Behind the Hits The Unsung Heroes of Steel Town Records

Embark on a sonic time-travel with the revival of Steel Town Records, as we uncover the stories etched in the grooves of music history. Feel the pulse of the label that once gave rise to legends like the Jackson 5, now rekindled by Kenneth Joseph and his dedicated team. Together, we'll stitch the threads of past triumphs with future dreams, weaving a narrative that reconnects us to the roots of an iconic sound. The episode is a vibrant tapestry, featuring the voices of Kenneth, his dynamic team members Bonita, Britt, and Merv, and those who witnessed the original magic of Steel Town Records.

Our conversation illuminates the unsung heroes of an era that defined more than just a generation. Discover the influence of Gordon Keith and Raynard Jones, and the seeds they planted in the Jackson 5 saga, as we converse with Maurice Rodgers and other key figures from the period. As the past's hidden tales unravel, we pay tribute to the legacies that have been overshadowed yet were absolutely essential in sculpting the landscape of music as we know it today.

Finally, we spring forward into Steel Town Records Inc.'s present endeavors, diving into the energy of new projects and the search for talents to embody the legends in an upcoming film. We share the buzz around the soundtrack creation, offering a chance for independent artists to resonate with history through their music. We also address the challenges and creative opportunities in independent filmmaking, while inviting listeners to become a part of this rebirth. Join us for this enriching exploration that promises to reignite the spirit of a bygone era through the passionate efforts of those committed to Steel Town Records' enduring legacy.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:18

what's up? My good people, welcome to the cj money way show. 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. 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. I'm excited. I hope you guys be excited too. Hey, what's up, ken?

Speaker 2: 0:49

Hey, what's going on? Young man, how are you? I'm good man how about yourself Finding a glass of wine. 1775 bottle of Ken. Would you like some?

Speaker 1: 1:03

How you all doing today, Fine man.

Speaker 5: 1:07

Doing good. Thanks for having us on Appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 1:12

Oh, no problem. So, kim, tell us about your vision, man, this vision that you have for Steel Town Records. And actually, you know, before I get there, let's talk about who was the actual founder of Steel Town Records, gordon.

Speaker 2: 1:31

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. 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. Still, town was actually at 1025 tiny street Street in Gary, indiana, mm-hmm yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:02

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I stayed on Taney Street too. That's over there on the west side, right, Well?

Speaker 2: 2:08

yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:12

We stayed on Taney Street when I was younger. You may know my cousin Cassandra, so Mr Keith was the founder. So I guess my next question is says this is what we're talking about? Who actually founded the jackson five? Gordon key, oh okay, so he was a manager too well, you had like different roles.

Speaker 2: 2:35

Uh, ben brown, to my understanding, was like the president when mr keith couldn't take them around.

Speaker 1: 2:40

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.

Speaker 2: 3:04

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. That's what his passion was. Uh, and know it was like Still Town was created in inspirations of Motown records. You know, back then Motown was actually the thing for every black man, right? That's where they copied it from. So you know that was the vision From that.

Speaker 2: 3:36

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. Like Mr Keefe had his acts. 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. 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. Out of the five there were three men and their vision was to get their stuff published. Also at Still Town was Mr Ben. The publishing was called Ben Moe Keefe Publishing. So Ben for Benjamin Moe for Maurice Rogers and Keefe for Mr Gordon Keefe. 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. That was their direction then. This is before they actually signed the Jackson Five.

Speaker 1: 4:50

So I see you got a pretty good team here, man. You want to introduce your team and what everybody's role is.

Speaker 2: 4:58

I think I'll let each one do that better, because one can do it better than themselves as the individual. Okay, team, you can go ahead and introduce yourself.

Speaker 1: 5:11

That's time with you, Bonita.

Speaker 4: 5:15

Hi, I'm Bonita, I'm the secretary. I really have dual roles, so I do contracts and I also help with the marketing part as well. As I can say, probably I do just everything. I'm just into everything with them as far as, like I said, marketing, the secretary, the contract writing.

Speaker 1: 5:48

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. So what's up with you? G man? What's your part in this?

Speaker 3: 6:02

Britt, part of me. 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. Yeah, so that's what I'll be doing in the production. Okay.

Speaker 1: 6:29

What's up with you, merv? Well, dude, that's easy. I do a lot of things. 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. Okay Of the project.

