Amsterdam Russ

Can’t see it on my iPad.

Good idea!

Thanks a lot, Paul. This has been an especially exciting and ultimately hugely fruitful search. Making contact with the band member was more than enough, but then finding the deep-in-the-internet archive of the local high school community newspaper from more than 50 years ago – that just added greater substance to the whole story. Throw in the press mentions I found in the archives of Billboard, Cash Box and Record World - and then pile on top of that the pics the band member sent out of the blue – and there was a brilliant story that just needed to be told! I'm thrilled to have had all the components come my way, and to be able to put the jigsaw puzzle together that tells the story of one band's long-forgotten adventures in the music biz in the mid-late 60s. And on top of that - the involvement of luminaries such as Don Gardner and Jerry Williams Jr... wow! I never saw any of that coming!

Should be very interesting if handled properly.

I've posted this in Freebasing as it's not about soul music. It does feature Jerry Williams, and Don Gardner appears fleetingly, but it's the previously untold story of a local band from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, who had hopes of making it big. What follows is a preamble to the actual story, which I published online a couple of days ago. Some years back, maybe as many as 10, I won an acetate on eBay. A single-sided disc, the label indicates it was cut at Capitol Records in New York on 22nd March 1968. The song - Soul Feeling - recorded by a group called The Jesters, is a blue-eyed, garage soul offering with an intro played on organ that very much reminded me of the original Star Trek theme tune. What’s particularly great is that the label is signed by the members of the band. As with all acetates, it was important to find out if the song was released or unreleased. Google searches at that time revealed nothing. I’m not sure what prompted me, but in the autumn of last year I thought I’d have another go at seeing if I could find out anything online about the track and the band and came across a website called “Rob’s Williamsport Rock Bands”. There, much to my amazement, was a short biography of The Jesters, and a couple of photos along with the names of the band members - fantastic, I’d struck gold of sorts! Now I knew where the band hailed from and had the member’s names – except that only one of the signatures on the label of the acetate corresponded with the names given on the Pennsylvania rock band website. Further online digging led me to a Facebook group called “Bands of Central Pennsylvania”. Posting there didn’t bring forth much beyond a suggestion that possibly one of the band members had a recording studio somewhere in the region. Again though, the name put forward didn’t appear to correspond to any of those penned on the acetate’s label. Armed with the names of the members and knowing that they were all living in the Williamsport area way back when, searching across Facebook indicated that four members of the band might well have accounts, although with privacy settings being what they are, it wasn’t possible to see if these were still active accounts. Nor was it possible to see via their profiles if they were even musically inclined and in the right age group. Regardless, I sent a friend request to each of them, but unsurprisingly none responded. At this point I felt I’d reached something of a dead end and gave up hope of making contact with a member of the group. Earlier this year, I was contacted by a member of an obscure Milwaukee band called The Inspirations (not the “Your wish is my command” group, but another one). I’d uploaded one side of their only known 45 to YouTube, and as often happens, musicians and performers search to see if anyone’s shared their long-forgotten recordings online. The band member was thrilled, and provided some very interesting insights about the group and the single. Inspired by that (no pun intended), I revisited the little information I had about The Jesters and realised I’d overlooked the owner of the recording studio. Again, I’d kind of dismissed this as an avenue because his name didn’t seem to be on the acetate’s label. But, galvanised by my contact with the thrilled member of the Milwaukee band, I sent a hopeful message to the Facebook page of the recording studio. I struck gold! Many emails were then exchanged in which the story of The Jesters was revealed bit by bit. It was a tale of a popular local teen band who borrowed some money from relatives to head from Williamsport to NY to cut their own disc at the custom studios of Capitol Records. The very same day they hawked the acetate around numerous NY music publishers hoping to get signed to a label. And they did! Then comes a story involving Don Gardner (fleetingly), Jerry Williams Jr (Swamp Dogg), a nightclub owner turned record label proprietor… and disaster, the cause of which was only revealed nearly 50 years later by Jerry Williams Jr himself. I’ve now put together that story and published it online. It’s the first time the story has ever been told. Additionally, while doing some deep digging online, I struck more treasure in the form of an archive of a Williamsport college community newsletter - a college at which The Jesters frequently played during the years 1965-1968. Sifting through the issues for that period, I found multiple news items about the band’s appearances. Continuing digging, I also found multiple contemporary mentions in music trade papers (Billboard, Cash Box and Record World) about the launch of the soon-to-be-doomed record label, and the release of the debut single by The Jesters, who had now changed their name to Saturday’s Crowd. As if that weren’t enough, the absolute icing on the cake came when, unexpectedly, the band member I was communicating with sent me a number of brilliant photos from “back in the day”. It’s a fascinating and at the same time kind of bittersweet story, and one I hope you’ll take the time to read via the link below. In tandem with the posting of the story, I’ve also posted up to YouTube the demo track recorded by The Jesters, which, along with the story, is available to the world for the first time ever. Click below to read the full story: https://saturdayscrowd.wordpress.com The Jester - Soul feeling - demo disc acetate:

