The Northern Line

Boy, it was hot!

On behalf of Moz, Ben, Peter and myself I’d like to thank you all for supporting The Northern Line on Saturday 23^rd July.  It had been hot and humid all day but thankfully we’d had the foresight to open every window and stick the fans and extractors on at lunchtime when we set up.  But would it be too hot and put people off coming?  Of course not!  Soulies like their venues hot and sweaty!  But in all seriousness, attendance was great and after an understandably quieter June it was smashing to see a busy room, a full floor and to soak up what proved to be a great atmosphere.

Like in June, we all still felt somewhat ‘lost’ without John Griffiths’ guiding hand and that’s to be expected...only time will tell how we’ll feel in the longer term.  But John would have wanted us to carry on and that we did, and with your support a fine job we made of it too.  I think John would have approved.

Ben Moses is a resident DJ and he really has made the first hour his own (7:30 – 8:30).  The quality of the music Ben plays is awesome and it’s great to see (and hear) such good taste in someone so young and for me some of Ben’s best picks/plays were: The Admirations - You Left Me, The Silhouettes – Not Me Baby, Fantastic Puzzles – Come Back and Bunny Sigler, Sunny Sunday.

I followed Ben and started with a few tracks that I don’t play out as much as I should, such as George Blackwell – Can’t Lose My Head, The Trends – Thanks For A Little Lovin’ and Sister Lee by Sam Ward.  I played a few 70’s requests including Mandrill for Gordon (which I’d forgotten to bring on previous occasions) and a smattering of Motown tracks for good measure.

Moz took charge of the decks for an hour before our guest Peter ‘Cog’ Cogley.  Moz can always be relied upon for his floor-filling, up-tempo choice of tracks and tonight was no exception.  Moz started off with Al Wilson – Help Me and he kept the floor moving for his entire spot, making sure to play the in-vogue sound of I’ll Be Gone by Freddy Scott that he’s been championing for the last few months.  Throw in Duke Browner, Rita & The Tiaras and Roy Hamilton and you have the foundation of a cracking spot.

Peter Cogley was our special guest and as you’ll appreciate, given that Peter was one of John’s best, and most longstanding of friends, it was probably going to be tough for him to DJ for us.  However, Peter was the consummate professional and he did his old buddy proud, giving us a well-considered selection of tunes that resulted in a full floor for virtually all of his set.  Just a few of Peter’s choices were Little Joe Cook – I’m Falling In Love With You Baby, Florence Devore – Kiss Me Now (Don’t Kiss Me Later), Earl Grant – Hide Nor Hair, The United Four – She’s Putting You On  and The Olympics – The Same Old Thing.  A deserved and rapturous round of applause followed Peter’s set.

Ben and I double-decked for 45 minutes until handing over to Moz to take us through to the end of the night, and it was great to hear Lighten Up Baby by Ty Karim in Moz’s set along with Someday by The Tempests, which was a track that Biff always used to play at The Northern Line...and for once we even got Moz to finish on time...almost!

Once again we thank you for your support as without you we have no event.  If you do fancy trip to The Northern Line then our next event is on Saturday 27^th August when our special guest is Pete Eccles from Bolton.

Until next time!

Chris Penn

(on behalf of Maurice ‘Moz’ Arnold, Ben Moses and in fond memory of our dear friend John ‘Biff’ Griffiths)