Record Digging Stories.. Book..

Gonna get my type to te ground over the weekend and do this justice which will be a awesome read when completed[the book not my escapades lol],my first visit was 1989 ive been trawling through some of my old cards [record cards were popular back then remembering some of the absolute sh--t holes id been to lol,with fond hilarious memories -ive also got some old pics of my scouting records in florida in 1990 which are bloody mad-did i really have such a flat top haircut-looking forward to putting these down on print and essentially having a laugh-which lets face it -is what its about -funny old business record hunting not for the faint hearted.

Nicola ill get my stuff to you asap including pics etc and incorporate this years visist also.

BAZ A

Sounds good Andy, look forward to it being finished.

Put me down for one

How about a few Faaaar East Find stories...I'm on to it if you want, Mr.D?

How about a few Faaaar East Find stories...I'm on to it if you want, Mr.D?

Too right Dave you certainly have earned a place in there mate (i'd actually meant to ask you in a previous mail) but you know how long i take ... look forward to it..

Gonna get my type to te ground over the weekend and do this justice which will be a awesome read when completed[the book not my escapades lol],my first visit was 1989 ive been trawling through some of my old cards [record cards were popular back then remembering some of the absolute sh--t holes id been to lol,with fond hilarious memories -ive also got some old pics of my scouting records in florida in 1990 which are bloody mad-did i really have such a flat top haircut-looking forward to putting these down on print and essentially having a laugh-which lets face it -is what its about -funny old business record hunting not for the faint hearted.

Nicola ill get my stuff to you asap including pics etc and incorporate this years visist also.

BAZ A

Nice one Baz,don't forget to mention the massage parlours - it would be incomplete without...

lol just looking back now over lunch and have dug some old pics out of Delaware St in Buffalo - im 3 pages in already on this over lunch and not got to the smutty bits yet

Nice one Baz,don't forget to mention the massage parlours - it would be incomplete without...

Been working steadily - well very steadily on the book i mentioned some years ago on here on the fascinating and colourful record hunting addiction.Time is always a problem factor but certainly making headway now,largely due to the fact that the lovely Nicola Anderson kicked me up the backside and saved the day by getting me and the book organised ! so Nicola is now my partner in getting this project running like a well oiled eerr...machine !

A brief recap to some who may not have seen my initial post ,the book is going to be accounts from the front line by many of the top record finders,collectors,dj's and vinyl addicts (Nicola will post some of the names we got on board shortly )but it ranges from the old days of crawling through dirt,muck and filth ,trawling through hundreds of thousands of 45's to the up to date artist,producer findinding modern day vinyl crate diggers from the states.Primarily the stories were going to be focused on the states but, some interesting uk stories are more than worthy of inclusion.So if anyone out there can tell a story that no one else can ( factual of course) then shout up and let us know - storie(s) can be as long or short as you like ! It is quite a task to remember certain things from 10,20,30 years ago but very rewarding and sometimes sad going back in time to places ,situations and in some cases faded memories of characters no longer with us.To note this project is also really a labour of love ,if it does make any money ,it will all go to a charity(s) all contributers to date have done so for the love of it,although if any expenses are incurred we have no problem covering those.

Will keep you all up to speed and leave it with Nicola to list some of the names already on board. thanks.

Loved the mega thread on here couple of years ago re record hunting (Possibly started by Ian Dewhurst?) Looking forward to this Andy put me down for a copy

On 10/11/2010 at 14:04, SHSDave said:

Loved the mega thread on here couple of years ago re record hunting (Possibly started by Ian Dewhurst?) Looking forward to this Andy put me down for a copy

Yep, there's some goodies in there for sure......

And probably a couple in here as well.......

Ian D

On 10/11/2010 at 14:19, Ian Dewhirst said:

Yep, there's some goodies in there for 

Looking forward to reading this, especially loved reading the stories about you (Ian) in the U.S. in the 70's (the two part story) that you sent in to Manifesto - excellent!

Ste.

Looking forward to reading this, especially loved reading the stories about you (Ian) in the U.S. in the 70's (the two part story) that you sent in to Manifesto - excellent!

Ste.

I forgot about that Ste. I'll post it up when I get home......

Ian D

Andy, cant wait for this book. These stories need to be put to print now whilst the people who were there can still tell the stories. This for me is the book a lot of us have been really waiting for. I loved the escapades you told me about, especially with Carl Fortnum. Rob Thomas and John Manship also have some fantastic tales to tell, i could listen to these stories all day. Eagerly await this book and wish you every success with this.

I don't know if he's already done so, but Chris Anderton can relate some wonderfully funny stories about his trips with Shifty.

Been working steadily - well very steadily on the book i mentioned some years ago on here on the fascinating and colourful record hunting addiction.Time is always a problem factor but certainly making headway now,largely due to the fact that the lovely Nicola Anderson kicked me up the backside and saved the day by getting me and the book organised ! so Nicola is now my partner in getting this project running like a well oiled eerr...machine !

