Behind the Hits The Unsung Heroes of Steel Town Records

Transcript

WEBVTT

00:00:02.225 --> 00:00:02.565
what's up?

00:00:02.565 --> 00:00:05.131
My good people, welcome to the cj money way show.

00:00:05.131 --> 00:00:20.629
Today I have the men and women trying to bring back steel town records and today I got my man, kenneth joseph, on here and his team and they're going to explain to you guys the things that they're looking for.

00:00:20.629 --> 00:00:28.129
They got some hot things going on for the record label to try to rebirth the Steel Town Records, and so we're going to hear from them today.

00:00:28.129 --> 00:00:29.263
I'm excited.

00:00:29.263 --> 00:00:30.923
I hope you guys be excited too.

00:00:30.923 --> 00:00:32.201
Hey, what's up, ken?

00:00:33.103 --> 00:00:34.006
Hey, what's going on?

00:00:34.006 --> 00:00:34.890
Young man, how are you?

00:00:34.890 --> 00:00:38.927
I'm good man how about yourself Finding a glass of wine.

00:00:38.927 --> 00:00:40.923
1775 bottle of Ken.

00:00:40.923 --> 00:00:41.665
Would you like some?

00:00:47.941 --> 00:00:51.331
How you all doing today, Fine man.

00:00:51.982 --> 00:00:52.545
Doing good.

00:00:52.545 --> 00:00:56.521
Thanks for having us on Appreciate it.

00:00:56.722 --> 00:00:57.564
Oh, no problem.

00:00:57.564 --> 00:01:05.126
So, kim, tell us about your vision, man, this vision that you have for Steel Town Records.

00:01:05.126 --> 00:01:14.974
And actually, you know, before I get there, let's talk about who was the actual founder of Steel Town Records, gordon.

00:01:15.013 --> 00:01:28.683
Keefe was Gordon Keefe, aka Mr William Adams, was the founder, yes, and it was pretty much created by five men, but with Mr Gordon Keeith actually being the solid founder.

00:01:28.683 --> 00:01:39.260
You had a ludy washington, you had a ben brown and marvis rogers of willie spencer and a gordon keith, but obviously it was mr keith was the founder because it was registered, I mean it was set.

00:01:39.260 --> 00:01:45.688
Still, town was actually at 1025 tiny street Street in Gary, indiana, mm-hmm yeah.

00:01:46.308 --> 00:01:46.468
Mm-hmm.

00:01:46.468 --> 00:01:49.852
Yeah, I stayed on Taney Street too.

00:01:49.852 --> 00:01:52.594
That's over there on the west side, right, Well?

00:01:52.635 --> 00:01:53.355
yeah, yeah.

00:01:56.659 --> 00:01:58.998
We stayed on Taney Street when I was younger.

00:01:58.998 --> 00:02:03.691
You may know my cousin Cassandra, so Mr Keith was the founder.

00:02:03.691 --> 00:02:07.540
So I guess my next question is says this is what we're talking about?

00:02:07.540 --> 00:02:09.764
Who actually founded the jackson five?

00:02:09.764 --> 00:02:19.008
Gordon key, oh okay, so he was a manager too well, you had like different roles.

00:02:19.307 --> 00:02:23.723
Uh, ben brown, to my understanding, was like the president when mr keith couldn't take them around.

00:02:24.325 --> 00:02:48.484
Ben brown, pretty much active as that role while mr gordon keith was working in steel mill okay, so, uh, you know we was talking man, and you said that mr keith had a vision, you know, uh, as far as back then, and that you can see this vision now of what he was seeing, that still town records could be.

00:02:48.945 --> 00:03:00.783
So tell us a little bit about this vision that you was talking about, man, well as far as with his music career, what he wanted was he had a passion, according to go to keep for young talent.

00:03:00.783 --> 00:03:02.407
That's what his passion was.

00:03:02.407 --> 00:03:07.724
Uh, and know it was like Still Town was created in inspirations of Motown records.

00:03:07.724 --> 00:03:12.925
You know, back then Motown was actually the thing for every black man, right?

00:03:12.925 --> 00:03:15.663
That's where they copied it from.

00:03:15.663 --> 00:03:20.687
So you know that was the vision From that.

00:03:20.810 --> 00:03:30.361
Still Town at that time was, according to Mr Keith, what he shared with me was a label that brought talent to the label as a front, like you had.

00:03:30.361 --> 00:03:32.044
Like Mr Keefe had his acts.

00:03:32.044 --> 00:03:41.310
One of the acts was the Jackson 5 and another group called the Ribbles and Waves plus Michael, another group that the world mistaken for, the Jackson 5.

00:03:41.310 --> 00:03:54.745
Then he had, you know you had other Rudy Washington had their groups, mr Maurice Rogers had their groups and so forth, and they brought people to the label to record, write material and stuff like that he created.

00:03:54.745 --> 00:03:58.635
Out of the five there were three men and their vision was to get their stuff published.

00:03:58.635 --> 00:04:02.250
Also at Still Town was Mr Ben.

00:04:02.250 --> 00:04:06.170
The publishing was called Ben Moe Keefe Publishing.

00:04:06.170 --> 00:04:14.709
So Ben for Benjamin Moe for Maurice Rogers and Keefe for Mr Gordon Keefe.

00:04:14.709 --> 00:04:24.470
Ben Moe Keefe Publishing was formed along with that to promote raw talent in Gary, apparently to be almost similar in the style of a Motown.

00:04:24.470 --> 00:04:27.105
That was their direction then.

00:04:27.105 --> 00:04:30.427
This is before they actually signed the Jackson Five.

00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:37.766
So I see you got a pretty good team here, man.

00:04:37.766 --> 00:04:40.723
You want to introduce your team and what everybody's role is.

00:04:42.560 --> 00:04:47.670
I think I'll let each one do that better, because one can do it better than themselves as the individual.

00:04:47.670 --> 00:04:49.949
Okay, team, you can go ahead and introduce yourself.

