I could get that."

In 1977 McGee hit the road with Norman Connor's Starship Orchestra. "When I played with Norman Connors I would double on drums. The first couple of songs, before he comes out, I would play. Very seldom do I do gigs on other instruments. Usually I do that in my own groups." During the stint with Connors McGee was interviewed for a full page feature in the October '77 issue of down Beat Magazine. Bill Milkowski, who wrote the article, refers to the shoe box of photographs that McGee shared with him during the interview. A lot of these photos have survived over the decades and are currently displayed on Larry's Myspace page. In July of '78 McGee received another full page feature in Guitar Player Magazine.

In 1980 the Steelers won the Super Bowl for the fourth time and inspired the sophomore release on the Boogie Band label, which was "We're Number One (Super Steeler Disco)." This was at the height of the Steelers popularity and McGee recalls it selling 10,000 units. Joe "Chipper" Gray was the only Boogie Band/Revolution member who played on this release. The song was co-written by Elizabeth Davis and it featured vocals by Denise and Debbie Saxon. Elizabeth Davis was a permanent fixture in the Pittsburgh jazz scene as she lived above the Crawford Grill since the early fifties. Her songs were recorded by the likes of Dakota Staton, Ramsey Lewis and Nancy Wilson to name a few. Denise and Debbie Saxon were part of the later Lovations line up along with Crystal and Penni Wilson. The collaboration of names involved with this release make it much more significant than your average Steelers record.

Gene Ludwig Now's The Time LP (1980 Muse, MR-5164)
Nathan Davis Faces of Love LP (1982 Tomorrow Int.)
Emmett Frisbee Sound Paintings LP (198? Street Level)

McGee recorded on three local jazz LP's in the early 80's. The juxtaposition of these three albums really show McGee's versatility, just within the jazz genre alone. The first of which is Gene Ludwig's Now's The Time, which was mentioned in the debut I DIG PGH feature in July 2010. "He (Gene) had scheduled Pat Martino and then I took Pat's place." Now's The Time features an all-Pittsburgh line up of musicians, but it was released nationally in 1980 on Joe Fields' Muse Records label. Ludwig is on organ and McGee's on guitar with fellow-Vanguard member George Green on saxophone, Tom Soisson on drums and Kwasi Jayourba on percussion.

In 1982 Nathan Davis released Faces of Love, which was the third project on his Tomorrow International label. It was recorded at Sound Heights Recording Studios in Brooklyn, NY and mixed at Jeree Recording Studios in New Brighton, PA. McGee is featured on guitar along with other familiar Pittsburgh names like James Johnson Jr. and Ron Fudoli. Some of the other names on the album are even more familiar including the likes of Idris Muhammed and Wilber Bascomb.

The last of these three jazz LP's is Emmett Frisbee's Sound Paintings. I can't imagine that this album sounded any less weird upon it's initial release than it does today. It's actually pretty amazing as it's part environmental soundscape and part eighties jazz fusion. It's also a really interesting document of the local jazz scene featuring McGee on guitar along with popular Pittsburgh saxophonist Kenny Blake and other artists who's names may be less familiar.

Bill "I Feel Good With You" b/w "Space Lady"
(198? Dollar Bill, RR-42480)
Lonnie Liston Smith "Star Flower" from the album
Love Goddess (1990 Startrak, STA-4021-LP)

The Bill 45 is another quality project that McGee was involved with in the eighties. You generally hear the B-side of this boogie era R&B masterpiece, but the A-side is pretty great as well. As a matter of fact if anyone got a copy of the limited edition mix that I did with DJ BusCrates a few months ago, The Top Shelf Collectors, then you've heard the B-side already. I've been scratching my head wondering who Bill was for years now and McGee informed me that it's actually William Herdon from The Altairs. The same William Herdon who gave him his very first gig in 1962 replacing George Benson.

McGee went back to school and studied business management at the Community College of Allegheny County. In 1987 he completed the program and relocated to Los Angeles. He created a publishing company and a production company along with partners Joe Caccamise and Alan Walker. In 1990 he co-wrote "Star Flower" which was included on Lonnie Liston Smith's Love Goddess LP. He's featured on the track playing keyboards, guitar, synthesizer bass and percussion. Other projects that Larry was involved with, which were never issued on vinyl, include The Jazz Syndicate featuring Phil Collins, Angela Bofill and Gerald Albright (1998), Norman Connors' Easy Living and Eternity (both released in 2000) and Tom Scott's' New Found Freedom (2002).

Larry McGee Revolution "The Burg" 12" Reissue
(2005 Licorice Soul, LSD-010T)

As I mentioned before, there's more demand for "The Burg" today than when it was initially released in 1976. This is largely because of UK disc jockey Keb Darge who is credited with (re)discovering the record. Darge is probably best known in the U.S. for the Funk Spectrum compilation series that he co-curated along with his stateside record-digging contemporaries DJ Shadow, Pete Rock and The RZA.

Back in September of 2005 I was speaking with jazz drummer extraordinaire Roger Humphries who informed me that Larry was living in LA and he suggested that I go online and look him up. When I went online I discovered that a UK-based label by the name of Licorice Soul was coincidentally reissuing "The Burg" that very week. I'd already seen that the original 45 had been selling for quite a bit of money, which explained all of "The Burg" related phone calls that we'd been getting at Jerry's Records that summer. McGee explains that he never met or spoke to Keb Darge and it was a DJ in the United States who initially contacted him about the record. "He's the one that contacted me first. He wanted to buy all 'The Burgs' that I had and the 'We're Number Ones.' Once we made that deal he connected me with Licorice Soul Records. I was excited. I really felt that the record never had the chance to get the proper exposure."

I was excited too, but kind of disappointed that the reissue and the new interest in Larry's record had gone under the local radar. When the Steelers were going to the Super Bowl in 2006 I thought it would be a prime opportunity to get Larry McGee's story published locally. Unfortunately I wasn't able to make that happen, but five years later the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl AGAIN and I'm in a much better position to publish this myself now. Regardless of whether we win or lose tonight I'm going to be alright. I like the Steelers as much as the next guy, but I've got people like Larry "Butch" McGee who make me proud to be where I'm from. The Burg (Pittsburgh, Pa).

Visit I DIG PGH on YouTube to check out selections from the Larry "Butch" McGee discography: www.youtube.com/user/idigpgh

Title Town Sounds: A History of Pittsburgh Steelers Fight Songs

In 1969 Chuck Noll was hired as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Noll turned the team around from what is commonly referred to as "The Four Decade Famine." In 1972 the Steelers finally made it to the play offs for the first time in the team's history. They returned to the play offs the next two seasons and finally clenched the AFC Championship in 1974. They then went on to win back-to-back Super Bowls in 1975 and 1976. You probably know how the rest of the story goes, so I won't bore you.

What's interesting is with this new success came notoriety and popularity, and with popularity came an expanded fan base and of course merchandising opportunities. Now-legendary players like Franco Harris, Terry Bradshaw, Rocky Bleier, Lynn Swann, L.C. Greenwood, Joe Green and Dwight White not only had their names immortalized in the NFL Hall of Fame, but also in a wide array of official, and not so official, Pittsburgh Steelers merchandise that included ... you guessed it ... vinyl records. A lot of these records are just your run of the mill sports novelty items, but some of them became very popular. Novelty or no novelty these were the sounds that defined the more successful seasons of Steelers football.

