Hooker1951

Let’s just get back to dark dingy clubs with sweat dripping from walls and ceilings , Strong Soul music blasting out where you can just about make out a person if they are directly in front of you when dancing, where you can get lost in the music doing your thing for yourself and not for the cameras, let’s go back and feel the vibe like it used to be and not what it’s now become, a watered down version to suit the pretenders and part timers, let’s get the Soul back. MickL

The best I can remember were black bombers given to overweight housewives at the time, they were very clean and effective at the time in 1969 and 1970 they cost 5 Bob each 25 p in todays money they lasted a full 24 hours full on energy happiness, and euphoria, even with inflation that means todays prices would make them around £5 each what great value for your money, ML

Hi Roburt Yes I knew a lot of people who did that and then the music became secondary ML

Hi Martin You should have said to him, and who gave you the monopoly on the wisdom of NS dancing?

Hi Chris Put it this way, those still there at 8 am have not lasted with pure adrenaline, especially when they are in their 60,s and 70,s, or they have no where to live, and I doubt Holland n Barret have anything on their shelves to help, LoL, Mick L

There is no doubt about it, the music sounds better, the conversation feels easier, if you’re still in good shape you can move on the dance floor better, what’s not to like? LoL, except maybe be next day? I Would guess at a nighter these days percentage wise 70 % still have a touch of something compared to 95 % back n the day , Each to their Own, before we get all the never did it brigade LoL, MickL

Amateur gymnastics for me on a dance floor, only looks good visually to people who don’t really understand what Soul music is all about, most of the time it looks shallow and false, doing the same moves at the same speed to music that is changing pace and tempo is not really a good look, I used to love dancing but there were a lot of tunes I just couldn’t get up for, so for me rather than get up and go through the motions I would sit them out and wait for something I thought anyway suited my style of dancing either fast or slow as long as I could feel it mattered to me not people watching, if they did and liked it fair do,s but it’s what I felt what mattered, and I think it shows when it’s real and your enjoying it from inside out, Mick L

This wasn’t a bad experience more a funny one really, it was a one off all-nighter in Rotherham , I think it was in a village hall or a one storey building used for the local parish events, if my memory serves me right either there were wives of ex miners welfare or the the local parish helping out with refreshments etc, anyway it was about 30 years ago, When we got there around 2am there was the usual rumours the Police might be raiding it because they were not to pleased that the place had been given a license to have a nighter, btw no alcohol there just tea coffee and sandwiches, So the night was going ok then around 4am the police arrived about 4am around 30 of them entered through the front door all linking arms in a line they entered the main room still linked together went into the men’s toilets still linked together as they were going out they were passing their comrades still coming in they then came back through the main room across the dance floor out through the door , the front door without stopping, it was hilarious, I was expecting them to break into song like a Gilbert n Sullivan opera Happy Days or should I say Happy Nights Cheers Mick L

It’s not a negative thread in no way shape or form, it’s just telling it like it is, and in some cases getting it of your chest , you’ve got sometimes to have had the lows to appreciate the highs, and your right it also brought out good memories and photos and maybe be able to laugh now at things at the time seemed pretty awful at that the time Mick L

Hi Frost byte 1963 was the stones breakout year, at the time they idolised Bo Didley and Chuck Berry, they were on a run at that time , Ready steady go , Saturday club etc , and would probably of jumped through hoops at the time to be involved with Bo didley to be backing him up would be fantastic for their Street cred at that time, and I would suspect Brian Matthews who hosted the show would have an hand in it, It certainly paid off their 3 rd single January Not Fade Away with a distinctive Bo didley beat was a big hit for them. Mck L

What a load of rubbish, pathetic , come on we are all better that surely if not let’s bring it to an end now before we all committed suicide. ML

Craig was a lovely guy, always happy, and a good vibe about him , another character gone but never forgotten Mick L

We have all over the years visiting various All Nighters around the country and for the most part had great and happy experiences, but odds being the way they are, there must be a time and a place where events to a turn for the worse and it became a All nighter to remember for the wrong reasons either Serious or Funny, It could be the Music, Attitude, Police, bad chemicals.etc etc , or just a Comedy of errors, Your Thoughts, or just get it of your Chest Mick L

