Ian Dewhirst

No luck in it Kiddo! Dedicated hunting and being in the right place at the right time and making my luck LOL..... Also, any success stories need to be tempered with the not-so-good tales. So here's one..... I got to Philly on my way back from L.A. in December '76. I had two large suitcases with me and went from the airport into the city centre. It was so cold my hands were freezing up just carrying my cases. I then decided to visit Val Shively's place in Upper Darby and made the mistake of deciding I could get there via public transport (Philly's version of the tube). What I didn't realise is that a suntanned English white guy carrying two cases stood out like a sore thumb on that particular tube journey which went through the worst parts of Philly on the way to Upper Darby. Also, I was the ONLY white guy on the tube and everyone was flat-out staring at me and whispering "he must be crazy", "is he asking to be mugged" etc, etc...... Anyway, I got off at Upper Derby, came out of the station and realised I was being followed by a nasty looking guy. So I got around the next corner and legged it halfway down the street and jumped into a shop entrance. About 20 seconds later, the guy went past the doorway almost running and I thought I'd got away with it but he must have caught me out of the corner of his eye and he stopped and walked back towards the shop entrance. I was shitting myself.... He approached me and said "Hey man, have you got the time......" But I was nervous and thought he was going to knife me and my arm shot up in a kind-of reflex action and my little finger caught him square on in his right eye. Just at that point, a cop car pulled up and two cops jumped out and asked me if everything was OK. It turns out that they'd seen me come out of the station with my suitcases and wondered what the hell a white guy was doing walking around with two suitcases on that particular line. They told the guy to get lost and ended-up dropping me off at Val's. Val was great and I ended up stopping at his place where he spent the whole night telling me some FANTASTIC stories about the rare Doo-Wop scene and the lengths that some people went to just to get hold of a record - guns, threats, intimidation etc, etc. If I get time I'll bang a couple of 'em down...... The next day I was in the back of Val's shop when I suddenly heard a commotion with Val shouting out "Hey f*%k you. Get the f*%k out of my shop NOW! You ain't buying anything else here ya scumbag". I walked around the racks and looked over and Val was facing off a huge black guy with an Afro and a full-length black leather coat. Eventually the guy left and Val told me that the guy was a collector from Toronto and had messed all his filing up on previous visits and was an asshole to deal with. Anyway, I had to leave for the airport and my cab arrived about 2 minutes later (once bitten, twice shy LOL), so I said to Val I'd catch him next time, grabbed my cases and got in the cab. Just then the black guy who'd been kicked out of Val's shop came over to the cab and said, "Hey man. Which way are ya going? If you give me a lift I'll split the fare". I said, "Well I'm going to the airport....." He said, "Oh cool man, I'll drop off on the way" and he jumped in. Anyway, he redirected the cab in the direction of where he was going and the cab driver looked at me and said "Are you OK with this"? I said, "Yeah, we're gonna split the fare, so it's OK". In the cab the Black guy told me that he travelled from Toronto around the U.S. and bought a lot of stuff to re-sell to the Japanese collectors - he had a few things on him - Mike & Bill records on Botanic and quite a few little label things which he said were Deep Soul collectors items in Japan. About 20 minutes later he started directing the cab down some dodgy streets and halfway down on of 'em, he turned to me and said, "Hey nice meeting you man" and then opened the door and hurled himself out of the cab whilst it was doing 20-25mph. The cab slammed the brakes on and stopped as I looked out the back window to see an afro-ed Black guy picking himself up off the road, shaking himself down and running off into the ghetto. And no, he never gave me any dosh, the bastard! So, it wasn't all roses. More later...... Ian D

And anyone who likes Georgie Fame's souly stuff could do a lot worse then pick up his "Somebody Stole My Thunder" - Jazz-Soul Grooves 1967-1971 recently released set. Available here for a very reasonable £4.99 with free delivery:- https://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/3328921/So...html?dpr=131424 And here's a 'lil taster of an almost Northern belter he did called "Peaceful" which is on this album - one of my favourite records of all time! Ian D 10_Peaceful.mp3

And if I ever see it I'll be the first to blag one Malc! There were actually quite a few of these type of releases from Warners back then. They were doing so well with soundtracks and the occasional monster hits from film or TV shows ("Dueling Banjos" from "Deliverance" springs to mind) that they seemed to be the No.1 company for these types of projects. I actually have around 30 cd's of this type of stuff which I've never ever played!! Will go through 'em just in case there's another AOTR knocking around LOL.... Ian D