Speaker 3: 6:52

Yes, sir.

Speaker 5: 6:56

Yes, sir.

Speaker 1: 7:00

So what role are you playing in all of this? Yes sir, yes sir. So what role are you playing?

Speaker 5: 7:02

in all of this? Yes, sir. So I pretty much come on as like an admin. 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. I'm here. 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.

Speaker 1: 7:37

Okay, okay, sounds good. Mr Lennon, I didn't get a chance to meet you. How you doing, man?

Speaker 6: 7:45

okay, I'm good. Can everybody hear me? Yes, indeed, okay, we finally got it rolling. I had to go to my laptop, but it's, it's all good. Yeah, man, um, excuse me. I want to first of all thank everybody for giving me the moral support I needed. I had to go go out of town to Louisiana last week for a funeral. 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. 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. But I got back a few days ago and I needed to, kind of, you know, unwind and catch my breath. So I got the message from Ken about the conference today, so I got the information. 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.

Speaker 2: 8:47

Yes, absolutely FBI style. Go ahead then.

Speaker 6: 8:51

Well it's just a matter of trying to connect the dots and everything. A project like this is really important because you've got to help people connect the dots and see. You know what Gary was like back in the day. I've seen documentaries. I've seen, you know, we saw the miniseries that they did in 1992, I think it was and. But you know this project here, steel Town to Motown. 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. 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. You know.

Speaker 6: 9:44

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. I'll land my plane there.

Speaker 5: 9:54

Yeah, let me also add that we also are working on getting merchandise sold. 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.

Speaker 1: 10:29

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. That's, that's my reasoning for being here. That's the reason that, um, I was happy can't ask me to do this with you guys. 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. Then I started googling and I searched it up myself, and so I guess this can be to anybody.

Speaker 1: 11:27

Uh, any, this question can be to anybody. So why do you know? Why start up still town records? Now, you know what. What's the reason or what's behind why you guys want to do it now?

Speaker 2: 11:40

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. 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. That's one of the main reasons. 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. Uh, because without Raynard Jones, there would not have been no Jackson 5, you know, period. 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. 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? Then it should be, it should be done the whole thing. It was set on promotions and you know fairy tales about how it all started. So that's one of the main reasons why I believe that you know. 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. Mr Gordon Key's legacy, you know it didn't reach its goal. Still Town died out, I think, in 1971. It was created between 64, 64, 65, something like that 63, 64. And it died out in 1971. And that was the actual time when the Jacksons was actually being molded in Raynard Jones' basement. The same time, field time was being made by these five men, brilliant men. Right, it was on the other side of town, with the Jackson being molded and shaped. Because when you think about that, right, I look at that as this. When you think about that, right, I look at that as this.

Speaker 2: 13:52

Let's say, we all, every last one of us, had car dealerships, except for the podcaster. Right, the podcaster is the manufacturer. Right, they make the cars, they make all kinds of cars. So each one of us, right, have a Cadillac dealership or a Chevy dealership back in the 50s, 60s or whatever. There's the customers that come to order and see these cars on our displays. So that's how we make these. Well, we don't make them. That's how we order for the cars to be made. 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. Without manufacturers you wouldn't have these brilliant cars. So that's how it was with Raynard Jones.

Speaker 2: 14:47

And from Steel Town to Motown, the series tells the untold stories that will blow everyone's mind. 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. When you think of Still Town records, it goes back to the very beginning. When you think of Jackson 5, I mean, it goes back to the very beginning. Anything before anything was evolved with Steel Town and that was never told. 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. 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.

Speaker 2: 15:39

We never mentioned him. He was a last man standing with still time records. He's still alive alive to this day. He's just made 80. We've had a chance to interview him. We've had a brilliant conversation. 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. 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. His memory is fresh and he, you know, he took his right, us right back to that time and that was a great experience. The team can tell you themselves that moment. So, yeah, that's why we believe strongly in shit and that's something the world needs to know.

Speaker 1: 16:29

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?

Speaker 2: 16:46

Yes, mr Gordon Keefe was the one that stated that story. Matter of fact, you can see it on YouTube. I posted some of the stuff on there called Still Town, the Jackson 5. You can see it there and he talks about that. 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.

