The GO Mechanism is an audio odyssey of boss beats and reet rhythms that endeavors to compel the listener to tap one’s foot as the mind expands. The program is hosted by Phast Phreddie the Boogaloo Omnibus, a fellow who has been around several musical scenes. The GO Mechanism originates on the Luxuria Music website as part of its “Saturday Night Special” series. This one will have its first run on Saturday December 10 at 10PM East Coast Time. If you are listening to The GO as it initially airs over the Luxuria Music web streaming hustle, please join us in the Lux Mu chat room for more fun. Otherwise, check the Luxuria Music podcasts—this one will be listed as a “Saturday Night Special” dated 12/11/2022. The Lux Mu podcast will be available for a couple of weeks, then it goes to the mixclouds and the bottom of this post. The “G” is for Groove, and in order to keep the Groove grooving, we don’t stop to smell the roses or back announce records. A complete track listing is found below. The “O” is for O’Rooney—an intangible, supernatural power that puts the ‘oo’ into cool. O’Rooney is spread on thick in each GO Mechanism—listen and you will learn.

This is a very special GO Mechanism. Not only is the introduction taken from the Twilight Zone, but so were all the drop-ins. During “Creek Bank” by Mose Allison, some dialog from one of the Zones has been added. The GO Mechanism producers hope that the message of this show is not lost on deaf ears. More on the Twilight Zone here.

Also, we have a very momentous poetry reading. The GO Mechanism producers recently discovered some verses by Don Van Vliet that were published in one of the very earliest Creem magazines—the June 1970 issue, to be exact. One of the poems, titled “I Like the Way the Doodads Fly,” is recited here by GO Mechanism’s resident recititionist Oweinama Biu. (The poem was also printed on the back of the Mirror Man LP by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band. This takes place in the middle of the track by Jean Jacques Perrey.

Halfway through The GO Mechanism there will be a Science Corner, where a momentous musical matter will be discussed and three pertinent songs will be played. In this GO we will feature three vocal blues recordings that contain the involvement of Charlie “Yardbird” Parker.

Charlie Parker was the innovative and influential alto saxophonist who was key in developing quick tempos, futuristic harmonies and virtuosic technique into the jazz form known as bebop. Early in his career he was a member of the Jay McShann Orchestra, based in Kansas City. Some of Bird’s earliest recordings were made with that big band, including the first track in The Science Corner—“Hootie’s Blues.” Although “Hootie” was a nickname for Jay McShann, the song is sung by Walter Brown. Brown joined McShann’s group in 1940, recorded this in 1941, then left the band in 1944, but would work with McShann again in 1947 through 1951. Brown was a blues shouter, much in the Jimmy Rushing mold. Also in 1947, Brown recorded with Tiny Grimes, the subject of the second track in The Science Corner.

Tiny Grimes played the four-string tenor guitar and sang. In the early forties he was a member of the Art Tatum Trio with whom he recorded. He also recorded with Billie Holiday and others. Tiny Grimes would later record R&B records with his group called The Rockin’ Highlanders that included tenor saxophonist Red Prysock and singer Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. During the late fifties and sixties he recorded some fine jazz albums. In 1945 he recorded under his own name with Charlie Parker in tow. “Romance Without Finance” is a cool number that has been recorded by others—it is not to be confused with a song of the same name by the early Temptations. On this recording, the pianist is Clyde Hart, who is key in the next track.

Also in 1945, Charlie Parker recorded with Clyde Hart’s All Stars, which included the singer Rubberlegs Williams on four songs. Williams got his nickname from being a dancer at various Harlem nightclubs. He had the ability to make his legs go all wobbly—as if they were made of rubber—and this always got a rise out of his audience. Williams’ voice owes a bit to Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, but is perhaps a bit more raw. The track, “G.I. Blues,” features Bird playing the obligatos at the beginning. Two takes of the song were recorded and they came out with different titles—the other being “4 F Blues.” The hot trumpet solo is by Dizzy Gillespie.

Early in his career, Charlie Parker worked with Al Hibbler (who was also briefly in the McShann Orchestra), Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstine and Earl Coleman; but those are basically jazz crooners and not blues singers. Here in the Science Corner we are focused on Bird’s contribution to the blues.

The version of “Dog Breath” by The Mothers of Invention is not to be confused with “Dog Breath, in the Year of the Plague” on Uncle Meat. This track is the B-side of “My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama,” which is different from the version on Weasles Ripped My Flesh. Got it?

This episode’s version of “Caravan” is by Roger King Mozian and His Latin Twisteros. It comes from an album titled El Twist!! Twisting to Latin American Favorites. According to the LP jacket’s liner notes… “Equally at home in the North American dance band field and the exotic South American idiom, Roger blends intriguing Latin rhythmic patterns with the current infectious Twist beat to form an irresistible sound for dancing.” The GO Mechanism producers believe that he has succeeded remarkably.

