The Northern Line

Just a quick note to say a thank you for your support last night.

The June event seems to be an annual anomaly for us as numbers tend to drop in just this month.  We know that the big weekender is a draw, and in addition there were a few other special, anniversary or one-off events that may have had an influence.  That being said, despite numbers being slightly down,  everyone in attendance seemed to  enjoy the blend of tunes played...and managed to get some elbow-room on the dance floor for a change.

For Maurice, Ben and me the reality that John Griffiths isn't with us really did kick-in; probably more so this time around as our last event was a tribute to, and to give thanks for, John's life, friendship and influence on our scene.  This time I, for one, felt a little bit lost.

The night was first and foremost about the music and Ben Moses' first hour between 7:30 - 8:30 just gets better and better.  Please do try to get over to hear Ben's first set if you can, it's a cracker that's continually improving.  For me the standout tracks Ben spun were: Paris Blues - Tony Middleton, You're Gonna Miss A Good Thing (Baby) - John Bowie, Your Wish Is My Command - The Inspirations and Let Our Love Grow Higher - Eula Cooper.

I was 'up' next and played just a few records that don't normally get an airing such as Try My Love - The Sequins and Tommy Ridgley - My Love Gets Stronger, though as I was focused on getting the dance floor moving I tried to mix things up with a blend of 6Ts Northern, R 'n' B, classics and Motown. 

Fresh from his trip Stateside, Maurice gave us a generally uptempo hour including The Four Pro's, The Valentinos, Rita & The Tiaras, Ritchie Adams and Dana Valery before our special guest Norman Edwards took the floor by storm between 10:30 - 11:30.  Norman really went for it with classic after classic, and biggie after in-demander, playing tracks by Florence Devore, Duke Browner, Billy Butler and Julian Covay to name but a few.

All too quickly it was double-deck time with Ben and I until 12:15.  During our 45 minutes around 50% - 60% of the records we played were requests, all of which seemed to go down really well.  Maurice took us through until 1:00am and despite the slightly lower than usual attendance I got the distinct impression that the die-hards were "up for it" and that if Maurice had the energy (poor dear was suffering jet-lag from his trip to the Austin record fair) he could have done another hour.

Once again, thank you for your support and next month (23rd July) our special guest DJ will be Peter Cogley.  Again this will be a tough event as the last time Peter DJ'd at The Northern Line it was on John's tribute night so, if you can, please do try and pop across and lend your support to Peter, Maurice, Ben and myself.

Chris

(on behalf of Maurice Arnold, Ben Moses and in fond memory of our buddy John 'Biff' Griffiths)