Talk:Harley Brinsfield

I remember " The Harley hour" on WCAO at midnight. They would set aside our rock and roll and this raspy voiced old fellow would lure to Harley's sandwich shop with big band sounds and decriptions of the harleyburger and my favorite the "harley original". The shop on Fayette st was the first. I visited that shop in 1957 and was hooked on the original......Those onions. They made the sandwich. Does anyone knoe how Harley got those onions to taste that good? A friend that I worked with (in a chemical plant) did some neon sign work for Harley at the fayette St. shop and swore that Harley had an apartment above the shop and in that apartment he soaked bermuda onions in tubs of water.

Used to listen to the Harley Show in the car on the way to or from my girlfriend's house. I'd been familiar with New Orleans jazz and big band, but this show opened up the broader jazz world to me. I was thrilled to find this entry in Wikipedia because I've tried for years to remember the tune that opened the show. Wonderful to know that it was "Things Ain't What They Used To Be," but does anyone know which of the hundreds of versions of that song he used for the show? I, of course, haven't heard the show since I moved away from Baltimore some 30+ years ago, but it doesn't sound like Harry James, or Coltrane. I guess it might be Count Basie, or maybe Charlie Barnet or Coleman Hawkins. Does anyone know whose version of the song opened the show? Could it be Bob Scobey's Frisco Band whose band this article indicates closed the show? If so, I can't find a version of "Things Ain't..." by Scobey. Suggestions?Sidhean (talk) 16:10, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

It couldn't have been Scobey's band playing the opener. Totally different instrumentation, and the tenor sax on "Things Ain't What they used to be is definitely NOT Bean (Coleman Hawkins.) Too "cool" a sound to be him.

The main article omits the fact that Harley broadcast his last shows from WITH-AM (1230 KHz, very low night-time signal) in the mid-late seventies. I was in the studio for one broadcast, and that must have been between 1975 and '77. BTW, I don't know about Olesker's statement that he drank during the broadcast. I certainly never saw it. (Stan Modjesky, Baltimore)

Harley DID have an apartment over his original sandwich shop, in it were about 20,000 records and whatever black performer was in town and couldn't get accomodations anywhere else. I can't remember who played the opening theme; I wrote the original article and could'nt find it. I also note that someone removed all but the first several lines of the article. I have replaced it. There is some history which is valuable, but not capable of documentation. There is history that is largely personal; observation. Who would object to posting athe opinion of George Washington, written by a contemporary? Should we loose this valuable source just because there is no web site that parrots it? The value is obvious from the comments, as is its accuracy as confirmed by those whose authority is greatest, those that were there and experienced it first-hand. Tbonge (talk) 03:26, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

The "Sailing Down the Chesapeake Bay" is Bob Scoby. The band playing "Things Ain't What They Used to Be" is a small unit of Duke Ellington's band led by Johnny Hodges. The sax is unmistakably Hodges. Harley also used the Tishomingo Blues as a theme. I have not found the version he used. Anyone know? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Scherr (talk • contribs) 23:07, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

He was my uncle
Harley Brinsfield was my uncle, and the eldest of the family of Harley and Eva Payne Brinsfield. His father died when all of his children were quite young, I believe of TB. The stories I have heard have Harley running off at the age of 16, lying about his age to join the Merchant Marines. He was handsome, charming, and had the gift of gab. Uncle Harley even opened a Harley's Restaurant on Route 404 (on the way from the Bay Bridge to Delaware, and in Seaford, Delaware, where I still live. In fact, I live within a half mile of the building that my other uncle, George Turner, built for Harley's Restaurant.  It was an amazing restaurant with with a diner out front, a bar, and formal dining rooms in the back.  I remember attending a triple birthday party there for Uncle Harley, my Father, and my grandmother, Eva Payne Brinsfield at the restaurant.  I remember dancing with my father on the dance floor.  My father managed the restaurant for his brother before they had a falling out, and their relationship remained strained until the end of Harley's life.  It is amazing to read about my family in this forum.  Susan Brinsfield Messick

Harley Brinsfield
An additional piece of information. Apparently Harley had another wife at one point. The 1940 census lists him as living in Baltimore at 827 W Lortle Street with wife, Ethel, and son, Harley P. J. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Etpaulis (talk • contribs) 16:58, 23 January 2017 (UTC)

misc. info
My mother's maiden name was Brinsfield and a 2nd cousin of Harley Brinsfield. I met Harley once in 1963 when he was a Commisioner with the State Roads Commission. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Etpaulis (talk • contribs) 17:03, 23 January 2017 (UTC)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sixstring563/26466614050 -
Here is a link to a page that refers to Arlene as Harley's second wife. Apparently the previous post is about his first wife. Some day if I get to the Maryland Historical Society, the City Directory for Baltimore will straighten this out. Sommewhere in the back of my mind, he had 2 children. E. Paulis — Preceding unsigned comment added by Etpaulis (talk • contribs) 22:15, 28 February 2017 (UTC)