When I first started working in radio, one of our station’s specialty DJ’s was a fascinating guy named Bernie Milton. He actually fronted a band called Bernie Milton and the Soul Patrol WAY back in the day. He had a dance hit called “The Waddle” back in the 60’s, and hit the charts again in 1985 with a song called “60/40.” (The chorus: “Sixty/forty, that’s how the world is treating me.”)
Bernie may never have reached the worldwide fame of some of his peers, but he enjoyed nearly six decades as a working musician and a radio raconteur. He, quite literally, had a story for everything, about everyone. Back in Bernie’s day, you’d play eight times a week on eight totally different bills with about sixty-four different acts. So, in a short period of time, Bernie and the Soul Patrol managed to open for EVERYBODY.
When Bernie didn’t quite make it to the top of the charts, he remained committed to his dream of entertaining everyone he possibly could. That meant gigging like crazy, playing lots of covers, and telling his stories on the radio.
We lost him to a heart attack four years ago, but his spirit infuses a lot of the work I do with musicians — he stayed true to himself and enjoyed a rich and meaningful life, where many other folks would have given up. Even when you’d ask him how he was doing, and he’d reply with his trademark, “Sixty/forty, lordy, lordy,” he did so with a spark that let you know he really loved music, and music was his life.
So, with all the American Idol hype around Taylor Hicks and his “Soul Patrol,” every one of those mentions brings back a different kind of memory for me, and for all of the folks that ever saw Bernie Milton live.
(Remember, what you’re doing now on stage carries an impact far greater than you realize. Who’s going to be writing about you fifty years from now?)
UPDATE: It’s a little tough to find Bernie on the web, since the folks in his hometown of Ithaca, NY named a performing arts stage after him. So when you search for “Bernie Milton” online, you get tons of event listings at the “Bernie Milton Pavillion,” and I think Bernie wouldn’t have it any other way.
UPDATE 2/6/13: Fellow IC grad Jim Roberston discovered a bootleg he recorded of a Bernie Milton live gig from 1987.
UPDATE 5/20/15: Eric Humerez, who ran live sound for Bernie during a period in the mid-1980s, recovered some rare video footage of Bernie Milton and the Soul Patrol performing live.
16 responses
I grew up in Ithaca, and as a young music fan I looked forward every year to Bernie Milton’s shows at the Ithaca Festival! That man could really get the crowd to sweat… thanks for pointing him out.
I am a Uk Northern/modern DJ I am playing 60/40 to a packed floor. What a fantastic soul record.
RIP Bernie your the man.
I lived in Ithaca back in the mid sixties and Bernie was a friend of mine. I heard about him long before I met him…his reputation was so big….I was too young to get into the old Ithaca Hotel on State Street. It warms my heart to read that people are keeping Bernie’s memory alive. However I must say I was dissapointed by the sign by the Pavilion bearing his name. It was held together by two sticks. It looked very temporary. I was shocked and dismayed. Bernie deserved something more permanent looking. Maybe improvements have been made to the sign since the last time I was in Ithaca. Maybe not. I hope someone has noticed it and done something about it.
I am an Ithaca native and was blessed to be in a small town with so much talent people like Bobby Comstock,Ted(Big Daddy)Antrum,and Bernie Milton just to name a few.
I met Bernie in 1958 at Fred’s record shop I was checking out a Bo Diddley record in the listening booth when Bernie walked in.I said Hello.We introduced ourselves as Bo wailed in the background.We were friends ever since.I can tell many Bernie Milton Stories.What I would like to express though is what a warm,genuine,and most talented person he was.”Take two steps to the right and then you Waddle”Remember the North Side House!Bob Kane
I HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO GO TO SCHOOL WITH BERNIE MILTON…..AND ENJOYED THE BEGINNINGS OF HIS CAREER …..EVEN WAY BACK THEN YOU COULD TELL HE LOVED PEOPLE…ALWAYS WITH A SMILE….HE RECORDED A 45 RECORD WHICH I HAVE IN MY COLLECTION STILL TODAY…..AS THE YEAR 1960 CAME I GRADUATED AND LOST TRACK OF HIM FOR AWHILE..BUT THEN IN THE MID SIXTIES I FOUND MYSELF IN THE SINGLE SCENE AGAIN …….ONCE AGAIN MADE NEW FRIENDS AND STARTED GOING OUT AND IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG BEFORE I RAN ACROSS HIM AGAIN…HIS BAND AT THAT TIME WAS CALLED BERNIE AND THE CAVILIERS..WE FOLLOWED HIM WHERE EVER H E PLAYED..EVEN TO THAT LITTLE “BAR” IN TRUMANSBURG ON SUNDAY NIGHTS…IN THE EARLY 70’S I HAD THE GOOD FORTUNE TO WORK WITH HIS WIFE AT THE RECONSTRUCTION HOME AND ONCE AGAIN OUR PATHS CROSSED BUT ON A DIFFERENT LEVEL…HE WAS MARRIED AND A DAD….BUT HE WAS STILL BERNIE..SWEET AND ALWAYS WITH THAT SMILE….AS TIME PASSED I MOVED AWAY FROM ITHACA BUT THOUGHT OF HIM AND HIS FAMILY AND THAT ROCKIN BAND AND ALL THE GREAT TIMES WE HAD HAD LISTENNG TO HIM IN THOSE YESTER YEARS…MEMORIES FOR EVER EMBEDDED IN MY MIND…MY HEART WAS DEEPLY SADDENED WHEN I HEARD THAT HE HAD PASSED AWAY…A SWEET SOUL TAKEN WAY BEFORE HIS TIME….I NEVER KNEW HOW I COULD EVER TELL ANYBODY ABOUT HIM UNTIL TONIGHT WHEN I WAS LOOKING ON THE INTERNET AND PUT HIS NAME IN MY BROWSER AND FOUND ALL KINDS OF THINGS ABOUT HIM AND THIS PLACE WHERE I COULD WRITE A LITTLE BIT OF WHAT IS IN MY HEART….SO IT MAY COME LATE BUT BELIEVE THAT HE AND HIS FAMILY HAVE CROSSED MY MIND OFTEN SINCE…FOR THOSE OF US LUCKY ENOUGH TO HAVE GROWN UP WITH HIM AND HIS MUSIC WILL FOREVER CARRY HIM IN OUR HEARTS AND REMEMBER THE MEMORIES HE GAVE US….YOU MAY BE GONE IN IN THE PHYSICAL BUT YOU ARE IN OUR HEARTS …WE MISS YOU OLE FRIEND…………….
