Go with the Flo: The Blog!

TEMPORARY :: Motown Around the World

2008-08-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

THIS WILL BE UP TEMPORARILY - UP FOR 3 WEEKS MAX - (Tony, comment if you get this)

http://www.zshare.net/download/17742573d313c9bb/

WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER DOOR OPENS...

2008-07-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

I'm VERY, VERY, DEEPLY sad to inform my readers that I have chosen to not share full-albums anymore. While this decision involved nothing regarding legal matters, it was a very hard decision.

However, I have decided to keep this blog so I can upload
remixes and samplers of full albums. (PSST! Every so often, I will upload a VERY rare album for a set time, as I do understand many of these albums are out of circulation!)

For the time being, however, I will not upload full-albums. Now, if you POST A COMMENT for THIS POST requesting an album I previously had up, I can help you out personally.

Please understand this blog is not ending, and I am in the process of a new set of remixxez!!!!!!!!

THANKS!

~Sincerely sorry,
Antceleb12

Mash-Up (Thank you Fullundie!)

2008-06-13T12:02:00.000-07:00

On Fullundie's (Big One's) blog, he posted a very obscure gem -- Motown hits played in Big Band style -- Keeping the same Motown groove, but with a big band orchestra!

After downloading and listening to some of the tracks, I decided to make a "Baby Love/Stop! In the Name of Love" medley mash-up: I took the big-band instrumental tracks, mashed them into a medley, and took the Baby Love & Stop! acapellas and added them in the mix.

Thanks again to Big One, and check out my new mash-up: Baby Love/Stop In the Name of Love (Big Band Supreme Mash-Up)

http://www.zshare.net/audio/1356439698df1aef/

I'M BACK!!!!

2008-06-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, its been a while - a VERY long while! I am back now, and have got LOTS of goodies to post!

Keep in touch!

Thanks!

Missing Link Mash-Ups: New Motown Remixes

2007-11-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

As a Motown fan, I've always been curious as to what each song would sound like without instruments or vocals. So I used Original Artist Karaoke, which are a series of Motown karaoke CDs. They contain the 5 song with original vocals and instrumentals, and then they have the same tracks, but this time they can be seperated into instrumentals and acapellas, if you have the right software (AUDACITY!!). So, using these instrumentals and acapellas, I created new mixes of the songs, or "mashups." These mashups have both voals & instrumentals, just vocals, and just instrumentals. For example, in "You Can't Hurry Love", you start out with the original song. Then it switches to just instrumentals. Only a few tracks, though, have only acapellas in some parts.

If you still don't get the idea, download this package and give it a listen! :)

TRACK LIST:
1 - You Keep Me Hangin' On (version 1)
2 - You Can't Hurry Love (version 1)
3 - I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause
4 - Come & Get These Memories
5 - Back In My Arms Again (version 1)
6 - Back In My Arms Again (version 2)
7 - The Happening
8 - Walk Away Renée
9 - You Keep Me Hangin' On (version 2)
10 - You Can't Hurry Love (version 2)
11 - You Can't Hurry Love (Extended version 3)
12 - You've Really Got A Hold On Me
13 - My Girl

Enjoy! :)

http://www.zshare.net/download/504729690c9bd6/

http://www.zshare.net/download/504729690c9bd6/

Remixes!

2007-08-08T13:34:00.000-07:00

It's time to bring you some of the best Motown remixes out there. All 11 of these tracks are very well remixed, which is more than I can say about most remixes (alot of them are just the acapella of a song and some unrelated with a hint of the song track mashed together).

Well, anyways, this is a must-have album and not only keeps the original sound of each song intact, but respects the Funk Brothers' sound, too. A couple of my favorite remixes are "You Can't Hurry Love", "The Boss" and "You Keep Me Hangin' On". So grab it while its hott!!

