TheBigO

:-D Just a quick post until I can recover enough to send in a full report and photos later this week. The whole day was a great sucess and a fantastic atmosphere throughout, with many of the old faces coming down for this a celebration of Randys life and music. The auction and the raffle raised over £1400 for Cancer Research UK and Royal Marsden Hospital and the place was rocking right up until the Noise Police closed us down around 12.15am. Result!!!! On behalf of Taffy and both Terry&Paul Cozens Id like to express our sincere thanks and gratitude to everyone who attended and donated prizes. The big man, if he was looking down, would certainly have been smiling and I guess would have been very proud. Full report later - bath and a full recovery await. TheBigO

As promised heres a little taster of whats in the raffle for this Saturdays event in aid of the Royal Marsden Hospital...... * 15 pairs of tickets for the August Ritz Allnighter * Tickets for the next Drunken Monkey event * 4 pairs of tickets for the Northern Soul @ The Plinston Anniversary on Sept 5th * Full colour A3 repro of 60s soul concert posters * 50+ latest CDs from KRL, Kent and Richard Searling * Bee Cool books and a years subscription to Manifesto magazine * Baseball caps *The Strange World of Northern Soul DVD box set * Kent 45s * Auction items will include the wonderful James Brown rubber duck; Dave Godins original and stone mint copy of the greeting to the Tamla-Motown UK appreciation society etc 45 with Daves booklet The Detroit Reportand the memorial Tshirt in memory of our dear friend Randy. We are getting more stuff arrive every day and both Taffy and I would like to extend our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to everyone who has donated prizes. Also to Johnny T and everyone at the Valatone who are donating all their door money from their event this Saturday to the collection. Top men!!!!! If you cant make it to Saturdays event and would still like to take part in the raffle please mail us at: nh6tsmafia@aol.com, stating how many tickets you want (£5 for a sheet of 5) and we will make sure you are put into the draw. The same applies for those that want to bid on the 45, duck or Ts etc. Money must be with us by Monday morning at the latest. Address will be supplied. Right, thats it. Look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on Saturday between 12pm-1am for a great day. KTF TheBigO :up:

Further update on the alldayer - The raffle prize fund is growing (all proceeds going to the Royal Marsden Hospital as per Randys wishes) with donations coming from KRL records, Manifesto, Dave Rimmer, Dave Godin, Richard Searling, Keith Hammond to name but a few. The prize fund includes latest CDs, back issues of Togetherness and Soulful Kinda Music fanzines, Videos of Rare Soul Acts from the 60s, Rare Soul books etc etc. There will be an auction on some of the tasty items including the Motown Greetings to the UK supplied by Dave Godin and the booklet of Daves trip to the Motor City (a lot of interest in this so far!); original Stax publicity cards and, my fave and newly arrived, the James Brown Rubber Duck (and NO I am not kidding!!!) To maximise the money raised we will be allowing those that may be just visting the dayer for a few hours to make their bids early or they may phone in to place a phone bid. A full list of the auction items will be published here later this week. So, please dig deep and help us to raise as much money as possible. The hospital needs it and will be grateful of anything they recieve. Laters TheBigO p.s: Special T shirts will be available on the day as well

Late last night I got the news from Taffy of the passing away of our good friend Randy Cozens after a battle with cancer. I am sure that there will be many of you who will be shocked at the news. All of us here in Letchworth wish to pass on our heartfelt and sincere condolences to his family and friends and we are all deeply upset at the loss of one of own. Randy’s last wish was for the Alldayer to go ahead no matter what happened to him and we will do our best to ensure that it will be a suitable fitting event for a truly top man. Rest in peace Randy – one in a million.

Under the banner of This Thing Of Ours Presents.....Maxine, The Mob & Me! the line-up of DJs has been confirmed and a fantastic weekend of Northern Soul in the capital city of this great nation of ours looks set to be in store. To recap: Saturday July 28th at Ye Olde Rising Sun in Chase Side, Southgate, London N14 is the venue for 13 hours of across the board SOUL from 12pm-1am with a line-up that is sexier than the girls from the Bada-Bing Club doing the wild thing with each other....Taffy, Dave Greenhill, Stuart Russell, Itchycoo Mark, Ady Croasdell, Steve Gaunori, Roger Stewart, Chris Forest, Marco, Ion, Rob Holmes, Tony Smith, Mick Smith, Jo Wallace, TheBigO, Dave Greet, Mike Ritson, John Farrel, Ivor Jones, Teff, Bevy, Valatones Johnny T and Trixster - spinning Northern, Modern, Crossover, R&B. This is a free event in aid of raising funds, at Randy Cozens (the main man behind Soulgate events) request, for the Royal Marsden Hospital and in all likelyhood will be the last event under the This Thing Of Ours banner after 18 glorious years. A full house is expected as always and another fantastic day/night looks set to be in store. All are welcome to eperience the magic and to see why this is always a MUST event on the London soul scene. If that wasnt enough there is also the chance to do a spot of venue hopping as Johnny Ts Valatone night is also on and there is the 100 Club Allnighter on straight after to carry on the good times. Ye Olde Rising Sun is situated right next door to the Southgate tube and a mere 10 mins straight drive from the M25, Potters Bar turning, down the A111. Record dealers and raffle prizes are also amongst the attractions on offer but it is the unique atmosphere and the great soul sounds that really make people keep coming back again and again. Be there! TheBigO :up: Further Info: Taffy on ian.guy@ntlworld.com or nh6tsmafia@aol.com

