Mimmo Carrata sent me a message about it that it's very interesting and wants to share the story with everyone, Grazie Mimmo!:
Dear AMIT members,
I am sending this message to my dear old friend Julio Bricio and he will be so kind to post it on the forum on my behalf.
The demo disc showed and played in the video by Mr. Dave Johnson is a real one. 5 demo discs were made, maybe 6, and I am the proud owner of one of them. My disc is very probably the disc originally belonged to Mark.
During the past years I have tracked down almost all the discs.
1) MY OWN DISC: I got it from Richard Kelly, at the time that the disc was recorded, Richard was a very very close friend of David Knopfler, and he was also a close friend of Mark. Richard's sister Moira was very close to Mark.
Even if I knew since 1984 (when the Michael Oldfield book was released) about the existence of this demo disc, the first time that I had proof of someone really GOT it was when Richard Kelly was interviewed by Myles Palmer for his famous book. When I read that in 1991, to find Richard Kelly became my target. About 20 years ago I decided to take action, so I found Richard address and telephone number and I called Richard at home. Richard was a real gentleman and accepted to have a conversation with this crazy Italian collector who was calling him at home and saying something like "Good morning, are you the Richard Kelly who was an old friend of Mark Knopfler ? Yes ? OK, I am calling because I am interested in your disc Summer's coming my way".
Ahahahah... when you are so young you can do EVERYTHING with no shame !!!
Richard didn't want part with the disc at first, but after many months, some calls and some letters, at the end Richard agreed to sell me it. Richard have had the disc from David Knopfler and kept it well stored for all those years. He says that it was probably the Mark's own disc. The disc was still in its original white sleeve and the white label was immaculate without any handwritten on it. The day I got the disc in my hands it was the happiest day for me in my 34 years of collecting DS/MK stuffs since I started in 1982 when I was 14 years old.
Richard sent me, together with the disc, a treasure full of gems: long handwritten letters by Mark sent to Moira, even longer typewrittens letters typed by Mark on papers headed by The Yorkshire Evening Post (I assume that Mark wrote the letters when he was at work !), postcards, drawings made by Mark with comments, original cuttings of old local newspapers about a amazing young guitarist named Mark Knopfler, original private photos of the young Mark, a photo of Mark teaching at school, the Mark & Lourdes wedding party invitation, some old never seen before tickets of some of the earliest Dire Straits gigs played in 1977 and more and more and more.....
I couldn't believe to my eyes. I won't never stop thanking and blessing Richard Kelly for everything that he gave me.
I told Mark that I got the demo discs from Richard after a NHB concert at Ronnie Scott's in 1998: he smiled and said me that "the disc was a great thing and to take care of it" ! Epic memories !!!!
2) MARK KNOPFLER: the demo disc now in Mark's hands is the Steve Phillips' disc. Steve Phillips told me this personally before a gig. Steve told me that Mark couldn't find his own disc and asked Steve to gave him his disc. Steve gave Mark the disc. I am pretty sure that Mark couldn't find his own disc because his own disc had been given to Richard Kelly (then he passed it to me as I have explained above).
3) DISC AUCTIONED BY MKNEWS (in 2001 if I remember well): I made the highest bid and I bought the disc. Then I passed it to another collector who was a great friend of me at that time. The disc originally belonged to another person involved in the recording of the song.
4) DAVE JOHNSON: the disc that we can see in the video. The handwrittens on the label that we can see on the video have been written in a second time, the label was completely blank at the origin.
5) Some year ago I was offered to buy another disc by a person living in Leeds, I was told that the disc belonged to a person involved in the recording of the song. Noting happened because it seems that the owner changed his mind and so he decided to do not sell it. Don't know if the story was true or false because I didn't see any actual photo of this disc of this person.
6) JEFF SADLER: Richard Kelly told Myles Palmer that also Jeff Sadler got the disc, you can read it in the book. Jeff was the closest Mark's friend. I don't know if Jeff really got the disc or not.
So at the end, the demo discs are 5 or 6.
That's all folks, I hope you enjoy the reading.
A big thank you to my friend Julio, and many greetings to all of you: I am not registered on AMIT yet, but I read you every day since the first day.
Mimmo Carrata
