The end is nigh.

[Quinvy]

Has everyone seen this?

https://www.facebook.com/share/mRZcKcnQt3EMwLev/?mibextid=WC7FNe

[Davey S]

It's getting silly now.

[Tlscapital]

No ! As I'm no member of the f*c*book sect and never will be

[Geeselad]

27 minutes ago, Tlscapital said:

No ! As I'm no member of the f*c*book sect and never will be

Costume play acting, teddyfication. 

Let's face it there was always folk ready to blab about it, but now every new kid on the block has sommat to say. Kids searching for identity I can understand that, wanting to share it with all unsudary, I conna. 

[Woodbutcher]

She "wants to reach as many people as I can" ... I'd like her to start with a year or two on the wannabe new hotbed of soul that is 'Tristan da Cunha' aka 'Edinburgh of the Seven Seas' ... 

 

 

 

[Modernsoulsucks]

1 hour ago, Quinvy said:

Has everyone seen this?

https://www.facebook.com/share/mRZcKcnQt3EMwLev/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Seen it !

I've enrolled you for lessons

 

[Shinehead]

What happened to the music? it just seems about dancing now with the "Johnny come latelys" back in my day the music was the bug and the dancing followed. Most of the newcomers seem to just want to get out on a weekend get pi**ed and dance in the same formulated way. 

Glad that the music is my passion and still going strong 50+ years later.

Good job there is still some events with the original ethos and sites like this where like minded individuals can have discussion.

 

[Woodbutcher]

Different times I'm afraid , the opening lines of this old favourite of mine sums up what it's all about these days ... 

 

 

[Jez Jones]

1 hour ago, Shinehead said:

What happened to the music? it just seems about dancing now with the "Johnny come latelys" back in my day the music was the bug and the dancing followed. Most of the newcomers seem to just want to get out on a weekend get pi**ed and dance in the same formulated way. 

Glad that the music is my passion and still going strong 50+ years later.

Good job there is still some events with the original ethos and sites like this where like minded individuals can have discussion.

 

....People will be Following the music not the crowd next...oh wait a minute !!

Edited May 16 by Jez Jones
mistake

[Geeselad]

1 hour ago, Shinehead said:

What happened to the music? it just seems about dancing now with the "Johnny come latelys" back in my day the music was the bug and the dancing followed. Most of the newcomers seem to just want to get out on a weekend get pi**ed and dance in the same formulated way. 

Glad that the music is my passion and still going strong 50+ years later.

Good job there is still some events with the original ethos and sites like this where like minded individuals can have discussion.

 

Very good point, the folk left on the scene, generally still are music focussed and obsessed, the youth version of the scene seems as happy to dance to Jimmy James or 'love don't come no stronger', as something rare, great and underplayed. 

[Mark R]

It's a long way from this, eh? 

 

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/chasing-rainbows/on-demand/2642-007

 

Cheers,

Mark R

[Soulagogo]

Just go to a decent venue and you’ll pick up the moves , or do what most people do enjoy yourself regardless to if you are not that good , so what 

[Woodbutcher]

23 minutes ago, Geeselad said:

Very good point, the folk left on the scene, generally still are music focussed and obsessed, the youth version of the scene seems as happy to dance to Jimmy James or 'love don't come no stronger', as something rare, great and underplayed. 

You have to allow that to any newcomer everything is new to them.

Back in '81/82 when I was just starting out on this lifelong journey I was often sneered at for enjoying dancing to "that tired old shite" and being told to "get in the 'newies' room and learn something" by the older folk that had been through the Torch and Wigan.

But it was all 'newies' to me who'd just come from an earlier life into the similarly 'phet fueled punk scene and I was like a kid in a sweet shop trying to catch up on the past whilst absorbing the new , all at the same time , and loving it.

So I welcome anyone to start that same journey and enjoy hearing these wonderful tunes for the first time.

I just wish they'd disconnect from the bloody internet and the rest of the world while they did it and enjoy it properly and fully immersed in the music rather than wandering around trying to film their every move , or sitting glued to their screens for hours on end googling something or other obivious to what's going on around them.

If I ever run a soul night or nighter , thinking about it for my 65th in a while , I guarantee that all phones , cameras and video equipment a bit like guns in Tombstone , will be handed over for safe-keeping at the door else you won't be coming in. 

I suspect the floor will be sparsely occupied however because every bugger'll be out in the carpark vaping and Snapchatting ... 

[Paul-s]

Well, fortunately for the world of 'comedy dancing' it was Kev Roberts who raised her status from YouTube parody/comedy act (One half of Sal & Pops) to "World Champion Northern Soul Dancer". A case of one mega-narcissist emboldening another via a ridiculously named competition thats a part of a Historical re-enactment weekend in Blackpool.

