12th, 13th & 14th June, 2009                                Cleethorpes, Radiation Poisoning, and the Soul Mastermind 2009 Quiz

My back hurts, my chest hurts, my head hurts, my knees hurt, my fingers won’t hit the right keys on the keyboard, and I keep falling asleep.  

I think I have radiation poisoning ! 

Then again, it is the Tuesday after the best weekender of them all. I do love all the weekenders I attend and DJ at, but there is something special about Cleethorpes every year.

This year Johnny Weston and I set off about 11.00am and made steady progress at fifty miles an hour through all the roadworks on the M5, M6, M42, M1, M18, and M180. Believe me that’s a lot of roadworks……and why do you never see a single person working when you are coned in for miles on end. Lazy gits, we were in a rush, this is Cleethorpes you know !

Arriving about 2.30pm, we unloaded all my sales stuff and went straight over the road to the pub for a few beers. Now last year, I left Johnny Weston in the pub whilst I went and booked in, twenty minutes later he’d been thrown out of the pub, so this year, so it was with some  trepidation that I left him this year.

The lovely Sharon, and a big ugly fella called Dougie were dishing out keys and wristbands, and I happily received three keys which was great news. It also meant John had a new experience this year, his own key (We don’t normally trust him with a key of his own for rather obvious reasons.) John and Viv Mills had arrived by then, so a few more beers, and then it was off round the corner to the chirpy for some tea.  

Arriving at our caravan I realised that John and Viv were two doors down with Woody and Lou, and Karen, Lindsay, Rachel, and Karen were in the next row. I do like it when there are people you know in caravans close by because it means you can go ‘visiting’ and have a beer at someone else’s. 

Lou was stomping about in her caravan, well I don’t think you could actually call it stomping because Woody had forgotten to pack her shoes, so it was more of a soft shoe shuffle ! Viv Mills also managed to fall out of bed and cut her nose open quite badly. Apparently it was like a scene from a zombie movie with Viv staggering about with blood spurting out of her nose. Fortunately the alcohol numbed the pain, so she was fine later on. 

I was down to DJ for the first spot of the night Friday, so having eaten, washed, and changed, I discovered that the campsite is a lot larger than you think, especially if you are carrying a DJ box. I’m not saying we were a long way from the venue, but next year I want some oxygen cylinders and a tent for my team of Sherpa’s to set up a half way camp. I arrived at the decks just on time, and the sound system guys had almost got it all working, so I dropped the needle on the first record, and Cleethorpes XVII (That’s 17 in English for the thick ones amongst us) had begun. 

I have no recollection of what I played during that first hour, but it couldn’t have been too bad because an hour later Keith Money arrived and I had a fairly full dancefloor to leave him. One thing I have noticed is that people seem to be leaving it later each year to come out at night (Or perhaps it was just because I was DJing !). I remember it’s not that long ago that there would be queues waiting at the door ten minutes before opening. 

I opened the sales stall then, and that’s pretty much where I spent the rest of the night. I was quite shocked this year to see that not all the tables had been taken, but perhaps this was the right decision by those dealers, overall, sales this weekend were terrible, and it wasn’t just me. All the dealers were saying that there was no money around for records, and people weren’t even looking at records most of the night. In fact, I was the last dealer to pack up at 2.30am, everyone else had already gone. I spent a couple of hours chatting with Woody and Lindsay, then set off on the route march back to our caravan. It’s a bit like orienteering getting back after a niter, you look for landmarks and sort of tick them off as you pass them. Still two miles later I was able to crawl into my bed and get some sleep. 

Saturday morning arrived bright and sunny, and early ! A cup of tea then the trek back to the poolside café to eat my breakfast and then take Margie’s back so she could eat it in bed.  

The rest of the morning was spent chatting and drinking tea before Margie and Lou went off into town courtesy of Johnny Fingers to buy Lou some shoes. I opened the stall up, and sat back to ;listen to the International line up of DJs that Ady had laid on. Bit of a misnomer really, they may not be UK born, but more than one actually lives over here, and has done for years. There was some nice stuff played though. 

A quick run to the chippy, and then a slow walk back to the caravan finished my afternoon off. 

We were joined in our caravan by Karen, Rachel and Lindsay shortly after because their caravan was hosting a party apparently, to which they hadn’t been invited. Oops ! 

Saturday night seemed to have a slow start as well (So perhaps it wasn’t my DJing !), but the numbers were definitely upon the previous night. Sales in the record bar weren’t up though, and Steve Jeffries had already packed up and left. 

Onto the two Davis’s. Jesse was up first, and although I only knew a couple of tracks by him he soon proved himself to be a rather good singer of virtually anything he put his mind to on his first visits to the UK. Certainly a little bit more Jazzy than any previous live act, the crowd really enjoyed the set he performed. 

Melvin Davis of course has been here on at least two previous occasions, so knew the score. He probably spent as much time chatting to the crowd as he did singing, and that’s not meant in a derogatory way at all. In terms of singing, he did all his own ‘Northern favourites’, and possibly more interestingly sang half a dozen of the songs that he has written, but never recorded. His son Bryan also joined him on stage as well to perform a duet with Melvin. I know Bryan is a performer in his own right as well, so it would have been fun to give him a spot of his own and see how a hard core Northern audience reacted to some Detroit Hip Hop. An excellent performance by Melvin though, a consummate performer, who obviously enjoyed himself as much as the audience. 

Within half an hour the room had emptied by about half the numbers. Perhaps it’s an age thing, ah well, it just meant you could get served at the bar easier from my point of view. I lasted until about 4.30am again, having realised in previous years that I can’t do the full allnighters and be back at Midday to open the stall up. 

Cooked breakfast again at the café, and then back across to pen the stall again at Midday. Sundays are probably my favourite day at Cleethorpes now, you get some really good music played, this year by Kenny and Donna, the Banbury lads, and the Hinckley terrible twosome. Then it was time for the Soul Mastermind 2009 quiz. 

Roger Banks and I host the quiz, having usually thought up the questions the week before. This year we were being sponsored by ‘The Priory’, the well known de-tox centre for the very rich (Well at least we had a bag full of pens that had been liberated from The Priory !! For the first time we actually gave out all the quiz sheets, and insisted that the entrants returned the pens with the answers. It was the usual format, twenty questions, sixteen about Soul music, and four that were vaguely related to the weekender. After last year’s pretty poor showing, Roger and I actually gave away a fair number of the answers. It must have been easier this year because we got all the sheets back bar two. One of which was handed out to the Macc lads, and never returned (Strange because they have been previous winners on a couple of occasions), and one which I discovered later had been handed out to Margie and Lou, who couldn’t answer any of the questions between them so gave up ! 

The eventual winners were a team called Paddy Power, represented by Michael from Germany. Go figure ! 

Roger and I left Ginger, and later Mick ‘Acne’ Smith (Acne because of the number of spots he had) to finish the afternoon off. I quickly packed the stall away and we went over the road to the pub cavery before it got busy. Woody and Lou were leaving about 6pm, so they brought the key to their caravan over to us. I suggested that we have a party in it and wreck it, but was promptly told off by Margie so that didn’t happen. 

Johnny Weston came onto form as we got back to our caravan. He’d been good all weekend, hadn’t got drunk, hadn’t lost the key to the caravan, and in fact had almost made it to the end of the weekend without any calamities ! Almost !! 

Lou had told him there was a bottle of wine left in the fridge, so he borrowed the key to their caravan, and wandered off. Now remember I said that their caravan was only a couple down from ours…. You guessed it. He lost the key ! Then tried denying he had even been given it. Margie and I eventually found it, where he had dropped it, having climbed over the decking at Woody and Lou’s caravan (God knows why because the key fitted the other door!). I made him climb back over the decking banister to retrieve it, what made it even funnier was when he eventually managed to get into the caravan, Lou had taken the wine with her anyway ! 

Sunday night. Mayhem calling. Roger and I had the first two hours to DJ, and Roger excelled himself this year. We normally fill the stage up with all the junk we can find backstage, originally because it used to confuse Ady as to where it had all appeared from. He sussed it was the two of us fairly quickly, so we now do it just for a laugh. This year though, Roger disappeared back stage and returned carrying a toilet, complete with seat ! God knows where he found it, I couldn’t ask for laughing. What made me helpless with laughter was the fact that when I lifted the lid it quickly became apparent that the toilet hadn’t been cleaned since it was removed from its original setting. It was manky to say the least !!! Fortunately we had some latex gloves (Don’t ask) and Roger disappeared backstage to return with some antiseptic spray (Again, don’t ask !) 

I must admit I really enjoy double decking with Roger, and promoters must think we work well together because we are nearly always paired up at weekenders. Ady arrived in his fancy dress outfit, and asked me to lead him top the office to collect the prizes, he couldn’t see too well with the teddy bear hood on. I led him through the room, and deliberately round a couple of tables. Do you know, it’s the first time I’ve ever been called a bastard by a teddy bear ! Best of it was, we collected the prizes from the office, so Ady put his hood back on, and then promptly tripped over the office phone cable, dragging the phone off the desk ! 

We played a few tunes as the room filled up, and soon it was time for the fancy dress competition. A good range of entries this year, and all to be judged by the stars of the weekend, Melvin, Jesse, and Bryan. Now bearing in mind I hadn’t seen or spoken to Melvin Davis since Prestatyn in 2004, he immediately recognised me, and had a quick chat whilst Dougie set the fancy dress in motion. I have to admit that Jesse Davis was looking somewhat bemused by this stage, perhaps it was the fancy dress, or the toilet on stage, or even the latex gloves we had stretched over all the empty pint glasses (And there were quite a few, we’d been DJing for two hours by this time !) whatever, they eventually made their decision, and prizes were handed out. Over to Keith Money for the next spot. 

Eventually the Ritual DJ Humiliation competition had arrived. A nice easy one this year, Musical Statues. Mick H proved a worthy winner, eventually beating Bryan Davis (Try explaining that one away to your mates when you get back to Detroit…”Oh yeah, and I came second in the Musical Statues competition !”

A few more beers, well quite a lot really, and another year was over for me. All I had to do then was conquer the marathon trek back to our caravan, and sleep. 

I said at the beginning of the blog that there is something special about Cleethorpes, this year was no different. I had a great time, again, and would like to add my thanks to Ady and all the crew who support him. It really is the highlight of the year as far as weekenders go.

 

When The Snow Lay All Around......it was Soul Time !

Well, December has probably been the busiest month I’ve had in a good few years Soul wise, six allnighters, and a Soul night, and it means I’ve not really had time to do any entries to the Blog for a while. So, here’s a quick and condensed version of the last month of 2008.

Starting the month off was the best allnighter in the world, The 100 Club ! John Weston and I travelled down by train as usual, and met quite a few others at The Blue Posts for a warm up beer, or two. I have to recommend this boozer yet again, just round the back of The 100 Club, a Sam Smiths of Tadcaster brewery pub, it has to be the cheapest (and good) beer anywhere in central London.

Musically this was a good night with Ady and Butch doing the business as residents, and Ady and Colin from Hinckley being the pick of the guests for me, with Andy Dyson putting in a long overdue appearance as well.

The following Thursday saw Chris Anderton collecting me and meeting John Weston at home for the drive down to Stansted. It’s the Nuremburg Weekender of course. This is the eleventh year I’ve done this weekender, and it’s still getting better each year. We arrived on a snowy night at around 11.30 pm, to be met by the promoters, Osi and Dominic. Straight to the hotel where the hotel receptionist told us there were two rooms; a double and a single. Quick thinking by me led me to say straight away “I’m the single”, and I grabbed the key, smirking. This left Chris and John with the double room. It got even funnier when they went to the room, because it was a double bed, rather than twin beds….Ohhh, did I laugh ? Yes I did. I’ve shared a caravan at Cleethorpes with John, and I’ll tell you now, he snores ! Very loudly ! He also has problems with wind when he’s been drinking !

Anyway, enough of that, we decided to attend to the more important things in life, and just dumped the bags in the room and set off to the pub. Finnegan’s Irish pub was, again, to be our base for the weekend, and we managed a couple of beers before they closed at 1am. I have to admit, when we got back to the hotel, I slept like a log. Chris though, gave up trying to sleep around 3 am and packed his bag, went up to reception and booked a room for himself. 

Now, I can’t say I blame Chris for moving out, but the saga continued. The hotel was booked completely for the Friday and Saturday nights, so without Chris knowing, during the following morning they moved all of John’s stuff into his new room, which at least had twin beds rather than a double. More of the hotel rooms later though. 

By Midday, I’d had breakfast, wandered around the city for a while, bought a load of cheap tobacco, and was feeling thirsty. Finnegan’s it was then. John and Chris came in within minutes of my arrival, and we settled down to have a few beers and await the arrival of some of our German friends. By 4.30pm, none of them had arrived, so I decided to go back to the hotel for a quick kip. 

Chris and I met up back at Finnegan’s around 9pm, no John though, he was still asleep. The venue was the same as it’s always been, called K4, it’s just across the road from the pub, so we wandered over just after 10pm to find it already quite busy. It’s been a while now, so I can’t remember what I played in any of my four spots, except the very first one was all R & B, which went down a storm. Suffice to say that the DJs had free beer all night, and you have no need to wonder why I can’t remember what I played. John can’t remember what he played either, mostly because he was still asleep and didn’t turn up for his first spot ! He did arrive a little later though, and played a storming set in the Northern room. 

By the time my second spot came around, at 3.30am, the place was heaving. Certainly as many as last year, and well in excess of 600 people, all willing to dance to almost everything that was played. 

I stayed until just before the end, and then sneaked off to bed. Chris Anderton had already left, to try and get some sleep before John arrived back. So, somewhat to the annoyance of Chris (and the rest of the hotel) when John arrived back and couldn’t get into the room he decided to bang and kick the door rather loudly. 

I can now reveal that Chris feigned sleep in the hope that John would go away. It didn’t happen though, John did go away, only to return with the Night Porter and a master key, so that was a plan that went wrong ! 

Saturday afternoon was fairly predictable I’m afraid. Finnegan’s again ! But at least it was livened up by Chris recounting the tale of the night before. Then back to the hotel for a quick wash and change and then off to meet Osi and Dominic to go for a meal. All told about twenty of us went for the meal and we had to travel a couple of stops on the Metro to get to the restaurant owned by Stefan (Who also provided the excellent dark beer for all the DJs from his own brewery). Remember I said it had been snowing when we arrived in Nuremburg, well John decided that snowballs would be a good idea. We didn’t quite think so. 

The meal is always a bit of an adventure, because I don’t speak German, and even though some of the Germans speak excellent English, the translation of a menu presents it’s own unique problems. However, the recommendation was for the Pork and Dumplings, so that’s what I had, and it was very nice too. On the way back to the Metro John again threw a few snowballs, so Chris just grabbed him and dumped him face down in the snow. Shame that the snow was melting and it was a piece of muddy ground underneath. He looked like a down and out ! When we arrived back, John went to get changed, fell asleep and promptly missed his first spot again. Chris and I were pleased to see that the venue was if anything busier than the night before, and yet again, the dancefloor was heaving. 

John arrived late, mumbling something about not realising he was on early, and promptly disappeared again, just in time to miss his second spot of the night. You’ve got to give him credit for being consistent ! 

So, just before 4am I played my last record and thanked the crowd for dancing, and said what a great time I’d had, again, in Nuremburg. I must admit I was slightly taken aback by the cheer that went up (Or perhaps they were cheering because I’d finished my set !!!). Great people, great venue. Love it. 

Chris had again left before John to try and get some sleep. John arrived back and went through the banging and kicking of the door routine, only for Chris to open the door and say “It wasn’t locked”. 

A quiet Sunday, spent in Finnegan’s and then a lift to the airport from Dominic. The flight was on time, and the drive home went smoothly, so I was in bed by just gone 1am on the Monday. Another weekender survived. 

On the Thursday I paid for a twenty year ‘want’, and it wasn’t even a record, it was a book. ‘Duke / PeacockRecords;  An Illustrated History With Discography’ by Galen Gart and Roy C Ames had eluded me for nearly twenty years, and thanks to Richard Pack in Canada, I finally have a copy. What was even better was it arrived on the following Tuesday, which was five working days later, from Canada. Brilliant work by the PO I thought. 

The following day I was off to the airport again, on the second leg of my European Tour 2008. This time, Margie and I met Woody and Lou at Birmingham airport for a flight to Dublin. It set the tone for the weekend when we discovered Scooby Doo was on the same flight………. 

If you remember last year when we went to Dublin Lou was scared of flying and virtually assumed the crash position as soon as she got on the plane. She’s got over it now, but still sat directly in front of me,  so I went through the usual routine of shaking her seat quite violently as we took off. A few choice words later and we were off. 