A brief recap to some who may not have seen my initial post ,the book is going to be accounts from the front line by many of the top record finders,collectors,dj's and vinyl addicts (Nicola will post some of the names we got on board shortly )but it ranges from the old days of crawling through dirt,muck and filth ,trawling through hundreds of thousands of 45's to the up to date artist,producer findinding modern day vinyl crate diggers from the states.Primarily the stories were going to be focused on the states but, some interesting uk stories are more than worthy of inclusion.So if anyone out there can tell a story that no one else can ( factual of course) then shout up and let us know - storie(s) can be as long or short as you like ! It is quite a task to remember certain things from 10,20,30 years ago but very rewarding and sometimes sad going back in time to places ,situations and in some cases faded memories of characters no longer with us.To note this project is also really a labour of love ,if it does make any money ,it will all go to a charity(s) all contributers to date have done so for the love of it,although if any expenses are incurred we have no problem covering those.

Will keep you all up to speed and leave it with Nicola to list some of the names already on board. thanks.

Good luck on the book Andy, put me down for one i could tell you a few storys but its not my place, i remember binning lady in green in the north sea straight after Cleepthorts all the best, cheers Billy.

Good luck on the book Andy, put me down for one i could tell you a few storys but its not my place, i remember binning lady in green in the north sea straight after Cleepthorts all the best, cheers Billy.

I don't know about that - the binning of "Lady In Green" into the North Sea sounds like a winner to me. I'm surprised no one dived to recover it to be honest...........

And that'd be Cleethorpes Billy.

If it's a spelling thing, then send it to me and I'll edit accordingly. A Magnetics in the north sea after a session on the pier is a story that needs to be told. Were drugs involved by any chance....?

Ian D

OK, here's my contribution which is a Manifesto article I did mid last year............

An area which will probably be of interest to Manifesto readers will undoubtedly be the subject of record hunting or 'crate-digging' as it's popularly known these days.

When I first ventured to the States in 1976 it was pretty much untapped for the most part with only a handful of Northern Soul collectors and dealers taking that early trip across the Atlantic.

Graham Warr from Birmingham was one of the first collectors to take the plunge – a bold move back in the days before cheap flights and the ease of travel which we enjoy these days. Graham was soon followed by Ian Levine who enjoyed regular holidays in Florida with his parents and thus the opportunity to boost his already sizeable collection even more. The notorious Simon Soussan moved from Leeds to Mexico City before making the jump to Los Angeles and establishing himself as the first U.S. based Northern Soul dealer, whilst John Anderson from Scotland was also making his initial forays to the U.S. establishing the then tiny Soul Bowl operation in the process.

But America is a big place and, in the mid 1970's, was still a largely untapped goldmine for Northern Soul. In what we hope will become a regular feature in Manifesto, we decided to cover some of the stories of those halcyon days to give people a glimpse of the twists and turns that can happen in crate-digging which can turn a mundane day into a phenomenal one.

Here's a few from me to kick the series off.........

I was in east L.A. driving around looking for a Saturday morning 'swap-meet' (or flea market) and somehow I just couldn't find the place where the swap meet was meant to be. I was driving mile after mile along all these roads with heavy industrial complexes and factories as far as the eye could see but no sign of any swap meet.

As I was driving along one of these bleak, endless roads I noticed a hamburger stall coming up on the roadside with quite a few people milling around, so I slowed down, figuring I could ask someone where the swap meet might be. It was then that I noticed that there was a sort of household goods market right next to the hamburger van.

So I parked up, because I was sick of driving and fancied a coffee and there were a couple of coffee type stalls within the market. So I got a coffee and started to have a mooch around the market. It was all stepladders, dusters, cleaning fluids, tool kits, buckets, bowls and thousands of other household goods. I'd pretty much covered the whole market when I noticed a stall nearest the road which had a couple of boxes of 45's in amongst all the household goods....

I wandered over, set my coffee down and started flicking through the 45's. It really wasn't very promising - I expected lots of junk and some of the records looked beaten up.......but.......

Bingo!

I suddenly found a copy of "We Were Made For Each Other" by Terrible Tom on Maverick.......and then another one right after it!

My heart started thudding. What else could be there........?

A few more records later I found "You Don't Love Me Anymore" - Johnny Caswell on a pink Decca demo. Things were looking up suddenly. After I'd gone through both boxes I'd found a few more medium rare records - Candace Love, Fred Hughes and a couple of others. I asked the guy how much they were and he said, "Oh, just gimme 25 cents each man". So I gave him a couple of bucks and said, "Wow. I found a few things here. It's a shame you don't have any more."

The guy looked at me and said "You want more 45's"?

I said, "Yeah, that's what I'm looking for".

And the guy said, "Yo, come around here" and waved me round to the back of his stall where there was a huge rain-soaked tarpaulin covering an area about 20' x 20'...

He then grabbed hold of one side of the tarpaulin and threw it back to reveal......

about 20,000 45's!

He laughed and said "Help yourself. Good luck."

They were in a right state! Some of them were warped from the sun, others had been wet at some time and were water-damaged and most of the sleeves were falling apart or rotting.

