Roburt

The Mary Elizabeth Hotel was an early casualty in the drive to clear the Overtown district of Miami. This place housed a nightclub: in the early 60's it was the Birdland Fiesta Club ............

Any update on this Mark ??

Pat says it was reported that he's pickin' up a bit ..... too early to say yet though.

Some photos taken inside the Esquire Club Sheffield .......

The I-95 being blasted through the centre of Overtown (Miami) back in summer 67 ..... housing clearance in the area soon followed on .... .... AND YET ..... the Miami soul recording scene flourished in the 70's (even though the Overtown club scene had been decimated) ... so urban renewal wasn't the whole story ....

I'm told that there's a Mojo Reunion do this Saturday @ the Earl Of Doncaster (in Dony obviously) .... but my head has been turned by a young(ish) lady in Worksop & so I'm already committed to a do over there (22 mile drive each way -- how quick could we do that ?).

Urban renewal also largely destroyed the black club scene in Memphis & indianapolis ... however .... the end of strict segregation meant that blacks could also now visit venues / resorts where they couldn't in the past. By going to new venues / locations they were deserting their old haunts & these soon fell into decline.

Not for this record ... but an associated one ...........

A photo of the Hull crowd outside the Mojo at a Sunday alldayer session .... think this is the photo I refused to be on .... frisell, frassle, drat ....

SEE EARLIER THREAD (same topic) ....

Yes, I back up the last post. Billy says they put huge effort into their stage act & were highly regarded because of their dance work. He also confirms that, so far, no footage of them performing in the 60's has been found. It all seems to have been destroyed. SHAME !!

There's nowt wrong with Cleckheaton, Drighlington, Slaithwaite (pronounced SL-HOW-IT), Linthwaite & Hipperholme .... apart from the fact that Kegsy lives up near there !!

The book on the Esquire & Club 60 gets mentioned earlier ... there's a new version of this out & it seems to be much changed from the original version .....

I would GUESS that she was dropped by her record company. No other label signed her & without any new records, her live gigs dried up. No doubt she met some man, got married, had kids & turned into a housewife / mother. A musicians life doesn't jell with family life, so no doubt when she returned to work, she took a normal 9 to 5 and moved on (never returning to singing except perhaps in church).

An ad showing the Precisions in action on stage ....

Went to (s)Waggy's do @ the H&J on Friday (thanx to Martyn / hullsoul) and Audrey was there. We got chattin & she reminded me of a private club we used to go to in Bentley (Dony) ..... it would have been about 65 and the place was an old (largish) brick shed. It was called the 'Garden Party' and was owned by the dad of one of the lads. I believe he (the lad) was an art student coz the place was decorated well. I seem to recall it had a wooden floorboard floor and so was a decent place to dance (though only being 15 yrs old guess the knees didn't mind any flooring back then). Music policy was soul & more soul (Sam & Dave, Motown, Atlantic, etc.) and we used to go whenever it was open (3 / 4 nites a week). Even seem to recall having a membership card though it was 'word of mouth' only & you had to know someone there to get in.

Was born in the centre of the universe BUT not lived there since 1976 ... but was back there last nite for Waggy's do ...

If you're down in the dumps over the status of your 45, buy this ........

I can't see why coz it was always easy to pick up copies (especially UK President copies). As her earlier Pres 45's were UK pop hits they will have pressed up many many copies in the UK ... PLUS ... her UK success would have encouraged US Kent to press up lots & promote this 45 back home. She wasn't well loved in US soul circles as her UK success went straight to her head & she became a bit of a diva .... BUT ... I'm sure Kent would still have got behind this 45 ... maybe Ady has an insiders view (from old US paperwork) on what US Kent did with regard to her releases.

Pat Lewis has posted on Facebook that Mack Rice has been hospitalised & prayers are needed.............. I do hope he recovers but at the mo it's not looking too good. Mack is 82 yrs old ....

John, CHEERS. The Esquire / Mojo rivalry comes from discussions I had years ago with an old Esquire goer. I was naming names of acts I saw @ the Mojo and he kept saying ... Saw em too, we got a coach up to go to Madcaster & see em at the Wheel ... When I asked why, he said they wouldn't set foot in the Mojo !! A police raid on the Esquire ...............

Got two of my Mojo membership cards somewhere (laminated in the past to preserve them .... then I put em 'somewhere safe' & can't find em now) ....anyway this was just posted up (hours back) on Facebook (see bottom left: the 1966 card) .............

In no way does this back up my claim ... BUT ... I just like this clip ..... Billy Prince performing in Europe a week ago ........

Lots of Platters mid to late 60's cuts were originally indie Detroit soul tracks ... the vocals had been removed, new lyrics written, the musical track sent to NY and Sonny Turner (with studio based backing singers) asked to sing the new lyrics over the original backing track. Have no idea if this tune is one that received such a treatment BUT GUESS IT WAS.