“Movin On” in Barcelona is a club that’s become well established in the last couple of years. And so I was delighted to be offered a booking here. A quick hop over on Easyjet from Stanstead (well who actually wants to travel using R-Air :no: ), and I found myself in Barca on a Friday night, armed with my 100 count record box. I replace all the cardboard covers with paper sleeves meaning I can squeeze about 120 discs in! :ph34r: Got a cab to my hotel (price E.30) and got on the “Dog & Bone” to Edu one of the organisers of “Movin On” to tell him to lock away your women, I’ve arrived in Barcelona! Within no time I was in another cab, being whisked down to the old town, where I met Edu, Marcos, and Argentina’s only soul fan (we think!), who was over for the summer. Interesting conversation about Argentinian soul. Plenty of good records came out there, but today……there is a small reggae scene and believe it or not an outpost of the ‘Deep funk’ scene, but no northern or soul scene at all to speak of. Good steaks though as anyone who has visited the “Goucho Grill” can testify.

We headed off to a club where Edu & Marcos do the warm up, playing soul from midnight to 3 a.m. (yes Barcelona really is a late town!). By 3 a.m. the place was buzzing and the main club DJ took over. At this point we left, there was a sizeable queue outside and, being well past by bedtime I went back to my hotel.

Saturday morning came and went, mostly went, and I went back downtown, this time on the subway (I always like using public transport in foreign countries) to meet Edu, Marcos and Polly, Edu’s girlfriend. Having looked around the antique market, we went for a lovely meal at down by the harbour at Con Manel. This is a very nice restaurant, which Marcos’ family have been coming to since he was a “nipper”; in fact it had been open since 1870! After the meal we took a stroll to admire the beach “scenery” (well I was :rolleyes: ), and then went onto Bar Las Guindas. This was a warm up session, where some of the arriving Spanish soul fans meet up. It was a 5-9 p.m session in a long thin bar with a friendly lady manageress and I did an hour there later on (7 pm-8 pm) before going back to my hotel to change, freshen up etc.

Bar las Guindas – my spins
Norma & Heartaches "Nice N Slow"
Wendy Lynn "I can remember"
Arthur Foy "Love dreams"
X Ta C "Squeeze"
Executive Force "Midnight Lovin"
The Reason Why "Step inside my world"
Toll Darkness "Just what I've been looking for"
Jones Brothers "Stop your calling" (unissued)
Peoples Choice "All I want is you"(unissued)
Carol Anderson "Holding on"
Gorgeous George "Strange book"
Albert Jones "Monkey boogaloo"
Black Rock Educators "Isn't it nice"
Flashlight "Take me away"
Johnny Scott "Let me be a winner"
Pleasure Seekers "Come inside"
Merv Murphy "it's growing"
Frankie Kar'hl "Don't fan the flame"
Richard Marks "Did you ever lose something"
Douglas & Loreno "This time"
Natural Impulse "She went away"
Halo "Let me do it to you"
Chuck Cockerham "Have I got a right"


Cristina came and picked me up at 11.30 p.m for the main event “Movin On” held at the Jazz Room in a bit of an out of the way part of Barca, sort of north of the downtown area. It was a smallish / medium sized club, with modern décor and a quite low ceiling. Not low enough for Peter Crouch to bump his head on while pogo-ing to the Pistols, but fairly low……Anyway I must mention Cristina’s car parking skills, which were exceptional, parking her car in a space I’d struggle to fit a motor bike into. We went for some tapas in the upstairs bar and a quick beer, before Cristina played her opening set in the club. Great sound system, something that is sometimes missing in the UK – and it makes all the difference. By 1.15 there were about 35 soul fans in the place and I was starting to get a tad worried. No need - by 2.15 there were 170 in, and the place was rocking. Edu worked his magic with things like The Exits, followed by another guest – Josep A. from Valencia who played a highly credible northern and crossover set, Jimmie Ellis being a highlight for me. I had three sets, which was great as it allowed me a chance to mix in some different stuff with the floor fillers. At 5 a.m. when we played the last tune (“Love stormy weather”), it was still very busy. Fabulous.

On Sunday Cristina again picked me up at my hotel and we went down to Edu’s flat for the barbeque party on the terrace. It was raining (I’d bought some English weather over with me) but that didn’t spoil things. Had some great food here and I also managed to squeeze in another hour of records….I left about 6 p.m. and then went and did a bit of sightseeing – well why wouldn’t you? Barcelona is a lovely city.

Monday morning saw me take the train out to the Airport for the pricely sum of E. 3 (Boris Johnson take note!) – a thirty minute journey for less than £2, and less than it costs to go one stop on the Central Line in London.
What a great weekend this was! Top people, such a friendly crowd and as always, that’ll dance to good music, whether they’ve heard it before or not.

Movin On Saturday (3 sets) and BBQ Sunday

Spencer Wiggins "I'm at the breaking point" (Kent)
Buddy Connor "When you're alone"
.....a little out and out funky.....
Groove Merchants "There's got to be someone for me"
James Brown "Money won't change you"
King George "Baby I've got it"

....a clutch of cover ups.......
Veda "How long" (cover up)
Guitar Ray "I wouldn't change a thing" (cover up)
Hands of Time (cover up)
Black Nasty "Make believe girl" (cover up)
Kashif "Won't you be my lady" (cover up)

Vee Gees "Talkin"
Double O Demingos "Color one tear black"
Hard Drivers "Since I was a little girl"
Wally Coco "Message to society"
Ramsey & Co "Love call"
Jesse James "(I can feel your love) Changin" (Soul Junction)
Sex "It's you, baby it's you"
Doc Peabody "Here without you"
Bojack Thomas "Hear me now baby"
Veda Brown "I had a fight with love"
Anderson Bros "I can see him loving you"
Tolbert "I got it"
Fourth Day "You turn me on"
Volumes "Ain't gonna give you up"
Chico Lamarr "What do you think I am"
Appointments "I saw you there"
Nurons "All my life"
Detroit Sounds of Friction "I'm leaving you"
Rhonda Davis "Can you remember"
Ralph Soul Jackson "Set me free"
Barbara Hall "Tell me tell me tell me"
Dennis Lee & Notables "Sunday afternoon"
Willie Feaster "Voices"
Bob Relf "Girl you're my kind of wonderful"
Sugar Bears "Nothing I can do"
Charles Mintz "Running back"
Willie Tee "Funky funky twist"
Hill SIsters "Gonna get even"
Eddie Holloway "Poor boy"
Sisters Love "Give me your love"
Pinch of Perfection "All that's left is memories"
Pretenders "Just be yourself"


Party Set 4.15 - 5.a.m at Jazz Bar
Bobby Patterson "I'm in love with you"
Bill Harris "Am I cold am I hot"
Gil Scott Heron "The bottle" (ha ha!)
Edwin Starr "Running back and forth"
Differences "Five Minutes"
Tony Drake "Suddenly"
Barrett Strong "Is it true"
A J Brown "Making love together"
J Jocko "I'm getting over"
Mark IV "If you can't tell me something good about my baby"
Flowers "For real"
Timeless Legend "I was born to love you"
2nd Ressurection "Don't let the daylight catch you"
C Coulter "Can't fight the feeling"
Melvin Brown / James Matthews "Loves stormy weather"

Next up on the blogosphere, two events in old London town. Firstly let me start by saying that the soul scene in London is fragmented into what seems like 100 pieces. There are all sorts of sub genres with groups of DJ’s, many built off of the old jazz funk scene, others from the boogie scene, and I think there are still five people left that like two step! Then there is the new release crowd, or those with a bent towards soulful house. Then you have the northern genres, and some others that like crossover. What’s left of the deep funk scene has largely, well gone into deep hibernation at the moment. Oh and finally there is an army of people who buy CD’s but don’t actually go to any events. And so with that variety, a number of venues in London do suffer attendance wise. Fragmented is the right word for describing the London soul scene.

My first date in London is Majestic Soul at 3 Blind Mice, in trendy old Shoreditch. I like this gig it’s on a Thursday night and has an early start – in short I can go straight from work. The 3 Blind Mice (formerly Smersh Bar) is a dive bar that has hosted soul events for many years, Mark Houghton’s “New Chapter” and the “George Jackson” nights being two examples. I’ve DJ’ed at both in the past and loved it every time I have been there (except the time I droped and cracked my copy of “Halo”). You see the bar is small enough that if you get 40 people in there it’s packed. And at 25 ironically it is still “busy”. The space behind the decks is compact, no problem for a fit guy like me, but some of the more rotund DJ’s may ‘squeeze’ to fit in there. Good to see the likes of Binsy, Mark, Geoff, Maria, Brian Baker of course who co-runs the nights here (so it would be ‘odd’ if he didn’t turn up :lol: ), Charlie, Rob etc all pitching up for this one. Plus two travellers from the north who were down in the Smoke. I wonder what they made of it?