The Steelers Sing Holiday Halftime LP
(1969 Manilus Records, MAN 2010)

Mike Kalina & Friends "Steelers '72" (1972 Fox Records)
Jimmy Pol "Steelers Fight Song" (1973 NRM)
 
In 1969 Mike Tatich released what I believe is the first Steelers record, The Steelers Sing Holiday Halftime, on his New York based Manilus Records label. The album was arranged, conducted and produced by Jacques Urbont. Urbont had done some composing for popular 60's TV shows including Mannix and Mission Impossible. What's even cooler is that he's the one responsible for the theme songs to the 1960's Marvel Superheroes cartoons!

The earliest Steelers record I know of, that was produced locally,  was made in 1972. Mike Kalina, who would later become known as The Traveling Gourmet, released what was called a cut-in record titled "Steelers '72." A cut-in record was a type of novelty comedy record that was popular in the sixties and seventies. Most of the records were done in an interview fashion where the interviewee's dialog, or responses to questions, were comprised of soundbites from popular songs. Perhaps think of it as a precursor to sampling. On this particular cut-in record Kalina is portraying the late Myron Cope who is interviewing the late Steelers' owner Art Rooney about the team's 1972 play off debut. The voice of Art Rooney is substituted by soundclips from early seventies hits including Isaac Hayes' "Theme from Shaft" and T-Rex's "Bang a Gong."

Then of course we have the first of many Jimmy Pol Steelers Fight Songs, which was released in 1973. Pol, whose real name was James Psihoulis, would undoubtedly  become the most well-remembered artist of what you might refer to as the Steelers Fight Song genre. My understanding is that Pol was not only a radio disc jockey/celebrity, in addition to being a polka band leader, but he actually owned multiple radio stations in the region and had a large involvement with the Pittsburgh-based National Record Mart chain.  It was National Record Mart who initially released Pol's Steelers Fight Songs on their NRM label.

Whatever It Takes LP (1975 Olympic Records, OLP-1001)
Super Steelers '76 LP (1976 Fleetwood, FCLP-3095)
Coward Hosell "Super Steelers '76" (1976 ?)
Larry McGee Revolution "The Burg (Pittsburgh, PA)"
(1976 Boogie Band)

As I said, the Steelers won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1975 and 1976. 1250 AM WTAE was the official radio station to broadcast the games and they were announced by Jack Flemming and the aforementioned Myron Cope, creator of the Terrible Towel. Highlights from the WTAE broadcasts were released on LP by the Massachusetts-based Fleetwood Recording Co., Inc. (the first album was in association with the Olympic Recording Co., Inc).

In 1976 there was another cut-in record made attributed to Coward Hosell. This was a bit of a mystery piece with a similar theme to the Mike Kalina record. In the spring of 1976 Larry "Butch" McGee released "The Burg (Pittsburgh, PA)" on his own Boogie Band Records imprint. He recalls placing a minimum order with the pressing plant and estimates that there were probably 500 copies made. This record has become very sought after, not because of its Steelers references, but because DJ's are actually playing it now 35 years after it's initial release. A lot of people nowadays know McGee primarily because of the interest in this record, but he actually has a some what extensive recording career. I'm going to go into more detail about Larry McGee separately.

Jimmy Pol "Steelers Fight Song 1978" (1978 NRM, 2250)
Jimmy Pol "Steelers Fight Song 1979" (1979 JP Prod./NRM, 2470)
Wakefield "Make Plans for the Super Bowl" (1979 ?)
Freddie Waters "Steel it Steelers" (1979 Kari, KA-105)

Jimmy Pol returned with more Steelers Fight Song polkas in 1978 and 1979. This essentially set the paradigm for the Steelers Fight Song that would be redone each year with updated lyrics. This also cemented Pol and his polkas in the memories of everyone who was around in the seventies to witness the Steelers' Super Bowl wins. Until this day I have many early recollections of Eastern European fathers and grandfathers with their accordions performing what was the "Black and Yellow" anthem of its day.

The "Make Plans for the Super Bowl" record isn't really exceptional, nor is "Steel it Steelers" by Freddie Waters. The latter although must have been tremendously popular because the city is littered with copies. The funny thing is that it was released by a label based in Nashville and there's really no indication that anyone local had anything to do with the record.

Jimmy Drake Orchestra "Steelers Victory Theme" (197? Alanna)
Pittsburgh Steeler Fans "Steeler's Victory Theme"
(197? Alanna, AL-579)
Acappella Gold "Title Town, U.S.A." (19?? Iron City, A-301)
Lou Antonucci "Titletown, U.S.A." (1980 Titletown Prod., 0001)

The Jimmy Drake Orchestra records on Bill Lawrence's Alanna label aren't amazing, but they're really interesting. The instrumentals on the B-sides are actually really well composed and a bit more compelling than the actual Steelers songs. The second record is a re-cut of the first with different vocals. I'm assuming that this is the same Jim Drake from the Tempos, who were a Pittsburgh group that sang "See You in September." That song was a fairly successful hit in 1959 and it was included on the soundtrack of George Lucas' 1973 film American Graffiti. The group Pure Gold, who are local purveyors of this late fifties/early sixties group harmony sound, recorded a Steelers song titled "Title Town, U.S.A." They recorded it as Acappella Gold on Iron City Records. There's no year listed on this release either, but another artist by the name of Lou Antonucci also recorded a "Titletown, U.S.A." song as well in 1980. It's more of a folk record though.

I've been receiving a lot of questions along the lines of "Why is the Title Town Soul & Funk Party called Title Town?" and "Isn't Green Bay the original Title Town?" Yes, Green Bay is the original Title Town, or Titletown (whichever you prefer), because they won the first two Super Bowls back-to-back in 1967 and 1968. Then the Steelers won FOUR Super Bowls between the years of 1975 and 1980, so obviously Green Bay got it's "Title" taken. And when the Steelers won the Super Bowl AGAIN in 2009, in addition to the Penguins winning the Stanley Cup, my partner Gordy and I thought that it was appropriate to name our party Title Town, which was definitely inspired via the "Title Town, U.S.A." records from the late 70's/early 80's. We wanted to use a local record reference and we thought that it sounded good. So there you have it.

Pittsburgh Steelers Super Team XIII LP
(1980 Fleetwood, FCLP-3111)
Jimmy Pol "Steelers Fight Song 1980" (1980 JP Prod., PP-1222)
Jimmy Pol Cheers the Steelers LP (1980 JP Prod., PP-1233)
Champion City Singers "Italian Salute to the Steelers"
b/w "Irish ..." (1980 NRM, NRM-1012)
Champion City Singers "Polish Salute to the Steelers"
b/w "Jewish ..." (1980 NRM, NRM-1013)
V.I.P. Steeler Salutes (198? 2001 Record Co., 3352)
Freddie Waters "Super Steelers" (1980 Kari, KA-113)
Elliott, Walter & Bennett "The Twelve Days of Pittsburgh Steeler Christmas" (1980 Paid, PAD-PIT-4)
Larry McGee & Saxon Sisters "We're Number One
(Super Steeler Disco)" (1980 Boogie Band)

1980 would no doubt be the most prolific year for Steelers inspired music. Even Terry Bradshaw himself had a record deal and released a few albums of religious inspired country music. Fleetwood released another album of highlights from the 1979 season and the 1980 Super Bowl. Jimmy Pol not only released another Steelers Fight Song that year, but an entire LP titled Jimmy Pol Cheers the Black & Gold. Apparently there's another single from the album titled "1980 Steeler Fever" but I never came across that one yet. This is kind of interesting because Jimmy Pol began releasing this material on his own JP Productions imprint without National Record Mart's involvement.