00:04:55.081 --> 00:04:56.225
That's time with you, Bonita.

00:04:59.380 --> 00:05:04.310
Hi, I'm Bonita, I'm the secretary.

00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:14.807
I really have dual roles, so I do contracts and I also help with the marketing part as well.

00:05:14.807 --> 00:05:20.694
As I can say, probably I do just everything.

00:05:20.694 --> 00:05:27.754
I'm just into everything with them as far as, like I said, marketing, the secretary, the contract writing.

00:05:32.839 --> 00:05:40.112
Okay, yeah, I picked Benita because I spoke with her and Ken last week on the phone so I kind of like knew her voice.

00:05:40.112 --> 00:05:43.701
So what's up with you?

00:05:43.701 --> 00:05:44.182
G man?

00:05:44.182 --> 00:05:46.245
What's your part in this?

00:05:46.266 --> 00:05:51.555
Britt, part of me.

00:05:51.555 --> 00:06:03.346
So I'm going to be playing Eddie Silver, the guy that wrote one of the songs that they performed in Jackson 5 called Big Boy.

00:06:03.346 --> 00:06:09.889
Yeah, so that's what I'll be doing in the production.

00:06:09.889 --> 00:06:11.752
Okay.

00:06:13.440 --> 00:06:14.326
What's up with you, merv?

00:06:14.326 --> 00:06:17.747
Well, dude, that's easy.

00:06:17.747 --> 00:06:19.286
I do a lot of things.

00:06:19.286 --> 00:06:32.146
If it's not tech right, it's financial right making sure right that operations is going through, and then also vice president, so I'm just more task-orientated towards the operations flow.

00:06:32.146 --> 00:06:36.372
Okay Of the project.

00:06:36.454 --> 00:06:36.874
Yes, sir.

00:06:40.677 --> 00:06:41.079
Yes, sir.

00:06:44.422 --> 00:06:45.286
So what role are you playing in all of this?

00:06:45.286 --> 00:06:45.689
Yes sir, yes sir.

00:06:45.689 --> 00:06:46.314
So what role are you playing?

00:06:46.334 --> 00:06:47.238
in all of this?

00:06:47.238 --> 00:06:48.281
Yes, sir.

00:06:48.281 --> 00:06:52.072
So I pretty much come on as like an admin.

00:06:52.072 --> 00:07:09.124
Ken and I was working on another project and he, you know, told me about his vision and I see some of the things he did and I pretty much helped to get everything organized, helped with admin work and anything else he needed me to do.

00:07:09.124 --> 00:07:09.605
I'm here.

00:07:09.605 --> 00:07:19.531
I also have a little history in some film production so as we go further along with casting and producing the film, I'll have my hands in helping with that as well.

00:07:21.141 --> 00:07:22.786
Okay, okay, sounds good.

00:07:22.786 --> 00:07:25.565
Mr Lennon, I didn't get a chance to meet you.

00:07:25.565 --> 00:07:26.329
How you doing, man?

00:07:29.125 --> 00:07:29.485
okay, I'm good.

00:07:29.485 --> 00:07:30.266
Can everybody hear me?

00:07:30.266 --> 00:07:34.733
Yes, indeed, okay, we finally got it rolling.

00:07:34.733 --> 00:07:36.865
I had to go to my laptop, but it's, it's all good.

00:07:36.865 --> 00:07:40.454
Yeah, man, um, excuse me.

00:07:40.454 --> 00:07:43.684
I want to first of all thank everybody for giving me the moral support I needed.

00:07:43.684 --> 00:07:48.112
I had to go go out of town to Louisiana last week for a funeral.

00:07:48.112 --> 00:07:55.850
My grandmother's 94-year-old cousin, cousin Claude, passed, and not only did I go to pay my respect, but I was one of the pallbearers.

00:07:55.850 --> 00:08:03.444
So I felt compelled to do that, and so I let everybody know in advance what had happened and that I was going to be out of pocket for a minute.

00:08:03.444 --> 00:08:08.889
But I got back a few days ago and I needed to, kind of, you know, unwind and catch my breath.

00:08:08.889 --> 00:08:16.495
So I got the message from Ken about the conference today, so I got the information.

00:08:16.495 --> 00:08:31.081
Here I am, but my role is that of a researcher and Ken, as I tell you, you know, we've been, we've been doing, been doing this, but a little over a year now Cam yeah, hardly, Hardly doing it.

00:08:31.101 --> 00:08:32.625
Yes, absolutely FBI style.

00:08:32.625 --> 00:08:33.047
Go ahead then.

00:08:35.432 --> 00:08:39.191
Well it's just a matter of trying to connect the dots and everything.

00:08:39.191 --> 00:08:47.486
A project like this is really important because you've got to help people connect the dots and see.

00:08:47.486 --> 00:08:50.974
You know what Gary was like back in the day.

00:08:50.974 --> 00:08:52.363
I've seen documentaries.

00:08:52.363 --> 00:08:57.801
I've seen, you know, we saw the miniseries that they did in 1992, I think it was and.

00:08:57.801 --> 00:09:02.692
But you know this project here, steel Town to Motown.

00:09:02.692 --> 00:09:13.774
You know we're really focused in on what was happening with mr Gordon Keith and mr Gordon Keith unfortunately has I haven't seen him in any other documentaries that were done when he was alive.

00:09:13.774 --> 00:09:26.948
You know another kind of stuff, so his story needs to be told and you know the significant role that he played, you know, with the former of the Jackson 5, in the fact that steel town is the one who gave them a break before Motown.

00:09:26.948 --> 00:09:27.971
You know.

00:09:28.120 --> 00:09:34.755
So, I think you know, I think that's important, but I'm here to do, you know, what I can to help move this project forward.

00:09:34.755 --> 00:09:36.825
I'll land my plane there.

00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:47.455
Yeah, let me also add that we also are working on getting merchandise sold.