I did two sets here, the first one early doors was mainly deep and sweet, so a rare chance to air things like Sam Dees “I found love in my own back yard”, John Edwards “Loneliest House on the street” from the unissued Aware album – but missed by Kent at the time, Skeeter “All this love that I’m giving” – all the aforementioned being unissued in fact, Ed Robinson’s Atco side “Ivory” which is without doubt the best thing he ever did in a recording studio, Betty Lavette on Atco, and the B side of Hard Drivers etc. My second set was more crossover and dancers, a chance to spin Spencer Wiggins “Turning point”, Candi Staton’s “One more fool” (both courtesy of Tony more Rounce to the ounce), and also the ‘at the time’ unissued Jesse James original of “Changing” which Mr Welding had kindly given me a promo of, amongst more familiar “precious things” like C Coulter, Natural Impulse, Arthur Foy, Hill Sisters & Fay Hill and the like. This club plays some great soul each month on a Thursday night.

Then a few days later it was hot footing it over to Islington for the Filthy Alldayer in the Hobgoblin at The Angel (Islington). These alldayers have built up an excellent reputation, and arriving at a fashionably late 6 p.m the place was already buzzing. I was mugged :ohmy: in the nicest possible way upon my arrival “Where have you been?” by the South London massive, Theresa and Julie, and later Mole, who it turns out originates from the same part of “Sarf London” as me! A host of DJs for the event, Flanny, Taffy, Andy, and Dave Fleming had all set the bar high ahead of me. But I espied some Caister bods in the corner quietly munching on the local brew wondering is anyone was ever going to play “Never too much” or Lonnie Liston Smith, so I started my set with the alternative version of McFadden & Whitehead, the “Philly Phillies” version. Cheesy yes, but I still get people saying “what’s this?” every time it makes an outing out of the record box. But Phil from Hemel was shaking her head in disbelief at this selection! Too cheesy for her....From then on, because I was on quite late, it was dancefloor material all the way from me. The purpose being to stop people drifting off. I follow the old mantra of Dearwood Dearglove - a famous old northern DJ from Victorian times “Eee eck as like - educate em early doors son, but make sure you send em home whistling at t’end of night”. Certainly that’s what happened as Wayne (who I maintain does not get enough bookings – and I am not talking about in his cab either :lol: ) closed proceedings with some choice cuts. Another rip roaring success and I feel this Alldayer has now firmly established itself on the calendar with a loyal following; all the DJ’s ‘turn it on’ here.

Two 60s based gigs next. Firstly Groovesville in Bedford run by Toby and Andy 1-2-3-Kempster. Martin (R&BMan) was the trusted navigator on this one, but as it's quite local to me (45 mins) no navigation was really neccesary. But the company was good as ever.

Groovesville moved from The Angel to The Gallery, following some unsavoury goings on at The Angel, involving knives, blood and ultimately the police. Say no more Guv. Not really the type of club us refined soulfans want to be in anyway.....Anyway The Gallery I think is a better club, even though it's up about 15 flights of stairs. I was on from about 9.45 pm. Unfortunately the DJ decks space was a bit small and the two herberts :lol: on before me, well one of them managed to 'edge past' and knock all my records onto the floor just as I was about to go on. So an excellent start to proceedings I think you'll agree :thumbsup: As a DJ nothing worse can happen. Well I suppose some angry oldies fan might throw your records out of the window I guess :ohmy: but that has never happened to me.....

About 80 in, and an absence of locals disappointingly, although a few like Chrissie and Ian and Anne turned up later. I spun things like Wally Coco, Doc Peabody, my Peoples Choice cover up, Richard Marks, and Short Kuts etc etc. Quite a few of the Burnley "Creatures of the night" in attendance which meant an emphasis on banging 60s music. Other DJs included Ted Massey, Karl Heard, Dr Pickles and Cliff Steele who played a blinder in my humble opinion.

I think the balance needs to shift a bit on this to appeal to a wider audience, as it has all the makings of an excellent night. But it needs to be inclusive - a lot of faces were missing and I am not sure why.

At about 2 a.m I noticed Martin had slumped in his chair by the bar and so it was time to run him back to Welwyn.

.................

USOS was on mid May and Chrissie O was my travelling companion on this night. The USOS guys have the right attitude and they deserve support. We got to Walsall quite early, and said Hi to Kev and his Missus and Bearsy and his Missus.
Harpo's missus was DJing. Then Bearsy. Then one of my favourite northerners Jumping Joan. Then Ted Massey, myself and Dave Welding, an under-rated DJ with an excellent box of tunes. Dave Rivers was on for the last hour, but Chrissie's mascara was running by now so she wanted to get off back home :lol: . Attendance was down a bit and a number of regulars had trekked over to Boomerang to hear Butch do a marathon Euro set - fair do's. But there were enough in to make USOS "kick".

Dave Welding kindly gave me an advance promo of Jesse James on Soul Junction and this went down a treat, alongside the Spencer Wiggins (Kent), Candi Staton (Kent), Nurons, Walter Wilson and some northern that I can barely remember now. The dancefloor was a bit up and down, but generally reacted well. Lots of records for sale, the QOF was even tempted to get her purse out on more than one occasion. :yes:

USOS and Groovesville should both be in your calender.

Well now I have a couple of weeks off, I should probably get this blog going again.......have I told you about Barcelona and the soul scene there yet? nope Or what a fabulous city it is? nope
Or Soul People and my jaunt up to Preston and back for the evening?
Well hold on to yer britches and fasten your seatbelts
Also fun and frolics in London at various venues, trips to the West Midlands, Cleethorpes of course and Nantwich.

Well let's start back in April at Preston. I was a "stand in" for Uncle Soul Sambarnfather who was apparantly double booked. Of course living in Herts a trip up to Preston and back in one night is quite a challenge no trouble at all in my now ageing batmobile. Talking about Trouble, the previous week was the time when said Mr James Trouble was in "sell sell sell" mode; I had met said Mr T at a cafe on the A12 in Chelmsford , to buy a record off of him. Of course record deals go down in the most unusual places - I bought King Moses at the M6 Toll services, The Nurons at Potters Bar services etc, so next time you pull in for a disgusting burger or to do your weekly M&S / Waitrose shops at one of these places, check around you to make sure there's no familiar faces parked up next to you with record boxes or brown envelopes stuffed with filthy lucre.

Anyway I digress, Preston. Soul People. What a top night. I took Geoff from Enfield up with me, setting off about 5 pm ish,he was a bit worried it might be all Y2K10 head banging modern, but was pleasantly surprised to hear some crossover, Differences, Guitar Ray, even Eddie Billups on Peachtree etc. type stuff. The venue was at the Swallow Hotel which is a famous venue cos Richard Searling used to do alldayers there back in the 90s. I checked with Jumpingjoan on here before setting off just to make sure I knew where I was going (if I stay on the M6 I will "hit" Preston right?).......Inside the venue when you entered, there was a bar room, with several record dealers including Mr Plumb and Fish who had hot tailed it over from Skegness, no mean feat. And beyond that a main circular type room with tables arranged around the dancefloor.
We got there at about 8 30, already over 100 in, only to find we'd already missed Messrs Maleady and Plumby, a real shame cos they're both top DJs. Steve Jeffries was on, followed by Gary Dennis, Kenny MacLeod and mygoodself. After me was TJ the DJ who took the roof off the place as you'd expect for the last hour.
Caught up with loads of friends here, and met a few "faces" to me like DaveTay. The place was packed, over 200 through the doors in the end, and it's great to see there is still a vibrant scene up in Preston, and boy do they like their modern. Not arf Fluff! Keep it going!

As the Djs on before me played some x-over and 70s I veered towards the Y2k type of sound, don't cha know ha ha. Great dancefloor reaction, and a crowd that certainly know their onions. I was on home territory here with a room full of people that just wanted to dance. So thumbsup to y'awll. I was happy with my set, although i cannot remmeber what it was - mainly 12s and of course things like Cool Million, Adriana Evans, Incognito which were as new as this years peas at the time. Was really surprised how fresh Chantay Savage (Silks remix) sounded and how many people didn't remember it, as it has been something of an "anthem" a few years earlier.

Kenny had brought a crowd of marauding Scots down from north of the border which was great, except that they kept offloading funny money over the bar. Not a real problem in itself except that "the bar" was desperately trying to get rid of this funny money as fast as they received it. £20 over the bar and three drinks still meant I got a "Bank of Scotland" tenner in me change. I know it's legal tender but that still doesn't stop the funny looks and rolling eyes when you hand it over in your local Sainsburys.

Back to the music and each DJ had an hour and it worked perfectly. I felt that all of my colleagues did really well.

The journey back took less than 3 hours and Geoff still can't believe he was chucked out at his front door by 5 am, having set off from Preston at 2.10 a.m. And with a "toilet stop" at Corley services (I'm getting to that age!!!)....and the Highways Agencies best attempts at "traffic calming" with endless 50 mph speed limits/ average speed check cameras on the M6 too.

