Chapter 2: August 5, 2002

Spoke with Shooby on the phone.

A propos of nothing, he exclaimed: "That tape with Dexter Gordon -- that's a masterpiece!"

Said he tried calling Rick twice yesterday, but got a recorded message intoning, "The party you are calling has a blocked number." He didn't know why that happened, because he always pays his phone bills. "I love paying bills," he proclaimed.

Said he would be in physical therapy today, and his son would visit later.

I had shipped him my book Songs in the Key of Z. He enjoyed his chapter, though he identified two erroneous pieces of information. Understandable, I conceded, since we didn't have him to fact-check before publication.

1) BOOK: "Shooby apparently is -- or was -- a resident of Brooklyn." This was based on a (faulty) recollection by Craig Bradley, one of the studio engineers present at Taylor's Angel Sound sessions.

SHOOBY corrects: "I lived in Harlem my entire life. I am a New Yorker!" (He was actually born in Pennsylvania.)

2) BOOK: Bradley is quoted as saying, "He once told me he got beat up by a woman in a laundromat for being a little too forward. She smacked him around."

SHOOBY clarifies: "The woman attacked me, and I lowered the boom on her. So they called for an ambulance on her. They took her to Harlem Hospital for stitches. They arrested both of us. I said I didn't want to press charges, unless she did. She didn't press charges, so I didn't press charges."

He reiterated that he was grateful to us for helping to preserve his music.