Hooker1951

Seasons Greetings and Peace and Tranquility to Mike and the Soul Source crew for running a top site. God Bless Mick L

We are all Doomed. !

Why talk about the first 3 they should be good anyway as well as the next 22 the whole hour should be good start to finish or that should be the aim to entertain the crowd and take them on a journey of musical delight away from reality just like it was when you first started out on the Soul highway of life , There is far to much of stop, start, good record bad record no flow to a set killing the vibe, The music should set the pace The DJ should be good at driving the course I'm afraid a great many DJ,s can't do that , They might have a few good records, but they lack skills in building atmosphere and reading a crowd, It becomes all about them at the expense of the SOULIES. The whole Scene needs a reality check to get it back on course. You can't always make it perfect but you could make it much better than it is if people faced up to Reality. The Music is fantastic And I mean proper Soul music it's the people involved in delivering it what,s the let down A very Happy and Soulful Christmas Mick L

The best laid plans of Mice and Men " Don't give them any cheese" Mick L

If I'm not mistaken our own heavyweight boxer from the early 1960,s the original blonde bomber Billy Walker made a popcorn record or two' copies of American originals , Mick L

I never knew what I was going to play first last or in the middle it all depended on the crowd in the venue, what kind of mood were they in, what time you were on, As a live act DJ you should be able to adjust to the above and adjust accordingly what your going to play if you can't do that you shouldn't be deejaying get a job on the Radio, I've said it before and I will say it again it's not the jokes it's the way you tell them , Sometimes it's not the tunes it's the way you play them and what order you play them in, I'm afraid the truth is a great many DJ,s can't do this they rely on a few so called big tunes to save their spot instead of giving the audience or at least trying to give them a full hour which the SOULIES deserve. keep on Pressing on Mick L

If alcohol doesn't suit you don't drink it, If drugs don't suit you don't swallow them , but don't be judgemental on people who can handle their drink and drugs behave theirselfs and have fun , If you start that game you might as well join your nearest evangestical vegetarian club, If your a good promoter you would not wear aggravating drunks or people smashed of their heads upsetting people , if these things happened at my promotions they were removed from the premises as discreetly as possible so as not to disturb decent people, it's not what goes wrong it's how you handle it, There were always alcohol free venues years ago that were successful, but that was when we were all a lot younger with tetesterone and adrenaline to spare plus the advantages of mothers little helpers if you wished to participate. Move on to the present, You now have the choice of a alcoholic drink in most venues to socialise or relax nobody pours it down your throat, or if your still up for the other stuff good luck to you, But let's not start preaching and teaching it's too late in the day for that Peace and Tranquility Mick L

Hi Roburt Interesting about the Canadians backing American artists around this time, I went to see Chuck Berry live at the Cavern circa February or early March 1967 and his backing band were the Canadians, I was always curious about who they were at the time ML

Hi Steve Lets shoot all the DJ.s ,shoot all the Record dealers, declare year zero for Soul and start again, But in another 50 years you would probably find that we would be back in the same position, The best Music in the World ( Soul Music) is there to be loved and appreciated, It is Human beings what let it down . When anything in this world is successful, The parasites follow, Greedy Promoters, Egotistical wannabe DJ.s ,Selfish Venue Owners, Punters who have forgot about the music, Cynical snobbish know all,s, Like I said The Music will always be good it is the Human element what lets it down. The Music is bigger than any Promoter , any DJ, Any Record Dealer, Just remember that we didn't make the music , The music made us what we are for better or worse? Mick L

1967 was one of my favourite years in Soul music, half the charts at the time in the uk at the time was soul orientated, There were soul clubs in every town in the North west , there was allnighters on every weekend no more than 20 miles from where you lived. Is was a real live underground soul scene in 1967 probably peaking from 63, 64, 65, 66, I was 16 at the time, it was a majic time for Soul !You would have had to be there to feel it, I wouldn't have missed it for nothing what a time for Soul ML

I worked on Silcocks waltzer in these years and we had 90per cent of all the above records , great times with great music ML

More bad news, somebody needs to put a spanner in that conveyor belt, slow it down a little, RIP Dave ML

That's terrible news Michael . I do remember there were two Merseyside specials on in 1963 one in July and one later n in the year featuring The Big Three Billy j Kramer n Dakotas, Lee Curtis and the All stars , Searchers ect with the Beatles topping both shows ML