Hi Russ, Wow. I wondered whatever happened to Chris Peake. He was actually one of Soussan's great sources in the early 70's along with another guy called Darryl Stolper (?) who had a collection to die for but wasn't selling when I bumped into him. Chris Peake actually told me that the word 'punk' was invented at his school when an unruly pupil got asked to leave the classroom and, as he left, he took a piss into a wastepaper basket by the teachers desk. This kind of behaviour was labelled punk thereafter. Chris was into early to mid 60's 'Garage' or 'Punk' bands from L.A. e.g. The Seeds etc, so he had tons of small indie west coast labels in the hundreds of thousands of 45's in his 3 bedroom bungalow in L.A. We used to go crate-digging together on the basis that he'd keep all the 'Garage/Punk' stuff and I'd keep the Soul gear. I used to like hitting places with him 'cos he scared the shit out of most people, so when I spoke in my polite English accent people would bend over backwards to sell us the records just to get away from him LOL... He was one scary guy and when I say he had records in his larder and fridge I really wasn't kidding. I think I found the Willie Hutch in his loo........... I shudder to think of what Dave and Carl got from him 'cos the last time I saw him was '76 and so much stuff came through after then. I can clearly remember leaving tons of future small L.A. label biggies because they were either too slow or considered too R'n'B at the time! Also I spent a few days in Frisco with Disco Bob in Daly City in '76. As you say an incredibly nice guy with a ton of great stories about local acts. One of the abiding memories of that trip was me going to what was then the hottest club in the world, San Francisco's 'Dance Your Ass Off' (as made famous by the Pop-A-Groove record) and realising very quickly that it was a gay club (I was just 21 and 'hot' apparently). I managed to get out with my ass intact LOL..... Also, I remember deciding to go to San Jose purely because I've always loved the Dionne Warwicke record "Do You Know The Way To San Jose". It was a lousy drive, it pissed down all the way there and all the way back and I didn't find jack! Win some, lose some! Keep 'em coming guys....... Lovely thread..... Ian D

Bring Him Back - Dusty Springfield Wish You Didn't Have To Go - Spooner & The Spoons Marble & Iron - Jimmy James Help Yourself (To All Of My Lovin') - Jimmy James Stand By Me - Cassius Clay First Round Knockout - Joe Frazier (Ain't That) A Lot Of Love - Taj Mahal Angel Baby - George Carrow Good Things Come To Those Who Wait - Willie Hatcher I Don't Want To Cry - Dick Jensen Black Is Black - Eddie Jacob's Exchange Didn't Say A Word - Patti Austin Standing In The Need Of Love - The Charmaines Save My Love For A Rainy Day - The Van-Dykes I'm Gonna Change - The Velours I Watched You Slowly Slip Away - Lou Courtney That's yer lot for the time being Al......... Ian D

Off the top of my head..... Ain't No Soul (Left In These Old Shoes) - Ray Paige Lonely Lover - Jimmy McFarland Stubborn Kinda Fellow - Buffalo Smoke One In A Million - Rhetta Hughes Take Me For A Little While - The Mirrettes I Can't Help Myself - Johnny Ross Open The Door to Your Heart - The Mob I Have Faith In You - Doni Burdick But's there's actually loads..... Trust you, Alan, I was trying to relax........... Ian D

Strangely enough George Clinton is one of the least spaced-out people I've ever met. Always incredibly courteous, extremely knowledgeable and lucid, plays the game when he's out and about but really relishes the sanctity and peace of his 3 acre farm in Michigan which doesn't even have a telephone! Sounds pretty sane to me LOL.... Ian D

Massive simularities! "Rhino" obviously followed the path of "CG" but made it 100% pure Northern IMHO. Basically if the drums were slightly more to fore instead of the guitar, then "Classical Gas" would be a perfect Northern instrumental. Have a listen...... Ian D 23_Classical_Gas.mp3

I think it would be a great read because the whole crate-digging thing has theoretically been going for nearly 50 years now. The Jazz, Blues and Doo-Wop collectors were at it in the 50's, Alexis Korner, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were picking up rare Blues stuff in the early 60's, I guess the Rock & Roll/Rockabilly collectors and Soul boys took the baton from the mid 60's and Northern guys from the 70's give or take a year or two. So it's very much instilled in UK culture anyway. Could also be to do with our colonial past and the fact we're an island which has always been pretty plugged in to other cultures. Plus. there's always that incredible buzz of excitement 'cos you never know what's gonna be around the next corner or what you might find next.... And once it's in your blood it seldom goes away..... C.V.D. - Compulsive Vinyl Disorder. I'll be opening the clinics shortly.......... Ian D

I concurr. Lou Johnson had so much emotion in his voice I can't believe he isn't more revered. Didn't have much luck though did he? What's the Volt album like? I've never heard any of his later stuff but I figure it'll be hard to beat the Bacharach/David/Brill Building era.... Also love Bobby Darin.....wouldn't have minded Lou bashing out "Mack The Knife" either LOL...... Ian D

