this is the thread where we sing the praises of JOHNNY OTIS!

that being said I think Johnny spends most of his time these days making his organic apple juice up in Sausalito (or wherever he is north of SF). I'd also nominate "Castin' My Spell" as the best track on that Capitol comp, great voodoo freakbeat!

Anyhow, I finally did a search for mr otis on the web, and saw that he airs his show on KPFA-FM, Saturdays, 9am to noon (Pacific Standard Time). Some pretty nice art on his web site, too: http://www.johnnyotisworld.com/

I didn't know he wrote "roll with me, henry". One more reason for canonization, damn it!

I'm just gonna keep posting to this thread until the rest of ILM comes around to the genius of the original "r&b + loudness = rock 'n' roll!" formulator.

The real question I have: Where are the kineoscopes of the show and why aren't they being released on tape or DVD format and exported to the US from UK?

I had some of that apple juice, it was pretty good! That's not such a bad way to spend your time, you know ...

Just like in the late '50s, someone from Louisiana had a contact with the L.As R&B world and so late-night radio listeners got to hear a lot of that steamy music brand new and straight off new platters.

Those would be interesting links to look into, right now it's like the missing history of the spread of music, thought that's beside the point of this thread. But it's very neat to know who did what and how it all came about.

Johnny Otis hired solid musicians for his shows, too, (both tv and clubs), people like Plas Johnson. As host, Otis could be funny, too. I remember one broadcast when one of the singing trio was sick and couldn't show up. And in introducing the group, Johnny explained they weren't the (guessing the name) Three Clouds of Joy but tonight as the Two Tons of Fun.

Otis showcased some blues greats, too, after all it was rhythm and blues. He had Roscoe Gordon on once; while Gordon played, Roscoe's chicken dressed in a suit and a little hat walked around the stage.

Nothin' too much like this these days, woe is me. But that goes to show there is a real market for live music hours (or even half hours) as I remember these shows to this day, some (gulp!) fifty years later (I was a very hip little kid). Also on at that time, Barbara Dane doing a folk music show. They were INTO music on the boob toob then, and people really responded to it.

This was back when there were three to five channels in major metropolitan Los Angeles, the center of broadcast media. Not like today where we have 500 to choose from .... ahem.

(These are distant childhood memories, recently jogged ...

Marie Adams & the Three Tons of Joy

Marie Adams was now a featured performer on the Johnny Otis revue as part of the trio called the Three Tons Of Joy (Marie with sisters Sadie and Francine McKinley).

http://home.earthlink.net/~jaymar41/madams.html

And this on the Medallions and Buick 59 ("Buick nine, Buick fifty-nine"):

http://home.att.net/~marvy42/Medallions/medallions.html

I just remember a few of those songs listed in the boxes, "The Letter" b/w "Edna", probably because the record was around.

RIP

:(

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-johnny-otis-20120119,0,2183487.story

I got "The Johnny Otis Show Live at Monterey" just yesterday. RIP

lack of ILM appreciation = :(

RIP

Cool clip of his TV show, below. Excellent stuff with Lionel Hampton at the end.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0mIFzCaOko

I STILL haven't found or read any of his books, dammit. What an excellent, full life. Inspirational.

At one point, Otis was asked to judge a talent competition in Detroit and selected three winners: Wilson, Ballard and Little Willie John. Otis' talent, he once said, was being able to "see something before anyone else."

Wow, quite a talent show; and quite a talented judge. RIP

Not surprisingly Andrew Hickey’s rock in 500 songs pod has a lot of discussion about Otis. What an amazing life.

Yeah, that's def the artist Hickey has most expanded my horizons on.