NRM wasn't out of the fight song game yet though. They released a set of singles that year that featured Irish, Italian, Jewish and Polish salutes to the Steelers. The records are obviously not quite politically correct, but they were immensely popular. The sides of the singles were later rerecorded and rereleased on the 2001 label, which I always assumed had some affiliation to the 2001 disco club that was located on the Northside. Proceeds from the rereleases on the 2001 label benefited the Easter Seals organization.

Freddie Waters followed Jimmy Pol's example and redid the lyrics for "Steel it Steelers" and rereleased it as "Super Steelers." Another Nashville label called Paid released a record by Elliott, Walter & Bennett titled "The Twelve Days of Steeler Christmas." Once again there's no indication that anyone from Pittsburgh had anything to do with this recording either. I get the impression that the city of Nashville is filled with Steelers bars. There's also supposed to be a "One for the Thumb in '81" single that I've never come across yet.

Larry McGee released a follow up to "The Burg" in 1980 titled "We're Number One (Super Steeler Disco)." McGee recalls selling 10,000 copies of this single. This release isn't nearly as good as its predecessor, but it's significant because he co-wrote it with Elizabeth Davis. Davis was a song writer who lived above the Crawford Grill, which was a venue located in the Hill District. She's considered to be an important figure in the Pittsburgh jazz scene, but there's very little documentation of her work. Denise and Debbie Saxon were also featured on the record. They did very little recording that I know of aside from one single that was released while they were a part of a later Lovations line up. I consider the record to be very significant for these reasons, but it's definitely more of a novelty record where as "The Burg" is just a very well made disco record.

The History of the Super Bowl LP (1980 Fleetwood, FLCP-3110)

John Crispino & C.A.T. "Mad Man Jack" (1981 Erika Records)

The Steelers didn't receive their one for the thumb in '81 and the proliferation of Steelers fight songs quickly subsided. The franchise and the fans who supported it would have to wait 25 years for that fifth Super Bowl victory. Fleetwood released an album titled The History  of the Super Bowl in 1980, which included 24 years worth of Super Bowl highlights. This obviously included many shining moments in Steelers history. Erika Records, which was California-based label released a football-shaped tribute to Jack Lambert in 1981 titled "Mad Man Jack" by John Crispino & C.A.T. To my knowledge this is the only Steelers-related record that came out in '81 and there are none that I know of from 1982.

Jimmy Pol "Steeler's Fight Song 1983" (1983 JP Prod., PP1297)
"Doc" Stewart "Super Steelers Fan" (1983 C.E.S., 5630)
Tony Germaine "Cower Power" (1992 Power, 7227)
Kardaz "The Mighty Guins" (1993 Kardaz Inc., FS-759)

In 1983 Jimmy Pol released the last of his Steelers Fight Songs, once again on his JP Productions imprint. This record marked his tenth year in the Steelers fight song business. Charles "Doc" Stewart proved that he was a "Super Steeler Fan" that year with his release on his own C.E.S. Records imprint. The only other Steelers record that I know of is "Cowher Power" which was released in 1992 by Tony Germaine. That's very late in the game to be releasing a 45 unless you were a punk band. I have to give honorable mention to Kardaz who released "The Mighty Guins" single in 1993, which is the only Penguins record that I know of. Kardaz also recorded the Steelers fight song/Ghostbusters parody, "Go Steelers." It's not on vinyl, but it's currently featured on the WDVE website where you can check out a bunch of other relatively new Steelers fight songs as well. Obviously none of these songs made nowadays are going to be released on vinyl, but the saga continues none the less.

As hokey as all of this must seem, this tradition of making music pertaining to Pittsburgh sports teams has been going on for almost forty years and I don't anticipate it ending at any point in the near future. Especially with technology making it increasingly easier for people to record and distribute their own music. The question is: Will today's mp3's and YouTube videos survive forty years from now like the records that you just read about? I guess we'll see in forty years. In the meantime all that's left to say is ...

GO STEELERS!

Visit I DIG PGH on YouTube to hear select Steelers fight songs: www.youtube.com/user/idigpgh

B.U.K.A. Entertainment: What No Pittsburgh Hip Hop Label Did Before or Since

There's always been hip hop in Pittsburgh, but the small handfull of local labels that specialized in it generally struggled to exist. B.U.K.A. Entertainment managed to produce a total of thirty vinyl releases between 1998 and 2006. Not only impressive for a local hip hop label, but their output at least doubles that of the average local label regardless of the genre. B.U.K.A. Entertainment is the home of the Lone Catalysts. Frontman for the group and B.U.K.A. chief executive, Jermaine Sanders aka emcee J. Sands, explains "The label was really out of necessity because we wanted to put out music. Prior to that I was just a rapper and I'd made stuff with J. Rawls since '92 or '93. So there was a vision, but as far as doing what I do now that wasn't the vision back then." 

For those reading, who aren't familiar with underground hip hop, we're going to be referencing Rawkus Records here and there. Rawkus was a New York-based indy label founded in 1996. By 1998 they dominated the indy hip hop market until they were acquired by MCA Records circa 2001. Rapper/actor Mos Def and Talib Kweli comprised what was arguably the label's strongest act, Black Star. Talib Kweli was also in Reflection Eternal along with Cincinnati native, DJ Hi-Tek. J. Sands relocated from Pittsburgh to Columbus, OH in the 80's where he met the other half of Lone Catalysts, producer J. Rawls, in addition to other Ohio-based hip hop groups, namely Reflection Eternal, M.O.O.D. and Universal Dialect. These artists along with Lone Catalysts comprised what was known as the Wanna Battle Crew. "We weren't signed to Rawkus, but people we knew were signed to Rawkus. I met M.O.O.D. when they were signed to Blunt Records. When I met Kweli he was getting on M.O.O.D.'s records. Same with Hi-Tek. M.O.O.D. were signed and rolling. Once the M.O.O.D. thing hit I was back in Pittsburgh. I wasn't even in Cincinnati when that hit really. Then I started seeing Kweli pop up in magazines and what not. I hit him up and he was like 'What's up. you rapping? Come to New York!'"

"From that period in my life, say '96 to 2000, J. Rawls and I used to hit that highway and go to New York. We did it quite a bit back then. It wasn't because we had a deal. We were doing shows at Nkiru Book Store and things like that. I'd drive out to the 'Nati and do shows. That was all prior to having a label or a deal. Eventually word got around that these guys are actually kind of nice at what they do. It's an exciting feeling to do something and have people feeling you."

Lone Catalysts "The Paper Chase" (1998, LC30001)

"The first thing we ever pressed up was the demo tape. It really wasn't a demo because I was slangin' 'em. It was like an EP for real. At that time J. Rawls had a digital 8 track, so I used to ride to Cincinnati. He eventually moved to Columbus. I used to ride from Pittsburgh to Columbus to record stuff because I didn't have equipment until '99. I wasn't capable of sending files. It wasn't as digital as it is now. He would come to Pittsburgh and we'd rent out Audiomation on the Northside. Sometimes we'd be in Steubenville, we had a dude up there that was working with us. Whatever studios were around where we could get the good rates."

