Ian Dewhirst

Yeeeeaaaaayyyyy! Back with a vengeance! I'm INSPIRED!!!! That's what a few days in Prestatyn, hearing some great music and making some great contacts will do for you LOL.... A rockin' show coming up this week. It's Mothers Day for a start so I'll be nice to all females (but especially my mum), there'll be a Prestatyn report and there's a strong rumour that EMS stalwart Gary Lee will drop by to see how it's done with oldies LOL...... Like this Gary...... The Isley Brothers, Randy Crawford, Jose Burgos feat Kenny Bobien, The Realm feat Tony Momrelle, DJ Kawasaki, Armed Gang, Status 1V, Lady Peachena, Private Eye, John White, Ashford & Simpson, Gladys Knight & The Pips, The Supremes & The Four Tops, Mel & Tim, Loleatta Holloway, Charles Russell, Johnny Taylor, Sharon McMahon, Mariah Carey/Atomix, Perception, Deborah Cox, Ivan Matias and The Intruders Will be fun folks! Gary's on tomorrow night for his new show so make sure you keep it www.starpointradio.com. 2.00pm sharp folks. This one's a goodie! Ian D PS Many thanks to Steve Handbury, Steve Jeffries and Ian Nichol for some brill sessions! Prestatyn was a gas!

LOL, what did we expect with a thread entitled 'Northern Soul Snobs'. I detest snobs in real life because most of 'em are arrogant prats who couldn't have a good time if they tried. But I don't seem to mind Northern Soul Snobs for some reason. It must be the elite training we go through or something.......... Ian D

Yep, could be fun Tony. He still performs regularly in New York so he'll be a total pro I reckon.......... Ian D

That's along the lines of what I was thinking Reg. Plus I sold a Joe Bataan record to Ady not so long back so he's a fan for sure. Joe Bataan doing a Latino-Soul LIVE set for the first-time ever in the UK at Cleggy in the middle of Summer? Nah? Too good to be possible...........? Are ya there Ady? Ian D

I just got an e-mail from Joe Bataan saying he's coming to the U.K. in mid June to appear at the Red Bull Music Academy and do a couple of London gigs @ Cargo on the 10th and 11th June and he's asked me to ask around and see if anyone's interested in doing some more shows around that time. Very surreal. I tried to get Joe over here when I put out the Joe Bataan Salsoul anthology a few years back but it didn't happen unfortunately. However, he loved the anthology and we kept in touch. I was wondering whether he could maybe do a Latino Soul type set for the Northern crowd? Anyone who's interested should drop me a PM and I'll bounce any enquiries over to Joe. It will almost certainly be the only time he'll play the UK and I think it would be a gas if he could do some of the more uptempo 60's Northern Latino tunes which he probably hasn't performed for a while. So any of you Latino-Soul lovers out there should get yer thinking hats on! Appearances, gigs, P.A.'s whatever - I'd love to see Joe get a warm welcome in the U.K. as he's one of the true greats and it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Also, what would be a good set for him to do? His repertoire runs from 60's Latino Soul through 70's Soul and even to 80's Latino Rap LOL. Plus the instrumental of "The Bottle (La Botella)" of course. Could this be up anyone's street? Give me a yell...... https://www.joebataan.net/ Should be a BRILLIANT Summer! Don't forget that set list! Ian D

And could you give us all some tips on DJ etiquette and DJ sartorial elegance whilst yer at it Trevski? Ian D

Or perhaps more appropriately "These Boots Were Made For Walking" by the Happy Cats except no self-respecting Soul Snob could possibly play that, O.V.O. or not! Ian D

My God Beeks. For one so young and relatively untainted you're very quickly succumbing to that stubborn attitude that usually engulfs people twice your age and is particularly prevalent on this scene. You'll be telling me you still wear oxford bags and patch jumpers next........... Ian D

That would seem to be a hell of a lot easier than making your own bootleg. What's to think about.........? Ian D

So the official legitimate CD release being played out by you is out of the question then Beeks? Ian D

Well hurry up or you'll be in a queue! Actually I'd like to get Stevie G on as well. He's relatively local isn't he? You can start sorting your show out now then. You know how the format works presumably dontcha? Ist Half-Hour is Soulful House/Disco/Uptempo, 2nd Half-Hour is pretty much 80's, 3rd Half-Hour is Northern/Modern/Crossover and 4th Half-Hour is killer Deep/Mellow/Slow Grooves to Mid-Tempo Anthemic Crowd Pleasers. Time to get those goodies out and let people hear 'em over the airwaves Simon...... Ian D

Well I'm sorry mate! That's what you get for being a snotty-nosed 16 year old kid trying to compete with the big boys LOL.....but what year was that Steve? I'm sure you're a few years younger than me........? I'm comparing my Saturday job @ a clothes shop in Bradford in 1971 which paid me £2.50 which was enough for 2 Bostocks Soul packs @ 20 records for a quid each. I reckon those Soul Packs would be worth more like £300-500 apiece now judging by the quality of the stuff in 'em. That's what I mean. No wonder I'm a tightass. I was spoiled. O.V.O. was the cheapest game in town back then! They virtually GAVE the stuff away.............. Ian D

