Timbo58

Obviously I'm very biased, but we were chuffed to bits to have 82 in at West Wilts Soul Club. I'd be very pleased to hear anyone else thoughts of WWSC -we aren't too precious to take criticism and lord knows we had microphone issues (now under examination!) but hopefully everyone who came felt it was well worth the door fee and journey. It's a small club and 70 ish is a normal night usually, although we have a 120 capacity with the ratio of dancers/sitters we were lucky to have it would have been a very crammed floor with too many more! I think most people were comfortable with being asked just to respect each others space, we had the air con on (although it didn't feel like it! Some tweaks to do next time to reflect the build up of dancers heat I think) and hand sanitisers dotted about also. I was especially chuffed to see such a large travelling contingent from all over, it's taken us nearly 4 years of really hard work to get such a large number of 'week in week out' dancers (as opposed to the once or twice a year casual attendees) and it seems to be paying off. I had some nice feedback so far, so hopefully we'll see all the new faces again when we have our 2nd event this year on November 27th. I'm not sure what any new government rules will entail fromSeptember, although we will, as ever, be seeing what's going on at the myriad of events we'll be going to before then and adopting what we feel is 'best practice'. Thanks again to the dancers, chatters and of course our resident DJs, and regulars and most of all our own 'Mrs Woods' Katie who polices the door & floor with ruthless efficiency!

I think it depends who's saying it. If it's someone who 'gets it' knows what they're talking about etc then it's twee but ok. If it's a johnny come lately who doesn't know 'nowt about owt' then it's laughable crap. As for 'div/divvy' yes, use that all the time and have since school in the 70's pretty much.

most disappointing for me was Geno Washington at Ryde theatre many years ago. I've frequently been pleasantly surprised by acts who I've chanced upon doing a great live act and who I expected to be crap, but I had high hopes and received what was basically a mediocre pub singer on stage, it wasn't a cheap gig either. I've heard far better karaoke, and I'm not kidding. Only artist I have seen repeatedly (RIP) and who never, ever disappointed (even in godawful venues like Ryde ice rink or tiny nightclubs, or even in our local park!) was Edwin Starr.

That is a right bobby dazzler and ready willing and able to be played out of my box anytime! I predict big things for this disc.

spot on Len.

'soul police' jesus. Just accept that some people have different wants than you do. I just wish those that don't play ov would be honest about it -after all if 'no one cares' they haven't got anything to lose have they?

Yes, although there was at least one other original vinyl soul DJ there, he was mightily cheesed they got the limelight for a digital set however.

I'd agree, in theory, but to be fair I don't care what other events do other than they should be upfront & honest about what their music policy is to allow those who do care about what they're listening/dancing to to make their own choices whether to attend at all, simply hiding behind a 'if we don't mention it no-one will notice' isn't being honest.

No, we don't allow non legitimate releases either. It's not about the 'soul police' - It's about being genuine & honest basically, with yourself and your audience. I, as a promoter, want to treat people the same way I want when I travel anywhere -whether that's 10 miles or 1,000 miles - I want to be safe, comfortable, and get good value for money and a major part of that, to me, is not being cheated by misrepresentation. That means if the flyer/advert states OVO I expect all records played, rare or common, cheap or expensive to be original 1st releases, no ifs or buts. I don't expect to like them all or even agree they're all 'northern', and I fully expect (and want) to hear new sounds (to me), I like to be stretched in my ideas over soul music and to be reaching for a shazam and discogs lookup a few times a night! Yes, I put a lot of money up front, my risk, I don't expect to make a profit -we never do as we plough anything back into making the club better, even if we did, frankly making £200ish profit for a hard nights work split between 6 people 'in the co-op' isn't the way to get rich! I actually had some cheeky git looking in the (fairly full) cash box once -I pulled a load of paper out of my pocket and asked him if he'd like to see the receipts for the hall, flyers, guest DJ hotel & fees too! As for the promoter alone being responsible for what DJs play (residents or guests) I disagree, the person responsible is the person who puts the needle on the record and if the policy is OVO then that's clearly understood and as a DJ too, I wouldn't expect to get ask to play again for anything against that done intentionally. I also understand the argument that an OVO event shouldn't even have to say OVO -but unfortunately how many reissue/bootleg/cd/mp3/anything goes events then are honest enough to say 'not playing OVO' on their adverts? That'll be none then, if they were THAT sure they were acting honestly with every punter then why not say so? It would save the people who've just tried your event out rather than going to a pukka night elsewhere wasting their time and money and you can be assured you wouldn't get any 'soul police' 'chin strokers' so everyones a winner.

