Remembering Bob Setlick

Bob Setlick passed away on December 7, 2024 from cancer. He was a mentor, influence and supportor to many Detroit area musicians, record collectors, and music lovers. Through Car City Records and the performances he sponsored in the New Music Society series, Setlick left an indelible mark on the local scene and beyond. He treated customers and colleagues with respect and honesty.  Music lovers of all kind fell into Car City and one could often bump into visiting musicians, buyers and foreign collectors searching for treasure. Car City stocked many unusual imports in all genres and at one point may’ve had a silent partner from Japan. Legend has it that R. Crumb traded a logo design for rare records he scored at Car City. After retirement, Bob could be seen every summer manning a booth at the Detroit Book Fest in Eastern Market selling used music books, poetry, radical lit, and a crate or two of records. He loved coming back and meeting old friends. Bob was also a a friend and supporter at Book Beat and we wanted to honor his memory with stories from co-workers, customers, collegues and friends with a few lifted from online sources.

From the Car City Records FB Page Dec 8, 2024:

Yesterday we lost one of the heroes of the record world – many of us lost a friend and mentor. Car City Records boss, Robert Setlick lost his battle with cancer.

Over the course of over 50 years in the biz of music, books, supporting the arts/artists, wild stories, recommendations and much more – Bob touched thousands and thousands of lives directly or tangentially, for the better.

Much love and good vibrations to Bob’s lovely wife Sandy and the rest of the extended family at this time.

I hope there are good weird records wherever you are now.
RIP Bob, we’re gonna miss you.

Pat Frisco, jazz afficianado and friend:

I had shopped for records at Car City for years and came to know Bob, who would special order a lot of avant-garde jazz that was difficult to find at that time. Bob and Warren Westfall began to produce concerts in the area and hosted the David S Ware Quartet at Alvin’s Delicatessen. The band featured pianist Matthew Shipp so Bob and Warren were forced to rent a grand piano for the gig. I mentioned to Bob that Henry Ford College, where I was hosting an avant-jazz radio program, had a large band room with multiple grand pianos.Thus began our involvement together in the New Music Society, providing the community with live music that was lacking in our area.

Bob and I would become good friends as a result and we discovered a mutual love of music, good red wine and baseball. Many nights were spent tipping a glass, listening to Xenakis and Peter Brotzmann records and watching the Tigers on television. Bob would join me at WHFR Radio, hosting “Delusions and Furies” on Sunday afternoons where he could share his great knowledge and love of music via the airwaves. Memorable music festivals in New York City, Chicago and Victoriaville Quebec would follow and then the introduction of Bob to my neighbor Sandy that would end up in marriage after Bob retired and moved to Indiana. I’d see and hear less from Bob, especially after his move to Indianapolis, but I’ll always be grateful for the enlightenment that Bob shared with myself and the world that he came in contact with.

Matthew Smith, employee amd musician:

Bob was a source of endless knowledge about music, literature, cinema and especially the more avant-garde and experimental side of things. After his military service in the 60’s, he was a film critic in Boston, then a collector and dealer of rare jazz records on the West Coast, and then he ended up owning Car City Records in the 90’s, becoming an integral part of the Detroit music scene.

All the musicians in town hung out there, and many of us worked there too, all of us discovering all kinds of music back in those pre-internet days. Bob saw to it that Car City had a staff of the most knowledgeable music folks around. He was also involved with promoting concerts and playing weird stuff on the radio. Bob once booked me and Michael Dec as an electric guitar duo opening for Derek Bailey. He also helped to start the Detroit Electric label, which released the 1995 compilation CD “Lighting a Match Underwater”, documenting the Detroit underground music scene at that time.

Bob also had a lot of stories to tell, like the time he picked up a hitchhiker who turned out to be Jimi Hendrix, or the time Howlin’ Wolf came offstage to convince a lady with a knife not to stab Bob just because he’d declined an invitation to dance with her. We are all going to miss Bob.

Mike Rubin, music journalist, from his IG Page:

When you spend as much time in record stores as I have for the last half-century, the owners & employees can become like extended family, & their shops’ inventory & selections—as well as their personal tastes & collective wisdom—help shape the listener you become. The community—nay, SANCTUARY—these brick & mortar establishments provide is crucial, & the flesh & blood interactions that occur there will ALWAYS trump any algorithm. The foundation of my jazz collection was mined at Car City between the 1980s & its 2011 closure, & I’m grateful for the guidance that Bob & his staff provided. Condolences to his family, friends, & former customers, & please pour one out for Car City & fellow shuttered oases like Sam’s Jam’s, Schoolkids, Record Time (Roseville AND Ferndale), Vibes New & Rare Music, St. Mark’s Sounds, Kim’s Underground, Other Music, Sonic Groove, Dance Tracks, & Turntable Lab.