The first Lone Catalysts record was a four song EP that featured the A-side "Paper Chase." It was released in 1998 on B.U.K.A. Records through a P&D deal with the New Jersey-based, Big Daddy Distribution. P&D deals essentially mean that the distributor, or parent label, has a contract with the subsidiary label and they press and distribute their records for them. "We were on the phone with Big Daddy and they were like 'We like your record, but what's the name of your label?' It was a spontaneous thing." B.U.K.A. Entertainment, which was initially B.U.K.A. Records was named after a mutual friend of the Lone Catalysts. "I met B.U.K.A. in '92 and he went to jail in '94 or '95, so the majority of the time I knew him is when he was locked up. He got out in 2008 or something like that. He was the dude who introduced me to J. Rawls. They were younger than me. There was a guy that I played football and baseball with and they hung out with his little brother. His brother gave me his number and I went over to B.U.K.A.'s basement and freestyled for like two hours. J. Rawls was a rapper at that time, but I shut it down. There was only one man holding the mic that day and that's when he (Rawls) started making beats. So B.U.K.A.'s the dude who introduced me to Rawls, so I said 'That's what we'll call the label.' The acronym Brothers United Keeping it A'ficial came later."

B.U.K.A. scored a certified underground hit with their first release. One of the four songs on the EP, which was eponymously titled "Lone Catalysts" was included on the Nervous Records compilation, Hip Hop Independents Day Vol. 2. The market for independent hip hop was so lucrative then that Nervous did two volumes of this compilation series ... released less than a year apart. It was also in 1998 that Rawkus released Black Star's highly-anticipated full length album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star. A majority of the Black Star album was produced by DJ Hi-Tek and it also included two tracks produced by J. Rawls. The Black Star association only helped to fuel the Lone Catalysts buzz.

Lone Catalysts "Due Process" (1999, BDS-823)
Five Deez "Blue Light Special" (1999, B.U.K.A. 001) 

Makeba Mooncycle "The Gibbous" (1999)

The name Lone Catalysts began to grow worldwide. J. Sands freestyles started appearing on a variety of underground mixtapes and UK-based Fat City Records released the compilation Heavy Lounging featuring a Lone Catalysts exclusive, "Jimmy Hats" as well as their collaboration with Chicago-based hip hop group All Natural. Lone Cats' sophmore release on B.U.K.A. was "Due Process." The A-side featured Talib Kweli, in addition to his cousin Rubix, as well as J. Sands' cousin Rashad who collaborated on the J. Rawls-production. The B-side "Let it Soak" featured fellow Wanna Battle members, Dante of M.O.O.D. and Holmskillet aka BJ Digby. In Sands' words "The first thing we did was put on our people. That was always embedded in me. When you get on you do something for the people around you, so that's what we did." B.U.K.A. released this record through a new P&D deal with a New York-based company, Buds Distribution. "We just wanted to test different doors. There were a lot of people out there trying to make money on the vinyl and CD tip and we messed with everybody. We were associated with a lot of groups and artists, so it was easy for us to get material. The first artists we did, besides Lone Catalysts or J. Sands, was the Five Deeez. That was the first time we expanded outside of that. That record did good actually back then." That record was actually released through a yet another distribution company by the name of Land Speed, which was based in Boston.

Next came a record by Makeba Mooncycle released through TRC Distribution, which was a company located on the west coast. "We never did anything exclusive. Projects yeah, but as a label never. We linked up with Landspeed and TRC, etc. You could work with anybody. (We'd) see how much money we could make with Buds. Well, how much can we make with Landspeed? The only one we didn't do anything with was Fat Beats. We just had a good rep back then. Makeba Mooncycle was on TRC. At that time Jason (J. Rawls) was working with her. Plus she was the one letting us stay with her all the time when we went to New York. At that time Kweli was going everywhere with the Rawkus stuff, so he wasn't there for us to stay at his place anymore. So we started staying at Makeba's and he was like 'She raps.' So we did something with her. Jason did some beats and she had us down in the studio in Brooklyn. It was off the chain. Her brother was Prodigal Son from Sunz of Man. Back in the day DJ Khaled ... you know 'We the Best' ... he was sleeping on the floor in Prodigal Sons room back in the day. That's the type of stuff we were around. I remember him from before, with Prodigal Son, when he'd come up from Florida to do his mixtapes. Now he's on TV talking about 'We the Best.'"

Rook & Bishop "Da Ill" (2000, BDS-839)         
Lone Catalysts "Politix (2000, BDS-844)    
J. Sands "Won't Stop" (2000, BDS-848)
Caleesh "Snake In The Grass" (2001, B-C0001)
BJ Digby "Breakthrough" (2001, B-C0002)

B.U.K.A. became more involved with the local Pittsburgh scene in 2000. They'd found a temporary home for the label with Buds distribution. The second Buds-distributed release was a single by Pittsburgh hip hop group Rook & Bishop, a group consisting of emcee LG and producer Joe Lucas, titled "Da Ill." Then came the follow-up Lone Catalysts single "Politix" and then the debut J. Sands single, which featured production by local producer Geeman aka The Grand Ear. When asked about how he hooked up with Sands he says "I would see him here and there and he'd be like 'I gotta get some beats from you.' Then we kind of sealed the deal at that Roots show at Metropol. He was like 'Yo, we really need to do something.' So we exchanged numbers then and got the ball rolling. It was me and Geology had the joint on the flip side." Geology was a New York-based producer who'd already established a name for himself in the underground scene. Geeman goes on to describe what it was like to be contributing to a vinyl release at that point in time "It was crazy. To get pressed on wax and get something put out on an indy label back then. Nobody else had really done it locally, so when I landed that first 12" with him I was like 'Dag ...' Nobody else was really pressing wax like that except for Strict Flow, Lone Cats and I guess what you could call WAMO acts, like Misfits In The Attic. Concrete Elete was around at that time. They had some 12"s I recall, one or two. There wasn't a lot though. You couldn't run down a whole list of cats that were putting out stuff. I don't think a lot of people locally knew anything about the distribution game really. You know, how to network that. That was really a great time to do that when people were really putting money behind these acts and putting stuff out there. A few people had contacted me from the UK. They were telling me they really liked that joint a lot. Holmskillet heard the stuff I did with Sands and was like 'Wassup?' I sent him some stuff, but that didn't manifest. He ended up doing some stuff with Joe Money and they released that."

B.U.K.A. released two more singles through Buds in early 2001. They were Caleesh "Snakes in the Grass" produced by DJ Drastik (both Pittsburgh artists) and the aforementioned record by Ohio-based Wanna Battle Crew member Holmskillet, who'd changed his moniker to BJ Digby by the time the record came out. Pittsburgh-based producer Joe Money, who was already working under the name Usef Dinero, did production on the former. Joe's been an active member of the Pittsburgh hip hop scene since the 80's. He talks a little bit about his experience with B.U.K.A. and why a scenario like this hadn't existed in Pittsburgh earlier. "A lot of that really never even touched Pittsburgh, for real for real. Not in my state of mind I don't think. I guess because the market wasn't really strong, so there were just a few people trying to do their thing. Most of the mugs back then was like either DJ'ing or break dancing. People weren't really into beats back then. I mean I was, but I was just getting my feet wet. I started making beats, I wanna say maybe '93 or '94. I didn't really get real heavy into it until '96 or '97. I bumped into a lot of other cats from messing with J. Sands and Jason (J. Rawls). I met Sands through my man LG. He hooked us up and it's been good ever since. It exposed me to a lot of people pretty much. I did a bunch of joints for J. Live, Unspoken Heard, El Da Sensei (from the Artifacts) and a bunch of other cats." At this point B.U.K.A. moves on to their next phase, which takes them across the Atlantic.
 

