Episode 191
Celebrating Teddy Astin’s Impact from Warner Brothers to Solidifying Atlanta’s Entertainment Legacy
On this special episode of Queue Points, we sit down with legendary music executive Teddy Astin! While working at Warner Brothers Records, Mr. Astin helped shape the careers of icons like Prince, Madonna, Frankie Beverly & Maze, Sly Stone, and more. He shares his journey from Palmetto, Georgia, to becoming a driving force behind Atlanta’s rise as an international hub for music and film. We also discuss his memoir, “A Golden Past and a Platinum Future” and the importance of archiving Black music history.
Mr. Astin takes us behind the scenes of the creation of Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson’s entertainment commission, and legendary events like Jack the Rapper. Hear incredible stories about working with artists across genres, including hip hop, R&B, jazz, and pop.
If you love music history or want to be inspired by one of the industry’s true legends, this episode is for you!
Purchase out Mr. Astin’s book A Golden Past and A Platinum Future via his website: www.toughact.net or on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3I0jdAP (Disclaimer: Purchasing through this Amazon link may earn Queue Points a commission.)
Read the Urban Insite Black Music Month 2025 Profile on Teddy Astin: https://link.queuepoints.com/astinurbaninsite
Teddy Astin Biography
Teddy Astin started working in the Warner Brother Records (WBR) warehouse at the young age of 20. One year later, with all his hard work and dedication, he was promoted to the supervisor of the mail room. In 1977, Warner Brothers started the Black Music Division and Teddy’s talent was not overlooked and was swiftly promoted to Regional Director of Promotions for the Carolinas and later promoted to National Director of Promotion. Teddy went from the warehouse to the mail room, to the WBR Board Room, and the rest is history. He was a part of history that started a Black Music Dynasty. Come take a journey back through time and read about musical history and all the artists Teddy has worked with while promoting, marketing, mentoring & artist development for the record label in his new book, “A Golden Past and A Platinum Future.”
Chapter Markers
00:00 Intro Theme
00:16 Introduction and Welcoming Teddy Astin
02:35 Teddy Astin's Philosophy and Career Highlights
04:33 Transition
04:42 Kudos for 'Teddy Astin: A Golden Past and a Platinum Future'
05:33 The Importance of Archiving and Writing a Book
06:48 Atlanta's Rise as an Entertainment Hub
13:24 Teddy Astin's Impact on Hip Hop and Artist Relations
19:45 Meeting Sylvester at the Airport
20:32 A Night Out in Atlanta
22:12 Transition
22:18 The Magic of Jack the Rapper
26:03 Challenges and Changes in the Music Industry
30:08 Promoting with Style
31:55 Celebrating Black Music Month
36:22 Final Thoughts and Farewell
37:28 Outro Theme
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Transcript
Foreign.
Speaker B:Audience.
Speaker B:What can I say, man?
Speaker A:Like, I know, right?
Speaker C:It's hard.
Speaker B:Black music royalty, legend, man about town.
Speaker B:We're going to get into that in a little bit as well.
Speaker B:But none other than Mr. Teddy Aston, first and foremost, thank you for joining us here on Cue Points.
Speaker B:And let's just start off and just how are you?
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker B:Today.
Speaker B:How are you feeling today?
Speaker B:We just want to check in with you first before we dive into the questions and get all in your business.
Speaker B:But how are you feeling today?
Speaker A:I'm doing great, Sir Daniel, and our.
Speaker A:Really appreciate you.
Speaker A:And Jay Ray invited me to your show today and I've been looking forward to speaking to you guys.
Speaker B:I mean the pleasure and being on your show.
Speaker A:Thank you.
Speaker B:Well, thank you.
Speaker B:The pleasure is all ours.
Speaker B:Like I've been telling J Rate, you know, as long as we've been doing Cue Points, we, we celebrate people like you and but oftentimes we don't actually get to speak directly to game changers like you.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:And it's important to us that we do that because, you know, we need to give people their flowers and just tell them face to face, you know, thank you for what you've done.
Speaker B:So I think first and foremost.
Speaker A:Let.
Speaker B:Me say this, Jay ray, I've met Mr. Aston a couple times in person because of radio events that, you know, I've been involved with and for if you, you and I have encountered people that work in the ind in the industry and a lot of times people can be affected and you know, can have a certain air about them, but there aren't many people like Mr. Asin is very laid back and very approachable and so I guess my first question then, Mr. Aston, is how in an industry that forces people to have to put on those ears and be like, how have you maintained just being yourself that the whole time that you've been in the recording industry and just being yourself, being that, maintaining that, that personal attribute that you have to yourself.