What a great voice Freddie Jackson has though!

Sure there are plenty of punters (dare I even say the majority at many places?) who'll not care if the record they're appreciating at a venue is original vinyl, official issue vinyl, fake vinyl, cd, mp3 or cassette! (in that order sliding scale I should imagine too). BUT There are plenty of travelling soul fans (by which I mean getting in your car and driving an hour or more -I know that's a shock to some -but many, like me, have to travel at least 30 miles to go to a pukka venue, my own club excluded, natch) who DO care very much and frankly if a venue wasn't, at the very least, playing genuine vinyl (legitimate re-issues) I would feel distinctly cheated -seriously I would, and I can include all of the crowd we meet up with at these places too. One of the overwhelming reasons we decide to go to a new venue (to us) is because we want to support what they're doing in the hope they'll do the same for us in return, few of these choices are made because there's nowhere else we want to go to -so you're burning your bridges by making such choices and that heightens the disappointment of course. I've actually walked out of these places and let the promotor know why before now, sure most shrug their shoulders and point to the full dance floor, but it's the same as a dodgy market trader pointing to his bulging wallet to me -a total sham carried out increasingly by people who'd rather make money from fakery than provide a genuine product. I know some take the piss -but's that why I'll defend the rights to any promoter to put 'ovo' or 'vinyl only' on their flyers/adverts, whilst I agree the default should be OVO, there are too many bandwagon jumpers to enable the poor sod choosing where to go to have a fair choice, be honest -if it's vinyl only say so, if you're going to play ska -say so, if it's got no dance floor -say so! Those that care can thank you and go elsewhere, those that don't care can enjoy the company of like minded individuals.

I have to say I don't understand why anyone would buy a boot deliberately just because it's cheap. The sound quality is almost always absolutely dire, you can't play them out at any self respecting venue (certainly not a OV venue) and if you only want the track for home use why not download it/ get it on CD?

Use a VPN- you can download and use one for a small sum annually, it'll then allow you to fake your IP location to any country. We watch Italian/French TV all the time by this means and we'll probably use it for watching British TV from wherever we retire to later.

Geno Washington at the IOW ryde theatre about 15 years back. Awful, like a semi coherent pub singer on the karaoke. Even the most amateur of tribute acts did their performance with more gusto & talent.

Reading Simon's words made me smile. Gone too soon.

The track I span to a good reception last weekend was 'I called you back baby', a wonderful upbeat track with hints across the soul spectrum and even a little hip-hoppy to my ears anyway. Great album.

always a belter of a show and tonight's no different.

I like jelly is it lemon & lime?

St Ives sold out 1/3rd of it's tickets in the first week after the previous one this year, I really don't think you'll get a better vote of confidence than that. Be careful with some of the southern European ones though -dancing on tiles to laptop jockeys isn't everyones cuppa.

It smacks of arrogance when there are so very many clashes. Even here in the south established events with booked and properly advertised* events up to a year in advance are finding themselves with a clash no more than a dozen or so miles away. When we first set up the club nights we are now running I was absolutely determined not to clash with anyone within 60 miles, but I am afraid some of those are no longer on my 'don't clash with XX' list simply because they've taken no heed of our nights on and booked months before they bothered. *i.e. on SS and FB pages for all to see.