I've never seen any re runs of (Thank your Lucky Stars)Granada production, early to mid 1960,s every Saturday evening 6pm hosted by the late Brian Matthews every other week there would be a American R n B artist or group mid programme it would be great to see some of those again, I'm old enough to remember and watch first time round the Ready Steady Go specials Tamla revue , Otis reading show ect and always remember an Old Grey Whistle test showing a clip of Tommy Neil singing Going to a happening, Of course two of the greatest Rock n Roll shows ever recorded live on Granada were the Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis shows featuring The Shirrelles, Gene Vincent, with Sounds incorporated backing band back in 1964 were saved thank God and can still be seen Remember the Good Times ML

In Retrospect in the current state of NS, There are a great many factors what have led to its position today. The Fragmentation of the scene, IE , How deep do the punters visiting venues really love their music , Are they visiting a venue to enjoy the music top of the list or to meet old friends, or for that nostalgic feeling triggering past memories , or a mix of all , some will prioritise one before the other, there is a absence of energy in many venues these days that obviously is a lot to do with people ageing which in a lot of cases brings on cynicism besides losing the physical energy a potent mix at best. The DJ,s in many occasions don't seem to be able to tell the jokes in the right order or the tunes, and so the energy of the music is not hitting the dance floor or the listeners for that matter enough to kick the vibe in, I as a promoter always tried to make my venues exciting and dynamic so people would remember that night and I would like to think that at least some of the time I succeeded, All these pointers add up to a formidable obstacle to overcome to get things right, Can it be done? Yes but only with a great deal of effort and not just living in the past, kind Regards ML

It's sad to say but it is the truth , When I have promoted together with various friends Soul nights and all nighters, alldayers ect, I have moved my dates on many various occasions when asked to do a favour for another promoter , I can tell you now that favour was never ever returned', ML

In total agreement with you on this one , No original thinking here just plagiarism following the easy route to collecting or dj'ing even if it costs more money , Pretty sad really, It's much easier being yourself and that you found or were instrumental in pushing a sound ML

Let's face it its all over, there are more NS DJ,s than soldiers in the Chinese army, pretend ones anyway,There are more soul nights on than nights in a week, you can't go for a safe walk through your own town at night now without the risk of getting mugged with a local soul night, The best music in the world watered down to suit the plebs and conform with Mr and Mrs Average , It's not their fault , it's just the way our society works , they outnumber us 100 to 1 but we don't want to be Mr and Mrs Average that's what makes us different, So maybe before we get carried away with all these suicidal thoughts about NS we should realise that there are people on here that are singing of the same hymn sheet what do agree with what's going on its finding some kind of strategy if their is one that's the problem , This problem is affecting True SOULIES happiness and Action is needed , Ideas anyone? ML

Let's all take a cyanide capsule each and end it all before all these soul nights gang up together and kill us all with bad tunes, { Enjoy yourself it's later than you think} ML

If you've got soul you will feel it if you haven't Lord have mercy and n your soul simple as that ML

In other words the proper soul music is and will always be fantastic it's the people who are knackered, cynical, and opinionated that's what happens when you get old if you let it Remember all the Good times the rest don't matter ML

Hi Roburt There were roulette tables , card games and full gambling area upstairs in Mr M,s aka the palais suite right at far end of the club, I worked there from 1970 till 73. As a doorman actually lived in the club slept in it for a short while in between homes was there when Gerry Marshall took full ownership and changed the palace to Mr M,s aka Mr Marshalls a typical Saturday night on stage would be a juggler, fire eater , country western singer, followed by a top of the bill example Solomon King, Lou Christie, ect , While in the Empress Ballroom it would be Club Soul till around Midnight and then local beat groups interspersed with local pop tunes Friday nights would be American Soul Artists in the Empress Ballroom , Edwin Starr, Artur Conley , Jimmy Ruffian ect who ever was on the circuit. At the time I was actually at the club the first Day Mike Walker was taken on he Did a bit of DJ.ing in the Beachcomber for the kids Monday and Friday's until 11pm I actually sent him to the record shop for him to buy me a copy of Chairman of the board by Chaitman of the board Russ was not on the scene at that time kind Regards ML

I Did say let's not go there! ML

I visited myself on 3. Occasions to the fabled 100 club and was very disappointed 3 times it was hit and miss, more miss and the punters a good percentage of them were far from being hard core SOULIES , one night I visited there was a little gang shooting water pistols at one another in the cloakroom, these individuals visited some of the promotions up North and frankly were at the bottom of the pile but they wouldn't dare of behaved like that up here, I was surprised at the time with the lack of atmosphere it felt totally mis mash and definitely didn't get you there this was early 1990's it might just of bad luck on my part I chose those nights but I don't think so, Emperors New Clothes comes to mind ML