Speaker A:Well, I've always felt that you treat people the way you want to be treated.
Speaker A:You respect people that respect you.
Speaker A:If people don't respect you, then you avoid them and you know, you're going about your business, you know, but I always felt that if you, if you're nice to people, if you respect people, you receive respect in return.
Speaker A:So I'm a person that's been very fortunate to work in the music industry, very fortunate to have worked for a record label such as Warner Brothers records for over 20 years, very fortunate to be able to work with the artists that we worked with over the years, not only working with them from the ground up.
Speaker A:99% of the artists that's on the Warner Brothers record label, nobody never knew.
Speaker A:We very seldom signed established artists.
Speaker A:However, we did sign a few established artists.
Speaker A:Sliced on being one after Slanted Famous, Stone broke up Frankie Beverly and Mays after his contract was up with Capitol Records and Atlantic Star when their career contract was up with A and M Records.
Speaker A:Because they saw the phenomenal job that we were doing with Warner Brothers.
Speaker A:We promoted marketing, marketed, publicized, groomed to their superstar status, starting with Prince.
Speaker A:I took Prince on his very first promotional tour at 18 years old.
Speaker A:March Day and the Times.
Speaker A:Vanity 6, Sheila E. Zap featuring Roger Madonna, Quincy Jones, Miles Davis, Kevin Campbell, James Zingham, Patty Austin.
Speaker A:That's just to name a few.
Speaker C:We want to definitely give you kudos for your book, everybody.
Speaker C:We'll make sure that folks listening to our show have the link so that they can go and purchase a copy of your book, A Golden Pat and the Platinum Future.
Speaker C:What I absolutely love about this book is you do two things really well in it.
Speaker C:You capture your professional career, but you also cover you as a person, your family, your.
Speaker C:This is such an artifact, an archive for us as black music lovers, but also for your.
Speaker C:For your family.
Speaker C:This is so dope.
Speaker C:And so we just want to give you kudos for publishing this because it's really important for us to be able to get these stories from you.
Speaker C:So thank you for this, but thank.
Speaker A:You for the compliment because when I.
Speaker A:It took me a year and a half to write the book.
Speaker A:I wrote the book during COVID things were slow, didn't have a lot to do.
Speaker A:People were always telling me, teddy, you need to write a book.
Speaker A:You need to write a book.
Speaker A:You know, people like, you know how people kind of feed your ego sometimes.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:But once I had the time to do it, what made it easier for me is because I saved all of my photos archives.
Speaker A:Yes, I saved all of my photos and I had them digitized so every photo has a story.
Speaker B:Thank God for that because we, we all the time here we talk about why it's so important to actually have physical copies of things.
Speaker B:If you see behind me, I collect vinyl.
Speaker B:Gotta have.
Speaker B:I love having physical copies of things.
Speaker B:And you have done a wonderful job of archiving your journey.
Speaker B:So thank you for digitizing those photos because that people need to see.
Speaker B:They need to see you and your journey along with these magnificent artists.
Speaker B:I kind of want tip away from the industry aspect and want to get more into.
Speaker B:Into you, Mr. Aston, like you mentioned, being from Palmetto, Georgia, and Palmetto and then making your way up to the metro Atlanta area.
Speaker B:And I know that in legends, when people are asking them to be retrospective about their careers and the hometowns that kind of nurtured them.
Speaker B:I want to flip that because I. I know Atlanta.
Speaker B:You know, you're one of Atlanta's sons.
Speaker B:I mean, you.
Speaker B:You know, from everybody from the mayor's office to the.
Speaker B:To the local DJs, J. Ray, everybody knows Teddy Aston, right?
Speaker B:So I want to flip the question, and I want to say what.
Speaker B:And this is probably going to be real easy for you, but what can the city of Atlanta credit to Teddy Astonishment and his contributions?
Speaker B:What can the city of Atlanta credit to Teddy Aston and not the other way around?
Speaker B:I want you to say, you know, what Atlanta can thank me for, blah, blah, blah.
Speaker A:Well, Atlanta could thank me for Atlanta becoming the music and film mecca of the universe.
Speaker A:Okay, Boom.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker B:Come on, talk yourself.
Speaker A:There's.
Speaker B:Talk yourself.