Lone Catalysts Hip Hop LP (2001, LCHH01-1)
Lone Catalysts Hip Hop instrumentals LP (2001, LCHH01-3)
V/A Bringing It Home Volume One LP (2001, LCBH0001-1)
Camu Tao "Hear Me Talking To You" (2001, LC3005-12)
Lone Catalysts "Place To Be" (2001, LCP00002)
V/A B.U.K.A Promo 12" (2001, BUKA PROMO-1)

"Buds was a funny distributor to work with. After that we started hooking up with Groove Attack." Groove Attack was a German label and distributor based in Cologne. Sands explains the company's history and how their relationship formed. "They started a deal out with Landspeed and that all fell through. Then I think they started going through Fat Beats to do their pressing in the states and what not. As far as the singles, I guess they were selling quite a few of them. They got in touch with us. Back then we were emailing everybody. Email had just come out. Eventually our paths crossed. They dug what we did and we dug the fact that they had bread to break. They had a good reputation of putting out music, so that's how that all formed. We were with Groove Attack for a minute, at least five or six years. That was a good time over in Europe. As far as what they were doing over there in that market."

In 2001 Groove Attack put out the Lone Catalysts debut LP, which was simply titled Hip Hop. "We made a nice amount of money on the Hip Hop record. Advance money and sales. It was a great thing." Along with their international release and distribution came international tours. "J. Rawls is a school teacher and he had a family, so he didn't really tour, but I toured. I was out there gone. It was an experience that I'll never be able to give back. I'll always have the humility that you experience when you meet people. The first time I went to Japan I'm sitting there waiting and these two Japanese dudes are arguing over who's gonna carry my bags. I'd never been to Japan before in my life. You know what I mean? Just for rhymes. I definitely understand what I do and there's a lot of humility in that. It's the respect that you get from the music that you make. From Japan to Europe, to all around the states." The first single from Hip Hop was "Place to Be."  The only other single released that year was by Columbus-based emcee, Camu Tao. "Camu Tao ... rest in peace. He's dead now. We put out his first single, he did a lot of stuff with Megahurtz and Weathermen." Camu Tao actually went on to record quite a bit before he passed prematurely several years later.

There was an instrumental version of the Hip Hop LP and then B.U.K.A. released another full length project, which was a compilation titled Bringing it Home Volume One. "We had distribution and we had the spotlight on us, so why not put it on the people around us? That's what we did. It started as a way for me personally to put out music, but who's just gonna use a facility for themself when they can use it to put others out there." Bringing it Home featured a variety of artists primarily from Pittsburgh and parts of Ohio. It also featured the track "On Course" by J. Sands featuring LG of Rook & Bishop. This track was also released as a single by Rawkus Records in association with their Sound Bombing 2 compilation. Bringing it Home featured more production by Usef Dinero and another Geeman produced track by J. Flint titled "Hump Day." "He (Sands) called me and he wanted me to rap on the track. I was going to, but I was working with J. Flint at the time. I was just trying to get him off the ground and put him out there. He was doing stuff locally at the Shadow Lounge or wherever, performing. When that opportunity came up I plugged Flint with that instead of me doing it." Sands' explains the process of putting the compilation together. "It was people that were close and people we'd just met. Like J. Flint. I didn't know much about J. Flint, but we got his record with Geeman and that was amazing, so I put it on. I got to know a lot of the cats during that period. Some of them were living next to me on the Northside when I was growing up. 151 was from Penn Hills. I don't even remember how I met them. But then there's guys like my man DL. He was my neighbor growing up on the Northside from when I was a little kid. So there were all types of relationships. Then in Ohio I got my cousin Rashad and his group The 3rd. That's family."

I'm guess-timating that the B.U.K.A. various artists promo sampler came out circa 2001. It was a four track EP that featured "Place to Be" as well as a track from the J. Sands' Top Emcees side project with Heimy-D and a track from J. Rawls' 3582 side project with Fat Jon from the Five Deeez.

Lone Catalysts "If Hip Hop Was A Crime (Remix)" (2002 LCHHC02-1)  not shown 
The 3rd "Super Soul" (2002, LCSS 001-1)
Lone Catalysts The Catalysts Files LP (2002, BUK 3)

Ant Lew and Maximum "Wild Out" (2002, BUK 4)
J. Sands "Manifest" (2002, BUK 5)
S.P.I.R.I.T. "Four U" (2002, BUK 6)

Lone Catalysts "Due Process (Reissue)" (2002, BUK 7)

Lone Catalysts "Destiny" (2002, BUK 8)  

Lone Catalysts "Paper Chase (Reissue)" (2002, LC30001)

2002 was B.U.K.A. Entertainment's most prolific year. They released yet another full length project titled The Catalysts Files, which was primarily remixes and B-sides exclusive to prior singles. A single for "If Hip Hop Was a Crime (Remix)" was released in association with this project. The first two Lone Catalysts records, "Paper Chase" and "Due Process" were completely out of print already, so they were reissued and reintroduced to the European market. New projects included a single by Icelandic hip hop artists Ant Lew & Maximum featuring El Da Sensei, a single from the Bringing It Home compilation featuring Sands' cousin Rashad's group, The 3rd, another Ohio group by the name of S.P.I.R.I.T. and finally new material from the Lone Catalysts forthcoming  sophomore LP, as well as the "Manifest" single from J. Sands debut solo LP, The Breaks Vol. 1. "Manifest" featured cuts by Usef Dinero and the B-side "Times We Chill" featured Pittsburgh emcees Caleesh and LG, plus production from Geeman with cuts by DJ Big Phill. Big Phill describes how he first met J. Sands and how he got involved with B.U.K.A. "The first time I met Sands is when we did a show at Time Bomb with us (his group Hi-Low) and Rook & Bishop. He was there with LG. After that I did a show at that spot that used to be in Wilkinsburg in the basement, the Turmoil Room. I brought this group in from Dayton, Universal Dialect and Sands knew them. Back then it was just us, Rook & Bishop, Strict Flow, Concrete Elite, Smoked Fish, RXC, The Math Team, W. Ellington whose now in DC doing things with everybody. That was pretty much it. I didn't even know who Sands was. Out of nowhere he had that 12" and the relationship kind of grew from there."

J. Sands The Breaks Vol. 1 LP (2003, BUK 9)
DJ Big Phill Wide Screen Music Volume One EP (2003, BUK 10)
By Any Meanz "Saturday" (2003, BUK 11)

According to Sands "I always say the industry started changing, to me where I started really noticing it, around 2003 or 2004. Between '03 and '06 is when we started to see a decline in the sales. At least on my end." B.U.K.A. grew and was averaging a half dozen or so releases per year. In 2003 they only released three records. The first of which was J. Sands' solo album, The Breaks Vol.1. The concept album utilized and reinterpreted popular samples from hip hop classics. It primarily featured guest artists from Pittsburgh and Ohio with production from J. Sands, J. Rawls, DJ Hi-Tek, Geeman, DJ Big Phill and Usef Dinero who was busy creating a name for himself in the underground hip hop scene. There were only two singles released in addition that year. They were a split single by By Any Meanz, Liberation and New York-based rapper Wordsworth, these tracks wound up being released on Bringing it Home Volume 2 (which eventually came out in 2006), and the debut single by DJ Big Phill, who was respectively the producer/DJ for Hi-Low Productions in addition to becoming the DJ for J. Sands depending on where he was performing live. Coincidentally Chentis Pettigrew of Liberation was previously in Hi-Low. Big Phill explains "In the early years it was me, Sef (U-Turn) and Tone (T-Note). Then I met Chentis at some girl's crib at a birthday party. Somebody was rhyming and I was like 'I got some beats in the whip.' And then Chentis started rhyming and I was like 'This cat is nice.' He came over the crib the very next day and by that weekend he was recording with us. There were so many side projects. I helped Chentis out with the Liberation project. He wasn't with us no more. T-Note kind of took a break and later came back in. He wasn't on the records that came out. That was just Sef on that single."

