November 1994 four queens in downtown Vegas free lounge show with Bill Pinkney and the Drifters....Bill Pinkney called out in the audience, Jewel Akens, and he went on stage and did a couple of songs, after the show I chatted with jewel and his wife briefly....fast forward 1996, i was doing a job at the local Air Force base enlisted club , and the manager informed me that he was bringing in a touring oldies show and wanted me to MC and play records(converted to cd's this same year) in between the acts..The Champs, The Drifters and Joe Houston (renowned Sax man and session man)... Champs go on first ..2 black guys, 2 white guys and a woman drummer. I went Hmmmmm, the racial and gender make-up of the Champs was all wrong..needless to say fake Champs accross the board.. Then the Real Joe Houston goes on, Great Show, by Mr Houston, one of the great sax guys of all time..then here comes the Drifters..of course with the Drifters how can you tell who is real and who isn't..i know pretty much the Make up of the original Drifters circa1952 fronted by ,Clyde Mcphatter, and the second drifters from 1957 fronted by, Ben E King, and the names of a few replacments up to the early seventies...definitely none of the first three wave of Drifters were present that evening..but guess who comes as the lead singer that evening, none other than Jewel Akens..He remembered me from a couple of years back and said he was called to front , one of 4 different Drifters touring the US...RIP Jewel.