We were booked into The Belvedere Hotel, which is right above the venue used for Sleepless Nights, so pretty much just unpacked, had a quick wash and change, and then went down stairs to the bar. Now I remembered last time I was in Dublin I thought it was expensive, but this year, because of the exchange rate I discovered that it was horrendously expensive….4.60 Euros a pint ! That works out at almost £4.60 a pint. Ah what the hell, it’s Christmas, hang the expense. Margie and I decided to have a meal called a ‘Turkey Packet’, and it was delicious, roast vegetables, covered in mashed potatoes, with a huge slice of ham, and one of turkey on the top, covered in gravy. Woody and Lou joined us, and a few of the Irish crowd had started arriving, so naturally a few more beers were consumed. Well, it would be rude not to, wouldn’t it. 

Downstairs for the advertised opening time (Because Lou was DJing first) and Danny Duggan was still setting the decks up. This is where the fun started because the decks are on quite a high stand, and Lou is, well, not to put too fine a point on it, short. We could just about see her head behind the decks. It didn’t alter the fact that she did a great spot though, as did Woody a few hours later. 

Pretty much the same as Nuremburg, I can’t remember what I played, I’ve slept since then, and if I don’t write the playlist down the next day I have no hope of remembering it. I do know that the floor seemed full enough of Irish Soulies to keep me happy, and that it was overall, another great night. We sneaked off to our room just before the end, and discovered that there was some after event entertainment arranged. Our room was on the front of the hotel, and we discovered we could lean out of the window and watch the drunks fighting in the street below. Great stuff ! 

As usual I was awake early, and bored, so I woke Margie up and told her it was time to get up. To her credit, she didn’t tell me to bugger off, and actually got up, mind you, she knows I have the attention span of a small child if I’m bored, and would only have kept her awake fidgeting and moving around in the bedroom. So, we packed the case, left it at reception, and went round the corner to the nearest pub, where we knew from previous occasions we would get a really good breakfast.  

I’d booked the flights for the four of us, and Lou had booked the hotel, so I was quite surprised to receive a call from Woody about an hour later asking if I could remember how much Lou had paid for the rooms. As it happens I could, so I said that she’d only paid an 8 Euro deposit. Which explained to Woody why the Hotel were insisting that both rooms still had to be paid for ! Profuse apologies from Lou, and we agreed to meet them in the pub for Lunch later.

A pleasant, liquid, lunch, then a flight back and then home to sleep. Another great weekend spent in Dublin, I can only say exactly the same as I did about Nuremburg; Great people, great venue. Love it. 

Christmas had the temerity to intervene in the month’s Souling then, but on Boxing Day it was off to Worcester for the Marrs Bar Allnighter. 

Another great venue, that to be fair has never received the support it deserves. I don’t know whether it’s because it’s in Worcester, which is off the North / South M6 route, or what, but tonight was no different. The numbers were low, very low. What disappointed me most is the line up was exceptionally strong, Lou Woods, Chrissie, Denise, Pete Robinson. John Weston, Nige Brown, Des Parker, Kenny Burrell, Roger Banks, Molly, and yours truly.  

Unfortunately, by the time I DJ’ed, 4am to 5am, there were only about 25 people left in the venue, and some of them were locals who had turned up for a late drink. Never mind, perhaps the numbers will be up for the Easter one.

Saturday night was probably the main reason the numbers were down at The Marrs Bar, because it was the last Middleton allnighter of the year, and not only that, but the last Middleton allnighter at the old Civic Hall. The next one will be held in the brand new building just across the road, called The Middleton Arena by all accounts.

Anyway, I was up there early in time for a couple of pints in the pub across the road, and then it was back to set the record stall up on the balcony. I have to say it was a huge attendance, with people from all over the country turning up for this one, so it was nice to see so many friends out having a good time. As usual, Andy McCabe had booked all his resident DJs, and tried to get everyone who had guested over the year back as well, so there were over 40 DJs across the three rooms. 

I was paired up with Roger Banks for an hour of double decking at 12.45am, and here’s what I played as my contribution: 

Joanne Courcy – I Got The Power – Twirl
Theresa Lyndsey – Prepared To Love You – Magic City
Larry Banks & Jaibi – My Life Is No Better – Unreleased GWP
Bobby Freeman – Swing Me – Unreleased Autumn
Johnny Robinson – Gone But Not Forgotten - Okeh
Frank Dell – He Broke Your Game Wide Open – Valise
Jack Montgomery – Baby Baby Take A Chance On Me - Revue 

It was at this point that we had Robbo acting as cheerleader on the stage in front of the decks, I’m not saying he likes the tune, but he wasn’t half giving it some ! 

Bettye Lavette – (Happiness Will Cost You) One Thin Dime – Unreleased Scepter
Magnetics – I Have A Girl – Ra-Sel
Hyperions – Why You Wanna Treat Me Like You Do - Chattahoochie
Troy Dodds – Try My Love – El Camino
Jimmy Wallace – I’ll Be Back - Alpha 

The final record we played was Jimmy Wallace, and although technically it was Roger’s copy that was going round on the decks, we officially shared the last play because I had also got it pulled up in my DJ box to play as the last one, it was just so funny to see us both standing there with a copy in our hands. 

A very busy night, with some great music played, that in fairness crossed the whole spectrum of what is now called Northern Soul, so a thoroughly good night was had by all. 

I stayed right to the end again, and then Johnny Weston gave me a lift home. 

That brings me to the last night of the year, New Years Eve, and as Woody was DJing at The Oakley Country Club Allnighter, that’s where we went. Woody and Lou picked us up and off we went into the countryside near Wolverhampton. They had a discussion about who was going to drive back on the way, with both of them saying they weren’t going to drive because they both wanted a drink. Margie and I just sat in the back keeping out of it ! 

I’d never been to this venue before so was pleasantly surprised to find it’s really nice. Quite a lot of seating, a reasonable size dancefloor, and a reasonably priced bar. Which Woody put to good use, drinking three pints in the first hour, so that settled who was driving home ! Lou wasn’t quite the happy little bunny she normally is ! 

It was fairly quiet when we arrived, and I would guess a good 50% of the crowd in were from down South, and by that I mean as far away as Essex, Letchworth, and even Bournemouth ! However, by the time Woody hit the decks it was filling up nicely and he managed to get the dancefloor moving. With it being New Year, I’d dressed a little bit smarter than usual, so Margie, Lou, Toby, and several others amused themselves by taking the mickey over the fact that I was wearing trousers not jeans. Ah well, if it kept them happy ! 

Several times I was asked what time I was DJing, and when I explained I wasn’t DJing, or even selling records, a couple of people expressed surprise that I was there, I explained that I actually like the music, and don’t only attend venues I’m DJing at, which in some quarters caused even more surprise (Not that I like the music, the fact that I attend venues I’m not DJing at) 

Midnight arrived in a shower of party poppers kindly provided by the club, and all of a sudden it was 2009. 

People kept on arriving right through the next couple of hours, especially as the Soul nights at Broadlanes and Alsager had finished around 1.30am, and by the time we left at around 3.30am the place was heaving with probably getting on for 200 people having a good time. There was also a Modern room, but I only ventured in there once, and I have to admit it was very quiet with only a couple of people dancing. I left quite quickly. 

I certainly enjoyed myself at The Oakley nighter, and apparently Swoz is going to run the allnighters on a more regular basis, so I know we’ll be back. 

That just leaves me to say, Soul wise, 2008 was a great year. Some venues fell by the wayside, which wasn’t a bad thing, certainly by the middle of the year it seemed that there were more venues than punters ! Other venues just carried on regardless, busy, booking good DJs, with good numbers through the doors, and some new venues came into their own. Sadly I said goodbye to the magazine version of Soulful Kinda Music after 19 years, but the website is still going strong, and I’ve got a couple of other projects planned for this year. 

As I said, I’ve had a great year, so I’d just like to say thanks to Johnny Weston for the adventures, Woody and Lou for the company and lifts, all the promoters who booked me to DJ, and of course all the people who danced when I did DJ. 

Finally, I want to say thanks to my wife Margie, she’s put up with me for another year, and even attended a lot of venues herself this year, and that’s a big part of what made it a good year. So from spending years out on my own whilst she stayed in looking after the two lads, I’ve now reached the stage where if Margie doesn’t come out I miss her company, so I guess you’ll see a lot more of us in 2009, especially as she’s now passed her driving test ! 

Happy New Year everyone !

December 2008

24th & 25th October

(Thanks to Martin for the photo)

It's Nothing Personal.......But.....

It's ages since I did anything for my blog, so I thought I'd better pull my finger out and get typing. So, why's this one called "It's nothing personal". You'll have to wait and see on that !

Friday night I was booked to DJ at the Central Soul Club in Nottingham, and as Jellybean was also booked, and she lives about three miles from me, I scrounged a lift with her and Martin.

We arrived in Nottingham, and Martin found the venue first time, even though it did appear to be on an industrial site. That was possibly because it was on an industrial site. The Central Soul club is based in 'Bugman's Bar', which is the bar and function room at the Warhammer complex. Now in case you've never heard of Warhammer I can tell you that they are a company that make models for wargames, mostly set in a sort of Gothic future world, with lots of different tribes of fantasy figures (My two sons both dabbled at one time). So the venue itself was done out in a sort of medieval fashion with lots of dark wood, and a huge wooden chandelier handing from the ceiling.

A large bar, seating around the edge on a raised dias, and an area with better lighting for the record dealers, with a wooden dancefloor in the middle gives you the picture. For the smokers amongst us there was also a heated balcony.

I'd been looking forward to this night for a while because I've got lots of friends in Nottingham, some of whom I don't see very often, and they had said they were all going to turn out for the night. They did as well, first and foremost, Wilko turned up with Janet, and it was probably the first time I'd seen either of them for three years.

Andy Murfin was also there with Frank Giacobbe (Hope that's spelt right) both of whom I hadn't seen for a couple of years, and loads of other people that I see infrequently.

There was even a contingent of about ten from the West Midlands as well.

So, how did the night go ? Well it was mostly Oldies, but not particularly played out Oldies, so all in all it was a rather enjoyable night. Rather than list my DJ spot, I thought I'd list Jellybean's, so here it is:

Tommy Neal - Going In To An Happening
Kim Weston - I'm Still Loving You
Ivorys - Please Stay
Garland Green - Ain't That Good Enough
O'jays - I'll Never Forget You
Mikki Farrow - Could It Be
Volumes - You Got It Baby
Olympics - I'll Do A Little Bit More
Patti & The Emblems - I'm Gonna Love You A Long Long Time
Karen Sue - Something's On My Mind
Constellations - I Didn't Know How To
Commands - Hey Its Love
Andrea Henry - I Need You Like A Baby
Fontella Bass - My Good Loving
Capitols - Don't Say Maybe Baby
Theresa Lindsey - I'll Bet You
Al Gardner - Sweet Baby

I played a mixture of things that I knew would fill the floor, with a few things I thought would be new to people, and it all worked because the dancefloor didn't empty at all.

So my thanks to the Central Soul Club for the booking and Martin and Helen for the lift.

Saturday morning was the first match in the Rugby League World Cup, so I was up early to watch England play Papua New Guinea. After a few scares, England emerged victorious, so that set the day off to a good start.

Saturday night was of course The 100 Club. So I met up with Woody and John Weston at Snow Hill station just before 5pm to get the train down to London.

We managed to get a group of seats together and as the train pulled out opened the first can of the day. The train stopped at Moor Street station, and you would think Christmas shopping had started early because it filled up completely with hoards of women laden down with multitudes of shopping bags. Fortunately the fourth seat of our table was taken by a rather attractive young girl. Eye candy for the journey I thought (Sexist I know, but she was pretty !) Across the aisle from me a lady of more advanced years started telling me how she had just had a fall and hurt her arm. I can see you are thinking what on earth is he waffling about ? Well it's only relevant when you hear what happened later.

Woody had only brought a couple of cans of lager with him, so was slightly miffed to say the least when John's carrier bag slid across the table and knocked his first can over. Not only did he manage to soak himself catching it, but he also soaked the table and splashed some on the eye candy.

Spilling beer ? It's just not the done thing is it ! It got worse though when John opened his next can. To say it was lively would be the understatement of the year ! I got some, Woody got some, the eye candy got some, and even the old dear across the aisle from me got some. Which was a real shame, because as I've already mentioned, she'd hurt her arm and couldn't even wipe it off.

We were almost at Warwick by this time, and the train emptied out a far bit, so that's when the eye candy moved seats, saying "I think I'll move over here, it's nothing personal, but…….." I can't say I blame her really, especially as Woody promptly dropped his second can of lager all over the table !!

I was helpless with laughter by this point, and to be fair, so was the eye candy who had literally just moved seats.

We arrived in London without any further mishaps, and taxied it to The Blue Posts just round the corner from The 100 Club. I can't recommend this pub enough as a meeting point for a drink pre 100 Club. It's conveniently just round the corner, sells good quality Samuel Smiths beer, and a £1.86 a pint for bitter, is probably the cheapest pint anywhere in central London.

The Money's, The Toby's and quite a few others rolled up over the next couple of hours, (and it was nice to meet Andy and Lauren from Hitchen FC where I'm DJing on the 29^th November, (Plug plug) and then it was time to drink up and move on to The 100 Club

Although the 100 Club started an hour later than usual (at 11pm) the clocks went back at 2am, so there was an extra hour tacked onto the end. It was a good job as well because I wouldn't have wanted to miss any of the spots played by the DJ's. I think musically it was probably the best night of the year for me, and a few others judging by the Event Lookbacks on Soul-Source.

Residents Butch, Keith, and Ady all played excellent spots, mixing rarities with unknowns, with unreleased things, and the odd Oldie, but it was the two guests who complimented them so well that made the night for me. Pete Hullat (Standing in for Mick Smith who was off robbing trains again in Mexico) is a classic Oldies DJ, but when I say he has a collection of the big rare Oldies that would make anyone jealous, I'm not joking. Big record after big record, they just kept on coming. Top spot that man !

Kitch was the other guest DJ, and he played a blinder, especially his second spot. I don't know whether it's through his own choice, but Kitch, whilst having a sterling reputation as a collector, doesn't seem to DJ anywhere near often enough. So bear that in mind if you're a promoter looking for a quality DJ.

It certainly must have been a good night for Johnny Weston, he'd worn his little legs down to stumps, and just had to have a quiet snooze on the large flightcase by the Gents toilet. (Sorry about the quality of the picture, but it was taken using my phone). It wasn't a bad idea, until Melv realised that the flightcase was on wheels, and just launched John out into the 100 Club lying flat on his back on the flightcase.

It was almost the end of the night when this happened, and fortunately John managed to stay out of trouble until we ventured up onto Oxford Street at 7am, just in time to put our watches back to 6am. A lift was procured by John, and we arrived back at Marylebone in good time for the train home.

All told, it was another fabulous weekend, with lots of laughs with good friends, and most of all, some great Northern Soul !

It's really strange. I was in Worcester last night for the Marrs Bar 6^th Anniversary allnighter, and there are seagulls all over the place in the town centre, and you're miles from the sea. Great big things ! At least as big as a chicken, so I was just wondering what they tasted like if you cooked one ?

Ah well, back to the night in question. Pete Robinson has been running the Marrs Bar allnighters for, fairly obviously as it was the sixth anniversary, six years now, and despite some ups and downs with the numbers, and changing from Saturdays to Bank Holiday Sundays, I've always enjoyed myself. This time was no different.

Arriving by train I wandered round the corner into The Postal Order pub, to find Swoz already ensconced at the bar, he'd been on the same train as me, but I hadn't noticed. We were soon joined by Jok and Pete for a couple, and then it was off to the club to set up.

Pete has a policy of allowing anyone who wants to DJ to have a go, and usually books three people for the first two hours, this time was no different and here's the line up for the night:

8 till 8.40 Jok
8.40 till 9.20 The Soul grocer Adam
9.20 till 10 Toby
10 till 11 Dave Rimmer
11 till 12 Kev Murphy
12 till 1 Des Parker
1 till 2 Eddie Hubbard
2 till 3 Neil Rushton
3 till 4 Sean Chapman
4 till 5 The Fez
5 till 6 Molly

I actually paid a fair bit of attention to what was being played last night, and was able to work out who was playing what, so here's a very quick rundown on the different spots.

Jok - A real nice mixture of uptempo R & B and hard driving Soul, nothing particularly rare, but the guy has got taste so played some great obscure things

Adam - Disco bunny ! Well, no, he only played one track which was out and out Disco, the rest were much like Jok's set. Classy Soul and R & B.

Toby - One or two tasty Detroit items got to grace the decks during Toby's spot, and I enjoyed it so much I let him carry on for an extra ten minutes.

