GAWDAM! Little Richard, the king of Rock by his own admission, and Jerry Lee Lewis, hillbilly rock and roll piano stomper, in a concert t’gether. Jes lak the ole daze!

Richard, queen mother of rock and roll, reveals his innermost secrets and hidden desires in this exclusive on the air interview with swingin’ WKNR-FM d.j. and Creem Staffer Danny Carlisle:

Dan: Welcome to Detroit

Little: Oh, 1 love Detroit. I’m very glad to be here in Detroit, it’s one of my favorite cities.

Dan: You still the best looking guy in show business? Little: Oh yeah, let it all hang out . . it’s the beautiful Little Richard from Macon, Georgia. We’re gonna be singin’ all those favorites . . like Long Tall Sally, Good Gollv Miss Molly, Tutti Frutti, Rip It Up and The Girl Can’t Help It If She's Got Em, Miss Annie, Keep a Knocking, and Lucille.

Dan: Keep a Knocking, you’re gonna do?

Little: Allofem.

Dan: Slippin ’ and a Slidin'

Little: Slippin’ and a Slidin! We gonna have a good time. 1 was just tellin’ ya I’m gonna record at Apple Records, along with the Beatles.

Dan: That’s right.

Little: And you know I’m one of their favorite entertainers. I’m sure you’ve probably heard that.

Dan: Well, you’ve intluenced them greatly.

Little: Oh yes, greatly. And so we gonna be there sockin’ it to the people, and let it all hang out from every place. Let ’em come out of that hall with the beautiful Little Richard. And I’m gonna be wearin’ somethin’ that they never seen nothin’ like it in their life. Gonna light up the whole entire building.

Dan: What is this, an electric suit or something?

Little: It’s a glass suit.

Dan: A glass suit.

Little: Made of glass.

Dan: What color is it?

Little: Oh, it’s white, but it lights up . . . my body becomes like a rainbow .... from the stage of each light, ah, piece of glass, which is like 400 pieces, become a ray of light from my body through the audience.

Dan: Well, wonderful. Ah, 1 was wondering . . you were a minister at one time.

Little: Well, I studied it, 1 never did become one.

Dan: You didn’t have a congregation, then?

Little: No No No. I only studied it in school.

Dan: Could you tell me the story, now I have heard this story ... I don’t know if it’s true, but, ah, where you got “a womp bob loo bop a womp bam boom, Tutti Frutti”?? Where did you get that from?

Little: Well, I was working at the Greyhound Bus Station in Macon, Georgia, washin’ dishes, and 1 wrote the song, and so 1 used to be there singin, “A womp bob a loo bap a womp bam boom.” That’s my way of talkin to the people at the time. You know? So 1 took the thing and put it to Tutti Fruiti and got a smash. Thank god for Tutti Fruiti. And the kitchen. Dan: The sound of dishes, right?

Little: Yeah. Boy.

Dan: What kind of hairstyle, well, you had a Beatle hairstyle a long time ago, didn’t ya?

Little: Yes, I still have it.

Dan: You still have it?

Little: Yes, it’s higher than Jimi Hendrix.

Dan: No.

Little: Yes, except it look better than him coz I’m a better lookin’ man, ya see. You know, Jimi Hendrix used to be my guitar player, you know he played with me for two years.

Dan: He split from you down south someplace, didn’t he?

Little: Yes, he split from me in London. In London, England.

Dan: In London?

Little: Yes, in London. Because he used to burn the amplifiers on the stage and I got tired of gettin new amplifiers. He set a match to them and would burn them up.

Dan: Yeah, did he cop anything from you?

Little: Oh yes, he got a lot of this, came from me, you know? And, ah, that’s the reason I don’t want him to burn up the amplifiers cuz, ah, cuz I was causin’ enough upset with a scream and he was takin’ matches.

Dan: How many times have you been in Detroit? Little: I’ve been here a lot of times, but, you know, every time I am refreshed to come into this wonderful city, to see all the people in the motor city to bring this true rock and roll back to the city, the real authentic sound, the truth. It’s magnificent. It’s gonna be a humdinger. Right there in that hall. We gonna do it all right there.

Dan: People are gonna get crazy.

