Amsterdam Russ

More juke box strips, please...

Cover-ups are for uncovering. It's a sport. I suppose though, the point here is whether revealing it's identity will cause others to rush to find it - thus making it even harder to locate a copy in the ensuing feeding frenzy. On that basis, I'd keep it under your hat.

Wow! They're great - and I'm envious. How come? They're definitely not falling out of the covers of the stuff I buy.

I like juke box strips. I think they are marvellous little things, very evocative items that somehow help connect a 45 with the people and places of the times in which it was released. It's very easy to conjure up mental images of a record for which you have a juke box strip actually being played in a bar somewhere in 1960-whenever, and to imagine people dancing to it, or enjoying hearing it in the background whilst chatting with friends over a beer or a soda. From there you start to wonder what else was on that same juke box, how often 'your' 45 got played, and what sort of sounds were popular with customers. Anyone else get a kick out of these little rectangles of printed paper? Also, does anyone out there buy/sell these at all? I'd like to track down more of them...

He would have been playing the Paradiso in Amsterdam, on Tuesday. (Funnily enough, we were at the Paradiso box office last night, looking to get tickets for Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings on 1st November.)

Sorry to see that your keyboard isn't working properly. Let me help you by tapping on my keyboard the missing letters of yours... Hugh Boynton - Girl I Feel It - (available to purchase from... Fl***y) Sor*y, look* like my keybo*rd has a probl*ms, too!

So - eight times Grammy nominated musician Kirk Whalum has Hugh Whalum for an uncle (and a musical family almost as big as the Neville Bros). Found this trailer for a dvd entitled 'The Gospel According to Jazz - Part III'. Led by cousin Kirk Whalum, and with an impressive sax cameo from the elderly uncle Hugh (arranger for River City Records, remember), it features an impressive line up of quality musicians and singers for those who appreciate such stuff. Wow - it just reinforces how ignorant I continue to be about music in general!

Thanks, Ed. Yes please, that would be very useful indeed. Thanks, Bob. I'll seek to explore possible connections. In the meantime, an attempt to scratch the surface reveals much about the arranger, Hugh Whalum. When you find he's such a distinguished musician, he's not difficult to track down. Here's an article I found straight off.. Hugh 'Peanut' Whalum - album review The Frank Foster mentioned is the same one who went on to international fame as a jazz saxophonist in his own right and for his work with Count Basie. He would become known to the soul scene decades later, particularly for his track 'Harlem Rumble'. So, auspicious starts to unearthing some information about this St Louis label. Any and all info welcomed...

Picked up a copy of some months back of The La Niers - I've got myself together - River City Records. Absolutely love the sound, arrangement, vocals, flip side,everything. La Niers - I've got myself together - Then I came across The Angels... Angels - More than ever now Obviously the same group & studio musicians, possibly the same session, and with arrangements that came out of the same tin. Know anything about the group, the label, and any other releases? It's a brilliant sound and I'd love to find out about it...

Hopefully, like buses, another will be along in a minute or ten...

Yes, I saw you'd posted that up some time ago, Ken. Very nice, but not quite the dancefloor impact I was looking for...

Am looking for a nice clean copy of Dry Well's Gypsy on Lauren, so that I can freak out the good people of the Netherlands. Please PM me if you have one available at a reasonable price. No John Manship prices unless you are Mr Manship himself Note that postage needs to be as 'International Signed For' or 'Airsure'. Payment by Paypal can be made in minutes, and as a Gift if required. Thanks for looking...

Thanks for the replies. Taking the time to dig a little deeper, I see that copies have gone through here in the range of £65 - £120 in the last year or so. I'm looking for a copy & will now head over to 'Wants'...

What is the going rate for 'Gypsy' by Dry Well on Lauren, please?

This one springs to mind... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c848aE4Om5E

Got a copy in the post - thanks all!

Great flip side, but nope, that's not why I want it.

No one seems to have yet considered why it is that the 100 Club had such dramatic rent increases imposed upon it year after year (or even noticed as it was happening). The reason, of course, is profit aka return on investment. The venue has been squeezed out of existence, pound by pound, over a number of years. Its demise was heralded from the moment the ridiculous rents were set. The coffin was ordered well before it came to be aware of its impending death. No one, apart from those burdened with paying the bills, complained. No one raised their voice and cried "this Stonehenge of musical venues is under threat; we must save it before progress dooms it completely." No one seems to recall the recent thread started by Ady about how numbers were down at the 100 Club nighters, and how everyone subsequently promised to do good and avert a crisis already made by turning up to show their 'faithful' support. It's all a little too late... Having said that, what is it that needs saving? The building in which the venue is situated (I remember having appointments with the recruitment agencies in the floors above - if the building is doomed, should they be saved?), or the legend of some nearly dark secret held in the basement? Is it bricks and mortar that need to be saved, or a musical legacy that can exist in hearts and minds, cd's, video's, 45s and countless memories. Of course, it is the building that's of value to its owners, not some 50-year old dive that's never brought in the desired financial returns - and probably never could. If you only know the building as the space in the basement in which a music venue is sited, then you have missed the larger commercial picture, as sad as it is. They say that you are only live for as long as the last person to remember you. I remember the 100 Club as it existed s a dive in the basement of the building on Oxford Street. I never went to the Wigan Casino, the Torch or Catacombs - far too young for that - but I can nonetheless feel the impact and vibrancy of these venues, and the events that took place in them, through the experiences of those who share and keep their memories alive. Long live the 100 Club.

There was this mid-week article (22/09) on vinyl in the New York Times: Those Popular Vinyl Records

According to this thread: it's not possible today to give away copies of The Royal Esquires former Prix biggie 'Ain't gonna run no more'. If this is the case, and you're stuck with a nice clean copy that no one wants, let your heart and soul be free with the knowledge that I will be only too happy to take it from you. To help you lay the burden of this 45 down completely, I'll even pay for the postage. (Oh, if you should have run out of the particular copies that you can't give away, then the offer of a nice cheap one will probably be just as helpful to you in the long run. )

I'm always sorry to hear of the records that never arrive. Don't know what's worse - it being lost in the post, or never having been sent! eBay listings used to be indexed on Google for some time after auctions ended, and that prompted me to have a look for your seller. No luck, but I did find an odd reference to "singer Ray Merrell" in a Daily Mirror news item about the burning down of the Grand Pier at Weston Super Mare in 2008... Grand Pier Destroyed >

LOL - I've just been playing it at +10-15% through the computer and think it sounds much better. If ever there was a case of a track having been released with pitch and tempo of the vocals laid down on top of a backing track that's also had it's pitch and tempo altered, then this is it.

Well, looks like two 'best offers' have already been made for it, so better get in there quick people...

I know it doesn't directly relate to the original track mentioned, but thought this scan might be of interest.

It came from Memphis - Robert Gordon Boogaloo - Arthur Kempton Making tracks - Charlie Gillett Burn, Baby! Burn! - Magnificent Montague