The single, DJ Big Phill Presents Wide Screen Music Volume One, was more of an EP that included two tracks featuring Shabaam Sahdeeq, a Brooklyn-based rapper who was one of the first artists signed to Rawkus Records, and a bonus track by Hi-Low. The Shabaam Sahdeeq songs were recorded early in 2000 while Sahdeeq, who was incidentally incarcerated by the time the record was released, was performing live in Pittsburgh. While Sahdeeq was the main selling point for the project, the real gem was Hi-Low's "412 Memory Lane." It's an homage to nearly twenty years of Pittsburgh hip hop that referenced local clubs, groups and anthems that had mostly been released via cassette tapes, if at all. Some of the references to the groups and their songs obviously went over people's heads unless they were listening to local college radio in the mid to late eighties. "I thought of it as a blessing when I got to do that 12". It got good reviews and whatever else. I was very concerned about making sure the image was correct and making sure the audio was dope. Making sure that I had enough where people bought it and thought 'This was worth it.' I put out a 12" that I thought I would buy regardless of whether or not I was on it. I was like 'Okay. We have the Shabaam Saadeeq song, the two jawns on there.' And I wanted to put some Pittsburgh shit on there as well. There'd be so many 12"s coming out and half of them was trash. It was an over-saturated market."

 

Lone Catalysts "En La Ciudad" (2004, BUK 12) 

The Lone B.U.K.A. release in 2004 was Lone Catalysts' "En La Ciudad" single. This was another single from the sophomore album that had been anticipated the previous year. Back in 2002 they'd released "The Hustle" featuring Ohio-based soulstress, Venus Malone. The "En La Ciudad" record included the B-side "The Ultimate" as well as the remix which was produced by DC-based producer/rapper, Kev Brown, who was generating a huge underground buzz at the time. The decline in the B.U.K.A.'s output was really just indicative of what was going on in the larger market. Like Big Phill stated, the market already became completely over-saturated to the point where a lot of people had simply become disinterested in underground hip hop. There were too many releases coming out and a lot of things were getting lost in the shuffle. Many of the labels that had sprung up over the course of six years were disappearing. Even Rawkus, who'd been setting the standard for underground hip hop had closed it's doors and sold itself off to MCA Records already. Talib Kweli released his debut solo LP on MCA in 2002. In 2004 his sophomore full length came out, also on MCA, while Mos Def was releasing his latest project on Geffen Records. To make a long story short, the cream of the late 90's underground crop was getting picked up by major labels, who were also very concerned about their declining sales, while everyone else was struggling to maintain what they'd spent the past several years building.

It's also worth mentioning that digital downloading hit it's peak of popularity in the early 2000's. It became obvious that hip hop consumers, and music consumers in general, really weren't buying nearly as much physical product as they had been in years past. In addition to the downloading issue, Serato Live Scratch and other similar DJ'ing programs have been introduced as of 2004. They allow the user to manipulate digital audio files via time coded control records, which completely eliminates the necessity for actual vinyl. Six years later this method of DJ'ing is now the industry standard unless you're a vinyl-purist nut like myself.

Lone Catalysts "La La La La" 2005, BUK13)
Lone Catalysts Good Music LP (2005, BUK 14-2)

In 2005 the Lone Catalysts long-overdue follow up LP, Good Music, finally arrived. J. Sands did quite a bit of globe trotting off the strength of the first album during the group's hiatus. It was a well-received record that differed from the first project in the respect that there were tons of cameos. It featured a lot of the same names that we'd seen over the years including Rashad and PA Flex from the 3rd, Donte from M.O.O.D., as well as artists that the label was helping to develop over the years such as Venus Malone in addition to other notable underground rappers including Mr. Complex, El Da Sensei and Asheru from Unspoken Heard. Even legendary hip hop icons including Masta Ace and Mixmaster Ice from U.T.F.O, as well as Grap Luva from I-N-I contributed. There was a single released from the album as well that year, but that was it for the oh-five.




V/A "Place To Be (Saturday Night)" (2006,BUK 14-1) not shown
J. Sands The Breaks 2 - The Interlude Violator LP (2006, BUK 15-1)
V/A Bringing It Home Vol. 2: From The Old To The New LP (2006, BUK16-1) 

In 2006 we saw B.U.K.A.'s final vinyl releases. "We were still getting nice advances for Good Music, but then when we did Bringing it Home Vol. 2 and The Breaks 2, we were seeing that the money just wasn't there like it used to be when the vinyl was prevalent and CD's." A final 12" single was issued from The Breaks 2 full length. Aside from these three 2006 releases, which are still available from Groove Attack, the entire B.U.K.A. vinyl catalog is completely out of print. Sands says there are releases that he doesn't even own copies of.

In 2007 B.U.K.A. released their first digital-only release, which was a third Lone Catalyst full length titled, Square Binizz. Sands already  relocated to Maryland before it was released and the label has essentially been on hiatus for two years since the birth of his daughter. "I started it in Wilkinsburg and then moved on up to Peters Township and then moved to Baltimore, but the label has always remained. You hear this little girl in the background making all this noise? She's probably been the main reason for the pause. The whole process when you hear that she's on the way to her getting here, experiencing all of that ... I wasn't thinking about music. But now she's older. Daddy makes music and he owns a record label. I want to put some new stuff out."

"The business now compared to how it was in '97 is like Buck Rogers. But it's been done before and it can be done again. It doesn't matter how it's perceived because I just got off tour and I know what's out there." He's referring to the tour of Europe he did with Memphis-based rapper Count Bass D over the summer. "There's people out there that'll run through a brick wall for a new J. Rawls and J. Sands CD. I shake their hands and meet them. Now they can Facebook me and Twitter me, so it's about handling the business that's on the table. After my record's been out ten years it's still generating some money, but what about a new record? Maybe that could generate three or four times as much. I can't wait to find out."

B.U.K.A. doesn't have any plans to release more vinyl, but there are a few projects that will be released on CD in addition to digital formats available online at www.bukaent.com. The current trend in hip hop is the artist mixtape, which differs from DJ mixtapes. The mixtapes are generally made to create a buzz for the artists' forthcoming projects. "I'm getting into the mixtape game. When I was coming up DJ's did mixtapes. Rappers didn't do mixtapes. A lot of these young dudes just rap, but they don't rhyme a lot. My first mix tape, LL Cool J Sands, is named after LL Cool J. He probably had the most longevity in this game and, after being in this game, I respect longevity the most over everything. Therefor LL Cool J's my favorite rapper. He might not have had every favorite album that I wanted, but as far as somebody I can look at like 'When I was a teenager, LL Cool J was hot.' And now if he wanted to do a song with T-Pain or Trey Songz, or whoever the hot dude is, it would be a hit. So I give it up to longevity always. It's hard to stay committed to this hip hop. We'll see. There's a lot of new rappers coming up and I'm seeing all of these videos and it's beautiful, but we'll see. Because I'm a fan and I'm gonna be watching like I watch the games. My next one is going to be named after KRS-One. The mixtapes are going to be themed after my favorite rappers."