A top night - miss the next one at your peril.

“Wow” – that’s probably the most descriptive expletive to describe this weekender. Great people, great music, culture, and beer.

With a DJ line up that comprised the following you just knew it would be good:
Dave Thorley & Malayka, Lars from Hamburg (who also plays in a punk rock band he let slip), Marc Forrest, Ralf Mehnet & The Jan,
From Belgium - Thierry Boulanger
From the UK Butch, Soul Sam, Arthur & Maria, Adey Pountain and yours truly.

Friday morning the party of Brits fly out from Stanstead. First people I meet are Toby and Mandy at the queue for the X Ray machines…..and guess what my bag with records is held back for closer inspection. I hear the lady at the X Ray machine say to one of her colleagues “They’re records, but there’s something else in there”. I knew I shouldn’t have packed any acetates!!! …..anyway this guy runs a stick type instrument over the box, and checks it for something (presumably explosives), and I am given the all clear. All I can say is it’s a good job I don’t work in a quarry then! On the “far side” or “air side” as it is known in the industry we meet up with the East Anglian crew from Ipswich, Yarmouth and Norwich enjoying an early morning pint or two (it’s 7 am), then Claire and Jenny, Karen and Pete, Mr & Mrs Fenn and Sam, and finally Mr and Mrs Pountain.
On arrival in Nuremburg Malayka and Suzanne have arranged VW transporters to ship us Brits to downtown Bamburg – we also met Thierry from Belgium who I haven’t seen for a long time. We drop people off at their hotels, and end up at a house in the old part of town which is the Soulshakers HQ for the weekend. This house will be home to Dave and Malayka, Sam, Thierry, myself, Mr & Mrs Forrest, and Lars and girlfriend. We relax over a few drinks, and then Sam and I head off into town for some lunch. Bamburg has a lot of history and the old town looks to be largely unchanged since medieval times. There’s a wealth of history here, and even the Mayor’s house was built a long long time ago in the middle of a river bridge so as not to offend the local Lutheran and Catholic communities who lived either side of the river. Friday evening we all met up at a Tapas bar – it’s a lovely warm evening and there ends up being about 30 of us there out in the evening sun, and plenty boozo and Tapas are consumed.
…..
Keen as we are, we get to the soul weekender venue early before the 9.30 official opening. The venue was a three room event in an old building up two flights of steps - a smaller modern room, a long bar in the middle, and a large dancehall for the northern / 60s. There was also a large patio area for chilling and smoking (rauchen).
Music wise the 60s room was pretty much well…60s northern. The modern room was largely 70s and 80s with some boogie and the odd more recent tune thrown in for good measure. Historically the modern room had been quiet but for the first time this was to change this weekend. On Friday there were close to 400 through the door, and the dancefloor in the main room took a while to get going, but once it did, everyone was up for dancing all night, and this created a great atmosphere. The modern room was a bit more up and down numbers wise, sometimes it was nearly full, other times it had fewer than 20 in. There was no logic to this fluctuation other than the free movement of people back and forth between the rooms. Friday night was a very good night musically, and whilst some oldies did get played they largely weren’t the Top 500 variety. It would be unfair to single out any DJs for special praise as everyone did very good sets. There were no fillers or turkeys on this line up.

Here is what I played Friday
Friday Night Modern

Side Show “Sexy lady”
2nd Re$surection “You done let the daylight catch you”
Freedom “High on you”
“Will I get over losing you”
Robert Montgomery “I need you girl”
Guitar Ray “Don’t change your love” (cover up)
Dwight Franklin “Foxy Lila”
Morris Lewis “I love you”
Flashlight “Peace”
Phillip Wright “Keep her happy”
Veda Brown “I had a fight with love”
New Designers “We don’t know unless we try”
Thompson Brothers “You bought love into my life”
Ex Ta C “Squeeze”
Trace of Smoke “Treasure mind”
Double O’s “Cry one tear black” (Pt 2)

Friday Night Northern

Jimmy Burns “I really love you”
Kenny Gamble “The jokes on you”
Eddie Rey “I got something of value”
Appreciations “I can’t hide it”
Thelma Lindsay “Prepared to love you”
Al Williams “I am nothing”
Eddie Daye & Four Bars “Guess who loves you”
4 Pros “Just another girl”
Willie Kendricks “Change your ways”
Nat T Jones “Moving forward”
Ivories “Please stay”
Joe King “I don’t want to share you”
Roy Roberts “So much in love”
Richard Marks “Did you ever lose something”
Valentinos “Sweeter than the day before”
King Moses “I got this feeling”
Rozetta Johnson “Mine was real”
Sandra Phillips “I wish I had known”

Saturday morning we sat on the veranda of the house drinking coffee and basking in the sunshine and Dave T was keeping us entertained with tales of his record exploits in the southern States – fascinating stuff. We had a look around the street market – but the local record store delivered us no finds – though Sam is mulling over a European Led Zep Picture sleeve 45 . Then we headed over to the café bar for lunch – with music provided courtesy of several DJs. Again this was a very friendly, relaxed session and Sam and I agreed good tunes were being played once more by the DJs.
After a walk, lie down, and dinner (Italian), it was time for the Saturday night session.

If Friday was good, Saturday was even better with an unbelievably good 570 through the doors – more than I had expected. Again musically you couldn’t fault it, and one of the highlights for me of Saturday was Butch in the modern room. This certainly got the crowd in through the doors, and it served to remind me how many good records I still need to get. Mellow Madness was dedicated to me as the “best disco record ever” , and it was clear that the Europeans like their modern fast and uptempo. Meanwhile the northern room had filled nicely and the atmosphere was buzzing. I was on in the northern room after Marc Forrest and Marc had kept the atmosphere on the boil nicely. After me it was the turn of Arthur who kicked off with Mel Britt – I did chastise him though for back cueing the record – styrene – sorry Arthur.

Here’s what I played Saturday

Saturday Night Northern

Trends “Thanks for a little loving”
Chico Lamarr “What do you think I am”
Sammy Lee “What goes around”
Willie Hutch “Can’t fight the power”
Dee Dee Barnes “Do what you wanna do”
Gene Toones “What more do you want”
Royal Robbins “There’s something about you”
Jimmy Andrews “Big city playboy”
Appointments “I saw you there”
Ty Karim “Lighten up baby”
Willie Williams “HAve you ever been played for a fool”
Doc Peabody “Here I am without you”
Mixed Feelings “Sha la la”
Lee Fields “Take me back”
Nurons “All my life”
Al Scott “What happened to yesterday”

Saturday night modern

Ron Hall “The way you love me”
Rivage “Strung out on your love”
Africano “Satisfactorise your mind”
Reachers “I just wanna do my own thing”
Barbara Stant “You got to try it again”
Life “Tell me why”
Willie Dee “It looks like rain”
Danny Williams “All those lies”
Sex “It’s you”
Willie Feaster “Voices”
Psycho Frankie “Putting you out of my life”
The Mist “Life walked out”
Natural Impulse “She went away”

Sunday we had brunch at another hostelry, music courtesy of Dave and Malayka and Sam who played things like Ronnie Barnes and some nice slower stuff. Then it was of to the airport for our flights home, with Ady Pountain and his wife.

BUT the weekend is not over at this point as I am due to DJ in Bamburg’s twin town Bedford (how about that for a co-incidence) at the Welli Arms on Sunday night. I have calculated that my flight is due to arrive at Stanstead at 8.05 pm. Allowing an hour to clear customs, get the bag and get to the car pack, and an hour to drive to Bedford I should in theory be there by about 10.15 p.m in time to do my set. However…the plane is 15 minutes late taking off (no pressure then!), and as we are climbing to our cruising altitude a kafuffle breaks out near the front as some old man is taken ill. When the call goes up for a Doctor or “anyone with medical training” to come forward I start to quietly panic. I have visions of our flight turning around back to Nuremburg, or an emergency descent into Frankfurt or something, and start to see my DJ set in Bedford fading away in front of my eyes – with every passing two minutes that’s one less record to play. Fortunately after several large bags of unpleasant stuff are carried away from the old man, and he has been doused in water, he seems to be OK, and we keep climbing – but it was a close run thing I can tell you.

I did get to Bedford – albeit driving like a bat out of hell - and did my set there too. The Wellington Arms is in Da Hood, and serves a fine line up of real ales to savour the palates of the thirsty who have been flying and doing the bit for twin town relations – ha ha. Plenty of familiar faces in there too. When I take over DJing I apologise for being late, pointing out that I was doing my bit for cultural relations abroad DJing in the twin town of Bamburg, when Terry starts ‘booing’ . I thought this twin town stuff was supposed to be for the advancement of our differing cultures? When Martin A starts dancing energetically in front of the decks, I have to put out a reminder that although dancing is welcome, please refrain from po-go-ing in front of the decks as it makes the records jump.
Soon after 11 it was all over – a somewhat crazy end to the weekend, but well worth it.

