Moby Dick Records

[mrkick20000]

Hi from Japan,

A good disco friend of mine in the US just started the website about Moby Dick Records of Boys Town Gang fame, although it folded in 1984 because of AIDS problem.
http://mobydickrecords.net/

I have been loving the label's songs since my high school days in 1981-83. But I think it is a little forgotten now. Is there anyone who remembers the Moby Dick tunes & memories in those days ?

[phrankie]

Hi hi!

I remember buying the Moby Dick 7" of Boys Town Gang's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough/Remember Me/Disco Kicks" in my local record shop for the bargain price of 10p...yes, that's 10p, back in 1981...a fab record! I checked out the website, and was interested to read about Yvonne Elliman's connection to the label...I also remember being given the RSO 7" of "Love Pains" as a prize at a family wedding disco! Ah, the memories, lol! xxx

[mrkick20000]

Originally Posted by phrankie

Hi hi!

I remember buying the Moby Dick 7" of Boys Town Gang's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough/Remember Me/Disco Kicks" in my local record shop for the bargain price of 10p...yes, that's 10p, back in 1981...a fab record! I checked out the website, and was interested to read about Yvonne Elliman's connection to the label...I also remember being given the RSO 7" of "Love Pains" as a prize at a family wedding disco! Ah, the memories, lol! xxx

Thank you for your reply, Phrankie. A family wedding disco ? It is a nice memory ! Indeed Love Pains was Yvonne Elliman's good number after her big hit I Can't Have You of Saturday Night Fever O.S.T!

[gunbuck]

So I've always been curious, is the Moby Dick bar in San Francisco's Castro district related to or run by any of the people from the Moby Dick Label? I used to live up the street from the bar and the fact that the bar uses the same fishtail logo as the label always made me curious.

[mrkick20000]

Originally Posted by gunbuck

So I've always been curious, is the Moby Dick bar in San Francisco's Castro district related to or run by any of the people from the Moby Dick Label? I used to live up the street from the bar and the fact that the bar uses the same fishtail logo as the label always made me curious.

Oh well, it is a good question. As far as I know the rabel's logo originates from the bar, but don't know the bar's staff were related to the rabel...

I hope anyone in the know will answer to that!!;)

mrkick20000

[theotherwillsmith]

Originally Posted by gunbuck

So I've always been curious, is the Moby Dick bar in San Francisco's Castro district related to or run by any of the people from the Moby Dick Label? I used to live up the street from the bar and the fact that the bar uses the same fishtail logo as the label always made me curious.

Hey gunbuck, & Hello from San Francisco,

My friend, mrkick20000 from Japan, just sent me an email regarding the website that I recently put up for you and all the gang at Moby Dick Records. I'm only sorry that it took me so long to do it but, at the same time, if you've been there I know that you all understand why ... they were the greatest guys that I've ever worked with and there wasn't a day that went by at Moby Dick Records that wasn't full of laughs - I mean all twenty-six staff members, me included, being downright silly! Don't get me wrong, we worked hard, but we played hard too!

So, gunbuck, the answer to your question: Yes, we did take our name from the bar around the corner. Victor, Stan, & Bill were chums from way back. Bill was our producer, formerly a radio DJ in Hollywood, Stan was a DJ at Circus Circus, in Hollywood and Victor owned Moby Dick Bar, here in San Francisco. None of us expected "Crusin' The Streets" to take off like it did - who were we to think that it would? We weren't Capitol or RSO, we were a couple of Gay guys in San Francisco and none of us had ever been in the record business. I was the only one with corporate management experience but it wasn't in records; I came from American Airlines. You get the idea.

I got a call from London, from an old friend, who said, "Will, LISTEN!" I said, "Listen to what?" He said they're playing Crusiin' the Streets and they're playing it everywhere over here!" I thought that Jeff probably got drunk, was feeling a little lonely in a city where he didn't know anyone, turned up the radio to make it sound like he was in a club, and played Crusin' the Streets; so, I hung up.