The two sunflower heads in the pic above when they'd gone to seed.

This is from a few years back when we lived elsewhere and had a small patio. Quite a way off 26ft, though.

Yes, that would be the easiest option - except I’ve found a lot of pleasure in growing stuff on the balcony and the edibles have been far superior the bland, force-grown stuff that’s so pervasive here in NL. We’ve got a little strawberry plant, and while the harvest from that has been very small, the fruit has been fantastic. Likewise with the French beans and cucumber plants before the spider mites sucked the life out of them. Two cherry tomato plants, that I grew from tomato slices, are coming along nicely. I can’t eat toms, unfortunately, but my other half assures me they’re great! Perhaps the lesson here is no pain, no gain!

I sewed nine seeds in two small containers. My thinking was that as we’ve a small balcony, we’d get small sunflowers. Of the nine, seven germinated and grew nicely. However, we’ve had a devastating infection of spider mites and I had to destroy two of the sunflowers along with our previously healthy cucumber and French bean plants. It was really disappointing to have to do that. The infestation on the remaining sunflowers has been such that I’ve had to cut nearly all the leaves off. In spite of that, all flowered in the last week or so. No idea why we’ve had such a serious infestation of spider mites and white fly. In maybe four or five years of growing stuff in our tiny outdoor space it’s never been a problem before, and it almost puts me off thinking about trying similar next year. On top of that, our carrot crop has come out completely stunted, which is also disappointing. Maybe I’ll just stick with the geraniums in future.

I expect the remaining flowers will come on to bloom without too much problem. They're pretty tough things!

Oh, what a shame. I feel for you. Were there any blooms to be saved. I couldn't make that out in your earlier pic.

Betty - hands down. I do like Sharon Jones' version, but am not so keen on the arrangement. For one thing, the drums are too high in the mix for me, and it's a feature I dislike in many 'neo soul' recordings. In Betty's arrangement, the drums aren't prominent, and the emphasis is very much on the voice - and what a voice!

Might be fun trying to capture those bees using the slo-mo video that’s a function of iPhone cameras.

Our balcony in the golden evening light. You can't quite see them, but we've got two tomato plants up there bearing fruit as well. Had to destroy the cucumber and French bean plants earlier in the week because of a devastating infection of spider mites that, quite literally, were sucking the life out of both. It seems that even a small balcony is subject to the whims of Mother Nature - good and bad!

Record prices!

Absolutely my pleasure. It really is a remarkable story. What I didn't mention is that I took a short detour to the monument while on my way to meet a mate for a few afternoon beers. I don't know the area at all, and while I found the monument easily enough, I got completely lost in the maze of little residential streets on what is quite a large housing estate. Apple Maps on my iPhone also let me down badly. For some reason, but I didn't know it at the time, it was showing me the map upside down rather than relative to my position and direction. Following the directions, I took a left. Fifteen minutes later, realising that this couldn't be the way, I turned round and headed back. And every time I opened up the Map app, the map was still upside down. Anyway, I was about half an hour late, absolutely baking in the hot sun, only to discover the café was quite literally about three minutes away from the monument! Oh, how I laughed!