00:09:47.455 --> 00:10:00.251
I also do help with part of the marketing, with getting some of the still shots and photos we need, because that's a major part with us trying to get funding to push the project.

00:10:02.542 --> 00:10:40.267
Okay, now I don't know who this question would be for, but I was talking to ken and um and also on my podcast I did like a little intro or what you call it, mid-roll, or I think I got it in mid-roll to promote you guys, uh, skill time records, you know the rebirth or however you know, you want to say it, but if you have anything, but it'll miss, uh, any one of you guys, anything that you have recorded that you might want to want to use, I can, you know, I can put it on that man and try to help you promote it as best as I can.

00:10:40.267 --> 00:10:42.895
That's, that's my reasoning for being here.

00:10:42.895 --> 00:10:46.884
That's the reason that, um, I was happy can't ask me to do this with you guys.

00:10:46.884 --> 00:10:54.312
I'm excited about, you know, steel town records, because actually I didn't know about steel town records until ken brought it up to me.

00:10:54.312 --> 00:11:00.433
Then I started googling and I searched it up myself, and so I guess this can be to anybody.

00:11:00.634 --> 00:11:02.379
Uh, any, this question can be to anybody.

00:11:02.379 --> 00:11:04.208
So why do you know?

00:11:04.208 --> 00:11:06.340
Why start up still town records?

00:11:06.340 --> 00:11:08.063
Now, you know what.

00:11:08.063 --> 00:11:11.952
What's the reason or what's behind why you guys want to do it now?

00:11:13.163 --> 00:11:24.572
the reason why, the main reason why I started up now, is because mr gordon keith left this world not having his legacy, not getting his, his legacy shared, reaching his goals.

00:11:24.572 --> 00:11:34.615
All of the above, along with never been told secrets to the reason and how the Jacksons got to where they were at that time.

00:11:34.615 --> 00:11:36.947
That's one of the main reasons.

00:11:36.947 --> 00:11:48.890
There's other people involved, mr Gordon Keefe and others, like the other four men that are no longer here, and just like Raynard Jones, the child, the teenager that really like mold him, I consider him as the manufacturer.

00:11:48.890 --> 00:11:54.025
Uh, because without Raynard Jones, there would not have been no Jackson 5, you know, period.

00:11:54.025 --> 00:12:07.942
So that's one of the main reasons why because I don't think it's fair to the people that you know, everyone is there that allowed the Jacksons into their lives, right and we, and they did inspirational things and they touched us, they did great things.

00:12:07.942 --> 00:12:23.009
But everything should be included, and I do understand that certain things, in order to make it to the top right, you have to leave some of the weight off the boat so you won't sink, but especially if you were so to come, you know you would come back, you wouldn't forget them, right?

00:12:23.009 --> 00:12:27.081
Then it should be, it should be done the whole thing.

00:12:27.081 --> 00:12:35.414
It was set on promotions and you know fairy tales about how it all started.

00:12:35.414 --> 00:12:40.328
So that's one of the main reasons why I believe that you know.

00:12:40.328 --> 00:12:45.615
You know it's still time to be rebirthed and it wasn't completed, mr Gordon Keyes, like I see, you know it still time to be rebirthed and it wasn't completed.

00:12:45.615 --> 00:12:47.173
Mr Gordon Key's legacy, you know it didn't reach its goal.

00:12:47.173 --> 00:12:51.528
Still Town died out, I think, in 1971.

00:12:51.528 --> 00:13:00.946
It was created between 64, 64, 65, something like that 63, 64.

00:13:00.946 --> 00:13:03.654
And it died out in 1971.

00:13:03.654 --> 00:13:09.131
And that was the actual time when the Jacksons was actually being molded in Raynard Jones' basement.

00:13:09.131 --> 00:13:13.470
The same time, field time was being made by these five men, brilliant men.

00:13:13.470 --> 00:13:18.270
Right, it was on the other side of town, with the Jackson being molded and shaped.

00:13:18.270 --> 00:13:22.043
Because when you think about that, right, I look at that as this.

00:13:22.043 --> 00:13:24.304
When you think about that, right, I look at that as this.

00:13:25.525 --> 00:13:30.892
Let's say, we all, every last one of us, had car dealerships, except for the podcaster.

00:13:30.892 --> 00:13:33.573
Right, the podcaster is the manufacturer.

00:13:33.573 --> 00:13:38.480
Right, they make the cars, they make all kinds of cars.

00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:44.214
So each one of us, right, have a Cadillac dealership or a Chevy dealership back in the 50s, 60s or whatever.

00:13:44.214 --> 00:13:48.890
There's the customers that come to order and see these cars on our displays.

00:13:48.890 --> 00:13:50.562
So that's how we make these.

00:13:50.562 --> 00:13:51.504
Well, we don't make them.

00:13:51.504 --> 00:13:54.331
That's how we order for the cars to be made.

00:13:54.331 --> 00:14:12.581
And when the cars are made, with the podcast, he makes all the orders, all the cars, and he ships them to each one of us and from there we're able to show our brilliant cars, all calibers of cars, at our dealership, right, and then with that people can buy Again.

00:14:12.581 --> 00:14:15.269
Without manufacturers you wouldn't have these brilliant cars.

00:14:15.269 --> 00:14:19.340
So that's how it was with Raynard Jones.

00:14:20.565 --> 00:14:25.285
And from Steel Town to Motown, the series tells the untold stories that will blow everyone's mind.

00:14:25.285 --> 00:14:34.628
It's even what Hollywood either knows or don't want to use, right, or they don't care to use because they know it unravels.

00:14:34.628 --> 00:14:39.730
When you think of Still Town records, it goes back to the very beginning.

00:14:39.730 --> 00:14:43.006
When you think of Jackson 5, I mean, it goes back to the very beginning.

00:14:43.006 --> 00:14:49.306
Anything before anything was evolved with Steel Town and that was never told.

