BluePower Presents....Eddie Ponder....Musician, Father And Teacher!

I first met Eddie Ponder in 1973. He became the prime drummer for a group of excellent musicians known as The Hollywood Central Allstars. The Allstars were assembled during a time when I was endeavoring to develop business in the studio of which I was part owner; Hollywood Central Recorders.

Eddie was born in Florida and raised in Mississippi. He played Jazz along the East Coast until he received a call to join the popular West Coast duo, Zimmerman and Greenberg for an album produced by Al Schmidt.

Eddie was then selected as drummer for Bobbie Gentry's band and traveled the world behind her monster hit, "Ode To Billy Joe".

The Hollywood Central Allstars were a group of ladies and gentlemen who would show up on Tuesday evenings to play music with each other. There was no commercial enterprise involved. Just musicians gathering for the love of playing off each other and to network.

Beside Eddie on drums, some of the HCAS participants through the years were: Michelle Brourman (piano), Paul Uhrig (bass), Doug Haywood (bass), Richard Trees (guitar), Rick Cunha (guitar), John Braheny (violin), Steve Puglisi (Fender Rhodes), Warren Zevon (piano), and Waddy Wachtel (guitar). All these wonderful musicians went on to make huge contributions to world and film music.

The Hollywood Central Allstar sessions became so popular in 1975 that the studio could no longer contain all the people who either came to play or simply watch. This is how I managed to get the studio rolling and into the black for the first time. It was fun and it worked.

In early 1975, Eddie went on the road with Don Everly (the Everly Brothers weren't on speaking terms at that time). How's this for a band?....Don Everly (vocals and rhythm guitar), Eddie Ponder (drums), Warren Zevon (keys), Paul Uhrig (bass) and Lindsay Buckingham (lead guitar).

As a producer, I found that Eddie Ponder could play any type of music and through the years that I operated Hollywood Central, utilized Eddie with every artist and type of music that came through the doors. This included commercials, videos, trailers and all manner of musical projects including a special attraction for Universal Studios called Dracula's Palace which ran for nine years.

Eddie played on sessions for Timi Yuro, The Coasters, Bobby Vee and Warren Zevon in those early days. Soon, he was to be called on to play with one of the greatest country rock groups in American musical history; The Flying Burrito Brothers.

While playing with the Burritos, Eddie found that he was to become a dad. Eddie decided to come home from the road and become prepared for the greatest responsibility a man can have; fatherhood.

In order to sustain himself and his family, Eddie became a Special Education teacher working with autistic children. A job which Eddie says was the most rewarding of all the gigs he has ever had.

Mr. Ponder is currently keeping his sticks in play with the fabulous Ms. Spanky McFarlane and Our Gang. If you see they're playing.... go and see them.

Eddie Ponder is a great musician, loving father and astute teacher. Not to mention, a truly great friend.

Thank you my friend, for all your help and support throughout the years.

John Rhys/BluePower.com

Listen to: Eddie Ponder....Musician, Father and Teacher!

Gone....But Not Forgotten....Hank Ballard!

In the world of early rhythm & Blues and doo wop, Hank Ballard was the very definition of earthiness. Though influenced by high-energy gospel vocal groups, Ballard's music with the Midnighters couldn't have been more diametrically opposed in terms of subject matter: his lyrics were filled with raunchy double-entendres that left little to the imagination, pushing the envelope of what was considered acceptable in the '50s. His songs were sometimes banned on the radio, but that only made him an even bigger jukebox favorite among black audiences. Ballard's hard-driving, rhythmic style was also an underappreciated influence on the rawer side of R&B, particularly on a young James Brown; plus, his composition "The Twist" -- recorded for a hit by Chubby Checker -- became one of the biggest hits in rock & roll history.