I guess a day had gone by since I'd hung up on my good buddy, Jeff, when I got a call from Paris. Someone who wanted to license the Album, which as you know had Ain't No Mountain High Enough on the "A" side. I said that we weren't interested in licensing it abroad and that Moby Dick Records UK was overseeing distribution in western Europe. We didn't have a Moby Dick Records UK. The only thing we had was two-hundred records from our frist pressing, a huge bill at Salty Dog Studios in Hollywood, two old desks, three chairs, and Stan, Bill, and me (Victor was a silent partner who we always thought was too embarrassed to be seen with us). I was VP of sales at the time but it didn't really count since I didn't have my own desk, business cards, or anyone to boss around - 'cause there wasn't anyone else in the company.

Somewhere right around lunch time, the following day (day 3), it happened. We got charted (Billboard & Dance Music Report). By three o'clock that afternoon I was officially burried - I don't think I'd ever had a job where I had to tally the sales, in the thousands, the old fashioned way; long-hand because we couldn't afford a calculator. The worst part of that day was trying to do business without having a company name. We didn't know ... I mean we pretended that we were a record label but we didn't actually think we'd get to be one.

We cornered Victor and begged him to let us use his name, Moby Dick Bar (without the "bar") so we could do business. I think we even asked him to loan us the two-hundred dollars that we needed to file the corporation. Victor didn't seem too happy about it but it might have been because I didn't give him his change back from the two-hundred dollars but instead, went out and bought a really big calculator.

There you have it, gunbuck, a story about three friends, three seasoned executives (seasoned, as in "french frys"), guided by the faith that they had in eachother, fashioned a company and developed a plan that would put an end to sadness and all those teary songs. No more 112 BPM, no more lyrics about troubled waters, no more DJ's announcing "Lady's Choice", no more, done, that's it, finis; it was time to "Get Up and Dance!"

Yep, that's what the three of us planned all along - visionaries, yea, that's it. We were Visionaries - I like that. Wait till I tell you the story about the MOB coming up from Hollywood and breaking Stan's arm, just to show Bill and me what happens when record labels don't pay their bills. Sorry, gunbuck, I just remembered who I was talking to - GunBuck! ~:{)

I think I'll say goodbye ...

Will Smith
http://mobydickrecords.net/

P.S. Feel free, Mr. Gunbuck, to ask me anything that you'd like to know about Moby Dick Records and our colorful history. By the way, Moby Dick Records did eventually settle down and we did become the kind of record company that everyone had hoped we'd be - a company where everyone loved to dance ...

I'll try and get the Boy's story done in the next couple of weeks - wait till you see the photos of all the changes they went through. We didn't quite have the "vision thing" down yet and it wasn't easy shaking our New York critics who dubbed the group, "The West-Coast Village People". Don Wood's hard hat didn't make things any easier - more about that later.

[discokicks]

Man...I love this website!

Last week Evelyn Thomas, a couple weeks ago Ray Martinez and now Will Smith of Moby Dick Records!!!:razz:

I remember when I first heard The Boystown Gang's Can't Take My Eyes Off You. It was my first time ever in a gay bar...a slow Wednesday night.....thinking 'oh my God...it's true...there are only five of us!'

It was early 1983....up to this point, I had tried my damndest to find anything that resembled disco. I found solace in the funkier grooves of War, Change, Zapp, Sinnamon's Thanks To You, Patrice Rushen's Forget Me Nots....but that night, in my drunken state watching these strangers who I would eventually call friends, I heard this incredible, no-holds-barred, dance cover of Frankie Valli and realized that I was home!

I remember thinking that disco didn't die....it just went back to the places where it was born. The Boystown Gang and Moby Dick Records hold so much meaning to me....thanks to Will Smith and all those in dance heaven.