Little: Oh my god, they will be just jumpin’ all over the piano. Jerry Lee Lewis is gonna be jumpin’ up on it, and 1 will too. So we’ll be swingin all over the place.

Dan: Who was first, you or Jerry Lee Lewis?

Little: I was.

Dan: You were first?

Little: He was inspired by me, too. But he’s goin’ into the country field-which is a fantastic field. I’ll be singin’ country, too. I’ll be doin’ everything he’s gonna be doin’. I’m gonna do some rhythm and blues, and rock and roll . . . I’ll be doin’ Elvis Presley, I’m gonna do it all.

Dan: Are you still 24?

Little: 24 years old and beautiful.

Dan: 24 year old . . . (laugh).

Little: If Cassius Clay can say he’s pretty, I can say I’m beautiful.

Dan: That’s right. There will probably be special guards up there just to keep the chicks away, won’t there?

Little: Oh my god, they’re gonna have to have guards everywhere to guard this beauty.

Dan: That’s right. 1 was in New York about a year ago ... I was with a cab driver who played, he said he played bass guitar with you, said he traveled around with you for a long time.

Little: What was his name?

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Dan: I don’t remember, but he was drivin’ a cab in Brooklyn.

Little: Tall?

Dan: Don’t remember, he was sittin’ down, you know?

Little: Oh yes. It could have been ole Masie Brown he used to be with me a long time ago. I think he’s a taxi driver now.

Dan: Is he from New York?

Little: He should have been drivin’ then, he couldn’t play. I wished I woulda known he was in town, I would have got him a job then.

Dan: (laugh) Your records still selling?

Little: Oh yes, they sell consistent . . all over the world. All over the world. We just played in Geneva, Switzerland, over 25 hundred kids at the airport to greet me. We just played Atlantic City, we had 60,000. We just played New York, 27,000. We just played Vancover, and the Canned Heat was just fantastic.

Dan: How do you feel about this new progressive radio?

Little: Oh, I like it. Because, it’s really not new. You know, it’s like the new group playin’ the old blues, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf . . . it’s old. But I’m glad

to see these young people takin it and carrying it across. You understand?

Dan: Sure, sure.

Little: And I’m grateful to them. I’m grateful to them for keepin the old stars alive.

Dan: That’s right. The Beatles claim that the first time that you and Chuck Berry were very

instrumental in that.

Little: I gave them their first tour. In fact, I got them their first date. In Liverpool. Paul, ah, John owes me four dollars and I think I’ll collect it when I go over there to record.

Dan: What do you have in mind to record?

Little: Well, we’re doin a song called, Everybody’s Got To Be Free. It’s the thing the Beatles and I got together to record. Let me begin the song, (singing) “Da da, da da da .... (continues with

that).some people think that I’m afraid.”

And then me and the Beatles together. It’s great. We gonna do the Love Sick Blues together. You know, “Got a feeling for the blues, woo Lord, My baby said goodbye.” We gonna do that, too.

Dan: I have an album of yours, I don’t know if it’s re-cuts or not. It seems that they added strings or something to some of your stuff.

Little: Oh my god.

Dan: And, ah, I played the album, and I knew it wasn’t your original stuff, but one of the tunes, really two of them, that really knocked me out . . are Slippin and a Slidin ’ and Keep a Knockin ’.

Little: Oh, those are my favorites.

Dan: Did you write those?

Little: I wrote everything I sing, but yeah I wrote those. Slippin and a Slidin’, Peepin and a Hidin’ and Keep a Knockin, those are my favorite two. Last night I rocked the house in Lansing, Michigan to Keep A Knockin’. A big fat lady jumped up on the stage and danced all across the stage ‘til I made her sit down.

Dan: Well, she was testifying.

Little: Yeah, she was really testifying. She was testifying . . .

Dan: Well wonderful.

Little: Yeah, I was wondering when the testimony was gonna stop.

Dan: This is gonna be a big high energy evening in Detroit.

Little: Yeah, it’s gonna. Me and Jerry Lee Lewis gonna get up and testify all by ourselves.

Dan: Did you know who said he’s gonna come over and testify?

Little: Who?

Dan: Johnny Winter.

Little: Oh, bring him over. My god. Let him sing the blues.

Dan: Yeah, he says he’s cornin’ over before he does his act.