But everything away from the edges of the tarpaulin and in the middle of all this plastic was fine!

I found 50 x "Love Factory" - Eloise Laws on Music Merchant, 50 x "Memories" by the Segments Of Time on Sussex and at least a couple of hundred other goodies which were all in decent nick considering the circumstances.

I also found the rarest record ever on the Belgium scene at the time - "Heartless Lover" by the Dick Baker Combo which I sold a week later for £1500 - a huge amount of money in '76 - the guy even flew in from Belgium to collect it personally!

So a shit day turned into a good one in the end.

Thing's can work like that. Perhaps the best hit I had happened towards the end of a completely fruitless visit to Denver Colorado in late 1980's........

In 1988 I was stuck in a pretty boring job in between my more exciting jobs when I got a phone call from my ex boss who used to own the Warehouse in Leeds. He'd recently moved out to Denver, Colorado and was thinking about opening a club out there, so he invited me over for 10 days and offered to send the plane tickets!

Which was perfect! Anything to get out of the MCPS in Streatham which was slowly killing me.....

Also, at the back of my mind, I figured that Denver is in the middle of nowhere so the chances of any Northern collectors actually CHOOSING to go to Denver or even Colorado was remote - they'd have to go roughly 1000 miles from anywhere else to the middle of cowboy country to look for Northern. Unlikely.....

So I got there, got settled in at my bosses pad and then began a week of trawling every store in Denver whilst looking at potential club premises.

And.......nothing!

A complete bust.

Just crap.

I couldn't believe it. Quite often there'd be promising situations, i.e., plenty of the right labels from the right era and cheap. But somehow there were never the right artists or smaller labels and WAAAY too much Country & Western for my liking.....

It got to day 9 - the day before I was due to fly back and there was one store about 15 miles out of Denver which I hadn't tried yet. The only problem was that my ex-boss was busy that day and wouldn't be able to run me over there. I'd have to get there via about three buses which would be a pain in the ass.

Anyway, I set off. It took me almost 2 hours to get there but when I got there my heart started pounding! The shop looked FANTASTIC with 100ft long racks of 45's from floor to ceiling. So I got digging....

And nothing! Tons of the right labels, lots of the right artists but NO NORTHERN!!

The shop owner even let me in the back room to go through the unsorted stuff so I got covered in cobwebs, rat shit and dust going through hundred-count boxes of Luther Ingram, Staple Singers and Bar-Kays records but still NO NORTHERN!

After a couple of hours and covered in shit from head-to-toe, I called it a day and headed back to the bus stop for the trek back. To add insult to injury, I'd just missed a bus and the next one was in an hour. So I had an hour to kill in the middle of Buttf*ck, Denver with no records!

Great.

So I went into a burger bar and got a burger and coffee and went to sit at the window booth. As I was chomping my burger I was casually looking out of the window looking across a parking lot and, beyond that a dual carriageway, when in the distance, at the other side of the dual carriageway, I saw a sign which said "1940 Jukebox Co".

I wasn't that excited but I had a bit more time to kill and I like those early Wurlitzer jukeboxes anyway, so I thought I'd have a wander over there and have a look. Nothing better to do.....

So I crossed the dual carriageway and walked up to a huge building which had a shop front with a couple of Wurlitzer jukeboxes in the window. I looked at them for a while and then casually wandered into the shop.

As I went through the door into the shop, I noticed an alcove on the right-hand side which was roped-off but which was full of racks of records in what looked to be strict alphabetical order.

I still wasn't that excited - I thought they'd all be ex-jukebox records, 'oldies but goodies' or the dreaded Ferlin Husky or Merle Haggard stuff which Denver seemed to be filled with.

There was a long-haired bearded native Indian bloke at the counter, so I wandered up and said "Wow. Love these jukeboxes man. What do you play on 'em"?

He said: "I've got over a million records in there (pointing at the alcove), so we ain't gonna run out anytime soon son".

I said: "Wow. A million ay? Are they for sale"?

He said: "Yep. As a matter of fact it's your lucky day son. I'm having a sale, so anything you want is 25 cents each."

And with that, he walked around the counter, down to the alcove, unhooked the rope to the entrance and ushered me in.

I took a deep breath. This actually looked promising. The alphabetizing of his stock was incredible with the 'A' section starting off with A, AA, AB, ABE, etc, etc which I thought was far too intricate for just ex-juke-box titles. But it could still all be Country and Western though so I still wasn't getting too excited....

So, I thought what record have I never managed to find in all my previous trips to the U.S.? One I really like preferably.....? And it had always bugged me that I'd never managed to find a Stanley Mitchell "Get It Baby" on Dynamo - one of my favourite records of all time.

So I went to the 'M' section, scrolled along - M..., MA..., ME..., MI...., MIT..., MITCH.........

And found 2 mint white promo copies of "Get It Baby" on Dynamo!

That was when my heart started pounding like a demented sledgehammer!