Me - Pete's policy is that the resident DJs fit either end of the line up to allow the guests the main spots, great policy, and as I did the last spot at the last one, I was on early duties this time. Quite a few people had started to arrive by now, so it was a case of play some Oldies, and get them dancing. So that's what I did. Here's the playlist in roughly the right sort of order:

Edward Hamilton - I'm Gonna Love You - Carrie
The Fuller Brothers - Times A Wasting - Soul Clock
Cooperettes - Shing-A-Ling - Brunswick
Johnny Sayles - I Can't Get Enough - St Lawrence
Clarence Jackson - If It Don't Fit Don't Force It - Valtone
The Metros - Since I Found My Baby - RCA Victor
Joanne Courcy - I've Got The Power - Twirl
Valentinos - Sweeter Than The Day Before - Chess
Edwin Starr - Back Street - Ric-Tic
The Enchantments - I'm In Love With Your Daughter - Faro
Soul Brothers Six - Some Kind Of Wonderful - Atlantic
Jack Montgomery - My Dear Beloved - Scepter
Doni Burdick - Bari Track - Sound Impression
Darrow Fletcher - The Pain Gets A Little Deeper - Groovy
James Robbins - I Can't Please You - Mica
Ted Taylor - Somebody's Always Trying - Okeh
Betty O'Brien - She'll Be Gone - Liberty
Don Gardner - My Baby Loves To Boogaloo - Try-Glo-Town
The Five Royales - Catch That Teardrop - Home Of The Blues

Kev Murphy - Kev was actually on holiday, and quite handily was staying in Malvern, close enough to come and do a cracking set of big rare Oldies. Just love that Del-Tours.

Des Parker - Des can quite happily change his spot to suit the room, and although he did play one or two interesting unknowns (To me anyway), it was certainly a case of keeping the dancefloor happy this time

Eddie Hubbard - I've not heard Eddie DJ that often before, but am well aware of his reputation as a collector, and wasn't surprised to hear some top quality Sixties Northern Soul hitting the decks.

Neil Rushton - Despite his well earned reputation as a top Soulful House DJ, Neil proved that his Sixties collection is still pretty good, and although I didn't check, I'd guess that a fair few were on mint UK labels as well.

Sean Chapman - What can I say. I know he's spent a lot of money recently, and it showed. Rarity after rarity hit the decks in one of the best spots I've heard Sean play.

Pete Robinson - Tommy Cooper couldn't have played a spot like this, it was magic though !

Molly - Finishing the night off. I must admit I left halfway through Molly's spot to catch the first train home, but he was doing a very creditable job of keeping the dancefloor full when I left.

Overall, this time was more Oldies than the previous few, but as the crowd wanted to dance to Oldies, that's what they got. And it isn't a criticism of the DJs either (Let's face it, I played all Oldies), They were being asked to entertain the crowd, and that's what they did. Although numbers were down from the last one, this was the third allnighter in the country in three nights, plus several alldayers as well over the Bank Holiday weekend, so it was mainly a Midlands crowd. That said, there is always a sprinkling of travelers, and it was nice to see so many people enjoying themselves and creating a cracking atmosphere.

Lionel won the Fancy Dress prize (He wins it every time because there's only him that turns up in Fancy Dress !). This time he had managed to get hold of a Pimp suit. Black satin with pink leopard skin trimming, the big hat as well, and a cane ! What a star.

Tabs wins the 'Headbutt The Road' prize ! As I was leaving he was outside chatting and went to lean on a car behind him that wasn't actually there. Over he went, headbutted the road, and picked himself up muttering. Sorry mate I shouldn't laugh, but I'm going to, again, it was funny though !

Happily trains run to a normal schedule on Bank Holiday Mondays, so I was able to get the six o'clock train, and be home before eight, another good night over and the next one to look forward to on Boxing day.

24th August 2008

13th July, 2008

That's A Nice Hat !

It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I went to Bishops Wood Soul night last night. You see it was also the Catacombs Revival at Soulvation the same night, and you know what the Midlands is like for Oldies. So I was a little concerned about how busy it would be.

I was wrong though, it turned out to be one of the best night's I've had this year.

Col and Gaye Kidson, and Larry Mc have been running this venue since the middle of last year, and have pretty much alternated between Soul nights and allnighters. I managed to get to the first Soul night, but have always been DJing somewhere else since. Tonight was different because I was DJing at Bishops Wood.

Col and Gaye picked me up, on time, and we even arrived at the venue before Larry who had the keys. (Which, if you know Col, is an amazing start to the evening anyway!) The equipment was already in the venue so it was just a case of wait for the bar to open (And when it did they were selling an excellent pint of Pedigree), and wait for the punters to arrive.

Two minutes after the door opened, in walked the Shutes (Happy Birthday Angela) and Mandy, and people just kept on coming in a steady flow. By the end of the night I guess there were around 60 to 70 people in. Thing is though, it wasn't the numbers that made it a good night, it was who those people were.

Since the Lea Manor in Albrighton went all Modern, and closed down, and Bretby Country Club was demolished, the people who made them such great fun places have been to a certain degree wandering around venues looking for a new home. We never all seemed to be at the same venue at the same time. It looks as though Bishops Wood could be the place though.

A clean, smart, village hall, with a good dancefloor, seat to one side and a bar area for record dealers, and a music policy that isn't just stomping Oldies. Sounds good doesn't it. Throw in people like Johnny Weston, Woody and Lou, John Pugh, Kenny Onions, Mel and Pat, Johnny Fingers and Kenny, Ganche, and all the other friends I spoke to last night and you'll see why we had such a good laugh.

Gaye started the night off DJing, and I must admit although you can hear the music in the record bar, I didn't pay much attention and was to busy chatting, to be able to tell you what she played. Col followed her, and played some really tasty Sixties things, even arranging for the fuses to blow during his last record so that he could stay on the decks a bit longer !

I DJ'ed between 10pm and 11pm, and here's what I played:

Betty Everett - I've Got A Claim On You - One-Derful
Gladys Tyler - Mr Green Mrs Green - Decca
Dorothy & The Hesitations - Trying To Work A Plan - Jamie
Marion James - That's My Man - Excello
The Idols - Just A Little Bit More - Reveille
Bobby Bland - Sweet Lips Of Joy - Duke LP
Frank Dell - He Broke Your Game Wide Open - Valise
Jack Montgomery - Baby Baby Take A Chance Of Me - Revue
Marge Dodson - Be Your Baby - Decca
Caressors - I Can't Stay Away - Ru-Jac
Larry Banks & Jaibi - My Life Is No Better - Unreleased GWP
Douglas Gibson - Run For Your Life - Tangerine
Brooks Brothers - Looking For A Woman - Tay
Bobby Freeman - Swing Me - Unreleased Autumn
Satisfactions - Take It Or Leave It - Smash
Earl Lewis - She Blew My Mind - Rare Bird
Elbie Parker - Please Keep Away From Me - Veep
Magnetics - I Have A Girl - Ra-Sel
Rose St John - I Know The Meaning - Veep
Mill Evans - Why Why Why - King
Andrea Henry - I Need You Like A Baby - MGM
Trends - Not Too Old To Cry - ABC Paramount
Gwenn Douglass - The Picture - Michelle

Gary Holiman followed me, and mixed it up nicely by starting with a few Seventies and then a few even more recent things. Larry Mc finished the night off, and again, I wasn't paying much attention by this time.

Meanwhile, back at the go go, Lou and Gaye had gravitated onto bottles of wine rather than glasses, more of that later.

The intention was to go onto Middleton after my spot, but a combination of my tiredness (It's only the second Saturday this year that I've not done a niter), and Margie not fancying a niter either meant we stayed at Bishops Wood until the end. And I mean the end ! The music finished at 1 am, and to me this is always a sign that people have enjoyed the night, we just stood around chatting for another 45 minutes. It isn't a problem at Bishops Wood either, there are no bouncers trying to get the building emptied, simply because Larry Mc has the keys to the building and locks up when everyone has gone.

So, we go out to the car, and the fresh air hits Lou (Mind you Gaye wasn't much better !) and we realise just how much wine she has drunk. Claiming she felt sick, the only thing we could find in case she was sick was Woody's hard hat. So Lou wore it all the way home. Margie and I sat in the back of the car with tears streaming down our faces. At least Woody knows Lou loves him she must have told him at least ten times……"Woody, I love you !" Sorry the photo isn't the best quality, but it was taken using my phone.


It had been a great night, good music, good beer, happy smiling faces, a night spent enjoying ourselves with friends. So, the next allnighter is on August 2^nd, and as far as I know, it's the only allnighter in the country that night. I can't recommend this place enough, so if you want a good night out, get yourself down to Bishops Wood.

It's 6:30 on the Tuesday morning, I've been up for an hour, and I'm suffering from the usual alcohol withdrawal symptons, and interrupted sleep patterns that usually follow a weekender, so what better time to do the blog !

Friday morning that nice Mr Weston arrived on time to pick me up, we loaded the car and set off for sunny Cleethorpes. It was raining hard when we got there mind you. So we had to shelter out of the rain somewhere didn't we. A couple of pints in the Modern room and we crossed the road to the Trawlerman pub to meet up with Toby and Mandy. Being sensible people (We'd only had two pints at this stage) we sat where we could see the reception door on the site, so we could see when the queue started to form to book in. Being even more sensible people we stayed in the pub when it did because it was still raining !

About an hour later John and I decided to go and book in. I left the pub and thought John was right behind me, it turned out that he'd seen someone he knew and stopped to talk to them, so I went and booked in on my own.

Sharon was behind the desk with Ady (Congratulations to Ady and Donna on the birth of their son last week as well), and this year she actually recognised me. (Last year she thought I was Dean Anderson, who doesn't have a beard, doesn't wear glasses, and happens to be black). That sorted, it was back into the bar to have a couple more beers.

Word reached me that John Weston had been thrown out of the pub (How does he do it, we'd only been there three hours ?) It turns out there had been a little bit of an altercation involving his testicles, and a fall, into the queue of people waiting for food, so he was asked to leave.

Still being sensible, I went for something to eat, and then collected my DJ box because I was doing the opening spot of the weekend. I can normally remember what I played the day after, but this was a weekender, and copious amounts of alcohol and lack of sleep mean I have no idea whatsoever, so no playlists this time. However, i was obviously doing something right because I managed to leave a healthly full floor for Sue and Manda who followed me.

I opened up the stall and spent the next hour or so just chatting to people who I hadn't seen for a while (Including an exceeding drunk Jessica, who had no recollection of the conversation at all the following day). Margie had arrived by now with Woody and Lou, so she spent the next hour wandering off saying hello to friends. I found it quite funny this year, in the past she has always complained that I used to wander off to chat to people and leave her on her own. This year it was the other way round and I wouldn't see her for ages and then she would appear demanding "DRINK". I blame those Rugby girls !

Mick Smith did the first of his seven spots of the weekend at 11:15pm, and managed to do all seven of them pissed as a monkey ! Not bad going for an old man ! Roger Banks hosted the dancing competition, but I didn't see any of it, so have no idea who won that either. And as sales in the Record Bar were slow, as it turned out they were slow all weekend, I eventually packed everything up and went off to bed at about 4:30am.

If you have read previous accounts of weekenders you'll know that we don't give John Weston a key to the caravan because he either loses them, or forgets he's got them and knocks on the door anyway. He eventually arrived back an hour after the niter finished, and I was awake, so all was well.

I was back at Midday to open the stall up, and the usual process of chatting and drinking went on. Jessica arrived, and asked if we'd spoken last night ? I did mention that she was drunk didn't I ? This year our conversation again covered a variety of subjects, but featured sheep shearing (Last year it was castrating lambs).

Margie, Lou, and Viv Mills had gone into Cleethorpes shopping, and returned with food, so I packed up early and went to eat.

Saturday night, and the live acts were faultless. Right from the very first song to the very last song. Karime Kendra opened up with her own band, the Killer Meters. For those who don't know, she is the daughter of Ty Karim, and although she was clearly nervous at the start of the first song, the huge grin which lit her face up at the end of it showed that all her nerves were gone. Not only does she sing with passion and Soul on more contemporary songs, but she also sounds just like her mother when performing her songs. She did a wonderful set, and almost stole the show. If people like Duffy and Amy Winehouse can get into the charts doing 'Retro-Soul' songs, Karime could kill them both stone dead with the right promotion, and I'm sure we'll hear more of her.

Frank Dell clearly isn't a showman, but with that rich as treacle voice, who the hell cares ! 'He Broke Your Game Wide Open' has always been one of my favourite songs, and I never, ever thought I would get the opportunity to hear it sung live, so big thanks to Ady for sorting that one. Gigi & The Charmaines really did the business, and it showed on their faces how much they enjoyed the show themselves. Consumate professionals, who knew what they were doing they really did give the performance of their lives. I would honestly say that all three of the acts this year combined to produce the best show there has been at a Cleethorpes weekender, it was that good.

Lou had a good night as well because when she fell of her chair it took two people to get her back up again, but I lasted until about 5:30am this year, and staggered off to my bed, happy.

Sunday, the best day of the weekender for me personally, and it started with Triple A Kenny doing a really good spot for the first hour. I had to laugh though, Sian from Rugby had managed to leave her shoes behind on the Saturday night. (This is not the first time it's happened believe me !) so went and asked at the bar if they had found any shoes. They produced two pairs, so Sian said she would take them both because the other pair belonged to Denise from Rugby as well. So out of the thousand people there, only two managed to leave their shoes behind, and they were both mates and from Rugby !

Onto this years Soul Mastermind Quiz. Roger Banks and I compose the questions between us, and this year we thought they were fairly easy. It turns out we were wrong judging by the answers that were handed in. As a special treat for the entrants this year the quiz sheets that were handed out by Tracy were all printed on A3 paper, and everyone got a really big pencil to write the answers with. (And when I say a really big pencil, I mean a really big pencil, they were a foot long !) You have to feel sorry for Tabs though, he brought his back because it wouldn't work. Once I'd explained that you had to take the plastic cover off the end he got the general idea ! As with prevous years the usual mayhem ran throughout the quiz. Roger and I might be sober when we wrote the questions (Well I was anyway), but by 2:45 we'd both had seven or eight pints, and a couple more each during the quiz itself. Let me tell you, it gets messy up on that stage sometimes during the quiz. I'm not sure who won the quiz either because Roger and I had left Ady to it by then. I do know that the Hinckly lads who were actually DJing at the time won the booby prize which Roger had found behind the stage. I'm not sure why they didn't want the Christmas tree, but it was still there that night, so we tried giving it away as a prize in the Fancy Dress competition.

In response to all the people who asked me what the answers were on the Sunday night night, I've included all the questions and the answers at the end of the blog here. My apologies to anyone who asked me about specific questions on the Sunday night, I'd stopped being a sensible person well before then and was lucky if I could remember the question, never mind the answer !

Sunday night, party night, and Roger and I had the first two hour spot. I really enjoy driinking, sorry DJing, with Roger because we have very similar tastes in music so we work well together. On a least four occasions one of us would play a record, and the other one would put their copy back in their box unplayed. The two hours went past really quickly and soon it was time for us to leave the stage. We gave a final plug for the Christmas tree as a prize, and left before the fancy dress competition started.

There weren't many entrants this year, and I must admit, yet again, I have no idea who won (I must pay more attention, there were four competitions all weekend and I have no idea who won any of them) My own personal choice as winner would have to have been Denise from Rugby in her latex batgirl costume, with those thight length boots. More than one bloke I spoke to that night said "She'd have to keep the costume on" (Think about it !). In fact I tried to persuade Simsy, who was giving Denise and Kylee a lift home the following day that he should refuse to let them into the car unless they had the costumes on (Kylee was also dressed in a latex Batgirl costume).

Onto the DJ competition. This year it was musical statues again. Not too hard you'd have thought, but the better you do, the longer you have to dance, and by the time I'd danced to three records I was completely shagged ! I can't remember the last time I danced to three consecutive records, so I voluntarily surrendered rather than be knocked out. One day I'll get that Dougie back !

The rest of the night has disappeared into a hazy blur, and I didn't even make it to the end of the night, leaving about fifteen minutes before the end, but I gather the usual attempts to drown Soulies went on at the end of the night.

I have to say this was the best Cleethorpes for several years as far as I was concerned. Numbers were down overall on previous years, but the atmosphere was there in bucketfulls, and the fun side was as good as ever. So I'll finish by saying thanks to those whose company I enjoyed over the course of the weekend, and a big, big thanks to Ady and all the others who helped him for giving us such a great time.

Here are the Quiz questions and answers:

2008 Cleethorpes Weekender Soul Mastermind Quiz

1. Kim Tolliver recorded two albums during her career. One was released under her own name, what name was the other one released under

Kimberley Briggs - 1 Point

2. Three different groups called The Magnetics have all recorded records that have become major hits on the Northern Scene. Name the three labels ?
Play Magnetics

Ra-Sel
Sable
Bonnie - 3 Points

3. Lou Bert Music was a collaboration of which two singer/songwriters ?
Clue: One of them has appeared here

Lou Courtney
Dennis Lambert - 2 Points

4. Name 3 artists they wrote for (Soul or Pop) ?

Mary Wells
Lorraine Ellison
Carl Hall
Lesley Gore
Freddie & The Dreamers - 3 Points

5. Who owned and operated Roulette Records ?

Morris Levy - 1 Point

6. As an estimate, how many drunks will there be in the swimming pool later tonight
Name them !

Give them a point whatever they put - 1 Point
2 Points if they put Ady Croasdell first.

