posted on Jul, 26 2012 @ 05:06 PM
Folks, it's about a gazillion degrees down here in NC... nice breeze and it reminds me of the beach. With all the shtuff happening in the world
today... let's take a break.
Down south...more specifically here in the SouthEast we have what we call Beach Music... no, not the Beach Boys.. that's California beach music. I'm
talkin' about good ol' down home soul, blues, boogie-woogie Beach Music. .. Carolina beach music.
Carolina Beach Music grew out of the era of segregation back in the 1950s and 1960s. Not a good time, but lots of good music. You could not here this
music on the radio because the majority of artists and groups were black soul and rythym and blues singers. BUT, down at the beach... Myrtle beach,
Carolina Beach, Virginia Beach, Kure beach, Daytona... you could hear these suggestive juke joint favorites anytime.
So, as all the white college kids would go and visit or work at the beach every summer... the boogie woogie blues music only heard at the beach became
Beach Music. Some good examples would be Sixty Minute Man or Rockin' 88. Later would come classics from the Drifters...Under the Boardwalk or Up On
the Roof.
The Tams, Catalinas, Swinging Medallions would later embody Beach and Shag.
Anybody ever heard "I'm A Girl Watcher" or "You Are So Beautiful...39-20-40 Shape"...classic Beach.
It really is a culture unto itself. Here in NC, we have Community Colleges offer courses in dancing the Shag... kind of a boogie woogie jitterbug...
Every week and I mean everyweek there are beach festivals all across the southeast from Va and NC down through Ga and Fla. But make no mistake... the
sound is expansive... from Houston Texas with Archie Bell and the Drells to the Philadelphia Sound and the Spinners... even Motown with the
Temptations are a favorite.
And time is no enemy to Beach and Shag...Lady soul by the temptations is still one of the most requested songs on the Beach Stations.. of which there
are hundreds littered across the southeast. In fact on any given weekend, you can scroll up and down the dial and find a handful of beach stations
across the carolinas and Va down to Fla. On the Top 40 even this week we find the BeeGees and Daryl Hall... we also find the Rev. Buuba D. Liverance
and the Band of Oz and Legends of Beach and the Embers... the Embers have been around for over 40 years.
Plus, you can't help but smile... songs like Big and Hot... Breakfast in Bed... Too Much Booty For the Jeans... Too Many Dirty Dishes For The Sink...
Meet Me With Your Black Drawers On
Now... just sit back dear friends... brothers and sisters... imagine that big ol' hot southern sun setting along the Pamlico Sound down in
Caroline... spanish moss drapping from the long tall pines... saw grass and palmetoes swaying in the salty breeze coming off the water. In the
background you smell a "LowCountry Boil" ... Shrimps and Blue Crabs with short chunks of smoked sausage, new red potatoes, and short cobs of fresh
sweet corn... steamed and coated with Old Bay Seasoning... the shrimps and crabs are starting to turn orange... won't be long now. Ice Cold Brewskies
and Coca Colas fill the Ice Box... and on the radio plays.. Little Sister's Big Transistor Radio or SummerTime's Calling Me. Out on the sound is a
speed boat with a couple of hot looking young women wearing smiles and not much else zipping around and kicking up waves... it's about 98.9 degrees
and you are sweating and so is the beer...
Folks, if you have not heard of Carolina Beach Music.. I suggest very strongly you visit a website of your choosing... I like Beachshag.com with Fessa
john Hook... everything you want to know about it with tutorials. Folks, the bomb could go off any minute... let's make it count with a smile.
Put on 'dem flip flops and pop a top and let's go "Barefootin'"