I went to visit a local monument for the first time. It's a propellor from a British bomber that was shot down over Aalsmeer in December of 1942 and crashed into our local lake. The crew, belonging to the 75th New Zealand squadron, survived and were taken prisoner. Aalsmeer, you should know, served as the HQ for the German Wehrmacht in the Netherlands during WWII. One of the reasons the monument is so interesting is the exploits of one of the captured airmen - navigator Eric Williams. He managed to evade capture for three days. When caught he was sent to a prisoner of war camp in Poland. He and a fellow 'inmate' escaped by digging a tunnel, but were recaptured very quickly. Both were sent Stalag Luft III (also in Poland), which was designed to be as escape-proof as possible: the perimeter fences were positioned at a greater distance than usual, thus meaning that any tunnels would have to be extra long, and so be extra hazardous for would-be escapees. Additionally, the German guards used seismographs to detect any localised underground vibrations, which would indicate tunnelling activities. New Zealander Williams and his chum came up with an ingenious plan: they constructed a wooden vaulting horse, which they positioned as close to the perimeter fence as they could. Someone secreted inside the horse could then begin tunnelling while camp inmates continuously vaulted over the horse all the while masking the seismic vibrations. Tunnel successfully completed, Williams, his chum - who spoke fluent French - and another, made their escape dressed as French labourers. All three made it back to Britain. In 1949, Williams recounted the escape in his book The Wooden Horse, which was then made into the 1950 movie of the same name. The sun was positioned behind the monument, so it wasn't possible to get anything other than a silhouette, but at the very least the pic gives an idea of the surroundings it's in. The plaque on the monument. A still from the 1950 film, The Wooden Horse.

Ours left several days ago - almost at the turn of the month and after the rains. Swallows have taken up their spaces in our local sky. Normally they're (the swallows) over the waters of the nearby lake rather than where we are, which is very close. Like you, I did see a couple of swifts one evening - late in the evening two or three days ago - but only briefly, and none since. Their disappearance always instills a sense of sadness, like summer is already over, and the long days of light are fading in favour of autumn and the dark of winter.

We had a go at growing tomato plants from tomato slices and it's worked perfectly. We've got two very healthy plants, both with a good amount of fruit that's just starting to take on colour. We did the same with spring onions and lettuce: you cut off the last inch of the spring onion - complete with root - and just plant it. From that grows another one. Similarly with lettuce, you cut off the end nub, plant it and up grows more lettuce.

We've been growing stuff on our small balcony - strawberries, cucumber, spring onions, French beans, tomatoes... and carrots. Just harvested a first small batch of carrots this afternoon and well, they're not exactly up to standard! Disappointed to say the least, especially as all the other stuff has come on very well. I guess self-sufficiency and the 'good life' will just have to wait!

Not so stormy - the late-night balcony view...

And here's part 2. Not brilliant by a long chalk - really do wish I could afford to upgrade my kit, but that ain't happening - but hopefully you get a sense of what I was trying to achieve if the focus had been much better so the pics were pin sharp.

First time out on the bike for me today since I don't know when. In actual fact, possibly first time this year. I went out specifically to see if I could get some decent macro shots in the Amsterdam woods. What a pain it turned out to be. Not used the macro extension tubes on the current camera, but have used them successfully on the previous one. Couldn't get the camera to work with them - the thing wouldn't focus properly, meter readings made no sense, and the shutter seemed to open and close for as long as it felt like it. Not being one to give up easily, I found somewhere to sit and thought I'll take my time and see if there's something I'm doing wrong. After much faffing about, I worked out that where all settings had to be manual when using the macro tubes on the old camera, with the current one that's not necessary. So, I took loads of shots of blooms, bugs and berries - the perfect macro subject matter in the height of summer, of course. When I got home and loaded what was well over 100 shots onto the computer, I was doubly frustrated to find the majority just weren't anywhere near sharp enough. Some, mainly the handful posted here, are just about acceptable after a bit of post-process sharpening. Here's part 1:

And one for me...

Great, thanks - and I'd forgotten you can click on a pic to see it at a larger size.