Anyway Bamburg 2009 is a must, so get booked in now.

Spirally Spirella

Praise the Lord, or not as the case may be….

So here we are in mid April 18th, and the second Spirally Spirella ballroom event is upon us. Neil Opalguard’s evangelical call to arms on Soul Source served as a reminder of this prolific event, with all his “Praise the Lord, Hallelujah, come to Letchworth” stuff blatantly designed to curry some flavour with the religious Soul Sourcers sect. I know Neil lists being a lay preacher amongst his many nocturnal pursuits, alongside such eclectic pastimes as bear-bating, flower arranging and dressing up in rubber, but maybe this ‘call to arms’ was taking things a bit too far for some.

No playmates or traveling companions for me this time either – they are all otherwise engaged – either too ill, in the pub, or washing their hair - so I head off ‘solo’ for an uneventful 30 minute cross country drive, armed with my 100 box. It’s a lovely spring evening too, the sun is certainly shining on the righteous. On arrival my 100 box is efficiently searched for talc, and I enter the lift with the good Doctor Pickles, and we are swept up to the 4th floor and the ballroom.


Change makes you wanna hustle……

The good Lord often works in mysterious ways and as it transpires on the day fewer people turned out than anyone had hoped for, and certainly fewer than the 220 or so that ventured to the first one in this beautiful venue – In all there were about 65 in (including the jocks – do they count? ) – but was the lower attendance going to spoil our fun – no! There were a number of other nights on that must have had an effect– SHS already mentioned as well as Filthy Soul down in the smoke, and there was also a night on in Bedford – which Anne told me had about 100 in. Even with 65 in, though the Spirally Spirella didn’t look too empty and there was no tumbleweed blowing across the hall, and plenty of seats for tired dancers to rest their weary buts on. James Trouble arrives, makes small talk with Soul Sam, and I think gets Sam to listen to a track on his MP3 ( Lord have mercy the man doesn’t use a CD player yet) and later, when he has had enough, heads off to Bedford, handing out leaflets for his Revolutionary event in May as he goes. Neil had also drawn the curtains this time, so it was a bit darker – this was in response to some shrinking violets at the first one, who were a bit worried that their dancing moves might have been seen. This time round Neil had also wisely hired in Pete Tebbutt’s excellent mash sound system in (from Luton TOTS), and so the sound problems that dogged the first event were overcome, and we had near perfect sound all night.

On the night….

This is a fairly large venue with a slippery shiny dance floor, and although the attendance was down the atmosphere was there - especially when a few dancers got going through their line dancing routines.
Like most people I missed Neil’s first hour set (this wasn’t deliberate – more a case of a good episode of Coronation Street to watch, followed by washing my hair – ho ho), but I got there in time for Taffy who is playing Bingo (US Silver Blue / UK Polydor) alongside things like Ujima – as Karen once said “Taffy never fails to deliver the goods (in the record department)”. Next up the dapper man from the Valleys Sean Chapman with a set that went right across the board from Bobby Pruitt on the one hand to The Parisiens, Salvadors, Del-Larks on the other – plenty of rare ‘big ones’ there and Sean certainly isn’t wanting for a tune these days – top set that got the dancefloor going. Dave Fleming was doing the 11-12 hour set, and he kept the dancefloor going with a heady mix of mainly northern with some midtempos too – I remember him spinning things like The Soul Communicators, and Lee Fields. Dave has a unique colour coding for his record sleeves – red for “hot tunes”, and yellow for “maybe’s”. Dunno about Dave but I always get my covers mixed up anyway! Another grand set from an underbooked guy. Then it was my turn mixing up things like Royal Robins, Doc Peabody, TNJ’s (“Two girls”), the new Rotations 45 (kindly thrust into my hands at Soul Essence by young Malayka) and Ken Scott “Deep in my soul”. I finished with Gene Toones, so that Sam could start with some 60s – which he did – Ward Burton - a recent acquisition apparantly courtesy of the “JM auction process” (sic) - or John Manship to you and I.
Soul Sam did the last hour 1-2 and although by now the numbers were dwindling a bit, the dancers kept the atmosphere going – especially Neil and Boots with their strategic Wigan style “hand clapping” and “whooping”, right through until I left, dropping Taffy off at his gaff on the way.

Postscript…..

The next one is in June so hopefully there will be a higher attendance then and it’ll be Mid-summer Nortons and nice and warm. However I am able to confirm that there is no truth in the rumour that Neil will be conducting sermons outside for the religious, or bating bears, or wearing rubber - at least not where it's visible to the naked eye . All joking aside this is a gorgeous venue with a very strong DJ line up and a wide variety of sounds – it just needs a few more people to come back.

………

Walls of Heartache

26th April. It’s a bad day. Firstly I am ‘clicked’ on the A303 doing precisely 60 mph, in a 60 mph zone – what’s that all about? ……anyway I will contest that one if a ticket comes through. Secondly on the radio the Palace give up playing football and sit back and watch as Hull City set seige to their goal. This is very stressful when you’re listening to a GLR Radio London commentary “Another free kick to Hull….just on the edge of the Palace penalty area…………oooh –ahhh – cleared by Hudson but only as far as Folen, another shot….aaawww… away by the Palace for a corner….” you get the picture – and I guess lads we’ve all been there eh? Unless of course your team is Man Utd or Chelsea in which case having your goal under siege is presumably quite an unusual event. And then it happens….just as I am nearing home, content with a 1-1 draw – Hull score another goal late on, that’s it! So I find a nice bit of steak for tea to try and cheer me up a bit, and eat it raw.

Lifeline is on up in Wolverhampton, but as part of the “Blue Skies” team I am booked to gig in Walthamstow, world famous home of the world’s longest street market (I am not sure if this is still true), and of course the dog track. Back in da day Charlie Chan’s was the place to be seen for the NE London / Essex “faces” on a glam night out but now I understand the Warehouse is the place to be seen for the younger set and snapped by the “Pepperazzi” – or should that be Pepperoni?.

Meanwhile back in our world the place to be in Walthamstow this night is The Cavern Bar on Forest Road. This you’ll be somewhat surprised to know isn’t a cavern at all, rather a series of shops knocked into a “walk in off the street” night club / bar. And it’s just round the corner from one of the best record haunts of the late 70’s…..an old shop that was full of 10p 45s including some imports. My erstwhile Kentish soul brother Kev Griffin actually discovered it, and one Saturday morning we went on a smash and grab raid there. He found a UK demo of John Drevas Expression, I got a Muskateer Gripweed UK demo (sods law I know but John Lennon is collectible but not as much as John Drevas it might surprise you to learn) and we both came away with piles of records including copies of Living Color and Bobby Hutton on ABC. We then popped round to Jim Wilson’s old soul shop in Leytonstone (before Jim denounced soul music as the devils work and got into Beatles memorabilia). “Oh that shop, yeah there’s nothing in there lads, I’ve cleaned it out” he told us smugly. “Oh well we found these in there” we replied, showing him our erstwhile purchases as his little face sunk. “Hmmm they must have just gone in there – he’s not supposed to sell any soul without telling me” Jim retorts gruffly. Those were the days, I mean a soul shop in Leytonstone – 10p singles in Walthamstow, ahem - but I digress back to The Cavern and Saturday night.

Martin picks me up at 8.15 in his Toyota 4 x 4 which is a bit dated in it’s décor (I'll be walking next time at this rate!) but certainly functional and comfortable, then it’s off down to North London to pick up King of the Sandwiches - Geoff. As we enter the outer limits of London we drive past one of Ken Livingstone’s “Low emission zone” signs, which he has put up everywhere (no doubt at huge cost). I am convinced Martin is sticking a finger up to Ken by driving his 4 x 4 into Ken’s territory! It’s twilight and as I look east I see a procession of jet lights from planes all lining up for their final descent into Heathrow, and it is at this point that this low emission malarkey is placed firmly in perspective. On the one hand we put signs up and ‘tut’ our disapproval at 4 x 4 man, on the other we’re expanding Heathrow to take another zillion passengers. Green dyslexia if ever I’ve seen it.

Anyway we pick up Geoff and then drive off to Muswell Hill, carefully avoiding Southgate (excellent navigation skills from Geoff), to pick up Bernadette. Despite all this running around we’re at the club within the hour, and ordering our first drinks. With both Stella Tortoise and Becks Vier on tap I am spoiled for choice – and choose Becks as it’s better. Anyway back to the plot.

Dave who is one of the promoters is on and after that it’s half hour shifts from Dave, ChrissieO, Martin and myself. ChrissieO does her Mamsy Pamsy set of girly sounds including “Geni”, and Martin does a Motown and R&B set. By the time of my first set there are some civilians in and also some guys with records too. So I try out things like Nurons, Royal Robins, Eddie Daye & 4 Bars, and the new Rotations 45 - but those tunes, good as they are, don’t get ‘em up and dancing as I might have hoped, and so I slip in a couple for Geoff and Bernadette who have requested some 70s – Lee Fields and Doc Peabody. Geoff asks me for Kenny Gamble “The yolks on you” which unfortunately I left at home. Meanwhile one of the younger civilians asks me to play “Dirty dancing” , which unfortunately I also left at home – unless she was referring to a party game – in which case to my eternal embarrassment - I don’t know it.