7. You might recognise this track by the Tempests.
Here’s the answer - 10 - What was the question
Play Tempests

How many members in the group - 1 Point

8. Who fronted/took lead vocals on the Webs recordings

Willie Cooper - 1 Point

9. Chattahoochee Records have a slogan on the label. What is it ?

‘Solid As Rock’ - 1 Point

10. Marvin Jones recorded four singles for four different labels. What name were the singles all released under

Jack Montgomery - 1 Point

11. Bob-A-Lou Music was a collaboration of which two famous writers ?
Clue: One was the answer to question 3

Robert Bateman
Lou Courtney - 2 Points

12. How many pens do we get back after the quiz ?
A: 20
B: 1-10
C: A Few
D: None

A, B, C, or D - 1 Point

13. The O’Jays were from Philadelphia, but in which city was ‘I’ll Never Forget You’ recorded ?
Play O’Jays

Detroit - 1 Point

14. Who were the arrangers on Spyder Turner’s ‘I Can’t Make It Anymore’ ?
Clue - One of them has been here.

Mike Theodore
Dennis Coffey - 2 Points

15. Blue Eyed R & B Soulsters
The answer is Pennsylvania - What was the question, and who were the group ?
Play Magnificent Men

Where do they come from
Magnificent Men - 2 Points

16. What colour label did the early Chicago label Abner appear on ?

Black/Silver issues
Red/White Demos
Maroon/Silver issues - 1 Point for each answer

17. How many singles did The Fiestas release on Old Town Records between 1959 and 1965 ?
Was it Ten, Twelve, Fifteen, or Twenty ?
Play Fiestas

Fifteen - 1 Point

18. Major Harris’s father, and grandfather were also christened Major. What did he christen his son ?

Major - 1 Point

19. Frank Dell ‘aka’ ‘Big Frank’ (Murphy) covered a Tami Lynn rarity. What was it called and what ws the flip ?

You My Love / It’s All Over But The Pain - 2 Points

20. This is a funked up Philly recording of a Motown song. Who is it by, and who recorded it originally
Play The Ambassadors

The Ambassadors
Tammi Terrell - 2 Points

11th June, 2008

3rd May, 2008

Two Days, Two Spots, Ten Miles, And a World Apart

It’s been a really busy weekend for me this time, DJ spots on the Friday and Saturday nights. Both of which were geographically only ten miles away from each other. So how did I clock up nearly three hundred and fifty miles over the weekend ?
Well, Friday I went up to Culcheth to DJ at The Soulful Shack, ‘Birthday Boys Special’. My parents still live in Culcheth, so it was a nice way to get to see them, celebrate my Birthday, and spin a few tunes.

The Soulful Shack is actually held in the British Legion (Which has been renamed The Phoenix Bar “Rave On”), and is run by Mike Hawkins and Steve Longworth (It was Mike’s Birthday this weekend as well.) Their music policy is quite clear: Quality 60’s Soul, R &B, and some Popcorn thrown into the mix as well. And the night certainly didn’t disappoint on that score.

The other two guests, Steve Crooks (Who was the third DJ celebrating a Birthday this weekend !!) and Bram Breeze, certainly started the night off with the musical agenda fixed firmly in their minds. Steve and Mike also hammered out some great stuff as well.

Now, I’ll be honest. Not all of the tracks were to my taste, in fact I think some of them strayed a little bit to far into the Rock and Roll genre, and there was quite a few tracks of what has become known as ‘Tumbleweed’. But that’s a minor criticism. The vast majority of the tracks played before my spot were hard R & B, and I must have heard more records I didn’t know in one night than I have for a long time, which is a huge plus !

Numbers were quite low, but that didn’t stop the dancers being enthusiastic, and there were a lot of travellers from outside the North West as well as some from fairly local places. Derek and Janet Whatmough being one such couple, and Derek insisted on taking me outside to show me the spare wheel cover on his small truck ! It did impress me though, so much that I took a picture with my phone, hence the poorer than usual quality of the picture.

Here’s what I played between 11 and 12 pm in roughly the right order.

Bobby Freeman - Swing Me - Unreleased Autumn
James Crawford - If You Don't Work You Can't Eat - Mercury
Renee Perri - I Aim To Please - Soulville
Brooks Brothers - Looking For A Woman - Tay
Caressors - I Can't Stay Away - Ru-Jac
Troy Dodds - The Real Thing - El Camino
Kent Meade - Funky To Me - MC
Bettye Lavette - Happiness Will Cost You One Thin Dime - Unreleased Scepter
Jimmy Lewis - Let Me Know - Minit
Daniel E Skidmore III - Little Old Groovemaker - Parkway
Reatha Reese - Only Lies - Dot
Roy Wright - Hook Line & Sinker - Mica
Bobby Baskerville - Gotcha Where I Wancha - Dot
Idols Just A Little But More - Reveille
Bobby Bland - Sweet Lips Of Joy - Duke LP
Ted Taylor - Miss You So - Ronn
Al Apollo - I'm Walking - Cub
Douglas Banks - Ain't That Just Like A Woman - Guyden
Carlena Weaver - Jealousy - Audel
Tommy Dodson III - Co-Operate - Main Sound
Johnny K Killens - Frenchy The Tickler - Deep City
Larry Banks & Jaibi - My Life Is No Better - Unreleased GWP
Magnetics - I Have A Girl - Ra-Sel
Gwenn Douglass - The Picture - Michelle

Jock gave me and Margie a lift back to my parents for free B & B (It was less than half a mile away), and then we caught the train back home on Saturday morning.

Steve and Mike are trying to get a night that is a little bit different going here, they are both enthusiastic collectors and DJs, and have decided that they are going to stick to their guns with the music policy rather than going down the Oldies route. They deserve support, so if you fancy a night a little bit different, The Soulful Shack is the place to be.

Saturday night, and I should have been DJing at Stafford Rangers. However, Shute, the promoter was hospitalized last month with a brain aneurism. Obviously the night at Stafford was cancelled, but the good news is that Shute is now home and recuperating.

The intention was to DJ at Stafford and then go back up to the North West to DJ at the inaugural New Century Soul allnighter at Maximes in Wigan to DJ there. As it was Woody and Lou picked us up to head up the motorway straight to Wigan.

We arrived around 11pm, just as Chris Waterman was getting out of his car. There were a few others arriving so we all went round the corner to a little boozer called Hartley’s Emporium. Great little boozer as well, free juke box, full of Northern Soul, cheap beer (In fact it was Banks’s bitter, which is brewed in Wolverhampton, so what I want to know is how come it was cheaper to buy a pint of Banks’s in Wigan than it is in Wolverhampton ?)

The only down side was there was only one barmaid serving, and an influx of about twenty thirsty Soulies meant service wasn’t the quickest, but she worked hard for her money that night.

At midnight there was a quite healthy queue forming outside Maximes, something you only really see at The 100 Club these days. I dragged the sales stuff up two flights of stairs to find Chris had set all the dealers up along one side of the room. I never went to Maximes back in the Eighties, in fact I’d never been before, but I’m reliably told the layout has hardly changed, but there has been some modernization work done, and the toilets were spotless, again, the beer was reasonably priced for a town centre club, the only downside being they didn’t do tea and coffee (For Margie and Lou of course).

The first two spots, from Steve Pownell and The Soul Twins set the place off to a cracking start. Uptempo Oldies, the faster the better. By 1am there was a very healthy crowd in, and the dancefloor was getting busier all the time.

I went on at 2am, something to do with Mick Lyons wanting the 3am spot. No problem, I’ll do any spot, and enjoy doing it as well.

Here’s what I played, 2am to 3am, again in roughly the right sort of order:

Johnny Sayles - I Can’t Get Enough (Of Your Love) - St Lawrence
Ike & Tina Turner - Dust My Broom - Tangerine
Ted Taylor - Somebody’s Always Trying - Okeh
Mickie Champion - What Good Am I - Musette
Betty O’Brien - She’ll Be Gone - Liberty
The Idols - Just A Little Bit More - Reveille
Betty Everett - I’ve Got A Claim On You - One-Derful
Joanne Courcy - I Got The Power - Twirl
Frank Dell - He Broke Your Game Wide Open - Valise
Caressors - I Can’t Stay Away - Ru-Jac
Vondells - Hey Girl (You’ve Changed) - Airtown
Hyperions - Why You Wanna Treat Me Like You Do - Chattahoochie
Brooks Brothers - Looking For A Woman - Tay
Johnny K Killens - Frenchy The Tickler - Deep City
Magnetics - I Have A Girl - Ra-Sel
Satisfactions - Take It Or Leave It - Smash
Cavaliers - Hold Onto My Baby - RCA Victor
Valentinos - Sweeter Than The Day Before - Chess
International G.T.O.S - I Love My Baby - Rojac
Cooperettes - Shing-A-Ling - Brunswick
David And Ruben - (I Love Her So Much) It Hurts Me - Warner Brothers

You’ll notice although there are half a dozen records that are in both playlists, this spot was one for a hot sweaty dancefloor rather than one for the collectors. Having said that, the floor stayed as full for the rarer things as it did for the well known Oldies.

Mick Lyons followed me and stuck with the Oldies, then Karl Heard came on and went back onto the more obscure side. Fair do’s, the dancefloor responded, and it must have encouraged Woody because he came on at 5am and played an absolute blinder of a set.

I spoke to him after he finished his set, and he was still up on the adrenalin rush of doing a set and knowing that you got it right ! Certainly one of the best sets I’ve heard him do in a long time, and when he comes out with a set like this you suddenly realize how underated he really is.

Almost certainly because it was a midnight start, you didn’t get the thinning out of the crowd until way after six, and that meant the good atmosphere that had been generated, stayed right through until we left about 7am.

Nice to see so many friendly faces, and especially to see Jack McDougal again for the first time in probably three or four years (Four of them had traveled down from Scotland, and guess who ended up with the Scottish £20 note in his pay packet…..bloody foreign money !)

I think Chris Waterman has got a real prospect of a very successful allnighter at Maximes, I thoroughly enjoyed myself from beginning to end, and didn’t hear one moan from anybody. Looking forward to the next one. The rather poor quality scan is of the metallic stickers that Chris was giving out to everyone.

A journey home in rain, well it was a bank holiday weekend, with a brief stop to be robbed by the highwayman they call Motorway Services these days meant we got home around 9am.

So that was the weekend, two spots, ten miles apart, but a world apart in music policy. Just goes to show the breath and strength of the scene these days.

It Had Snowed When We Came Out

Last night it was my second favourite allnighter. Rugby Soul Club. (The 100 Club is up there at number 1), so Woody and Lou picked us up and off we set in brilliant sunshine. It's become a bit of a tradition that some of us meet up at The Avon Mill for a drink and a meal before the nighter, and this time Toby, Mandy, Chrissie, and Kylee joined us. I tried to embarrass Kylee by saying in a very loud voice so that everyone in the pub looked at her " Bloody hell that is a short skirt". (It was as well, she almost needed two hairdo's). She just did a pirouette, and said "Yeah". Ah, the confidence of youth !

Despite some trepidation about the clash with Middleton affecting the numbers I worried needlessly. A steady trickle of people at eight pm turned into a veritable flood by midnight, and the numbers were up over the 250 mark again easily.

The clash of the R & B titans in the freestyle room attracted a lot of new faces to Rugby this time, and although I only poked my head through the door a couple of times it was the busiest this room has been so far, and all the patrons of that room arrived good and early, so it was kicking from the start. Great idea, and one that should be repeated soon.

The main hall looked a little sparse by comparison early on. Matt Smart started the night off nicely, followed by 'Triple A Kenny' (This is Back Door Kenny's new name as he no longer does the back door at the 100 Club, he's now Access All Areas Kenny)

Meanwhile vinyl sleuth extraordinaire, Woody, turned up with one of my top wants, The Soundmasters, which he'd just bought at a very competitive price (and then borrowed half the cash to pay for it from me !!). Bugger !!!!!! I'm really pleased for him because he does put the time in at every venue bent over the record boxes searching for that elusive want. Tonight he found one, if I wasn't so idle about looking in record boxes I could have beaten him to it, but there you go.

In the main room Jon Buck was whipping a storm up on the dancefloor with an out and out Oldies set. I followed up in much the same vein, and left the stage to James Trouble. Now I wondered what James was going to play, because he has a deserved reputation for playing Newies, but no, he read the floor right and carried on with the Oldies to start his first set off.

By now it was just gone midnight and Adam cranked the dancefloor up by throwing a mixture of Sixties and Seventies in, he was quickly followed by Matt Smart again. Matt has DJ'ed at Rugby from the beginning and it's been great seeing how his collection and confidence has grown over the last five years.

By now nearly all the regulars had arrived and the main room had filled up nicely in time for James Trouble to go back on and play a more esoteric set. As always the crowd at Rugby accept almost anything played, and James managed to play some of the rarer things he's known for.

Jon Buck came back for the penultimate set, and left me with a full dancefloor for the last hour. here's what I played in my second set:

Frank Dell - He Broke Your Game Wide Open - Valise
Satisfactions - Take It Or Leave It - Smash
Vondells - Hey Girl (You've Changed) - Airtown
Larry Atkins - Ain't That Love Enough - Highland
Marge Dodson - Be Your Baby - Decca
Johnny Killens - Frenchy The Tickler - Deep City
5 Royales - Catch That Teardrop - Home Of The Blues
Idols - Just A Little Bit More - Reveille
Delcos - Arabia - Ebony
Big Daddy Rogers - I'm A Big Man - Midas
Betty Everett - I've Got A Claim On You - One-Derful
Dorothy & The Hesitations - Trying To Work A Plan - Jamie
Douglas Banks - Ain't That Just Like A Woman - Guyden
Enchantments - I'm In Love With Your Daughter - Faro
Magnetics - I Have A Girl - Ra-Sel
Hyperions - Why You Wanna Treat Me Like You Do - Chatahoochie
Bobby Freeman - Swing Me - Unreleased Autumn
Brooks Brothers - Looking For A Woman - Tay
Tommy Dodson III - Co-Operate - Main Sound
Troy Dodds - The Real Thing - El Camino
Renee Perri - I Aim To Please - Soulville
Caressors - I Can't Stay Away - Ru-Jac
Fantastic Four - Can't Stop Looking For My Baby - Ric-Tic
Ray Pollard - The Drifter - United Artists
Johnny Mae Matthews - I Have No Choice - Big Hit

They are roughly in the right sort of order, and although there is less R & B in there than normal (Let's face it, if you wanted R & B, you would have been in the freestyle room all night, but that room had finished as I started my set), I still really enjoyed playing the last set of the night.

Unfortunately, because the hall was booked for an Antiques Fair at 7 am we had to finish at 5 am, but next time it's back to the normal finish at six.

That just leaves me to say thanks to the Rugby collective, Sian and Dean especially, you make this the friendliest niter on the scene at the moment, when you combine that with a good variety of music in probably the best venue in terms of layout, with staff that enjoy themselves as much as the punters it's going to be a success for a long time.

So, you don't really have an excuse for not coming to the next one in June, do you, and hopefully the weather will be a little better because when we walked out of the Benn Hll there was an inch of snow on all the cars.

5th April, 2008

28th February - 3rd March, 2008

Artists Draw Pictures Don't They

As I get older. The feeling of surviving a weekender, rather than attending it, gets stronger. It’s Tuesday morning now, I can just about focus on the screen with my eyes, my voice has just about returned, my back is killing me, and I ache all over. Margie said she has no sympathy, it was lt self inflicted. She’s right of course, but what a great time I had doing it.
Johnny Weston was driver for the weekend because Woody couldn’t come due to Lou’s knee operation (Good job really because he was rushed into hospital himself for an operation on the Monday !). He picked me up around 1pm and we had a nice easy drive down with a stop for a meal on the way. Arriving about 4pm on the Thursday, we checked straight in, collected all four passes and found to our delight that the shed we were in, sorry did I say shed, I meant Chalet was as close as we could be to the Queen Vic. First thing we did was feed a fiver into the electric meter and turn all the heating on.

On the subject of the chalets, I notice there has been a fair bit of criticism this year from people. In one sense it’s fair criticism, because they were built in a different era, when people’s expectations were different. Yes they are sparse, not the cleanest, and cold. But what the hell were you expecting. We use ours to sleep in, get washed in, and get changed in and that’s it. For those purposes, it’s fine. If you want luxury, book into the hotel round the back of the site !

At five, we decided that the pub was calling. So we wandered over to find a seat with Toby and Mandy. A few beers were consumed, and I introduced John Weston to Kath who does the Northern soul radio show in Brighton. Three quarters of an hour later he came to thank me ! This was the first Prestatyn for me when the smoking ban was in force, and there was a gale blowing outside, so it didn’t take me long to work out that as I could see the front door of our chalet from the front door of the Queen Vic I was going back there to smoke my cigarettes. Funnily enough other people soon cottoned on, and there were quite a few visitors that night. We eventually drifted into the main room where I was delighted to find that my sales table was still in the main room rather than moved into the amusement arcade (More about that later). The night went quickly, and as always the good intentions of an early night went out of the window, and I eventually staggered back to the chalet getting on for 3am.

