Update: Thanks to your incredible outpouring of support and donations, we've managed to squeak within a short distance of our goal. As I've said during this past week, I can't thank you enough, those of you who have donated. Your contributions and words of encouragement have made all the difference. No matter how small or insignificant you thought your donation was, it made all the difference in the world. Since we're just at the tail-end of the appeal - if you are still thinking about making a donation to Newstalgia, to make sure it stays running in the future, any amount will be greatly appreciated. Any amount is a huge amount - always was and always will be.

Heading over to Chicago for a taste of Blues tonight, by way of Eddie Taylor. Taylor is probably best known as working with the legendary Blues master Jimmy Reed on some of his most memorable sessions for Vee-Jay Records in the 1950's. A heavy weight artist in his own right, he recorded several singles and garnered much acclaim, including tonight's track, Gonna Love You, which he recorded in 1957.

A little down-home Blues is always good to be staring at the middle of the week with.

If the recording sounds outrageously clean, it's because it was taken from the session master tapes and sounds just like the day it was originally recorded.

I have been woefully remiss in posting Gospel of late - and there is absolutely no good reason for it. So, to make up for it tonight, it's the legendary Swan Silvertones and a track they recorded during their stay at Vee-Jay Records in 1956, How I Got Over.

Further evidence you don't really Sunday as an excuse to get into this - just let it grab you.

Works like a charm.

A taste of Chicago Blues tonight by way of the legendary Memphis Slim. Tonight's track is off his 1959 Vee-Jay album Memphis Slim At The Gate Of Horn. Something about truth in advertising and Vee-Jay Records - their most famous irony was Jimmy Reed At Carnegie Hall. So what if it wasn't an honest-to-god live album - it looks good on the album cover.

And frankly, it wouldn't have mattered if this album was recorded in a phone booth, it features one of the leading bluesmen of the 1950's in the top of his form and Wish Me Well is a fitting example of just why he was so great.

Good way to start the weekend. Give it a shot.

Ending up the week on a classic Blues note. John Lee Hooker, probably the most copied, borrowed from, imitated, attributed to and played Blues artist of the 20th century. Tonight one of his many milestone hits, Boom Boom, recorded on October 2, 1961 for Vee-Jay Records.

Somehow, the original just gets better and better with time.

(Willie Cobbs - Still sayin' it.)

A taste of Chicago Blues tonight. Willie Cobbs, who is still around, still playing and still recording. This is a track from his days with the legendary Vee-Jay Records - his big hit from 1961, You Don't Love Me. This is the original - it's been covered by everybody - but Willie is the one who gave it to us first.

A little something to help you get through Thursday.

(Fred Hughes - as real as it gets)

I don't know what became of Fred Hughes. He had a major hit on the R&B charts with this track, Oo Wee Baby, I Love You, which he recorded for Vee-Jay in 1965. Shortly after that, he went over to Checker and later Brunswick and had a string of singles which didn't do as well as expected. And by the 1970s he more or less dropped out of the picture.

Unfortunately, it's a story that happens way too often, and some with tragic results.

Regardless of his whereabouts now, what he did do is record one of the classics of the Soul idiom, one which has endured well over these 40+ years. A song which no one has duplicated, despite a few attempts.

Not bad.

(Little Richard, with Jimi Hendrix in the foreground - yes, but it was brief)

By the time Little Richard made his way over to Vee-Jay Records (after leaving Specialty, the label with all his hits), Vee-Jay was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. True, they were the first American label to issue a Beatles album, and they rang up a string of hits with other artists such as Betty Everett, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed and a ton of others. Bad management, shaky financial footing and some errors in judgment finally forced the label into receivership in late 1965, pretty much putting an end to Vee-Jay as a force in the music business and leaving a number of artists without a label.

But before it came to a crashing halt, Little Richard managed to do two sessions in 1964. One session was a greatest hits rehash of his earlier Specialty material. But the second session featured new material including this track I Don't Know What You've Got, featuring a then-unknown Jimi Hendrix on guitar, during a brief tenure with the band.

Sadly, this track hardly made a dent in the charts when it was issued in 1965. Richard would head off to another label shortly after and Hendrix would head off to England and start another chapter in rock n' roll history.

It does make you wonder what would have happened if history had turned out different.

(The Dells - Doo-Wop, R&B, Soul and opening for Dinah Washington)

With the recent passing of John E. Carter (August 21), whose wonderful tenor made every Dells record a memorable experience, I thought I would put up one of their biggest hits, a track they originally recorded for Vee-Jay as a tribute. "Stay In My Corner" was an example of how versatile they were - running the spectrum from Doo-Wop in the mid-1950's over to R&B, Soul and Jazz. They were an amazingly talented group and Carter had the distinction of being inducted in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame twice - once for his earlier efforts with another memorable group, The Flamingos and later with The Dells.

RIP - you made some beautiful music and the world is better for it.