Everything was in there! All the major label stuff, lots of tiny indie labels, tons of New York, L.A., Detroit and Chicago goodies.

I ended up staying there until 12.00pm that night. The owner even locked me up in the shop so he could get some dinner. I bought 2,800 records for $700 and made close to £30,000 and massively increased my Northern collection at the time. It was easily the best hit I've ever had in my entire life. The nearest to the 'Holy Grail' I'd ever experienced an I'd come close a few times!

But only around 10-11 hours to cover a million records? I had to go back to the UK the next day, so the only thing I could do was target things I could remember and adopt a kind of 'scattergun' approach which is absolutely the worst way to clear a warehouse.

And to this day, I wake up in a cold sweat every so often, dreaming of what I probably left behind at the 1940 Jukebox Company.

A few months after my visit, Dave Raistrick from Skegness found the place and had a hell of a hit himself. But he couldn't understand why a lot of the obvious titles weren't there until he asked the guy whether anyone else from England had been there and the guy said. "Well there was this tall, dark-haired guy here a couple of months ago...........".

I caught up with Dave a year or two later at a record fair and he said "Denver, Colorado. Was that you"?

And I said "Yep"!

Ian Dewhirst May 2009

Been working steadily - well very steadily on the book i mentioned some years ago on here on the fascinating and colourful record hunting addiction.Time is always a problem factor but certainly making headway now,largely due to the fact that the lovely Nicola Anderson kicked me up the backside and saved the day by getting me and the book organised ! so Nicola is now my partner in getting this project running like a well oiled eerr...machine !

A brief recap to some who may not have seen my initial post ,the book is going to be accounts from the front line by many of the top record finders,collectors,dj's and vinyl addicts (Nicola will post some of the names we got on board shortly )but it ranges from the old days of crawling through dirt,muck and filth ,trawling through hundreds of thousands of 45's to the up to date artist,producer findinding modern day vinyl crate diggers from the states.Primarily the stories were going to be focused on the states but, some interesting uk stories are more than worthy of inclusion.So if anyone out there can tell a story that no one else can ( factual of course) then shout up and let us know - storie(s) can be as long or short as you like ! It is quite a task to remember certain things from 10,20,30 years ago but very rewarding and sometimes sad going back in time to places ,situations and in some cases faded memories of characters no longer with us.To note this project is also really a labour of love ,if it does make any money ,it will all go to a charity(s) all contributers to date have done so for the love of it,although if any expenses are incurred we have no problem covering those.

Will keep you all up to speed and leave it with Nicola to list some of the names already on board. thanks.

Firstly I would like to thank Andy for letting me help him and be his partner in this project.

Right as promised here are the names of some of the people we have managed to get on board so far Butch, Ady Croasdell, Mick Smith, Dave Raistrick, Andy Rix, Guy Hennigan, Carl Fortnum, Jock, Andy Whittmore, Arthur Fenn, Soul Sam,Baz Atkinson, Steve Guarnori, Taffy, Mark Speakman, Chico, Roger Banks, Johnny Beggs, Simon Hunt, Pete Hulatt, Gilly, and of course Andy Dyson.

As Andy states above if any of you have anything you would like to contribute we would love to hear from you.

You can contact me direct on my email nicolaanderson271@btinternet.com

Gonna get my type to te ground over the weekend and do this justice which will be a awesome read when completed[the book not my escapades lol],my first visit was 1989 ive been trawling through some of my old cards [record cards were popular back then remembering some of the absolute sh--t holes id been to lol,with fond hilarious memories -ive also got some old pics of my scouting records in florida in 1990 which are bloody mad-did i really have such a flat top haircut-looking forward to putting these down on print and essentially having a laugh-which lets face it -is what its about -funny old business record hunting not for the faint hearted.

Nicola ill get my stuff to you asap including pics etc and incorporate this years visist also.

BAZ A

Thanks alot Baz(hope you are well). I have put my email on my post above.

OK, here's my contribution which is a Manifesto article I did mid last year............

Manifesto Article

"Crate Digging In The U.S.A. - A Beginner's Guide"

An area which will probably be of interest to Manifesto readers will undoubtedly be the subject of record hunting or 'crate-digging' as it's popularly known these days.

When I first ventured to the States in 1976 it was pretty much untapped for the most part with only a handful of Northern Soul collectors and dealers taking that early trip across the Atlantic.

Graham Warr from Birmingham was one of the first collectors to take the plunge - a bold move back in the days before cheap flights and the ease of travel which we enjoy these days. Graham was soon followed by Ian Levine who enjoyed regular holidays in Florida with his parents and thus the opportunity to boost his already sizeable collection even more. The notorious Simon Soussan moved from Leeds to Mexico City before making the jump to Los Angeles and establishing himself as the first U.S. based Northern Soul dealer, whilst John Anderson from Scotland was also making his initial forays to the U.S. establishing the then tiny Soul Bowl operation in the process.

But America is a big place and, in the mid 1970's, was still a largely untapped goldmine for Northern Soul. In what we hope will become a regular feature in Manifesto, we decided to cover some of the stories of those halcyon days to give people a glimpse of the twists and turns that can happen in crate-digging which can turn a mundane day into a phenomenal one.