Old standards, you know, the kind of songs that Frank Sinatra used to sing, are not often enjoyed by The GO Mechanism producers—unless, of course, they are performed by doo wop groups. “Moonlight In Vermont” is a perfect example. Sinatra first recorded the song in 1958 and included it in his repertoire for most of the rest of his life. The GO Mechanism proudly presents a version here by the L.A. R&B vocal group The Crenshaws. This group began life in the early fifties as The Lamplighters, with singer Thurston Harris, and recorded for Federal Records. After Harris left, the name was changed to The Sharps and they backed Harris on some of his sides on Aladdin. The group also can be heard as background singers on records by several different artists. For example, it is The Sharps who are whooping it up and hand clapping on Duane Eddy’s twangy “Rebel Rouser.” The group recorded as The Tenderfoots, The Four After Fives and probably a couple other names that no one remembers. In 1961, the group—now called The Crenshaws, after a boulevard that goes through South Central Los Angeles—cut six tracks for Warner Bros., including “Moonlight In Vermont.” The next year, as The Rivingtons, the band would score big with ‘Papa-Oo-Mow-Mow.”

“Thirteen Men” is the distaff version of Bill Haley and the Comet’s “Thirteen Women (And Only One Man in Town)”—the B-side of “Rock Around the Clock.” Funny thing about this song is that the Bill Haley has an intro that concerns an H-bomb. The original by Dickie Thompson doesn’t have it. Nor does this version by Dinah Shore—yes THAT Dinah Shore. However, the H-bomb message is on cool versions by Anne-Margaret and the freak beat group The Renegades.

“Black Widow” is a Philippine funk record by Joe Cruz and the Cruzettes. You’ll never find this record. Luckily, long-time GO Mechanism friend Danny Holloway reissued it on his Ximeno label about seven or eight years ago and even that goes for about $50 now.

The Salty Peppers was a band whose leader was Maurice White. The group cut two singles for Capitol before The Salty Peppers moved to Los Angeles where it became Earth, Wind and Fire.

“English Black Boys Dub” is the second half of a 12” single by X-O-Dus, a reggae band from Manchester, England. That British city is the starting point for such rock groups as The Fall, The Hollies, Oasis, Van Der Graaf Generator and Buzzcocks. X-O-Dus cut their only real release for Factory Records, the home of new wave bands Joy Division, New Order and A Certain Ratio. Apparently, an album by X-O-Dus was planned, but never properly recorded. About ten years ago, someone dusted off some demos and released it as the group’s album.

The Poets were a beat group from Scotland. “That’s the Way It’s Got to Be” has a subtle burn to it that, when the maracas kick in, if you’re not hooked, you’re not alive!

Jamaicans are famous for taking songs by other artists, maybe changing the title some, and taking writer’s credit—if credit is given at all. Case in point: “Hey Train” by Prince Buster’s All Stars. The composition is really “Take the A Train.” It was written by Billy Strayhorn for the Duke Ellington Orchestra and first recorded in 1941. Here we have a ska version recorded in the sixties but not released until two or three years ago.

Benny Poole was a saxophonist who lived and operated in Jackson, Michigan. Since his teen years, he was assembling bands and playing whatever gigs he could get, with whatever musicians he could round up, including a young Abbey Lincoln, who was living in Kalamazoo when she was a teenager. Poole clearly had talent, as he was often offered jobs to go on the road with national acts but he stayed in Jackson with his family. He sold cars, worked in a factory and managed a roller rink in order to make ends meet. In Jackson he is remembered as a legend—there is even a mural of him on a wall in the town. But he only cut a handful of singles of which “Pearl, Baby, Pearl” is the best, but it’s pretty great. He died two years ago.

The T.S.U. Toronados group was formed while its members were studying at Texas Southern University in Houston. The second part of its name comes from a car built by Oldsmobile during the mid-sixties. In 1967 the group was signed to the local Ovide label and was asked to back a vocal group from Houston called Archie Bell & the Drells. That’s The T.S.U. Toronados tightening it up on the big hit, “Tighten Up.” While the record was charting, Archie Bell was drafted and to fill out the first album by Archie Bell & the Drells, some recordings by The Toronados were used, but not credited. When Bell returned from the Army, his record company, Atlantic Records, sent him and the Drells to record in Philadelphia. The T.S.U. Toronados recorded two singles for Atlantic (this one, “Cuttin’ the Corners,” actually issued on Ovide first), then cut two for Volt before returning to local Houston companies.

