By Steve L. (209.100.86.4) on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 02:17 pm:

Mike McLean had a very funny post about the "Nerd Brothers" of Motown.

Who else belonged to the "Nerd Brothers" club?

-Steve

By M.McLeanTech (64.236.243.31) on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 04:49 pm:

Thanks Steve. I was very proud of that one myself. I have burst out laughing several times thinking back on it. (See the second posting on the "OLD FRIENDS" thread, or use the SEARCH FORUM function with the search term "Vienna")

I am going to type up a historical review of every Nerd Brother I can remember. I will post it here just as soon as I can get it together.

Mike McLean

By Steve L (209.100.86.4) on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 06:29 pm:

Thanks Mike!
-Steve

By Bob Olhsson (68.32.101.228) on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 08:41 pm:

I have to confess that I actually wore a pocket-protecter to work at Motown before I finally got it together around 1969 and got myself a green suit and some beautiful Danish shirts from Pete Moore's shop.

Mike, don't forget Harvey Schwartz and Sandu.

By larry (12.141.160.25) on Sunday, November 17, 2002 - 08:45 pm:

ROFL.
Bob..... yer killin me. "finally got it together". Lolol.
This thread is great.

By M.McLeanTech (66.218.59.23) on Monday, November 18, 2002 - 01:38 am:

Bob,

That paragraph about your appearal history split my sides! Outstanding!

Thanks for the reminders. I had jotted down Sandu, but I had forgotten about Harvey Schwartz. I probably would have thought of him, but all such suggestions are very helpful.

In order to qualify as a Nerd Brother, one must have worked as an electronic technican at Motown, working with a soldering iron, test and measurment equipment, and other such "shop" things. If I am not mistaken, that disqualifies you, Bob. Please correct me if I am wrong. It takes more then a pocket protector to qualify as a Nerd Brother.

Don't feel bad: I have always wanted to qualify as a Soul Brother and a Funk Brother, but I don't have a snowball's chance in Hell at that!

At any rate, I ask all who can think of any names that come to mind of a Nurd Brother to please post it on this thread.

When I have collected all the names I can, I will place them in cronological order and write a little bio for each name. It should make a nice posting.

Here are some names that I have thought of:

Ron Malo
Peter F. Walsh
Mike McLean
Richard Bowlus
Richard Cogger
John Windt
James Williams
Royal Coleman
Robert Gordy
David L. Clark
Paul Fields
Lawrence T. Horn
Tom Nixon
Gurdev Sandu
Harvey Schwartz
Ralph Pinson
Nate Jennings
Don Gillam
Don Boehret
Leonard Kosloski
Glenn Garrard
Don Fostle

Come on everybody! Help me out here. Can anyone remember any more?

Of course, this list is only of those who worked in Detroit in my department. There are many more who worked in Los Angeles under the direction of Guy Costa, who eventually took my place, but I don't have any idea of who those folks were.

Mike McLean

By Bob Olhsson (68.32.101.228) on Monday, November 18, 2002 - 10:36 am:

You probably ought to include Bob Dennis's drafting and who was that guy who blew up a cutter head and took off with all of the test gear and allignment tapes? Didn't Ed W. also work in the shop?

Finally, don't forget to talk about the important things such as the slot cars!

By STUBASS (205.188.209.38) on Monday, November 18, 2002 - 10:46 am:

MIKE; TWO L.A. GUYS YOU MAY BE FAMILIAR WITH. NORMAN WHITFIELD JR... I MET HIM AT SUNRISE/SUNSET STUDIOS IN W. HOLLYWOOD...ALTHOUGH HE MAY HAVE BEEN TOO YOUNG BACK IN DETROIT, I'M SURE THAT HE LEARNED A LOT TAGGING ALONG WITH DADDY. ALSO, MAGIC MORENO, ENGINEER AND ASPIRING SINGER. I BELIEVE THAT I WAS AT A SESSION AT A&M WITH MAGIC LEAVING THE BOOTH TO DO SOME VOCALS, ENGINEERED BY NONE OTHER THAN RUSS TERRANA. STU

By Ed Wolfrum (165.247.228.73) on Monday, November 18, 2002 - 02:25 pm:

Bob, were you aware that the guy that flew with all the test gear tried to sell it to us at United and Jerry Fredrick at Special on the same day? I can't remember that dude's name either. Perhap's its better that way.

Also are you aware of Don Fostel's great books on classic speedboats and Steinway piano's?

Ed

By Bob Olhsson (68.32.101.228) on Monday, November 18, 2002 - 03:03 pm:

I never heard that part of the story, stuff had been disappearing for a while. I did hear the chirp from the cutter when he applied a 15kHz. tone at +8 as I was screaming for him to stop!

By M.McLeanTech (66.218.40.216) on Tuesday, November 19, 2002 - 04:06 am:

I have never heard of this crook. Who was he.

Please try to keep coming with any candidates for the "Nerd Brothers"

By the way, this was not a "club."

I invented this term last week, while making a posting on the OLD FRIENDS thread.

Please let us not reinvent history, as we laugh a little.

Mike McLean

By Ralph (209.240.198.62) on Tuesday, November 19, 2002 - 09:33 am:

Mike,
What about Ron Lynch. Probably one of the funniest guys on the staff.

By Livonia Ken (136.2.1.153) on Tuesday, November 19, 2002 - 11:03 am:

I am envisioning a movie title on a marquee. Picture this folks:

"Sniffing in the Solder of Motown"

Of course, if you think they had trouble getting the current movie financed, imagine what they would have to go through for this one. Plus, if they staged re-enactments of some of Mike's more colorful stories, they would have to deal with the difficulty of marketing an NC-17 rated film.

Regards,
Ken

By M.McLeanTech (66.218.59.121) on Tuesday, November 19, 2002 - 02:12 pm:

Ralph,

I knew that there was a ghost figure in my memory that I couldn't remember, and you have nailed it: Ron Lynch!

The trouble is, I couldn't write any kind of bio at all on him because I can just barely remember him at all. Could you do a little bio on him to include in the posting? I will send you my set of bios via email, and then you will have an idea of what sort of thing to say.

I have Don Boehret's telephone number. If worst comes to worst, perhaps I can find out more about Ron Lynch from him, since I believe that he hired him.

Livonia Ken,

That NC-17 version is titled:

"Sniffing in the Solder, and Soul Sisters, of Motown."

Mike McLean

By NISH (66.119.33.167) on Tuesday, November 19, 2002 - 02:24 pm:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! LOL! ROFL! @ the NC-17 title. Mr. McLean, your jokes are always so hilarious! Keep them coming!

By Ralph (209.240.198.62) on Tuesday, November 19, 2002 - 03:10 pm:

Mike,
Ron was kind of a hippie looking guy. He had a very clever sense of humor and was known for being the culpret that would post these exceptionally funny limericks and such on restroom walls. He was an accomplished photographer who would give me good advice when I bought a rather expensive Minolta.
In '73 or '74 I was trying to get another band off the ground ( Dragon ) that I was playing keyboards in. Ron liked the band and he and his wife would come and see us play. He took hundreds of pictures on the band.

By Ed Wolfrum (165.247.228.73) on Tuesday, November 19, 2002 - 05:28 pm:

As I remember Ron Lynch ended up working for Artie. I'll ask Artie about him tonight.

Regarding the guy with the test gear...I'll see if Jerry Fredrick can remember his name.

I have some connections at the Vatican, I'll see what we can do about the ratings thing there Ken!!! Maybe the "NERD BROTHERS" can be stars too.

By the way Mike, in that shot with Fred he looks better than me. With the dark circles under my eyes I look like I pulled an all nighter the night before.