Here's a few from me to kick the series off.........

I was in east L.A. driving around looking for a Saturday morning 'swap-meet' (or flea market) and somehow I just couldn't find the place where the swap meet was meant to be. I was driving mile after mile along all these roads with heavy industrial complexes and factories as far as the eye could see but no sign of any swap meet.

As I was driving along one of these bleak, endless roads I noticed a hamburger stall coming up on the roadside with quite a few people milling around, so I slowed down, figuring I could ask someone where the swap meet might be. It was then that I noticed that there was a sort of household goods market right next to the hamburger van.

So I parked up, because I was sick of driving and fancied a coffee and there were a couple of coffee type stalls within the market. So I got a coffee and started to have a mooch around the market. It was all stepladders, dusters, cleaning fluids, tool kits, buckets, bowls and thousands of other household goods. I'd pretty much covered the whole market when I noticed a stall nearest the road which had a couple of boxes of 45's in amongst all the household goods....

I wandered over, set my coffee down and started flicking through the 45's. It really wasn't very promising - I expected lots of junk and some of the records looked beaten up.......but.......

Bingo!

I suddenly found a copy of "We Were Made For Each Other" by Terrible Tom on Maverick.......and then another one right after it!

My heart started thudding. What else could be there........?

A few more records later I found "You Don't Love Me Anymore" - Johnny Caswell on a pink Decca demo. Things were looking up suddenly. After I'd gone through both boxes I'd found a few more medium rare records - Candace Love, Fred Hughes and a couple of others. I asked the guy how much they were and he said, "Oh, just gimme 25 cents each man". So I gave him a couple of bucks and said, "Wow. I found a few things here. It's a shame you don't have any more."

The guy looked at me and said "You want more 45's"?

I said, "Yeah, that's what I'm looking for".

And the guy said, "Yo, come around here" and waved me round to the back of his stall where there was a huge rain-soaked tarpaulin covering an area about 20' x 20'...

He then grabbed hold of one side of the tarpaulin and threw it back to reveal......

about 20,000 45's!

He laughed and said "Help yourself. Good luck."

They were in a right state! Some of them were warped from the sun, others had been wet at some time and were water-damaged and most of the sleeves were falling apart or rotting.

But everything away from the edges of the tarpaulin and in the middle of all this plastic was fine!

I found 50 x "Love Factory" - Eloise Laws on Music Merchant, 50 x "Memories" by the Segments Of Time on Sussex and at least a couple of hundred other goodies which were all in decent nick considering the circumstances.

I also found the rarest record ever on the Belgium scene at the time - "Heartless Lover" by the Dick Baker Combo which I sold a week later for £1500 - a huge amount of money in '76 - the guy even flew in from Belgium to collect it personally!

So a shit day turned into a good one in the end.

Thing's can work like that. Perhaps the best hit I had happened towards the end of a completely fruitless visit to Denver Colorado in late 1980's........

In 1988 I was stuck in a pretty boring job in between my more exciting jobs when I got a phone call from my ex boss who used to own the Warehouse in Leeds. He'd recently moved out to Denver, Colorado and was thinking about opening a club out there, so he invited me over for 10 days and offered to send the plane tickets!

Which was perfect! Anything to get out of the MCPS in Streatham which was slowly killing me.....

Also, at the back of my mind, I figured that Denver is in the middle of nowhere so the chances of any Northern collectors actually CHOOSING to go to Denver or even Colorado was remote - they'd have to go roughly 1000 miles from anywhere else to the middle of cowboy country to look for Northern. Unlikely.....

So I got there, got settled in at my bosses pad and then began a week of trawling every store in Denver whilst looking at potential club premises.

And.......nothing!

A complete bust.

Just crap.

I couldn't believe it. Quite often there'd be promising situations, i.e., plenty of the right labels from the right era and cheap. But somehow there were never the right artists or smaller labels and WAAAY too much Country & Western for my liking.....

It got to day 9 - the day before I was due to fly back and there was one store about 15 miles out of Denver which I hadn't tried yet. The only problem was that my ex-boss was busy that day and wouldn't be able to run me over there. I'd have to get there via about three buses which would be a pain in the ass.

Anyway, I set off. It took me almost 2 hours to get there but when I got there my heart started pounding! The shop looked FANTASTIC with 100ft long racks of 45's from floor to ceiling. So I got digging....

And nothing! Tons of the right labels, lots of the right artists but NO NORTHERN!!

The shop owner even let me in the back room to go through the unsorted stuff so I got covered in cobwebs, rat shit and dust going through hundred-count boxes of Luther Ingram, Staple Singers and Bar-Kays records but still NO NORTHERN!

After a couple of hours and covered in shit from head-to-toe, I called it a day and headed back to the bus stop for the trek back. To add insult to injury, I'd just missed a bus and the next one was in an hour. So I had an hour to kill in the middle of Buttf*ck, Denver with no records!