Track List:
1 - You Can't Hurry Love (Readymade Re-Edit)
2 - You Keep Me Hangin' On (DJ Fumiya Remix)
3 - I'm Coming Out (Jazztronik Boogie Soul Edit)
4 - Baby Love (Halfby More Shambles Remix)
5 - Upside Down (I-Dep's Downside Up Mix
6 - The Boss (Sh Club Mix)
7 - Theme from Mahogany (Captain Funk Punky Nighty Mix)
8 - Stop! In the Name of Love (Low Jack Mix)
9 - I'm Still Waiting (Handsomeboy Technique Remix)
10 - I'm Comin' Out (Force Of Nature Remix)
11 - Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Frm's The Dancefloor Tension Is High Enough" Mix)

(The Remixers: Yasuhara Konishi, DJ Fumiya (Rip Slyme), Handsomeboy Technique, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Halfby, Low Jack Three, Force of Nature, I-dep, Captain Funk, GTS, Jazztronik)

Enjoy! :D

http://www.zshare.net/download/3047796e8d56cc/

ALSO AVAILABLE AT FULLUNDIE.BLOGSPOT.COM - MORE DOWNLOAD SITES AVAILABLE THERE!

Jennifer Hudson pays respect to Flo!!

2007-01-17T13:16:00.000-08:00

Florence Ballard, who has just won the Golden Globe for "Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture" for her OUTSTANDING role as Effie Melody White (as some say, the Florence Ballard character, and for good reasons), gives credit to the wonderful Flo Ballard at the end of her speech!

Go Jen! :)

The Supremes - Stormy

2006-11-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

With the fabulous unreleased song from 1968, "Stormy", footage of Flo, Mary and Diane playing ping-pong and dancing reveal a happier time the girls were in. Obviously, there was no offense between the three at this time. Enjoy this priceless video!

Florence Ballard - Silent Night video

2006-11-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

Here is a video I created. The song is "Silent Night" - one of the rare leads by Florence while in the Supremes (unfortunately, it was unreleased for a very long time). The video is a collage of photos and videos of Florence and the Supremes :)

Florence Ballard - The Powerhouse Behind the Dream

2006-11-22T15:36:00.000-08:00

Florence Ballard - The Powerhouse Behind the Dream

On February 22, 1976, Florence Glenda Ballard passed away at the age of thirty-two due to heart failure. But just what makes this woman so special?

Florence "Flo", "Blondie" Ballard (b.1943 d.1976) was an African-American singer with great looks, and a booming and beautiful, soulful voice. She was also the founder of one of the world's most successfull groups of all time, the Supremes (1959-1977). These ladies, consisting of three girls Mary Wilson (b.1944), Diane (Diana) Ross (b.1944), and, of course, Florence Ballard, formed in 1959 as the Primettes and eventually were signed to Motown in January 1961. Flo, at the time, sang many leads, including their rendition of "(Night Time Is) The Right Time". However, in 1963, Flo's turn at lead mic began to fade away, as it was turned over to Diane, who had more of a "white", teen-boppy style.*

* - Berry Gordy, Jr, founder of Motown, made the change in leads.

By the end of 1965, the Supremes already had six number one hits (in order of release - Where Did Our Love Go, Baby Love, Come See About Me, Stop! In the Name of Love, Back In My Arms Again, and I Hear A Symphony). The first five were released one after the other one, and the Supremes is the only group to date that has acheived this feat. However, by 1966, Flo's resentment towards Gordy's decision began to take toll on Flo.

Eventually, Flo's relationship with Gordy and friendship with Diane would deteriorate as Gordy and Diane grew closer. Her leads were near gone and Flo and Mary's background vocals were often reduced to a low volume ("My World Is Empty Without You"), or almost no singing. By mid-1966, Flo began drinking and letting loose on her temper. Her dry sense of humor went flat as she became for depressed and angry. The end of 1966 also saw Flo throwing her drink at Gordy in public, after Gordy rudely commented (out loud) that Flo was fat. Many times, Flo and Diane would fight, and Gordy always took Diane's side. One occasion of their fights occured on the set of the Ed Sullivan Show in late 1966. They were completing a rehearsal of "My Favorite Things" when one of Flo's earrings fell off and Diane stepped on it. Flo took this as Diane purposefully doing it, so when they got backstage, Flo jumped on Diane and ripped off her wig and earrings. It took two people to get Flo off Diane.

