Geoff

The last allnighter I attended was back in May, I don't count Cleethorpes, so was looking forward to this latest episode at the 100 Club but also a bit worried if I'd last the pace. Happily I did, right back in the saddle. I'd planned to meet friends in the Blue Post but my Victoria line train was held up and became as packed as the rush hour as I remember that, so just joined the queue outside the club. It seems there had been a gig on earlier and the floor had to be washed. Luckily it dried pretty quickly. When we were let in the men were frisked and our bags checked. I told the guy that I had no drink in there but he said he wasn't looking for drink. Perhaps it was talc, very unpopular at many venues, understandably. As usual Ady did the first set, several records I didn't know but including Richard Brown's Sweet And Lovely. Keith followed Ady and played a set that was mainly mid tempo, tracks like the Exits' Another Sundown In Watts, It's Better To Cry by the Appreciations, and ending with Darrow Fletcher's It's No Mistake. By this time the club was filling up nicely, good to see new faces as well as the “old regulars”. Tomas McGrath took over from Keith, playing a mainly 60s set including I Need Your Love by Clydene Jackson. Butch was next, mixing some unknowns (at least to me) with favourites like K.I.C's You Don't Want My Love, Ivy Joe Hunter's Where Are You, J Hammond's Kiss Me Girl. Thanks to Butch for playing There Was A Time by Joe Terrell, better known as Our Love Is Dying by Kae Williams, one of my favourites which he has recently obtained on an acetate. He included Florence Trapp's Love Came Into My Life, haven't heard him play this for some time, a fast one to dance to. Guest Steve Guarnori took over and started with Damon Fox's Packin' Up. He kept the pace up with Rees Flores' Look Into My Heart, Eric Mercury's Lonely Girl and Johnnie On The Spot by Dennis Edwards. I particularly liked the Epsilons' Mind In A Bind. He also included some records that were new to the club including No More by Claudine Clark and Dee Dee Sharp's Can't Find The Time. Ady always does the middle spot of the night, starting off with Voodoo Mademoiselle, Sorry Is The Word, Getting To Me, some acetates and ending with After I Gave My All by Sandra Richardson. Keith came on for his second set and including the Vondells, Hey You by the Montclairs, and ending with Big Mistake by Brenda Jones and Bob & Fred's I'll Be On My Way and I'll Keep Holding On by Lee McKinnon & The Magnetics. Then it was Tomas for his second go on the decks, nice mix including I Can't Move No Mountain and The Best Is Yet To Come, superb 70s female singers. For his second set opener Butch chose to open with Nobody's Children with Shardup, but a couple of records later he changed the mood and tempo with Pee Wee, Shucks & Huey's Beside Myself, and followed with the original version of Shadow Of A Memory by 21st Century. Steve was on next and again kept the floor moving with I'm Superman, Are You Angry (love this but far too fast for me nowadays), Royal Robins' Something About You Sends Me, ending with Little Charles' It's A Heartache. For the penultimate set Keith stepped forward playing some great classics, got me out for You Don't Love Me and You Didn't Say A Word, by this time my right foot was giving me problems. He ended with I'm Yours by Betty Wilson, lovely track. Ady filled the last set as usual, some fast and some a bit slower, e.g. Hytones' Good News and Gerry Grainger's classic I Go To Pieces … Everytime. Ady said he hadn't played it for 20 years, hope he doesn't wait that long to play it again. Ending with Carla Thomas I'll Never Stop Loving You, Mary Love's I'm In Your Arms, Pat Thomas' I Just Can't Wait To See My Baby's Face and of course Baby I Need Your Loving. Then it was time to say farewell and head home or wherever people go. There was a very good turnout and quite a few at the end. As usual good to see friends there, they help make the night. Musically and socially an excellent night, so thanks to Ady and the DJs, and to the staff of the club.

Last year's was excellent so anticipating good music again this year.

After a couple of false starts we found the Hotel Continental where the weekender takes place and on the Thursday evening went to the warm up at the Lui Beach Bar which was quite a way from both our hotel and the Continental. Good to meet up with friends there and listen to good music. The following day we went along in the afternoon to the Continental for music by the swimming pool. Some great chillout music was played, I particularly enjoyed the set played by Wendy Williams including some fine beat ballads. Later that evening we went along for the first soul night. Great nighter tunes played by the DJs, thanks to Mick H for playing Pee Wee, Shucks & Huey for me and for his kind words. We stayed till the end at 3 am and had to walk back to the hotel, both of us very tired then. The following day, Saturday, we stayed in the hotel sunbathing till the evening when we went to the allnighter. Again more superb music. Sandy was in her element, dancing to loads of records. Sadly we had to give up at about 3.30 am, I'm turning into a lightweight! Unusually for us we slept late and missed breakfast again, we both like our food. Instead we had lunch, very similar to the evening meal, and then went back to the Continental for the final session ending at midnight. There was a barbecue and you could also order snacks like pizza, chips, etc from the bar. Again excellent music. Thanks to the DJs. So many good friends were there: John and Barbara Baxter, Graham and Wendy Paddock, Charlie Rees, Brian DeHonri, Gary Baker, who was most helpful ordering us cabs, cheers mate; Denny Johnson, Kev Moore and Ann, Ady Lupton, etc; and of course loads of Sandy's friends, many of whom live in Spain. They seem to enjoy a good life, makes you think. And a big thanks to Dave and Bev Moore for organising this, your hard work is surely appreciated by all who attended.