Listening to American music on Radio Luxenbourg on an old transistor dansette radio in 1963 and preferring their music to ours, hearing the early Tamla sounds , ie Velvelletes, Marvin Gaye, Miracles, etc etc,then in 1964 the pirate stations Radio Caroline north, and Radio London playing loads f American R n B, and Tamla all through the night sounds you would never here over here ,same years listening to local beat groups who in their sets nearly always played their versions of American music, Then in 1965 going to my first all Niters Room at the Top Wigan in Wigan every week for Two years nothing but Soul played there Club Soul Stax Atlantic Motown, etc , Then working on the fairgrounds where at least 50% of the music was soul oriented by that time in was ingrained in me, The Best Music in the World. Mick L

Rose tinted glasses and plenty pairs of them

Hi Wiggy You are totally right about the bouncers being in Crown court the week before the all-nighters started I was one of them, It caused d a fallout at the time with Gerry Marshall the manager and owner of the club, as a result indirectly it resulted in RW and Mike Walker being projected into the Casino hall of fame I’ve spoke to Chalky aka Karl at length about this story, trust me it’s true, but let’s leave the memories as they are and move on ,I was also a patron of the Room at the Top a much more underground soul club at the time running arable leith the wheel 1965 to 68, it was Mr M.s formally the Palais . Had more cabaret on , the Empress ballroom when big acts were on Little Richard , Edwin S , Jimmy R.etc etc as a rule who ever performed at Wigan performed at Bolton Casino the same night or a week later the same consortium owned both clubs till Gerry took sole ownership of Wigan in 1972 when the Palais became Mr M,s or Mr Marshall Gerry,s second name, Soul music and soul groups had been played at the Casino from the mid 1960,s more so since the closure of the Room at the top in 1968 69, KR Mick L

Hi Chatty Very innocent in a lot of respects , Wearing your heart on your sleeve and having a good time no hidden agendas, just loving and living life to the full without harming a soul or a Soulie LoL, same as in all the venues before and all the venues that followed, ML

Give it a rest for Gods sake, there were better things before the Casino and much better since, and im from Wigan worked n the door at the Casino before the Allniters and slept in the Casino when I’d no where else to live, if you enjoyed it great, good luck to you and cherish the memories, it was their first rite of passage into the scene but maybe I’m cynical Rose tinted glasses come to mind, there has been a lot good music played since ML

Here,s another 20 of the cuff, Marv Johnson Oh how I miss you baby, Donny elbert little piece of leather, Capitols cool jerk, James brown sex machine, Eddie Floyd things are getting better, Jonny Johnson breaking down the walls of heartache, Brenton Wood , gimme a little sign , Judy Clay William bell private number, Arthur Conway Sweet soul music , funky broadway, Joe benson n Peggy Scott dancing with the soul shake on, Edwin Starr War, Jimmy Ruffin Baby you’ve got it, Jackie Wilson higher n higher, Pj Proby Nick hokey, Miracles goin to a go go, Chairman of the board , singing chairman f the board, Ben e king Amor, Tams hey girl don’t bother me, velvelletes needle in a haystack , I could go on forever KR Mick L

They can have the so called best and rare records in the world if they don’t play them in the right order for the crowd in front of them their spot is meaningless and forgotten you might remember a record but not the spot, A spot lasts an hour not 5 minutes , I’ve said it before and I will say it again it’s not the jokes it’s the way you tell them. KR Mick L

I can give you twenty records right of the cuff that were played on the waltzer I worked on in 69 70 and 71 they were Boogaloo party, Flamingos, Going to a happening Tommy Neil, Breakout Mitch Ryder, Soulful dress Sugar pie de Santo,. She’ s looking good Wilson Picket version,Twsting the night away Sam Cooke, Question mark and the mysterions 96 tears, Eddie Floyd Knock n wood, Lee Dorsey Ride your pony, Chiffons He’s so fine, and Sweey talking guy,, Checkmates Proud Mary. Otis reading I can’t turn you Loose, Guns of Navorone, and Al Capone Prince buster, Roy C shotgun Wedding , Four Tops Sugar pie Honey bunch and Same old Song, Temptations Cloud nine , I can’t get next to you, and Ball of confusion , could go on forever, Fantastic memories KR Mick L

What Russ w never discovered was his wallet to pay people that he owed, there has been 42 years of much better Soul since the Casino closed its doors and I’m from Wigan ML

Hi Ian good choice and add turning my heartbeat up a pop record if their was one no soul in it whatsoever, sorry if that upsets anybody, but a top of the pops record for sure ML

Great tune Martin it will last forever ML