[Looking for Motown MIDIs? Well stop here and see what Rexy found on this gentleman's homepage. Rexy also designed the "Don't miss the Dance" for his page also! Be sure to check out the Motown artists and be ready to dance the night away!--ck]
Motown lovers and music enthusiasts around the net are finding their way to the award winning Rob's Motown Midis Site. As you enter this wonderful site, you are transported back to a magical era and Detroit's love for Motown Music. Rob creatively brings the history, artists, and their music into the hearts of all who visit his site.
Growing up in the 50's and 60's in Detroit, and being from a musical family himself, Rob's memories of the Motown phenomenon are reflected in this awesome site. "I didn't start out to do an entire site on Motown MIDIs! I was going to do a site on music in general." Rob's Motown MIDIs was just going to be a one page annex with a few MIDIs on it. "But once I got to reminiscing about the experiences my brother and I had, it rather took on a life of its own and the theme to my website."
Detroit is still Rob's home and he is a musician who plays guitar for a local gospel group and a R & B band. He has 4 brothers and 2 sisters. His father worked for the Ford Motor Company and his mother was a Pentacostal Minister. All the kids learned to play musical instruments in the church. Rob married in 1968, and although he is now single, he is proud of his three adult sons and three grandsons, and loves spending as much time as he can with them. "I'm a musician," Rob modestly states. "In the 70's and 80's, I sang and toured with a professional gospel group and recorded for a major record label. I also love photography and am a freelance wedding photographer."
Rob purchased his WebTV in February, after spending a few days with his sister,
Auntie Rita. "She had gotten a WebTV for a Christmas present. When she first showed it to me, I thought yeah...right, like I don't have anything better to do with my time. But we started surfing the Net and finding great sites and information." By the third day, Rob was getting up an hour or so earlier than everyone else so he could sneak on the WebTV and surf the Net. When he got back home, he started getting restless. "I had to have my WebTV fix, so I went out and bought one!" Rob laughs.
Like most newbies, he started learning HTML through Draac's HTML tutorials, but his friend, Hardlove, of Hardlove's Codes of Magic has had the most influence on Rob. "Hardlove has taught me so much and still sends me useful things. I consider him a close personal friend as well."
Tom Chatterton of Up All Night and ADHH fame has been a big help and influence for Rob. "I would have given up before I ever started, without Tom's friendly and prompt help. I still call on him when I'm stumped on a HTML question." Rob also credits his friend ULTRA's WebTV Homepage as a big help to him and ~Rexy who created and animated a Motown Don't Miss The Dance for use on his site and banners.
Rob enjoys the following newsgroups:
ADHH, WebTV Tricks, and Advanced HTML. "I usually lurk and try to absorb as much information as I can, but occasionally, if I know the answer to a question, and no one else has responded, then I will respond," says Rob.
Rob has some exciting plans for this site in the near future. "I plan on doing interviews with people who had something to do with the early years of Motown. Living in Detroit, there is an abundance of former Motown studio musicians, and family members of some of the stars, as well as some of the stars themselves. I've been a friend of Clarence Kendricks, (brother of the late Eddie Kendricks of Temptation fame for about 15 years now) and hope I can convince him to be my first interview."
Receiving between 400 and 650 hits a week to his site, Rob gets comments like "unique," "unusual," and "the best Motown site on the web." He spends a lot of time maintaining his site and helping others through e-mail with questions regarding MIDIs or just helping them find or put a MIDI into an e-mail sig or homepage.
[Community Editor's Notes: Wow, Robert, you have highlighted some great groups! A lot of us certainly do remember "The Temptations, "The Vandellas," and so many more! So we hope more selections come your way on this vast collection. Superb work!--ck]
Rob can be e-mailed at Robert L Hollaway