Speaker A:There's a chapter in my book.
Speaker A:Under Mayor Maynard Jackson, in the mid-90s, Mayor Mandy Jackson created the Entertainment Commission for Music and Films.
Speaker B:And real quick, can you please explain for the rest of the audience outside of Georgia that may not know, which is crazy to me, but may not know the significance who Maynard Jackson is and the significance of him.
Speaker B:Him being mayor.
Speaker B:That's very important.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:Amanda Jackson was the first black mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, first black mayor of a major city.
Speaker A:He's responsible for.
Speaker A:He's responsible for creating more black millionaires than any other mayor in history.
Speaker A: Now,: Speaker A:And I got a call one day.
Speaker A:They said, teddy, the mayor's on the phone.
Speaker A:He want.
Speaker A:He's forming a entertainment commission, and he would love to have you on his committee.
Speaker A:I said, well, you let the mayor know that I'd be happy to be on his committee.
Speaker A:She said, well, he's right here.
Speaker A:He said, thank you, Teddy.
Speaker B:Because he.
Speaker A:Knew you were going to stay here.
Speaker A:But I didn't know he was there.
Speaker A:You know, I didn't know he was on the phone at the time.
Speaker A:And he said, teddy, I know you're a mover and a shaker in the entertainment, in the entertainment industry.
Speaker A:I want you to be on my commission.
Speaker A:Well, can you describe the commission?
Speaker A:He said, I'm building a entertainment commission.
Speaker A:I want the best people on that commission, and you're at the top of the list.
Speaker A:I want the world to know that this is going to be the mecca for film and music.
Speaker A:Atlanta would be the mecca.
Speaker A:I said.
Speaker A:He said, I know you go back and forth to LA a lot because Warner Brothers headquarters is in Burbank, California.
Speaker A:And I know you go to New York a lot.
Speaker A:He said, when you go to la, when you go to New York, you let them know that Atlanta is open for business.
Speaker A:I said, well, what does that mean?
Speaker A:He said, atlanta's open for business.
Speaker A:You can let them know.
Speaker A:Coming from me to you, to let them know that Atlanta is open for business.
Speaker A:He said, let them know we got tax incentives, we got land, we got warehouse space, we got everything they need.
Speaker A:Just tell us what they want, set up their appointments.
Speaker A:You bring them in here and I'll let them out and I'll lay the groundwork out.
Speaker A:Let them know.
Speaker A:Whatever they need, we got it.
Speaker A:Everybody that was on the commission is in that book.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:And my name is the first one on it.
Speaker A:The Mayor's Entertainment Commission.
Speaker A:That chapter in the book tells you everything that you need to know about the entertainment mecca, how it was created here in Atlanta.
Speaker A:Every film studio has an office here in Atlanta.
Speaker A:Tyler Perry has a 30.
Speaker A:When they closed down a lot of the army bases, Fort McPherson here in metro Atlanta, Tyler Perry purchased 33, 333 acres.
Speaker A:Fort Medley.
Speaker A:He has the largest movie studio in the world.
Speaker A:Every movie company has a branch here.
Speaker A:The mayor was saying, look, they don't have to move here.
Speaker A:They can just put a branch here to get it started.
Speaker A:Not only did they put branches here, they moved.
Speaker A:Most of them moved here because it's a lot cheaper doing business here in Georgia than it is la.
Speaker A:Trying to make a move in la, trying to make a move in New York, Canada or wherever else they got to travel.
Speaker A:Atlanta is the place.
Speaker A:So we created this music and film and entertainment mecca here in Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker A:Thanks to Mayor Maynard Jackson.
Speaker C:My goodness, we go from.
Speaker A:And I was happy to contribute to that.
Speaker C:That's crazy.
Speaker A:To the success of it.
Speaker C:Thank you so much, Mr. Ellis, for your work.
Speaker C:And you know, Atlanta absolutely influences everything.
Speaker C:Like it's.
Speaker C:Every time I see that, it's just.
Speaker C:And thank you so much for being part of that, being able to make that happen because you unlocked a memory.
Speaker C:Personal story for me is in the early 90s, as the music of Atlanta started to really hit the scene, that is what made me want to come to the city.
Speaker C:I'm like, where is this place that is making this music?
Speaker C:I want to go there.
Speaker C:And it was.
Speaker C:And it was Atlanta.
Speaker C:So just thank you so much, Aaron.
Speaker A:Just to take it a step further.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:So when the entertainment.
