19 Feb 98 - 10:53 PM (#21827) Subject: Inman and Ira From: Who were these politically savvy folk singers, I have one of their recordings, good stuff, where did they go? |
19 Feb 98 - 11:24 PM (#21835) Subject: RE: Inman and Ira From: Art Thieme They were a duo in Chicago in the 60's. Did a bunch of Oscar Brown Jr. songs. Recorded for Argo Records I think. Some song titles from them: "Bid 'Em In", "Signifyin' Monkey", "Rollin' Mill Done Burned Down". Their names are Roy Inman and Ira Rogers. This was 60's RAP---way before the craze for that. But RAP has long been a part of Afro-American life. Oscar Brown popularized a rap style in his compositions.Hope this might help.If you get to Rockford Il. check out TOAD HALL at 2106 Broadway.(phone is 815-226-1259)You might be able to check by phone & buy by mail. It"s a used book and used record store. Pricey but they'll have 'em I'd bet.Great stock. Good folks there. I found that place long ago when doing a gig with Jim Kweskin at Charlotte's Web, a good old club in Rockford (long gone). It was Kweskin that turned me on to the place.He'd go there searching out old 78 rpm records. Art Thieme |
20 Feb 98 - 11:00 PM (#21902) Subject: RE: Inman and Ira From: Susan of DT Art - Dick has been looking for versions of the Signifying Monkey for years. If you have words and/or tune, he would appreciate it. Thanx. |
22 Feb 98 - 09:59 PM (#22010) Subject: RE: Inman and Ira From: Art Thieme Don't have the words. Sorry! But I remember hearin' the song. Art |
04 Feb 99 - 05:30 AM (#57185) Subject: RE: Inman and Ira From: John Clark I seem to recall a second floor folk club/coffeehouse on Wells Street in Chicago that was run by wither Inman or Ira in the mid-60's. Does that ring a bell with anyone who was around Chicago at that time? |
04 Feb 99 - 09:55 AM (#57211) Subject: RE: Inman and Ira From: Art Thieme The only 2nd floor operation I can think of was Freddy Holstein's apartment. ;-) It was next to THE RISING MOON (later to be MOTHER BLUES) which did have a second floor raised area from which the show/stage on the first level could be viewed. Art |
05 Feb 99 - 12:53 AM (#57314) Subject: RE: Inman and Ira From: John Clark Different place...the place I'm thinking of was maybe a block south of Mother Blues (The Rising Moon was a bit before my time). I do remember visiting the woman who ran Mother Blues, though. She had a pet racoon, as I recall. |
13 Feb 10 - 02:34 PM (#2838350) Subject: RE: Mudcat FAQ - Newcomer's Guide From: GUEST,rai seregor who were inman and ira re: first folk festival uof chicago 1961. who has heard of them |
13 Feb 10 - 03:11 PM (#2838368) Subject: RE: Inman and Ira From: Joe Offer Any of their recordings available nowadays? -Joe- |
24 Feb 10 - 09:45 PM (#2849438) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: GUEST,IRA ROGERS It was Arena Pizza Then Ira Rogers Took over changed name to poetry cafe featured dish pan pizza and Ira provided a place for folksingers to work It was he who enabled ed holstein to develop Of course Fred Holstein was there It was where Terry Callier was seen by a close friend of Iras Charles Stepney (who became arranger and chief writer for Earth Wind And Fire) Charles was impressed with Terry and as chief arranger for Chess records was major in gettin Terry to the big time There was Terry Rebanaur Jonathan David and Elbert trio Willie Wright and a host of others. The place was always packed |
24 Feb 10 - 10:13 PM (#2849457) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: GUEST,IRA ROGERS Stumbled on this from a guy writing on the first folk festval at U of CHICACO. Inman and Ira were ivitd . We only did one Oscar song BID EM IN which depicted a slave girl being auctioned off. Our music was pertinent to black history . Lots of chain gang songs from the Lomax collection. Rosie Wella etc. Josh White gave us a couple of blues . Big time was singing THE KLAN on the TODAY SHOW 1961 Barbara Walters third week It was an historic moment two black dudes putting down the Klan on national t v The phones rang off the hook. The producer was fired.Allan Arkins father wrote it. We were at the village gate in N YORK with Miriam Mkeba and Charlie Byrd and used to go between shows to the staircase to cheer up a struggling comedian we got tight with him and wished him luck It was Bill Cosby Tom Mboya invited us to tour Africa with Miriam Of course you know the many times we were featured at the GATE OF HORN old and new. Man have I got stories |
24 Feb 10 - 10:15 PM (#2849459) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: GUEST,IRA ROGERS go on the web two are available |
28 Jun 10 - 08:11 PM (#2936333) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: GUEST,Miles I have their first album. They autographed it for me at a concert they did with the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem at Orchestra Hall, in Chicago, in the early 60's. They were an amazingly great duo. They did a version of their prison cell dialog on TV. I believe it was on a Hallmark series, way back when. |
