On April 15th history was made as Jimmy "Early" Byrd met with Barry Curtis (former Kingsmen) for the first time. Their history goes back to 1963, but they had never had the opportunity to meet face to face. Who is Jimmy "Early" Byrd and what is his connection to this infamous Northwest band? Jimmy was the Boston DJ responsible for getting the Kingsmen's version of "Louie, Louie" the airplay that launched it o­nto national airwaves.

Friends, family and the public gathered at JoAnna's Soul Cafe and Jazz Club o­n the 15th to watch, listen and participate as the history of Jimmy, "Louie, Louie" and the times were recorded in documentary format. All were treated to an incredible day of great food from Jim Buchanan's restaurant and Bassic Sax's music. The history of music, the 60's and the 'temperature of the day' were floating through air much like the 'soul' in the food and the music. People could be seen sitting o­n the edge of their seats, not wanting to miss any of Byrd's poetic renditions of his life.

It o­nly seemed fitting to celebrate Byrd's birthday, "Louie, Louie's" anniversary, and many other April occurrences in grand gesture.

Byrd's influence o­n, arguably, the most popular song in the history of the Pacific Northwest, warranted this celebration. The timing of the many occurrences that happened around o­ne week in April 1963 is almost kismet. 
 
The public had an opportunity to meet and be a part of an intimate audience as both shared stories are shared about the legend of the song and the times. LongShotsArt.com and Beatweb.com planned this event in honor of the impact of “Early” Byrd’s legacy here in the Northwest as well as the rest of the country. The April event coincides with Byrd’s 78th Birthday, over 50 years of “Louie Louie,” and Richard Berry’s birthday. 
 
Jimmy “Early” Byrd is scheduled to be the fourth DJ inducted into The Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. The first three DJ inductees were Alan Freed, Wolfman Jack, and Dick Clark—well known names in music history. 
 
Evolution of this Event and More of the "Louie, Louie" Story:
 
After many nights of story telling, Barry Curtis mentioned that he had never met Jimmy “Early” Byrd and he wished that he could. The seed was planted for this event. The year was 1963. Byrd tells how he was given the Kingsmen's version of the song to push o­n the air by Richard Berry as a favor. Byrd began playing it consistently and it really caught o­n in the Black areas of Boston (everyone thought the Kingsmen was a Black band).
 
Eventually the version caught the ear of Bob Levitson of Bay Street Distribution. Together with Byrd, Levitson took the song to Flo Greenberg at Scepter-Wand Records in New York. Skippy White of Mass Records, the largest chain of record stores in Massachusetts at that time, remembers it was Jerry Dennon, owner of Seattle's Jerden Records, who produced the recording and eventually leased the master to Scepter-Wand. Greenberg's contract with Dennon and The Kingsmen launched the start of their national career. The record caught o­n and 30,000 copies sold quickly. White states for certain it was Byrd that pushed "Louie" to the top. 
 
It took six months before the "white" stations of Boston would even touch the song. At that time, it was an unwritten rule that those stations would never play “jiggaboo” music. Byrd employed o­ne of his tricks to boost sales by playing the song three and four times back-to-back. Between each spin, he asked the audience to call in and say they wanted to hear it again. Unknowingly, listeners were calling Byrd’s cross-town competitor, Arne “Woo Woo” Ginsberg at WMEX-AM, because that was the number Byrd gave out! This led WMEX to finally concede to pressure and break their steadfast tradition of not playing "black" music. And thus, the Boston color line was finally crossed by a band of white teenagers out of Portland, Oregon. 
 
The Kingsmen signed with Scepter-Wand and found themselves traveling o­n tour with label-mates, Dionne Warwick, Maxine Brown, Chuck Jackson, Tommy Hunt, The Isley Brothers, and many others. o­n their own tours, they too set a pattern of refusing to perform in some venues in the South unless those venues rescinded their segregation rules. Silly, young and white from the Pacific Northwest, their naiveté, mixed with their principals, probably took some toll o­n them as a unit, but ultimately the band performed to packed, integrated houses. 
 
Many Northwest artists have recorded the song and some controversy remains as to who recorded it first as well as other disputed facts. The Kingsmen admit their version was a direct, rough copy of the version recorded by the Tacoma Wailers in 1961. It was done as a demo to try to get some college gigs and a job o­n a cruise ship. The lead singer had braces put o­n his teeth just two days before the recording session. This is a fact that accounts, in part, for the “misunderstanding” of the lyrics that led to an F.B.I. investigation of the songs “secret meaning.” 
 
The unveiling of the mystery of “Louie, Louie” continues. 
 
More about Jimmy "Early" Byrd can be found o­n his website at www.earlybyrd.com.
 
Find out about his participation in preventing rioting in Boston when Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and how he was the first DJ to interview Muhammad Ali live o­n air after his title was stripped.