Speaker A:We created, the entertainment commission, all the movie companies and radio, I mean, record labels started putting branches here, the governor took it a step further.
Speaker A:He said, oh, they all done did this for Atlanta.
Speaker A:I'm gonna make sure we can do it all over Georgia, Savannah, Columbus, Macon, everywhere.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker C:So, Mr. Astin, you are also, in addition, of course, to your impact in the music industry.
Speaker C:You also are an important part of hip hop history.
Speaker C:Cause you talked about cold chilling, the Juice Crew, et cetera.
Speaker C:But before we get into that.
Speaker C:Cause I know this is Sir Daniel's bag.
Speaker C:I know he's got a couple things to talk about here before we let you go.
Speaker C:But one of the things you talked about that you would do, and you mentioned so many artists that you would take out oftentimes on their first promotional tours, right?
Speaker A:Mm.
Speaker C:Rappers have a reputation, sir, for being.
Speaker C:Well, I'm sure you probably have stories outside of rappers, too.
Speaker C:Plenty that you could tell.
Speaker C:But rappers have a story for being kind of rambunctious, right?
Speaker C:It was, you know, new genre, young artists, et cetera.
Speaker C:You've worked across the board.
Speaker C:So was there a.
Speaker C:Either a hip hop artist, actually a non hip hop artist that gave you some gray hairs, or maybe a hip hop artist who in there was tough?
Speaker C:You like?
Speaker C:Oh, this was a tough promo tour.
Speaker A:Well, you know what?
Speaker A:Everybody wanted to come and work with me, okay?
Speaker A:So when they came, when Warner Brothers was sending artists to work with me, most of them are like, teddy, I heard so much about you.
Speaker A:I've been looking forward to meeting you, man.
Speaker A:It's going to be a pleasure to work with you.
Speaker A:I never had a problem with nobody.
Speaker A:Not one single artist.
Speaker A:Never.
Speaker A:Now a lot of rap now artists now when we sign Ice T. Ice T had a reputation, but he was pretty hardcore.
Speaker A:But working with Ice T was one of the greatest promotional experiences I ever had.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:Intelligent, professional, a gentleman.
Speaker A:You know, I mean, man, we had a great time working together now.
Speaker A:And we didn't.
Speaker A:He was our first rap artist, so we didn't really know we were kind of breaking into rap, right?
Speaker A:So Warner Brothers told us, look, we signed Ice Tea.
Speaker A:He was on Sire Records.
Speaker A:Sire Records were distributed through Warner Brothers, and Warner Brothers said, look, we signed Ice Tea, got an album coming out, you know, and, you know, because we don't really know what to do with it or how it's going to be accepted.
Speaker A:But if God ever be out on the road and get stopped on and get stopped by the Police or somebody.
Speaker A:And they ask who you work for, you know, what artist you know, because you.
Speaker A:You know, you tell people they want to know what.
Speaker A:What artist you work with.
Speaker A:Don't tell them you work with.
Speaker A:I see.
Speaker A:Why not?
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:He had a record out called Cop Killer.
Speaker B:Killer.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:And the cop knew about that.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker A:So you didn't necessarily want to associate.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:That record with yourself promoting and marketing.
Speaker A:But it turned out to be a great album.
Speaker A:You know, we never released cuts like that.
Speaker A:Those was always album cuts.
Speaker A:But we released the best singles and edit out any profanity or anything that we didn't feel comfortable with.
Speaker A:Cole Chilling came up.
Speaker A:They were so happy to be with a major record label to do all the legwork for them.
Speaker A:And they had the manpower because they were an independent record label in New York.
Speaker A:They had great artists, but they didn't have the manpower.
Speaker A:So when they signed with Warner Brothers, man, they can promote our artists.
Speaker A:They can take them out on tour, they can market it, they can publicize it.
Speaker A:We got local, regional, national, international recognition and distribution.
Speaker A:It don't get no better than that.
Speaker A:So when Cole Chilling signed with us, you know, it was just like they were there all along.
Speaker A:It was just like any other artist being on the label.
Speaker A:And none of those artists was ever disrespectful.
Speaker A:Now, when they were in there, you know, in their zone, they do whatever they want to do.
Speaker A:But when they was around us, us promoting and marketing them, you never heard nothing bad or negative about none of these artists.
Speaker A:You know, if anything, you know, they were very entertaining.
