Mike

Just had word of this new mainstream motown book... Motown Encyclopedia by Graham Betts Three years in the planning and writing and already an international best seller*, the Motown Encyclopedia by Graham Betts is one of the most detailed books ever written about the iconic label, its artists, writers, producers and key personnel. Rather than follow the Motown story in chronological order, the book gives every artist who had a record released (and in some cases merely scheduled for release) their own biography, including those whose only Motown connection was a track on a soundtrack or compilation. To these are added the key executives who ran the label from its formation in 1959 through to its sale in 1988, the musicians who made the famed Motown sound and the writers and producers who came up with the goods on a regular basis. Every single and album that made the Top Ten (and, for British fans, those EPS that similarly made the Top Ten when there was a separate chart) in either the UK or US is given an entry, as well as the soundtracks that were issued on Motown. There are entries for every film instigated by Motown Productions and details of the various label imprints, both those within Motown as well as those outside the organisation that licensed repertoire from or to Motown. The 1,178 entries, therefore, feature: 684 Artists 13 Executives 16 Musicians 23 Producers 19 Writers 222 Singles 84 Albums 5 EPs 17 Soundtracks 9 Films 50 Labels 36 Other The book, which contains nearly half a million words, details virtually every aspect of Motown, the Sound of Young America that resonated around the world. Yesterday, Today, Forever. ABOUT THE AUTHOR — GRAHAM BETTS As a Press Officer for Pye Records and later CBS Records in London, Graham handled the publicity for several former Motown artists, including Gladys Knight & The Pips and Edwin Starr whilst with Pye (through their licences with Buddah and 20th Century Records respectively) and would work with Gladys Knight & The Pips (again!), Billy Griffin and Marvin Gaye whilst at CBS Records. As a journalist for Melody Maker, Blues & Soul, Record Buyer and several other outlets, he has interviewed many Motown greats, including Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, The Temptations, The Commodores, Hal Davis, High Inergy and Harvey Fuqua, among others. During the course of writing the Motown Encyclopedia, he has re-acquainted himself with many former Motown artists, checking facts and feats and getting the background stories to some of the greatest music ever produced. In short, nearly forty years of music industry experience has resulted in the definitive book about Motown. RELEASE INFORMATION: Publication Date: 2 June 2014 ISBN: 9781311441546 Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/446043 Apple URL: http://smarturl.it/MotownEncyclopedia ASIN: B00KQGSHNU Amazon URL: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Motown-Encyclopedia-Graham-Betts Publisher: AC Publishing *#1 in its genre on Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca and Amazon.fr

Briefly mentioned this at the turn of the year... here's a sunsetting July final info shout The deadline for NOISE Festival submissions has been extended to the 6th July, following this the NOISE Curators will rate and shortlist entries from up and coming creatives made to the arts website http://www.noisefestival.com. Curators this year include former Vogue, The Face and i-D photographer Elaine Constantine, soon to release her first feature length film Northern Soul. Elaine joins a panel of top industry professionals including music legend Brian Eno, architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw and fashion designer Giles Deacon, all of whom will be selecting work submitted by undiscovered talent for possible work placements, mentorship and international exposure as part of the NOISE Festival 2014 Autumn Showcase. See the full Curator line-up at http://www.noisefestival.com/festival/2014/curators Entrance is free and open to all aspiring creatives across a wide range of disciplines, just setting up a portfolio and uploading work at http://www.noisefestival.com could lead to a career changing opportunity and also open artists to the NOISE network of like minded creatives.

This constant stream of sad news seems relentless at times. Tonight it's being reported that Bobby Womack has passed away at the age of 70. The forum thread below started by Douglas has more info and ask that members please use that for comments

Bobs sister Jenny just posted me this audio clip of a raw unedited version of an past interview featuring Bob Abrahamian. Her friend Kristina interviewed Bob back in 2009, this was later edited and played on the WBEZ station a public radio station in Chicago.( A 7 minute clip is online here http://www.wbez.org/episode-segments/local-radio-host-shares-his-love-soul-music ) However the audio clip below is the full raw interview from Bobs bedroom, raw, unedited and covers 1 hour and 20 mins of Bob answering q's from Kristina and talking about... Well Its been described as "basically like a class taught by professor Bob about the history of Chicago soul music and a bit about collecting" which is to me a fitting description It's very much a real world, a real time sort of thing and as such offers a great insight and also a most enjoyable listen! Update 2019 clip now avail via below for members info the donation thread can be read here