Speaker 2: 17:07

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. 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. So you know, against. 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. Around that time Mr Maurice left around like 63, 65 estimated, according to him. Yeah, so it was Mr Keefe. He just knew that Michael would be the one Just like everyone that Michael interacted with.

Speaker 2: 18:10

They just knew that he would be the one. Just like everyone that Michael interact with, they just knew that he would be the one. They just knew that he would be uh, you know he could. He was an old man. Uh, a little boy's body. They just knew that he could sing the song.

Speaker 1: 18:22

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. You know the people that impersonate michael and do the songs or whatever. It was pretty cool, man. You know, just, michael, michael is michael man. So, uh, I hear what you're saying. 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.

Speaker 2: 19:05

So we're in a very we're in the beginning stages. The reason why I say very is because the story is so vast and so big, big. 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. So that's what I mean by very, very beginning are very, very intense. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. So we're going to be doing the trailers to pitch and market and promote it. 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. It'll take two or three months to promote it, the trailers and heavy and keep on going. Then that's when we'll do the production. 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.

Speaker 2: 21:07

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. Yeah, those time capsules or the talent could either have songs in their category or catalog that's already. That matches that, the ones that if they take the one making song from scratch, we work a deal out with them. 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. 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. And that's what we're working on now.

Speaker 2: 22:15

We was able to come across this brilliant guy by this brilliant girl, young lady. He was, I think it was on the Simon show. 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. I knew in five seconds of hearing him sing he could. He was definitely one that I wanted to, you know, work with on that songwriting collab. But that's where we're at. That's what we're trying to do, trying to get that out there.

Speaker 1: 22:41

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. 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?

Speaker 2: 23:11

Okay, yeah, they can reach us at casting at stilltownrecordsinccom. Yeah, that's one of the main ways to send in their portfolios and stuff like that for the actual film project.

Speaker 1: 23:27

Okay. Yeah so yeah, so sounds like some interesting stuff. Man, y'all got a lot of stuff going on. I like the team y'all built up and everything. Is there anything anybody want to share on their part? Anything about the family? Anything about the production side of it?

Speaker 5: 23:46

yeah, I would like to say something also. We are selling merchandise for Steel Town. We have the t-shirts, the polo shirts and the hats. 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.

Speaker 1: 24:10

And I like the polo. The polo's pretty nice. Now I want a black and white one myself.

Speaker 2: 24:17

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?

Speaker 1: 24:25

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.

Speaker 2: 24:32

Okay, are you talking about the link? I was just speaking on just a visual, just to see it, because it's a great polo shirt, it's awesome.

Speaker 5: 24:40

Yeah, and the merch is going to help us to get funding for the movie, for the project. So we're really trying to put the merch.

Speaker 1: 24:51

Okay, yeah, you know I didn't want to. 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. 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. You know, that's what I'm trying to do on my end, and so, yeah, I can post about that. I like the shirts myself. Yeah, I ain't seen the hats, though, ken, you tell me you had hats, man.

Speaker 2: 25:23

Man the hats, sharp man, it's tight-fitting, it's fitting, you know, and it has a logo on front of the record. Steel Time we created a logo too. Still Time from the key. Now this is the funny part. 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. And there's all these rows of hats that looked like it was so compressed, like pretty little ice cream cones. 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. I'm like merv man, these hats, why are we seeing these hats, you know? And they they fit like little baby midgets. They can't fit. So merv was like he was looking at me, like he was like give me the hat, idiot. 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.

Speaker 2: 26:16

I'm like, well, I'll be damn, it fits you perfectly. You got a nice big hat I have a big head and you know. So that's what I realized. I was like, because it's stretchable, it hit from the back, you created it. So I was like, okay, wow, yeah, okay, yeah, that's cool, yeah. So we got the hats. 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.

Speaker 1: 26:45

So Deion the question when you talk about the merch, is it going to be like a website? Do you guys have one out already, or are you going to have one coming out where people can go and purchase these items?

Speaker 5: 27:01

Right. So at this stage, right now, we're working on different social media platforms. I believe it's going to be the Instagram, tiktokok, youtube, facebook, is that right, ken? Yeah, so so we're working on getting the link together. 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.

Speaker 1: 27:40

Okay.

Speaker 5: 27:41

Yeah, we'll be in the beginning of that, getting the content.