She, as i have said before,  was not ever a part of the scene, hence winning the divvy Blackpool Competition: it seems to be a requirement. She actually, seriously, believes she is a World Champion Northern Soul Dancer because Kev anointed her, and unfortunately her marketing convinces the poor fools who pay for this stuff to believe they are learning something to do with Northern Soul. 

It's all a part of the erasure of the complex history of Northern Soul to replace it with a gentrified, clean, drug free, re-imagined, saleable history that these  indivvyiduals can sell. Its new cleaned up image suits the BBC of course and the Proms etc. Its the same reason Breaking is in the Olympics, they need new audiences, but not the real historical context: emanating from the Bronx slums: its how gentrification works.

Another notable monetising effort by the Blackpool  re-enactment society  is the meet and greet fiasco they are advertising where Levanna and the Streets of Soul (it sounds like a musical group but is not, which is Charly Records idea I think) are launching 'her album'. A new turn in the NS compilation market, wherein the musicians are not mentioned or invited or celebrated, but instead replaced by a 'celebutante' (as Charly call her) who people are encouraged to celebrate in place of the musicians and the musics origins. Richard had to turn off comments on his post due to backlash. 

Charly don't appear to offer any of the many NS DJ /collector compilers the same degree of celebrity manufacturing, a meet and greet, even though their knowledge and experience is far worthier. Could it be a 'blonde haired blue eyed female' marketing thing that draws Charly to attempt this cynical shift? It certainly fooled many on the scene at the beginning, but now only the historical-re-enactment scene seem to accept such silly-ness. 

Can anyone explain who Levanna and the streets of Soul are? Is it a musical group? A marketing bureau? A  manufactured title to make people think they made the music?

 

[Soulagogo]

The annoying thing is many people on the scene for a very long time and have contributed, have done so because they love the music , not to come up with some gimmicks to make money 

[Dobber]

Is levanna a singer/musician?

also is the album cover versions or original material?

if original,whom as wrote the songs?

 

[Dobber]

Apologies,I think I’ve read it wrong,it appears to be a compilation lp?

[Paul-s]

4 minutes ago, Dobber said:

Apologies,I think I’ve read it wrong,it appears to be a compilation lp?

Yes its a normal run of the mill NS compilation with tracks obviously put forward by Charly. So why are they trying to fool people into thinking she 'made' it? It appears to be deliberately obscuring the fact its just a compilation, but replacing any respect or acknowledgement of the musicians with a manufactured 'celebutante' as a marketing ploy. 

For a scene built on music and a celebration of those who made it just appears that these people (Charly included) don't give a 'flying duck' about it....just the potential profit margins.

[Paul-s]

15 minutes ago, Dobber said:

Is levanna a singer/musician?

also is the album cover versions or original material?

if original,whom as wrote the songs?

 

N0, she is neither. Its soul artists being gaslighted by an imagined "Levanna and the Streets of Soul' entity.

More disappointing and shocking is the fact that Richard is promoting it.

[Woodbutcher]

48 minutes ago, Paul-s said:

N0, she is neither. Its soul artists being gaslighted by an imagined "Levanna and the Streets of Soul' entity.

More disappointing and shocking is the fact that Richard is promoting it.

Nothing shocking about it .

 

[Mrmick]

Due to ill health I can't go to niters now.. sort of glad when I see this going on. Glad I've still got 48 years of memories of the music and niters and the scene when it was a special place 

[Tlscapital]

1 hour ago, Paul-s said:

More disappointing and shocking is the fact that Richard is promoting it.

Well I'm off the very few I guess since I'm not.

[Jessie Pinkman]

1 hour ago, Paul-s said:

N0, she is neither. Its soul artists being gaslighted by an imagined "Levanna and the Streets of Soul' entity.

More disappointing and shocking is the fact that Richard is promoting it.

I think he's promoting a gig that has Bettye Lavette & Connie Laverne on plus a Q&A with Sidney Barnes.

From what I can gather from the poster Charly records is one of the sponsors with 2 compilation

albums to promote and she's filling in a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon as one of Charly Records guests.

I know in the past if there's been a Spurs football match on then that would have been shown on a big screen instead.

Edited May 16 by Jessie Pinkman

[Paul-s]

16 minutes ago, Tlscapital said:

Well I'm off the very few I guess since I'm not.

Yes, on second thoughts its not surprising he's behind it.....

[Geeselad]

4 hours ago, Woodbutcher said:

You have to allow that to any newcomer everything is new to them.

Back in '81/82 when I was just starting out on this lifelong journey I was often sneered at for enjoying dancing to "that tired old shite" and being told to "get in the 'newies' room and learn something" by the older folk that had been through the Torch and Wigan.