Speaker A:Like Biz Marquis, Legend, you know, Big Daddy Kane, you know, I mean, MC Shan, Marley Mar, all of them.
Speaker A:You know, Biz Mercury even put out a record called Picking Boogers.
Speaker A:So he was.
Speaker A:You know, they had a lot of personality in their music.
Speaker A:So it was never.
Speaker A:You know, we never.
Speaker A:At least I never encountered any negativity with any artist, whether it was pop, R and B, jazz, hip hop, or any format.
Speaker B:You know, Jerry, I think a lot of that attributes to the fact that they were working with Teddy Aston.
Speaker B:I think, you know, when you build a reputation, people are like, oh, we need to pull it together, because this is a.
Speaker B:This is a major power broker here.
Speaker B:This.
Speaker B:And, you know, the fact.
Speaker B:I can only imagine these are young.
Speaker B:These are young, young black kids, and they're coming into an industry where a lot.
Speaker B:They don't see a lot of people that look like them.
Speaker B:So I imagine when they came across you, they were like, okay, here's somebody that looks like me.
Speaker B:And is.
Speaker B:Is treating me in almost a familiar way.
Speaker B:A familiar way, like somebody, this is my uncle and he's taking care of us.
Speaker B:And so I can only imagine what that meant to them as teenagers.
Speaker A:Yeah, you had to groom them, you had to grow them up, you had to groom them.
Speaker A:You know, hey, when we're going to a radio station for an interview, this is how you want to conduct yourself.
Speaker A:This is how you want to dress, this is how you want to be professional.
Speaker A:I'll give you an example.
Speaker A:Not just hip hop.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:When we signed Sylvester.
Speaker A:Okay, okay, Tater, we want to send Sylvester to Atlanta to work with you.
Speaker A:Okay?
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:That's when you could, you could go to the airport, go through security and meet whoever you want to meet at the gate, right?
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker C:So Sylvester gets off the plane.
Speaker B:Ah, I can't wait to hear this.
Speaker A:Sylvester just off the plane.
Speaker A:He has on his long mate coat.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker C:Hair.
Speaker C:I'm sure there was hair.
Speaker A:He had his hair and his long hair with a white streak going down the middle.
Speaker B:Oh, yes.
Speaker A:And he said, I said, I saw him walk up the ground and say, hey, Sylvester, how old are you?
Speaker A:I'm Teddy Ashton with Warner Brothers.
Speaker A:He said, I know who you are.
Speaker A:I've been hearing about you, Teddy.
Speaker A:I've been looking forward to working with you, man.
Speaker A:Oh, man, thank you for having me.
Speaker A:So we get in the car, we're driving downtown Atlanta.
Speaker A:We pull into the Ritz Carlton.
Speaker A:You're like, teddy, you got me at the Ritz Carlton.
Speaker A:I said, you're the king, ain't you?
Speaker A:He said, you damn right on the team.
Speaker A:I love it.
Speaker B:I love that.
Speaker A:So I said, hey, here's your generator.
Speaker A:Here's what we're doing tomorrow.
Speaker A:Be ready at 9:00'.
Speaker A:Clock, okay, I'll pick you up.
Speaker A:He said, well, Teddy, I'm going out to some of the gay clubs tonight.
Speaker A:He said, I just want you to know who I'm going to be and understand if you don't want to go, you know.
Speaker A:I said, oh, you damn right I'm going.
Speaker A:I said, not only I represent you at Warner Brothers, I represent you everywhere we go in anything that we do.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:How is that?
Speaker A:That just kind of blew him away.
Speaker C:Oh, my God.
Speaker A:We went to some of the gay clubs there here in Atlanta, man.
Speaker A:And they treated us like royalty.
Speaker A:You would have thought it was a rock star.
Speaker A:Been there, man.
Speaker A:They love Sylvester.
Speaker A:And I wouldn't have given anything to miss that kind of reception and to see how he was respected not only in his community, but throughout the World.
Speaker A:But yeah, man, we had a ball.
Speaker A:No, Sylvester.
Speaker B:I don't think I. I would love to know if artists.
Speaker B:If there are any artists today that can, that can relay a story as touching as that, you know, because that, that's, that's, that's different.
Speaker B:They truly were lucky to have been working with you, Mr. Ash.
Speaker B:J. Ray was talking about, you know, rap is.
Speaker B:Hip hop is my bag.
Speaker B:And, you know, hip hop history is definitely my thing.
Speaker B:When I came here to, To Atlanta, I was 16 and I was in high school and I used to listen to the college radio.