Speaker 1: 27:44

Okay, that sounds good. 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.

Speaker 2: 28:01

You say yeah, what we'll do is give them a scene in the film as well. 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. 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. 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. Yeah, things of that nature, okay.

Speaker 1: 28:57

Hey so we leave what you got to add to this man.

Speaker 6: 29:02

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. You know sources like that. 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. So I want to kind of get an idea of how things were back in the day. One of the things that I mean, can I tell you I've had countless conversations about. I'm a stickler for not just accuracy, but I'm also a stickler for um, uh, often you know things that are authentic. You know, it's like I shouldn't be watching a film and hearing terminology that's used today. That's supposed to be a period piece. That irritates me. And then the other thing is that it does.

Speaker 6: 30:05

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? Come on, man. Or you see some hairstyles that you see today that they weren't rocking back then. 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. This is back in 1970. Well, I'm from california and even though you know I'm not from that community, you can, I. It it's a it. It takes you back and to that time period. 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. And if you're from Chicago, you're from Los Angeles, you're from Harlem, you're from Oakland, wherever. And if you remember those days, you can relate to that. I mean you hear them. 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. 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. How they sounded whether it be radio interviews, tv interviews, you know similar to how what's his name? Jamie Foxx did when he was preparing for his role for Ray Charles in the movie Ray you know. So all of those kinds of things are important and we won't even get into the clothing.

Speaker 6: 31:44

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. I mean, I shared that movie with an uncle of mine. He's about 80, almost 81 now, and he was in his 20s back in the 60s. And I have another uncle who was a teenager back then. That was, you know, that's the music of his era, that's the music of his era. 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. I mean, if anybody's seen the movie, you see, the movie was done from supposed, supposed to cover from 1965 to 1990. So we're talking a 25-year period and you felt like you were back in time, right, you know? So that's how this film yeah.

Speaker 4: 32:45

Now don't get me wrong.

Speaker 1: 32:48

I like the fine hard beats, but I don't have to say that my favorite was the Temptations. My bad yeah, Temptations.

Speaker 4: 32:59

Yeah, and even with that movie, wow. I love the.

Speaker 1: 33:02

Temptations movie. Man, I'm sorry, man, that was my favorite one.

Speaker 2: 33:09

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. 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. You know what I'm saying. So that's another thing with this story. Here is very crucial and critical to make sure that we tell the story exactly like how it occurred. You know, you know, so that would never happen to us. And the most fascinating thing is, we have the rights and the power to go forward with this thing. That's another reason why we really want to do this, because no one has. Everybody else in the outsiders can't do this, because this is not the biography. Mr Keith never shared his biography, from what we know to them to that degree. We know the levels we talk about from A to.

Speaker 1: 34:00

Z. So I want to piggyback real quick on something that Lennon said. So you know, to make things original and authentic. So, since the Jackson 5 was in gary, do you guys plan on doing any scenes in gary? Is it going to be based off of things in gary or are you doing it somewhere?

Speaker 2: 34:21

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. 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. And, looking back politically, the figureheads or whatever, back then they didn't allow it. Mr Gordon Keith does, even to this day, don't even have a name of his, a street named after him. 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. That's the only thing that they destroyed.

Speaker 2: 35:01

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. You know it would have to be allowed, uh and uh, you know. And then another thing too you don't always have to be in a specific place as a beauty of filmmaking. You, you know you have the abilities to create things anywhere that it looks like there. 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.

Speaker 2: 35:42

But I think you know it was totally destroyed so that we couldn't take it, buy it, like we bought the other property. We own the other property where Johnny was murdered at, and Gary also. Our plan is to slowly turn that into a museum. You know what I'm saying For the public. The same time we did that, we were trying to get steel time. That's where that miraculously thing occurred. We investigated it. We even have the paperwork to show that.

Speaker 1: 36:13

Yeah, okay, so I guess this would be my last question for you, kent. So uh, I sure hate it.

Speaker 2: 36:22

I sure hate it as the last, because I you know I mean there's more questions.

Speaker 1: 36:26

I'm willing to give you more hey, let's also say she got something to do, man, she's driving to destination. She can't be still.

Speaker 5: 36:33

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. I did want to say this too as well, before I forget. 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.