00:14:49.306 --> 00:15:00.692
So that's why I think we think that Steel Town needs to be revamped, rebirthed in all kinds of ways, from the music side to the motion picture side.

00:15:00.692 --> 00:15:11.817
It can be a conglomerate story that can go on for like about two years, mr keith, just constantly telling all these stories, also with mr maurice rogers.

00:15:12.318 --> 00:15:13.240
We never mentioned him.

00:15:13.240 --> 00:15:18.331
He was a last man standing with still time records.

00:15:18.331 --> 00:15:20.600
He's still alive alive to this day.

00:15:20.600 --> 00:15:22.144
He's just made 80.

00:15:22.144 --> 00:15:24.089
We've had a chance to interview him.

00:15:24.089 --> 00:15:26.192
We've had a brilliant conversation.

00:15:26.192 --> 00:15:33.374
We talked to him like the first time was like two hours and 30 minutes and the next time was like five hours, just just getting information out of him.

00:15:33.374 --> 00:15:39.602
And we, you know, we learned a lot of great things with him and he's very young or spirited, and, just like he, he never left.

00:15:39.602 --> 00:15:45.354
His memory is fresh and he, you know, he took his right, us right back to that time and that was a great experience.

00:15:45.354 --> 00:15:53.904
The team can tell you themselves that moment.

00:15:53.904 --> 00:16:02.381
So, yeah, that's why we believe strongly in shit and that's something the world needs to know.

00:16:02.402 --> 00:16:18.629
So, before I ask you guys about this, so during these conversations with Ben Brown and you know, Mr Keefe and all them, did any of them know that when the Jackson 5 was first formed, that Michael Jackson would be who he was?

00:16:19.328 --> 00:16:22.169
Yes, mr Gordon Keefe was the one that stated that story.

00:16:22.169 --> 00:16:24.931
Matter of fact, you can see it on YouTube.

00:16:24.931 --> 00:16:28.893
I posted some of the stuff on there called Still Town, the Jackson 5.

00:16:28.893 --> 00:16:31.173
You can see it there and he talks about that.

00:16:31.173 --> 00:16:40.057
He talks about you know something about when he went there, when he first went there, how he saw Michael and he just knew Michael.

00:16:40.217 --> 00:17:00.679
Michael just stood out, according to Mr Keefe, from when he first saw him, and he said the way how Michael leaped over to grab or fix a card, a microphone card, the way he did it, he knew that he had to have picked Michael and he said Michael was the reason why he picked the Jackson 5.

00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:16.969
So Mr Keith would be the one, according to mr keith, uh, mr maurice rogers, but I didn't really too much speak on that because at that time when the jacksons was actually signed, uh, uh to stilltown, uh, mr maurice had already left for, uh, california, according to what he shared with us.

00:17:16.969 --> 00:17:19.316
So you know, against.

00:17:19.316 --> 00:17:29.724
Stilltown was created between 63, 64, 63 after mr g Keefe came out of the military and he got back with all his guys and that's when they put it together.

00:17:29.724 --> 00:17:36.411
Around that time Mr Maurice left around like 63, 65 estimated, according to him.

00:17:36.411 --> 00:17:38.865
Yeah, so it was Mr Keefe.

00:17:38.865 --> 00:17:43.949
He just knew that Michael would be the one Just like everyone that Michael interacted with.

00:17:43.903 --> 00:17:44.557
They just knew that he would be the one.

00:17:44.557 --> 00:17:46.708
Just like everyone that Michael interact with, they just knew that he would be the one.

00:17:46.708 --> 00:17:49.452
They just knew that he would be uh, you know he could.

00:17:49.452 --> 00:17:50.454
He was an old man.

00:17:50.454 --> 00:17:52.785
Uh, a little boy's body.

00:17:52.785 --> 00:17:54.568
They just knew that he could sing the song.

00:17:55.290 --> 00:18:11.449
You know better than him, and it's so true, yeah yeah, I mean, the legend of jackson lives on, man, you know, uh, just last week my mother had her 70th birthday party and my wife hired one.

00:18:11.449 --> 00:18:14.981
You know the people that impersonate michael and do the songs or whatever.

00:18:14.981 --> 00:18:16.565
It was pretty cool, man.

00:18:16.565 --> 00:18:19.571
You know, just, michael, michael is michael man.

00:18:19.571 --> 00:18:21.403
So, uh, I hear what you're saying.

00:18:21.403 --> 00:18:38.261
So, uh, as far as the film that you guys are talking about, where are you at with it and what are you actually looking for as far as artists, as far as actors and producers and things of that nature, Okay.

00:18:38.281 --> 00:18:41.166
So we're in a very we're in the beginning stages.

00:18:41.166 --> 00:18:45.605
The reason why I say very is because the story is so vast and so big, big.

00:18:45.605 --> 00:18:57.231
We want to make this a total cinematic, independent piece and we don't want it to be not related to or referred by anything else, but just that.

00:18:57.231 --> 00:19:00.523
So that's what I mean by very, very beginning are very, very intense.

00:19:00.523 --> 00:19:29.618
Uh, we're looking for extreme, as I was saying, prior talents that look like a Gordon Keefe, a Barry Gordy, a Jackson 5 when they were little, the older version, joe Jackson, diana Ross and everyone else that interacted with Mr Gordon Keefe, rudy Washington, a Ben Brown, a Gordon Keefe, a Willie Spencer, a Maurice Rogers, a Ben Brown, a Gordon Keith, a Willie Spencer, a Maurice Rogers, five men in still time records.

00:19:29.618 --> 00:19:42.394
So we're putting together now the whole team and I are putting together now an extensive trial period where we're getting cast companies all black, preferred right Casting companies, maybe like two to four of them.

00:19:42.394 --> 00:19:52.011
They come together, but we'll not just take their word saying that they can cast, but putting them through like a test, a probation period for 30 days to seeing, giving them examples of what we want.