Hey Sandy,
That little bar in Trumansburg was the Gateway. I never run into anyone who remembers it. I'm a trumansburg native. We use to try to sneak in because we weren't old enough. Bernie use to come out on his breaks and hang out with us pesky kids. He was a sweet precious man. I really enjoyed your postings. Thank you
We had Bernie come down to play a fraternity party at Drexel in the late 80’s. He was awesome!!! We danced our asses off and then went to chat and smoke with him between sets. 😉
I had the pleasure of hearing Bernie Milton Experience many times when I lived in Ithaca in the 90's. Bernie was a great entertainer and had a lot of energy. and of course soul. He had a great show on Ithaca college radio which I think was “Looking Back with Bernie Milton” which was great, I still remember some of those shows. I'm sad we lost Bernie, but I get a big smile thinking of those great shows Bernie & his band did.
I had the pleasure of hearing Bernie Milton Experience many times when I lived in Ithaca in the 90’s. Bernie was a great entertainer and had a lot of energy. and of course soul. He had a great show on Ithaca college radio which I think was “Looking Back with Bernie Milton” which was great, I still remember some of those shows. I’m sad we lost Bernie, but I get a big smile thinking of those great shows Bernie & his band did.
I had the pleasure of hearing Bernie Milton Experience many times when I lived in Ithaca in the 90's. Bernie was a great entertainer and had a lot of energy. and of course soul. He had a great show on Ithaca college radio which I think was “Looking Back with Bernie Milton” which was great, I still remember some of those shows. I'm sad we lost Bernie, but I get a big smile thinking of those great shows Bernie & his band did.
I was the program director at WICB during the period where Bernie recorded a single of “60/40” (which he would play–of course–on his own show!).
He was a lovely, lovely man–kind, patient, funny, and of course a hell of a performer.
He’s indicative of many artists who have some degree of regional success, but never…quite…transcend their immediate environs.
He came up in conversation at work this morning, and I wondered about him. Very sad to hear–belatedly–of his death. Thanks for writing about the man.
GR
I remember Bernie very well from that same mid-80s period. I worked vacations and summers at the radio station and was able to spend time with all the specialty DJs like Bernie, who of course always invited us to his band play. I introduced some of my friends to the group and one couple even had Bernie and the Soul Patrol play their wedding! What a fun band they were and Bernie is dearly missed.
I remember Bernie Milton during my days at Cornell from 1962-1966, both from attending all the great fraternity parties where he played and because my band the Bravados (Mongo Booth and the Bravados) covered Bernie’s quintessential party song “The Waddle”. Ithaca back then was home to a special party rock sound and the plethora of fraternities-some 52-were fertile ground for bands to work. Bernie Milton and the Cavaliers along with Bobby Comstock and the Counts and Ronnie Dio and the prophets-among many others created some of the best rock music anywhere. The Waddle was such a classic, a shame that it was not better known much beyond the Finger Lakes region, although we introduced it to hundreds at the bar gigs we played on Long Island and throughout the New York Metropolitan area. Although I knew the song so well, and had our recording of it, I had long lost my copy of Bernie’s record. So on a visit to Ithaca around the late eighties or early nineties, I looked for it in a (now departed) record store in Collegetown. The proprietor said Bernie used to come and sell him copies for resale, but had not seen him in a while. So I looked in the phone book and called him. We chatted and yes, he said, he recalled our band. I sent him a cassette with our version of his song-our tribute to him and asked him to record his The Waddle on it and send it back. He said he would. But it never arrived and eventually I heard he had passed. He was an exciting musician and an indellible memory of some great days of his youth and ours in a unique place.
[…] that day rolls around in a few days – but because she’s a member of the Soul Patrol. Not the “original” Soul Patrol but the one for Taylor Hicks who won American Idol last […]
I too remember Bernie from my days at Ithaca College. Caught gigs at a Cornell frat and Downtown as well. Amazing artist, vibrant personality, will live on in all the lives he touched.
As one who probably goes as far back with Bernie Milton as anyone in Ithaca, I remember the days before The Cavaliers. Bernies Mom, Agnes owned a house on North Albany Street that became the local meeting place for many of us young people. Agnes was a wonderful woman who always greeted us with a hug and a smile no matter the hour of day or night. Many of the local musicians would also gather there for jam sessions and some of the best accapella singing ever heard. There were many times that I traveled with the band to work the door and be the bouncer at some bar where Bernie was playing. It was a wonderful time of my youth and the memories will never be lost. Bernie my friend, you are deeply missed by many but most of all your loving family and those of us who feel that we were part of it. Rest In Peace my dear friend…..