Anyway the night builds and it becomes clearer that the crowd like their Motown and soul classics so for my second set I raid the English part of my record box and play things like Mary Love “Lay this baggage down”, Incredibles, O Jays “I dig your mack” and two by the Spinners “I’ll always love you” and “It’s a shame”. ChrissieO meanwhile stuns us all with Rozetta Johnson’s “Mine was real” a cheapo cheapo that’s been lingering in the shadows for donkey’s (y)ears, that sounded quite excellent over a system – so much so, that I have already been down to the lock up to find my copy and retrieve it – it certainly was cheap – one of my copies has a $1.00 sticker on it. But what a tune, just goes to prove the age old maxim that it doesn’t have to be rare to be good. For the last hour we all rotate 3 records each and at 2.15 am I bring proceedings to a close with J J Barnes “Our love is in the socket” and Timi Yuro “It’ll never be the oven for me”. As far as I can tell everyone leaves happy, and so it was a good night – in fact a couple of folks told me it was the best one they’d had there. Good to see some of the locals getting into it too. Martin kindly drives us all home safely, and by 3.30 that’s that.

East Anglian Soul – a personal perspective on Soul Essence.

Friday Frolics

I leave at 12 on Friday and set off for Great Yarmouth, purposely early to try and beat the rush for the hills that occurs every Friday afternoon. This was a smart move as just behind us as well as a ton of traffic, and the Chelsea set in their 4 x 4’s heading for Norfolk is the mother of all storms – one of those you see in Texas, and as I look in my rear view mirror I can see black sky behind me following me up the A14 / A11. Then the radio man talks of severe hailstones on the M11 and the road has apparently flooded in about 5 minutes and everything has come to a complete stop as it does in this country – cars are strewn all over the place apparently, and the area should be avoided. A narrow escape, and if I’d stopped for that extra cuppa before heading off, I would have got trapped in the carnage.
Arriving at Yarmouth about 2.30 the sun is still shining and so I check in to the Marine Lodge and head over to The Raynescourt for Soul Essence 26.

There is already a healthy crowd in, and over in one corner Ian Clark has set up his stall and is selling records. Chats and catches up, as I enjoy a “first pint of the day” somewhat before the sun passing over the yardarm, but what the heck? Gouch meanwhile is in control of the console and playing some nice turns to get us in the mood. I completely miss Kirsty until she comes bouncing up with the words “Are you ignoring me then?” partly because she’s gone blonde again and was wearing her designer glasses……anyway chats over, I head back to the Hotel, just as that mother of storms is catching up and hitting Gt Yarmouth full on.

Hailstorms and high winds abound, and once again my expensive lightweight glasses are blown off and go, I believe trundling across the hotel car park. This is an exact re-run of what happened to me at Prestatyn – are these glasses jinxed or what? Or is it me? Perhaps I should settle on some of those Joe 90 type specs that seem to be coming back into vogue? As I am grubbing around in flower beds in the hail and wind, looking for the glasses (before they surely get blown into the road and get run over by a passing motorist), several people look out of the hotel and the sheer look of horror in their eyes says it all “What’s he doing out there in this hailstorm? - He’s gone completely mad!”
The glasses are eventually retrieved stuck in a rose bush, which is good news, then after listening to a few records it’s off for a quick bite to eat at the Italian in the town with Garry Cape, Adey Pierce and John Anderson. Being the only non record dealer on the table was a bit weird, but I listen to some of their escapades state side. Did you know for instance that the first ever copy of “Country girl” was found in a hill billy town? Maybe not surprising after all, but seems like Vicky Baines might have been a bit of a hit with the banjo-boys! Maybe she was an extra in the film "Deliverence" after all!

I am back at Soul Essence for my 9 pm early evening set, taking over from Gavin who hasn’t been too well these last few weeks. This is a great opportunity to play some lesser knowns, and some recent acquisitions as the dancefloor hasn’t got going yet. So I drop in a few funky bits, but mainly crossover – and it seems to go well. Yes it may not be 100 mph pumping all nighter music or whatever it was I was accused of not playing by someone at an early doors set some time ago, but I think it’s good stuff nontheless. For the last 15 mins I ramp it up a bit to get the place going with things like The Mist on Twinight, 2nd Res$urection, Doc Peabody etc. Set over I can now relax, and I spend the rest of the evening listening and talking, and being cheeky to as many girls as I can. Once again I end up in the Orangerie (Conservatory) where Fraser Dunn Dave Halsall etc are holding court. Here Sean Evans berates me for playing a cover up, and so it gets a bit heated for about five minutes. I also ended up talking to the sound engineer who is on hand for the weekend to put the system right whenever Sam twiddles with the knobs – sorry something breaks down….think I lasted out in the end til about 4 and the music was pretty good throughout.
……..

Saturday and Country

Saturday Morning I meet Sam at 10.15 and we go off to Sainsburys for breakfast. We talk records over some bacon baps, cereal, and Sam’s “meat free option”. Sam tells me he’s leaving at 6 to go to St Ives to DJ there and we talk logistics, of what time he needs to set off etc, and what time he needs to head back, so that he doesn’t miss his set at Soul Essence. I tell him that the next DJ on after him on Saturday is a bastad , and if Sam is late, he won’t give up any of his set. Sam looks a bit puzzled and then asks “It’s you on after me isn’t it?”….to which I reply “It sure is” with a wicked smile on my face – we laugh. Seriously though the guy is so dedicated, driving 100 miles across the fens to attend another venue, and then come back again – takes some serious enthusiasm to do that.

After a leisurely breakfast in which I make a single Cappucino last nearly two hours, it’s a quick walk around the bracing seafront and then back to the Raynescourt where I look through a few records in tghe record room - cruelly dubbed 'anorak alley' (dealers here are Soul Bowl, Adey Pierce, Steve Plumb, Fish, Andy Dyson, Ian Clark, Des T, Nick the Record so something for everyone), and listen to some of the DJ’s like Jock O’Connell, resplendent in his “beany” hat, and the Orwell boys. Malayka kindly gives me a copy of the new Rotations 45, and it’s bloomin’ good.

At 4 it’s time for my Afternoon set, so another opportunity to play lesser knowns and new things. Just to mix it up a bit I start of with a few more recent things like The Bamboos, Black Gold etc just to be a bit different. I am never quite sure about this set and whether I should just break ranks and play an out and out dance set, but I don’t – 4 pm Saturday is more for chilling out than for getting the blood pumping, so it’s more Veda Brown "Fight with love" and Rozetta Johnson “How can you lose” mixed in with some old Yarmouth classics like the Young Ladies. I also drop in Sam Dees “I found love in my own backyard” – my own little tribute to Jim Wray but also because Laura from Sussex asked to hear it. But she’s not here, instead she’s outside puffing away on a ciggie – maybe next year then!

The suave and sophisticated Brylcream advert Sean Evans takes over from me at 5.30 and does a dance set, and gets the girls dancing to Millie Jackson “A house for sale”. Meanwhile I am off to change into my penguin suit then off to dinner this time at the local Thai. We found the Thai at about Soul Essence 2 back in the dark mid 90s and have been back every year since. Over the years more and more from Soul Essence are attending, and frankly I should have negotiated a commission with the management for every new person we introduced. This year there is no Sam and Arthur (my normal dinner mates at this venue), so once again I team up with the record dealers. Bev also comes along with us.

Anyway it’s at dinner that Adey reveals that he’s changing the name of his record business from Cotswold Records to Silver Fox Records. This is apparently because at cricket he’s known as The Silver Fox. We are reminded that the original Silver Fox was the singer Charlie Rich, so all break out into impromptu singing of “When we get behind closed doors”. This singing goes on sporadically until eventually Adey is having second thoughts about the name change! Service in the Thai is poor this year, as we sit there with empty glasses, and other people are ushered in ahead of us, and about four waitresses endlessly serve the Dave Thorley table, we start to wonder whether we’ve upset the owners. Certainly Adey calling the waitress “Darling” and making jokes about "Ladyboys" probably didn’t help our cause. Our lack of service however bad as it was wasn’t as bad as the table from Northampton – Cliff, Val etc, who had to wait 35 minutes for a drink! I think I’d have gone and poured one for myself, or better still walked out!

Eventually we go back to the Marine Lodge for a quick drink or two. The place is buzzing, loads in there and it’s quite noisy. Actually the owners have put a lot of money into doing the place up and it’s now got 4 AA stars for B&B. This year the whole front entrance has been done up, with flashing lights built into the concrete and a balcony terrace with chairs and unbrellas.

