"The feeling
remains... 
Even after 
the glitter fades"

Stevie Nicks

 

 

Last week Nightlife received word that Carla Peyton, best known as the >vocalist for local 1970s soul band Coal Kitchen, died on August 18. She was >fifty-eight. > >"I used to note that Carla had to take insulin injections in 1970, during >Coal Kitchen's first year," says Robbie Stokes, who founded Coal Kitchen >with Peyton. "Complications from this pervasive chronic illness have led to >her early passing." > >Peyton's death was completely unexpected, says another Coal Kitchen >founder, >sax player Kevin Cox. > >"I talked to Carla the afternoon of the day she was transferred from the >hospital she had been at for three months into a nursing home," says Cox. >"She sounded real positive and strong and we reminisced for about twenty or >thirty minutes on the telephone about our old bandmates and their current >whereabouts. She explained that she had been in a car wreck which had >broken >her hip and banged her up in general. I had heard nothing of the wreck and >as far as I know, nobody else from the old Coal Kitchen band knew either, >until her friend from Oregon, Cheryl, let us all know by email three months >after the fact. The hospital gave her a hip replacement, but due to her >chronic diabetes, it took her a long time to heal. She had just recently >been walking with the aid of a walker and/or cane and was getting stronger. >During her hospital stay they determined what she already knew-- her >kidneys, liver, and heart were all compromised. And as she knew since she >was a youngster, her pancreas was almost nonfunctional. > >"I was totally taken aback when her friend Cheryl [emailed] me the next day >saying that Carla had passed away in her sleep the next morning," Cox >continues. "I had viewed her transfer as a sign that her health had >improved >to the point where she was going to need less-intensive help." > >Local musicians and fans revered Peyton for her performing and vocal >abilities. > >"She always put on a great show," says Sally Carter, owner of the Hangar 9. >"Coal Kitchen was always one of my favorite bands, and she was the dynamic >force behind it." > >"Carla was a sweet person with a soulful voice and the easy, natural >presence of a born musical leader," says Stokes. "She had very wide musical >tastes. Dylan, Doctor John, Rufus, Coltrane, Zappa-- she loved good music, >period. I will always remember her fondly." > >"Carla and Ralph "Doctor Sax" Thomas had both met up in 2000 with Bob Pina >and my Southern Swing band and accompanied us to a gig in Cape Girardeau," >says Cox. "Although it was a country/standards gig, she slew them, blew >them >away, singing a couple of ballsy soul tunes despite having just recently >lost a couple of toes to diabetes." > >To Ralph Thomas, Peyton was more than just a great musician. "Carla was a >very spiritual and aware person," he says. "She is the person most >responsible for my growth from a bigot to a racist to enlightenment. She >saw >the good in me in spite of my stupid, racist comments. Our relationship had >a profound effect on my life. I have no doubt that she was right with God >when she died. I've seen her beside her bed on her knees praying more than >once. Not many know that she was one of the original Freedom Riders who >went >to Little Rock, Arkansas, during the very beginning of the Civil Rights >Movement. Carla was tough, gentle, compassionate, fun, joyful, and most of >all courageous! I miss her." > >Coal Kitchen's name was a play on words-- the band was a "coalition" >between >Peyton's previous group, Coal Dust, and Stokes's prior band, Devils >Kitchen. >At various times, the group included Peyton, Stokes, Cox, Pina, Thomas, >Dave >Parrish, André Mossotti, Randle Bradle, Rob Newhouse, Bobby Carlin, Billy >McMullen, Harry Washburn, Terrial Harris, Kwami Nzekio, Larry Wigand, Mark >Lundquist, and Paulie Carmen. > >Coal Kitchen moved to Champaign in 1972, sometime after Stokes left the >group. The band later signed a major-label contract with Epic Records and >released a few albums. None of the Epic releases were commercially >successful, however; all are long out of print. > >Local-music fans say that Epic overly commercialized Coal Kitchen rather >than capturing their real spirit. Coal Kitchen's 1977 album, Thirsty or >Not... Choose Your Flavor, contains a largely undistinctive mix of the >era's >string-soaked disco and adult-oriented pop. Only the last three songs, >"Keep >on Pushing," "Git It," and "Chained to the Train of Love," blaze with >serious heat. The band broke up by 1982, according to Stokes. > >If record-company commercialization hurt Coal Kitchen's recorded legacy, >Stokes still says that "Coal Kitchen accomplished a lot... many SIU >students >from that era [1970 to 1980] will fondly remember partying to Coal Kitchen. >Signed to Epic, that alone puts them up there with other Illinois bands of >the day with major-label deals, including Styx, REO Speedwagon, Cheap >Trick, >et cetera. For ten years, Coal Kitchen rocked the Midwest, and I would jam >with them most every time they played [the] Hangar 9. Kick-ass versions of >Springsteen's 'Badlands' stand out in my memory." > >"We had all conspired last year in an attempt to reprise a Carbondale Coal >Kitchen reunion," says Cox. "It almost happened. [Peyton] was not quite as >aware as the rest of us that a Southern Illinois appearance by her would be >as much of an historical event as the rest of us all knew it would be. > >"Darn it! I wish we had pulled that together," exclaims Cox. "It would have >given a whole new group of young music admirers a shot at seeing one of the >greats of the 1960s' inventive and charismatic originals do her thing."... > > > >