I reckon that a few people were trying to emulate Mason William's "Classical Gas" which was a huge full orchestra instrumental hit at the time and on the same label - Warner Bros. They probably had the same A&R guy I bet..... I could listen to records like that all day. Magnificent! Also loved the instrumental version of the Lovin' Spoonfull's "Six O'Clock" (bootlegged as "Supertime" - the Golden World Strings) which was similar to the Mike Post stuff. Ian D

Yep, yer right Alan. We've always been nice chaps haven't we? Maybe a little obsessed with bits of plastic though...... Which reminds me, from this month's Manifesto:- "In years to come there will a booming business in 'Vinyl Therapy' dealing with a new breed of illness which will be primarily known as 'CVD' or Compulsive Vinyl Disorder. The prime patients will generally be aging, stubborn men, predominantly from the North of England who seem to have an unhealthy interest in pieces of 7" radius vinyl with badly printed labels. Most of these patients will have been submitted by their long-suffering female partners who are fed up with dusting several yards of dust-attracting plastic every week". Ian D

LOL. I can't tell you how many times I've been invited to go into a basement of a junk shop to look for records and had flashbacks of the 'gimp' scene from 'Pulp Fiction'. I spooked my mate out last year when we we were invited into the basement of some leather-attired freak record collector in Buffalo. My mate actually rang his parents and gave them the address in case we were abducted! Mind you it didn't help when I asked the freak, "where can I get a fag round here mate?" Ian D

Ian D

Brilliant story Chris. I bumped into a Charles Manson lookalike called Chris Peake in L.A. who was similar to Eddie. His whole bungalow was filled to the brim with records - even his fridge and larder had records in 'em. However, in amongst all that junk, I found the first copy of Willie Hutch "The Duck"/"Love Runs Out" outside of Soussan's, so it was worth it for that alone. Keep 'em coming lads...... Ian D

Oi! I'm 53 so I have an excuse LOL. In the UK we used to call 2 lanes in each direction a 'dual carriageway'. Plus we invented the language so that's what it's called OK? OK, time for a fag.......... Ian D

Rather that then Two-Bit Tumbleweed Hicktown, Texas! Ian D

It might be pushing it to describe the Hot Wax gear as Modern though Jez. In many ways it was a continuation of the Motown sound which continued quite a while after Motown had started to switch their own sound to a more contemporary path. If you see what I mean....... I have my own natural kick off point for the term 'Modern Soul' which I reckon must be post 1970 to distinguish the sound from the 60's style. Also I'd argue that for calling any Modern Soul after 1980, '80's Modern' as techniques were changing a lot in the early 80's. And what about either The Politicians "Love Machine" or the Barrino Brothers "I Shall Not Be Moved" from the same Invictus/Hot Waz stable as examples of tracks which never crossed-over to the Northern scene at the time? In fact, I'm playing "I Shall Not Be Moved" as I write this and it's almost inconceivable that it was never played on the scene, including by myself to my everlasting shame! What were we thinking........? Ian D 03_I_Shall_Not_Be_Moved.mp3

Yep a great lass! She always seemed to have 'containment' problems. For some reason I just got a mental flashback of Jackie dancing very frenetically to "The Flasher" @ Sammy's and people diving for cover LOL....... Ian D

"I love the smell of rat piss, damp vinyl and rotting paper in the morning"! Ian D

Oh, don't me wrong Malc, Jackie was great fun and her attributes livened up many a night @ Sammy's. Those garbonzas are indelibly imprinted on both my mind and right hand LOL..... But I still don't think I'd wanna meet her in a dark alley in the early hours. Has anyone seen her lately? Ian D

I used to get it all the time! Don't forget that a massive 93% of all Americans never leave their own shores LOL..... Young Foggy

Blimey, that's pushing it Sean - it was only 30+ years ago! I think they were demos. Someone told me a while back that the 'b' side was OK on TT. Wasn't it called 'Mojo Hannah' or something......? Ian D

Haha LOL! Cheers Alan. GREAT story and like you say, totally surreal. I once went to see a guy that was an ex-promo man for Bell/Amy/Mala and was also Lou Ragland's manager at some point. He was in hock to the mob and paying such a huge amount of vig that he was having to sell-off his personal collection. Naturally everything on those labels was there plus more........ And I don't blame you for holding the copyright! There some great stories around and they should be collated. It is a bit of a fairy tale after all - lads from the working-class 70's North of the UK going to America to find their seam of gold - rare Northern Soul records! And it's all true! I could read this shit all day...... Ian D