Ady Croasdell

Derek was an absolute corker of a bloke. I concur with everyone's tributes and would just add that he left the world doing exactly what he loved doing; DJing. He was a brave man who lived life to the full and probably enjoyed himself more in one night playing to a hundred people than some of us do in our whole careers.

I assume that's a copy of the master we have (I can't access soundfiles yet) I think that's Ann double tracking, I don't think either girl really knew each other much. Ann was with Dave later than Toby.

Don't forget Mary Love Comer's 'Sandbox' and all the other 80s/90s tracks on her Kent CD ('The Price' is slow but utterly brilliant). If we do a comp we'll get Tony Clayton to do the sleevenotes. Ady PS I know Clara Ward was a gospel singer but are there any religious refernces in 'The Right Direction', I can't remember feeling very holy when I danced to it.

Unfortunately it clashed with the Acid Jazz Xmas party and a few of the regulars were down there for social rather than musical reasons. December is a bit hit or miss, there's odd one-off nights appearing everywhere. I agree it's rotten on the promoters who work so hard to give us a good night out. I feel bad that I couldn't make it. There's also the question of now the Saturdays have started will it affect the crowd on the Wednesdays

I think BMI is solely a US organisation.

I WAS TOLD "BIG NORTHERN SOUND, ADY CROASDALE FOUND THIS" (dont know if thats true) AND ITS ON HIS KENT ALBUMS, (MUST BE SOUL THEN EH...no offence meant Ady ) I've never had it and can't remember which one it is. It's not on any Kent CDs and there are no plans for it to be. There's some right arses out there who claim what we play at the 100 Club is R&B. I doubt if we ever play more than 10% R&B even when Roger's guesting once every 2 years (he did 30 mins this time his second set was soul). I play 1-3 records and Mick and Butch play bugger all. It seems that if it's not a recognisable oldie it's R&B whereas the Magicians, Nancy Wilcox, Peanuts, Thelma Jones, Devonnes, Martha Starr, Pretenders/Larks etc are anything but. Don't believe the rumours, come and listen for yourself, we don't bite.

Poppy punk, great tune but not soul.

The singer of a great cover version of Wilson Picket's 'Come Home Baby' on Parkway (one of Mick Smith's favourites) died recently and there's an obit in the Guardian today.

Also from Southern Soul Better news coming recently from David Earl, the boss of Severn records : "I talked with Lou today and he is in great spirits. He says he hasn't felt this good in 10 years!! He will be coming home on Saturday."

Here's a bit of bad news I just saw on the Southern Soul site. He was terrific at Prestatyn and the 100 Club, let's hope he recovers soon. "The organisers of the Lucerne Blues Festival were obliged to inform about a most unfortunate incident last Monday, 8.11.04. Lou Pride, one of the top acts of the festival, suffered a myocardial infarction. The 54 year old singer of the Severn Soul Revue is now in the hospital of Lucerne, where he had to go through surgery, and further surgery may still be necessary. Even though Lou Pride is already recovering, it is most unlikely that he will be on stage with the Severn Soul Revue on Saturday, 13.11.04"

Hottest sound in the South (and whenever I've played it in the North) is Luther Ingram's 'Oh Baby Don't You Weep' but as Tim Brown says Wilson Pickett's LP version is better, we've probably got it wrong again.

Anyone hear that pin drop?

I'll tick off the DJs before this years do then, although I hadn't heard that criticism before. What sort of records were getting repeated? We do the international spot on the Sat afto which goes down a storm and have a few newer DJs on the Sunday but perhaps I'll put a few more in then. Though this year it's going to be competing with "Northern Soul Bingo" (copyright applied for) for time!

I cannot comment too much on Goldmine as I have a confidentiality agreement in place. I worked with them for 14 years. Bexter How convenient; Dan, let George know that his dues can't be paid because of an arrangement between the people who forgot to license from him.

I'd love to hear this Ady if ever possible- I take it was never issued by A&S? Is it tape only or actual demo disc/acetate? Martin

The Val Simpson original demo is very good, I'll have to compare it to JA's.

Wow loads of stuff to reply to on this. Little Ann There were about 5 different vocals including a double tracked one but all were recorded at the same speed, either Richard speeded it up or Dave did when he cut the acetate, the former is the most likely. I can get instrumentals from any of the takes, I'll stick the besy on the very tardy DH Vol 3. Royalties Ann got some pretty decent cheques from Ace/Kent over her latter life and her estate will continue to get them once we can find them again. Dan's obviously right about Pyramid, you can only draw one conclusion; though I can guess what the defence is (and it will be bollocks) as I write! Cover-ups I only ever did it as a fun thing in the 80s to give me a few months head start on other DJs and make it an established 100 Club spin. People usually guessed right in about 5 nano-seconds, but a few made them work harder. With bootleggers around with such low morals and unlimited greed I can understand why people still do it. However I think they should eventually uncover them, hopefully once the owner has been tracked down and a legitimate deal been done with a worthy record company for re-issue. This would only enhance the records value and they should have hoovered up any easily available copies by then for themselves so they have got a decent reward for discovering the thing.