Speaker B:Had a hip hop show that came on late nights on Sundays.
Speaker A:Wcrk.
Speaker B:No, no.
Speaker B:Wras.
Speaker B:Georgia State.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:So they would always be.
Speaker B:They would always talk about Jack the Rapper.
Speaker B:Jack the Rapper.
Speaker C:This.
Speaker B:Such and such showed up at Jack the Rapper.
Speaker B:You know, we saw Tupac.
Speaker B:There's this new kid named Tupac in, and he's, you know, he's gonna be somebody.
Speaker B:I.
Speaker B:In my teenage years, I never wanted to attend something so badly more than Jack the Rapper.
Speaker B:Please.
Speaker B:And I've.
Speaker B:We've mentioned this a lot on the show.
Speaker B:Please tell our audience what Jack the Rapper was as a convention and just give them a taste of like, how mild to wild it could have gotten up the.
Speaker B:Up there.
Speaker B:Because there are some very iconic things that happen at Jack the Rapper, especially when we got into the gangster rap era.
Speaker B:But please kind of, you know, inform our audience of what Jack the Rapper was as a conventional.
Speaker B:And why was it so important to the, to the globalization of hip hop?
Speaker A:Well, I'm so happy that I was able to contribute a chapter in my book of Jack the Rapper just to kind of give you an idea of some of the artists that we brought in and promoted.
Speaker A:Well, because Jack the Rapper was the best black music conference in the nation for years.
Speaker A:That's when all the record labels wanted to bring their artists in and meet radio people.
Speaker A:Because radio people came from all over the country.
Speaker A:Every record label was there.
Speaker A:Every record label usually had a suite.
Speaker A:Of course.
Speaker A:Warner Brothers had the biggest and the best suite.
Speaker A:And if you ever were looking for Jack during those conferences, after everything wind down, you could always find them in the Warner Brothers suite.
Speaker A:But it was the biggest black music conference in the world.
Speaker A:Every major record label, they brought in their key artists.
Speaker A:We even had Prince perform at Jack du Rapper conference one year.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:We would bring in our artists and sponsor registration, sponsor airline and hotel for radio guests.
Speaker A:And it would be a great.
Speaker A:It was a great weekend.
Speaker A:In fact, it was such a big weekend.
Speaker A:For black people.
Speaker A:Not only in the entertainment industry, but in the healthcare industry too.
Speaker A:Because Bonner Brothers will have their conference the same weekend.
Speaker C:Man, Atlanta was hopping.
Speaker A:Oh, man, what are you talking about?
Speaker A:Chocolate City.
Speaker B:You know, And Atlanta is notorious for having everything at the same time in the city.
Speaker B:So it's been happening for years, y'.
Speaker B:All.
Speaker A:Years.
Speaker A:So Barner Brothers, Barner Brothers Haircare and Jack the Rapper was usually at the same time every year.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:And it had a great, probably great 10 year run, but at the same time, when hip hop was entering the industry, it got a little rambunctious.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:And, and, and then a rip.
Speaker A:You know, they was asking, you know, they kept asking, well, why can't we come?
Speaker A:Why can't we come?
Speaker A:So Jack said, everybody's welcome.
Speaker A:Yep, everybody was welcome.
Speaker A:But everybody wasn't polite.
Speaker A:Everybody was a professional.
Speaker A:Everybody didn't carry themselves like they should.
Speaker A:You know, that hip hop, that, that hip hop vibe back then in the 80s, 70s and 80s, early 90s, that hip hop vibe was, you know, I mean, because you know how a lot of those hip hop artists were back then.
Speaker A:Want to fight, want to argue.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:One of them shots up in the air or something like that one year.
Speaker A:And that just kind of killed that, you know, that's when they start winding down.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:You know, because if we're gonna, if Warner Brothers is gonna go, we're gonna go to Jack the Rapper.
Speaker A:We're gonna sponsor so many things, we can't have our artists and our guests in situations like that.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:We create our own vibe, you know, we do our own music, music presentations.
Speaker A:But yeah, that really, you know, kind of put a damper on the Jack the Rapper conference.
Speaker A:After years of success when it was a black music conference with jazz and R B artists, it was the best.
Speaker A:But when they started mixing with hip hop and jazz and R and B, it just wasn't a good mix.
Speaker C:I wonder if it's possible to even do that even in today's market.
Speaker C:I'm trying to think.