00:19:52.011 --> 00:20:05.271
You know, pertains to the lookalikes we call it and if they could do a good job, then pretty much take it from there and get that going and it will last about two months estimate, and September is when we're going to start doing.

00:20:05.271 --> 00:20:16.348
We plan to start doing the actual trailers that's going to depict on what I briefly stated earlier about, you know, the Jacksons, you know, and Steel Town and all those little things that happen.

00:20:16.348 --> 00:20:19.705
So we're going to be doing the trailers to pitch and market and promote it.

00:20:19.705 --> 00:20:28.467
So, yeah, so that'll be in September is when we're going to start the production of the trailers and we just, you know, extend it from there.

00:20:28.467 --> 00:20:32.511
It'll take two or three months to promote it, the trailers and heavy and keep on going.

00:20:32.511 --> 00:20:33.900
Then that's when we'll do the production.

00:20:33.900 --> 00:20:39.883
That'll leave it for the to the beginning of the year, of next year, but we'll start the trailers, production trailers, this year.

00:20:40.743 --> 00:21:08.710
Far as the same time is that we want to get the soundtrack going, where we're looking for our uh talented artists that could write material from the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, uh pertain to, uh the movie, from still time to mode time, the series, uh, the option could be either we give the talents, you know, different ideas uh synopsis of versions of this, the script, different scenes in the script where they will write from that and make songs from those time capsules or those.

00:21:08.710 --> 00:21:17.652
Yeah, those time capsules or the talent could either have songs in their category or catalog that's already.

00:21:17.652 --> 00:21:22.580
That matches that, the ones that if they take the one making song from scratch, we work a deal out with them.

00:21:22.580 --> 00:21:31.047
When they get like 90% royalties and we get to 10% For the ones that's already in the catalog, they just match the songs to our scenes.

00:21:31.047 --> 00:21:45.468
We get 5%, they get 95% deals or stuff like that, and the artists can come and sign to the label as a front for the label for their songs or songs pertaining to this from Still Town and Motown series soundtrack.

00:21:45.468 --> 00:21:48.221
And that's what we're working on now.

00:21:48.261 --> 00:21:52.201
We was able to come across this brilliant guy by this brilliant girl, young lady.

00:21:52.201 --> 00:21:54.923
He was, I think it was on the Simon show.

00:21:54.923 --> 00:22:02.923
He was dressed as a baby, his name was Aaron yeah, aaron, I can't remember his last name and he just did a stand ovation.

00:22:02.923 --> 00:22:05.528
I knew in five seconds of hearing him sing he could.

00:22:05.528 --> 00:22:09.700
He was definitely one that I wanted to, you know, work with on that songwriting collab.

00:22:09.700 --> 00:22:11.243
But that's where we're at.

00:22:11.243 --> 00:22:13.229
That's what we're trying to do, trying to get that out there.

00:22:14.211 --> 00:22:25.895
Uh, yeah, like that okay, so as far as the the cast, then, as you say, you guys are looking into companies and things like that.

00:22:25.895 --> 00:22:41.096
So just for an aspiring actor or aspiring actress or producer, how would they be able to contact you guys to see if they would be a good fit for the project that you guys are working on?

00:22:44.260 --> 00:22:47.666
Okay, yeah, they can reach us at casting at stilltownrecordsinccom.

00:22:47.666 --> 00:22:58.306
Yeah, that's one of the main ways to send in their portfolios and stuff like that for the actual film project.

00:23:00.880 --> 00:23:01.201
Okay.

00:23:01.201 --> 00:23:05.269
Yeah so yeah, so sounds like some interesting stuff.

00:23:05.269 --> 00:23:07.047
Man, y'all got a lot of stuff going on.

00:23:07.047 --> 00:23:10.108
I like the team y'all built up and everything.

00:23:10.108 --> 00:23:14.267
Is there anything anybody want to share on their part?

00:23:14.267 --> 00:23:15.601
Anything about the family?

00:23:15.601 --> 00:23:17.608
Anything about the production side of it?

00:23:19.368 --> 00:23:21.807
yeah, I would like to say something also.

00:23:21.807 --> 00:23:26.046
We are selling merchandise for Steel Town.

00:23:26.046 --> 00:23:29.787
We have the t-shirts, the polo shirts and the hats.

00:23:29.787 --> 00:23:41.544
So we're working with marketing to get all the social media platforms on board so people can see the content and purchase some of the merchandise.

00:23:43.790 --> 00:23:45.707
And I like the polo.

00:23:45.707 --> 00:23:46.986
The polo's pretty nice.

00:23:46.986 --> 00:23:49.666
Now I want a black and white one myself.

00:23:50.549 --> 00:23:57.810
Okay, yeah, is there a way you could post a picture of that on your thing so people could like briefly see that from there, if possible?

00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:05.279
Yeah, but we talked about it and you know, you said that you didn't want to do it until you guys actually got everything together, okay, okay, yeah, you're talking about the, and you said that you didn't want to do it until you guys actually got everything together.

00:24:05.299 --> 00:24:07.606
Okay, are you talking about the link?

00:24:07.606 --> 00:24:12.528
I was just speaking on just a visual, just to see it, because it's a great polo shirt, it's awesome.

00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:20.148
Yeah, and the merch is going to help us to get funding for the movie, for the project.

00:24:20.148 --> 00:24:22.224
So we're really trying to put the merch.

00:24:24.451 --> 00:24:28.482
Okay, yeah, you know I didn't want to.

00:24:28.482 --> 00:24:33.181
Uh, I don't want to step outside of my bounds and do something that you know that you guys probably weren't ready for.

00:24:33.181 --> 00:24:42.228
But, yeah, I can post it on my social media page and try to promote it as promote it as much as I can like like me and captain keep kind of talked about.

00:24:42.228 --> 00:24:47.980
You know, that's what I'm trying to do on my end, and so, yeah, I can post about that.

00:24:47.980 --> 00:24:50.788
I like the shirts myself.

