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CAT Tracks for August 27, 2009
SOUL PHONICS REUNION |
From the flipsideonline.com Website...
Soul Phonics brings funk back to Cairo
By Brent Stewart, The Southern
Soul Phonics – R&B, Funk, Soul.
7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 4, All-Class Reunion, Cairo High School, 4201 Sycamore St., and noon Saturday, Sept. 5, St. Mary's Park, 33rd St., Cairo; free; more information, go to cairohighschool.ning.com.
CAIRO - Labor Day is a weekend sometimes reserved for family reunions, so it's fitting that the Soul Phonics are getting back together for two special performances in their hometown of Cairo.
From the late 1960s through the mid 1970s, The Soul Phonics blasted through Southern Illinois playing its brand of soul, R & B, and funk.
"We were probably the greatest band to come out of the region without being famous," said Tylon Wilson, the band's vocalist. "For those folks down there, we were celebrities."
The group came out of a chorus class in junior high school around 1967. During its formative years, the group was managed by Fred Wood, Jr. and the band practiced at the home of his parents, Fred Sr. and Catherine Wood, longtime Cairo Public School educators.
It its era, The Soul Phonics were yearly guests of both Channel 6 in Paducah and Channel 12 in Cape Girardeau when local talents were highlighted during the Labor Day Jerry Lewis Telethon, which makes their reunion weekend even more appropriate.
In addition to being the featured band at the Southern Illinois Picnic in Chicago for a number of years, they also performed regularly at the Cavalier Club and The Pythian Club in Cairo, Club 37 in Olmsted, Joe's in Mound City, the Civic Center and Amvets in Paducah, as well as clubs in Carbondale, Metropolis and Murphysboro. For years, they were the band of choice for the proms of area high schools, including Cairo, Century, Egyptian, Meridian and Metropolis.
Names that have been associated with The Soul Phonics over the years include Wilma Russell Carter, Otis Edwards, Sylvia Garrett, Henry Herron, Darryl Hurt, Peggy Jackson, Greyland Johnson, Gloria Pang Lewis, Pamela Mallory, Darnell Smith, Mel Taylor and Donald Topp.
With the exception of a brief meeting in the St. Louis area in March of this year, the former bandmates hadn't seen each other since the mid 1970s. They will be getting together for the Cairo High School all-class reunion.
"It's an exciting time because all of us are still living," Wilson said. "The Lord has blessed all of us to get back together."