Speaker C:Well, actually, so many of the artists.
Speaker A:Cross over because basically one of the reasons that it was so successful because all the record label sponsored it.
Speaker A:Yeah, okay.
Speaker A:We sponsored other label was sponsored.
Speaker A:The breakfast, the launch, the dairies, the showcases, you know, we would sponsor probably just with Warner Brothers, we'll probably Pay registration for 50 people.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker A:We probably get rooms for 50 people.
Speaker A:Our guests.
Speaker A:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:But man, they're not spending that kind of money these days.
Speaker B:That money ain't flowing like it used to it ain't.
Speaker A:It ain't.
Speaker B:Those were the.
Speaker A:And it ain't gonna never.
Speaker B:No, unfortunately, those really were the glory days.
Speaker A:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker C:My goodness.
Speaker C:Mr. Aston, this has been an absolute delight.
Speaker C:So many gems from this conversation, but we absolutely just want to encourage.
Speaker C:Folks, if you can hear us, if you can see us, please go and grab Mr. Astin's book.
Speaker C:It is available online and you will not be disappointed.
Speaker C:It is an absolutely beautiful display.
Speaker C:Amazing images from personal images from Mr. Astin, but also the artists that you've worked with.
Speaker C:I just passed a picture of Frankie Beverly just a second ago.
Speaker C:We got Prince in here.
Speaker C:We got Donna Summers right here.
Speaker C:Here.
Speaker C:I know when I flip this page, I think Sylvester is Sylvester right there.
Speaker C:See, I know what's in the.
Speaker C:Like, Sylvester right there.
Speaker A:So, Mr. Ashley, go back to Sylvester.
Speaker A:There was a promotion in there.
Speaker A:Okay, okay, then picture next to that.
Speaker A:That's a great promotion I did with me looking like the Pope.
Speaker A:I'm in the Pope house over here.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, okay.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm dressed as the Pope.
Speaker C:Yes.
Speaker A:And just to kind of tell you the kind of promotions that we come up with, Alcomote, Madonna's new album, Like a virgin.
Speaker A:Get it?
Speaker C:Mr. Astin.
Speaker C:Mr. Astin.
Speaker C:Like, I'm in.
Speaker C:What do we need to do?
Speaker C:All right, here we are.
Speaker B:So you were the one that got.
Speaker B:You were the one that got her in trouble with the Catholic Church, okay?
Speaker B:It was.
Speaker B:You blame Teddy Aspen.
Speaker A:My local representative there.
Speaker A:She was dressed as Mother Teresa in the non outfit.
Speaker A:And I'm just like the Pope, and I'm delivering the album to V103 and Kiss 104 and WLK.
Speaker A:Like a Virgin.
Speaker A:Boy, that picture made international news, man.
Speaker A:So let me tell you something else about that, okay?
Speaker A:I didn't just walk in the station like that.
Speaker A:We had a limousine so long, it had eight wheels on it.
Speaker A:Police escort once we arrived at the radio station, people outside just looking, just looking.
Speaker A:And here I step out in the poop out there.
Speaker A:Oh, people were like, oh, my God.
Speaker A:Bless me, Father.
Speaker A:And like, I cannot not you out.
Speaker B:Here blessing people in these Atlanta streets.
Speaker C:Blessing people.
Speaker A:Can I touch your roll?
Speaker A:Can I touch your roll?
Speaker A:And I had water.
Speaker A:I was sprinting.
Speaker A:One lady prayed it.
Speaker B:Oh, my goodness.
Speaker A:That's promotion.
Speaker C:That's promotion.
Speaker A:That's promotion, ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker B:And that's why Teddy Aston is.
Speaker B:Is the icon that he is.
Speaker B:He's the legend that he is.
Speaker B:And like J. Ray was saying, we are so, so grateful that you took time out of your, your schedule to, to come talk to us audience and share, you know, your knowledge and your experience in this thing that we call Black music.
Speaker B:As we wrap up Black Music Month.
Speaker B:And thank you.
Speaker B:We just found it very important to share your story and we thank you very much for doing that.
Speaker B:Please let our audience know how they can find you because you, you're very active on social media as well.
Speaker B:So please let our audience know how they can find you and your website and everything.
Speaker A:Okay, well, basically now on the book, I have a website just for the book.
Speaker A:The website is WWW T O u G H A C t dot net.
Speaker A:Perfect.
Speaker A:It's like a tough act to follow.