I was up before 8am though, and decided to go for breakfast in the café. Talk about chaos ! I don’t know where the normal staff were but it was two of the reception people doing the serving an they had no idea what they were doing. Never mind, I eventually got my bacon and eggs, and ended up paying for part of Gloria Jones’ breakfast as well as my own because she hadn’t got enough money on her. So I’m claiming I took Gloria Jones out for a meal on the strength of that one !

The weather was still rather on the cold side so a taxi into Prestatyn was called for. I’d brought the lights for the stall, but no extension lead, so had to buy one. By the time I got back Weston was surfacing, so I went to set the records up, and then wandered into the Queen Vic where the Soultown alldayer was just starting with Geoff and Sue Claxton DJing. I listened to their spot and then went and opened the stall. Reality struck me a little later. I’d started drinking at midday, and wasn’t due to DJ until 6am, 18 hours later, so a little sense showed and I went for a kip and something to eat. Needless to say, Johnny Weston didn’t, which would probably explain the state he was in when later on in the night. At one point I saw him tip his own pint over his head. Now with the price of the beer at Prestatyn that’s an expensive party trick !

Laugh of the night came when Jenny Banks and Tracy Watson decided to sit at the tables that had “Reserved For Artists” written on them. They had a notebook each and a box of crayons and were drawing pictures, claiming to be artists. The look on Jerry Williams face was an absolute picture in itself !!

Second laugh of the night as seeing Lyndsey and Karen arrive looking as though they had been swimming fully clothed. “Raining outside is it ?”. It was a very rude reply !

James Trouble was seen sporting a rather natty flat cap, all he needs now is a whippet and then he really will think he’s a northerner !

Musically, the Friday night was pretty good. Even though it’s a big venue, the DJs played pretty much their regular allnighter spots rather than sinking to the lowest common denominator of the top 500 Oldies, so I really enjoyed the night. My own spot was 6am to 7am, and to be fair, it had been a long day so the numbers ahd thinned out considerably by then, but I was pleased with the dancefloor reaction, and even more pleased that I could shoot off straight to bed when I’d finished.

Saturday morning arrived, some three hours after I went to bed, another cold and windy day. I opened the stall up, had a few beers, chatted to a few different people who arrived during the course of the afternoon. During the course of the afternoon it became very noticeable that there were record dealers setting up with two or three hundred records for sale who hadn’t paid for a table.

Now, I have no objection when people bring a fifty count box in to sell records, but when people who are known record dealers (who have paid for a table in the past, so know the score) bring four boxes in and set up, he, and all the other people were told to remove the boxes by Pontins Security.

It’s unfortunate that the people with small boxes lost their opportunity to sell records, but it is purely and simply down to the people who decided to bring hundreds of records in. If that hadn’t happened, Pontins wouldn’t have come round and made everyone remove their boxes.

I then went and ate one of the sorriest Steak and Kidney pies it’s ever been my misfortune to eat. The camp chippy excelled itself with this one. Of course I wasn’t DJing on the Saturday, so had free range to drink as much as I wanted because I would be going to bed early.

By the time the live acts came on stage there were so many people in the room that I couldn’t get near the stage to take any photos so I decided to stay with the stall and just listen. ‘Job Opening’ sounded great from the first few bars, it still sounded ok after five minutes. After ten minutes I went for a cigarette, and it was still ‘Job Opening’ when I came back ! There’s nothing like having one song and milking it to death is there ! Gloria Jones was clearly struggling, shame really, but I’m afraid she just wasn’t up to it anymore. I seem to have completely missed Gwen Owens because I can’t remember a single thing about her act ! Jerry Williams was the business. For me, he could have done the whole ninety minutes himself singing his own songs and those he had written and produced for others. Superb ! The Precisions finished the show with another cracking live performance. Top marks to the guys, they still have the voices, the stage presence, and the act to outshine most live acts around.

The idea of an early night went out of the window of course, and I eventually staggered off to bed at around 5.30am.

I was up again by 9am because I wanted some food before I did my radio show. This is the first year I’d been asked to do a radio show, and I’d decided to do the whole thing from CDs rather than vinyl, so was slightly nervous about the whole thing.

The Sound Engineer also decided to mess about with the cabling at the start of my show so that didn’t help much. In the end though I think it went really well and was able to play some tracks that I personally love, but never get the chance to DJ with.

Steve Hobbs stayed in bed, the lazy git, so I over ran by about ten minutes then it was straight into the main room to open the stall up for the last session of the weekender. 4.30pm say me packing up and off for something to eat.

By 6.30pm I was in the Queen Vic listening to Dave Rivers set, then it was time for the highlight of the weekend for me. John Weston and Keith Money, double decking for two hours I can honestly say this is probably the best two hour set I’ve heard since the one they did last year. They both have immaculate taste, amazing collections, and work well together. Without a shadow of a doubt the best set of the weekend. It wasn’t just me that thought so either judging by the sustained round of applause they received at the end of their set. Well done guys, made the weekend for me.

A few more beers and then it was time for my set with Roger Banks in the main room between 11pm and midnight. Rather disappointingly this year, the crowd only wanted to dance to Oldies, we did try one or two other things but they thinned the crowd out drastically, so, we played Oldies for the rest of the set, and then it was time for bed. I’d lost my voice completely again, was suffering from sleep deprivation, and had drunk enough to own shares in the brewery. I’d had enough, so went off to bed.

Overall, I enjoyed this year’s weekender immensely. I sold a few records, chatted to loads of people, those I see every week, and some I hadn’t seen for years, drank a few beers, heard some great DJ spots, and enjoyed the live acts. OK, so the weather was atrocious, but so what, it was February / March, in Wales. That’s what you expect. The beer was expensive if you were a Northerner, but about average if you were from London, and the food available on site was, to be honest, lousy. But the fun I had, the laughs, and the generally good company far outweighed all that. The one thing I’ll never understand is all the miserable sods on Soul Source, who didn’t attend and then complained about the event. Get a life ! I’ll be back next year !

Post Operative Euphoria ? No. The Fabulous Peps

It's Saturday night, and The Fabulous Peps are on stage tonight ! Not only that, but I'm DJing as well.

Which is why it was rather awkward for me. I had a Epigastric Hernia operation just over a week ago, so can't lift anything heavy, like record boxes !!

A bribe to my youngest son soon solved that. No, that's being unfair to him, not only did he give me a lift there, hump all my records and magazines up to the balcony, he also came back at 7am to take me home.

I was there nice and early, and sent the first hour chatting to people and selling a few records. Chris Waterman had told me that there were less than five tickets unsold, and it quickly became obvious that people wanted to get there early as well because by 9.30pm, not only was the dancefloor full, but all the tables were as well. The music before the Fabulous Peps hit the stage was mostly Oldies, it is the West Midlands after all. That's not a complaint either. I love Oldies as much as the next man, and if I go to a venue knowing I'm going to hear Oldies I'm quite happy.

The temperature was rising steadily and everytime I went out for a cigarette my glasses steamed up when I came back in. Then 1am arrived, and The Fabulous Peps hit the stage.

MC'ed by Hitsville Chalky, Joe Harris, Steve Calloway, and Trey Stone came on stage to huge applause, and then just ripped right into the first song.

A blip with the backing track almost caused a problem, but the guys soon got over it and put on a real show. They didn't just sing, they entertained, for a full forty minutes. Here's the running order of the show:

Detroit Michigan
Speak Your Peace
Gypsy Woman
With These Eyes
That's How I Love You
I've Been Trying
She's Gonna Leave You
My Love Looks Good On You

A truly spectacular performance, from three of the nicest guys you could wish to meet. They then went to sign autographs for the next hour or so, and were still in the building at 4 am when I went to start my spot. Here's what I played in roughly the right order.

Johnny K Killens - Frenchy The Tickler - Deep City
The Satisfactions - Take It Or Leave It - Smash
Vondells - Hey Girl (You've Changed) - Airtown
Marge Dodson - Be Your Baby - Decca
Johnny Robinson - Gone But Not Forgotten - Okeh
Jack Montgomery - Baby Baby Take A Chance On Me - Revue
Sheppards - Stubborn Heart - Mirwood
Frank Dell - He Broke Your Game Wide Open - Valise
JoAnne Courcy - I Got The Power - Twirl
Hyperions - Why You Wanna Treat MeLike You Do - Chattahoochie
Brooks Brothers - Looking For A Woman - Tay
Magnetics - I Have A Girl - Ra-Sel
Elbie Parker - Please Keep Away From Me - Veep
Mickie Champion - What Good Am I - Musette
Betty O'Brien - She'll Be Gone - Liberty
The Delcos - Arabia - Ebony
The Idols - Just A Little Bit More - Reveille
Betty Everett - I've Got A Claim On You - One-Derful
Brice Coefield - Ain't That Right - Omen
Caressors - I Can't Stay Away - Ru-Jac
Troy Dodds - Try My Love - El Camino
The Sparkles - Try My Love - Old Town
Mill Evans - Why Why Why - King
Jimmy Wallace - I'll Be Back - Alpha

Steve C followed me with a storming uptempo set, and that left Little Scotty to finish the night in his usual style. Martin, my son, arrived back at 6.45, so we loaded the car up and left Brookfields, with the dancefloor still full. Craig and Dawn accepted the offer of a lift home, because the Taxi they had ordered three hours before hadn't arrived, and the taxi company seemed very vague about when the taxi would arrive.

A couple of hours kip when I got back, then Woody and Lou arrived because we were expecting guests. At 4pm Hitsville Chalky knocked on the door, with Joe, Steve, and Trey. It gave us the opportunity to just chat, get records autographed, and present the guys with a CD of all the photographs I'd taken the night before, 67 in total. The thing that struck me most about all three of them was how genuinely blown over they were by the Northern Soul scene. When I asked Steve if he had enjoyed himself last night his reply was "More than you did, much more than you, it was unbelievable", and both Joe and Trey chipped in with similar sentiments. All three said they would love to come back, and can't wait for the opportunity. They left after about an hour on the way to the chippie to have some fish, chips, and mushy peas for their tea.

So, it was a wonderful way to end a terrific weekend. It's times like these that reaffirm your faith in Soul music.

I can only add my thanks to Chalky for having the dream of putting The Fabulous Peps on live in the UK, and Chris Waterman for putting the whole thing together, and of course, for the DJ Booking.

26th January, 2008

Joe Harris

Trey Stone

Steve Calloway

6th January, 2008

Rule Britannia

A Saturday night without an allnighter is indeed a rarity, so we had a look at the Events listings and came up with two reasonably local alternatives. The Britannia in Shrewsbury, and Shute's Stafford Soul night.

The Britannia won, for the simple reason Chris Morgan told Mrs Soul to bring a box of tunes and do a spot. So even though Johnny Weston was the guest at Stafford we set out for Shrewsbury. (Sorry Shute, but I'll definitely be there in May)

The parking at The Britannia is on the road, so Woody managed to pull up right outside the pub, and I mean right outside, it was less than two yards to the door ! I knew nothing about this night other than it was in a pub, but I'd expected it to be in a room upstairs at the pub, you know what I mean, the usual Soul night type of venue. But no, this was literally, in the pub ! The Britannia is a fairly small, clean, and tidy pub with a good choice of beers, seating for about fifty, and a small, but big enough, dancefloor up the stairs at the back of the pub, and a smoking area at the back, with chairs and tables and a telly no less.

When we arrived Kiddo was the only Soulie in there, and there were about eight locals, Hmm, we thought, it should have started forty five minutes ago, and there's no music, and nobody here. It doesn't bode well. However, within five minutes of our arrival Chris and Carlos arrived, then Kenny Onions, and a steady trickle of Shrewsbury Soulies.

Music policy is quite simple. Anything goes as long as it is Black music, so it was no surprise to hear Chris kick off with a few Ska tunes. The surprise was that the Landlady was dancing behind the bar ! Kiddo followed Chris on the decks, and by then Mr and Mrs Felton had strolled in (And Neil was drinking pints of Coke, claiming he was having a month "Off the beer". He stuck to it as well !)

Lou went up to the decks next, and played a very creditable half hour spot. If I can get a playlist from her I'll add it in later. Kiddo had been telling me that come ten thirty the doors are locked, and the music just carries on (and it went past five in the morning one month), with some comfort being provided to the smokers as well later on, so the night was looking up !

Chris Morgan had persuaded me to do a half hour spot as well, despite my protestations that I only had a sales box with me (Like I really needed persuading !) So here's what I played in roughly the right sort of order as well.

All taken from the R & B side of the box, and as already mentioned all for sale, so I've added the price at the end of each track. PM me if you are interested in any of them

Betty Everett - I've Got A Claim On You - One-Derful - £35
Joe Tex - Don't Play - Checker - £25
Jimmy Norman - I Don't Love You No More - Little Star - £25
Buddy Ace - True Love Money Can't Buy - Duke - £50
Lowell Fulsom - Make A Little Love - Kent - £30
Eddie Floyd - Baby Bye - Saffice - £30
Oscar Boyd - When Things Get A Little Better - Hermes - £30
Buddy Ace - It's Gonna Be Me - Duke - £30
Bobby Bland - Gotta Get To Know You - Duke - £15
Clentt Grant - Just Like You Like It - Duke - £30
Kitty Clark - Big Wheel - House Of Orange - £15
Clennt Grant - All Mine - Duke - £30
Lowell Fulsom - My Aching Back - Kent - £20
Junior Parker - I'm In Love - Duke - £15
Otis Clay - Show Place - One-Derful - £15

So there you go, a half hour that turned into forty minutes of stonkin' R & B. By the end of my spot Mel and Pat had arrived, with Andy Vass, and that brought the numbers up to around forty that were locked in the pub.

Chris Morgan followed me on the decks again and told me the story of his 12" cover up.

You see he's got a Modern 12" covered up, and has had it covered for over a year now. He did however tell a big name DJ what it was. The big name DJ eventually found a copy. So when Chris DJ'ed at Middleton in December he played his covered copy in the main room, only to find later on that the aforementioned big name DJ was playing his copy, uncovered in Carl & Maria's room later on. A tad against the spirit of things I thought ! (Chris did tell me the name of the artist, but I'm not sure if that's the real artist or the cover up name, so I'm not saying !)

Woody was up to the decks next, and surprised me by doing a Seventies spot. Now, Woody is one of the most under rated DJs around, he's got a great collection, and can put them together in the right order, but I'd always pegged him as a Sixties guy, so it really made me sit back when he did a Seventies spot. Well done that man.

Unfortunately, by this time, the beer, and the fact you couldn't see the decks from where we were sitting, means I have no idea who went on next, but I would guess that Neil Felton got involved somehow (He's another guy who played some awesome spots at Albrighton back in the day but never seems to get booked often enough these days), but we eventually left around two O'clock with probably still twenty five people in the place.

So, it turned out to be a very enjoyable night, and it's certainly a night I'd recommend to any one who fancies something a bit different, It's always on the first Saturday of the month, and the pub itself is dead easy to find because it's less than 100 yards from the train station which is signposted whichever way you go into Shrewsbury.

The 100 Club, The last niter of the year.

It's with a certain amount of pride (and gratitude to that nice man Mr Croasdell) that I can say I've DJ'ed at The 100 Club at least once a year for the last ten years. Some years I've DJ'ed at three allnighters, because Ady has used me as a substitute if one of the residents has been ill, others just the once during the year.

Before last night, the last spot I did there was in January 2006, and I must admit I thought I was going to miss out this year. But, thanks to the thirst of Western economies for oil, Keith Money had to work on the rig this weekend, so I got the nod from Ady to do the last allnighter of 2007. So I just squeezed in this year.

It nearly wasn't a good start to the night though. I set off to meet John Weston at Snow Hill station via the Midland Metro from Bilston. The tram got two stops down the line and broke down ! Now if you know Bilston, you'll know that Bradley Lane is hardly a throbbing metropolis, and I was wondering how I would get to Birmingham if the tram didn't start again. Fortunately after about half an hour it wheezed into forward motion again, and I made the train with five minutes to spare.

A few beers on the train and then into Marylebone, a taxi took us to The Blue Posts to meet up with Toby and Mandy. A few more beers were swiftly consumed and then I walked round the corner into Oxford street at about 8.50pm. Trevor from Leicester was outside with two young ladies (Who I won't embarrass by naming) but they were both virtually hopping from one foot to the other and whimpering slightly. I took them downstairs with me so they could use the ladies. Ady hadn't arrived yet, so I shuffled a few tables and chairs round until he arrived.

You'd have thought by now, after all the niters Ady has run he would have realised it was a bit optimistic to put himself down to DJ at 9pm, so he asked me to fill in for ten minutes or so whilst he got more tables and chairs set out and the door sorted. It turned into half an hour before he came back, and played the awesome Jackie Day unreleased track he's just found for the first time.

Here's what I played in the first half hour:

9.00 - 9.30pm

Anglos - Since You've Been Gone - Scepter
Marvelettes - I'll Keep Holding On - Tamla
Barbara Mason - Bobby Is My Baby - Arctic
Johnny Sayles - I Can't Get Enough - St Lawrence
Willie Mitchell - That Driving Beat - Hi
Soul Brothers Six - I'll Be Loving You - Atlantic
Joe Douglas - Something To Brag About - Playhouse
Royal Jokers - Love Games A - Z - Wingate
Edwin Starr - Back Street - Ric-Tic

As Ady's explained in the past, up until midnight the idea is to play Oldies and Club Classics, so that's what I did. My first proper spot was at 10pm anyway, so it gave me a chance to get another beer in and chat to a few of the early arrivals, then it was back onto the decks for an hour.