00:24:50.788 --> 00:24:55.425
Yeah, I ain't seen the hats, though, ken, you tell me you had hats, man.

00:24:56.019 --> 00:25:01.827
Man the hats, sharp man, it's tight-fitting, it's fitting, you know, and it has a logo on front of the record.

00:25:01.827 --> 00:25:06.340
Steel Time we created a logo too.

00:25:06.340 --> 00:25:07.482
Still Time from the key.

00:25:07.482 --> 00:25:09.366
Now this is the funny part.

00:25:09.366 --> 00:25:17.510
Right, me and Merv, we was getting some of the hats to send off to Dion because she's conducting a photo shoot for our content.

00:25:17.510 --> 00:25:21.888
And there's all these rows of hats that looked like it was so compressed, like pretty little ice cream cones.

00:25:21.888 --> 00:25:26.604
There's all these rows of hats that look like it was like it was so compressed, like a pretty like little, look like little ice cream cones.

00:25:26.604 --> 00:25:30.580
I'm like merv man, these hats, why are we seeing these hats, you know?

00:25:30.580 --> 00:25:33.587
And they they fit like little baby midgets.

00:25:33.587 --> 00:25:34.328
They can't fit.

00:25:34.328 --> 00:25:38.443
So merv was like he was looking at me, like he was like give me the hat, idiot.

00:25:38.443 --> 00:25:49.001
So I gave him the hat and he put it, and he put it on his head and we put it on his head no longer did it look like it was impossible.

00:25:49.061 --> 00:25:51.046
I'm like, well, I'll be damn, it fits you perfectly.

00:25:51.046 --> 00:25:54.622
You got a nice big hat I have a big head and you know.

00:25:54.622 --> 00:25:55.825
So that's what I realized.

00:25:55.825 --> 00:25:59.481
I was like, because it's stretchable, it hit from the back, you created it.

00:25:59.481 --> 00:26:02.710
So I was like, okay, wow, yeah, okay, yeah, that's cool, yeah.

00:26:02.710 --> 00:26:03.771
So we got the hats.

00:26:03.771 --> 00:26:16.094
They're nice, but they come in black and white and white and black and they could also come in that lambskin leather also, but as time goes by, that's what we'll, you know, push out and stuff like that, yeah.

00:26:18.800 --> 00:26:25.607
So Deion the question when you talk about the merch, is it going to be like a website?

00:26:25.607 --> 00:26:33.496
Do you guys have one out already, or are you going to have one coming out where people can go and purchase these items?

00:26:34.057 --> 00:26:34.257
Right.

00:26:34.257 --> 00:26:43.646
So at this stage, right now, we're working on different social media platforms.

00:26:43.646 --> 00:26:47.513
I believe it's going to be the Instagram, tiktokok, youtube, facebook, is that right, ken?

00:26:47.513 --> 00:26:50.707
Yeah, so so we're working on getting the link together.

00:26:50.707 --> 00:27:12.107
What we're doing also is we're setting up uh, we have different scheduled photo shoots that we're going to be doing this week and we're giving it like, within two weeks we'll have the content ready and then then we'll send it over to the marketing department, to where they'll have everything ready, and then we'll have a link to where they can purchase it.

00:27:13.511 --> 00:27:13.913
Okay.

00:27:14.540 --> 00:27:17.509
Yeah, we'll be in the beginning of that, getting the content.

00:27:17.630 --> 00:27:19.905
Okay, that sounds good.

00:27:19.905 --> 00:27:34.653
Now, Kel, just repeat this one more time man, for the people that you're looking for as far as independent artists, you said you want people that can write and produce music that was like in the 40s, 50s and 60s.

00:27:34.692 --> 00:27:38.650
You say yeah, what we'll do is give them a scene in the film as well.

00:27:38.650 --> 00:27:49.750
So like that scene where Mr Gordon Keefe goes to Catherine's house after the Jacksons left for Motown, right, and it's a very powerful, emotional, compelling scene.

00:27:49.750 --> 00:28:15.867
So from that, the way it will be described to the artist or viewed to the artist, and through the treatment of synopsis, right, or, yeah, that is what and how they could write from it from each scene, everything that happens in the scene, like how the Jacksons, let's say, like from how Steel Town was built by the five men, and stuff like that, you can have a scene, a song can be created from that aspect, or just anything that happens in the movie.

00:28:15.867 --> 00:28:24.736
The artist could write from that if it was in the 50s, 60s, 70s, something like that, because the movie will go back into like the late 40s and stuff like that, because the movie will go back into the late 40s and stuff like that.

00:28:24.736 --> 00:28:28.890
Yeah, things of that nature, okay.

00:28:30.201 --> 00:28:33.266
Hey so we leave what you got to add to this man.

00:28:35.391 --> 00:28:57.444
Well, you know, I'm here to do what I can in terms of research, can I tell you and I've gone back and tried to do what I could in terms of different books like um, uh, heather jackson's book uh, you know, book on the jackson's uh, on michael jackson, a biography on michael jackson.

00:28:57.444 --> 00:28:59.308
You know sources like that.

00:28:59.308 --> 00:29:07.340
I've even gone to this book that this um, this guy wrote about the history of um of gary, indiana, which is pretty good.

00:29:07.340 --> 00:29:11.869
So I want to kind of get an idea of how things were back in the day.

00:29:11.869 --> 00:29:16.047
One of the things that I mean, can I tell you I've had countless conversations about.

00:29:16.047 --> 00:29:23.509
I'm a stickler for not just accuracy, but I'm also a stickler for um, uh, often you know things that are authentic.

00:29:23.509 --> 00:29:31.351
You know, it's like I shouldn't be watching a film and hearing terminology that's used today.

00:29:31.351 --> 00:29:32.605
That's supposed to be a period piece.

00:29:32.605 --> 00:29:36.450
That irritates me.

00:29:36.450 --> 00:29:38.567
And then the other thing is that it does.

