[greenfire]

Today I learned that wetcamelfood had passed away. I'm sorry I'm late in knowing about this and if there was a previous thread I apologize for not renewing it. I learned he passed away on September 24, 2015. Yes, I know it's been months already. I never would have expected this. John was still young but he died unexpectedly. I don't know really what happened. I just know he is gone now and I can't believe it. I hadn't logged into this site since Oct of 2010 but I was in touch with John outside of here. When I first joined this site it was wetcamelfood who sent me an email to welcome me. I had known John ever since and sometimes it was years between times I would email him but John always welcomed my emails. I enjoyed his knowledge and insights. He responded to my emails even if it was about some band he probably wasn't particulary interested in. I used to write to him about some of the more obscure FM stuff and about FM members like Brunning, Mason, Weston, Welch, and Burnette. I would ask him about solo appearances these guys would have appeared on. He actually owned the stuff. He was definitely a goto guy to know about things like that.

John was a serious collector of FM related recordings. I'm sure there are many completist collectors on this site but John was the one I knew and he befriended me. I remember seeing some of the questions he would ask in the Q&A section of this site. I remember one in particular where John was asking Bob Brunning about his "London 22nd cub scout pack" album.

Here was a question John had posed to Bob Brunning about it:

"As a collector of your records, I, like may others are trying to get our hands on the infamous "London 22nd cub scout pack" album. As only 500 copies were pressed, it's highly unlikely we will get our hands on an original. I was wondering, since you have more connections to the people involved in that project than any of us, would it be possible for you to get a hold of the original tapes from the school archives and have a limited amount pressed on CD and maybe sold through The Penguin website or something? I realize there's legal issues to consider but many of us would like very much to get this and other rare recordings you have played on. Any ideas on this would be greatly appreciated." (John, Peabody, Massachusetts, USA)

Bob Brunning's response:

Hi, John
There are no legal issues to be resolved, but does anybody really want to hear a hastily recorded album of campfire songs? I did it for a favour to a teacher colleague who wanted to raise funds for a cub pack. You don't want to hear it. --Bob Brunning


Believe me, John really did want this album even if Bob Brunning didn't think it was worthwhile. I would have asked John if he ever found a copy but I think he told me once he doubted he would ever find one. He was a true FM collector and completist.
There were lots of rare recordings and many I never asked John about but he always liked to talk about things like this. It was his passion.


The last I had corresponded with John was in June of 2014 and I recently sent him a message and I thought it was strange he never wrote back. It wasn't like him at all. At first I thought maybe he was away on a trip. I was looking for his posts and any activity only to see there hadn't been much as of late. I started looking further on the outside and to my dismay I learned he had passed away. I know John cared deeply about this site and he contributed album reviews and other information to the discography. I just wanted everyone to know of the valuable member who won't be posting or contributing any more.