And the 'b' side of Stevie's "That Girl" UK 7"........... Ian D

That is a boot though innit? She didn't release anything on Tamla and it's not in the listings. The only legit release is a CD as with the Brenda Holloway I believe.... Ian D

I'm sure Family Tree. Also if I was gonna make a Northern Soul bra, I'd almost certainly use an original Tomagoes rather than a UK Soul City re-press! Bloody amateurs....... Additionally I also think that U.S. 7"'s with the bigger centre are much more appropriate for that 'Peek-A-Boo' effect although obviously size of the nipple and surrounding area should be taken into consideration too. Ian D

Yep, it was a pretty fast turnaround even back then with Selecta sometimes bringing out 8-10 boots a month. If you only had a limited budget you'd almost invariably go for a decent unknown or lesser-played tune rather than an established biggie on the basis that you'd have longer to play the unknown record. I quite often had the appalling job of having two or three available records to buy but only a realistic budget for one of 'em, so hard choices had to be made. Everyone knew the "Cigarette Ashes" tale by then but James Fountain and the Anderson Brothers continued to raise the same problem. Also, is it my imagination but was there a faster turnover of tunes back then anyway? A big record could get 'played out' pretty quickly I seem to remember. Some records only seemed to be around for a few weeks before they arrived in quantity. I used to chase down leads every week and deliberately keep back a couple of big goodies for potential swap deals as the buying scene got more complicated. I'd say that by circa '75/'76 people were really getting an idea of which records were generally rare although it was still possible to pick up some fantastic Detroit bargains for a few quid apiece - something that I don't think could ever happen these days. The Perigents for £3 anyone? Detroit Executives for 35p on a list? Not any more........ Ian D

I spend half my life listening to music but that doesn't necessarily include every rinky-dink garage track that comes out week after week! Colin should get out of his Grateful Dead phase and start lashing down some compilations and spreading his knowledge to a wider audience as I told him on Saturday. When are you guesting on the show? I'm getting people asking now plus Sam's confirmed for a future slot the next time he's in town........ If you could stop pumping out one-liners and sort out a suitable Sunday I'd be most grateful old bean....... Ian D PS I see we now have Festa on the air every 4 weeks!

Why not? Ian D

The serious DJ's are primarily there to spread their taste and hopefully entertain and educate their audiences whilst doing it. These days you need someone to dig through the morass of stuff and find the good tunes and that's primarily what every good DJ hopes to achieve. If you're any good at it, you tend to stick around longer. You think anyone else has the time or even bloody patience to spend 16 hours a day digging through tunes? There's so much crap around that it takes a good DJ to filter the crap out and keep people happy. So DJing is a question of taste to me. People will always need guidance from the pros. I personally use a lot of DJ's for their taste and thank God they're around! There's not enough time in the world to listen to everything. So, yes, serious DJ's are essential to the wellbeing of any scene. Ian D

I hear it first and then, if I start loving it, I'll track the bastard down and ANALYSE it! You get to know what you like after a while. I only really listened to Brenda Holloway last year whereas I'd heard it a couple of times before and the sheer brilliance of it didn't sink in at the time. It's since become virtually my favourite Motown track of the last year or so, although there's some INCREDIBLE Motown 60's remixes/re-arrangements which I heard at the weekend which will be challenging it shortly.......... And I've never heard the Brenda Holloway off vinyl, so that scuppers the O.V.O. arguement right there. Was it ever issued on vinyl anyway? Ian D

The average wage back then was £18-25 I seem to remember Steve. 7/6d a week was pocket money and enough to buy a couple of chart singles and a sherbert dab. I started at work in 1972 and my first wage was about £18.00 I think, so that £20.00 for the Salvadores was still a hefty investment. DJ's fees were about £2 for a week night, so 10 of those gigs = 1 x Salvadores. I guess it would be aprox 10-20 weeknight gigs @ £50-100 apiece to even get you HALF of a Salvadores these days! Ian D

I think the evocative background vocals, Brenda's heartfelt phrasing and tones plus the song itself do it for me Stevie. Besides, Tammi's far too obvious as any self-respecting snob will tell ya........ Ian D

We don't wanna do that Kev. My weapons collection is up-to-the-minute, state-of-the-art concealed weaponry of the highest order - including some nice new industrial strength grade 3 mace and a remote electric-shocker which I'm dying to try out.....I'm afraid there's no O.W.O. policy here mate, so tell 'em to leave their cutlasses and sling shots at the door before I pick 'em off early.......... Snob? Moi........? Ian D

I'm lost Rog. Who are the real twats and who are just the wanna-be twats? Ian D

Yeah but I HAD 'em all there at my constant whim and disposal 24/7 from Thursday to Sunday with enough backup and firepower to deal with anything! If Eula Cooper had proposed to me I could have left there and then with my whole collection! Ian D