1967 didn't get any better. After Flo had began arriving late at rehearsals, interviews and even missed a performance all together, she was suspended temporarily. Flo once said that she was not going to "bust her a--" for Diane to go solo. When Flo arrived, things did not go much better. Things finally came to a surprising hault on June 27, 1967 at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was their first performance for their engagement there, and it was also Flo's first and last performance performing partially drunk on stage. After the show, Gordy came back and began yelling at Flo. When she told him she didn't care, Gordy fired her from the group forever.

On February 22, 1968, Flo's final release contract from Motown was signed, and about a week later, she got married to Motown chauffer, Tommy Chapman, and was signed to ABC Records. There she recorded a shelved album ("The Supreme Florence Ballard" - containing those recordings - is available in online stores, like Amazon), and only two singles ("It Doesn't Matter How I Say It", "Love Ain't Love") were released. However, she was dropped from the label due to lack of interest in Flo. Yet this did not stop Flo. In October, she delivered twins and performed in a parade, and even performed with Bill Cosby. 1969 saw her performing at one of Ronald Reagan's innauguration balls.

Unfortunately, Flo soon went bankrupt and returned to alcohol. After a failed lawsuit against Motown and her third and final child, Chapman left Flo, as her situation grew worse. Flo's house was evicted and she moved in with her sister temporarily. She had also been out of the music business for some time now, and was not welcoming any public recognition (she wore big sunglasses to hide her face, and one time denied who she was when a store clerk recognized her). She was staying away from the public for a long while. By 1974, Flo was in welfare.

However, in 1974, Mary, who was the only original member in the Supremes at this point (Diane had left to go on to a very successfull solo career in 1970), treated Flo to a visit in California, where the Supremes were performing at Magic Mountain. When Mary brought Flo onstage, the audience roared with excitement, as it was the first time Flo had appeared with the Supremes in seven years. Then, in 1975, Flo managed to get herself cleaned up, out of welfare and out of a depressed state. Tommy even returned. That summer, Flo made a surprise appearance at the Henry and Edsel Ford Stadium in Detroit as a part of the Joan Little Defense League. She first sang Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman". Then when she was finished, the audience demanded an encore, so Flo sang "Come See About Me" and was received with a standing ovation. The rest of the year followed with TV and live performances, interviews, and record companies coming to her with recording contracts. Flo was at last at the top of her game.

However, the beginning of 1976 turned to the worse for Flo, again. This time, for the final time.

In January 1976, Flo started to have breathing problems in her sleep. After failing to get help from her family, Flo resorted to the Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital in Detroit on February 21, reporting of numbness in her extremities. The next day, her sister found her on the floor in her home, paralyzed. Though she was immediately rushed to the hospital, Florence Glenda Ballard passed away at 10:05 AM of heart failure. The news shocked the world.

Flo's funeral saw over 5,000 people at the procession. Many celebrities appeared and were praised for coming. However, one person's appearance was not welcomed with respect. When Diane Ross stepped out of her limo in her furs, everyone started booing and hissing at her. Diane was famous for putting Flo down in her demise. However, Diane gave a wreath of flowers with "I love you, Blondie" on them.

Flo's death brought sadness to many fans. However, it also proved that the perfect image of Motown was long gone, and that Gordy's heroic image was now that of a business man, stepping out of his way to eliminate flaws of his plan (eg Flo). Today, Florence's memory is shown through books, memorials, websites, and even the 2002 release of her only album, which was shelved until 2002.

Though Flo is physically gone, her spirit is still with those who truely love her.

As Flo would say, "Honey, we is terrific!"

~

Welcome!

2006-11-19T07:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Go With the Flo blog!

This blog is an addition to the Go with the Flo website. If you have never been to or heard of it, its a website dedicated to the loving memory of the late former Supreme member, Florence Ballard (1943-1976).

This blog is for news and other Flo/Supremes-related information. Come back soon, and you can find more information!

Thank you!