Great.

So I went into a burger bar and got a burger and coffee and went to sit at the window booth. As I was chomping my burger I was casually looking out of the window looking across a parking lot and, beyond that a dual carriageway, when in the distance, at the other side of the dual carriageway, I saw a sign which said "1940 Jukebox Co".

I wasn't that excited but I had a bit more time to kill and I like those early Wurlitzer jukeboxes anyway, so I thought I'd have a wander over there and have a look. Nothing better to do.....

So I crossed the dual carriageway and walked up to a huge building which had a shop front with a couple of Wurlitzer jukeboxes in the window. I looked at them for a while and then casually wandered into the shop.

As I went through the door into the shop, I noticed an alcove on the right-hand side which was roped-off but which was full of racks of records in what looked to be strict alphabetical order.

I still wasn't that excited - I thought they'd all be ex-jukebox records, 'oldies but goodies' or the dreaded Ferlin Husky or Merle Haggard stuff which Denver seemed to be filled with.

There was a long-haired bearded native Indian bloke at the counter, so I wandered up and said "Wow. Love these jukeboxes man. What do you play on 'em"?

He said: "I've got over a million records in there (pointing at the alcove), so we ain't gonna run out anytime soon son".

I said: "Wow. A million ay? Are they for sale"?

He said: "Yep. As a matter of fact it's your lucky day son. I'm having a sale, so anything you want is 25 cents each."

And with that, he walked around the counter, down to the alcove, unhooked the rope to the entrance and ushered me in.

I took a deep breath. This actually looked promising. The alphabetizing of his stock was incredible with the 'A' section starting off with A, AA, AB, ABE, etc, etc which I thought was far too intricate for just ex-juke-box titles. But it could still all be Country and Western though so I still wasn't getting too excited....

So, I thought what record have I never managed to find in all my previous trips to the U.S.? One I really like preferably.....? And it had always bugged me that I'd never managed to find a Stanley Mitchell "Get It Baby" on Dynamo - one of my favourite records of all time.

So I went to the 'M' section, scrolled along - M..., MA..., ME..., MI...., MIT..., MITCH.........

And found 2 mint white promo copies of "Get It Baby" on Dynamo!

That was when my heart started pounding like a demented sledgehammer!

Everything was in there! All the major label stuff, lots of tiny indie labels, tons of New York, L.A., Detroit and Chicago goodies.

I ended up staying there until 12.00pm that night. The owner even locked me up in the shop so he could get some dinner. I bought 2,800 records for $700 and made close to £30,000 and massively increased my Northern collection at the time. It was easily the best hit I've ever had in my entire life. The nearest to the 'Holy Grail' I'd ever experienced an I'd come close a few times!

But only around 10-11 hours to cover a million records? I had to go back to the UK the next day, so the only thing I could do was target things I could remember and adopt a kind of 'scattergun' approach which is absolutely the worst way to clear a warehouse.

And to this day, I wake up in a cold sweat every so often, dreaming of what I probably left behind at the 1940 Jukebox Company.

A few months after my visit, Dave Raistrick from Skegness found the place and had a hell of a hit himself. But he couldn't understand why a lot of the obvious titles weren't there until he asked the guy whether anyone else from England had been there and the guy said. "Well there was this tall, dark-haired guy here a couple of months ago...........".

I caught up with Dave a year or two later at a record fair and he said "Denver, Colorado. Was that you"?

And I said "Yep"!

Ian Dewhirst May 2009

Thank you Ian, thats brilliant and the sort of thing we are looking for

I don't know if he's already done so, but Chris Anderton can relate some wonderfully funny stories about his trips with Shifty.

Thanks Dave, I have made a note to contact both Chris and Shifty.

I don't know about that - the binning of "Lady In Green" into the North Sea sounds like a winner to me. I'm surprised no one dived to recover it to be honest...........

And that'd be Cleethorpes Billy.

If it's a spelling thing, then send it to me and I'll edit accordingly. A Magnetics in the north sea after a session on the pier is a story that needs to be told. Were drugs involved by any chance....?

Ian D

Thanks Ian for putting it right ( Cleethorpes ) just come back from wigans oldies on the friday straight to Cleethorpes allnighter no sleep no kip, we all on clound nine, not to sure if i picked up the maqnetics friday or saturday night i know what was in my bag when i walked outa Cleethorpes my mate Keith what a shit record to slow for you Billy, tbh i cant even remember hearing it so i took outa the cover and just threw it after all these years i do regret it i remember telling the story to Johnny fingers at maxine's, cheers Billy.

Firstly I would like to thank Andy for letting me help him and be his partner in this project.

Right as promised here are the names of some of the people we have managed to get on board so far Butch, Ady Croasdell, Mick Smith, Dave Raistrick, Andy Rix, Guy Hennigan, Carl Fortnum, Jock, Andy Whittmore, Arthur Fenn, Soul Sam,Baz Atkinson, Steve Guarnori, Taffy, Mark Speakman, Chico, Roger Banks, Johnny Beggs, Simon Hunt, Pete Hulatt, Gilly, and of course Andy Dyson.

