paultp

Thanks Pete, I think the link is in the full article. Cheers Paul

Thanks Harry & Diane, much appreciated.

Thanks Mike, much appreciated

Just looking at this again, you've asked for "dancers and original northern soul fans" to come to your small club - don't you already have any of either group? You seem to be trying to produce some sort of fake club just because the BBC want to come and film. What is your music policy? Is it going to be the same this Friday. What is it that you hope to gain from the BBC filming? More people coming to your club? It seems fairly small so if it was half decently promoted you ought to be able to fill it fairly easily. Ask yourself what you want out of it and then how you know that's what you're going to get. Saying that you'd be mad not to let the BBC come and film sounds like you are a bit star struck by the thought of it. Maybe you should ask yourself what their angle is, what there intended story line is. If you don't know, they may arrive, set up, film and interview away and seem like really nice people. But if their intended story line is "bunch of pensioners living in the past" or "fancy dressers dance weirdly to outdated music" you won't know until you see the 5 minutes of edited stuff on the local news. Their agenda might be "lovely little club needs promotion" but who'd want to watch that? i hope it goes well, but be careful what you wish for, you might just be promoting your club into a scene laughing stock without realising it. i know I'm wasting my breath but telly people have an agenda and they couldn't care less if they tread on people to produce what they want their end product to be.

Been there done that (about 15 years ago), the BBC were really nice on the phone initially but after a bit of pushing it turned out they just wanted to take the piss. Thankfully, I turned them down and our small club continued to be as obscure as we all liked it to be. Hope you have a better experience but at the end of it all they just want telly footage that is interesting to the general public. The general public tend not to be on the soul scene.

I didn't get as far as the Dan Penn CD, the first bit was so miserable and boring that I couldn't read any further.

I've promised myself that if I ever win the lottery I will open a record and coffee shop. I won't care if it steadily loses money and I won't let people in who are not vinyl geeks. I'll have a soulful singles corner just for NS. Bliss!

I got a mini-disc in the late 90's (I think) and when I got a mini hi-fi stack I made sure it had a mini-disc too. I remember going to Cleethorpes one year with a small sales box and before going I recorded the whole lot on to mini disc. When people didn't know a tune I asked if they would like to hear it, most looked blank and cast around for a deck, some thought I was taking the mick. Quite a few looked in amazement when I pulled out the mini-disc and a set of headphones. I numbered all the records to match the track number so I could whizz straight to it. Ahead of my time. I haven't used it for a while but might start recording again, they are still making the discs, just not the players.

Sorry for being an ignoramus, but when were these written?

I think if I saw someone in the street dressed like that I'd presume they were going to a fancy dress party. Still, every generation looks back to those before it; in the 70's there was a fad for dressing like people in the 40's and 50's, people would watch old films to see what was being worn then copy it, Glenn Miller got into the charts. Never gets mentioned now. These days when people talk about 70's fashions in the mainstream media they always roll out flares (loon pants anyone?) and afghan coats as that is what the middle class kids who went to University wore. I wouldn't have been seen dead in an Afghan coat FFS. Difference is now there are internet forums where the older generation can laugh and poke fun at youngsters who try and dress like they did 40 years ago, whereas in the 70's it was just your dad who told you that you looked ridiculous and talked all the way through top of the pops, etc. Funny old world. P.S. best of luck with "moderating" the site owner - made I laugh

I actually have some confidence that the film will be really good, much better than previous offerings, I'm looking forward to it. The problem is that the habitually uninformed mainstream media will treat it as a joke, ridiculing it as that short piece did. The last comment on it was "just time to dig out your flares then ....." Up to that point everything was positive and you could see the enthusiasm that Elaine has for the project, the desire to be as authentic as possible, then with one line some dull apprentice journalist's poor attempt at humour turns it into a joke.

Just watched a couple of the youtube films and they put the hairs on the back of my neck up! The dance floors in London must be a bit lively these days, would be tough for a 50plusser like me Well done to all involved, not just the film but getting kids to dance and hear the music.

Oh dear! Keep digging if you want but you're on your own.

Respect to you! Anyone who calls Keb a comedy mod is a brave man in my book. ( err ... and wrong obviously - I'm not agreeing here, no sirreee! )

The Northern Soul and Rare Soul scene (however you want to define it) is simply not an underground dance and youth culture. It was 40-odd years ago, but it isn't now - either underground or youth. In my limited experience, clubs in London tend to attract a mixed age group anyway. But if I were 17, saw some cool film/photos of young people (Keb excepted ) dancing acrobatically and then went down the 100 club expecting to see the place full of this sort of person - I would think I'd been conned! People who are attracted to the scene today by misrepresentation will hardly hang about. I think I said before somewhere that it would be preferable for young people attracted to the music and possibly a nostalgic view of the scene to buy a load of CDs and start up their own club, banning anyone over 30 from attending. They would have more fun, wouldn't have all the baggage of a scene that has been going over 50 years and could style it how they wanted. You might almost be able to call it a youth culture then. Maybe it is happening somewhere and us old gits don't know - I hope so.

Sorry, but how exactly is that "an honest view of the Northern soul scene" ?

That's the beef.

Nothings wrong with it Mike, but my take on it is that, in my experience, every time someone comes along to look up the skirts of Northern Soul they already know what they want to see and so that is what they will show regardless of what they actually see. My view of the scene is that it is made up of a slightly different set of people with a passion for something that the mainstream doesn't know about or understand; people that don't want to be mainstream. There is an edge about it and occasionally a coolness but that only wafts around the edges. Every so often the mainstream gets a sniff of it and wants a bit - each time they do they chip a bit off and then p*ss off. I was only half joking in my previous comment, I'd like to see someone take some pictures of what is happening now and portray things for what they are, interview some people and get a real feel for the scene now and also people's view of what it was and has been. Portray the love of the music and the allure of collecting records, the dancing is a big part of the scene but the last few times I went out it seemed a secondary issue to most - it is in your head but not necessarily still in your legs. There are tons of interesting characters about and the small crowd of people that regularly go to nighters (of which I am not and never have been one) are well worth photographing and interviewing. At a Cleethorpes in the early noughties Jo W nicked someone's video camera and interviewed people at random through the Saturday night. The result was incredible, funny and passionate footage - no idea where it has got to. Why can't one of these creative johnnies produce something like that? Answer - Because they have no idea what they are looking at. They deserve having the p*ss taken out of them.

"His new project will touch on the Northern Soul and Rare Soul scene." Surely he should be asking for some fat old bald blokes to stand around stroking their chins then?