But it was all 'newies' to me who'd just come from an earlier life into the similarly 'phet fueled punk scene and I was like a kid in a sweet shop trying to catch up on the past whilst absorbing the new , all at the same time , and loving it.

So I welcome anyone to start that same journey and enjoy hearing these wonderful tunes for the first time.

I just wish they'd disconnect from the bloody internet and the rest of the world while they did it and enjoy it properly and fully immersed in the music rather than wandering around trying to film their every move , or sitting glued to their screens for hours on end googling something or other obivious to what's going on around them.

If I ever run a soul night or nighter , thinking about it for my 65th in a while , I guarantee that all phones , cameras and video equipment a bit like guns in Tombstone , will be handed over for safe-keeping at the door else you won't be coming in. 

I suspect the floor will be sparsely occupied however because every bugger'll be out in the carpark vaping and Snapchatting ... 

I get it's all new to them, I loved oldies and the stuff Guy and Ion were playing when I first got into the scene. I still love oldies now, especially torch and wheel era. However I hated most of the poppy shite that was played at Wigan from the get go. I went, and still do, for music with bollox and an raw feel to it, not pop records or love boat music which is often what I hear associated with the 'apparently' burgeoning youth scene.

I say apparently, because the clips I've seen frequently show the same handful of costumed actors dancing their (hands on!) hearts out, Surrounded by loads of pissed locals who possibly show at that venue every week for whatevers on. Now I may be way off the mark, I've not attended these events, but that's what it seems like to me. 

[Woodbutcher]

5 minutes ago, Geeselad said:

I get it's all new to them, I loved oldies and the stuff Guy and Ion were playing when I first got into the scene. I still love oldies now, especially torch and wheel era. However I hated most of the poppy shite that was played at Wigan from the get go. I went, and still do, for music with bollox and an raw feel to it, not pop records or love boat music which is often what I hear associated with the 'apparently' burgeoning youth scene.

I say apparently, because the clips I've seen frequently show the same handful of costumed actors dancing their (hands on!) hearts out, Surrounded by loads of pissed locals who possibly show at that venue every week for whatevers on. Now I may be way off the mark, I've not attended these events, but that's what it seems like to me. 

I had the chance to go to the last few months of Wigan niters and was keen as a newbie to see what all the fuss was about.

But everyone told me to avoid it like the plague and I heeded their advice going down the Wirrina , Oddfellows , TOTW , 100  Club route ... 

[Tlscapital]

55 minutes ago, Jessie Pinkman said:

...From what I can gather from the poster Charly records is one of the sponsors with 2 compilation...

I know in the past if there's been a Spurs football match on then that would have been shown on a big screen instead.

The first one was an outsider sponsor. This one is an Insider with an emblematic product that carries values that RS promotes with enthusiasm...

[Solidsoul]

1 hour ago, Geeselad said:

I get it's all new to them, I loved oldies and the stuff Guy and Ion were playing when I first got into the scene. I still love oldies now, especially torch and wheel era. However I hated most of the poppy shite that was played at Wigan from the get go. I went, and still do, for music with bollox and an raw feel to it, not pop records or love boat music which is often what I hear associated with the 'apparently' burgeoning youth scene.

 

Just about every great record that had ever been played on the Northern Soul scene since it's inception up until 1980, got played at Wigan Casino at one time or another. Yes there were some bad records played, but overall the great far outweighed the bad!  

 

Edited May 16 by Solidsoul

[Jessie Pinkman]

55 minutes ago, Tlscapital said:

The first one was an outsider sponsor. This one is an Insider with an emblematic product that carries values that RS promotes with enthusiasm...

What are you going on about, this is the 7th one.

[Soul Shrews]

2 hours ago, Jessie Pinkman said:

 

I know in the past if there's been a Spurs football match on then that would have been shown on a big screen instead.

Spurs game on the 3rd w/end of June ?

[Geeselad]

29 minutes ago, Solidsoul said:

Just about every great record that had ever been played on the Northern Soul scene since it's inception up until 1980, got played at Wigan Casino at one time or another. Yes there were some bad records played, but overall the great far outweighed the bad!  

 

I'm not picking on Wigan, you make a fair point, some amazing records discovered there..

[Seano]

7 hours ago, Mark R said:

It's a long way from this, eh? 

 

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/chasing-rainbows/on-demand/2642-007

 

Cheers,

Mark R

I'd seen the Stafford section before but interesting to see it in the context of the whole programme

 

[Jessie Pinkman]

1 hour ago, Soul Shrews said:

Spurs game on the 3rd w/end of June ?

Well spotted!