Little: Oh god. Well, he’s fantastic.

Dan: Yes. He’s a Texas boy.

Little: Yes, I know. That’s the long horn country. . . . he’s strong down there, Yes, baby, he’s got a lot of soul, too.

Dan: Yes. He does . . . You’re responsible for one of the top R n B singers?

Little: Yes, Otis Redding.

Dan: Yes, Otis Redding, and the other guy from Macon, Georgia.

Little: Yes.

Dan: I believe his name is James Brown.

Little: James Brown, he don’t give me any credit. You know, Otis Redding told people that 1 inspired him . . . you know, 1 put James Brown in show business. He never talkin’ about it. I found him from Nickol, Georgia, and put him in the business. I got him a manager, I got him his first recording session on King records, with Please, Please, Please and Anything but he never mention me cause he took my thing with the hair ... he don’t wear it now. But he copied me. And he never gives me the credit, but I’m still here . .. and he’s still here, too. We both here .... he’s an out of sight entertainer.

Dan: Do you remember, do you know the early Charms?

Little: Oh yes, I do.

Dan: Are any of those cats still around?

Little: I haven’t seen any of those cats in a long time. You know, when I meet them, they look so old, and I’m lookin young (and IS young), ah, I don’t know what happened to those folks.

Dan: What do you think of, compared to what the rock stars look now, to the way they used to look? Little: Well, I still look the same. I dress flamboyant, I don’t wear all them suits stuff. I’m sittin here now with pink hangin down my legs, with sequins all round the bottom and pearls hangin round my neck, ah, I like the way they dress. One thing I like about the people that they call hippies today, 1 don’t call them hippies. I call them the “RP’S”, which means the REAL PEOPLE’

Dan: Yeah,. . .

Little: The Real People, you know. I dig them cause they’re the real people, cause they are not phoney, they are doin’ what they feel. That’s the reason I did them. That’s the reason 1 like Liberace . . because he’s doin what he feels and I’ll do what I feel . . . when I walk through the airport everybody look, but I like for them to look.

Dan: Sure.

Little: But when they stop lookin’, (get mad.

Dan: That’s right.

Little: I love for them to look; let it all hang out.

Dan: Sure (laughs) . . .

Little: (Making screaming, barking-type

noises).(Dan Laughin) .... all over the

place . . . yes, I do .... I keep goin everywhere.

Dan: You are the true tradition of Rock and Roll. Little Richard: That’s, right, got it all. You got to come out too, child. Yes. I want to tell all my friends, come out and see the bronze Liberace.

Dan: The Bronze Liberace??

Little: Yeah, 1 want all the women folk, wherever you are, to say “whewww!”. All the men, wherever you are, to say “Ohhh!”. My soul.

Dan: That’s how all the sisters call at ya . . .

Little: That’s right. Those are the call letters.

Dan: Could I hear that again?

Little: Let all the women folk say “whewww, my soul.”

Dan: This is a very high energy rock and roll city, you know.

Little: 1 know it, and I love them too, I want them all out there at General Motors and the Ford Motor Company and everywhere, to come on out and see the beautiful Little Richard from Macon, Georgia. My, my, my, my.

Dan: That’s right, it’s true. And I also,

ah.Who is your back up group this time?

Little: Ah, I have my band with me. Yes, the Crown Jewels.

Dan: The Crown Jewels? (chuckling).

Little: Yes, they are the jewel in the King’s crown. Dan: How many people is that?

Little: Ah, it’s about nine.

Dan: A nine piece band?

Little: Yes, we gonna rock em.

Dan: Yes, how many is Jerry Lee bringin with him? Little: Ah, Jerry Lee has about four with him, four or five. Five. It’s low down. I played with Lee Caldwell, he’s outasite. He’s gonna be rockin with Jerry Lee Lewis, he’s a humdinger, you know, too. tDan: Have you played with him before?

Little: Oh yes, A Whole Lot of Shakin Goin On. We gonna get through it shakin up, too.

Dan: You’re gonna do Breathless, I hope, too.

Little: Oh, we gonna do everything. Confidential, he’s gonna do Green Grass, oh lord, Jerry Lee, he’s outasite. He’s from that old school, too, you know.

Dan: Little Richard, ah ... .

Little: I’m younger than he is.

