dean jj

I went a couple of times, late 80's under Guys supervision, fantastic nighter, good music and atmosphere, untill TONY PALMER, yes the man who filmed at Wigan, came to record for a 'history of popular music' series for the BBC. 4 in the morning and the lights came up and some one stuck a camera in your [my] ear whilst dancing. Killed it. I believe Guys partner worked in TV. Later in the early 90's she wanted to film in Parkers and out of respect for my customers Saturday night out I refused; though persuading Richard took some doing! The resulting footage from Blackburn I think made up less tham 30 seconds of the resulting programme. Underground music lovers screwed by the middle class media yet again. I've no axes to grind and maybe i'm incorrect but that is how I remember it. Oh, they still had one of those orange squash machines with the plastic oranges swirling around. dean

A few thoughts on the demise of record shops. I ran one for 12 years then went mailorder/selling at gigs for six years, and I think that many shut not only because of downloading [because many downloaders if they like something enough will seek out a real one], but also because of: 1] while the profit on new releases stayed the same or diminished the overheads rent/rates/insurence/wages all went up and up. 2] you would promte something that you thought was good, sell some, and then people would say 'that track your pushing: I got it straight from the artist on the web for £3 less'. well of course you did because the artist is selling it at the wholesale price. The three pound was the profit margin on a CD/45/12".The same person would never think how they knew to order it of course. 3] Of course collectors/old records are still making a lot of money but a shop still costs too much and there isn't a bottomless pit of good quality stuff. 4] The only people who ever ask me if I miss the shop are people who never spent any money in it.Go figure! 5] One final though for all keen downloaderst: when you peg it and the partner wants to sell your records to pay of debts and undertakers your collection will be worth zip. love dean

Dear chaps, Published in the eighties, so a little dated and possibly out of print, is 'NOWHERE TO RUN' GERRI HERSHEY which is a very good book about soul music of all types. As mentioned before DJ SAVED MY LIFE does well in capturing the essence of DJing but like most books is heavy handed about the british soul scene. If I read another stupid essay which has every one in the home counties listening to funk and everyone else listening to northern i may well spill my drink. Apparently there are no black people in this country living north of chelsea or if there are they stayed in throughout the entire seventies! cheers dean

Yes the original has a gold label-the reissue, actually bootlegs i think, have terrible sound quality if my memory serves me right. Which it probably doesn't. dean

The Luxury Soul Weekender at the Blackpool Hilton on Jan. 8/9/10 is rightly considered one of the highlights of the soul calendar with its multi-room exploration of all things Black, American, and Soulful, but did you know there is also a revive session on both the Friday and Saturday nights? Your humble poster provdes a couple of two hour [or so!] late night sets under the title of 'Jamaica Soul' featuring classic rock steady, 70's 'youth club' classics, a slice of 'big people' music and a little lovers rock if required. The sessions have delevoped over the last seven years into a rather popular knees-up with many northern fans remaining in the specialist room for the reggae. Just thought I'd mention this for anyone considering going to this classic weekender: maybe a bit of revive might make your mind up to go! cheers dean