Rob Wigley

[i can assure you I've been to a lot of little nights in pubs in Manchester over the years-The Black Lion that Joan and co used to run, nights run by Steve Cato,Darks,Alan,Chris and Carlos' Taste of Honey that have played music as good as or better than any all niter. Just look at the names you mention on there, some great DJ/ collectors with great taste in Soul, , so long as you know what you are getting BEFORE you attend, did you ever go to that Toilet place in Manchester ? You are every lucky in the area you live in to have a wide choice to attend and some good lads to boot. So put that in your pipe and smoke it.... its obviously a long time since you went out-the smoking bans been on nearly a year

Aye and Iv'e heard you DJ at Cleethorpes Kenny, you're not telling the whole story, come clean

Now there's a beltin' DJ Tony Smith, trouble is it was darn souff kenny !

Run your own night then Ken

You need to get out more ! Rob

I'm off to the zzzzzzzzzzz list, enjoyed the banter, keep it going Rob

Yes that is very true,there has always been a local "sub-culture", it used to be guys buying EMI Discs and bringing them back from the all-nighters to play at local mid-week youth club events round our way. Not evryone has traveled, can travel or needs to travel. But if you are going to do it locally do it with style and above all lead don't follow

Don't go giving people ideas Ian

Just had a quick look at next friday's events on here and I counted 104 DJs on at the long list of events that are listed for that evening, now thats a lot of DJs for one night and not all events are listed on here. You could say the scene has never been healthier, but I still think something got to give Rob

Been told he's driving 312 miles to attend !!!

Here here !

and we nearly had DKoF v's The Attic at Bridlington it could still be arranged---- and what would you spend your cash on if you won the Lottery ????

your a good un, say hello to steve for us

And your on somewhere else that weekend Toad

look at the flyers "with Djs " not "with Collectors" davie

Already named them tom dick and harry z- or zzzzzz and anyway who's on your "A" list ? does it exist, think you know what i am getting at in general, my a list would include Butch, Mick h, Soul Sam & Bob Hinsley but thats personal choice Rob

This might be what I was trying to get at, more chiefs than Indians, 2 vault of soul Djs are on at Bridlington and are there on merit VOS has been running over 10 years now , they have nowt to proove. But the dilution of the scene has probably been caused by too many less well attened nights in general. In the day each town had one soul night at most, Manfield had the Folk house, Eightbells the Swan and Trotters , but they never clashed Then you had to travel to hear the big sounds. Now within the 15 mile radius of Mansfield you'll have 2 or 3 nights on every night of the weekend. Don't get me wrong I'm not a member of the "Soul police", people are free to do what they like (see pauls answer above) but there comes a point where the DJs ( and WAGs) will out number the punters, just seems pointless thats all ! Anyway Turkey 3 chez 2 Great game ! Rob

He was paying to come Terry and i found out, i'd like YOU on as you have the records for the third room (and main room come to that) Its all about providing something for everyone to try. and striking a balance at a large event, without loosing your direction. hope your not Burnleyed out after last night ! Rob

John Alden has made the grade and impressed on our visit to Kent (as you all did by the way) and is doing his bit at Bridlington, God knows how far it is for him to travel, 250 odd miles ? he's got the records, I hope he will impress some people and be asked to D J at other venues up here !

