WHEN PARTIES WERE THE INTERNET

I'm sure all of us have favorite records that we've had for years. Records that are so special that you remember the moment when they became significant to you personally. Sometimes it's the first time you ever heard them, and sometimes it might be an already familiar song but something significant happened while the song happened to be playing. If a record is special, it's likely you'll remember  more details than you'd expect.

I like Don and Dewey a lot. I remember where I was when I first heard them. It was at a party, a friend of a friend's party or something like that. There was good music being played, I'm sure. There was enough party action going on that I hadn't taken notice of where the records were. I'm not a snoop like that. If it were a friend's party I'd probably taken a gander, but I was there as a guest of a guest. Anyway, I remember hearing something that was so damn hot that I stopped the conversation and went looking for the host to ask who it was. It was Don and Dewey, and act I'd never heard of. This was well before the internet. The host showed me the LP and I saw that it was on Specialty, the same label that Little Richard's records were on (!) and that was all I needed to know. I had a copy of the LP within days and it's been a favorite ever since.

That was over thirty years ago and for the last three decades I tried to remember whose party it was so I could thank them.  I thought that there was some sort of connection with my brother, but he passed away in 1997 before I thought to ask him. Meanwhile, the years trickled by with the mystery of who turned me on to Don and Dewey still hanging.

Last week a woman who I'm friends with on Facebook posted a playlist of what was on her shuffle. She's not someone I really know, just one of those friends you pick up on Facebook because you have a lot of friends in common. She's posted playlists before, but the most recent one showed such varying music types that I knew she had good, and informed, taste. Something on the list, I'm not exactly sure what record it was, prompted me to wonder if this was the person who had that party years ago. I was actually pretty excited thinking that after all these years there was a possibility of solving the mystery, or at least eliminating someone from the long list of people it could have been.  

Via Facebook messaging, It went like this:
"Jackie, did you once have a party (late 70s early 80s) in which you played Don and Dewey?"
"Probably. With Steve [last name]?"
("Holy shit", I thought. I hadn't seen or heard from Steve in decades. He was a good friend of my brother's who, I think, used to live with Jackie.)
Then Steve piped in:
"I remember a party back then, that I think both Tom and Tim were at. This was before I knew either of them very well. Not surprised that Don and Dewey would have been played. Hey Tom!"

Wow, mystery finally solved after three decades. I thanked them and told them I'd been wanting to thank the person(s) responsible for years. That's why I keep posting Don and Dewey. Just paying it forward for Jackie and Steve, until now not knowing that it was Jackie and Steve.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
Don and Dewey - Justine (streaming) at YouTube
Don and Dewey - Farmer John mp3 at Rock Town Hall Specialty 659 A-side
Don and Dewey - Jungle Hop mp3 at The Adios Lounge Specialty 599 A-side
Don and Dewey - A Little Love mp3 at Rock 'n' Soul Ichiban Specialty 599 B-side
Don and Dewey - Kill Me (streaming) at YouTube Specialty SPS 2131
Don and Dewey - I'm Leaving It All Up To You (streaming) at YouTube Specialty 610 A-side
Don and Dewey - Stretchin' Out (streaming) at YouTube Rush 1002
Little Richard (with Don and Dewey)- Bama Lama Loo mp3 at Jeub (?) Specialty 699
Visit:
Don & Dewey - Excellent bio at The Hound Blog Unfortunately the mp3 links are dead.