Time Machine comes back to the
future
By Joe Viglione/ Correspondent
Thursday, September 21, 2006 - Updated: 10:10 AM EST
For
many years Little Walter DeVenne - legendary Boston disc jockey whose
broadcasting creds include WBCN, WROR, WFNX, WMEX, WODS/Oldies 103.3 and
Medford’s WXKS-AM 1430, before it turned into Boston’s Progressive Talk - did
his mastering from a studio outside of Medford Square. These days, DeVenne and
his family are living in Derry, N.H., but he continues to master CDs and create
his radio show, "Little Walter’s Time Machine," heard every Saturday
evening between 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM, and on Monday through Friday nights
between 11:00 PM and 1:00 AM.
DeVenne recently spoke about the radio show, his mastering work for a
variety of record labels and his recent (and successful) battle against throat
cancer.
"We’re on in Chicago, we’re on in Cincinnati, we’re on in Hawaii, we’re all
over the place," the Boston area icon noted, adding he’s also excited about
returning to the club scene this Friday and Saturday night at the Terra Marra,
near the Outback Steakhouse, off of Route 93 (at exit 47) in Methuen. "I worked
on Route 1 for 20 years at a variety of venues. I’ve been doing clubs for 40
years, starting out at the Beach Ball in Revere, opening for Aerosmith."
DeVenne’s spinning creates an amazing vibe wherever he brings his extensive
collection of music. With hip-hop and house music permeating the in-town clubs,
the members of the Masspool DJ Association, Disc Jockeys Latinos Record Pool and
other collaboratives would be wise to study at the feet of the master. DeVenne
was mixing and scratching (well, literally scratching a record that need not be
played) before most of the current jocks were even born.
Battle with cancer
Though ever-present on radio, DeVenne was conspicuous in his absence on the
club circuit. He was candid about what happened.
"I noticed a couple of lumps in my neck and had my first operation in
October. Like Dion (DiMucci of "The Wanderer" fame) said, ’If I didn’t have a
wife or a mother, I would never have sought medical advice because it didn’t
hurt!’" he said. "It was just a couple of lumps in my neck. You gotta have
someone to care for you to get these things looked at. It wasn’t going away so
my (very worried) wife brought me over to the doctors.
"I went through cat scans and pet scans - none of it said it was cancer, it
just said there were a couple of lumps in my throat," he continued. "They were
going to stick a needle in my neck so I told them to operate on me."
DeVenne started doing chemo and radiation, something he still recalls
vividly.
"They make a form-fitting face mask with netting so you can see through,
(and) they screw it down. [That way I got] the radiation treatment in the same
place on my neck," he said. "The chemo is what I really had a reaction to and
that’s what put me in the hospital for a couple of weeks. I begged them to let
me out, so my wife learned how to give me the IV. At 9 a.m., I’d have to get up,
take the IV - they left it in my arm for the two weeks with what looked like an
RCA plug."
Still able to maintain his humor through what he termed a horrific
experience, the radio legend declared of his therapy, " I only fell down a
couple of times!"
"When they put that radiation on the throat, it is like getting a super
duper sunburn. The definitive sore throat, not being able to taste anything"
DeVenne said. "It took about six months after the radiation for me to get my
taste buds back and be able to swallow. (Though I hear) it’s different for
different people.
But now Little Walter is back - on the air, in the clubs and
at work with other music acts.
"I did a Spike Jones package for Capitol Records which was funny, but not my
usual kind of thing," he said. "Today (Sept. 13), they are going to reissue ’The
Knockouts meet the Genies.’"
On Sept. 17, DeVenne went to work on a Bobby Darin "two album on one" CD
piece, as well as a similar Irma Thomas package for Liberty/Capitol.
"It’ll be out soon," he said of the mastering work. "Irma features ’Time Is
On My Side,’ she did the original that the Rolling Stones ripped off from her.
She was so mad at them, she didn’t sing the song for years. Note for note
identical! She went on that soulful tour that Peter Wolf emceed seven or eight
years ago with Chuck Jackson, Percy Sledge, Ben E. King and others."
Obscure music from groups like The Knockouts and The Genies are for
collectors, for sure - and DeVenne knows how to put the music back together so
that it sounds as authentic as it did when fans originally bought the tunes on
vinyl.
"That was fun," he said in his always uptempo and highly recognizable radio
voice. "I did that today, there was only about 14 tracks on the CD. This was for
Collectables."
Collectables Records is a respected label which reissues
music, with DeVenne usually overseeing that reproduction work.
"I’m real proud of some work I did with Dion," he notes.
"Collectibles came out with ’Dion & Friends Live In New York.’ This thing
could’ve been a one man Broadway show if he had decided to perform more than
just the two nights. The new CD’s got all his hits, all his new stuff, a couple
of gospel tracks that are very palatable. It was an absolute magic night! You
should see his face when he sings ’Teenager in Love.’ I gave him the line, ’If I
live to be 200 I’m always going to be a teenager in love.’ He uses that line in
concert."
In DeVenne’s studio, the phone always rings with someone famous on the other
line. Nino Tempo of the song, "Deep Purple," fame was on the phone at one point.
Because of this, DeVenne is known worldwide, having done not only exhaustive
radio work, but television appearances as well as a long resume of mastered
recordings which can be found on Allmusic.com.
The treasures in DeVenne’s archives include dozens of live
shows by Little Richard, including the only known live tape of Jimi Hendrix
performing with Richard Penniman, Don & Dewey and Maxine Brown (although there
is a studio 45 RPM of Jimi with Little Richard that was recorded around this
period).
Recorded way back when by DeVenne at the Back Bay Theater in Boston, the
tape was mentioned when DeVenne was being interviewed for Visual Radio sometime
in the 1990s. After the discovery, Experience Hendrix, Jimi Hendrix’s
family-owned company, heard the tape as re-played from the original broadcast
tape from WTBS (now WMBR), the information landing in Steve Roby’s Hendrix book,
"Black Gold."
DeVenne’s work with the PBS Doo Wop shows and the four CD
sets of Doo Wop music on Rhino also needs to be mentioned.
When asked who got him back into circulation after the
hospitalization, it turns out to be his old friend Dion.
"He’s the first one to get me out of my house last month, he
was over at the Mohegan Sun in August," DeVenne said.