11.00pm - 12.00 Pm

Lavern Baker - Wrapped Tied And Tangled - Brunswick
Cooperettes - Shing-A-Ling - Brunswick
Major Harris - Call Me Tomorrow - Okeh
Valentinos - Sweeter Than The Day Before - Chess
Doni Burdick - Bari Track - Sound Impression
Rose Batiste - I Miss My Baby - Revilot
Fabulous Peps - With These Eyes - Wee 3
Jack Montgomery - Do You Believe It - Scepter
Theresa Lindsey - Why Weren't You There - Magic City
Jack Montgomery - My Dear Beloved - Scepter
Theresa Lindsey - Prepared To Love You - Magic City
Metros - Since I Found My Baby - RCA
O'Jays - I'll Never Forget You - Imperial
Volcanos - Laws Of Love - Arctic
Van Dykes - Save My Love For A Rainy Day - Mala
International G.T.O.S - I Love My Baby - Rojac
Mel Wynn & The Rhythm Aces - Stop Sign - Wand
Belles - Don't Pretend - Mirwood
Fuller Brothers - Time's A Wasting - Soul Clock

If you notice in the middle of the set I managed to play both sides of Jack Montgomery and Theresa Lindsey, simply because they are great double siders, and the 'flip' sides deserve playing more often. Thanks to Johnny Timlin who replenished my beer half way through my set as well !

By now the place had started to fill up, and the dancefloor was getting busier with each record played, it was shaping up to be a good night. Johnny Weston staggered in from the pub just as my set was finishing (I'm sure he does it deliberately!!!!)

Mick Smith and Butch admirably filled the next couple of spots, with Butch playing a cracking set, and then it was back to me again. As you'll know from previous playlists, I do like a bit of R & B even though I say it myself, and as it was another half hour spot I thought I'd bang on with a full R & B set. I know not everyone likes this side of our scene, but the dancefloor stood testament that there were enough in the 100 Club tonight who do like R & B.

2.00am - 2.30am

Reatha Reese - Only Lies - Dot
Patience Valentine - If You Don't Come - Sar
Betty Everett - I've Got A Claim On You - One-Derful
Delcos - Arabia - Ebony
Beverley Ann Gibson - A Three Dollar Bill - Jubilee
Mickie Champion - What Good Am I - Musette
5 Royales - Catch That Teardrop - Home Of The Blues
Don Gardner - My Baby Loves To Boogaloo - Tru-Glo-Town
Watson & The Sherlocks - Little Old Groovemaker - C/U
Idols - Just A Little Bit More - Reveille
Gladys Tyler - Mr Green Mrs Green - Decca
Barbara Lynn - I'm A Good Woman - Tribe

Karl Heard followed me with his debut set at The 100 Club, and didn't he do well. Karl's put together a nice combination of uptempo Sixties tunes which range from the rare to the quite common, but never heard type of sounds. He ripped into the dancers and never let up through the whole of his set. Well done mate, an excellent debut.

In between my third and fourth sets I was interviewed for 'Kaths Northern Soul Radio Show', which is broadcast on a Saturday at 5pm in Brighton. They also have an internet site which is www.radioreverb.com. It was quite funny because the only place Kath could find to do the interview was on the back stairs at the 100 Club. It wouldn't have been to bad if Mick Smith and Taffy didn't come wandering up the stairs for a fag halfway through. So if the interview is good enough quality to be broadcast, you'll hear the volume of the music go up quite dramatically halfway through as they opened the doors to get onto the stairs.

In fact I was chatting away quite merrily with Kath afterwards without realising the time, and it was only when Butch called me over the mic that I realised it was 4am, and time for my last set.

4.00am - 4.30am

Betty Lavette - (Happiness Will Cost You ) One Thin Dime - Unreleased Scepter
Bobby Freeman - Swing Me - Unreleased Autumn (The Jimmy Washburn C/U)
Satisfactions - Take It Or Leave It - Smash
Hyperions - Why You Wanna Treat Me Like You Do - Chattahoochie
Joanne Courcy - I've Got The Power - Twirl
Vondells - Hey Girl (You've Changed) - Airtown
Marge Dodson - Be Your Baby - Decca
Caressors - I Can't Stay Away - Ru-Jac
Brooks Brothers - Looking For A Woman - Tay
Magnetics - I Have A Girl - Ra-Sel
Troy Dodds - The Real Thing - El Camino

With the exception of the Bettye Lavette and the Troy Dodds, every single one of these records had been requested during the course of the night. And as they also happen to be some of my favourites, it would have been rude not to play them wouldn't it. I finished off with the 'flip' side of Troy Dodds because it's another great side that you don't hear often enough, and it obviously hit the mark with the dancers because I was able to leave Karl Heard with a full floor for his second set. I think I've got most of the records in the order that I played them, but they won't be far out anyway, and I'm fairly sure I've got them all in the right set 1

Ady finished the night off in his usual style and then it was out into Oxford street at 6am. I must admit, personally I'd prefer the niter to run from 10pm to 7am, rather than the 9pm to 6am it runs as now. Purely selfish of course. Our first train back wasn't until 8am.

The plan was to grab a coffee at McDonalds, but someone said it was shut, so we wandered off to try and find an all night cafe. Futile exercise that was ! We ended up at McDonalds, which wasn't shut, had a quick coffee and then Lionel and Marie dropped us off at the station fifteen minutes before our train was due.

John Weston had been remarkably well behaved all night, so no funny stories to relate this time, just a really good night out at the world's number one allnighter. Long may it reign, especially as all the dates are at the 100 Club this coming year.

So thanks to Ady for inviting me to DJ (Even though I didn't expect to do two and a half hours), and to Keith Money for not being able to make it ! And thanks to everyone else who I spoke to during the course of the night. Your company, and presence on the dancefloor, is appreciated.

1st December, 2007

100 Club dates for 2008

January 19th 2008
March 8th 2008
April 12th 2008
May 17th 2008
July 5th 2008
August 16th 2008
September 20th 2008 [29th Anniversary - ticket-only event]
October 25th 2008
December 6th 2008
December 20th 2008 (Tues) - XMAS PARTY – 9pm-2am

NB: There will be no all-nighters in February, June or November 2008.

 
Cleethorpes Weekender is on June 6-8th 2008.

Click on the link for the 6T's Website

3rd November, 2007

A Thank You And A Marrs Bar

The Belfast Soul Club 4th Anniversary Weekender

Another weekender survived ! I've been through five different airports, done the equivalent of three allnighters and four alldayers in the last eleven days and it's all catching up with me now !

Belfast though was worth every minute though. Those Irish guys know how to party.

Margie and I set off Saturday morning and made it to Birmingham airport in good time to have a cooked breakfast, with the obligatory pint, for me not Margie, before the Rugby crew turned up and then we went through security no problems. The Rugby crew decided they needed to have something to eat and mobbed Burger King. Shame it was so close to boarding, Denise managed to get through the boarding gate still eating hash browns though ! The flight was on time and we landed at a sunny Belfast International airport. Chic and Dean Anderson had arrived before us, so we retired to the bar to wait for guy Hennigan. Denise and I decided we would have a quick cigarette outside. It was only when we got there that we discovered we weren't supposed to return to the arrivals hall. Well my records were still in there so we decided to walk back in though a very long corridor.

As we got about halfway down the PA system announced "STOP ! You cannot return to the arrivals hall once you have left". We ignored it. They repeated it, we ignored it. I had visions of ending up spreadeagled on the floor with a policeman aiming a machine gun at me. At this point someone else passed us. Denise decided it was him they were talking to, so we just carried on. I tell you, it was the longest corridor I have ever seen, especially as they repeated the warning again before we made it to the end !!!

After some protracted discussions with the biggest Policeman I have ever seen, he must have been nearly seven feet tall, Sian arranged a Taxi and a minibus (Why, and how, she arranged this with a Policeman I never actually worked out !). Tina, Fudge, Margie and me were in the Taxi, and Tina set the tone for the weekend by keeping the rest of us in stitches. Her first question was to ask the cabbie what his name was, because the last time she had been in Ireland the Taxi driver was called John, and she wanted a cabbie with a proper Irish name. Now I don't know whether it was his real name, or whether he was just humouring Tina, but this guy said his name was "Paddy", and Tina then quizzed him all the way to the hotel about various aspects of Belfast. I don't know how he kept a straight face because there were tears of laughter streaming down my face at one point when Tina asked him whether there were any prisons in Belfast. Why did she need to know that ?

We arrived at The Parador Hotel, and I'm sure that's the Gaelic way of spelling Fawlty Towers. No, to be fair, they couldn't have been more accommodating to us, mind you, we had booked every room in the hotel between us. We were on the top floor, which in a way was a blessing, but I'm not sure if the hot water ever reached that far up, or whether it was because the whole hotel was so hot that the boiler couldn't heat any more water up. I kid you not, the place was like a sauna all the time, yet the radiator in our room, and all the other rooms were turned off !

The Saturday alldayer started at 3pm, so once we'd all unpacked, we wandered up the road to the venue, The Errigle Inn. A nice bar downstairs which served fabulous meals, and the actual venue was upstairs. A low ceiling in a fairly large room with the decks opposite the bar and dancefloor in the middle, dark and atmospheric, all ready to go ! We retired back downstairs for a meal and I ordered the roast beef. I think I got half a cow with roast, and new potatoes. Delicious though.

Once we'd all eaten it was back upstairs to set up the base camp for the weekend, and the music started. As more and more people started to arrive it was great to renew friendships with the many people I've met from Ireland. If you include last year's Anniversary this was my fourth trip to Ireland (Dublin and Belfast) in the last twelve months. I know it's a cliche, but eveyone is so friendly you immediately feel welcome and at home. I struggle to associate any of the Irish people I've met with the troubles that beset Northern Ireland for so many years, but that's religion for you ! Fortunately we were here for a different religion though...Soul music.

There were so many good sets played throughout the day that the copious amounts of Smithwicks Irish Ales I consumed means they have all blurred into a mish mash of great music. I have no idea who played what, and have a very blurred recollection of what I played, but it seemed to go down ok because the dancefloor was full. I did the penultimate spot on the Friday and Guy Hennigan finshed the night off until 1am, then it was back to the hotel.

As I'd mentioned earlier, we had booked every room in the hotel between us (Chris and Carlos, as well as Budgie, Jo and Jeanette had the other rooms) so the decks were brought back to the hotel and set up in the bar. There were about thirty who came back in total, and along with about eight rather bemused locals, we set about having a party. Peter the hotel manager had arranged a late bar, opened the back door of the hotel for the smokers, and as it was a polished wooden floor anyway, we had a dancefloor. For the first time ever I saw Phil Shields with a drink in his hand, and apparently he carried on drinking through the night. I must admit to being a bit of a part timer here because I only lasted until about 3.30am before I had to go to bed. In my defence I did do two niters and two dayers the previous weekend !!! This is why being on the top floor was a blessing, the sound proofing in the hotel was superb and I couldn't hear the music from our bedroom.

I don't know what time they finished in the bar, but room 2 had been designated the party room, and it was still going on when I surfaced for breakfast about 7.30 am. Breakfast was termed 'Continental', which meant you made your own toast and coffee, but the real killer was the sign on the door. "Dinning Room". Now when you think about it, someone, 'designed' this sign, someone else made it, and someone from the hotel bought it, and probably someone else screwed it to the door, and not one of them noticed that it was spelt wrongly ! Did I mention Fawlty Towers, oh yes I did ! So, cereal, toast and coffee, with a healthy slug of Bushmills courtesy of Chris Morgan was breakfast. Margie came down slightly after me, so we just sat around chatting with everyone else who alternated between the Dinning Room and room 2.

As the alldayer on the Sunday didn't start until 4pm we decided to go into the City centre to look at the shops. Not knowing what Belfast was like on a Sunday I asked Phil whether the shops would be open. He said yes, but not until midday. Now I'll assume Phil doesn't do much shopping on a Sunday, rather than it was anything to do with the alcohol in his system, but the only shop open before 1pm was McDonalds ! So after a quick Strawberry shake (Which isn't really the best thing for you if you are diabetic, but it was my treat for the weekend) we hit the shops. I bought nothing, Margie bought four new tops (I don't know why she bothered packing any to bring with her to be honest !!!), but best of all, she paid for them herself !!

Across to the venue for something to eat, again superb, and then back to the hotel to discover the party was still going on in room 2 ! Margie decided on a couple of hours sleep, and I, because I didn't know what time I was DJing went back to the venue to discover I was on at 10pm. Hmm, only another six hours drinking then before my spot !!.

Guy and Dean were leaving around 8pm so they did a spot each early doors, and I actually paid attention this time. Great stuff from both of them. I spent a fair bit of time outside on the roof garden where you could smoke, and as people came and went it made it a really pleasant afternoon just chatting with different Irish Soulies.

By 8pm, all the UK crowd had turned up, and a fair few Irish as well, and although the numbers were down from Saturday, it was still quite a healthy crowd. Paul Grant played the standout spot of the day for me, great tunes, put together as a great set. Especially the one he dedicated to me (And I'm not saying what it was until I've got a copy). I suspect that Phil Shields had been indulging again because he was spotted Pole Dancing round one of the pillers in the room, I blame that Rugby crowd because he used to be such a shy and unassuming chap !! At this point I do really have to say thanks to Phil, he put the whole weekend together, and with assistance from Joe and Jo, organised everything on both days. It all ran like clockwork, even the non appearance of Liam (A flat tire meant he missed his plane) wasn't noticed.

A midnight finsh, with the last spot from Phil himself meant it was all back to the hotel again. A few less people this time, and we were in the Dinning Room as well. Joe and Jim appeared with crates of beer and bottles of wine as the decks were set up. No sound though, and Tina was directing operations. Fuses were changed, plugs were taken apart, cables were plugged in and taken out again. This went on for half an hour, so being nosey I decide to have a look. From where I was sitting I noticed a rather significant problem. "Try connecting the mixer to the amp". Lo and behold, twenty seconds later the music was on.

Again, I part timed it, and sloped off to bed around 2 am, only to be told I missed the funniest thing of the weekend. I bet you thought you'd got away with this one didn't you guys.

Apparently, as the alcohol flowed, Joe, Kev, and Jim decided to do their own version of the X Factor, and lined three chairs up in the middle of the room to stand on as a stage. I believe Marv Johnson was the record, with Kev doing lead vocals over the microphone, with Joe and Jim doing back up either side of him. Oh I wish I'd seen it !

I was again up early, mostly because our double bed only had two pillows and Margie had pinched both of them, again, so I didn't sleep very well and wandered down to the Dinning Room, to find Phil and Jo Brock just finishing tidying the room up. Jo was actually wearing the ice bucket on her head ! Not wanting to intrude on this bizarre spectacle I went out to find a coffee at Subway. Coming back a bit later I roused Margie (That means woke her up for those of you with a limited vocabulary and dirty minds) and we went back down to the Dinning room to find there was no milk left. Sian texted me and suggested that I go and knock on all the doors taking breakfast orders, I texted her back suggesting I didn't, or words to that effect.

The flight out was at 2.35pm, so with nothing else to do we decided to go out to City airport early. Checking out was the last dealings we had with the hotel, and what should have been a simple task turned into Fawlty Towers again. In the end, i paid using my card, for my room, Denise's room, and Sian and Dean's room (Because Sian had neglected to bring her cards with her). The young girl who dealt with it had no idea what she was doing and in the end we just said take £160 off this card. She said Ok, and put it through as £1.60. I was tempted, but then thought it would all come back on Phil in the end, which wasn't fair, so I told the truth and paid the full amount.

The flight back was fine, even watching the Rugby crowd using the self service check in was funny, and we landed on time in Birmingham. Our last sight of the Rugby crowd was of Denise licking the window of the bus stop as we waved goodbye. It says it all really.

Another fantastic weekend, with so many laughs, and such good company. If you have never been across to Ireland, you must go. You're made to feel so welcome, and everyone just wants to party. Brilliant time. I just need to recover now ! 

13th / 14th October, 2007

5th / 6th / 7th October, 2007

Lost in Hamburg with a crocodile and a snake.

Another adventure for the UK's Rare Soul warriors to sally forth onto the continent. And what a great adventure it was.

John Weston picked me up, on time, at 8 am on the Friday morning and we set off to drive to Manchester airport. Arriving a couple of hours later we set off to find the check in and everything went smoothly. A couple of pints in the bar, and then we bumped into the Greatstone crew. At the security checks they even let John and me though without having to open the records up. The guy asked what they were, and when we said "Records" he just waved us through. that's the difference between Manchester and Stansted though. In Manchester they understand what records are !