Dan: Oh yes, 1 know that. Everybody knows that you’re younger than he is.

Little: Yes.

Dan: But. ah . . . some of the early rock shows. In the mid 50’s, what were they like?

Little: Oh, the show, it was fantastic. I was somethin’ like what the Beatles did when they came over to this country, you know, how the kids be lined up in the streets. That’s’the way it was in 56. You know, for ever’ attraction, like Elvis Presley, and myself. Fat Domino . . .

Dan: Yeah how is he?

Little: Oh, Fats is doin’ fine. He’s doin’ good. We saw him in Las Vegas not too long ago. We gonna be in Las Vegas ... me and Frank Sinatra.

Dan: Oh no. Presley just got through there, didn’t he? Little: Yes, 1 saw him there. Yes, that’s my old buddy there. He shook them loose.

Dan: That’s right.

Little: He tore them down to the ground. You couldn’t hear a sound till he was through, singin Hound Dog and everything. They been missin all of this good stuff for years and we got it and we got it and it’s outasite, it’s uptight, and we got it, it’s gonna be all right, with Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, the two dynamites of show business. The Battle of the Pianos. My god ....

Dan: Hey listen, we still play your tunes here.

Little: Please do, don’t you stop.

Dan: We never do . . .

Little: Please, cause when you stop you’re gonna have bad luck.

Dan: Is that right?

Little: Please, don’t stop, so you can continue to have good luck.

Dan: Who do you record with now?

Little: Ah, the.

Dan: Besides Apple?

Little: No one now. I’m just goin with Apple Records, the Beatles.

Dan: Apple Records, that’s just fantastic.

Little: And I want all the kids to come out and see the man who taught Paul how to go, “Wheeewwwwwww. ” 1 showed him that.

Dan: Did you really?

Little: My god, if 1 had the books, I’d show ya, I showed him that at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany.

Dan: Did you know who wants to, who’s gonna meet you, he says he’s one of your biggest fans, and says he got .a lot of his things from you?

Little: Who’s that?

Dan: Mitch Ryder.

Little: Oh.(screaming) the Detroit Wheels?

Dan: That’s right.

Little: My god, tell them to bring the Wheels on down to the hall. Mitch Ryder, my, Jenny, Jenny, Jenny (singing).

Dan: That’s right.

Little: My god, he got to come out, and I’ll be singin all of them.

Dan: He says he’s cornin’ cause if it wasn’t for your screamin, he couldn’t.

Little: Oh, my lord, and I’m gonna be hollering at my most.

Dan: How, ah, when did you first pick up on the great screamin you do?

Little: In 1952.

Dan: hmmm. What was your first experience with it? Little: Ah, well I used to play piano and organ with the church and I used to sing with the choir, so I got used to doin’ it, so I didn’t stop.

Dan: That’s right. What was your first? Was Tutti Fruiti your first tune?

Little: Tutti Fruiti was my first hit.

Dan: How long had you been in show business before then?

Little: I think I’ve been in show business since I was nine years old.

Dan: Nine years old.

Little: Yes.

Dan: But, that was in the gospel field, wasn’t it?

Little: Yes.

Dan: Did you know Big Mama Thorton?

Little: Yes . . . HOUNDDOG!

Dan: Right.

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singer.

Dan: She is. She is.

Little: Very good blues singer.

Dan: She’s makin it around, again, you know.

Little: Yes, Yes.

Dan: Everybody’s comin back cause they’re seein how righteous it is.

Little: The music scene is comin back to that. You know, the Beatles gettin’ ready to go back to that? You know, the music business works in a cycle. It’s definitely cornin’ back to that. You can hear it in “Get Back” by the Beatles. It’s there. Of course, you listen to some of Jimi Hendrix and he produced some of those songs, about the one that has got the “Long Tall Sally” in it??

Dan: Catmother?

Little: That’s old rock and roll.

Dan: It sure is. How about .... have you talked to the Beatles lately?

Little: Yes, I talked to George about four days ago. Dan: Have you been over to England yet?

Little: I’m goin’ over there.

Dan: When you goin’?

Little: In about a week.

Dan: What’s the name of the tune vou’re gonna do? Little: Ah, “Everybody’s Got To Be Free”.

