I recently viewed the site at 4521 Natural Bridge, now a vacant lot that was once Archway Recording Studio and the residence of the late Oliver Sain. I was saddened and depressed. St. Louis and the world lost a place that created and housed music and fine art.
In an interview with St. Louis Blues Net, Sain said, “I began Archway in 1965. When I began recording, we recorded lots of blues and gospel. Ike and Tina cut in here! Cleophus Robinson, the O’Neal twins, Zella Jackson Price – lots of gospel. David Dee recorded his hit, ‘Goin’ Fishing’ here, and I recorded two hits of mine here, ‘Bus Stop’ and ‘Feel Like Dancing.’ The studio used to be in the storefront of my building.”
Andre Malraux wrote: “Culture is the sum of all the forms of art, of love, and of thought, which, in the course of centuries, have enabled man to be less enslaved.”
Insha Farid reminds us that when change comes at the cost of the culture, the society, instead of progressing, moves backwards. It is only a matter of time before we completely lose our culture and traditions.
Our culture is something we should take pride in. We should cherish and celebrate our culture rather than forgetting it completely.
In my St. Louis American column of August 9, 2001, I wrote, “Although we no longer have a black mayor or police chief, I think conditions for African Americans in this area are worse than most other cities. I remember Mill Creek, The Ville, Easton Avenue, Franklin Avenue, Wellston and other neighborhood and communities where black pride flourished. What is also troubling to me is that when neighborhoods are destroyed, historical landmarks and memories also are shattered.”
Oliver’s widow, Ruby Sain, and several groups made numerous efforts to preserve the studio. They envisioned a museum and a school to teach students the music business and train musicians. All of the attempts failed for many different reasons.
Wikipedia refers to Oliver Sain Jr. as “an American saxophonist, songwriter, bandleader, drummer and record producer, who was an important figure in the development of rhythm and blues music, notably in St Louis, Missouri.”
The publication All Music defined him as a performer and as a producer who exerted an influence on the evolution of St. Louis soul and R&B that is rivaled only by that of his close friend and infrequent collaborator, Ike Turner. Discogs lists many works recorded at Archway at https://www.discogs.com/label/293164-Archway-Studios.
I wonder what will be the next historical site that will be lost? Do we have any power? What does it take to preserve and protect our monuments?
Please watch the Bernie Hayes TV program Saturday night at 10 p.m. and Sunday evenings at 5:30 p.m. on NLEC-TV Ch. 24.2. I can be reached by fax at (314) 837-3369 or e-mail at: berhay@swbell.net. Or on Twitter @berhay.
Just the facts. No one could access the studio whatsoever for at least 10 yrs without their intellectual property being exposed to and possibly interfered with by Jimmy Hinds (Marsha Evan’s husband ) and another person named James despite the many contributions of others to all the studio projects you’ve named for NO MONEY.
For instance , I worked there for an entire year and played guitar and various other instruments on most of the Goin Fishing album and got nothing but excuses about my barter agreement and NO MONEY to compensate for it either.
Being blocked and ignored when making any inquiries about buying studio time for 10 yrs had a way of making me totally uninterested when Ruby approached me about this “saving” project and I immediately reminded her of the two people who had held it under hostile occupation the whole time and kept walking .
You don’t “play” me , I don’t care who you are, the respect goes right down the toilet.
The fact is , both of them and all of their little inner circle had become full of themselves and hostile about nothing at all except their own inauthenticity & inability to produce anything that interested anyone besides themselves.
People need to stop keeping absolute lies alive for an eternity for fear of facing themselves and the truth, it’s called growth.
For years , it has literally turned my stomach to hear their names mentioned , that’s how fakery and lies hit with me.
They need to just say they CURSED THEMSELVES trying to play with people and it backfired in the form obsolescence and self-deletion.
All this other stuff people lament about is just *magic* spells that don’t work anymore, obviously.