Agentsmith

remember him at the locarno, probably did civic & wulfrun's for pep maybe, three horseshoes on sutton road, even carted him & steve porter to whitchurch all-dayer in a van with sounds & system. on boxing day or new years day ( cant remember which?) 79/80. id be inclined to agree that he was responsible for playing a lot of quality tunes as opposed to breaking any...he certainly bought fast enough...a good many of us wish we had that type of money back in the day.

ray pollard the drifter darrell banks - im the one who really loves you roy hamilton - reach out for me...great unissued version aretha franklin - i cant see myself leaving you walter jackson - up hill climb to the bottom / after you, there can be nothing annabell fox - lonely girl dee dee warwick - when love slips away / we've got everything going for us ralph graham - she just sits there

you've obviously not forgiven them for bombing coventry ( no offence to coventry, you understand? )...guess shite is your standard vocabulary. apologies mike if this is getting out of hand its like fighting a guerilla war...you have to watch out for the booby traps.

gord, you may not be surprised, but i have it on good authority from "the oracle", uncle ted that you're actually a top bloke...ive learned not to be easily wound up and i have had my fair share of dibilitating stress over the years, but rocking the boat about something we universally love, gets beyond the pale. constructive critisism is another thing and has its place....the northern soul scene isnt without its fair share, but its a much better realistic world that we abide in,...i cant condone a deathwish for this scene just because in a few short years most of us originals will be no more. we have a duty never to forget the first world war and subsequent wars because of the sacrifice and in a not too dissimilar way, what we started must never be forgot...because its all good and the eyes of many who are learning the ropes now its a refreshing and exciting phenomenon to explore and its so much easier to become initiated into the scene because its evermore in the public eye,thanks to smart, intellectual folk of our ilk, infiltrating media positions.

the stars are out tonight......must be a good thread

i'll give it to you eternal pessimists....you certainly wear your hearts on your sleeves, condemnation is your watchword...well, i wear mine like a shining beacon of hope, regardless of my age and my enthusiasm is unquenched and undiminished. NORTHERN SOUL ISNT ABOUT LIFE OR DEATH....ITS FAR MORE IMPORTANT THAN THAT.

NOT OURS TO PASS ON?........DO YOU THINK THE REST OF THE WORLD'S BEEN SITTING ON ITS HANDS THEN?......YOU REALLY HAVE GOT IT WRONG, AND ALL YOUR POSSE!

i'll do it for you then bro......to quote X-MEN....."DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS TO A TOAD WHEN ITS HIT BY LIGHTNING?" ever reliable for totally abject negativity in abundance. europe is the biggest playground in the world for plying the northern soul ethic and from what ive witnessed they dig it in spades, if they had an undying wish, im sure it would be that they were born here and experienced it from day one, but to them, the catch-up game is the most exciting challenge. they also understand that it isnt and wasnt ever their scene to create,....OF COURSE IT WILL ALWAYS BE OURS,...(even the yanks wouldnt deny that, though its the very music they created ) BUT ITS NOT SOMETHING WE CAN DENY OTHERS.....LIKE A JEALOUSLY GUARDED SECRET??......THAT IS THE REASON WHY IT WILL SURVIVE, LIVE LONG & PROSPER. there are generations of people to come who will cherish this music and this ideal because its a straight, simple but smart way of finding an identity that cant be sn*****ed at because its so cool, and the tool of expression, the dancing, is sublime even unto old age.....if you can still shake a leg, youve still got it.

thats a name to conjure with bro, goes back a long way. cant account for totw but remember him djing loads of places in the west mids mid 70's onwards, think his parents must have been a bit well off because he always seemed to have the top tunes, no disrespect though and it obviously got him where he needed to be...stafford must have been the pinnacle for him and he would have been in his element. i suppose "lady in green" has to be amongst his big plays.