Andy Davies arrives in a black shirt with embroidered roses on it – I guess it's his "pulling shirt" we think he got this from the Sandringham Craft Fair – and he looks very dapper, much like Johnny Cash in his heyday. As the drink from the day and evening starts to take hold Garry’s love of Country music comes into focus – “twangy guitar sh*t” the rest of us all agree. It is at this point that we come up with a brilliant idea. The Downbeat Lounge may have come to the end of the road and so we think of replacing it with “Country Essence”. This involves taking the chairs and sofas out of the Downbeat lounge, to enable group line dancing to take place. Garry will headline playing country CD’s all weekend. The Orangerie (conservatory) can be used for practicing “Yee-Haws” and we could even have a “Best matching Stetson and Boots” competition. We could also give a concession to Andy to sell embroidered Johnny Cash style shirts too . John says that Norfolk is the home of C&W in the UK and the more we talk the more the idea makes perfect sense, and I am tasked with suggesting it to Bob and Gav. Drinks over, I head for a couple of hours shut eye (it’s called pacing yourself), and get back into the Raynescourt to hear Bob Cosby’s set – when did he get that Robert Montgomery then? Top tune! At about 1.45 Sam arrives back from St Ives, and then goes straight on to do his hour mixing it up with things like Tolbert and a new Muscle Shoals thing - a superior version of Tamiko Jones on Metromedia which is very good – a bit like Paul Thompson.

The last 2 hours on Saturday really are for singalongs and party, and that’s what I cram my set with, but I notice the Y2k and 90s material is going a bit better than the 60s. I do play things like Al Scott, Nurons and Nat T Jones, but also mix in things like Jaheim (remix of “Never”) notched down to -4 on the putch control to disguise it's house like tendancies, and some old “up and down” favourites like Ali and Maxwell. Starvue “Body fusion” the ultimate in 2-step cheese also makes an appearance and keeps the floor full. It all goes well, and we finish at 5 AM with Archie Drell & The Bells , and Johnnie Mae Matthews. Cries of “one more” force me to show off and dig out Natural Impulse, even though Sam had played it a couple of hours earlier…..Then after that I have a well deserved beer and head off to bed for another three hours kip.

Sunday Sore heads and knees

At 10 I am back in Sainsbury’s having another breakfast with Sam. By now “Country Essence” seems as daft as it sounds, so the Downbeaters can rest in the comfort that they’ll be back again next year and I certainly won't be suggesting it to Bob & Gav. St Ives went well for Sam, but he has hurt his knee. Meanwhile my head hurts - I have a vague recollecting of a wall of Fosters super chilled - but that's it. Then it’s back to the Raynescourt, time to say a few goodbyes and we’re on the road at 11.30.

Oops! -at Acle we pass a 4 x 4 that has broken down, with the RAC in attendance – 4 x 4 drivers eh? One of those Chelsea tractors on their way back from a weekend in Norfolk? As I am about to hurl abuse out of the car window at the occupants, I notice it’s actually those Kings of Crossover - The Etheridge’s from Brum . If the Hills have eyes, so do the Broads and I am just glad that the RAC got to their rescue before the "Country boys" found them . Moral to the story guys - never leave Great Yarmouth without enough petrol in your tank to get you to Norwich!

Another super weekend, and as I said before, top music, top people, top atmosphere throughout. Don’t believe there were any duff sets all weekend. This one stays top drawer all the way, and to cap it, it is the longest running soul weekender that I know of…..so that cannot be bad can it?

OK so I am back from Prestatyn and it’s March. Still bloomin’ cold too - I think the circulation in my feet is starting to deteriorate - is this another sign of impending middle age?.

My March venues included a return visit to Bedford Ath on the 7th and the kind request of Hammy. Gawd it’s so long ago now I cannot even remember what I played, but I do seem to recall
- the numbers were down a bit – which I put down to post Prestatyn blues – probably about 75 -80 in through the doors
- a lengthy debate with Dave Halsall about whether his copy of A J Brown was an original or not. This goes back to Yarmouth some years ago when I was double decking with Mr Barnfather. I went to put on what I thought was my original copy and Sam says “you can’t play that it’s a reissue”. Shocked and horrified I immediately removed it from the decks, thereby avoiding detection from any of the dancing soul police who might have been in the vicinity. Then Sam continues “I’ll play it cos I got the original in my box” and proceeds to put it on his deck. Well strike me down with a feather if old Mr Halsall isn’t selling a copy of the exact same style that Sam told me was original – as a 2nd Issue! “I am sure that’s an original Sam told me” I protest. Then he plants a new theory on me – “Perhaps Sam didn’t want you to play it, that’s why he told you your original was a reissue”…..Darn hadn’t thought of that!
- The Silks crowd were out in force and enjoying themselves
- The Rugby Soul mafia – Ganche, Rugbysoulgirl etc were out in force and enjoying themselves
- The music was good.

But I was tired and so left fairly early (having completed my set) in true 70s mega name DJ style – I really don’t like going before the end, but it had been a long week and I was genuinely dog tired. Music wise got requests for things like Parisiens and Appointments, and also a lady asked me to play "Foxy Lila" which really made my night – this is now catching on at long last. I also dropped in things like Richard Marks on Tuska and a few other goodies, some well known stuff like Lee Fields on Angle 3 and the 4 Pros to a full floor.
……..
The next Friday and it’s on to Letchworth Irish Centre for another night of fun and festivities. This time Geoff the sandwich man – so called because of the culinary delights on offer at soul nights - is volunteering to drive me up. This is great because it means I can relax and enjoy a pint of the Amber nectar and don’t have to spend a night drinking chemically enhanced non alcoholic beer. Martin also texts me from a public house in the Welwyn area, and is after a lift – I tell him that I am going with Geoff, and have to clear it with the driver. Anyway after all the texting back and forth Geoff picks up Bernadette, then me, and finally in Welwyn young Martin who he has graciously agreed to take as well - once we have prised him out of the pub. So now with a car full in Geoff's old jalopy it’s a bit like “The Famous 5 go out to a Soul night” the old (and very rare) Enid Blyton classic except there’s only four of us in the car as Geoff drives us carefully up the A1(M) towards Letchworth Garden City.

On arrival at the Irish I notice a Red MAzda RX8 and mistakenly think that James Trouble has graced us with an appearance, but no it ain't his one. We completely missed Paul Murphy’s set 8-9 which was a shame , but then it’s Tobymeister, Taffy, Pete H, myself and finally Shane Cox- Mister Chicago as he likes to be called these days. Again I cannot remember what I played exactly, or come to think of it, what any of the others played either as it’s so long ago now. Unfortunately Toby had a few problems with the decks early on, and we found the problem was that Big O had stuck some haberdashery needles (the type you use for sewing buttons on coats etc) onto the turntable arms and this was causing hideous distortion (in Toby’s voice when he found out what it was doing to his records!). So Taff sorted that little glitch out and the rest of Toby’s set went off without incident. The system held up, as did the dancefloor, and it was another good night at The Irish, again numbers seemed a bit down and there were a few missing local faces. Playwise Ron Hall made it out of the box as did a few other bits and pieces like Al Gardner, Frankie Beverley, and Detroit Sounds of Friction – still a lot of people that don’t know this one after all this time - which is surprising. All too soon it was all over and time to get back into the Geoff-mobile for the ride home. The Irish is always a good one and I hope the numbers are back up for the next one.

February starts where we left off in January – initially recovering from the Lifeline weekender. Yes Saturday night was great and I enjoyed it thoroughly. A top weekend to start the month of February off.

More Blue Skies

Friday 8th Feb sees Dim Wit Promotions Blue Skies event – temporarily re-housed to the Leathermarket – a Bermondsey pub, near…ahem….the Leathermarket while it’s spiritual home is under going what they term in the trade “a refit”. Of course there is no such thing as a Leathermarket anymore and the days where you could go down there and buy a new pair of patent shoes or a trench coat, or anything else leather (behave Big O!), if those days ever existed…..are long gone. The Leathermarket is one of those old complexes that is now done up into small business units. It has fond memories for me as it was the first home of the missed Internet Radio station Soul 24-7, and I spent many a happy hour in a dark and damp basement there spinning platters and interviewing the likes of Gene Chandler, Emmanuel Laskey etc. Anyway more on that later, as I digress from the plot.

The room for Blue Skies is upstairs, and the only let down is the lack of a bar (something quite fundamental in a pub I think you’d agree!) – well there is a bar, but it’s downstairs! This means up and downstairs we go refilling our jugs. Musically I cannot remember too much of the night except it was 60s soul, and a small but enthusiastic crowd. I was following Mischief, who thrust a freebie CD into my hands- very nice of him. Of course Crystal Palace are away at Charlton tonight so the streets are quite quiet. Ho ho – someone tells me Palace are beating Charlton 2-0, so no surprises, the evening is getting even better . Then someone gets a text from Dave Greenhill saying Charlton are winning 2-0 and to “tell me” . Suddenly the evening is going downhill and I shoot the person that told me that Palace were winning (no I didn’t really). Anyway on balance a good night again. Afterwards had a quick beer with Martin (RBMan) and then kipped over at Pete Bennett’s penthouse suite, and left early the following morning to get down to Somerset on the first train out of Waterloo to see my builder. Anyway we await the next installment of Blue Skies with eager anticipation, remembering of course that an all-dayer is planned for Hatfield in May.


