From:  "wlmoorman3"  
Date:  Thu Oct 14, 2004  2:28 pm 
Subject:  Re: This Is My Story : The Rock-A-Teens

With thanks to Dik for his efforts, here's some additional info on
the Rockateens TIMS, and a personal note on the subject:

The Doran label that first released "Woo Hoo" was a joint venture of
G.D."Don" McGraw, who ran the Mart and Salem labels, and local DJ
Dave Moran of WBLU. The rumour of Arthur Smith bringing suit over
the song was a ruse by McGraw to get control of the copyright, but
he in turn gave up further profits after the record went to Morris
Levy of Roulette.

The vocal chant of "Woo Hoo" was not by singer Vic Mizelle, but by
DJ Jess Duboy, an early supporter of the group.

The Bill Smith Combo on Chess is definitely NOT the same Bill Smith
as the Rockateens drummer.

After the initial single was recorded, both the Nov. 18, 1959
session and the Jan. 13, 1960 sessions that filled out the LP were
done at Bell Sound Studios in New York. Aside from "Woo Hoo" the
groups' best moments on the album include tributes to two stars of
the Virginia rockin' scene at that time. On "Janis Will Rock" they
salute Janis Martin, with a chorus adapted from her song "My Boy
Elvis". "Lotta Boppin'" has the sound of their biggest influence,
Gene Vincent and the Bluecaps.

This one is close to my heart, as I spent my boyhood on the very
block of East Main St. in Salem that "Woo Hoo" was recorded. Don
McGraw's studio, which doubled at times as a dancing school, was on
the second floor above a hardware store, and he would often set up a
table of 45's for sale on the sidewalk outside the barbershop just
up the street, to be tended by the old shoeshine man. Across the
street was the Globe record store, and above Ray's meat market and
Fink's jewelers, was radio station WBLU, where the DJ's included
future country artists Tom T. Hall and King Edward "Smitty" Smith.
During this period Salem had alot of recording activity for the
small county seat/college town that it was, including bluesman
Wilbert Harrison, country singer Jim Eanes, and dozens of local and
regional singers and groups. McGraw's labels had many different
styles represented among the dozens of records released. Some of his
other good records of interest to SAO'ers, (which occasionally
appear on reissues such as Cees Klopp's Collector comps) include:

The Valuneers King Bee (Mart 3517)
The Continentals Saxy Twist (M-500)
Curtis Anderson Cute Little Wiggle (Salem 536)
Ted Newton Tennessee Rhythm/Walkin' Down the Road (Salem M-530)
Johnny Moore & the Fabulous Tempos Tessie the Cow/Nut Sundae#2
(Salem 524)
Soul Brothers, Inc. Teardrops (Salem 500)

Other labels that were part of this era in Salem were Doc, Intern,
and Dominion. I can give more info if anyone is interested.

The building where the McGraw studio was is now the office of a far
right wing politician. :( But at least recording activity
continues in the next block, where Flat Five studio displays its'
gold record for recording parts of the Dave Mathews Band's first CD.
I'm told there is a photo of the Rockateens riding on a truck bed in
the 1959 Christmas parade; if I can ever locate it I'll upload it to
SAO. Don McGraw, whose profile adorns the releases on the Salem
label, was a polio victim as a child and a very overweight adult,
and died relatively young in 1964.

Thanks again to Dik de Heer and SAO for giving me the chance to
revisit this.