AirBerlin did us proud and we arrived at Hamburg International on time, a slight wait for the baggage and we were through to find Ralf and Jan (The co-promoters) waiting with Dave and Malayka Thorley, who had flown in an hour earlier from Birmingham, for us. Into the mini bus and off to the hotel.

We knew we were staying in the Kogge Rock and Roll hotel. John had the Tikki Room. Although he actually had black satin sheets with a dragon motif ! Oh yes, that's where the crocodile comes in, there was a stuffed one hanging from the ceiling !!

I had the Honneker Men's Room. Very strange because the photo shows everything in the room, there wasn't even a wardrobe.

As soon as we had dumped the bags it was downstairs to the bar to sample the local Astra beer, and then next door to a restaurant where we had a tasty meal, but more of the restaurant later. Claire, Pete and Karen turned up just as we were finishing our meal, and were duly taken on a tour of the Hotel rooms.

John and I left to go and have a wander up and down the Reeperbahn. I knew of it's reputation as a centre of bars and sex shows, but in all honesty it wasn't as outrageous as I expected. A few beers in a bar and then Toby texted us to say he'd found and Irish bar, so off we went to meet up with the Letchworth Mobsters. On the way back to the hotel to meet up with Ralf we bumped into Mike Bolderson so it was looking to be a good English turnout. Ralf had asked us to meet him so that he could show us the way to the venue. and when we got there I began to wonder if it was the right place ? Surrounded by scaffolding and barbed wire it looked more like a stalag than a weekender venue !

How wrong can you be. Inside the main room was probably as big as Bidds with the Modern room not much smaller. The only down side to the whole weekend was that the dancefloor was concrete rather than wood, but it was lavishly covered in talc, before the niter started.

As we walked in Jan gave us all ten tickets for free drinks, and then told us that when we had used them not to worry because there was a fridge behind the stage that was full of beer for us anyway. It's like telling a kiddie to take whatever sweets they want in a sweetshop isn't it !! We indulged ourselves of this charming facility for the DJs, to say the least.

Musically, the Friday night seemed to be a little up and down to start with. There was nothing wrong with the records played, they just aren't what I would have expected, particularly in the first couple of hours of an allnighter. So fuelled by Astra, Jevers, Kilkenny, and Becks, I set about playing a stomping Oldies set for my first spot. It seemed to do the job nicely and the dancefloor was rammed.

n fact, Mr Weston over indulged, there's a novelty, and left before his second DJ spot. Overall I don't think I heard a bad spot all night, and I would guess that the 600 or so people in the venue agreed.

Saturday morning I was off into the city centre on the Ubahn to do some shopping and buy Margie a present. It seems a nice city but very Modern compared to other cities I've visited in Germany. then again I suppose most of that was our fault back in the war ! Lunch at the train station, because if there is one thing you can guarantee in Germany it's that the main train station will have lots of different food outlets and at least one specialist tobacconist where they sell Old Holborn.

Back to St Pauli, and I met up with Toby at the Irish bar. Which was closed ! Fortunately I'd spotted an English pub earlier just round the corner, so eventually Dave and Pete turned up as well and we settled down to watch the football. Dave is a Man U fan, so was well pleased when they beat Wigan. We of course pointed out that he was a typical Man U fan because he lived near London !

Johnny Weston eventually surfaced and asked where we were by text. I gave him some simple directions. Twenty minutes later I received the text shown on the left.

I eventually had to go out and find him. We discovered the Juke box had 'The Soul Survivors CD on it, which is where The Snake comes in because it was one of the records I picked. Don't know why they all complained, they all sang along to it. Following that it was the Rugby Union. Now it's fairly well known that I'm not keen on Union, but to see England beat Australia, when you are in an English pub in Germany creates a special atmosphere, and it was a terrific afternoon. Onto the alldayer for a couple of more beers and then John and I went back to the same restaurant for some food then, I ordered spaghetti bolognese, which arrived and tasted lovely. But I'm sure it was self reproducing itself on the plate as I ate it. I ate solidly for twenty minutes and there didn't seem to be any less on the plate than when I started !

Onto the Saturday niter. Three rooms tonight, with the introduction of an R & B / Crossover room. Good job there was a third room as well because the numbers were well up on Friday's attendance. The whole night went in a blur of Becks, but my last spot left Ralf and Jan with a fairly full floor as they were starting the last spot of the night.

Sunday morning we all met up at the English pub again before setting out on the boat trip. Great idea, and of course it was free beer for the DJs again. We'd been round a couple of times when I was asked to DJ, and that's when someone managed to fall into the decks and knock beer all over the place. Enough was enough and I ended my spot there and then. Dave Thorley played one of the best Sixties spots I've heard him play in a long time as well.

Stayed on board until 8pm and then decided to go for something to eat at the same restaurant. To our surprise we found Osi from Nuremburg already there with a group of friends, so we joined them.

Eventually we wandered off to the alldayer venue, only to find the three representatives of Scotland at the weekender holding court at the Irish pub next door. We joined them for a couple and then went into the Riverside Five bar. A couple of more drinks and it was gone 11pm. As I'm quite sensible the day before an early morning flight I left and went to bed. John stayed, and I'm told was later seen dancing with a partially dressed mannekin. But I wasn't there so have no photographic evidence.

Monday morning I was up at 7 am feeling fine. John looked like death. Oh happy days. Straight to the airport, and although there were long queues everywhere we made the flight in plenty of time and landed back in Manchester right on schedule.

A really great weekend, and it's only left for me to thank Ralf and Jan for booking me, the sixty or so English (and Scottish) people who came over for the weekend, and all the other German DJs and punters who all contributed to making it such a fun time.

Here's my playlist from the weekender.

I did two spots Friday night in the main room. Three in the main room Saturday night and one in the R & B Room, and one spot on the boat on Sunday.

These aren't in the order I played them, but alphabetically listed

Anglos - Since You’ve Been Gone - Scepter
Al Apollo - I’m Walking - Cub
Larry Atkins - Ain’t That Love Enough - Highland
Douglas Banks - Ain’t That Just Like A Woman - Guyden
Doug Banks - I Just Kept On Dancing - Argo
H B Barnum - It Hurt Stoo Much To Cry - RCA
Bobby Baskerville - Gotcha Where I Wancha - Dot
Rose Batiste - I Miss My Baby - Revilot
Bobby Bland - Yum Yum Tree - Duke
Bobby Bland - Shoes - Duke
Bobby Bland - Sweet Lips Of Joy - Duke
Brilliant Corners - Three Lonely Guys - Modern
Brooks Brothers - Looking For A Woman - Tay
Doni Burdick - Bari Track - Sound Impressions
Solomon Burke - Stupidity - Atlantic
Caressors - I Can’t Stay Away - Ru-Jac
Cavaliers - Hold Onto My Baby - RCA
Mickie Champion - What Good Am I - Musette
Chandlers - You’re Love Makes Me Lonely - Col-Soul
Brice Coefield - Ain’t That Right - Omen
Cooperettes - Shing A Ling - Brunswick
Joann Courcy - I Got The Power - Twirl
King Curtis - Foot Pattin’ Part 2 - Atco
Larry Davis - I’ve Been Hurt So Many Times - Kent
Delcos - Arabia - Ebony
Frank Dell - He Broke Your Game Wide Open - Valise
Doc & The Interns - Baby I Know - Now
Troy Dodds - Try My Love - El Camino
Marge Dodson - Be My Baby - Decca
Dorothy & The Hesitations - Trying To Work A Plan - Jamie
Joe Douglas - Crazy Things - Playhouse
Enchantments - I’m In Love With Your Daughter - Faro
Fabulous Peps - With These Eyes - Wee Three
Five Royales - Catch That Teardrop - Home Of The Blues
Sam Fletcher - I’d Think It Over - Tollie
Edward Hamilton - I’m Gonna Love You - Carrie
Andrea Henry - I Need You Like A Baby - MGM
Hyperions- Why You Wanna Treat Me Like You Do - Chatahoochie
Idols - Just A Little Bit More - Reveille
International GTO’s - I Love My Baby - Rojac
Marion James - That’s My Man - Excello
Dick Jordan - I Want Her Back - Jamie
Charles Lamont & The Extremes - I’ve Got To Keep Movin’ - Challenge
Jimmy Lewis - Let Me Know - Minit
Thelma Lindsey - Prepared To Love You - Magic City
Barbara Lynn - I’m A Good Woman - Tribe
Magnetics - I Have A Girl - Ra-Sel
Ernie Marbray - Ain’t Nobody’s Business - Wee
Barbara Mason - Bobby Is My Baby - Arctic
Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes - Get Out - Landa
Metros - Since I Found My Baby - RCA
Willie Mitchell - That Driving Beat - Hi
Jack Montgomery - My Dear Beloved - Sceptre
Jack Montgomery - Take A Chance On Me- Revue
Tommy Navarro - I Cried My Life Away - De-Jac
Cliff Nobles - Your Love Is All I Need - Atlantic
Betty O’Brien - She’ll Be Gone - Liberty
O’Jays - I’ll Never Forget You - Imperial
Elbie Parker - Please Keep Away From Me - Veep
Paramounts - I Won’t Share Your Love - Mercury
Patti & The Emblems - I’m Gonna Love You A Long Long Time - Kapp
Ray Pollard - The Drifter - United Artists
Reatha Reese - Only Lies - Dot
Ringleaders - Baby Baby What Has Happened To Out Love - M-Pac
Big Daddy Rogers - I’m A Big Man - Midas
Johnny Rogers - Gone But Not Forgotten - Okeh
Royal Jokers - Love Games From A - Z - Wingate
Satisfactions - Take It Or Leave It - Smash
Johnny Sayles- I Can’t Get Enough - St Lawrence
Seven Souls - I Still Love You - French Epic
Dee Dee Sharp - What Kind Of Lady - Gamble
Shep - Fool To Fool - TNT
Watson & The Sherlocks - Little Old Groovemaker - C/U
Soul Brothers Six - I’ll Be Loving You - Atlantic
Sparkles - Try Love - Old Town
Rose St John - I Know The Meaning - Veep
Edwin Starr - Back Street - Ric-Tic
Tommy T & The Targets - Sales Pitch - Big R
Ted Taylor - Miss You So - Ronn
Ike & Tina Turner - Dust My Broom - Tangerine
Gladys Tyler - Mr Green Mrs Green - Decca
Patience Valentine - If You Don’t Come - Sar
Valentinos - Sweeter Than The Day Before - Chess
Volcanos - Law Of The Land - Arctic
Vondells - Hey Girl - Airtown
Jimmy Wallace - I’ll Be Back - Alpha
Tammy Wayne - Have A Good Time - Boom
T J Williams - Baby I Need You - Josie
Mel Wynn - Stop Sign - Wand

The 100 Club 28th Anniversary

Well, to start with I forgot the camera, so no photos this time, but that doesn't really matter does it. Woody got on the train in Wolverhampton, and I joined him at Sandwell & Dudley, all we'd got to do was meet up with John Weston at Birmingham New Street and we were set. Couldn't be simpler could it ?

Not if Mr Weston is involved ! I get a phone call from him;

"Dave, you will have to ring me when you get to New Street, there's a train to Euston leaving at 18.30, and another one at 18.33 and I don't know which one you are on !"

So the train pulls into Birmingham and I have to ring him to tell him which platform we are on. Of course there's no sign of him. Did I mention the Millwall fans ? No I didn't did I. The last coach of the train was full of some rather boisterous Millwall fans, so the Police weren't letting anyone go near the back of the train. John's managed to get on the train, but in First Class, eventually he manages to persuade the Police that he isn't going to attack the Millwall fans and they let him come and join us in the cheap seats.

The train arrives in London on time so it's a Taxi to meet Toby at the Blue Posts round the back of the 100 Club, a quick pint and I set off towards Oxford Street to claim my table.

I get there before Ady, and when he arrives he kindly says I can bring my sales stuff down. What he didn't mention was that he really wanted someone to put chairs and tables out for him.

I grabbed my Anniversary single (Damn, it wasn't Luther Ingram or Ben E King) and set the stall up

With the 9pm start the 100 Club now play three hours of Club Soul, and it gives the night a different feel to hear some stuff that everyone knows but probably hasn't heard for ages, then at midnight it's onto the rarer side of things. I must admit I didn't pay much attention to who DJ'ed when, (And I even asked Roger Stewart what time he was on, twenty minutes after he finished his spot Ooops....Sorry Roger) I was too busy chatting to a variety of people. Some of whom I see nearly every weekend, others only in London, and quite a few people I hadn't seen for years.

At least four people asked me where the toilets were during the course of the night, and that to me says they have never been to the 100 Club before, so why did they choose the Anniversary night to come, and possibly stop one of the regulars getting a ticket, and the price of the beer is now extortionate: £3.80 a pint ! I wouldn't mind too much if it was a good pint, but to be honest by the time you get back from the bar it's as flat as a pancake, but that's what you get drinking in London. I have to own up, and say that I did go back to the bar a few times to check that the beer was still expensive, and still flat !

Six hours of top notch Northern Soul rarities from midnight, and all of a sudden it was time to go, the early start means an early finish as well, so it was up the stairs into the sunshine of Oxford Street again. another niter over.

Two and a half hours before the train so it was into the coffee shop at Euston for the strongest brew I think I have ever tasted, I put four cartons of milk in mine and it was still vile ! They announce the train so off we go, only to be stopped at the barrier and told the train is full. The nice man from Virgin Trains said that there was another train on Platform 13 going to Manchester and we could catch that. Minor problem that it didn't stop at Birmingham New Street, Sandwell & Dudley, or Wolverhampton ! On top of that we spent a good twenty minutes just sitting in the middle of nowhere whilst they decided whether they were going to go forwards or back to Milton Keynes and put us all on buses. Thing is, these horrendous train journeys only seem to happen when John is on the train with me. perhaps he is cursed ! We all got off at Birmingham International and went our separate ways, tired, but happy to have had a good night in good company, with good music as well.

The next trip down to London is going to b for the Kent Records 25th Birthday party next month, and what a party that will be ! Just look at the line up on the flyer. Oh yes, I'm looking forward to that night, and I'll definitely remember to take the camera that night !

22nd September, 2007

8th September, 2007

Rugby Soul Club

Good to be back at Rugby, it seems ever such a long time since the last one in June.

Set off nice and early to have a meal in a pub just round the corner from the venue where we met up with Geoff and Sue Claxton. Sue kept us amused with tales of all the notes and letters she finds in Geoff's car (He's a milkman), and is constantly amazed at how many elderly women sign notes to the milkman with love and kisses. Mind you, the story about the Nunnery ringing up for some milk on a Sunday morning was the best one.

Arrived at the venue just before they opened and set the record sales up in time to see Sian arrive and issue instructions to all and sundry, "You do this, you do that". I have to say, she's a great organiser, some of the time. It's a bit of a standing joke that when Sian does the flyers she always get's something wrong on them. For tonight the deliberate mistake was billing Mick H as Mike H, nothing too drastic there, but with the flyers for November Sian excelled herself. She put September on them !!!!

So, 2,500 flyers with the wrong date on them. Hmmm, all credit to Sian she printed 2,500 stickers with November on them and stuck them all on herself. Being slightly mischevious, the first thing I did was peel one of the stickers off and go to Sian.

"Sian, I thought you'd put stickers on all the flyers ?"

"I have. Oh God, that must be the only one, I'll have to go and check all the other ones I've put out now"

Now I could have been really nasty and let her panic, but the word she used when I dropped the sticker into her hand was most un-ladylike, and I'll have you know my parents were, and actually, still are, married !

My first spot was 7.45 to 8.30pm, and as the room hadn't filled up much yet I took the opportunity to indulge myself and play a mostly mid-tempo set.

Betty Lavette - Only Your Love Can Save Me - Calla
Donald Jenkins - Somebody Help Me - Cortland
Sandy Hollis - I'm Tempted - Big Wheel
The Dells - Thinkin' About You - Cadet
Carlena Weaver - Jealousy - Audel
James Conwell - The Trouble With Girls - 4J
Ann Heywood - Crook His Little Finger - Hondo
Rose St John - I Know The Meaning - Veep
Jimmy Gilford - Nobody Loves Me Like My Baby - Thelma
Joe Douglas - Crazy Things - Playhouse
The Sparkles - Try Love - Old Town
Bobby Bland - Sweet Lips Of Joy - Duke Lp
Al Apollo - I'm Walking - Cub
Ted Taylor - Miss You So - Ronn
Bobby Baskerville - Gotcha Where I Wancha - Dot

Dave Evison followed me with his first spot and I was off back into the bar where I spent the rest of the night chatting away until it was time for my second spot.

By the end of Dave's first spot there was a very healthy crowd in, and they were already dancing

Of the other DJs, Mick H played a blinder of a spot, Adam mixed it up with some Seventies, Matt Smart (Who has come on in leaps and bounds in terms of his collection and his confidence when DJing), and then Dave Evison came back for his second spot.