29 Jun 10 - 03:42 PM (#2936797) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: Stringsinger Ira is that you? I remember an Ira and Inman recording session which was financed by Frank Fried, I think it was Columbia. A fat A and R guy with a cigar showed up as a line producer and proceeded to try to turn Ira and Inman into a popular early rock group. They didn't get the chain gang stuff at all. Ira and Inman were great doing this material. I got so disgusted that as a sub-arranger I walked off the gig. I wasn't going to let this idiot A and R guy destroy their music. I remember him saying, "We'll put a growling tenor sax on the songs with a drum beat 'cause that's what the kids like." Today, that could be done with what sophistication on the part of rock producers have acquired without destroying their music. But back then, there was no sympathy or understanding of Ira and Inman's artistry. It was A and R B.S. Frank Fried I guess was at the mercy of Columbia Records. It highlights what happens when the big corporations try to run the show. Frank |
27 Feb 11 - 03:37 PM (#3103776) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: GUEST,BHG I remember an LP album of Inman and Ira's - circa mid 60s. The pic on the cover was the two of them, laughing and cracking up, one playing the bass, both cracking up. Songs I remember from it were BID EM IN and a fabulous take on COME BACK TO ME. Am I right? I'd love to find this somewhere. Columbia/I tunes how bout it? |
11 Aug 13 - 03:06 PM (#3547952) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: GUEST I remember hearing IRA as a single at a second floor folk club on Wells Street. About 1965. The four of us loved him and got halfway back to Maywood before we realized we had walked out without paying our bill. We went back the next night to pay the bill and hear him again. I never saw his name listed for any club dates after that, in my few trips to Chicago. His performance the first night we saw him was so electric, I expected him to become a headliner. Meigs G. |
11 Aug 13 - 05:00 PM (#3547977) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: Thomas Stern A quick internet search turns up 2 albums (on Columbia and Mercury labels), and 2 singles. Below are the details. If IRA ROGERS is still on the list (he posted as guest), please let us know what happened to the duo, and what you have been doing since these recordings. Best wishes, Thomas. -------------------------------------------------------------------- LeRoy Inman and Ira Rogers -------------------------- COLUMBIA 4-42030 7"-45rpm COLUMBIA 3-42030 7" 33rpm tamiragolo 2:13 rosie 2:05 COLUMBIA CL 1731/CS 8531 LP 1962 The Exciting New Folk Duo INMAN & IRA Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of MILT OKUN Cut 'Em Down Rosie Black Girl My Baby Rocks Me This Train Jasper Unclouded Day Witness Run Mona Run The Rollin' Mill Done Burn Down Bid 'Em In The Street Vendor MERCURY MG 20778/SR 60778 LP 1963 singing spokesmen for THE NEW GENERATION. IMAN AND IRA accompanied by Guy Gilbert, guitar; Bruce Langhorn, 2nd guitar and Norman Keenan, bass. Musical Director Milt Okun Produced by by Frank Fried A1 Jimbo 2:03 A2 Green Green Rocky Road 1:58 A3 Don't Lie, Buddy 3:47 A4 Julie 2:55 A5 Long Time 2:47 A6 Strontium 90 3:01 B1 The Klan(David Arkin & Alan Arkin) SANGA Music Inc BMI B2 Diggin' My Potatoes B3 Bird Song B4 Dance Me A Jig B5 Bull Dog Roar B6 My Dog's Bigger Than Your Dog(Tom Paxton) MERCURY 72093 7" 45rpm Inman & Ira Jimbo Green Green Rocky Road |
18 Dec 13 - 11:12 PM (#3585327) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: GUEST I saw them in NYC at the Village Gate in 1961-2 |
15 Jul 19 - 03:16 PM (#4000865) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: GUEST,Mickey Loewenstein Did a couple of specials produced and directed by Jim Mc pharlin on WTTW Chicago in the early 1960s . Great shows. Jim went on to direct Oprah for many years. |
18 Jul 19 - 01:38 PM (#4001098) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: GUEST,Starship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2cFChMH25Y&list=PLOY1MjA65wxh8eBefiUMoQEMN0Cle9LF_ Some songs on YouTube. |
08 Dec 20 - 12:25 PM (#4082463) Subject: RE: Need info: Inman and Ira From: GUEST,meigs delaney glidewell Ira Rogers was Riveting. I saw him one night on the second floor of a club, name long forgotten. I went back several times but never saw him perform again. Two years or so later, I was seated at a folk club and he and his wife was sitting next to me. In response to my questions, he said he could resume his singer career if he could raise $1000. Sounded odd to me; I wondered what that was really about. Meigs, sarasota florida |