The History

Dayton Music Guide -Get The Full Effect

Patricia Brannen-Toliver Old School Fashion Collection: Here is another fine collection of pictures from the scrapbook of our friend and archivist Patricia. Our biggest information request is about Flagg Brothers shoes. You can see some of them here.

The Anthony Calhoun Collection: Anthony Calhoun was the keyboard player for the Bad Bunch. Over the years, he has maintained a small scrapbook from the era, including some newspaper clips concerning the tragic accident that took singer, James Staten's life

The Image Collection: The Charles Jackson/Stone Soul Image collection

The Record Player Collection: The Record Player/Cypress Collection

The Michael Ecton Collection: Here is a small collection promotional pictures from a couple of Dayton groups that you should all recognize..

The D. L. Tucker Collection: Here is a collection of Album Covers, and pictures - old and new, with a Dayton area flavor. So much of this site has been dedicated to looking back at the rich musical history if Dayton, that we have neglected the future. Some of that heritage was passed on to the present generation. Check them out.

The D. L. Tucker Collection Vol. 2:
(These are large pictures. View with Cable or DSL High speed modem)

The Delbert Jones Collection: Here is another fine collection of pictures from the scrapbook of one of the brothers that lived the dream of making music. Delbert has recently been doing studio tracks for his son - a Hip Hop Producer with some distribution and royalty credits.

Patricia Brannen-Toliver: Here is a fine collection of pictures from the scrapbook of our friend and archivist Patricia. She used to perform with the group Black Truth, and worked with Dayton's Jet Stone Newspaper.

Philip Broyles Collection: This collection of pictures, ads, and memories was found inside a promotional catalog, published by the Dayton Black Police Association, in 1976. There's something here for everybody from 1970's Dayton. You're going to love it. Thanks to Philip Broyles for holding on to it for 26 years.

Promo Package: This Promo package was created at the start of a planned tour set to begin in 1978 for the group Satori. Some members of the group refused to sign with Tom Qualls, even though his agency contract guaranteed the group $150.000, for the full tour. With this set back, Tom who had already booked the dates, managed to get another local group to take the tour. That group, Roger and The Human Body, reportedly made $300,000, hooked up with George Clinton, and Warner Brothers, and became Zapp. Satori disbanded.

Gig Contract Island Park: The City Of Dayton was a pretty big supporter of Dayton Talent. The city sponsored the Soul Mobile, at parks all over town, starring different bands. This contract was between the City and Record player, contracting for a show at the Island Park Bandshell

Promotional Card: A booking agent would want to see a promotional package, before booking a band. Every package would contain a black and white glossy, and any other pictures or graphics the group might print up to make them more memorable to promoters.

Bar-Kays Poster: The Bar-Kays were one of the hottest R&B Acts on the tour circuit. Record Player plugged into the tour as a local opening act.

Gig Contract West Coast: Another contract between a local Dayton group and a venue.

Record Player Single: In 1979, the Group Record Player's single "Free Your Mind" peaked at #10 on the black radio exclusive charts. The single languished several weeks on the charts, sandwiched between Shalimar's "2nd Time Around", written by Dayton's own Will Shelby, and Parliament's "Knee Deep", co-written by Dayton's Junie Morrison. Twenty years later, the record is enjoying renewed interest and resurgence in Dance clubs in the United Kingdom

Junie Morrison Concert: There were always promoters in the area taking advantage of the wealth of entertainment from South Western Ohio. This poster, another rare treasure from the Dana Meyer's museum, is an advertisement for an outdoor concert, starring Walter Junie Morrison, with Platypus, Derek and Cindi Floyd, Time Before Eternity, TNT and AM Spoon.

Lakeside in Beverly Hills: Back in 1973, The Ohio Lakeside Express headlined a show at the Hilton in Beverly Hills, along with A Taste Of Honey. Check out the poster. It contains one of the few pictures, that I've ever seen of Terry Williams, Vincent Beavers, and Ricky Abernathy. Sorry about the hats...

Hara Arena: When we had a concert uptown, it was either at Hara Arena or later on UD Arena. If you got a ticket for the floor, your feet would freeze, because, Hara was the home of the Dayton Gems Pro Hockey Team, and all they did was put some wood down on top of the ice. This picture was from one of my favorite concerts. Earth Wind and Fire, with Weather Report (1974 or 75) Since I don't remember the show I must have had a pretty good time...

Kustom Amp: I have no idea where this picture came from. I know that my Daddy signed for a Kustom 100 Bass Amp and a Kustom 100 Lead amp for the original Stone Soul Image Band. (The Toosies) So this must be one of them. When the Image was not working, The Young Underground added our amps to their sound, and when they were off we used Stevie and Vincent's Kustom 200's to beef up our sound. They made darned fine pillows when you had to ride to the gig in the back of the truck with the equipment...

Contract: Back in the day every band had to have at least one member of the group who was recognized as leader, with a valid American Federation of Musicians. In Dayton the local union was number 473. This image shows an executed contract between a local high school and one of Dayton's local bands, working through a booking agency (ATA) The band was paid $165. for their services. (Gasoline was 25 cents a gallon) On occasion the "Union Man" would raid a club, and if the band leader's union dues were not paid, he could shut down the party.

The Spinners: A promoter went around in Dayton one night while our cars were parked outside of a club. His mission was to put little flyers on everyone's car, advertising his upcoming show, featuring the Spinners and the Blackbyrds.

Motown: In 1972, Motown arranged for a local Dayton group to come up to Detroit and open for their new solo artist, David Rufin at the Twenty Grand. The audition turned out so cool that the next night, the group was invited to perform the same show at the Gordy mansion for Motown execs, and promoters. One of them handed me this card.

Ticket: There was never any shortage of groups and organizations, planning some kind of function in Dayton. Lucky for them, there were plenty of good local groups around to entertain them. This is a ticket to one such function, that has somehow survived after 29 years.

Business Card: This is a business card handed out by one of the local bands, in Dayton. Usually there was some adult that would assume the position of manager. Managers emerged from a pool of individuals that provided another layer of people supporting the overall effort, along with the promoters, and the roadies, and "yes" even the groupies...

Chorus: The groups that emerged from Dayton contained some well trained members. Many of the singers were involved in their high school choirs, while many of the musicians were in the school bands, and choirs as well. The pictured medal was won by the Colonel White men's choir at a state competition. The CW Choir contained a bunch of ringers. Lakeside's Mark Woods, The Image's Kevin Hurt, Charles Jackson, Reggie & Ronnie Crutcher, and Ed Spooner all won one of these medals..

Road Case: This case did a little traveling. It's been in the South, the East, Canada, even into New Mexico and out to Los Angeles. If you look closely, you'll see back stage passes for a Wayne Ru Production of Rick James in Concert, and another featuring Millie Jackson and Clique.

Flash Flyer: The Dayton groups not only had to arrange their own music and shows to match their particular styles, but they had to come up with cost effect advertising campaigns in order to get the word out. This is the group Flash, featuring the young Vesta Williams, demanding top dollar.

Fabulous Incense: This piece was donated from the extensive Dana Meyers collection. Some might just see another yellowed 30 year old business card, but a true fan of Dayton music would be intrigued to note the autograph on the back of the card.

The Del Vons Magazine Story: In 1975, Los Angeles radio station KGFJ and Schlitz Malt Liquor sponsored the Soul Search competition. The Del Vons competed and took forth place ($200) This picture (also donated from the Dana Meyers collection) is from the KGFJ Soul Magazine.