Mike Lofthouse

Out of interest how did last years list fair Sean - did any make it big or at least get some spins?, Mike

I was in Durham NC a few weeks back - my grandson was born there on 23 Aug - and I stumbled across this exhibition at the History hub in the city centre. What a pleasant surprise and really well done, probably the best thing of its kind I have seen celebrating Black Music - and Soul particularly - in the US. Mike

Bettye Swann at Cleethorpes, the great Phillip Mitchell in Bilbao (what a wonderful show -fantastic venue, band and performance!) and now Debbie Taylor ! So in 2013 I will have heard performed live - 'Make Me Yours', 'There's Another In My Life' and 'I Don't Wanna Leave You' - three of my all-time favourites!

Dave - I had my ticket lined up for the Newcastle show....: Hi Michael The Debbie Taylor event at Hoochie Coochie last weekend was unfortunately cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. The organisers would like to pass on there sincerest apologies and make you aware a refund for the face value of the tickets has been processed. Please note this may take anywhere between 1-5days to clear into your account. Apologies for any inconvenience, The Skiddle Team

This has been the talk of Radio 4 lately, i think it works..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doz1QJ7LwjA

It's a floor packer at 'Just Soul' Ian

Exactly - they oversaw the the process and decided to 'bang 'em out' , but it was their choice and as such was part of the creative process - for better or worse Not waiting 40 years and adding football crowd noises to a perfect Aretha track and making it sound like Footsee complete with the Sheff Wed fans !!

Were they 're-edits' or 'remixes' ? and surely the contemporaneous re-mixes - for radio, 45 or 12 or whatever - were done by the original creative (and talented) people who had an input into the original creative process?

following on from Jocko's question - will he have a band backing him? I see the Blackburn ticket arrangements have been announced but no mention of a band - the tickets prices seem very reasonable for a a live act.

R.I.P.

'Pretty Little Sweet Thing' on Minit - one of the first soul 45's I was aware of via my brother's collection - still have it. R.I.P. Mike

A Mecca classic....R.I.P.

Thanks for posting these up Chalky - fantastic to watch them work. I have a Fender Telecaster and I don't even know which end to hold it Really looking forward to Saturday. Mike

Not a criticism of you Chalky - you were obviously passing the information on - its the confusion that is caused - he might not be playing Newcastle, now - who knows?

According to the Hoochie Coochie club website, he is also appearing on 9th Feb in Newcastle. Shame no one ever gets their ducks in a row whenever it comes to these things :o(

.

think I would of included 'Soul Serenade' too !

Do you believe it Sean ? - across the four Turbo albums and all the 45's there was only about 18 tracks used - I'm sure if they had other material they would of used at least some of it at the time if not to cash in later. Would be nice though

You don't often see this photo...nice change from the usual one...

some more images of various Linda Jones releases...

Well I would say that the Blackpool Mecca punters were the connoisseurs of the northern soul' including the many that went on to the Casino nighter. It was never Mecca OR Wigan until the Mecca switched exclusively to new release Soul or disco. As for slagging off, I would hardly say Pleasant but just like a thousand others" and "A Supremes rip-off" is slagging off ? and the quote about Eddie Foster is from a punters brother not Tony Cumming's brother, perhaps the person in question was in the know, maybe he stood on stage and saw it played like many did? Mike

I didn't think so and it is hard to judge anything with the benefit of 10-20-30-40 years hindsight. They were well written and gave an accurate picture of what was going on to the wider BM readership.

Tony Cummings was my favourite writer at the time - his in-depth pieces in BM were always something to look forward to. I thought the three articles he wrote about Northern Soul whilst provocative, were very well written and accurate. Mike

Fantastic set - have to have it! Just out of interest The Fantastic Violinaires I m Not Worried is also on 45 - wonderful track!

I was at the London show of Albert King, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. I have always attended all the Blues shows I can in the North East - Robert Cray at the Kirk (as well as Lowell Fulson and Louisiana Red). Joe Louis Walker and Sherman Robertson amongst others at Harveys in Stockton. Whilst I did not travel to Switzerland I saw Henry Gray upstairs in The Central in Middlesbrough. What does someone who likes Soul and Blues look like? how can you tell?