00:29:38.799 --> 00:29:46.557
It just is like you know, back in those days they weren't saying stuff like it's all good If it's supposed to be 1965, why am I hearing that term?

00:29:46.557 --> 00:29:46.880
Come on, man.

00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:51.731
Or you see some hairstyles that you see today that they weren't rocking back then.

00:29:51.731 --> 00:30:03.027
One of the things that I provided, or I shared with Ken was you can hear the brothers talking among themselves and they were just chopping it up.

00:30:03.027 --> 00:30:06.334
This is back in 1970.

00:30:06.334 --> 00:30:11.390
Well, I'm from california and even though you know I'm not from that community, you can, I.

00:30:11.390 --> 00:30:12.271
It it's a it.

00:30:12.271 --> 00:30:16.465
It takes you back and to that time period.

00:30:16.465 --> 00:30:23.429
And also, I mean, you know, if you're from gary, if you're from chicago, you're from, uh, los angeles, you're from harlem, you're from oakland, wherever, uh.

00:30:23.429 --> 00:30:26.240
And if you're from Chicago, you're from Los Angeles, you're from Harlem, you're from Oakland, wherever.

00:30:26.240 --> 00:30:28.584
And if you remember those days, you can relate to that.

00:30:28.584 --> 00:30:30.384
I mean you hear them.

00:30:30.384 --> 00:30:47.172
They're sitting there chopping it up and all it is is just a bunch of brothers just you know, off the cuff, just you know shooting a breeze type of thing, and the way they sounded back then is a lot different to how these youngsters sound now.

00:30:47.172 --> 00:30:55.250
So what I'm saying is if you got somebody or got folks playing the Jackson 5, they need to study how they sounded in interviews.

00:30:55.250 --> 00:31:01.737
How they sounded whether it be radio interviews, tv interviews, you know similar to how what's his name?

00:31:01.737 --> 00:31:11.378
Jamie Foxx did when he was preparing for his role for Ray Charles in the movie Ray you know.

00:31:11.378 --> 00:31:17.354
So all of those kinds of things are important and we won't even get into the clothing.

00:31:17.704 --> 00:31:27.190
Finally, I'll say this, and I've said this before One of my favorite films is the Five Heartbeats that Robert Townsend did and it's real authentic.

00:31:27.190 --> 00:31:30.758
I mean, I shared that movie with an uncle of mine.

00:31:30.758 --> 00:31:34.954
He's about 80, almost 81 now, and he was in his 20s back in the 60s.

00:31:34.954 --> 00:31:38.311
And I have another uncle who was a teenager back then.

00:31:38.311 --> 00:31:50.727
That was, you know, that's the music of his era, that's the music of his era.

00:31:50.727 --> 00:31:57.954
So, um, robert townsend, he hired, he got makeup artists, uh, costume folk, hairstylists, all that kind of stuff, and they looked at old magazines from ebony and other publications from back in the day to make it authentic.

00:31:57.954 --> 00:32:05.223
I mean, if anybody's seen the movie, you see, the movie was done from supposed, supposed to cover from 1965 to 1990.

00:32:05.223 --> 00:32:11.816
So we're talking a 25-year period and you felt like you were back in time, right, you know?

00:32:11.816 --> 00:32:15.115
So that's how this film yeah.

00:32:18.734 --> 00:32:19.505
Now don't get me wrong.

00:32:21.009 --> 00:32:28.189
I like the fine hard beats, but I don't have to say that my favorite was the Temptations.

00:32:28.189 --> 00:32:32.109
My bad yeah, Temptations.

00:32:32.150 --> 00:32:33.615
Yeah, and even with that movie, wow.

00:32:33.615 --> 00:32:35.789
I love the.

00:32:35.809 --> 00:32:36.874
Temptations movie.

00:32:36.874 --> 00:32:40.132
Man, I'm sorry, man, that was my favorite one.

00:32:42.351 --> 00:32:48.651
And you see, when you speak of the temptations right, the movie was great, you loved it, right, but it's something that you didn't know.

00:32:48.651 --> 00:33:00.018
Johnny May Matthews went after them after the movie was done and she sued them because they were painting a picture of her according to her, not how she was.

00:33:00.018 --> 00:33:01.345
You know what I'm saying.

00:33:01.345 --> 00:33:03.752
So that's another thing with this story.

00:33:03.752 --> 00:33:08.875
Here is very crucial and critical to make sure that we tell the story exactly like how it occurred.

00:33:08.875 --> 00:33:12.050
You know, you know, so that would never happen to us.

00:33:12.050 --> 00:33:16.330
And the most fascinating thing is, we have the rights and the power to go forward with this thing.

00:33:16.330 --> 00:33:20.048
That's another reason why we really want to do this, because no one has.

00:33:20.048 --> 00:33:24.357
Everybody else in the outsiders can't do this, because this is not the biography.

00:33:24.357 --> 00:33:29.548
Mr Keith never shared his biography, from what we know to them to that degree.

00:33:29.548 --> 00:33:32.988
We know the levels we talk about from A to.

00:33:33.008 --> 00:33:33.068
Z.

00:33:33.068 --> 00:33:37.670
So I want to piggyback real quick on something that Lennon said.

00:33:37.670 --> 00:33:42.733
So you know, to make things original and authentic.

00:33:42.733 --> 00:33:50.633
So, since the Jackson 5 was in gary, do you guys plan on doing any scenes in gary?

00:33:50.633 --> 00:33:54.788
Is it going to be based off of things in gary or are you doing it somewhere?

00:33:54.867 --> 00:34:01.798
else it depends because let's say like, for instance, right, we won't, we know we can't use the house there because we already know how those things are.

00:34:01.798 --> 00:34:09.514
Again, when you look at, we would want to, we want to do all these great things for Gary but, like I was saying, I think Gary has to allow that to happen.

00:34:09.514 --> 00:34:14.456
And, looking back politically, the figureheads or whatever, back then they didn't allow it.

