Here is an excerpt from a iece posted by musician Arthur Turk Burton, Jr.and mentions my cousin, Teddy Hawkins and the tavern owned by my uncle, Enoch Hawkins: At the age of ten I began to play bongo and conga drums with friends on the school ground at Coolidge. We developed a bongo band with dancers and became the rage of the school while I was there. I was in the first class Jessica Buckner taught at Coolidge School. She later became the principal and superintendent of the district. In 1969, along with Edward Beard, Sterling Banks, Earl Alexander, and Robert Coleman (all from Phoenix), we developed a rhythm and blues band called SOUL NATURALS. We won the Illinois State Battle of the Bands and came in as first runner-up to the champions of the Natural Battle of the Bands, in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1969. We played few other members from Harvey and Markham. Earlier I had to play my first musical job in Phoenix at the White Rose Lounge with Teddy Hawkins, Reggie Johnson, and Leonard Mayfield. Teddy was a very good guitar player and his father owned the White Rose Lounge on Eighth Avenue. During the 1950s and early 1960s, artists who played at the White Rose Lounge included B. B. King, Howling Wolf, Muddy Waters, Ann Peebles, Little Milton, Artie “Blues Boy” White, Willie Dixon and a host of other Blues greats.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 18:12:53 +0000
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