As Andy states above if any of you have anything you would like to contribute we would love to hear from you.

You can contact me direct on my email nicolaanderson271@btinternet.com

I appreciate all the emails and offers of help etc.. it's certainly got me in motivation mode,can't give a exact date for finnish - that's down to lots of different scenario's but we gonna be moving quick as possible.Above is a great list of names although i got at least double that amount again including in my view some of the all time great finders ,will save their identity for the release time..there is of course the odd few guys who i really want in there that just won't budge for whatever reasons,mainly on the u.s side ,this record game has some of the craziest and unpredictable characters on the planet.. but who knows i guarentee some welcome suprises for sure ! Today some crackers arrived from dave thorley,mr bicknell gonna do some and top carolina's guy jason perlmutter and Andy Noble one of the most skilled artist/session and info finders of today - lots and lots to go at !

Thank you Ian, thats brilliant and the sort of thing we are looking for

You're welcome Nicola. I try to lure people out if I can 'cos there's some fantastic stories out there. Val Shively once told me a terrific story about a couple of the high-level Doo Wop collectors falling out with one of the guys pulling a gun after a deal was reneged upon. He obviously got the record. So talk to Val 'cos he'll probably also tell you about that crazy Black guy with an Afro from Canada who he kicked out of the shop whilst I was there and a zillion other tales.

Great project. Must be fun to compile all this stuff. Best of luck!

Ian D

Hi Andy/Nicola, will get my thinking cap on this weekend and get my contribution down on the old PC, involves myself and Coxy aka Kevin Cox and a beautiful trip to Chicago and Detroit where we almost got arrested by a big American cop and his pump action shot gun lol for sleeping in Coxy's camper van van parked up in a suburb of Chicago one night and the day we found 99 copies of Detroit Soul - All Of My Life, 25 Dean Courtney RCA Victor Issues and many more all for two bucks each...sweet home Chicago that's for sure.

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

Rich Haupt's story about tracking down Jr & the Soulettes is incredible

Just wanted to reiterate that if anyone has any (factual) record digging stories and would like to contribute towards our book, please contact myself or Andy Dyson.

My Email is nicolaanderson271@btinternet.com

Thanks in advance

Rich Haupt's story about tracking down Jr & the Soulettes is incredible

Hi Kris, if Rich Haupt would like to contribute please ask him to get in touch.

This looks a great project Andy /Nicola , will get one or two stories to you ..good luck and can't wait to read the finished article .Best wishes ,Eddie

Been working steadily - well very steadily on the book i mentioned some years ago on here on the fascinating and colourful record hunting addiction.Time is always a problem factor but certainly making headway now,largely due to the fact that the lovely Nicola Anderson kicked me up the backside and saved the day by getting me and the book organised ! so Nicola is now my partner in getting this project running like a well oiled eerr...machine !

A brief recap to some who may not have seen my initial post ,the book is going to be accounts from the front line by many of the top record finders,collectors,dj's and vinyl addicts (Nicola will post some of the names we got on board shortly )but it ranges from the old days of crawling through dirt,muck and filth ,trawling through hundreds of thousands of 45's to the up to date artist,producer findinding modern day vinyl crate diggers from the states.Primarily the stories were going to be focused on the states but, some interesting uk stories are more than worthy of inclusion.So if anyone out there can tell a story that no one else can ( factual of course) then shout up and let us know - storie(s) can be as long or short as you like ! It is quite a task to remember certain things from 10,20,30 years ago but very rewarding and sometimes sad going back in time to places ,situations and in some cases faded memories of characters no longer with us.To note this project is also really a labour of love ,if it does make any money ,it will all go to a charity(s) all contributers to date have done so for the love of it,although if any expenses are incurred we have no problem covering those.

Will keep you all up to speed and leave it with Nicola to list some of the names already on board. thanks.

Sounds like a great idea..sure me and dean have a few tales to remember..

Sounds like a great idea..sure me and dean have a few tales to remember..

Andy...Good speaking with you. My 70's stories coming atcha next week.

Andy...Good speaking with you. My 70's stories coming atcha next week.

Well make sure you get the Soussan L.A. Warehouse skylight break-in/Casualeers story in there 'cos that's waaaaay up there plus some more info on that basement in Baltimore would be good..............

Ian D

Sounds like a great idea..sure me and dean have a few tales to remember..

Thanks Kitch. Good to have yourself and Dean on board

This looks a great project Andy /Nicola , will get one or two stories to you ..good luck and can't wait to read the finished article .Best wishes ,Eddie

Great stuff Eddie and thanks

Eyup Nicola,

You must remind Arthur about;

(1) Him and Dave Raistrick being interviewed on a local stateside radio station;

(2) Forgetting his driving licence;

(3) Sam and the rubber gloves!