Spiraling Spirellas

Advance one week then to Feb 15th and The Spirella Ballroom. Neil had been hyping this one up and he wasn’t wrong it is an extremely impressive venue, with a dancefloor to die for – well to dance on. A largish venue, it took the 240 attendees in quite comfortably. Being a Grade 1 preserved building of course there is no talc allowed and I was asked to open my record box on arrival to check that I wasn’t trying to smuggle any of the stuff in. That’s fine, and I shut the box, picked it up only to see the lid go flying and records cascade all across the floor. Now I have seen record boxes fly open before and the contents fly out all over the place. Notably Soul Sam at The Scala at Kings Cross a few years ago, when he tripped over on the stairs and his box went flying…ouch....and then old Cuddly Mr Levine at Victoria Record Fair. Having filled the box with acquisitions that morning his assistant picked it up, and yes you guessed it the records fell out everywhere to guffaws of laughter! Anyway it’s not a pleasant experience seeing your pride and joys all scatter across the floor. Having scooped up the records I went upstairs…..and the rest as they say is history. DJ’s here included Taffy, Dave Hassle, Sean Chapman, Sam (who had done his back in and was having to sit down) and meself. Musically it was fairly across the board. I was on at 11 and felt the place needed a booster so played quite a few oldies, but also managed to drop in a few things like Ron Hall. An excellent first night on balance.

Da Mill

Saturday I hot foot it down to Southend, Rayleigh at the Mill, and pop in there for a couple of hours as a “paying punter”, just to check the vibe ahead of my appearance in May. Rob Messer is on and there’s a good crowd in. Rob’s got ‘em dancing. Catch up with the Cambridge mafia, the Rugby gals, Bearsy and loads of others. This night has really taken off I am pleased to say and venue wise it reminds me somewhat of the old Plinston. Only stay to 11 cos I am very tired. I am tucked up in bed before the witching hour.

209 Radio

Sunday 23rd and I am guesting on Mick O’Donnell’s 209 Radio show in Cambridge. I jaunt up there armed with my trusty multimap printout and know exactly where I am going, until I encounter the handywork of some over zeleous town planners…That’s the trouble with these towns that have “no overall control” on their Councils – the town planners get it all their way and muck the whole place up! I know where I want to go but it seems that all the through routes have been blocked off for everything except cyclists, and I am reminded of being in Nicosia or something, and trying to get form one side of town to the other – impossible! I find myself driving around and around in traffic, meeting dead ends and looking for a way through to the studio, and getting nowehere. Eventually I give up looking for a UN checkpoint, and deciding to walk, parking up about a mile away from the studio; but by now I am late for the show . Very unprofessional of me I know . Anyway we spend the best part of two hours playing some lesser known things, some slower things and some good soul music – well I think so anyway. Old Mick is such a smoothie on the microphone, and it’s a great show he has going there.

Here’s what got played:

L.R. Superstars “Come to me” (Taps)
Samson & Delilah “Don’t listen to your friends” (Pittsburgh)
George Bussey Experience “I need your fire” (Foxy)
Zeal “Don’t you know” (Potential)
High Fidelity “Strangers in love” (Atlanta)
Galaxy “Superstar” (Future Stars)
Chuck Proffitt “Love love love” (Lar Rom)
Gerald Wayne “Now I can see” (Stage)
Jetton & Prinz “Judge & Jury (Pilot Master)
Beaux Beatty “Back up man” (Playboy)
Floyd Beck “Fly by night” (Timeless)
X-Ta-C “Squeeze” (OK&T)
2nd Re$serection “You done let the daylight catch you girl” (Stanson)
Harvey Scales “”Trying to survive” (Magic Touch)
Sir Henry Ivy “He left you stand there” (Innovation)
Lee Fields “Take me back” (Angle 3)
Pleasure Seekers “Come inside” (Koala)
Michael Smith “Heavenly Inspired” (Pharoah)
Ira “Breaking Away (Sooza)
Tommy Tate “What’s the matter” (ABC)
Sam Dees “I found love in my backyard” (Chess unissued)
Kim Tolliver “Standing room only” (Pacesetter)
Herman Kelly “Still a little love left” (RCA)
Lorraine Johnson “If you want me to be more of a woman you got to be more of a man” (Atlantic)
Richard Marks “Innocent Bystander” (Free Spirit)
Reggie Garner “Spellbound” (OLA)
John Donvan “Looking for your love” (Paradigm)
Willie Feaster & Concrete Wall “Voices (Red Coach)
Otis Jackson “Beggin for a broken heart” (Mega)

Holidaying in Wales

29th Feb sees me off to Wales for me Holidays…..well not exactly- legging it up to Prestatyn for a few hours for my Friday night jaunt. I do this every year, and every year I wonder why? It’s sheer madness trying to get up the M1 / M6 on a Friday afternoon, and by St Albans I am already reminded of why I always vow never to do it again….Despite it only being 2 pm, the M25 is gridlocked. I sneak off and round the back roads, joining the M1 at Hemel, and probably making up an hour timewise. Then by J 15 Northampton we’ve stopped again – there’s been an accident. Stop start for a few miles, tick tock tick tock. Then J2,J3 and J4 of the M6 are all stop start and slow – no reason why. Those overhead signs warn of congestion “M6 J4a-8” – G-Reat! But they also say “M6 Toll clear” – well there’s only one thing for it then! Back on the M6 we’re slow through J12,J13 – where we stop for 10 minutes for no reason, J14, and I finally escape off of this monster of roads at J15. Thence it’s cross country to Chester, and then onto Prestatyn.

My journey takes five hours and once inside I am greeted by James Trouble attired a bit like Toad of Toad Hall in Vintage driving gear (hat, gloves etc) who informs me that he ‘sailed up in no time’. On arrival at Preststyn the wind is so strong it knocks my glasses clean off me head and they go careering up the road and almost under a car. It’s like a scene from Damien The Omen, where some hapless good intentioned person is sent to their death by dark forces. Glasses retrieved (just) (and hence the avoidance of a journey home Mr Magoo like at 20 mph ), I warm up in Toby’s chalet with the gathered masses. It’s nice and warm here and reasonably clean - apart from the jokes .

Inside the event it seems quieter and takes a while to get going and the record stalls don’t seem to have quite as much on them as previous. I buy everyone in the Queen Vic a round of drinks and say hello to everyone I know and wave, nod to anyone else I recognize. Be thankful my glasses hadn’t been run over because I’d have ignored everyone and been crashing into people I am sure.

Sam arrives through a side door with Arthur and Maria and then promptly goes into detail about his illness – too much info Sam- I get the picture! Anyway have a nice little chat to Sam even if he is under the weather, and unable to keep any food inside him for more than 5 minutes (there I go with too much information- sorry Martin you’re secrets not safe with me!).

Over by the Mike Ritson stand I notice a Cockney type chap in a Union Jack blazer. Is this a Pontins “gimmick” advertising holidays in Britain for Foreign tourists or something I wonder? But on closer look, it’s me old mucker Steve “El Swinger” Bennett, up from the Smoke, and watching proceedings, and I assume the “Totty”. Of course Steve was one of the lynchpins that started Soul 24-7 - linking to the comments on the Leathermarket above then! Nice to catch up with Steve, but that Jacket – ooh err No Siree!
In the Gents I see three Yorkshiremen who’ve just run from their chalets they look like they’ve fallen in the pool – absolutely drenched! Outside the rain is coming across in waves- horizontal and once again my glasses are blown away up the road. Later I set off back. It took me 5 hours to get there, I spent 4 hours there, and then 3 hours traveling back – mad or what?

I always reckon January is a month for going out as little as possible. It’s invariably cold, dark, and often wet.