[phrankie]

Was Boys Town Gang's "Can't Take My Eyes Of You" released anywhere on Moby Dick Records? I seem to remember it being released on ERC Records here in the UK

[mrkick20000]

Originally Posted by phrankie

Was Boys Town Gang's "Can't Take My Eyes Of You" released anywhere on Moby Dick Records? I seem to remember it being released on ERC Records here in the UK

BTG's Album ''Disc Charge'' including "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" was originally released from Moby Dick Records in the US. The copy right was later transferred to other rabels around after the closure of Moby Dick.

[gunbuck]

awesome, thanks for the info theotherwillsmith! :razz:

[ol'skinflint]

I only own one of MD record's releases (Boys Town Gang) and am not even aware of how many recordings the label released. When it comes to dance music released on a San Francisco label, my money went (and still goes) to Megatone and in second place would be Fantasy Records in the East Bay. I will do my best to not be negative, but I can tell you from personal experience and a bit of recent, less-than-positive publicity that both the Moby Dick bar and nearby Badlands have not always been considered totally accepting of the diversity of the locals and visitors to the areas they occupy. Hard to believe such attitudes exist in San Francisco in the year 2006.

[mrkick20000]

Originally Posted by ol'skinflint

I only own one of MD record's releases (Boys Town Gang) and am not even aware of how many recordings the label released. When it comes to dance music released on a San Francisco label, my money went (and still goes) to Megatone and in second place would be Fantasy Records in the East Bay. I will do my best to not be negative, but I can tell you from personal experience and a bit of recent, less-than-positive publicity that both the Moby Dick bar and nearby Badlands have not always been considered totally accepting of the diversity of the locals and visitors to the areas they occupy. Hard to believe such attitudes exist in San Francisco in the year 2006.

It is your interesting opinion about Moby Dick bar, but not related to the record label and even disco music.

[theotherwillsmith]

Originally Posted by ol'skinflint

I only own one of MD record's releases (Boys Town Gang) and am not even aware of how many recordings the label released. When it comes to dance music released on a San Francisco label, my money went (and still goes) to Megatone and in second place would be Fantasy Records in the East Bay. I will do my best to not be negative, but I can tell you from personal experience and a bit of recent, less-than-positive publicity that both the Moby Dick bar and nearby Badlands have not always been considered totally accepting of the diversity of the locals and visitors to the areas they occupy. Hard to believe such attitudes exist in San Francisco in the year 2006.

I don't think anyone would disagree with you regarding Fantasy records so maybe we should leave it at that.

Fantasy Records 1978-1981
I should also mention that every song listed below made it to Billboard's Disco/Dance Top 20 (each song's respective chart).

Sylvester - Dance (Disco Heat) / You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) 1978
Sylvester - I Who Have Nothing / Body Strong / Stars 1979
Sylvester - Can't Stop Dancing / In My Fantasy 1979
Sylvester - Here Is My Love / Give It Up
Two Tons O' Fun - Earth Can Be Just Like Heaven / I Got A Feeling 1980
Fever - Beat Of The Night / Pump It Up 1979
Fever - The One Tonight
Fever - Standing In The Shadows Of Love 1978
Paradise Express - Dance / Poinciana 1978
Paradise Express - You Set Me On Fire / Let's Fly 1980
Fat Larry's Band - Lookin' For Love - 1979
Fat Larry's Band - Here Comes The Sun 1980
Idris Muhammad - For Your Love / Don't Fight The Feeling 1980
Philly Cream - Motown Review 1979
Slick featuring Doris James - Sexy Cream 1979

I sincerely hope that you get everything else worked out too!

Will Smith
http://mobydickrecords.net/

[Noman]

Great reading
Loverde Die hard Lover, Boys Town Gang, The Hot Posse Medley-- I tried to get my hands on everything from Moby Dick BITD.

And I played all of it alot in a great disco in a small town in Sweden.

This was not the music the crowds were used to listen or dance to but I could hold them for hours and mix the records back and forth.

[Marcio**]

Here's a SF map where you can see the Moby Dick bar :razz: