Was It Just My Imagination?
My First Visit to the US, October 1974...A Main Ingredient Birthday, Aretha At Radio City Music Hall, Soul At The Beacon Theater....
In June 1974, Gary W., my then-London flatmate and friend headed out to New York to visit relatives in Brooklyn. The visit was going to be for a couple of weeks until I got a blue air letter (popular in the day since they were pre-stamped and easy to send) letting me know that he was planning to stay for a longer time period, return date unspecified.
While I missed Gary’s ready smile and ‘fly-guy’ persona, his extended visit provided the opportunity for his invitation for me to visit New York for the very first time.
Using my two-week holiday from working at the offices of “Blues & Soul,” I vividly recall the mix of excitement and anticipation took what would be the flight to New York that would be - unbeknownest to me - life-changing…
Within that first US visit, I interviewed Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson, Millie Jackson and Labelle for “Blues & Soul.” I found myself dwelling in the question posed in wistful falsetto by Eddie Kendricks through The Temptations’ 1971..was it ‘just my imagination, running away with me…’
Gary met me at the airport (I believe LaGuardia since it was closer to Brooklyn where he was sharing a flat), albeit an hour or so late, much to my initial distress.
Before I had to time to catch my breath and recover from jet lag, Gary had whisked me off to a house party in Lefrak City, Queens, an adventure for a future Substack post…
Within a couple of days, I visited the small apartment in midtown Manhattan on West 55th Street & 8th Avenue which served as the ‘office’ for “Blues & Soul.”
It had been rented by the magazine’s founder and editor, John Abbey essentially for use as his US base and photo studio for Kwame Brathwaite, who had been providing B&S with exclusive pics for a few years.
Although it was my first holiday in a while, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to check out the soul music scene.
With guidance and assistance from Kwame, my two weeks in New York became a whirlwind of activities, with ‘first on the list,’ an in-person interview with Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson at their townhouse. I was already an A&S fan: their Warner Brothers’ debut album, “Gimme Something Real” was a prize possession!
John Abbey had given me the phone number for Millie Jackson and I duly called to arrange to meet with her home in Brooklyn; and I contacted Vicki Wickham (who had I met years earlier in London as the producer for the popular TV show “Ready Steady Go!”) then firmly ensconced in New York as the manager of the group Labelle, who in October 1974 were riding the crest of the wave of pop crossover success with the classic “Lady Marmalade.”
My passion for soul music had been burning bright for a decade (with the creation of the UK Nina Simone Appreciation Society in 1965 followed a year later by the formation -with Dave Godin and Robert Blackmore - of Soul City, the first-ever record store in the UK devoted to selling only American R&B; then joining the staff of John Abbey’s Contempo (publishers of ‘Blues & Soul’ since its inception in ‘66).
By the age of 26, I was ‘living the dream,’ fulfilling what noted author Deepak Chopra calls ‘synchro destiny,” working full time in the world of soul music but nothing had prepared me for the magic and wonder of that first New York trip!
Was I dreaming?
By the end of the fortnight, I had seen performances by Aretha Franklin, Blue Magic, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Bohannon, The Tymes, Lea Roberts, The Joneses, Little Anthony & The Imperials, The Dells and Main Ingredient.
In fact, there was so much to share that my “Take A Look Around” regular column for B&S detailed my NY adventures over two issues of the magazine, the second one focusing on a whirlwind first visit to Philadelphia, to be shared on my next Substack post.
Journey with me as I share “Take A Look Around” from November 1974
© 1974, 2025 - David Nathan/Blue Butterfly Entertainment Ltd. (UK)/All Rights Reserved