Nothing to do with what they found on the respective trips just very amusing accounts and to put any more detail here would take the edge off the tales (if Sam allows the last one to be printed that is:-)

Love to Gilly and his motor,

Pete xx

This sounds like it should be a fantastic book. Two of the best contributions that I have read on the subject are by the late Dave McCadden and were published in Manifesto issues 14 and 15. They were entitled 'You can't mean it' and 'Have you ever had a girlfriend'. Both are great stories but the latter one cracks me up every time I read it. Daves writing always had a great balance of fact and humour and it would be good to see these stories included if the necessary permissions can be obtained.

Looking forward to reading it guys

Eyup Nicola,

You must remind Arthur about;

(1) Him and Dave Raistrick being interviewed on a local stateside radio station;

(2) Forgetting his driving licence;

(3) Sam and the rubber gloves!

Nothing to do with what they found on the respective trips just very amusing accounts and to put any more detail here would take the edge off the tales (if Sam allows the last one to be printed that is:-)

Love to Gilly and his motor,

Pete xx

That was back in '79 - Hope Arthur can remember ALL the details Ha! Ha!

Nicola, See You and the Gilbert at JustSoul or Rugby on Saturday ?

Dave.

That was back in '79 - Hope Arthur can remember ALL the details Ha! Ha!

Nicola, See You and the Gilbert at JustSoul or Rugby on Saturday ?

Dave.

Hi Dave, hopefully we see you at one of the above tomorrow

Nicola x

Just thought I would bring this back up in case anyone hasn't already seen it and is interested in contributing. As Andy said we are looking for anyone who has a (factual) story (s) to tell and would like to share it by contributing to the book.

If you are interested please don't hesitate to contact Andy or myself through SS or alternatively email me on nicolaanderson271@btinternet.com

Thanks

Speaking to Dave Rivers at Rugby last night, he's got some tales of note to tell about the early years.

Speaking to Dave Rivers at Rugby last night, he's got some tales of note to tell about the early years.

Thanks Dean, I will get in touch with him

Too right Dave you certainly have earned a place in there mate (i'd actually meant to ask you in a previous mail) but you know how long i take ... look forward to it..

Been taping away all weekend...two stories and a little background...what's the deadline, Andy/Nicola and do you need photographic evidence?

Been taping away all weekend...two stories and a little background...what's the deadline, Andy/Nicola and do you need photographic evidence?

Hi dave,well done,photo's would be great if relevant to the stories ... look forward to reading em !

Re the deadline we're looking towards the end of december (this year) so don't bother with the christmas shopping this year...

This sounds like it should be a fantastic book. Two of the best contributions that I have read on the subject are by the late Dave McCadden and were published in Manifesto issues 14 and 15. They were entitled 'You can't mean it' and 'Have you ever had a girlfriend'. Both are great stories but the latter one cracks me up every time I read it. Daves writing always had a great balance of fact and humour and it would be good to see these stories included if the necessary permissions can be obtained.

Re Dave McCadden's stories, i'll look back and find the manifesto's and if ok will get in touch with the guys there for permission, we'll be more than happy to include in the book.

Andy...Good speaking with you. My 70's stories coming atcha next week.

Kev ,likewise can't wait for those stories ,the chips and ellusions tales we spoke about on the fone were certainly educational and custom made for the venture... thanks mate.

I remember Soussan in Leeds around 1970-ish, every time we went in Jumbo Records he was there, asking us about sounds, did we like this or what did we think of that? a pain in the arse at the time, to be honest

Sounds like a great idea..sure me and dean have a few tales to remember..

Mello souls perhaps

Thanks Kitch. Good to have yourself and Dean on board

Fair play to You Nicola / Andy. I'll have a copy please.

I'd expect this will have a wider market than Soul - a big 'digger' community out there I'd expect. Best of luck to you.

Only got one myself I think is worthy..... used to buy a lot of 45s off Bob Catteneo when i was living in California very early 80s..... Basically I used to hand over my wages on a saturday morning and get digging in his garage... he used to pull out stuff from his own collection like Johnny James and Masquaders, etc etc.I used to hit gold very time I went there.......... any way he has all these Elvis figures in china with whisky in 'em. for the record fairs.. finds out they are worth the same empty..We gotta drink this shit Bob kept saying ...... horrid whisky, but me being polite.. can't say no, he has a mate there too... we end up twisting all these elvis heads off ( the caps )and drinking this shite whisky.. mad listening to all these great doo wop tunes and ballads from Bob's radio shows, slugging Elvis whisky..... proper all night, session,all of us twisted listening to Bob telling stories about all the SF soul artists, Villa Records revue he put on in his high school with the Performers and the Magicians, he knew all the artists locally,Eddie Foster was a mate, you name it that old boy knew them.... He was harking back to when all these titles we asked for he had in multiples, tales of piles of records in skips etc etc.... never forget that night,,, Bob packed in the records game soon after , lovely old boy........ I ended up spending a fortune again that time and brought back the most incredible 45s........ Small time tale in the scale of things but.... Cheers Disco Bob !

Carl Fortnum and Gary Spencer have got some beauties to tell from the last gold rush in Texas ... late 80s ...

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