top of page


Mark Hummel’s Harmonica Party
A living archive of post-war music of America, from blues to San Francisco psychedelia, and a whole bunch of entertaining tales along the...
Bob Bell
Feb 275 min read
42 views
0 comments


DUAL 1218 Turntable
nts. A very nice 3-speed Dual 1218 turntable. All three speeds work beautifully. The unit has a Stanton 500 Mark II cartridge fitted with...
Bob Bell
Feb 211 min read
4 views
0 comments


A SHORT INTERACTION
AS WITNESSED BY BRITT HALLQUIST. Gothenburg, Sweden, Monday, May 15, 2023 A few days after arriving in Sweden I had an appointment at...
Britt Hallqust
Jan 203 min read
2 views
0 comments

HUX BROWN -12/4/1944 - 6/18/2020
Photo: Britt Hallquist Sometimes you hear a sound that changes things for you forever. You had no idea it was coming, and when you heard...
Bob Bell
Jan 75 min read
23 views
0 comments


Rocking’ with Roy Brown - March and April 1981
After the show at The Bottom Line, NYC, April 5, 1981 L-R Jimmy Wimpfheimer, Doug James, Al Copley, Ronnie Earl, Danny Motta, John Rossi,...
Bob Bell
Jan 77 min read
82 views
1 comment


The Island Book of Records, 1969-1970 Edited by Neil Storey. Manchester University Press.
The first volume of ‘The Island Book of Records - 1959-1968’ filled 390 pages and covered the first ten years of Island Records. Volume 2...
Bob Bell
Jan 62 min read
95 views
0 comments

50th Anniversary ‘Walking To New Orleans’ Jasmine CD3300 - John Broven
I find it hard to believe that it was 50 years ago that John Broven, the indefatigable English blues scholar, first published his...
Bob Bell
Dec 13, 20243 min read
54 views
0 comments

PICTUREPHONE
The Salesman's Friend ... Here is an odd item - the Picturephone, the film projecting record playing way of selling! Reading the sheet of...
Bob Bell
Dec 1, 20241 min read
6 views
0 comments


THE TREBOROUGH TALES - Forward to the land! Farm life in the 70s
The Postman'sTale It’s funny how some events stick in our memory and others disappear into the fog of the past. Certain occasions in life...
Bob Bell
Nov 24, 20247 min read
4 views
0 comments

THE UNSEEN R & B SCENE: RARE PHOTOS OF THE 60s BLUES BOOM IN THE UK
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM American Rhythm & Blues In England 1962 – 1966 The Unseen Photographs of Brian Smith ISBN: 978-0-9561439-4-5 . Arts,...
Bob Bell
Nov 24, 20246 min read
304 views
0 comments


THE TREBOROUGH TALES - Forward to the Land! Farm life in the 70s
The Plowman's Tale Higher Court Farm was a 500-acre hill farm nuzzled up against the Brendon Hills, and in the early 70s home to over a...
Bob Bell
Nov 24, 20246 min read
1 view
0 comments

PUBLIC HOUSES - Part the second.
My friend Tom and I returned to Winchester in 1963 with a taste for cider, an appreciation of pubs and a hankering to visit more. Due to...
Bob Bell
Nov 21, 20246 min read
3 views
0 comments

PUBLIC HOUSES - PART THE FIRST.
I’ve spent a lot of time in bars and pubs. Growing up in the UK and reaching the age of 18, and legally able to drink alcohol, was a rite...
Bob Bell
Nov 21, 202410 min read
1 view
0 comments


EPIC JOURNEYS, EXPENSIVE BREAKDOWNS, - THE UNTOLD SAGA OF THE BOOKMOBILE, AKA 'DAS BOOK'.
Ron Levy at the window - Porky in the passenger seat. Roomful had owned an interesting assortment of vehicles before I met them,...
Bob Bell
Oct 28, 202427 min read
46 views
1 comment


THE BOOKMOBILE BLUES
For many years Roomful of Blues traveled the country in a converted bookmobile, made by Gerstenslager of Worcester, Ohio. The vehicle...
Bob Bell
Oct 28, 20249 min read
62 views
0 comments


WES DOVER - THEE REGGAEOLOGIST
Wes Dover - Thee Reggaeologist My wife Britt spent the weekend cleaning out the desk in her office. The last year of her working life was...
Bob Bell
Oct 28, 20244 min read
5 views
0 comments

ISLAND BOOK OF RECORDS, VOL. 1 1959-1968
Chris Blackwell started Island Records in Jamaica in 1959, recording local talent. His first three releases all made the Jamaican charts....
Bob Bell
Oct 26, 20244 min read
0 views
0 comments


LITTLE RICHARD - AN OBITUARY
So Richard is gone. Although his breakthrough hits were in 1955 in the USA, strangely his record label Specialty didn’t have a UK outlet...
Bob Bell
Oct 26, 20248 min read
2 views
0 comments


THE VISIONARY AND PASSIONATE GUY STEVENS
Guy with Mott the Hoople Guy Stevens. I have so many memories of Guy. As a musically aware teenager in the UK as the first Rock ’n Roll...
Bob Bell
Oct 26, 20248 min read
1 view
0 comments

THE COLISEUM FLEA MARKET
The site used to be a drive-in movie theater, and spreads over many acres, now covered in tarmac. It takes its name from the Oakland...
Bob Bell
Oct 26, 202413 min read
1 view
0 comments
bottom of page