Amsterdam Russ

Roy Hamilton used to get played out a lot, including at the 100 Club, I'm sure. Mind you, that would have been something like 25-30 years ago.

Excellent - and thanks a lot. It's not something I intend to do straight away, so I'll be in touch when/if I need more from you. Much appreciated.

I must have been unlucky. Now that I think about it, I was unlucky four times... * A 45 from Spain that was badly graded. * Kelly Garret - Love's the only answer - graded ex, but came with a 30-45 second hiss in one channel (seller completely professional and refunded without fuss). * A 45 from Italy that was badly graded and came in flimsy packaging (for which I was overcharged). * A 45 from a UK seller, also poorly graded, and also with flimsy packaging on which the seller made a good profit on p&p costs. eBay offers buyer protection & a powerful dispute process. Soul Source offers the threat of loss of reputation (and Rod). Facebook doesn't offer any protection when you buy from people you don't know.

Lol - did you p-p-p-p-pick it up?

This has got to be one of the most comfortable/safe online sources to buy from - in the world!

What's a "mizell"?

Have to say that earlier this year I quit the two or three record buying/wants groups on Facebook that I was in. The noise level in those groups is far too great ("Great tune, mate" / "Wish I could afford that, but got to feed the cat" / "Tom, Dick & Harry played that in me bath last week"), and I had a couple of crappy deals off people. Doing business here and on eBay, and buying from those you know, is considerably more reassuring and much more "hassle free" (IMHO).

I don't 'hunt', I use eBay's 'saved searches' function. Every day I get a dozen or so, often more, alerts from ebay when things I'm after are for sale. You can have up to 100 saved searches, which is great, but is also a bit frustrating if, like me, you have more than that on your Wants list! I work from home and am sat in front of the computer for most of the day. So, when the ebay alerts come in, late morning or mid afternoon, I get right on them. It's a much more efficient way of 'hunting' in my view.

Well, it doesn't seem a lot to me. Oh, to have the funds to buy more! Anyway, my point was that there's stuff to be had on eBay, and I still maintain that's still very much the case. Seems in this thread you have sellers complaining they can't sell things on eBay and buyers claiming they can't buy things. That doesn't quite add up.

We've seen some really great pics. Keep them coming... Here's three more from me Fawn and starling Eagle Crow in flight

Jock, I'd love to have your permission to archive the Loma article you begin the issue with, and eventually use it on my website about the label (with full acknowledgements, of course)...

Shandels Shandells Shan-Dels Shan-Dells Elainne and the Shardells Shondells What a mess! No real idea Chalky. Geography suggests it probably wouldn't have been the Alabama Shandells, not if the group we're referring to played at Stony Brook University, which is on New York's Long Island. Given that location, the Shan-Dells, who came from the neighbouring state of Pennsylvania, could be candidates. However, the timeline for that group doesn't fit. https://www.garagehangover.com/shandells/ From the info given in the YouTube comments, Dry Well comprised Bob, Ellen, Bill, Eric, and the individual who posted the comments, KramerC. He alludes that he was himself in the Shandels along with Bob and Eric - so that gives us three partial names to help identify which group it actually was. Then there is the spelling of the group's name. 'Our' Shandels only has one L, so that should narrow things down a bit. I think... Oh, and thanks very much for subscribing to my YouTube channel

Yes, that vid's mine and comes from my YouTube channel...

Contrary to popular belief, Ellen and the Shandels did not record the song Gypsy before Dry Well. In fact, there was no group called Ellen and the Shandels. The group known as The Shandels broke up in June 68, some months before the song was even recorded. Dry Well was made up of three ex members of The Shandels along with Ellen, who provides the lead vocals on the Dry Well cut, and another person called Bill. The likely reality is that someone with the master tapes rereleased Dry Well's Lauren recording without the knowledge of the group and used a different name for the band. Essentially, Ellen and the Shandels on La Salle is a bootleg.

Great photo!

https://youtu.be/V7p1KjoW-e8 Peggi Blu(e), singer, performer and American Idol "vocal coach from hell" is Carl Hall's sister. Both performed in the stage production of The Wiz and appeared alongside Stephanie Mills, but brother and sister were never together in the show. Carl Hall appeared in the 1977 Broadway production (as The Wiz himself), while his sister did the national tour of the production. Mills did both. Carl and Peggi both recorded with Stephanie Mills in the studio. And likewise both recorded with Lou Courtney. Peggi's disco hit "I got love" came about because Carl introduced his sister to Jerry Ragovoy.

Same as I did with the dragonfly shots. It was the amount of detail that made me thing they were macros. Great pics regardless.

Great macros, Martyn. Just made the leap down this route last year, although not done much as yet. Here are two of a snail (found on the patio and kidnapped for a while so that I could take photos of it)... ...and a spider, about the size of a thumbnail, in its web.

All brilliant, but the 2nd and 3rd pics are real prize winners! I tip my hat to you... In terms of speed and difficulty to catch in flight, the closest I have to show are these nippy dragonflies...

They're great - and especially the second photo! I'm jealous. Only time I've caught a kingfisher in a pic, all you could see was a tiny blue spot in the distance!

With all the trees and stuff around, it looks like you might get a lot of different visitors to your garden...

Out of interest, is the family still in the same area? We had a family of swans on the waterway that runs alongside our road. They disappeared for a while, came back, and disappeared again. Then the parents (I presume it's the parents) came back again recently and built a nest in the same spot as the one that was there last year.

Really cool creature when you click on the picture and see it large! Very unusual indeed. No idea what it might be, but I did notice that it appears to have one leg missing!