Ink Spots

Jerry Franklin Daniels, 79, the last surviving original member of the singing quartet known as the Ink Spots. Daniels spent most of his life in Indianapolis, where the foursome started singing for coins on street corners in 1931 and adopted the name the Ink Spots in 1932. He left the group in 1936 and was replaced by Bill Kenny, shortly before the crooners recorded their most famous song, "If I Didn't Care."

**** THE CLOVERS: "The Very Best of the Clovers" Rhino/Atlantic Unlike fellow Atlantic Records vocal groups the Coasters and the Drifters, the Clovers haven't been voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the quintet made a series of extraordinary singles that helped define Atlantic's pivotal role in popularizing R&B in the '50s. In some ways, in fact, you can think of the Clovers as Atlantic co-founder Ahmet Ertegun's musical workshop.

This benefit sounds wonderful. How could it not--with the Ink Spots contributing to the mellow sounds at the one-night-only Sojourn Ballroom on Sept. 17. Partygoers have caught the fancy dance steps of Bill and Keith Kieschnick for years. That's why their benefit appearance for Sojourn (the Westside haven for battered women and their children) will be carefully choreographed.

Jerry Franklin Daniels, 79, the last surviving original member of the singing quartet known as the Ink Spots. Daniels spent most of his life in Indianapolis, where the foursome started singing for coins on street corners in 1931 and adopted the name the Ink Spots in 1932. He left the group in 1936 and was replaced by Bill Kenny, shortly before the crooners recorded their most famous song, "If I Didn't Care."

The vocal sound was like nothing ever heard before in popular music. A high, soaring tenor lead; rich, warm harmonies; the resonant, sensual voice of a bass softly speaking the lyrics. The result: instant hits. "If I Didn't Care" was followed by "My Prayer," "We Three," "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" and more--much more. The group, as anyone on the sunset side of 50 will instantly know, was the Ink Spots.

Artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as performers and forefathers: 1985: Performers--Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Elvis Presley. Forefathers--Robert Johnson, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmy Yancey. 1986: Performers--the Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, B. B.

**** THE CLOVERS: "The Very Best of the Clovers" Rhino/Atlantic Unlike fellow Atlantic Records vocal groups the Coasters and the Drifters, the Clovers haven't been voted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but the quintet made a series of extraordinary singles that helped define Atlantic's pivotal role in popularizing R&B in the '50s. In some ways, in fact, you can think of the Clovers as Atlantic co-founder Ahmet Ertegun's musical workshop.

"I know I can't save the world," says locally based choreographer-dancer Loretta Livingston. "But I can make through my dance a saving note and dedicate my life to the true guardianship of our planet." All through her career as a prominent member of the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company, Livingston remained involved with ecological issues. And now, at 39--after marriage to fellow Lewitzky dancer David Plettner and with a 4-year-old company of her own to run--she says she has found "a deeper ecological resolve."

For years I struggled to understand why nightclubs do bang-up business with performers who merely imitate famous singers, while other musicians who play anything--heaven forbid--original must labor constantly to find a following. Or even a club that will allow them on stage.

Ken Green of Claremont complains that he doesn't like it when someone cuts into a line in front of him. However, this is a form of me-firstism that can usually be dealt with by rude remarks or shoving. He is more annoyed, Green says, by an electronic kind of cutting-in. "People are cutting into line in front of me all the time, and I have difficulty in preventing it. The way they do it is to dial the telephone."

Ken Green of Claremont complains that he doesn't like it when someone cuts into a line in front of him. However, this is a form of me-firstism that can usually be dealt with by rude remarks or shoving. He is more annoyed, Green says, by an electronic kind of cutting-in. "People are cutting into line in front of me all the time, and I have difficulty in preventing it. The way they do it is to dial the telephone."

Artists inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as performers and forefathers: 1985: Performers--Chuck Berry, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Elvis Presley. Forefathers--Robert Johnson, Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmy Yancey. 1986: Performers--the Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, B. B.

The vocal sound was like nothing ever heard before in popular music. A high, soaring tenor lead; rich, warm harmonies; the resonant, sensual voice of a bass softly speaking the lyrics. The result: instant hits. "If I Didn't Care" was followed by "My Prayer," "We Three," "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" and more--much more. The group, as anyone on the sunset side of 50 will instantly know, was the Ink Spots.

"I know I can't save the world," says locally based choreographer-dancer Loretta Livingston. "But I can make through my dance a saving note and dedicate my life to the true guardianship of our planet." All through her career as a prominent member of the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company, Livingston remained involved with ecological issues. And now, at 39--after marriage to fellow Lewitzky dancer David Plettner and with a 4-year-old company of her own to run--she says she has found "a deeper ecological resolve."

This benefit sounds wonderful. How could it not--with the Ink Spots contributing to the mellow sounds at the one-night-only Sojourn Ballroom on Sept. 17. Partygoers have caught the fancy dance steps of Bill and Keith Kieschnick for years. That's why their benefit appearance for Sojourn (the Westside haven for battered women and their children) will be carefully choreographed.

For years I struggled to understand why nightclubs do bang-up business with performers who merely imitate famous singers, while other musicians who play anything--heaven forbid--original must labor constantly to find a following. Or even a club that will allow them on stage.

Harry Lenetska, 92, who started as a talent booking agent for the old Keith Orpheum Vaudeville circuit in 1907, joined the William Morris agency in 1919 and later formed his own company. Over the years, his clients included Sophie Tucker, Jack Benny, the Ink Spots and Mahalia Jackson. He retired and moved to California in 1950. In a Los Angeles hospital on Thursday.

'People will judge you ... just by looking at your car.' --Rick Exley Clean, mean and pristine. That about sums up the 120 exotic automobiles on display at the Newport GT Concours d'Elegance, a spectacle on the grass attended by 5,000 on Sunday at The Newporter Resort. It was not a car show. "There are car shows and then there's Concours," explained judge Bob Turnage.