Rest in Peace Medford Legend Little Walter DeVenne

TAPED RARE JIMI HENDRIX / LITTLE RICHARD CONCERT IN REVERE, DISCOVERED ON OUR TV SHOW VISUAL RADIO IN WALTER'S MEDFORD HOME.

WE BROUGHT THE HENDRIX ESTATE TO MEDFORD TO HEAR THE TAPE WHICH WALTER ACTUALLY BROADCAST ON WTBS (NOW WMBR, mit RADIO) THE DAY AFTER THE CONCERT IN THE MID 1960S
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WALTER WAS AN INCREDIBLE FRIEND AND IT'S BEEN A SAD MONTH, GUITARIST/PRODUCER LEROY RADCLIFFE, VANILLA FUDGE'S TIM BOGERT, SYL SYLVAIN OF THE NEW YORK DOLLS, GLENN SIMMONS OF THE BOSTON BAND JUDGMENTAL ...it is shocking  how many people we have lost in such a short span.

 Rest in Peace Medford Legend, Little Walter DeVenne. Amazing recordings were launched from the basement of a home near Demet's Donuts, from Little Richard to Fats Domino, Walter DeVenne's genius is in hundreds of thousands of homes, as well as his legendary radio show reaching hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of ears over the years. Walter passed away on his birthday this week from Covid. He was a dear friend who will be missed. Bill Inglot wrote this on Walter's Facebook page: Bill Inglot

From Bill Inglot:

It was a sad way to start a day today to hear that Little Walter De Venne passed away. Boston DJ and a cornerstone of CD era reissues.

I know I come here a lot to write about people and tribute them when they die. I try and do my best to thank them for the help, the knowledge, the inspiration… whatever it was I got from them that has made my work or life good. All of those things and much more came from Walter.

In the salad days of Rhino Records, when the company was still in the business, as I'll put it, of the 1950s and 60s, I would say probably I was on the phone to Walter three or four times a week to get background on some track I was working on in terms of how it was released, was the 45 sped up?, was it ever in Stereo, did some copies have echo added, did the manufacturer do a running change on a pressing so one radio station was playing a different version than somebody could buy in store… all of those things.

When it came to what he knew, Walter was never wrong. I trusted him with everything he said. And he would tell you flat-out if he didn't know it. An interesting glitch in that is that his knowledge (or I should say his interest...) really waned when the Beatles and the British take over the charts in 1964.

He really was the 50s guy, the Doo Wop guy and the radio guy. And all without apology. THE Doo Wop guy! The incredible Box sets in that genre Rhino did were great through a team of many, but they were made incredible because of Walter. He knew how they should sound and if he wasn’t doing it himself, he was showing me and us how. Every conversation usually had some story about how it was in radio back then. And although he didn’t become an air personality when he was eight, it seems like he was hanging out at radio stations since then.

I was often after him to do a book at some point, but as he semi-jokingly put it, lots of people would have to pass on first for him to do that and tell the real story.

As the work I did moved past the 50's into the 70s and 80s and he left Boston and the Northeast for Florida, we communicated less but so much of the knowledge and enthusiasm he shared with me those years ago, I count on and cherish even more today. He FELT the music he loved and that affection was infectious.

My heart is so filled with sadness and sympathy for his wife Sandy and his family who were mentioned in so many of those near-daily conversations with as much joy as the music he loved so passionately.

If there are record hops in the after-life, they just got the best 50’s and early 60’s spinner and booster of them all.