You see…I Know the Isley Brothers. Know where they come from. Know the high school they went to. Remember when they moved to Blue Ash. Knew their little brother Vernon who used to do a mad and wonderful itch. And who remembers the itch? But Vernon would stand on stage and reach around and swizzle his hips and the amateur night audience would be on their feet though Rudolph and O’Kelly were probably the beneficiaries of that energy but…you see…I know them
You see…We all come from Lincoln Heights which is an independent Black city just outside Cincinnati and we mostly say we are from Cincinnati because nobody knows Lincoln Heights but back in the old days when white people would periodically go crazy and need/want/have to kill somebody Black lots of Black people moved from the river front into the West End and when they could if they could out of the West End and into the Valley and in the Valley…you see…land was ten cents an acre which is not a lot today but from folks walking away from slavery and folks running from crazy folks who wanted to/needed to/were definitely going to/kill them ten cents meant the difference between life and death…But
You see…it’s like everything else so Black folks moved way out there and the Erie Canal was suppose to go from Cleveland down what ultimately became I-75 to connect the Lake to the River and if that had happened instead of it not happening then all the Black folks who scraped together a nickel or so so that they could get a little piece of land would have had worthless condemned land but the canal did not happen though Lincoln Heights did
And then wars and stuff started happening and General Electric where progress is the most important product wanted to have a lot of land but they didn’t want to have to pay for it so they split the land and called it Evendale and what was left on the hill was Lincoln Heights and I’m sure I don’t have to say which is Black and which is white but I bet you can guess…So
You see…The Valley Homes were built for folks to work in the GE plant not to mention folks needing some place to live and other folks not wanting to live near them though the Valley Homes were good enough for us which considering the alternative they were but that doesn’t make it right but it was definitely O.K. because Lincoln Heights had great athletes who would have been famous if they had been allowed to go to desegregated schools so that Virgil Thompson went to West Virginia State but nobody much cared about talented boys from a small Black town that was incorporated and he came back
You see…we had singers too and Pookey Smith could really sing and everybody loved to hear him at Christmas or any other time but Pookey and his brother didn’t have a mother like Mrs. Isley who was determined that her boys were going to get out not because she didn’t like Lincoln Heights or even the Valley Homes but she knew if she could get them out then the talents they had would have a chance to grow and that’s more or less when they moved to Blue Ash and Vernon was run over by a car and all of Lincoln Heights wanted to see them become rich and famous since we already knew they were talented and beautiful. But Ernie came along and we all were happy though nobody does the itch anymore since that’s what Vernon did…And we all remembered.
You see…When they started perfecting SHOUT and Mrs. Isley said she was taking her boys to New York and Elaine said she was going with Rudolph and Ronald used to date my sister but she had to go on to college and the Isleys know because…you see…they are from Lincoln Heights that they had to take care of each other and they have done that…We all mourned when O’Kelly now called Kelly died because he was such a good friend to all of us and none of them ever forgot where they came from and how much love all of Lincoln Heights still sends out to all of them and just recently
You See…I was home and it was Mother’s Day at church and their Grandmother wanted to sing a tribute and she was still doing that Isley SHOUT at 92 and a lot of other people did that Isley SHOUT like the Beatles and Joey Dee and stuff but it was the Isley SHOUT that was our thing and other than the Beatles they have sold the most records…and Lincoln Heights
You see…Always knew they were special and that’s why we know Brother Brother Brother may be an album title but it is a way of life with these powerful, wonderful sons of Lincoln Heights who are Brother to us all…don’cha know