Dukinfield Masonic Hall New

An Amazing Nite Was Had By Anyone Who Knows Good Quality Soul , With A Large  Helping Of Rarer Tunes  ( Large Dancefloor ) Top Nite ! .

Kinell Chris you ever thought of writing a novel lol simply a great night 

How bizzare that those monstrous 45's are classed as lesser played,thankfully they did get a spin,and a good reaction.Dj's using the mic are few and far between these days but it was put to good use on the night making for a real feelgood atmosphere.Well done to all involved.lots of old faces turned up and was nice to see a few of the 'undesirable's' on parade too.

Hi Folks,

I wanted to write a note to echo Brian’s comments, and to say a massive “Thank You” for your tremendous support for the first event.  Pre-event interest has high with a colossal number of views on Soul Source, so it was fair to say we all felt a little nervous and that there was a tremendous weight of expectation on our collective shoulders.

The first of you were through the doors before the official 7:30pm start and that augured well, with small pockets of people drifting in during the first hour before an influx from 8:30pm.  By 9:00pm the venue was getting quite packed.

We were (and probably will be for a while) feeling our way though the music policy, though at the heart of the event are the guiding principles of playing original vinyl only, and a desire to play tunes that are less regularly played alongside some of the more well-known, but quality tunes, you might expect.  Whether well-known or otherwise, given their pedigrees you’d probably expect ‘quality’ tunes from Brian Lester and Chris Churm.

The first 1 ½ hours were split between the three of us with 30 minute sets that allowed us to spin a few lesser played records that included (in no particular order) Frederick Hymes III – Time Won’t Do Me No Favours, Tempests – Out Of My Life, Audrey Freeman, Three Rooms, Willie Tee – First Taste Of Hurt, The Topics – Hey Girl (Where Are You Going), Betty Lloyd – I’m Catching On.

The pressure really was on for my first full hour (9:00pm – 10:00pm) and I have to admit that I started with a couple of obvious records to settle my nerves (Duke Browner and Jimmy Frazer).  Thankfully these tunes kick-started my set and a handful of great requests gave me a structure and tempo around which to build the rest of my hour.  The requests I managed to fit in included George Pepp, Little Tommy and Guitar Ray, so many thanks to those of you who gave me the ‘heads-up’ to spin those tunes.

I handed over to Chris Churm who ratcheted the sounds, and the dance-floor reaction, up another notch with a blinding set that included Herb Ward, George Kirby, Shirley Lawson and Ivorys.  I was chuffed to hear Chris play David Coleman, Drown My Heart (a big play back in the day for my buddy Dave Truscott) and Buddy Connor – When You’re Alone (I regret selling my copy many moons ago).  Chris kept the floor moving for the whole of his set and received a well-deserved spontaneous round of applause as he handed over to Brian Lester for the last hour.

If Brian was at all worried that you were danced-out when he took over from Chris then nothing could have been further from the truth.  The floor was a magnet to the dancers for the whole of Brian’s set with it getting busier and busier with every record.  Brain played a blend of quality, lesser played oldies including Falcons – Good Good Feeling, Little John – Heartbreakin’ Time and Paul Sindab – I Was A Fool, along with a great selection of more recent (and recently reactivated) sounds including The Arabians – Please, Take A Chance on Me, The Tempests – Someday, T J Williams – Baby I Need You (which went straight onto my ‘wants list’) and Helen Troy – I Think I Love You.

All too soon it was ‘lights on’ and time to think about going home.  Sadly I had to cut-and-run just after the closing record as my lift (from the long-suffering Mrs Penn) was waiting, so wasn’t able to hang around for a de-brief.  Brian and Chris tell me that those that did offer their views had a great night, approved of the music policy/mix and planned to return.  It would therefore appear that we delivered on people’s expectations for the first event...all we need to do now is keep it up!  No pressure then!

Once again, many thanks for your support.  If you like what we’re doing then please help us by offering up your requests so that we really can reflect your tastes, tell your friends and try to get along as and when you can.

Chris Penn

(posted on behalf of, and approved by, Brian Lester and Chris Churm)

         big thanks to everybody who turned out last night all the hard work payed off getting this night up and running at this  great venue i hope you can see where we are going with the music policy as there was some brilliant tunes played . with the two Chris still having  plenty music to go at and we are looking at guest DJ in the near future as Dave Hargreaves as work commitments. hopefully we should have some brand new speakers in place for the Friday 17 Feb also like to thank Liz and Andy who run the masonic as they back the night from day one