Robbk

What? No comments on my photographic memory blurb??? I thought I'd get a bunch of great stories from the old days from you guys. Maybe by tomorrow morning. I once had a few collectors over to my house. One of them knew me fairly well. The other was brought by the latter, The bloke that knew me showed ny run of Atlantic 45s from 874 through about 2700, with not all that many missing. They were stacked standing vertically (as they should be) on shelves, with the thin edge facing outward,, in sleeves, There were cardboard catalogue number markers for every 25 (e.g. at 875, 900. 925, 950, etc. He told the guy he could pick out any number, at random, and not let me see it. Then he would tell me the number, and I would proceed to tell him the artist's name and the title of the "A" side song. He bet him $10 that I could do that. The guy took the bet. He didn't believe I (or anyone) could do that. He proceeded to pick from the middle of the shelves (it ran across 3 different large book shelves). He picked 1161 "Yodee Yakee" by The Drifters (one of my favourite early non-McPhatter leads). I got it right away, and for good measure got the 2 other random picks he made. He was in shock. My friend later gave me half the take ($5), I felt like Minnesota fats skinning a sucker! Post your Stories here"

Got it! So! That's a Yorkie expression, eh? I'll have to dig deep to remember some old Manitoban sayings.

I've got a burning question for you on another thread, which you may have abandoned for the night. What does "any road up" mean? Quaint expression, that.

Just like my fellow Chicagoan late of this forum, I'm glad to be of service!

Shouldn't you STILL be offering yours, unless "another road up" means he's willing to wait 3.5 months until I return to USA.

No! They just went over my head! What does "any road up" mean???

Got it but I won't be able to get to it for 3 more months. Only on white DJ. Has anyone ever seen a stocker of it or The Marva Josie? As far as I know, The Donays' was the only Correc-Tone production on Brent/Time that was pressed both on white DJ and red store stock. Did you know, Ady, that Laura Johnson was Wilbur Golden's Correc-Tone Record Co. secretary, and that she financed her own recording session, produced by Robert Bateman. It was arranged by their piano player, Willie Harbert. Sonny Sanders was involved as well. Popcorn Wylie produced The Donays' session. They were all recorded at Golden's Correc-Tone Studio, whose construction Bateman had ordered, organised and overseen. Bateman knew what he wanted, based upon what he learned from Mike McLean at Motown, so he got only the best equipment. The high cost doomed Correc-Tone to failure, as Golden sunk all his cash into it, and didn't have enough money left to fund recording sessions and record pressing of all his signed artists. So, he had to end up leasing recordings, and, eventually losing his artists. He lost a good thing when he lost Wilson Pickett to Lloyd Price. Anyway, feel free to send your text blurbs to me before signing off on them. I've seen lots of incorrect information on CD books.

Ha! Ha! I always confuse Ronnie with US pro football all star, Reggie White of The Green Bay Packers. This is what happens when one gets old and doesn't get enough of the beta fish fats. Would you believe that at one time I could recall (when tested) all the labels and catalogue numbers of all records in my large label runs! I couldn't remember all of them offhand. I had to picture in my mind flipping through the records and then "looking" at them and "reading" off the labels in my mind, by having remembered what the surrounding records were. A LOT of you big 45 collectors on this forum will identify with this statement, as you, too have a photographic memory. MOST of the people I've met with photographic memories were collectors, and most of those collected records (and most of those 45s). I'd bet that 45 collectors have more than 1000 times the incidence of photographic memories among their population as exists in the normal population. And I'd bet The NS ("Soulie") population has 100,000 times that of that of the general population, as it would be virtually impossible to keep track of all the titles from artists you are looking for and all the labels, producers, music publishers, etc. while fumbling through warehouses full of 45s with only a few hours there to do so, without such a skill.

I never did get to Wigan Casino, but I DO have the "End of An Era" Wigan Casino patch from the last all-nighter sown to my ski jacket. When I'm skiing, every once in a while a Soulie will ski up and be disappointed when they find out I'm not only not a Brit, but not even a "true" Northern Soul fan. I have been to a few all-nighters in Lancashire in the early and late '80s, one or 2 in the early '90s, and one in 2004.

The Boot had thin, weak text print, as photocopied labels generally produce. Isn't that right?

