Lost and Found

The Robert Wilkinson Band

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In the early 1990’s Robert Wilkinson took a brief hiatus from his legendary band The Flamin’ Oh’s. The Oh’s (formerly Flamingo) were a big part of the late 1970’s Minneapolis music scene and toured internationally. The band is one of the featured bands in the JAY'S LONGHORN Documentary about the infamous bar that in the late 1970's that was the

In the early 1990’s Robert Wilkinson took a brief hiatus from his legendary band The Flamin’ Oh’s. The Oh’s (formerly Flamingo) were a big part of the late 1970’s Minneapolis music scene and toured internationally. The band is one of the featured bands in the JAY'S LONGHORN Documentary about the infamous bar that in the late 1970's that was the Minneapolis counter point to New York’s CBGB's. The documentary competed in film festivals around the country and the Queen City Film Festival in Cumberland, Maryland awarded the film “Best Music in a Feature Film”.

In the early 1980s, with new technology propelling the music industry, the Flamin' Oh's became one of the earliest bands to make music videos. Chuck Statler (music video pioneer who directed videos for DEVO, Elvis Costello, and Nick Lowe) directed two videos for the Flamin’ Oh’s that ran on a new television network dedicated to music, MTV.

The band released two albums on Fat City Records (The Green Album & Oh) and two albums on Blackberry Way Records (Desire & Paint The Sky). “Paint The Sky” released in 1986 was a Billboard Magazine Recommended Album & garnered radio play nationwide. The track "Skinny Legs" appears in season 3 of Steven Soderbergh’s “RED OAKS” and several track appear in the Jay’s Longhorn documentary as well as the 2022 movie “Velvet Elvis”. The band carries on today and is one of Minnesota’s true music treasures.

That brings us to the early 1990’s. The Robert Wilkinson band was formed with Ben Kaplan, Bob Burns & Gary Snow joining Robert in his new endeavor. The band performed locally in Twin Cities clubs as well as music festivals like St. Paul’s RiverFest. The band was picked to serve as Chuck Berry’s back-up band at the final incarnation of RiverFest in 1990. Blackberry Way 2022

Crawling From The Wreckage By Jim Walsh City Pages 8/8/90

“We’ve all played a lot of that stuff through the years” said Kaplan. “That’s the kind of music that was real influential on us. Even if, for me, I got into it second-hand. I heard the Stones and the Beatles do it, and then I went back. But I’ve been in so many bands… I mean who hasn’t played “Johnny B. Goode” or “Roll Over Beethoven”?

Plenty, that’s for sure. But only a handful have done them with the guy who wrote ‘em. “Yeah,” Kaplan said with a sated sigh. “I just remember him duck-walking past me. I mean, while I was on the same stage with Chuck Berry. Yeah – that’ll keep me for a while.” Jim Walsh-City Pages

In 1991 the band recorded “Lost and Found” at Blackberry Way and sadly the record was not released as the band broke up. Now Remastered by Michael Owens @ Blackberry Way and Andy Walter @ Abbey Road “Lost and Found” finally sees the light of day.

"I had a chance to listen to the Robert Wilkinson Band recordings and after just a couple of plays so far, I love every track. These recordings coulda been recorded years ago, coulda been yesterday. This is timeless stuff”. Peter Jesperson-Twin/Tone Records co-founder/A&R

Robert Wilkinson Guitars, Vocals; Ben Kaplan, Drums, Vocals; Bob Burns, Keyboards, Vocals; Gary Snow, Bass

Produced & Engineered by Ben Kaplan, Michael Owens & Kevin Glynn @ Blackberry Way 1991

Mastered by Michael Owens @ Blackberry Way and Andy Walter @ Abbey Road 2022

All tracks composed by Robert Wilkinson BMI

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