Derek Pearson

Great choice Simon which I fully agree with. Two great DJs and both from the same town would you believe, what's the chances of that I wonder? Stoke on Trent seems to be a place that bypasses the national spotlight yet produces these two great tastemakers. Imagine how big the pile of records would be if you added up together all the records that have been through their collective hands. derek

Hi Sebastian - did the DVD arrive? What did you think of it? cheers, derek Depending on your review I was sorta waiting to decide whether to buy a copy.....

reduced it down to £35 to try an' encourage it to leave home... derek

Fear not Olof I sold it a few days ago. Forgot to update the post. derek

First went to Chicago in the summer of 1992 armed with a big bundle of dollars and a head full of record facts. Carl Fortnum had already told me about this old TV/Radio shop somewhere down the South Side. He recounted tales of a young man bringing him boxes and boxes of old dusty 45s up from the damp cellar. Carl provided his incentive by tipping him a few dollars for every box he surfaced. On entering the ground floor behind a counter attatched to the wall was some old style record racking (think Post Office letter sorting racks) littered with dusty 45s. My excitement was short lived as it contained gospel nothing but gospel releases m'lud. After some conversation I soon realised the young lad working in the shop turned out to be the very same person Carl had met the year previously. After initially carrying some boxes up the cellar stairs he soon tired and I talked my way underground. The smell of heavy dampness was refreshing cool comparing to the sun upstairs. He fixed up a lamp rig and the hunt began. Obviously the old stock had been handled many many times before but nothing ventured an' all that. Several hours later I'd searched, hunted and touched every damn record down in that pit. I didn't find any expensive Northern rarities but came away with a big bundle of soul 45s for the old collection back home. derek Being the obsessive that I am I wrote down every record purchased from every store, every person, from every trip to America without fail. And I rarely throw anything away so if I find these files in the near future I'll add a brief list of what came out of Wilson's cellar.

Hey up Mal good idea for a thread. Apologies for not keeping in contact re articles/interiews as much as I should have recently. Actually last week I started gathering some of my photos together from previous American record hunting trips with a view to making a photo album on here. I've scanned dozens into my PC at home and hopefully will begin to upload them over the weekend. onwards, derek

Trev Cox to the rescue please..... What sorta years are we looking at regarding the soul nights you used to run there? Recall going once/a few times I think? Just through the entrance door was a pool table and I remember Rod Dearlove setting out all his sales boxes on it. Blake were you there as well? onwards, derek