When we heard that friend of Ted, Ali B of Air Recordings, had been to the one and only Mabu record store in South Africa, we wanted to hear all about it, and now we want to go too – all donations welcome! read his tale and prepare to be just a little green around the gills…
“In April this year I made a trip to Cape Town, South Africa to attend Afrikaburn, the Burning Man Festival of Africa, which I was introduced to by my friend Tal. Tal’s father Stephen had been involved in the recent Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugarman, about Detroit musician Rodriguez, who had become huge in South Africa during the 70s, while remaining virtually unknown to the rest of the world. So, on arrival in Cape Town, I made sure that I made a trip to Stephen’s record store, Mabu, to see if I could find any of Rodriguez’ music on vinyl.
A few weeks later, when I finally caught up with my friend at Afrikaburn, we were chatting about the recent success of the film and I’d told her that I’d been digging for 45s in her Father’s store. Meanwhile she was busy eyeing up the jacket I was wearing; an 80s silk blazer covered in the most ridiculous design of black and white cats. Being a sucker for anything with animal print on it, Tal suggested that I trade the jacket with her and in return, she would set it up for me to visit her Father’s basement which was apparently full of 45s – my favourite ever kind of vinyl. As much as I love my stupid cat jacket, without hesitation, I agreed.
Read more at Still Searching for Sugarman | Ted Baker Blog.
SugarMan.org 
Comment more epic than the post. Brilliant!
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Want to hear a Rodriguez story… Last August I was debating whether or not to go to a conference in Cape Town. Undecided, I asked the universe for a sign. On the way home from work that night I called my son and asked if he wanted to go see a movie that night. You guess it. We ended up seeing Searching for Sugarman. Totally by chance. I loved the movie. Told all my friends to go and see it while it was in town. Booked my tickets to the conference the next day. Went back to the movie 2 more times that week.
While in Cape Town at the end of the conference I went to see Sugar at his Malbu Record store. Rodriquez was scheduled to come to Toronto for a concert and I just had to see him. Unfortunately the tickets were all sold out. I asked Sugar if he could help get a ticket. No luck. Trusting my intuition, I bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers and drove 5 hours Oct.24 to Toronto to see the show. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get in but somehow I knew it was going to happen. My brother who lived in Toronto had been trying to get tickets as well. To no avail. When we got to the concert there were no scalpers selling tickets. The only thing left to do was knock on the door. The doorman answered and asked how he could help me. I said I had flowers for Rodriquez from Sugar. He left and the the promoter returned to the door. I told him the same thing, I had flowers for Rodriguez from Sugar. He left and Regan came to the door. She asked me if I was friends with Sugar. I said yes and she let my brother and I into watch Rodriguez play 3 songs during the sound check.
I was in heaven. It was bliss, seeing him play and being there in person. My brother was dumbfounded by what his little sister had manifested. When Rodriguez finished I went on stage and gave him the flowers which he put on the table beside his microphone… I gave him a big thank you from the universe. He asked what story was and I told him the wish I had made. He loved the story and invited my brother and I to stay for the concert, which we did with pleasure and a smile from ear to ear.
What a memorable night. One for the ages. Joanna Barclay, Ottawa, Canada
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