Dave Bartholomew, who recorded this installment’s Greatest Record of All Time, was the godfather of New Orleans rhythm & blues. During the fifties he wrote songs and directed recording sessions for Smiley Lewis, Jewel King, The Spiders, Chris Kenner, Earl King, Robert Parker and many others; plus he tried to revive the career of Roy Brown. His own “Shrimp and Gumbo” is without a doubt his greatest achievement—it clearly eclipses all his other work, as well as the work of just about everybody else who ever made a record. Recorded in November of 1955, “Shrimp and Gumbo” by Dave Bartholomew is one of the Greatest Records of All Time.

• Earl Bostic—Lester Leaps In (King)
• Sonny Rollins—Hold ‘Em Joe (from LP On Impulse; Impulse)
• The Latinaires—Camel Walk (Fania)
• The Mothers of Invention—Dog Breath (Reprise/Bizarre)
• Roger King Mozian and His Latin Twisteros—Caravan (from LP El Twist!!!; Columbia)
• Bobby Fuller—Stringer (Todd)
• The Crenshaws—Moonlight in Vermont (Warner Bros.)
• Lennie Hibbert—Twilight Zone (from LP Creation; Studio One)
• Sonny Forriest—Tuff Pickin’ (from LP Tuff Pickin’; Decca)
• Combo Los Galleros—Soledad (from LP Cumbias y Gaitas Famosas 2; Discos Fuentes, Colombia)
• Dinah Shore—Thirteen Men (RCA Victor)
• Mose Allison—Creek Bank (from LP Creek Bank; Prestige)
• Joe Cruz—Black Widow (Ximena)
• Nat King Cole—Calypso Blues (Capitol)
• Bill Doggett—Gumbossa (from LP Bill Doggett Plays American Songs Bossa Nova Style; King)
• Jean Jacques Perrey—Eva (BGP; UK)
• The Cocktail Cabinet—Breathalyser (Page One; UK)
• Johnny Cole—War, No More (Original Sound)
• Jil Jalala—Lahkaya (Disques Gam; Morocco)
• The Love Supremes—Sing This All Together (See What Happens) (unreleased)
• The Astors—The Twilight Zone (Stax)
• Jay McShann Orchestra—Hootie Blues (Decca)
• Sam Phipps—Woke Up Clipped (from LP Animal Sounds; (Dream) (bed music for Science Corner)
• Tiny Grimes Quintet—Romance Without Finance (Savoy)
• Rubberlegs Williams with the Clyde Hart All Stars—G.I. Blues (Continental)
• Sandy Nelson—Out of Limits (from LP Rebirth of the Beat; Imperial)
• The Salty Peppers—Uh Huh Yeah (Capitol)
• ZZ & De Maskers—Ik Bedoel ’T Altijd Zo Goed (Artone; Netherlands)
• X-O-Dus—English Black Boys (dub edit; Factory; UK)
• Yma Sumac—Taki Rari (from LP Mambo!; Capitol)
• The Poets—That’s the Way It’s Got to Be (Decca; UK)
• La Redada!—¡Avandaro El Bugaú! (Monofonus Press; Europe)
• Orquesta Akokán—Mi Congas Es de Akokán (Daptone)
• Buster All Stars—Hey Train (Prince Buster/Rock A Shacka; Japan)
• Adjenar Sidhar Khan—Mahabaratha Kali (Festival; France)
• Benny Poole—Pearl, Baby, Pearl (Latin Boo-Ga-Loo) (Solid Hit)
• John Barry—Beat Girl Theme (from the soundtrack to the film Beat Girl; Columbia; UK)
• Rebop Kwaku Baam—Kyekye Kule (Island)
• Bo, Jr.—Coffee Pot Part 1 (Tail-Gate)
• TSU Toronados—Getting the Corners (Atlantic)
• Curtis Mayfield—Freddie’s Dead – closing theme (Curtom)
• Dave Bartholomew—Shrimp and Gumbo (Imperial)

Drop-ins and dialog from The Twilight Zone (used without permission!)
Poetry: “I Like the Way the Doodads Fly” by Don Van Vliet, found in an old Creem Magazine, recited by Oweinama Biu.

After The GO Mechanism initially airs on the Luxuria Musics—this one on Saturday, December 10— it will be available as a podcast for a few weeks. Look for the Saturday Night Special dated 12/11/2022. Once it falls off the Lux Mu podcast hustle, it will be posted on the Mixclouds as well as here in The Boogaloo Bag.

Luxuria Music is a swingin’ thing that deserves your support. Visit it often. Listen to the many cool shows. If you dig the scene, contribute monetarily. Keep Lux Mu alive!