As always, the last spot of the night is the 'send 'em home happy' spot, so it was a bit of everything from me:

1 Am To 2.10 Am

The Constellations - I Didn't Know How To - Gemini Star
Thelma Lindsey - Prepared To Love You - Magic City
Mel Wynn & The Rhythm Aces - Stop Sign - Wand
Cavaliers - Hold Onto My Baby - RCA
Bobby Freeman - Never Fall In Love Again - Autumn
Ike And Tina Turner - Dust My Broom - Tangerine
Mickie Champion - What Good Am I - Musette
Watson & The Sherlocks - Little Old Groovemaker - C/U
Reatha Reese - Only Lies - Dot
Larry Banks - I've Been Hurt So Many Times - Kent
Syl Johnson - Try Me - Twilight
Betty O'Brien - She'll Be Gone - Liberty
Dorothy & The Hesitations - Trying To Work A Plan - Jamie
Dick Jordan - I Want Her Back - Jamie
The Idols - Just A Little Bit More - Reveille
The Satisfactions - Take It Or Leave It - Smash
The Valentinos - Sweeter Than The Day Before - Chess
The Fabulous Peps - With These Eyes - Wee 3
The Metros - Since I Found My Baby - RCA
Larry Banks & Jaibi - My Life Is No Better - Unreleased Gwp
Troy Dodds - Try My Love - El Camino
The Seven Souls - I Still Love You - Okeh
The San Franciscan T.K.O.S - Make Up Your Mind - 100 Club Anniversary
Chuck Jackson - What's With This Loneliness - 100 Club Anniversary
The Fashionettes - Losing Control - Kent Select
Mill Evans - Why Why Why - King
Fantastic Four - Can't Stop Looking For My Baby - Ric-Tic
Ray Pollard - The Drifter - United Artists
Gwenn Douglass - The Picture - Michelle

It was two new Security Staff tonight, and they hadn't been warned about me, so I managed to carry on until ten past two, but what made me laugh was the two regular Security staff who we have a laugh and a joke with actually turned up to attend the last couple of hours on their night off !

I have to say that Sian and Dean have managed to create a real community around the Rugby Soul nights. A community where everybody enjoys themselves, leaves the politics at the door and just goes for it. This is evidenced by the distances that people are now travelling to come to Rugby. There were people from Belfast, York, Widnes, Salford, Blackpool, London, and all the places in between.

As usual I barely poked my head into the Freestyle Room, but whenever I did people seemed to be having fun.

Soul night over, and a crowd of about twenty rolled up at Sian and Dean's to carry on partying. We left at 4 am, and I think we were the first to go !

As already mentioned the next one is in November, and will actually be the last Soul night at Rugby, because next year they are going to be allnighters ! Here's the flyer for November (With sticker) On the back of the flyer I've marked the pub where we usually go for a meal with a blue circle. It's good, cheap food, and a pleasant way to start the night off, we usually roll at the pub about 5pm, so if you fancy it, we'll probably see you there.

Oh Danny Boy !

Woody's Playlist 11 - Midnight

Hank Jacobs - Elijah Rockin My Soul - Call Me
David And Reuben - I Love Her So Much It Hurts - W/B
George Kirby - What Can I Do - Cadet
The Enchantments - I'm In Love With Your Daughter - Faro
Brice Coefield - Ain't That Right - Omen
Johnny Bartel - If This Isn’t Love - Solid State
The Wooden Nickels - Nobody But You - Vault
The Isonics - Sugar - Kammy
T.J.Williams - Baby I Need You - Josie
Dickie Wonder - Nobody Knows - Golden Triangle
The Falcons - Love Look In Her Eyes - Big Wheel
The Invitations - What's Wrong With Me Baby? - Dyno Voice
The Metros - Since I Found My Baby - R.C.A.
Mickey Lanay - I'm Gonna Walk - Vulcan
Patti And The Emblems - It's The Little Things - Congress
The Hy-Tones - You Don't Even Know My Name - Southern Artists
Shawn Robinson - My Dear Heart - Minit
Sugar And The Spices - Have Faith In Me - Swan

Danny followed on, and slipped a few Seventies into the mix which kept the floor full, then Paul Grant did a cracker of a spot, and finished with a record I didn't know at all. I know I asked him what it was, and he showed me the label, but alcohol and lack of sleep mean I can't remember the artist, title or label ! Impressive eh ??? So if you're reading this Paul, let me know what it was please.

Danny had asked me to do the last hour, and to me, at Soul nights that always has to be the 'Send 'em home happy' hour. So no 'cutting edge' undiscovered tracks from me, just plenty of good Northern Soul and R & B.

Sleepless Nights Playlist 1.30 am to 2.40 am

Joanne Courcy - I Got The Power - Twirl
Thelma Lindsey - Prepared To Love You - Magic City
The Cavaliers - Hold Onto My Baby - RCA
The Cooperettes - Shing A Ling - Brunswick
The Satisfactions - Take It Or Leave It - Smash
The Casualeers - Dance Dance Dance - Roulette
The Valentinos - Sweeter Than The Day Before - Chess
The Van Dykes - Saving My Love For A Rainy Day - Mala
The Vondells - Hey Girl (You've Changed) - Airtown
Ike & Tina Turner - Dust My Broom - Tangerine
Mickie Champion - What Good Am I - Musette
Johnny Sayles - I Can't Get Enough - St Lawrence
Big Daddy Rogers - I'm A Big Man - Midas
The Delcos - Arabia - Ebony
The Idols - Just A Little Bit More - Reveille
The 5 Royales - Catch That Teardrop - Home Of The Blues
Frank Dell - He Broke Your Game Wide Open - Valise
The Caressors - I Can't Stay Away - Ru-Jac
The Brooks Brothers - Looking For A Woman
The Hyperions - Why You Wanna Treat Me Like You Do - Chatahoochie
The Magnetics - I Have A Girl - Ra-Sel
Troy Dodds - Try My Love - El Camino
Elbie Parker - Please Keep Away From Me - Veep
Jimmy Wallace - I'll Be Back - Alpha
Johnny Mae Mathews - I Have No Choice - Big Hit
Ray Pollard - The Drifter - United Artists
Andrea Henry - I Need You Like A Baby - MGM

It fitted the dancer's desires perfectly, and a full floor ensued.

I have to say the Irish crowd are one of the most enthusiastic I've come across in a long time, they whistled and clapped through almost every record, and that's something you don't see these days in the UK. It's such a shame because it adds so much to the atmosphere of the night. Mind you the two darling young ladies who decided to bear their breasts to me in appreciation also helped (Live that one down girls !!!)

Finally, I played the last record of the night at 2.40 am having over run by ten minutes (With the approval of the staff believe it or not), then off to bed.

A brilliant night, brilliant company, good beer, good music, I just wish it was a bit closer because I'd be there every month if it was.

As usual I was up at the crack of dawn, having had three hours sleep, so by the time I got the others up and moving I was starving, so first port of call was the pub, and another scrumptious breakfast. I tell you what, they've got the right idea in these Irish boozers, the place was packed at 10 am on a saturday morning.

Fed and watered we went off to the Guinness Storehouse to do the tourist bit. It was quite funny because Margie and Lou both have problems with their knees, and as the exhibition is on seven floors it looked like Margie still had the bondage leg irons on, and Lou was doing impressions of the Ministry of Silly Walks. We made it to the top eventually though and all enjoyed our complimentary pint of Guinness

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around Temple Bar until it was time to head off to the airport for our flight back. Lou did wonderfully and didn't assume the crash position once, and we even landed at Birmingham half an hour early.

So, my thanks to Danny Duggan, a true gentleman, for inviting us over, we all had a great time, and met and made so many friends.

Cheers !

17th August, 2007

29th July, 2007

Washing Taken in - Very cheap rates

I haven't been out at all this weekend, my wife Margie has been quite ill, ending up in hospital last Wednesday. So, I had a couple of days off work, and took over the domestic chores side of things.

I've learnt five things this last couple of days:

1. You don't have to iron towels, if you fold them up smartly when they are dry then smooth them out, they look quite acceptable when stacked up in the cupboard

2. Don't try and hang net curtains when there is a bloody cactus on the window sill

3. My son Martin is a pretty good cook, but has never let on before so he could avoid cooking for anyone. The cat's out of the bag now son

4. There is now, at 10.30pm on Sunday, not a single piece of clothing in the house that hasn't been washed. dried and ironed. This is something Margie never achieved. Thus is clear evidence that when a man puts his mind to something, he can definitely do it better than a woman (Even if it's a woman's job normally)

5. I am going to die very slowly when Margie reads this and recovers enough to kill me

I'm gonna be champing at the bit to get out next Friday night though

Warwick Soul Club and Mushy Peas

On one of the wettest days I can ever remember for July we set off on a trip down to Warwick for the inaugural Soul night. Dead easy place to find, cheap bar, nice dancefloor, which was kept full all night by the collection of DJs who all played to the demands of the crowd. A success for Dave (Briles on Soul Source), and as Chalky (The Hitsville variety not the Chesterfield one) mentioned a couple of times, it's all back on again on the 21st September.

I must admit I approached the venue myself with some trepidation. Having called Sian from Rugby Soul Club "Slightly Butch" earlier on in the evening. Now my timing was immaculate, I waited until I knew she would have gone out before posting the comment, of course I was grassed up, and was receiving threatening text messages even before we arrived. So I'll put the record straight. Sian is not slightly butch at all, she is one of the most gracious, beautiful, feminine, fun loving, people, who can take a joke, that I have ever had the pleasure to be kicked by !

So, where do the mushy peas come in ?

It turns out that Briles is from Burnley, thus another expatriate Lancastrian like myself, and he, like me is also proud of the fact that he's a Lancastrian. So when we accepted his invitation back to his house for a beer and a bite to eat I was overjoyed to discover that he had laid on some proper Lancashire snap.

Home made meat and potato pie and mushy peas. Heaven !!!! It was so good I went back for seconds, and would probably have gone back for thirds as well if it hadn't already been finished off. (And apparently Briles was the chef as well)

It's a strange thing,but when I moved to the Midlands 26 years ago one of the things I missed was meat and potato pies. You couldn't buy a decent meat and potato pie in the Midlands for years, and I regularly used to get food parcels off my parents when they came to visit, which consisted of a dozen pies ! I used to watch Coronation Street just so I could see the pies that the Rover's Return served, and as for Betty's hotpot, well......my mouth would salivate just thinking about it !

You couldn't get proper mushy peas either, but I'll come to the peas later.

Eventually Morrisons opened a supermarket in Bilston, and although they are a Yorkshire firm, they do do a tasty meat and potato pie, so equilibrium was restored in the world of Rimmer.

Mushy Peas. Ah ! Another great culinary delight from Lancashire. I tell you what, this was Soul food, Northern Soul food, of the highest order. I went to bed that night a happy man, with the sounds of my farts ringing out as loud and as often as the Eddystone lighthouse foghorn !!!!

So, I'd recommend Warwick Soul club to anyone, and if you're lucky enough to get the invite back to Briles afterwards you are in for a treat. No promises mind, but I put a request in for Hotpot with a proper suet crust for September.

I'm off to visit the homeland tonight, I'm DJing at Salwick near Preston, so you never know, the Foodie tour might well continue although knowing Geoff and Sue Claxton we will be sampling good Lancashire beer rather than food.

20^th July 2007

Meat & Potato Pie
(Serves 4 to 6)

Ingredients:
500 gms of soft shin, cut into small cubes
Seasoned Flour
Cooking oil
1 onion, peeled & sliced
2 carrots, peeled & sliced (optional)
350mls of beef stock
Salt & black pepper
500 gms of potatoes, peeled, cut into cubes & parboiled
Short crust pastry

Method
Dust the meat with the seasoned flour. Heat the oil in a pan & fry the meat & onion until lightly browned. Add the carrot (if desired), stock & seasoning. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for at least an hour or until the meat is very tender. (The longer and more slowly the meat is cooked the better). When the meat is ready mix in the drained potato cubes. Put into a deep pie dish or casserole and cover with a short crust pastry crust. Make three slits in the top of the pastry (for the steam to escape), brush with beaten egg or milk and bake for about 40 minutes at 200C until the pastry is golden brown.

15^th July, 2007

Middleton Civic Hall All Nighter - A lookback, and a playlist

So, Middleton comes around again. Which means a trip into Manchester in the afternoon to sell Beatin' Rhythm some copies of the magazine. Mind you I don't really sell them anything because I take the payment as trade out of the shop, so it's kiddie in a sweet shop time for a while !!

Onto Middleton by six, drop the sales stuff off in the Civic Hall and then meet up with Geoff & Sue Claxton in the pub. A pleasant couple of hours was passed imbibing some of the top class Boddington's they had on tap.

Back to the Civic Hall and the first shock of the night..........Jenny Banks has given up smoking !!!!

I asked Jenny how she had been coping, and she said "Fine really, it's not been too bad". I asked Roger the same question:

"How's Jenny been coping with giving up smoking ?"

Now you know the sort of posture a dog adopts when it's been caught doing something it shouldn't, ears down and slinking away before it's shouted at. All Roger said was "Don't ask !!"

I managed to keep my nicotine addiction under control by frequent trips outside, along with about sixty others. The only time it really frustrates me that I can't have a fag is when I'm DJing.

Talking of which, here's what I played 10.30pm to 11.30pm

Athens Rogues – She Could Love Me – Stop
The Valentinos – Sweeter Than The Day Before - Chess
The Constellations – I Didn’t Know How To – Gemini Star
Bobby Freeman – Swing Me – Unreleased Autumn
International GTO's – I Love My Baby – Rojac
The Vondells – Hey Girl - Airtown
Larry Atkins – Ain’t That Love Enough - Highland
Ripple Blast Singers And Band – Sadie Sadie – Power
The Dream Merchants – Stop - Renee
Joanne Courcy – I Got The Power – Twirl
Theresa Lindsey – Prepared To Love You – Magic City
The O’Jays – I’ll Never Forget You - Imperial
The Magnetics – I Have A Girl – Ra-Sel
Hyperions – Why You Wanna Treat Me Like You Do – Chatahoochie
The Cavaliers – Hold On To My Baby - RCA
Marge Dodson – Be Your Baby – Decca
The Fabulous Peps – With These Eyes – Wee 3
The Accents – Who You Gonna Love – One-Derful
The Caressors – I Can’t Stay Away – Ru-Jac
The Brooks Brothers – Looking For A Woman – Tay
Johnny Robinson – Gone But Not Forgotten - Okeh
The Eptones – A Love That’s Real – Jox
The Idols – Just A Little Bit More - Reveille
Troy Dodds – Try My Love – El Camino
Gwenn Douglass – The Picture - Michelle

98, 99, Yes, it’s the 100 Club

Unbelievably, last night was my first visit to the 100 Club since November last year. I was DJing in Germany in December, there wasn't one in January or February, March was Jacks, I was DJing at Keele in April, May was Jacks, and June was Cleethorpes. I know for a fact I haven't had that long a gap in the last fifteen years.

So, how did it go ?

Well Stuntman Woody and I caught the train at Wolverhampton at twenty past five. I'd emptied the first can before we left the station ! A few more cans followed it and we arrived spot on time in London. Not knowing what the score was with the new hours at the 100 Club, I went straight there at about 8.30pm, expecting Ady to be arriving soon. Woody went round the corner to the Blue Post pub to meet up with Johny Weston, Toby, Mandy, and a few others.

Paul McKay, who was the first DJ arrived soon after me, and we waited for Ady, me smoking furiously to try and build up the nicotine levels in my body before we went in. Ady cheated and went in the back doors, so I played at being a bouncer for him until the proper badged doormen arrived.

Down the stairs and into the club. It hasn't changed a bit since November. Isn't that a surprise. I set up and listened to Paul's first set, to a hardy dozen people who had arrived for the 9pm start. (Strangely, in the Midlands and North, most niters start at either 9pm or 10pm, and fill up quickly, in London though it was getting on for 10.30pm before the club started to fill up)

As advertised Paul played Club Soul, Oldies and well known stuff for his first set, followed by Ady playing the same sort of stuff for the second hour. Towards the end of his set, Ady dashed over to me and said "Where's Weston ? He's on next" The answer of course was.....still in the pub !

Twenty past eleven, I've offered to do a set from my sales box, but I think Ady's seen the contents of my sales box, so Paul Mckay went back on for a few more spins. John arrived, mysteriously managed to get a pint within seconds of walking in and went straight on to DJ. No Club Soul or well known Oldies from the boy though, straight into his normal set. It was quite funny watching the consternation on the faces of a group sitting near us. I don't think they knew one record John played !!!

It was good to be back ! The night carried on with the sets getting better and better, the laughs louder and louder, and the bar still open at 5am.

The back stairs hosted more than one smoker sneaking off for a quick fag, and a motley crew was gathered outside the front door all night as well, but overall, not being able to smoke as often didn't really bother me, and I certainly felt better for it this morning.

Still the best niter in the country, and still going strong. Finally, to make the night even better, Woody and I managed to scrounge a lift back from Alex who lives in the Midlands and had spare seats in the car. So instead of hanging around in London for the 9.02 train, I was back home by 9.30am.

And what's more, it's my second favourite niter next week as well....Middleton.

8^th July 2007