And don't forget Horaces discoveries via Clarkie, Frankie and Johnny (sorry Mick) and Kiki Dee. Sod it we'll do it on Kent, we've got more connections with the place. And it'll sound good too. What a great idea Steve.

I started out listening to black music from my dad's Paul Robeson 78s. Some of the ballads are very soulful rather than blues but really you'd just call him a great black singer. Much of his stuff is in an operatic style. A real balck hero as well, hounded out of America by McCarthyism and made welcome in the UK (Wales in particular), Paris and Russia.

Yeah I thought they looked good at Glastonbury. Anyone heard a recent single by Mousse T called 'Is It because I'm Cool' it sounded brilliant on first hearing, half soully pop, half indy.

Surely they should be marketing Grandad vests or Wigan logoed back supports if they want to represent the scene properly.

Many thanks to Mike and the Soul Source team for such a grand gesture as shutting down the site as a mark of respect yesterday. It was really appreciated and correctly appreciated the size of the loss to our community. The funeral was an enlightening experience reflecting all the facets of Dave's rich and passionate life. Anarchists, psychics, film buffs, broadcasters, vegans, ALFers, commies and soul people all mixed together to give Dave a unique send-off. A dalmatian puppy/dog, named after Ernie Johnson, roamed freely inside the chapel. There were speakers on film censorship, anti-vivisection, herbalism, and a street revolutionary who swore a lot and had a proud history of thumping coppers! The music was provided by the theme from "Gone With The Wind", Ruth Brown's 'Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean', Gladys Knight's 'Just Walk In My Shoes' and of course finished with Jaibi's 'You Got Me' at Dave's insistence. I gave a potted history of Dave's love affair with Blackamerican music and read out tributes from the 6ts website book of condolence, David Nathan and Bettye Lavette. A letter from Bessie Banks was given at incredibly short notice to Dave Leedham to read out and Sean Hampsey made a magnificently apt last speech about Dave; all the more remarkable because he was only warned he was doing it an hour before. Sean and Kev Briscoe with the help of John Vincent played some great soul tunes at the hotel wake/party in the evening where both sides of the Tamla Motown Appreciation Society 'Greetings from Motown' were played. Many thanks must go to Dougie Hall and Linda for providing the top notch equipment and to Kolla for running the DG tributes on the 6ts site; they're just about at 200 now! Thanks to all who came and paid their respects and to all who sent such beautiful messages. Dave's memory will live on in all sorts of ways, so watch out for further news.

Dave would own the copyright to all his own work. Bee Cool would be the natural place to put the book out on if it was mainly his soul writings. It would involve a lot of work but could be done. It would need doing thoroughly.

This will take place at 3.40 pm on Thursday 28th Oct at Rotherham Crematorium, Ridgeway, East Herringthorpe Rotherham, S65 3NN. There is limited parking inside the crematorium grounds, so it would be appreciated if you could park your cars on the road outside, unless you have special needs. It would help if we had a rough idea of numbers attending so please contact me on this address ( ady.croasdell@btinternet.com ) with the names of those you think will be attending. The funeral directors are Co-operative Funeral Directors, Clyde Villas, Doncaster Rd, Rotherham, S65 2DA. Tel 01709 828818 who will advise as to flowers, if you would like to send any. Donations are still welcome to The Donkey Sanctuary, Sidmouth, Devon, EX10 0NU cheques payable to The Elisabeth Svendsen Trust For Children And Donkeys. Dave's body will be at the Chapel Of Rest at the above address from this Thursday 21st Oct to Wednesday 27th Oct and there will be a book of remembrance, please feel free to visit if you would like to. There will be a celebratory dance at the Hellaby Hall Hotel, Old Hellaby Lane, Near Rotherham, S66 8FN from 6pm until approximately 12am. Deep Soul music will be played from 6-8pm in particular. A vegetarian and vegan buffet will be available from 8pm. Hellaby Hall is about half a mile to the east of junction 1 on the M18 on the road to Maltby/Doncaster, it's on the left hand side. The M18 branches off the M1 at junction 32. There are frequent trains from London St Pancras to Sheffield and also frequent connections to Rotherham. However St Pancras station is more awkward to get to now so allow 10 extra minutes for that part of your journey. If you book more than seven days in advance you may be able to secure a cheaper ticket. The last train from Sheffield to London leaves at 8.27 pm so you would have to leave the hotel around 7.30pm to catch that; a room for the night may be preferable. Taxis from Rotherham station can be a problem, we have alerted the local firms but you could pre-order one by ringing A1 taxis on 01709 555555. The practicalities over, I'd like to say thanks to everyone on behalf of Dave and his friends for the overwhelming outpouring of affection and respect for this amazing man. Dave often quoted that what lives on after we are gone is love and that's been proved in the last few days. He was always sorry to be missing his own funeral, he suspected it would be a joyous occasion. We'll have to make sure we prove him right. Ady PS There are two stunning obituaries today in the Guardian and Independent, which we're putting on the 6ts website. The 100 + tributes to Dave in the Book Of Condolence on the site are something else too. https://www.6ts.info