Good , well written reply Steven 9/10. teachers pet this week

Well it stirred a few people up! Must say to the lads from Kent, Bristol and the likes of Dublin do a great job, but if you get your 50 to 100 in on a regular basis that's great, I have attended the nights in these places (or very close to) within the last year and heard some cracking sounds. I'm not knocking you or these type of venues. i admire the way you travel, week in week out, I certainly could not do it now on a regular basis. it's not really what I was getting at. If you lived around here, North Notts, or Yorkshire, Stoke, Lancashire, West Midlands. You'd have the choice of 15 to 20 nights on within £10 worth of petrol EVERY WEEK or maybe more. I do get hear "Local" lads and given quite a few a chance when I can fit them in, ask Kev Laws, Steve J, kev Jones or John McLaughlin. None of them live within 100 miles of me, but have helped me out and impressed, they all have depth in their collections, with original records and can DJ 60s through Crossover into Modern. Every one has to start somewhere, I would love to see some brave young 16 year old playing with passion and no "baggage" to a packed dance floor, Steve Jefferies lad was a prime example around 10 years ago, but he moved on. However I would not throw a young lad in the deep end of a weekender without going to listen to his set first and having a peek over the decks to see the records are original. If I was at a club with 50 people in and the Dj was fresh, 15 or 55, Black or white, male or female or even Martian and they got 45 of the people up and dancing with a well strung together set and played with knowledge and passion, the cheque book would be out faster than Roman Abramovich to sign them! In a quick answer to Nev, yes Bridlington was booked the week before Whitby, but not out of any malice only necessity, as we had searched for dates and a venue for over 3 years. Looking at the Soul calendar our first choice was the end of April to avoid other weekenders, but could not get the date in the venue. 1st date was 2nd weekend in June, Cleethorpes 2nd date was March, Prestatyn and the 3rd date was 1st week in July, Whitby. We have tried to offer a different DJ line up, 3 rooms at a reasonable price £20, which we hope would appeal and get punters in, which it has. Remember that in 2006, 300 to 500 payers had been locked out of an East Coast venue as it was oversold. We've gone from 630 to nearly 1,500 in 12 months. Remember last year when I called you "kev" on PM? I need to get into the N.East more for a listen up there. Anybody you recommend listening to? Ian raised some good points as well, as you always do, but you've been there, got the records, broke the sounds when it mattered and have nothing what so ever to prove by starting your own "Do" with 30 people in there playing bootlegs of Sam's records !! ithink you know what i was getting at mate ! Sweet Soul has 2 of the most passionate people at the helm with Dougie Hall and Andy Jackson and never fails to deliver with a wide range of guest Djs. Sam is always as popular there as he was at the Bowling Green 30 odd years ago ! But the question remains when will the DJs out number the punters ? Rob

Saw the "calling all promoters" thread and already had this in my mind. As a co-promoter of a large event (Bridlington) I was looking around at DJ s for some inspiration keeping away from "Big Names" to use as a change. I used Soul-Source Event guide to jog my memory, loking for people I may have forgot. The thing that struck me was the number of events that are running with "Resident DJs Tom, Dick and Harry with guest DJ Fred from behind the drainpipes soul club (where we will be the guests next time). Now I keep my ears to the ground (I know they are BIG enough !) and have a good feel for the scene being around long enough to remember the times when events were thin on the ground. What struck me most was the scenario that you hear people bulling up their own or mates Gigs and when you actually attend there are only 30 or so people there. they keep them running month in ,month out playing Oldies , or run of the mill sounds that you can hear anywhere. Now thats not having a go at people who are leading the way trying to do something different The Attic is a prime example, where the resident djs Kev, dean & Steve, garry DJs are now getting booked as guests at other venues on MERRIT as they have slogged away for 2 years following what they believe in, good on ya lads! So my long winded point is, due to the "creit crunch, pertrol prices, higher mortgage rates, negative equity Etc" When is the point where the scene reaches MORE DJs THAN PUNTERS and what happens when it happens, because at this rate we'll run out of Punters faster than we're running out of oil. by the way if you search these pages you can compile a list of at least 450 "DJs" A list, B list, c list and Z minus list !! By the way I did locate some DJs for Bridlington and I have my own list of "name" DJs I have not used yet who can do the business Rob Wigley

Found these recently when compiling the Bridlington weekender programme

When the Invitations came over in 2005 Robert "Bob" Blanding did a version of "Ask the lonely" in the set, it was totally awsome when ever I speak to him i ask him when he's going to record it !! Rob & karen