:up: 2 weeks before the next soulful night at North Herts Biggest Rare Soul event and the phone lines are begining to light up! Its another 3 room packer with Taffy, Nathan and Soul Sam doing the business in the upstairs Modern/Crossover room (The Ghetto); Fingers, Ab, Leon and TheBigO in the R&B/RnS room (The Mojo Room) with special guest Dave Edwards and Hammie, Fingers, TheBigO joined by those 2 lovely cuddly allround soulful bunnies Tony Warot and Pete Hulutt in the Main Hall for 6 hrs of current Monsters, Forgotten Oldies and anthemic Crossover - Oooooh er! Full details can be found under the events listings and look out for the gallery of pics taken at the last event being posted later today (if I can get the b****y thing to upload :-x ) See ya on the night.

Dust off your copies & prepare for the price hike. Seen in London last night, latest KFC ad featuring the Easter Bunny & Roadrunner followed by Laura Green Moonlight,Music & You. Not sure but think there was a football match being played at night? Only caught the end after dashing in from the kitchen from cooking chicken ( honest I kid you not!)

:-) Well just a few more weeks before the next Northern Soul @ The Plinstoncomes round again and time to start the build-up. As many people have requested it we have now made available the option to reserve tickets on the door with the Sinister Sisters (Jane, Kay, Jenny, Sarah)for those that dont have a credit card. All you need to do is call Jane on 01462-731543 and let her know how many and in which name and they will be waiting with the girls on the night. They will be held at the reserved price of £5 (not the £6 otd price) and the May 9th tickets are available now. The Box Office will still take credit card orders on 01462-672003. *Please note the November 7th event has been moved to November 14th due to factors outside of our control and the confirmed guest in the Main Hall will be Mick H.

:-P Yes, at last the latest Rare Soul Trading Card in honour of our 2 special guest DJs - Tony Warot&Pete Hulutt - are now out in the soulful domain. Limited to less than 100 these will become collectors items and change hands for lots of money (no, honest they will!) Keep an eye out for them at venues or check out the gallery to see what you are looking for. Next card is Andy Rix as youve never seen him advertised before!!!!!! Tee Hee :-D hit this then the thumbnails to view in full glory!

Waking this morning looking like an extra from Mr Jacksons Thriller video and smelling something akin to a Turkish wrestlers jockstrap, I thought it only right to post a few notes on last nights Crossfire event in London. (Forgive the briefness of the review but to be honest I need more SLEEEEEEP!) So, here we go with the main points: packed in all rooms (800 approx in), atmosphere was great, the DJs did us proud with just one great track after another (and Andy Rixs gets a special mention for managing to really p*** me off for playing a great unissued version of Sam Fletchers Id think it over (more uptempo) by the writer of the song which I will never be able to own, caress, love, hold etc etc!!!!), loads of laffs, free buses to the 2nd venue (which due to kids I couldnt attend but heard was just as good). All in all a top notch stonking night. My only moan was that the dancefloor was RAMMMING which meant that an old git like me, who throws his arms and legs around with all the grace of a Dervish on acid, couldnt move as freely as he wanted. :-x That said well done to all involved, well done for the crowd turning up in numbers and roll on the next night! TheBigO * Oh, one point for all the doubters and supporters of certain other promoters in London that night. I congratulated Ady C on a great night and turn-out and he was gracious enough to say that the Rocket looked like they were busy as well which was good. There speaks a TRUE SOUL BROTHER!!!! Ya listening Levine?!? A few pics to follow.

Just a quick note to remind all those soul boys&girls out there in cyber land that this weekend sees the 17th annual SOUL weekender at Ye Olde Rising Sun (located in the high street), Southgate from 11am-11.30pm. Entry is FREE and there are a whole host of groovy DJs giving their service free in aid of Randy Cozens birthday, inc Ady C, Mike Ritson, the Letchworth boys (Mick Smith, Taffy and TheBigO) and a whole load more. SOUL SOUL and more SOUL is the order of the weekend and they are always a riot (and we mean exactly that!!) So give Londons best kept secret a try and come and experience Soulgate for yourself and find out why regulars have been flocking back year after year to hear anthems like Teddy Pendergrass I just called to say; Millie Jackson Dont send nobody else, Bobby Kline Say something nice to me...the list goes on and on and all played at Southgate first before being picked up on the nighter scene. See ya there - TheBigO