Chalky

10 years time would only make me 50 Baz, do I have to retire then but who knows how long I've got left, could be 5, 10, 15 or 20 years, doubt my body will let me carry on as I do now but as long as I am here i care about what I want to hear and couldn't care about what might be. Can you in all honesty in ten years time see enough teens and 20 somethings dancing to music 50 plus years old along side dancers with zimmer frames old enough to be their great grand parents let alone their mums and dads Caledonia it was They seemed to be having a great night.

Went to Glasgow with Andy Dyson when he JD'ed up there, forget name of club now, but the crowd was pretty young with mods and students as well as your soulies but the music was in the main your traditional soul we hear week in week out. In fact Andys set had a full floor and dare say many of those at the night had probably never heard many of them before.

But I don't want change, not change to the point that some suggest. As I said it would have a detrimental efect in driving soulies like me away so what is the poiint? you would probably drive more away then you would gain IMHO And be honest with yourself, nighter scene is dying a slow death now, we are never going to get the youngsters in the numbers required onto the scene to sustain the nighter scene in 10 or 15 years time.

me neither Shane, just playin devils advocate as all we seem to be gettin is what we should be doing for the youngsters and forget about what we want

I don't think it does Baz. the funk and R&B Shane mentions probably has nowt in common with the traditional northern scene. Anyway why should this scene change to try and influence a few youngsters who in reality have no interest in Northern Soul long term? The aim is to try and get them into the music we love, what's the point giving them one thing then when it comes to a mainstream northern event give them something different they probably won't enjoy. Leave to their own music and let us get on with ours All this talk of change if it were to ever happen would probably have a detrimental effect as if you ask me it would keep the soulies on the scene now away from these events as they want the 60's and 70's soul they have now.

but what you suggest is moving away altogether fromm the norhern scene and I thought the idea was to get youngsters involved in northern there are already clubs out there thsat cater for what you mention Shane, pow wow being an example you cited...so what then is the point? we might as well just carry on what we are doing and let them there youngsters carry on with what they are doing

LaBeat, Thelma, Groovesville and many other Detroit labels

see plenty of passion and strength in many acts, Rolling Stones (who it's well documented there tastes lay in R& etc but doesn't make them soulful.

me neither unless you're not bothered as to what you hear at your local night. I wish venues local to me could or would play what I want to hear, wouldn't have to spend my time at weekends driving about the place, do enough of that in the week these days Unfortunately I still have to travel to satisfy my musical needs as do many others. I'd be happy with that 10% sometimes

I still travel all over Shane as sometimes have no choice as to what is on offer. I love the northern soul scene but it can get tiring and boring hearing the same records every week when it doesn't have to be the case. I'm not knocking the DJ's as such, there are plenty of good ones out there today, it's I just wish more would use some imagination and seek out many of the forgotten and underplayed records that are out there. DJs, well it's pretty well documented as to who my faves are but the venues I prefer to attend are places like Lifeline, Middleton, Wilton 100 Club (though not been down for sometime) etc...Greatsone was good and will have to get back there, Lowton is another good soul night with a wide range of DJs given the licence to play what ever suits them as is Piercebridge, plenty of others too I will no doubt have forgotten I was brought up in an era when most DJ's had to be different ands seek out different records, piush the boundaries I guess, supose thats spoilt me as that ideal is still what I crave.

anyway back to the question the 80's

I know many who have sourced most their stuff from net, expensive stuff as well and when I heard them couldn't put a set together to save their lives, just didn't flow, tempos all over the place. Sometimes the very fact thaty some get bookings is becaause they spend thousands not because of their ability to DJ.

it's getting the balance right of filling the floor and introducing some lesser known records, majority of venues it can't be done on masse, need to throw one in every few records and keep plugging away, but there are plenty of venues where you can offer something different and the reaction is there from the punters, Lifeline, Middleton, Greatstone, Wilton, 100 Club etc.

what I'm trying to say (not very well ) the majority of us can associate a record with a time in our lives, i.e venue, dj etc and that most of the records available these days, whatever the source, already have a place in our memories and that many of the DJ's these days you can't compare to eras past due to the fact they are all playing what the previous DJ's played, except for a small percentage who are lucky enough to have the right contacts. These days, certainly the past ten years or so too few DJ's prepared to use their imagination a bit and many have the sheep mentality and just follow the trends, rather than try and set a few trends, the records are out there if they look hard enough. Thats why I can't compare many of todays DJ's with DJ's of the past, when many used their imagination and had their own identity and playlist. As for common sense, that goes out the window much of the time

Rekindles memories the lists but not of the Dome. Dome was an excellent venue for first few years, good record bar and always worth travelling down for.

personally don't think the buying of records on the internet, makes a good dj, especially when they are all chasing and playing the same stuff. At least prior to the revolution in the mid 90's DJ's used their imagination, granted up to the late 80's records were there to be found still and thats not really the case these days but still loads of underplayed stuff out there to get a DJ's imagination working.

I think it all comes down to what era you grew up and who influenced your musical taste......

other side fantastic soul...

well seeing as the Jam bugger all to do with Northern then, shouldn't this be in freebasing, or better still on some mod forum

so you keep saying

It's the Ovations - What Did I Do Wrong on Vivid Sound

sings like a fish you've a way with words Pete I'll give you that

500 over the top too IMHO used to be £400 before all the copies turned up, for some strange reason the price then went up

absolutely superb piece of 70's soul