Speaker A:Real easy.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker A:Www.toughfact.net okay, you go to the website, check out the table of contents.
Speaker A:If you see the table of contents, that's all you got to do.
Speaker A:But you'll see a lot of great reviews.
Speaker A:You'll learn more about me, Teddy Astin, and, you know, kind of walk you through the table of contents to kind of walk you through, give you an idea of how important this book is on pictures never seen before, stories never told before in life, and photos that I had digitized.
Speaker A:I'm just so happy that I kept them all, kept them in pristine condition so I could write the book.
Speaker A:Every photo has a story.
Speaker A:The website for the book again is toughact.net t o u g h a c t.net now look me up on social media, mainly Facebook.
Speaker A:Look on Facebook, you'll see a lot of the stories.
Speaker A:In fact, during Black Music Month, I print a lot of the.
Speaker A:I take a through the chapters out of the book and print them on Facebook and other social media outlets to just to kind of give you an idea of why we celebrate Black Music Month.
Speaker A:In fact, one caveat to that is the reason that we.
Speaker A:In fact, I think this is the last post I did on Facebook.
Speaker A:The reason that we celebrate Black Music Month is because of President Jimmy Carter.
Speaker A:Yep.
Speaker A:Jimmy Carter.
Speaker A:When I was living in D.C. working for Warner Brothers, we were all.
Speaker A:The music industry, Black music industry was invited to the White House.
Speaker A:And man, I mean, you couldn't.
Speaker A:I mean, it was, it was the White House became the Black House.
Speaker A:Yes, we had access to the White House and we.
Speaker A:And you see the photo of President Carter.
Speaker A:We are on the green, on the line.
Speaker A:President Carter.
Speaker A:Instead of him being at the president's table, he's sitting in the grass with his wife, his daughter and his son.
Speaker A:His son crawling around in the grass, wanting to meet everybody.
Speaker A:You know, that Just showed how approachable he was.
Speaker A:Well, June is why we celebrate Black Music Month.
Speaker A:And plus, President Carter said if it wasn't for the music industry, he never would have became President of the United States because he didn't have no money.
Speaker A:What he did was he called Clarence Avant.
Speaker A:Clarence Avant was the black godfather of entertainment.
Speaker A:Clarence Avon called Barry Gordon, Diana Ross, Robert Streisand, and a few other artists.
Speaker A:And that was President Carter's first million dollars.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker A:That's what started his presidential campaign.
Speaker A:And then on down the road, artists like Willie Nelson, Otis Red, and the Allman Brothers, they all did concerts for President Carter to finance his presidential campaign as well.
Speaker A:So, my goodness, he was a pleasure.
Speaker A:It was a pleasure to meet him.
Speaker A:And, you know, I always want to give credit to where credit can do.
Speaker A:And President Carter is the reason we celebrate Black Music Month.
Speaker C:Mr. Aston, thank you so much for once again.
Speaker C:You're so welcome for taking time out.
Speaker C:For those of you that can see our faces and hear our voices, subscribe.
Speaker C:Make sure that you go over to toughact.net and purchase Mr. Astin's book.
Speaker C:You will not regret it.
Speaker C:There's so many great stories in here, great photos.
Speaker C:Thank you.
Speaker C:You can visit Qpoints.com learn more about, watch all the episodes of our shows, Visit our magazine, Qpoints magazine.qpoints.com you can shop our store at store.qpoints.com we appreciate y'.
Speaker A:All.
Speaker C:We love y' all because we get to do this.
Speaker C:Sir Daniel.
Speaker C:We get to do this.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker B:And it's like I always say, in this life, you have a choice.
Speaker B:You can either pick up the needle or you can let the record play.
Speaker B:I'm DJ Sir Daniel.
Speaker C:My name is J. Ray, folks.
Speaker B:And this has been Teddy.
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker B:Yes, sir.
Speaker B:See, that's that Red.
Speaker B:He's a radio man.
Speaker B:Low key.
Speaker B:Jay Ray.
Speaker B:He is a radio man.
Speaker B:Yes, indeed.
Speaker B:We thank you.
Speaker A:Thank you, guys.
Speaker A:I enjoyed it.
Speaker A:Thank you for the invitation.
Speaker C:You're so welcome.
Speaker A:Absolutely lovely, guys.
Speaker A:Anytime.
Speaker A:Peace, y'.
Speaker A:All.
Speaker B:Peace.
Speaker A:Sam.