This was my first visit to the Blackpool Soul Festival and to my surprise I was most impressed. The Winter Gardens has had a facelift since my last visit several years ago. The staff including security were polite and helpful, what you expect but don't always get. There were rooms for almost all tastes in soul music and to my shame I must admit I didn't go into all of them. I missed out on the Modern Soul rooms, must correct that next year. As usual I did spend quite a lot of time in the Olympia room where rarer Northern sounds were played. Some superb sets: Butch, Mick H, Keith Money, you get the picture. On arrival our first calling point was the Gillows Bar where Crossover was played. We did pop back in there from time to time over the weekend but it was hard to get a seat. We did spend time in the Pavilion where there was a Twisted Wheel set on Saturday afternoon. The Empress Ballroom was the arena for classic Northern Soul and the live acts. We saw Patti Austin on Saturday night. She was good, still had her voice and did quite a long show. I'd forgotten some of the songs she sang, nice to be reminded of them. Last thing Sunday we went in there to see friends. I watched an extremely busy dance floor, I didn't dare venture out there. There were a lot of stalls selling memorabilia and clothes. One guy asked my opinion of his new baggy trousers he was trying on in the gents toilet. I admitted I wasn't keen on them but each to their own. I was told that 5,000 attended but the number of rooms dispersed the crowds and I never felt at all claustrophobic. The music was very enjoyable but perhaps the nicest part of the weekend was seeing people I'd not seen for years: Eddy and Shirley Edmondson, Tony and Sheena Patchett, Kev and Olwen Dempsey, Dave and Sue, Chris and Steve, and many more, plus meeting some of Sandy's Twisted Wheel friends who made me most welcome. To be honest I was a bit tired after Cleethorpes and need time to get over it, you don't recover so quick these days but hopefully will be going back next year.

I don't normally comment on weekenders, not because I've not enjoyed them but because it's hard sometimes to remember much of what occurred. I travelled to Cleethorpes by train with John Stubbs and arrived at the Beachcomber at about 3.15 Friday. We both commented that on both trains we didn't see anyone else we knew travelling to the weekender, that's quite unusual. And there was no one queueing in reception when we picked up or caravan keys. We were joined later by our normal caravan companions Paul and Helen McKay. And at this point I'd like to thank my friends for their company and particularly to Helen for the lovely meals she cooked for us: Spanish chicken and chorizo on Friday night, prawns with pasta on Saturday, and on Sunday evening baked salmon with new potatoes. To my eyes in the main room there appeared to be slightly fewer tables and arranged differently, giving a bit more room between them. The bar staff were friendly and attentive, my thanks to them. The Modern room seemed exactly as last year, nothing seemed to have changed. For those who regularly attend the music policy was the same, a mix of classics and lesser known tunes, the DJs did as you expected them to. The dance floor is excellent in my opinion, although I did notice a line of metal studs, have I got that right? I suppose that was to make 100 Club people like myself feel at home if we missing that club's idiosyncratic dance floor. Seriously though they had no effect on dancing, at least not on mine. And it was okay in trainers too, proved that in the afternoon sessions. My favourite sets in the main room were Butch and Mick H, not surprising to anyone who knows me but I did get up for certain classic oldies as well. Sadly I can't dance all night like I used to, penalty of advancing years. But could still jump up and dance to I'm Gone when Mick H played it, I for some reason as soon as I heard those opening bars my feet took over. Hope no one was watching. Butch as usual continued to surprise including oldies like Oh I've Been Blessed and in his final set at 2 am Sunday morning Bobby Freeman's I'll Never Fall In Love Again. I'm always interested in what records fill the floor, when he played Joseph Webster on Friday and Sha La La on Saturday the dance area filled right up, people know them. What did surprise me was that I Wanna Know, his Jean Carter cover up, didn't fill the floor completely, as it does at the 100 Club, perhaps most don't know it but he's played it before at Cleethorpes. I must admit I was in ecstasy when he played that, one of my favourite NS records. In the Modern room I enjoyed the Norfolk Village sets on Saturday afternoon. The problem with two rooms is that you don't really know where you should be if there are DJs you like in both rooms. On Sunday afternoon I enjoyed Mick Smith's set of medium tempo and beat ballads in the main room. Unfortunately numbers attending were down, can't get away from that. Why? Others better qualified than myself must explain that. I suppose the upside was that there was more space on the dance floor, but Ady and the other promoters need the numbers to justify the weekender. It was particularly noticeable on Sunday night, normally packed with people. I know that many have to go home for work on Monday morning, and employers are less sympathetic to requests for Mondays off, but I was surprised by how many had gone. Normally you can't get on the dance floor but this time there was plenty of room. I came back from the Modern room, sat down and immediately got up when Demanding Man was played followed by Tommy Ridgley's My Love Gets Stronger. But there weren't really many dancing to these tunes. A friend said later that they're not Sunday night records, I defer to him because I often go in the Modern room for most of Sunday evening. Mick Smith came on and played uptempo classics and this got things going a bit more. I went back to the caravan at about 12.15, was really tired, I'd been up late the two previous nights, and had to get up early to pack my case. I enjoyed the weekend, and am still getting over it. The music is important but so is seeing friends from all over the country, and abroad. A few were missing, and Ady wrote a nice tribute to the late Jim Smirk in the programme. Thanks to Ady, Phil Dick and Neil Rushden, the DJs and staff of the Beachcomber for putting on a memorable weekend.