I've got one, but it'll be 3 months before I'm back in USA, where it is shelved. I take it you need it for The Brent/Time CD, and need it soon? I'm sure there are several others on this forum that have a nice-looking original copy. I'll get credit on the CD, anyway for another 45 scan I sent a few months ago (Reggie White?).

Bob amassed an incredible music collection, and learned an incredible amount about Chicago Soul and US general Soul music in a very short time (as opposed to us normal "lifetime collectors". And he was able to share it with all of us, and thousands more. What he did was amazing. Too bad his understanding of that fact did not provide him with the feeling that would have overridden the feeling that caused him to commit the irrational action to take his own life, when he'd likely have been better off to live on and see the fruits of his work do more and more good for a lot of people.

So, you had the pleasure of meeting John Hillyard, or, perhaps it was Chris Peake. Hillyard is weird, but very friendly. Peake is harmless, but looks incredibly sinister. He looks less like Manson than Hillyard, but might bring Manson to mind more than John.

I don't think so. Surely, I would have seen it in L.A. or San Francisco. I didn't see it in The Midwest. Maybe it only was distributed in The South on one isolated press run?

I agree with you that if he had had several true friends with deep friendships, that this tragedy MAY have been avoided (or, at least delayed-but depression is a tricky thing). But, I don't think it is fair to undervalue the levels of contact we all shared with him. It was the most possible, given the great geographical distance between us. True that those that only had contact with him through e-mail and forum threads, and only talked about their common interest in music were only acquaintances. Some of us talked to him often on the telephone, and spent short but intense time with him on visits to Chicago. Then, subjects other than music are discussed and they got to see each other in a different light. It is true that it might take MANY such trips before people in that scenario could even have the opportunity to become "true friends" who have become comfortable enough with one another to reveal their innermost feelings. Bob's biggest chance to have someone close to talk to would have been any deep friendships he had with local people, and close family members. But, even having several such deep friendships doesn't always preclude deep depression from putting the afflicted person in the irrational frame of mind to decide to take his or her own life. Physical differences in the brain and chemical differences can be involved. I can say that Bob and I were just "friendly acquaintances". But, I still feel a big loss.

Wow! In all my years of looking, I don't remember seeing that navy blue one!

As stated above, that is NOT a boot. That is the most common configuration of Satellite DJ issues that I know of. And I lived in Chicago when that record came out.

I feel that way, too. I just can't imagine how he could have thought that. I can understand that he might have been frustrated about how little the artists that he met and interviewed were appreciated, even after his efforts. But he HAD to have known that he was doing some good for them, AND the people to whom he introduced their music. It's very sad that he may have taken his own life because he couldn't see the good he was doing.

I know what you mean. I'm 68, and I was living in Chicago when that music was made, and buying tonnes of obscure Chicago 45s during those days, and Bob knew not only about hundreds of Chicago Soul records I never knew existed, and knew all about who made them and how and why. The beauty is that all his hard work helped educate all of us with more knowledge, understanding, and made a lot of previously unknown music available to us, and helped those forgotten artists get some long overdue recognition. I sad to learn that he so undervalued the impact of his own hard work.

Don't worry. I ain't goin' nowhere!

Thanks. I appreciate that.

Thanks, Peter, Of course you must know that I didn't mean I don't appreciate all the great people here. I wouldn't even be on this forum if that were the case. I really appreciate how everyone here is so friendly and welcoming (especially to us North American "Non-Northern Scene" Soul fans). It's just that I sort have lost a kindered spirit, in the sense that we were both from Chicago and both loved, especially, Chicago Soul so much. I guess conversing with him and learning so much about Chicago Soul from his great interviews, filled a lot of my nostalgia needs. He and his work brought a lot of joy to a lot of people.

I'll be a bit lonely here without my fellow Chicagoan amongst all you Brits. He was so young. I wasn't prepared at all for this. I'm glad I got to know him at least to the degree I did. He was a very nice guy.

I held out hope it was just a rumour or prank. But, if his sister told some of his friends, then there is no hope. TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE news. We were acquaintences, and exchanged a few records and MP3s together, and, of course, corresponded on threads and PMs here just about every day for the last several years. So, I feel that I've lost a good friend. Very shocking, indeed! I didn't know he was even sick. Or, was it an accident? I do see from that 3 days old photo that Bob has taken on a lot of weight recently. People in contact with the family, please give details, when you can. Thanks. So, so sorry to hear this!