right then...im bloody well going on the offensive here....A certain generation......oh, so no salvation has superceded what we started?, how is it that so many, and i mean MANY youngsters are getting into this music because theyve caught on much quicker than some of us even did, to how good and meaningful the music and lyrics are?. infact...the 30 & 40 somethings behind us have been championing it themselves for two decades or more. THIS music culture/cult is without doubt the BIGGEST format to liberate millions of people from dull, boring, mundane life AND STILL DOES...its permeated all forms of media and is as relevant today as it was when it was fresh and new in the 60's...the ONLY thing it didnt have back then, was an identity...THAT came along when the inquisitive, pioneering lovers of soul music wanted to see what lurked beneath the luster that motown and its ilk had given the music. well, we might live a span & die BUT what we discovered and subsequently elevated to a level, no other musical phenomenon has maintained. we may have struggled to win over our own flesh and blood, but todays young soulchildren get it, get the message, believe its a better way and a sensible format to follow and the clincher that wins them over is the dancing...and they adapt to that like a fish to water....WEVE GOT PLENTY TO BE PROUD OF AND PLENTY TO PASS ON.....AND THE SCENE WILL ENDURE AND THE RECORDS WILL STILL BE BOUGHT AND PLAYED, be they ever more rarer and expensive. this is one horizon that will never be lost...think what you like, sneer if you want and be as pessimistic and begrudging in your old age as sees fit but accept the fact...we started something that has the dogged ability to keep people interested....its not cloud cuckooland,...its reality so drop the doom & gloom scenario.....oh, and f**k the cuppa....its only half time.

remember having a copy of this a few years back, was quite expensive at the time, £150 i think, has it ever seriously been played out?, has that inclination towards the crystals/ronnettes.

f**kin hell gord,.....as donald sutherland ( oddball ) would say..."whats with the negative waves?"

he was dubbed "the iceman" by WDAS philadelphia disc jockey, georgie woods, whilst performing in a philadelphia theatre, according to wikipedia.....i think id agree that he must have been considered a cool customer with such a stylish voice.

sorry, but why is this thread running in two forums?

think thats just the witches bro, dont recall warlock being on label. are you getting confused with the group who recorded for calla and had the president release of behind locked doors?

in hindsight, a picture sleeve with some liner notes would probably have sold out the legit reissue, dont know how many dealers actually took on stock, but cant be too many if it was only a limited run as suggested...so in time will these become collectable in the absense of owning a genuine copy?, i think i remember listening to it ( the reissue ) and the sound quality seemed all right. hope andy gets to finish his piece and posts it up here on this thread and a picture of the lady would complete the story thus far.

thats a generalisation thats pretty much correct gord, and strictly speaking should come under playlists.......with,..of course, their lists, something that just recently seems to have dipped a tad. love reading them and then chasing down things that i may have forgotten about...love the sales naturally but get extremely frustrated that some good lists appear mid afternoon, whilst im at work....MOST NOTABLY PETE.S......GGGRRRRRR! sorry bro, but i keep missing all those bargains...there are some greedy f**kers who sit about all day with their fishing rods dangling in the vinyl pool so far, ive missed 6 fantastics on here and at least one on ebay....im going off piste now so apologies. im no advocate of facebook, i feel its tantemount to open season, though thats dependant on how you use it and how frequently, and in the context of talking to mutual soul lovers then so be it, but it obviously does what it says on the tin. example: lowton, which i have an involvement in, there's a fair few posts go up here prior and after but from what i glean from baz, a lot do talk about it on fb and twitter...this site however is more formal and afterall, is created by the people, for the people and dosnt tolerate personal abuse which can happen elsewhere ( yes, there's a lot of sarcasm and a littany of p***taking but its not resulting in defamation of character or libel proceedings ). i prefer to talk to people here and if i want it to be confidential i'll use members to email. i made the observation and i also accept the point that if you dont know about something and there;s no immediate info other than the venue, provided here then go and see for yourself...a lot do, it is a lottery in that respect and you can end up wasting your hard earned money and fuel so, having some inclination what to expect does help and finding it here more often, is what i prefer.