Dan: Is that a Rascal’s tune? Is that the same? J Little: No, no . . . it’s another one.

Dan: Another tune. And who wrote the tune?

Little: Me and the Beatles.

Dan: You and the Beatles. You gonna play the piano on this?

Little: Yes, I am.

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Dan: Pretty good! little: It’s gonna be outasite.

Dan: Yeah, you gonna put an album out, too?

Little: Yes, we gonna do an album, too. With some tunes that they’ve written.

Dan: We know they are gonna treat you right.

Little: Oh, I’ve known them all my life. You know they gonna treat me right. They all treat me right. They are beautiful people.

Dan: That’s right.

Little: That’s the reason I’m gonna be with them. How can you speak against their souls? They are the greatest. They are the g-r-e-a-t-e-s-t.

Dan: Second to Little Richard, you think the Beatles are beautiful people?

Little: Yes, lord, they are really very beautiful people.

Dan: Well, listen I’m gonna look forward to hostin’ your number tonight....

Little: And I look forward to seein’ you tonight, just tell the people of Detroit to let it all hang out... at Cobo Hall tonight... with the Rock, Rock, Rock Around the Clock . . . with Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis tonight, at the big Cobo Hall, downtown Detroit, Michigan, because we gonna be sockin’ it to

your soul tonight. “Owwww. ” “Owww. ” “Oww. ”

* * * *

A few hours later he was coming through on at least that last promise. Everything that made the original Little Richard shows so fantastic was there; and if it got a little corny on occasion (the fat dancing sax player, for instance) it was still the heaviest thing ever to hit Cobo Hall.

Anyone who can open a set with Good Golly Miss Molly, go through Long Tall Sally, Miss Anne, Ready Teddy, Rip It Up and Keep A Knockin’, then conclude it with Slippin ’ and Slidin ’ is definably a genius. Little Richard is not just a preacher, he’s a saint; the religion’s name is rock and roll. If it started out being just a youth cult/fetish, it wound up being the driving energy behind everything that a generation does: To capture that power with fifteen year old material and still make it valid is a miracle.

It would have been worth it just to have seen the costuming, the chicks mobbing the stage, the honkies’ reactions; Richard wasn’t the first dude who exuded sex from every perfectly perspiring pore but he was, and is, the best. He sweats like a star, he dresses like one and he has ego enough for two or three. Jimi Hendrix could wear the same clothes but it’d never be the same; they all got their things, at the base, from Richard or at least from Richard’s era.

Some of them haven’t been able to stick with it. Jerry Lee Lewis, incestuos singer of country FUNK, playing honky tonk pianist, that was what the honkos were there for. Playing his hillbilly “country and western” rednecked andbeerbelliedfor all the factory workers who ever mashed their minds to pulp on Midwestern assembly lines. And there is this . . . this old man, telling us at our concert. “I’ll play something fast when I’m damn good and ready and the door is wide open if you want to leave.” Jerry Lee the cracker king.

Following the punk’s advice we wandered over to

the Grande Ballroom to see our favorite albino guitarist, Johnny Winter, play some albino blues with his albino brother Edgar backing him up with his albino . . . . er, electric saxophone.

Edgar uses his electric sax in a way which explores many of the oft-unused potentialities of horn amplification; which is to say, louder than hell with post-Coltrane influences out of Booker T. or (more accurately) Junior Walker.

Rumor had it that Little Richard was coming over for a jom with Johnny and Edgar, Mitch Ryder (prominent interpreter of Richard’s works) and Dick Wagner of the Frost. In the meantime, Winter completed the set; it was a consolidation of everything he’d ever done with a new direction set by Edgar.

A second part of that new direction came with the combination encore/crowd caller, Johnny B. Goode. You too can mime Chuck Berry; it’s doubtful whether you can do it as well as Winter, though. The man is a bad mother.

Richard showed about two hours late, around one a.m. Starting out with Good Golly and doing Jenny Jenny (Ryder supplied the screams while Dick fought to be heard over Winter’s bank of Altec p.a.s). Then they let Little go (mobbed him again, fore and aft across the Grande dance floor) and Mitch, Johnny and Wagner did a couple of numbers together.

As Richard himself might have said, they ripped it up. Jerry Lee went bowling with his friends.

Dave Marsh