Hank Ballard was born November 18, 1927 (according to his birth records) in Detroit, but moved to Bessemer, AL, as a young child following his father's death. There he began singing in church and when he returned to Detroit at age 15, he set about forming a doo wop group while working on the Ford assembly line. Around the same time, singers Henry Booth and Charles Sutton were organizing a doo wop outfit called the Royals, which reputedly at one time also featured Jackie Wilson and future Four Top Levi Stubbs; it eventually grew to include vocalists Lawson Smith and Sonny Woods, plus gritty guitarist Alonzo Tucker. Initially copying the smooth style of Sonny Til & the Orioles, the Royals were discovered by Johnny Otis in 1952 and signed with Federal Records. However, when Hank Ballard replaced Smith in 1953, they adopted a rougher, more hepped-up sound in keeping with Ballard's numerous original compositions and Clyde McPhatter influence. Ballard's first recording with the group was 1953's "Get It," which hit the Top Ten on the R&B charts, but it was the following year's ribald "Work With Me Annie" that really broke the group (they changed their name to the Midnighters around this time, to avoid confusion with the Five Royales). "Work With Me Annie" topped the R&B charts and nearly reached the pop Top 20, despite a number of radio stations refusing to air the song. It inspired a number of answer records and the Midnighters themselves entered the fray with the sequels "Annie Had a Baby" (another R&B chart-topper) and "Annie's Aunt Fannie." They also scored another major smash with the Ballard-penned "Sexy Ways," which solidified their reputation as R&B's most risqué act.

However, after the momentum of "Work With Me Annie" slowed, the Midnighters seemed at a loss as to how to recapture it. They went nearly three and a half years without another big hit, and with the decline in their fortunes came numerous personnel shifts. Lawson Smith returned to the fold to replace Sutton, Norman Thrasher replaced Sonny Woods, and Tucker's guitar post was taken first by Arthur Porter, then Cal Green. Ballard attempted to take his 1958 composition "The Twist" to Vee-Jay, which declined to release the version they recorded; King, Federal's parent label, issued it as the B-side of the Midnighters' R&B comeback ballad hit "Teardrops on Your Letter" in 1959. Still, "The Twist" gained some notice and found a fan in American Bandstand host Dick Clark, who brought the song to Chubby Checker's attention; the rest was history, as "The Twist" became the first song to hit number one during two completely separate chart runs. Ballard and the Midnighters benefited from the exposure, scoring their first Top Ten pop singles in 1960 with "Finger Poppin' Time" and "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go." A few more R&B hits followed, generally dance-oriented songs in the vein of "The Twist," before the well dried up for a second time. The Midnighters gradually disintegrated and Ballard became a solo act; by the end of the '60s, he was working with longtime fan James Brown, who produced several singles for Ballard during the late '60s and early '70s. After a lengthy absence from music, Ballard re-formed the Midnighters during the mid-'80s, first as a female group, then male, and began touring once again. In 1990, Ballard received his due as an R&B innovator with his election into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. After suffering for several years with throat cancer, Ballard died quietly at his Los Angeles home in March of 2003.

From: AMG
By: Steve Huey

Ike Turner....The Bad Boy Of The Blues! (Part Four)

This time IKE pulls no punches. He speaks about the record companies of the fifties and sixties and their ways of doing business.

He talks about JERRY WEXLER and AHMET ERTEGUN at ATLANTIC. PHIL and LEONARD CHESS of CHESS RECORDS. The BIHARI BROTHERS at MODERN and SID NATHAN from KING RECORDS. (Ike's first contract at King Records paid him 1/4 of a cent per record sold. Outrageous by today's standards.)

On the other side of the coin however; Ike reminds us that these companies were the standard bearers of black music and were responsible for the giant steps that brought Blues and Rhythm and Blues to the forefront of American popular music and that without these independent record companies and the men that ran them, these genres may have died out completely.

Ike speaks out about RAP and the negative values of the genre regarding African Americans. The last of a four part series.

John Rhys/BluePower.com

Listen to ....Ike Turner....The Bad Boy Of The Blues! (Part Four)