Every day is potentially Record Store Day, so please support current shops like @somewhere_in_detroit, @threads_detroit, @peoples_records, @streetcornermusicltd, @circle_game_detroit, @spotlitedetroit, @ergotrecords, @recordgrouch, @360recordshop, & any other independent businesses that make you feel right at home.

Ben Blackwell, Third Man Records, musical archivist, IG page comment:

Absolute legend. He once told me he was the first white guy to ever sell at a record show in Japan. Brought over primo Blue Note, Impulse and the like and sold out insanely fast. He was told by the local Japanese dealers that the custom was whomever sold out of all their records first had to buy the drinks for all the other dealers. When he returned the next year, he purposefully hid/held back a box until someone ELSE had sold all their records so that he wouldn’t be on the hook for drinks two years in a row. Classic Bob. Really gonna miss this guy.

Thomas F. Lynch, IG Page:

Bob Setlik hired me thirty years ago December 10th, 1994. It was a rough patch of time for myself. Car City and the staff were a great new bunch of coworkers/friends, I learned a lot from Bob and my new friends. Instore play was unmatched in my experience, nothing was off limits or barred from being played. Bob really allowed the freedom of play for adventurous ears. Bob cracked me up playing a Xenakis recording and mimicking the sounds coming through the speakers, like a kid would. He told me stories of booking Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, John Cage, his harrowing adventures in Vietnam. Or his record trading with Robert Crumb and Harvey Pekar. Nothing was a surprise when Bob was telling it to you, of course. Through the digital grapevine I’ve learned that Bob lost his battle with cancer this morning. Another teacher has moved on and I’m ever grateful for having learned from you, Bob Setlik. A completely original cat.

Chris Flannagan from Street Corner Music:

Setlick would constantly beat us and other record dealers out of the best collections in town. He knew exactly what he was doing—and could size up a collection quickly and make offers that were spot on perfect. Later I’d be talking with the sellers and they’d say, “That other guy was here before you wasn’t very friendly but he just offered more and I had to go with his offer.” Bob wasn’t the most charming to people he didn’t know, and appeared gruff and off-putting to some, and maybe that’s what made him good in business. The other thing was Bob would just hop on a plane and go see a collection anywhere in the country if it was good enough -not many dealers could do that. He just knew the market value of records better than anyone. 

Warren Westfall, owner of The Record Collector, Livonia:

I first met Bob when he came into The Record Collector’s first location in northwest Detroit. He bought 45’s that I thought almost disposible. He introduced me to the collectability of Northern Soul records. Quiet and reserved it became obvious to me rather quickly that he had more knowledge of music across many genre’s than anyone I had ever met. I began to look forward to his visits.

Never in an arrogant way he was always generous in sharing his vast knowledge. Slowly we became friends and found many shared interests in music. In hindsight I now see him as my mentor. He opened many vistas in music that I had only minimal knowledge of. Contemporary Classical being one of many.

I don’t remember the origins of our founding The New Music Society. An organization for presenting Avant Jazz in concert setting. I do remember we had no illusions about its profitability. An inverted Amway model. We expected to lose money. The question was how much and how many others could we enroll in sharing the risk spreading out the losses. We had many events with him, myself and Pat Frisco. Concerts that I am proud to have been a participant in presenting.

There are several stories I could tell, and one was when Bob was serving in Vietnam. On leave he chose to go to India in search of Beatles 78 RPM records. That truly impressed me.

One adventure I took with him was attending a music festival in Toronto dedicated to Maurico Kagel. It was a pilgrimage to what was a shrine for me. Held in the Glenn Gould studios of the CBC. Bob also introduced me to the films of Yasujiro Ozu that weekend.

There were many evenings at both our homes that were salon settings. Several people in attendence sharing favorite records. Drinking wine. Something that once that time had passed you realized the specialness of what had happened.

With the closing of Car City Records and his moving to the Chicago area our relationship dissapated. Many people have been impressed by my range and knowledge of music. Few will ever know that Bob Setlik was a major source of that aquired eclecticisam. I have often thought of him over the past several years. When one reaches a certain age we acknowledge the inevitability of all our passing. Bob as an individual I will miss. His cultural contribution to the Detroit Metropolitan Area is / was immeasurable.

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