BARRY LEVINE: Newton Collier recalls days with Sam & Dave

The “Chitlin’ Circuit.”

No, it does not consist of a series of eating establishments that serve chitterlings. The Chitlin’ Circuit is the name given to the string of venues throughout the East, South and Midwest that was safe and acceptable for African-American musicians and comedians to perform in during the age of racial segregation.

The Chitlin’ Circuit lasted through the 1960s. Mention it to Newton Collier, of Macon, and his mind wanders back to the mid-1960s when he was traveling the circuit as trumpeter with the Sam & Dave Band.

Besides Sam & Dave, among the greats who performed on the Chitlin’ Circuit were Count Basie, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles, Sammy Davis Jr., Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Patti LaBelle, Otis Redding, Little Richard and The Temptations.

Collier will be retelling his memories traveling the circuit with Sam & Dave when he serves as the guest speaker at the second annual Dave Prater Music Festival Dinner on Thursday in Ocilla. (For ticket information, call Ocilla City Hall at (229) 468-5141 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays.)

Collier joined the Sam & Dave Band as a teenager in the summer of 1965 and remained with the band until 1970. At that juncture, he formed the LTD Band and moved to Boston.

“I really enjoyed my time with the Sam & Dave Band,” Collier recalled during a recent telephone interview. “We played all over during that period – Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee – especially at frat houses on the weekends.”

Collier also said that the band played in Albany in a place called Caverns in the Pines.

“A lot of times when police recognized who we were, we got an escort with a police car in front and behind us,” he said.

The Sam & Dave entourage also faced many of the problems that blacks did traveling through the South during that period.

“We couldn’t stay in white hotels or eat in white restaurants,” Collier said. “When we got in certain towns, we were put up by people in black neighborhoods, and they usually fed us. Sometimes they gave us chicken and rice to take with us, and that went a long way.

“I can remember one night when we stayed in the room in a neighborhood house. It had a bed and a chair. When somebody got out of the bed during the night, one of us would jump in it and another grabbed the chair.”

The white acts, meanwhile, stayed in top hotels and ate in restaurants of their choice.

Despite the disparity in the living conditions between white and black performers, there was no animosity between the groups, Collier said. “We were all musicians and we all got along,” he said. “There were no problems.”

Starting in 1969, Collier, who learned to play the trumpet at age 10, spent more than a year touring Japan with Sam & Dave.

Needless to say, there was culture shock for a black man coming from segregated Georgia. Collier knew no Japanese and was unaware of the country’s customs.

“We were in Japan for Operation Entertainment. It was like the old Bob Hope Christmas shows,” he said. “We would travel around Japan entertaining our troops. Most of the time we stayed in Tokyo. We played a lot of the same spots, and when we went back a second time the crowds always were bigger.

“There was no segregation, just no such thing in Japan. While we didn’t know Japanese, the wait staffs knew some English, words like hotel, food and chicken. We also learned what Sushi was all about for the first time. Honestly, I was not interested in eating raw fish.”

Collier learned one other thing living in Japan.

“When we went back to the hotel after going out, we always used the front door and did not need to use the back door,” he said.

Collier’s musical career ended in Boston when he was wounded in the face in a drive-by shooting in 1978. He was left unable to speak or eat solid food for a year after the shooting because he had a tracheal tube in his throat. He underwent multiple surgeries, including skin grafts and dental procedures, during the ensuing three years to fix his face and teeth.

“I knew pretty quickly that my music career was over,” Collier said. “Sure, I was frustrated, but I knew I had to restructure my life.”

Collier returned to Macon in 1988 and opened his Collier’s Records and Tapes store, which remained open for 10 years. He later drove a cab for a few years before retiring in 2011.

This week in rock history: Eight spots in the Top 10 on May 8, 1965, were occupied by British acts, setting an all-time record. No. 1 was “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” by Herman’s Hermits. … After 14 weeks at No. 1, The Beatles were finally pushed from the top spot on May 9, 1964, by 63-year-old Louis Armstrong’s “Hello Dolly.” … Buddy Holly & The Crickets auditioned for Arthur Godfrey’s “Talent Scouts” program on May 11, 1957, but were rejected.

The Everly Brothers enjoyed their second chart-topper, “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” which rose to No. 1 on May 12, 1968. … On his 21st birthday on May 13, 1971, Stevie Wonder received his childhood earnings. Despite having made $30 million, he received only $1 million. … Bo Diddley’s song “Bo Diddley” debuted on the R&B chart on May 14, 1955, where it stayed for 18 weeks, climbing to No. 1. … Jan & Dean recorded “Little Old Lady From Pasadena” on May 14, 1964. It entered the Pop chart in July and eventually rose to No. 3.

Barry Levine writes about entertainment for The Albany Herald. He can be reached at [email protected].