"It's different, it's not just records anymore. It's about making quality hip hop music. That hasn't changed, but it's time to expand. As a matter of fact people don't buy records anymore. They buy mp3's, so it has to be something more than just records. The last four years I've been making tons of music but I haven't been putting it out. Count Bass D was like 'Sands, you got all these hot joints. Start putting them out.' www.bukaent.com is going to be the haven for the music and the t-shirts to Sands on Sports. It's time to expand." The latest Lone Catalysts full length titled Back to School is available now on iTunes with CD's anticipated soon. Other B.U.K.A. projects in the works include J. Sands' long-delayed solo project titled The Poetree of Life, his production project titled Beats & Dimes. Plus projects by other artists including LF Daze, Ze Man, and Neela K.

As for the other artists who contributed interviews ...

Geeman aka The Grand Ear is working on a synth-heavy project titled the Electronic Pieces EP as well as an 80's boogie-flavored collaboration with DJ Nice Rec and another project that may potentially be released on the local Infinite State Machine label. Check out Geeman on Soundcloud and Myspace. DJ Big Phill is focusing on video production and films while working on an album. You can keep up with him online via his 33 and a Third Media blog and at Myspace as well. Usef Dinero informs me that he's busy grinding and staying focused. "I work during the day and I grind during the night. I just try to keep the beats coming. I wanna have a ton of shit on deck when some shit goes to explode." Check out Usef Dinero on Myspace.

Visit www.youtube.com/user/idigpgh to check out a small selection of B.U.K.A. material that I curated.

Blacklove & Pittsburgh Funk

Photos courtesy of the Alan Leeds Archives

The sound of popular black music was changing in the mid-seventies, and during this time Blacklove was one of the prominent black groups in Pittsburgh. According to their manager and producer, Walt Maddox “That group was very successful. They were probably one of the most successful local bands, black bands, to come out of this area.” In 1975 James Brown released an album titled Sex Machine Today. The cover reads “Disco Soul – Dance, Dance, Dance.” Even the Minister of the New New Super Heavy Funk was high-stepping into the disco era. It just so happens that Alan Leeds, who worked with both Blacklove and James Brown, moved to Pittsburgh prior to becoming Brown’s road manager. “In ’69 I quit school to go on the road with Brown. And then I ended up coming back. I married a girl from Pittsburgh. I wanted to go to New York, but she wanted to go back home with her family. I moved back in ’73 or ’74. Walt was kind of managing and producing Blacklove. They were actually pretty hot for a couple of years. We’re kind of getting into the disco era here. It was around ’75. They became the hottest band in that region. You know … West Virginia, Eastern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, the whole tri-state area.”

The core of the Blacklove originated west of the city in Beaver County. They were a spin off of the Notation Rock Band. According to drummer, Bobby Short “Those guys were older. They fell by the wayside and we picked things up. Rusty Carter, Francis Barnes (Jet) and me …we picked up a couple of other guys and kept going.” The first Blacklove recordings feature Short (drums), Barnes (keys) and Carter (bass) along with Lain and Lina Lee (vocals), John "Doc" Eberhardt (guitar) and Robert “Mousey” Thomas (conga). Barnes, originally from New Jersey, attended Slippery Rock University. Short explains that things came together after Barnes graduated and moved to Homewood to teach at Westinghouse High School. “Laine and Lina Lee were picked up when Jet moved to Pittsburgh. John Eberhardt was from McKees Rocks. We were at the Crazy Quilt and that’s where Jet met Walt Maddox.” 

Walt Maddox's own recording career dates back to the late 50’s. He's perhaps best known for his involvement with vocal groups, The Blenders and The Marcels. In 1973 the American Tobacco Company launched a new brand of generic menthol cigarettes called Super M. Maddox was involved with promoting Super M sponsored events, namely the Super M Fresh Talent Hunt. “I was asked to participate with the Super M cigarettes. After I got to do this promotion for the cigarettes I thought “Super M”, so I kept it for my little production and record company. The cigarettes didn’t really last that long. I thought maybe there was a good luck omen in there someplace.”  

In 1975 Super M was set up as a subsidiary of Bill Lawrence’s Western World Records. Blacklove, who'd been playing for a year or so, were the first artists to record for the label. Barnes says “He (Maddox) was the entrepreneur that thought that he was going to turn Pittsburgh into another Detroit … Motown. That’s what he wanted to do. He wanted to have a house band and some really hot singers.” Leeds recalls “Bill was starting something. They had a recording studio and offices out in Carnegie. Walt Maddox had hooked up with Bill Lawrence and he wanted some help. So he asked me if I was interested and I came over to work with Walt under Bill Lawrence for about a year.”

"Get Down (When the Feelin' Hits Ya)" Pt.'s 1 & 2
(1975 Super M, SM-001) issued twice with same catalog number.

"People Keep Changing" Pt.'s 1 & 2 (1975 Super M, SM-5000)
also issued as "disco copy (DJ-5000)" with different edit on the flip.
 
Blacklove’s first record on Super M was “Get Down (When The Feelin’ Hits You).” It was released shortly before Leeds got involved and then re-edited and re-released with a slight title alteration. "It might have been done before Western World was up and running and that’s where they remixed it. It stayed on Super-M, but it was repressed with the new mix and it was distributed through Western World.” Barnes recalls the group's earliest recording session being at Audio Innovators. “I think we did one session there. Then we took the master and we went to Walt’s studio.”

The first release of "Get Down" includes a minute-long introduction featuring a solo by guitarist John Eberhardt. There's just one short verse prior to the hook and then another solo by Francis Barnes on keys. The second release of the record is a noticeably different mix that places an equal amount of emphasis on musicianship over lyrical content. Instrumental versions are included on the flip side of both records. Maddox and Leeds co-produced Blacklove’s second single, “People Keep Changing” later the same year. The two sides total just under six minutes and feature more by the way of socially conscious song writing and attention to the vocal arrangements. It's just as much danceable as the aforementioned recording.

There was a lot changing, even quicker than Blacklove was releasing records. Walt Maddox’s good luck omen with Super-M proved to be just the opposite. In his own words “Well, I bought the recording studio off of Western World. They went bankrupt. Six weeks later I was burglarized and three days later I was burnt out. So I got out of the studio business. The guys put out the next record. They kind of went on their own."

Photo courtesy of the Alan Leeds Archives. (f): Laine Lee, (b): Francis "Jet" Barnes

"Music is Designed (To Make You Move)" b/w
"Revolution Solution" (1975 Pgh. Funk, PF-5001)

Leeds’ involvement with the group continued after Super M. “Jet Barnes and Laine Lee asked me if I’d be interested in managing them. The Blacklove guys and I were really close. That was a project and a band that I really, really, really believed in.” Together they formed Pgh. Funk Records. Before the end of 1975 they went to Jeree Studios in New Brighton to do more recording. The debut release on Pgh. Funk was “Music is Designed (To Make You Move)” backed with “Revolution Solution.” “My brother, Eric Leeds, is a saxophonist who ended up playing with Prince and the Revolution for five years. He’s actually the sax player on 'Music Is Designed.' It’s just a little part at the end. The guys in the band wanted some horns so we brought him in." "Music is Designed (To Make You Move)" successfully does what the title implies, while "Revolution Solution" stands out stylistically from the material that the group had released prior. Perhaps brother and sister vocalists, Laine and Lina Lee, had been listening to the likes of husband and wife team, Doug and Jean Carne, while they were writing this tune.

Alan Leeds reminisces about his experiences with Blacklove and Pgh. Funk Records, "It was a very aggressively marketed band, as best as you could on a local level in that area with limited resources. WAMO gave us a lot of airplay on the singles. We managed to get the record into all of the stores. Of course National Record Mart was still huge then, dominating the market. We got it into all of the indy stores. I don’t know what you call a hit, but I considered it a hit. I think it was in the top five, or top ten of WAMO’s call ins and in local singles sales for the better part of three to four weeks … if not longer. It didn’t just sit on the shelf. We did some local TV. There were local community shows. It seemed like every station had a public service show on the weekends in the wee hours of the night that was aimed at the black community. We managed to do all of those."