00:34:14.456 --> 00:34:19.657
Mr Gordon Keith does, even to this day, don't even have a name of his, a street named after him.

00:34:19.657 --> 00:34:32.447
Like I said, his property was destroyed, you know, only on that block where my cousins reside, at that block and their dad, they gave their dad a street on the property where Mr Key's house was at.

00:34:32.447 --> 00:34:33.934
That's the only thing that they destroyed.

00:34:34.416 --> 00:34:52.170
So to get you know, that would be lovely to doing it there, right, but you know it would have to be right, it would have to be allowed and you know, and you know from the right ways, you know, and things of that nature, uh, we minus the permits, we know how, how those things go, um, but yeah, we would want to.

00:34:52.170 --> 00:34:56.625
You know it would have to be allowed, uh and uh, you know.

00:34:56.625 --> 00:35:02.146
And then another thing too you don't always have to be in a specific place as a beauty of filmmaking.

00:35:02.146 --> 00:35:05.976
You, you know you have the abilities to create things anywhere that it looks like there.

00:35:05.976 --> 00:35:15.436
But sometimes, right, there's nothing wrong with actually having it done at the place where it all originated at, and that's what I really wanted for Steel Town Records.

00:35:15.485 --> 00:35:22.652
But I think you know it was totally destroyed so that we couldn't take it, buy it, like we bought the other property.

00:35:22.652 --> 00:35:26.552
We own the other property where Johnny was murdered at, and Gary also.

00:35:26.552 --> 00:35:29.773
Our plan is to slowly turn that into a museum.

00:35:29.773 --> 00:35:32.492
You know what I'm saying For the public.

00:35:32.492 --> 00:35:36.672
The same time we did that, we were trying to get steel time.

00:35:36.672 --> 00:35:39.588
That's where that miraculously thing occurred.

00:35:39.588 --> 00:35:40.532
We investigated it.

00:35:40.532 --> 00:35:44.889
We even have the paperwork to show that.

00:35:46.610 --> 00:35:51.298
Yeah, okay, so I guess this would be my last question for you, kent.

00:35:51.298 --> 00:35:54.773
So uh, I sure hate it.

00:35:55.153 --> 00:35:58.184
I sure hate it as the last, because I you know I mean there's more questions.

00:35:59.449 --> 00:36:04.804
I'm willing to give you more hey, let's also say she got something to do, man, she's driving to destination.

00:36:04.804 --> 00:36:06.914
She can't be still.

00:36:06.985 --> 00:36:20.684
That's what she told me well, that's fine, she can do that hey, listen, we can always come back, you know, as we move further along, and we'd be happy to come back on.

00:36:20.684 --> 00:36:24.371
I did want to say this too as well, before I forget.

00:36:24.371 --> 00:36:51.351
While we're in the process of building our social media platforms with the marketing department, if anybody has any inquiries about any merchandise, they can hit Mr Kenna Joseph up via email until we finish getting that part ready and I guess, ken, you can give them an email like once he posts a photo of it and they want to buy something until we get the platforms ready.

00:36:52.333 --> 00:37:03.630
Yeah, yeah, that'd be fine, absolutely, and they can hit me up for that at K-E-N-N-E-T-H-J-O-E-S-E-P-H at gmailcom.

00:37:03.630 --> 00:37:04.456
Kennethj-h at gmailcom.

00:37:04.456 --> 00:37:07.356
Kennethjoseph at gmailcom.

00:37:07.356 --> 00:37:09.489
Kennethjoseph at gmailcom.

00:37:09.489 --> 00:37:11.990
Okay, so you were saying thank you for that, deedee.

00:37:11.990 --> 00:37:14.393
So you were saying the question.

00:37:15.626 --> 00:37:16.815
Okay, what question do you want to ask?

00:37:16.835 --> 00:37:16.896
me.

00:37:18.126 --> 00:37:34.340
So, since we're talking about Mr Keith and him being the founder of jackson five and he managed the jackson five, I was reading somewhere that in 2010 that that song uh, big boy, you changed.

00:37:34.340 --> 00:37:39.311
Uh, it was displayed in the in the in the rock and roll hall of fame.

00:37:39.311 --> 00:37:40.715
Man, how did you feel about that?

00:37:40.715 --> 00:37:51.686
I'm like like what kind of feeling of joy that you have to sit with somebody that you knew, that actually, you know, created this and made this group who they was.

00:37:51.686 --> 00:37:53.289
Man, how was your feelings about that?

00:37:54.092 --> 00:37:55.916
wow, I think that is very amazing.

00:37:55.916 --> 00:37:59.971
And uh, yeah, that was in 2000.

00:37:59.971 --> 00:38:01.032
Yeah, yeah, that was.

00:38:01.032 --> 00:38:03.797
Yeah, that was a good feeling'm not mistaken.

00:38:03.797 --> 00:38:05.380
I think Mr Keith did mention that to me.

00:38:05.380 --> 00:38:26.527
It was a great feeling when he you know, when he mentioned that to me To know that this came from him but sad to say, that You've Changed also was taken from Mr Gordon Keith by Motown without Mr Keith's permission, without signing him a kind of agreement, and he was placed on the actual album for the jackson five.

00:38:26.547 --> 00:38:27.309
Uh, coming to motown as well.

00:38:27.309 --> 00:38:29.393
But other than that, it was a great feeling.

00:38:29.393 --> 00:38:34.449
It's just overwhelming to you know, to be a part of mr keith and that's that's.

00:38:34.449 --> 00:38:35.092
That was a.

00:38:35.092 --> 00:38:48.708
It was overwhelming, but it's something that I had to learn because I was so strung up into the media at the time I that's how I was looking at the media for that perspective I thought that certain things had to be a certain kind of way.

00:38:48.708 --> 00:38:53.012

Behind the Hits The Unsung Heroes of Steel Town Records

From Dimmed Sight to Insight The Awakening of a Storyteller