Speaker 2: 37:19

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. Kennethj-h at gmailcom. Kennethjoseph at gmailcom. Kennethjoseph at gmailcom. Okay, so you were saying thank you for that, deedee. So you were saying the question.

Speaker 1: 37:42

Okay, what question do you want to ask?

Speaker 2: 37:43

me.

Speaker 1: 37:45

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. Uh, it was displayed in the in the in the rock and roll hall of fame. Man, how did you feel about that? 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. Man, how was your feelings about that?

Speaker 2: 38:21

wow, I think that is very amazing. And uh, yeah, that was in 2000. Yeah, yeah, that was. Yeah, that was a good feeling'm not mistaken. I think Mr Keith did mention that to me. 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.

Speaker 2: 38:53

Uh, coming to motown as well. But other than that, it was a great feeling. It's just overwhelming to you know, to be a part of mr keith and that's that's. That was a. 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. But when I met Mr Gordon Keefe, I learned that it wasn't like that. But I also learned that Mr Keefe was an actual icon that was blackballed. But, yes, when he told me that that was a great feeling. It goes back to the same thing. I compare that to when there's a guy, linda. You remember this guy, randy Tabalos. I can never say his name, right. He wrote this great book. What's the guy's name? Again, linda Randy.

Speaker 6: 39:44

Tabalos. Yeah, I'm going to tell you in a minute. It's a big, thick biography that he first wrote in 1991 on michael it's called um michael jackson. Uh, the magic, the madness, the whole story. Randy terriberelli, I think, how you pronounce his name yeah yeah, yeah, randy terriberelli, that guy.

Speaker 2: 40:08

So, so the Hall of Fame team you've changed before felt just as good as when Mr Keith was. I remember I ran to Mr Keith's house and I was like Mr Keith, look at this book, there's this book, there's this book. And he was just chuckling with a big, heavy bear voice and I kept wondering I had all my energy, man, all this stuff I'm like in this book it sounds like everything that I know. How does this guy know what I know? And he's, you know, he started laughing. He was like that's because the guy interviewed me and I was like, wow, so it was just, that was part of amazing time. You know, just as well as the, the youth chain, knowing that the youth chain and big boy went on to the hall of fame, whatever it just it was greatness. You know, it was a good feeling.

Speaker 4: 40:52

Yeah, that's the book that's from 1958 to 2009 that he wrote.

Speaker 2: 40:57

Okay, you see, and he did tremendous research on that and that's how I knew what he had in that book. It was matching everything Mr Keith told me, and every other book that we found didn't have all of that. And even Michael wrote something in one of his books. It only had a crumb of Obama's to keep in it and that was it. But not at that velocity of volume like the Randy Tellebelli, whatever yeah, book, that book.

Speaker 1: 41:20

Not like that. Yeah, that book.

Speaker 3: 41:22

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 41:23

That book. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 41:25

Yeah, you know, yeah, so so you know, I thank you guys for coming on. You know I look forward to you guys sharing stories that was untold man and bringing your guy, mr Keith, to the forefront and showing how great visionary he was and how he was actually the founder of the Jackson 5. I'm excited for that man. I look forward to the merch. Like I said, I want one of them. Black and white polos. I got the picture with Michael Jackson on the front. I need one of those in my life. And so, man, like I say, if you guys, you know, anytime you want to come on when your projects start in September, man, come on back on and let's promote it and let's do. You know I do whatever I can on my part. Man, and keep me and you a holler man I don't know why I keep calling you, Keep me and you a holler man about you know the artists and everything. I mean you talked already about that to a certain extent, but I'm glad to meet all you guys Greg, mert Benita, miss Dion.

Speaker 4: 42:31

You're the funny one to me.

Speaker 1: 42:33

You know what, ms Dion? You take charge. You a take charge type of person? Oh, no, no.

Speaker 4: 42:39

I'm just here to help get you know things in order To God be the glory, To God be the glory. I give him all the glory.

Speaker 1: 42:48

I know that's not the first time you heard that.

Speaker 4: 42:53

Mr Landon man, thank you for coming on sharing your insight and your wisdom, mr Researcher.

Speaker 1: 43:01

I appreciate it, I appreciate it, I appreciate y'all man. So this has been the CJ Moneyway show exclusive interview. Steel Town Records. Coming back to life baby in the theater near you, hey, peace thank you.