Blue Skies
DJ wise the month starts off for me with the second Blue Skies event at The Horseshoes near London Bridge. This one is starting to build up a head of steam with nothing but positive feedback.
In a smallish backroom of a pub, this event goes from strength to strength, and January sees Geoff Green as a guest, on early doors along with Paul McKay later. You know what to expect from both these guys, and they didn’t disappoint. The Princess of Mamsy Pamsy - Chrissie O also did a very good set, and it would be wrong to dismiss Chrissie as a Holly St James kind of gal – her playbox contains far more interesting delights – oo er missus! Seriously nice one QOF. Then there’s Toby, as reliable as ever, dropping things on us like The Volumes, which I haven’t heard for Eons. After I left to catch the train home I understand that Martin stuck on some rockin R&B. It’s a good night, far too much drink is consumed by those attending, but once again I missed all that. After I left looking at the pictures there was a right hoot, and I am reliably informed by someone who is normally able to tell the time accurately that proceedings went onto 3.30 am. I think this night doubled up as a warm up birthday celeb for Martin Ainscough – even though he was also celebrating the following week – well when you get to Martin’s age, I guess you’ve got to celebrate as much as you can . The playlist here for me as one of the residents has been a kind of back to the roots type of thing, with plenty of old 60s classics vying for airtime alongside some of the newer thing-ys. I am also keeping this pretty much 60’s with a couple of notable exceptions for things like the Nurons and Sha La La.Therefore the sort of thing you’ll here then from me is more J J Barnes, Contours, Spinners, Rose Batiste, Jackey Beavers, and that’s just the Detroit contingent – mixed in with things like Ivories, Gentlemen 4 Walter Wilson and Maxine Brown – and that’s just the Wand Records contingent. Also dropped in a couple of old beat ballads like Big Dee Iriwn and Pollard’s “Drifter” for good measure, which I know Geoff likes.

3 x Birthdays
The following Friday 18th is the now famous Triple Birthday Bash, designed to celebrate the birthdays of Toby, Martin A and Taffy. Again what can I add to what’s already been written, well it was raining and wet, and therefore no place for me to break in my brand new leather soled slip ons. Mamma used to tell me if you wanna ruin new leather soled shoes wear them in the rain ! Seriously a blinding night with well over 100 in, and a full dancefloor. Nice to see Uncle Bob Cosby out to play, and the other half of the Soul Essence crew Gavin was also there with a box of sales. Gingha Tony started proceedings off well, followed by young Bearsy, who has come on leaps and bounds in the last 12 months, and was clearly enjoying his selections – nice to see. Then there was Preston’s Jumping Joan, received to high acclaim and deservedly so, kicking off as she meant to go on with Cliff Nobles. Then Taffy with an eclectic mix of 70’s to dance floor acclaim, then Pete Hullett with an eclectic mix of 60’s – Yvonne Vernee, Chico Lamarr etc. Finally last hour was left to me to wrap things up or down…..depending on how you look at it. Can’t really remember a full playlist, though it did include some old and popular classics like Buddy Miles, and Eloise Laws, as well as the perennials like The Nurons, King Moses, Walter Wilson, Jimmy Burns and The Appointments. I finished with Johnnie Mae Matthews, then when we were allowed to play “just one more” laid the inevitable piece of Timi Yuro vinyl down. What a night, I was still sober but I don’t reckon too many others were!

The next day was supposed to be up at Maria O’s 30th Birthday party, but a slight domestic issue with a house saw me hot foot it down to Somerset at breakneck speed to undergo some detailed negotiation with my builder, and to see what all the fuss was about.

Lifeline
That’s January then…..moving swiftly onto February and the Lifeline weekender. All I can say is that is absolutely tops, a very nice hotel, and upfront 60’s / 70’s music. I did a full days work and drove up, leaving home about 7.30, hopefully thinking that the worst of the rush hour would be ahead of me. Snow was also on the cards, and in response I saw some banter on Soul Source about Mick H packing a box of boots – well I thought they were talking about Wellington boots, to dig the cars out! It was an uneventful journey up, 2 hours in the van. I checked into my room which was very nice. Although I was two floors up I could still hear a feint thud of the music, and was able to make out some distinctive tunes (by their baseline) such as Minits “Still a part of me”. Friday night was a bit quiet, maybe 120 in, and a good crowd over from Spain (the Spanish Armada), so it was nice to catch up with my Spanish amigos. I spent Friday night on Carlsberg Export and probably drank a wee bit too much. Certainly my attempts at dancing later in the night were pretty off beat, and on Saturday my head felt a wee bit heavy. DJ wise I did the 1-2 am slot Friday so pretty prime time, and was pleased with the overall reaction. Thing is even at an upfront venue you got to mix in some known stuff with the lesser known stuff, so I dug out a few underplayed oldies to compliment ones that not everyone would be familiar with. The other thing is none of the DJs want to duplicate what has already been played and purposely try and avoid it – obviously this gets harder the later you are on….I know this from Soul Essence, where I go on last Saturday night – having sat (and danced) through numerous preceding sets and ticking things off the playlist that those preceding DJ’s have played. It’s perhaps ironic but I could see Sam who was on very late at Lifeline on Friday doing the same. Anyway it’s good that the DJ’s think like that as it forces them to dig deeper into the box and not play the obvious several times over. That was Friday, and I stayed up til about 5.30 am.

Saturday started with a ham sandwich and I incorrectly gambled on a hair of the dog for breakfast – well it was really lunchtime and I had forced myself up to listen to Dave Fleming’s set. This turned into several hairs of the dog, so at teatime I went and had a lie down for a couple of hours – we’re none of us getting any younger and the afternoon nap makes for young Steve being as bright as a button come nightfall. Sat night I was on really quite early 9-10 pm, which was good as it enabled me to play some different things without dance floor pressure. I also dropped in repeat spins for a couple of things that had gone down well from the night before (and people had asked me about) like The Groove Merchants, Joe King, and E Morris. I finished on a couple of better known sides, ready for Mick H who continued with some lesser played sides, which was nice to hear. Thereafter it was a party all the way and the place filled up and the dancefloor really got going. Anyway I was determined not to drink Export again, so switched to ordinary Carlsberg, that was until the Hotel ran out, forcing me back onto Export again…..oh dear!

The line up at Lifeline included Andy Dyson, Chalky, Butch, Sam, Arthur, Kitch, Dean, Andy Whitmore, Cliffe Steele, Mick H, with a roster of guests on Saturday afternoon, and Sunday lunchtime. I only heard one complaint all weekend (that was not enough 60’s / too much funky – Hi Dave!). I guess it depends on where you draw the line, as I’d call things like Al Gardner and Richard Marks 60’s, others might call them funky (the B side of Richard Marks certainly is what I’d call funky). There is definitely an appetite for these sounds, even if they don’t have a stomping on the fours beat. I thought musically it was about 75-80 percent 60’s, though there was more 70s in the Saturday afternoon sets.

Here's my playlists from Lifeline....prime time Friday, early doors Saturday.

Friday 1-2 am
More for the feet

Al Scott "What happened to yesterday" (Genuine)
Al Gardner "Sweet baby" (Sepia)
Walter Wilson "Love keeps me crying" (Wand)
Appointments "I saw you there" (Delite)
Tokays "Baby baby baby" (Brute)
Luther Ingram "I need you now" (Hurdy Gurdy)
Benny Sigler "I can give you love" (Phil La of Soul)
Nurons "All of my life" (Nuron)
Mixed Feelings "Sha la LA" (united)
Second Re$$urection "You done let the daylight catch you" (Stanson)
Harvey Scales & Seven Seas "Trying to survive" (Magic Touch)
Groove Merchants "There's got to be someone for me" (Suemi)
Morris Lewis "I Love you (Me and you and a bottle of wine)
Vicky Styles "I didn't know" (Virtue)
Joe King "I don't want to share you" (Please give me a home Records)
Mixed Emotions "Gold of my life" (Rock-Way)
King Moses "I got this feeling" (Pet)
Eddie Billups "Ask my heart" (Peachtree)
Willie Feaster & Concrete Wall "Voices" (Red Coach)
Purple Mundi "Stop hurting me baby" (Cat)
Trends "Thanks for a little loving" (ABC)
Gypsy "Cuz it's you girl" (F&E) (earlier version)

Saturday 9 pm 10 pm
More for the ears

Diane Lewis "Without your love" (Wand) Played at +8
Jimmy Andrews "Big City playboy" (Blue Jay)
Jimmy Hudson "He don't love you" (Act IV)
Big Tim & Empires "Cheaters never get anywhere" (Mercury)
Fay Hill & The Hill Sisters "Gonna get even" (Blue Dolphin)
New Designers "We don't know unless we try" (Dynamo)
Billy Byrd "Lost in a crowd" (Scream)
King Arthur "Hey baby" (Soundscape)
Guitar Ray "Don't change your love" (cover up)
James Phelps "I'm just a fool" (cover up)
Little Dooley "You better be ready" (KoKo)
Janice Joyce "He's tough enough" (Buddah)
Tornadoes "Won't you forgive" (Magic Touch)
Roy Roberts "So much in love" (Sugar)
Eldridge Holmes "Let's go steady" (Kasnsu)
Tommy Tate "What's the matter" (ABC Paramount)
2 respins from Friday
Joe King "I don't want to share you" (Please give me a home records)
Morris Lewis "I Love you (Me and you and a bottle of wine)

.....and a couple of oldies to end up
Tearra "Just loving you (Midtown)
Bobby Cutchins "I did it again" (Lasso)
Chico Lamarr "What do you think I am" (Fuller)
.......
10 pm, and over to Mick H.......

By now we are into February - more then later.