By Ralph (209.240.222.130 - 209.240.222.130) on Saturday, March 09, 2002 - 01:54 pm:

Here is a guy I've thought about so much over the years. Besides his unmistakeable talent, I think all the fans of the Funk Brothers should know what a genuinely funny guy Eddy was. He was always cracking me up.
Dennis.....you had a house party once and the whole gang was there. I remember Eddy was in rare form and I never laughed as hard as I did that night. That night Eddy invited me and my wife to come over to his house some night for a visit with him and his wife. We never did get the chance to get together and I have always regretted that.

By david, glasgow, scotland (213.107.27.25 - 213.107.27.25) on Sunday, March 10, 2002 - 12:00 am:

thanks ralph

on our visit to westlawn cemetery in april 2001, nobody could help us with the gravesite of eddie 'bongo' brown.

we were there looking for the grave of jackie wilson and found same in good order.

we should be passing westlawn in april. we will try again. does anybody know of ways to find plot numbers before arriving at sites.

bongo brown and others must not be forgotten.

By Dennis Coffey (152.163.194.189 - 152.163.194.189) on Sunday, March 10, 2002 - 04:21 am:

Hi everyone. Bongo was a super conga player and all around nice guy. He always kept everyone laughing. He played that great percussion break on Scorpio plus all of the Motown records. I was one of the pall bearers at his funeral. Man, it was a sad day! I ended up at a bar afterwards with trombonist, Don White and saxophone player, Eli Fountain, who was Don Davis' right hand man. They are both also gone. Bongo wasn't a real music chart reader. He was always laughing behind his music. One day I happened to look at his music stand and discovered a girlie magazine there. No wonder Bongo was having so much fun...

Dennis Coffey

By phillysoulman (152.163.197.56 - 152.163.197.56) on Sunday, March 10, 2002 - 12:33 pm:

Must be a thing about conga players and being funny. our guy in Philly the late, Larry Washington was often hired because he kept every one in stitches, mainly because of the tall tales that he would tell regarding why he was late or just "general"preposterous stories. One day he said that his kid fell out of a third story window.(that one was used other times as well) His kid must have had a lot of serious bruises!!
One time he had a photo of himself being put into an ambulance and waving to the camera!! But he was part of the glue that made MFSB groove.

By Ian W (213.122.132.18 - 213.122.132.18) on Sunday, March 10, 2002 - 02:59 pm:

References to congas on Motown records took me straight back to my youth on Sunday nights at the Rose Room in Burnley Lancs. On the ceiling above the dance floor, there were arranged groups of three 'sound-to-light' spotlights, red-blue-green. The pitch of the congas must have been the exact one to trigger off the blue light. Edwin Starr's 'My Weakness Is You' - aaaagh! Was that Bongo Eddy's work?

OK I'm waffling!

A very impressionable Ian

By phillysoulman (152.163.207.201 - 152.163.207.201) on Monday, March 11, 2002 - 05:00 pm:

I have been on line trying to research the Eddy "bongo"brown gravesite.
Are you sure that it is at Westlawn, and is that his legal name?? Just athought, from experience.
Believe it or not, in AMERIKA there are racially divided cemetaries!!! Even the musicians union was segregated at the beginning of the PiR days! Who cares about those kind of things. What is it the fu***n dark ages or something?? Even Tammi and Bessie are buried in a "black"cemetary!!(the same one)
That place does keep good records though nd the people are very helpful.

By Dennis Coffey (206.47.172.178 - 206.47.172.178) on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 12:18 am:

Hey Bobby, try Westland. I think maybe it was in Westland or Wayne if my memory serves me correct. I don't know the name for sure.

Dennis Coffey

By david, glasgow, scotland (213.122.59.87 - 213.122.59.87) on Tuesday, March 12, 2002 - 09:47 am:

http://www.geocities.com/michhist/westlawn.html

this site must be quite recent. don't recall it last year.

westlawn is on michigan at merriman, between the towns of wayne and inkster.

it is also the site of jackie wilson's grave.