SO......another margaret little turns up this morning.......soundfile attatched, not too clever with a resonent click but i would imagine that on a big soundsystem it simply wouldnt matter a fig...and offers are wanted...can someone clarify at present, including this,...how many copies are now in the pipeline?

would it be a presumption dave, that a dispute may be because his( popcorn's ) estate includes his musical works, thus his family are saying that they should have any say in any dealings, comcluded or not?, or was that what he was trying to secure, so his family got some long overdue remuneration upon his death? rob p.s. i still love des parker's story about when him & adey picked the tune up after recieving a pile of tunes from their "resident ghetto trawler". i think it was 2003 something like that. they played it to john anderson...he didnt know it but said they'd get a grand for it,...next thing soul sam flashed a 7k wad at them and before you know it,it got its premier at yours and my favourite venue....the manor. i promptly ran up the "last all-nighter" playlist and dave welding gave me a tug, suggesting i not mention the identity. next time round sam played it at the ritz " rarest of the rare" mayday bank holiday all-nighter and it rammed the floor.....needless to say i got a pic of a very "cheshire cat" sam with his prize posession...the next pic was mick .h's aqquisition a while later...2 out of 3.....wonder if there's a chance of a unique pictorial prile of aces?

id forgotten all about this post and having just backtracked the trail has seemingly gone cold, so we're all in suspense at andy's next revelation. in all honesty, knowing that the reissue is legit, shouldnt margaret have recieved some form of remuneration by now, and thats regardless of the fact the aforementioned names are deceased? or is that very fact an obstacle because we dont know who now owns the rights to ron/popcorn's output?.

apart from djing for ginger, kev or richard i dont have crackin' freebies...i pay like anyone else. i dont dj in the west mids because i dont go there or live there although i was BORN THERE and lived there up until 10 years ago. i did all the venues and after formal education at the manor i realised there was more to life than the same ole, same ole...infact id go as far as to say that lifeline is the most far reaching and refreshing aspect that the west midlands has to offer these days as anywhere that is of any substance at all, is in the heartlands...the north and northwest of england...from stoke onwards and, thats with the greatest of respect to our friends in the south who also have fantastic enthusiasm and creativity at their gigs. i went to the catacombs which was, in its heyday at the forefront of the scene when it was new and vibrant but i dont see any measurable distance been put between then and now. the west mids has stalled. i certainly dont have any anger...how can i if i get to do some of the BEST venues in the country, courtesy of promotors who just so happen to be very good friends as well? .......anyway the post has had the desired effect and created debate which, even mike has entered into....its obviously relevant because so many people have shown interest already and regardless of what ANYONE on here thinks of me personally, i always seem, somewhat unerringly to get an encouraging comment or a nod of appreciation...so are you someone who knows me personally and if so, state why what i say grates with you....other than "talking a load of shite", which quite frequently on here, I DONT.

"you dont half talk a load of shite" aint gonna provoke the "can of worms/red rag to a bull" implication....all i did was make an observation about events....click on any where there's no comment and you think...well?, was it any good or not?, did anybody attend?, what was the music policy?...but zilch...if you're not prepared to put the effort into making your pitch...why bother advertising on here in the first place?

why?...its a point of view and its simple to look at if you view events, if people dont want to post about their local or regional do its entirely up to them but the vast majority of folk on here want the lowdown before making a decision about venturing out to something unfamiliar.......otherwise shall we do away with events posts on here then?

spoken up gaz, but you dont count,on account of the fact this gig is recognised and does get reported on so rest easy mate!...just scroll events and see what im on about though.

well, i live in telford and a while ago i would have said there was nothing on, worth going to in this county and i certainly wasnt prepared to attend anything in the west mids because i was of the opinion they were all up their own arses. fortunately there are a lot of soulies in this sleepy backwater and we, of course used to have the lea manor not so long ago...big surprise with this spirit thing and good on them, yet there are gigs in shrewsbury where the djing arm is closed shop and no reporting on the gig anyway. ive already posted about brighouse in response to the conjecture about "same ole, same ole" and if youve only got 3 djs and no guests, there's every chance they'll eventually be accused of the same thing...thats another arguement though. to confuse the issue regarding say, just last night ( saturday) round the corner from me in oakengates, there's a gig in a pub which was advertised on here...i'd struggle to expect a lot of people to attend that when confronted with swancote and its sublime line-up of djs....i admit, i didnt attend either, in the light of trying to finance for bigger fish i.e. prestatyn, but if these well meaning folk are going to put it about, theyve got something on, then lets see reports about weather it was any good or not...because it could easily be misconstrued as a fabrication.