Blacklove opened locally for national acts including Earth Wind & Fire, Bobby Womack and Leeds’ former employer, James Brown. Unfortunately the experience that Leeds gained on the road with Brown didn’t prepare him for getting a disco/funk band booked regularly in the city of Pittsburgh. Outside of the Crazy Quilt, which was a pre-dominantly black club located downtown off of Market Square, there weren’t many gigs to be found within the city limits. “We’d play Tuesday through Saturday and we’d play there every three or four weeks. That was a gig that was considered a better gig. Not so much because the money was better, but because the visibility was better. You were in downtown Pittsburgh in Market Square. Some of the Pirates, Dave Parker, used to hang out in there. Willie Stargell came in. Some of the Steelers back in the day, Joe Gilliam, came through there. It was a hang in black Pittsburgh, so there was a cachet to playing there.”

As for the other popular venues that existed at the time … “An all black band just wasn’t going to get into any of the major music rooms that booked bands seven nights a week. Most of the gigs had to be out of town in these little Elks Lodges, school auditoriums and dance halls out in the boondocks. There were several clubs in Pittsburgh that had black music, but most of them were into that kind of organ jazz. If you had an organ trio you could work for days, but if you had a funk band you couldn’t get arrested. Maybe it was a case where the clubs wanted a more mature audience. I’m not enough of a sociologist to figure out why, but it just seemed like a very kind of conservative music community. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me because if you went to National Record Mart you realized that Parliament Funkadelic and Earth, Wind & Fire were definitely outselling Jimmy McGriff. So obviously there was an audience for this music, but the clubs weren’t really interested in having it. It doesn’t make any sense to me. It didn’t make any sense then and it was very frustrating. At any rate to make a long story short there were still enough gigs. Particularly out in the boonies. We would play Elks Clubs, and all these different VFW lounges that you find out in Aliquippa and Beaver Falls and all of these kinds of places … Wheeling, Weirton and Youngstown. You name it and we played it.”

"Is it Love" b/w "Crazy Changes" (1976 Pgh. Funk, PF-5002)
"Crazy Changes" b/w "Is it Love" (1977 RCA, PB-10968)

Blacklove’s career moved at an accelerated pace. In 1975 they’d released two singles on Super M (four including alternate versions), a third on their own label, Pgh. Funk and then in 1976 … according to Leeds “What happened is we were shopping for a deal based on 'Music Is Designed.' There was a time when RCA had quite a few Pittsburgh guys there. A few guys became mid-level record executives in New York. We had a deal with RCA for Blacklove and then the group broke up. Everyone was a little disappointed because the flip side ('Revolution Solution') was mastered so poorly  … and there was just some discontent in the band. It was one of those things where some of the guys valued their day jobs and their obligations to family more than other guys. Some guys were more dedicated to the band and they wanted to hit the road and take a chance. Other guys were like ‘Hey man, if the money’s there I’ll quit my day job, but if there’s no money I can’t hit the road just to see what happens.’ They were all legitimate situations"

"They split and went in different directions and I kind of lost interest in the thing. I threw in the towel and got involved with some other projects. The irony is that they did make another record with what was left of the group. The band really broke up and then reformed as Luv’. They made one more record locally and that’s what finally got them the deal with RCA. When it came out I was totally surprised. I didn’t think anything was going to come from it. “ Walt Maddox re-enters the story as Leeds steps out. “I got them (RCA) to pick up the deal on it.” As for the name change “They changed it to Luv’ because they had a couple of white guys in the group.” Classic. Bobby Short elaborates on the line up change ”Luv’ was Francis Barnes, me, Rusty Carter, Dave Crisci and Joe Garrucio. Those were the two newest people we picked up. That was me (on vocals).” The song writing on the Luv’ single is attributed to Barnes, Carter and Jamilla Parris. Short says “Jamilla Parris was somebody Jet hooked up with. He was trying to publish her songs … get her recognition and so forth. We never got to that point”

In the earlier part of the seventies RCA released some huge hits that did very well on the black music and pop charts. They also had some particularly interesting soul and funk releases that included Jimmy Castor Bunch’s It’s Just Begun, albums by Nina Simone (as well as her band leader Weldon Irvine), various Harvey Fuqua-produced projects such as The Nite-liters, Boobie Knight & the Soul Society and of course New Birth. New Birth, The Main Ingredient, Friends of Distinction and perhaps The Hues Corporation would score the bigger hits for the label. What was left of RCA’s roster of black artists weren’t charting so high in record sales by 1976. Obviously they were searching for fresh talent. It wasn’t until a year or so later that they’d cash in with the likes of Evelyn Champagne King and Odyssey at the height of the disco era.

Maddox explains “That was probably one of the biggest mistakes I ever made going with a national label. They buried the group. I was selling product in England at the time with a guy in Philadelphia. He was buying them with no return, 500 at a time. I should have stayed with him, but instead when RCA came we were like ‘This is it. We finally got a major contract.’ It was a mistake because it did nothing for them.” In 1977 RCA re-released Blacklove (now known as Luv')'s fourth single (sixth for those of you who are counting). They were pushing what was initially intended to be the B-side, “Crazy Changes.” The original A-side of the Pgh. Funk release was “Is It Love.” It's a nice ballad that adds diversity to Blacklove's small and mostly dance-oriented catalog. The group also sacrificed the rights to their publishing as part of the deal. Bobby Short gives a brief explanation of how things came to an end. “It started happening for us when we were selling records … as Blacklove. Then RCA stepped in and wanted a piece of the action. They were a name. They had other groups going on at the time. They didn’t do a damn thing. We didn’t get royalties. It ended with egos. There were too many questions that couldn’t be answered and we split. Just like the questions that you’re asking me … the band was asking. ‘Why aren’t we getting paid? Why aren’t we going on tour?’ I said ‘The hell with this. Goodbye.'"

That's how the story ends. While that may not be the happiest of endings, Blacklove worked hard for approximately three years and definitely made progress in that short period of time. They aspired to get signed to a major label, they managed to avoid a potential break up and they eventually accomplished that. I can't help but wonder what would have happened if things would have worked out differently and Walt Maddox's aspirations of creating what Barnes referred to as "another Motown" would have come closer to fruition. At the end of the day what's important is that the group managed to document their career by releasing a handful of records that we can still enjoy thirty-plus years later. Visit www.youtube.com/user/idigpgh where you can listen to seven compositions by Blacklove.

Bobby Short is a groupleader in the corporate world by day, but he's also been performing consistently since the days of Blacklove. He's currently at Scoglio’s Restaurant in Robinson Township and Shakespeare’s Restaurant & Pub in Sewickley. He also makes regular appearances at the River's Casino and aboard the Gateway Clipper. Francis Barnes is still working in the public school system. He served as Secretary of Education for the State of Pennsylvania in 2004 and 2005. Walt Maddox still performs with The Marcels. He works with young people through his organization, Kids Against Drugs, where he once mentored a 10 year old Christina Aguilera. Alan Leeds went on to manage Prince's tour at the peak of his career. More recently he’s worked with the likes of D’Angelo, Raphael Saadiq and Chris Rock. He’s largely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on James Brown. He co-edited The James Brown Reader along with Nelson George, which was published by Plume Books in 2008.