Dave Tompkins’ book How to Wreck a Nice Beach: From World War II to Hip-Hop did not just pop up over night. Dave has been writing vocoder-sensitive articles for a myriad of magazines for a myriad of years. One of the more Carolinacentric ones appeared in Stop Smiling Magazine some several years ago. “The Night-Time Master Blaster” is the tale of Fuquay-Varina vocoderist James L. Garrett, whose electronically elegant single, “Nasty Rock” was broken wide open over the airwaves of Charlotte’s WPEG (soon, the world!) thanks to the Night-Time Master Blaster himself, Les Norman. “Les had a good heart,” Garrett said. “He reached out when he didn’t even know us. That’s how we got to New York. That’s how we opened for the Isley Brothers and the Manhattans.”

Dave will read from his book today at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, 3pm. The after party at 5 Star on Morgan St is alleged to feature a vocoder and Roland 808, courtesy of Davy DMX. Although a James L. Garrett appearance is unconfirmed, we are posting his 1983 master(blaster)piece here at Carolina Soul to pay homage to yet another eccentric moment in Carolina music history.