Ian Dewhirst

Is it any wonder when you've been bombarded with 200 Northern Soul acts, a none-stop 3 hour running commentary courtesy of yourself piledriving into the back of my head whilst being simultaneously assualted by 4 humongous dogs and a bizarre cat? Phew. And people think I'm weird............ Ian D

123 downloads and rising! Plus I've had responses like this following playing it on the show on Sunday: "Ian, What a tune ! You MUST send me a copy ! Alan Champ (Starpoint Radio)" Sounds better and better............ Gary The Master Blaster "Cafe Reggio's" https://www.zshare.net/audio/183698315b8bc59d/ Ian D

It was LOL..... He's never changed as long as I've know him. But his passion is beyond doubt and so I've learned to quite enjoy watching the Ian Levine show when he splutters out amazing stories and other stuff almost without realising he's doing it. I'd be worried if he wasn't like he is to be honest. Rather Ian at his foghorn-blasting best than someone BORING for heaven's sake. God help him if he ever took acid.... Actually what he should do is have a film crew filming HIM for a day or two. Now that would be a show worth watching........ Got back at 3.00am this morning covered with white dog and cat hair with Hattie Littles embedded in my head and then fell into a deep sleep with my dreams punctuated with visions of Bobby Paris removing my intestines....... Not for the faint-hearted Pauline...... Ian D

It just occurred to me that perhaps some folks don't know these, so for the benefit of anyone who has yet to hear these gems, then here they are:- G.C. Cameron "Out Of My Mind" https://www.zshare.net/audio/18929887eb7feb5c/ The other side of the G.C. Cameron is great as well...... G.C. Cameron "No Need To Explain" https://www.zshare.net/audio/189300388ece930a/ Johnny Bristol "Man Up In The Sky" https://www.zshare.net/audio/18930200c776ec5e/ Have permission to post these, so don't worry mods......... These are some old stock of the original 12"'s from the last millenium, so once these go that's it! PM me if ya want 'em......... Ian D

Yep, if you don't have 'em, then now's the time as I've just located some copies of the following two superlative killers! G.C. Cameron "No Need To Explain"/"Out Of My Mind" Motor City 12" 12 MOTC 89 Johnny Bristol "Man Up In The Sky"/"Man Up In The Sky" Inst Motor City 12" 12 MOTC 21 (Hurry up on the G.C. Cameron as only have a handful and it's just a great double-sider plus now in demand on the continent) £10.00 each. First come first served as per usual! Best, Ian D

Time to get the coat Epic.......... Ian D

Agreed! Can't remember how many venues I've stepped into, only to step out of again because of the mind-numbing boredom of what was being played, which I personally wouldn't want to listen to again anytime soon. I've then usually gone to a far musically different alternative venue and at least seen some energy and a younger audience having fun! Ian D

LOL. I've NEVER seen a pair of technics @ a Northern gig! I actually think more of an emphasis should be put on the equipment. It's just nuts to think that people entrust £5K rarities to most of the equipment I've seen being used on the Northern scene. All this talk of OVO reminds me of being in Somerset at a party a couple of years back and in one of the marquees there was a guy playing 78rpm records on an original gramophone. Interesting bloke, in that he was partial to 1920's, 30's and 40's big band tunes but ONLY providing thery were the original 78's and ONLY if played on an original gramophone player (like the one used as the old HMV logo with the dog - remember). It was good shooting the breeze with him. He was obviously an eccentric because he was dressed in top and tails for a Summer party and the wind-up gramaphone player wasn't very loud so he wasn't exactly at the epicentre of things. He obviously believed in what he was doing plus he was obviously a highly unique DJ so I bade him and his two companions a fond farewell and went to join the other 500 people mashing it up in the main marquees. A bloke out of time. Touching but sad. I'm kinda split on this whole OVO thing. When I was deejaying on the scene 35 odd years ago, any deejays who played bootlegs were considered 'C' listers. However there was still a huge local audience for 'C' listers 'cos the scene was much bigger. And there weren't that many bootlegs/reissues back then either. But the scene is a lot smaller now and just seems to be fragmenting further with some areas almost disappearing up their own arses. Plus the standard of deejaying isn't tremendous in so much as most DJ's these days are essentially collectors first and foremost and thus have a very good reason for propogating OVO policies. Plus, as always, there is a certain amount of elitism/snobbery around concerning the value of most records played. I'm wondering whether this scene is comparible to the Premier League, where anyone who gets a sudden injection of cash and has a modicum of decent taste can immediately propell themselves into the Top 5? In which case, is this OVO thing more about the money, then about people's tastes? I think Northern Soul needs to propell itself into the future and right now it's not doing that. 'Format policing' and bad equipment doesn't exactly help the situation if the scene is to move forward. Right now the scene seems to be heading along the same lines as my guy in Somerset with the gramophone! The fact that so much great undiscovered stuff is now turning up on CD and cannot be played because of the bias against anything other than vinyl is just plain ridiculous to me. It's about the MUSIC full stop. If a mind-numbingly brilliant unreleased Bob Relf track suddenly appeared on CD only, are the OVO guys saying they won't play it simply because of the format it's on? Ian D

Eloquent and on the button as per usual Jocko. I see the OVO arguement clearly but there's an awful lot of nonsense played in the name of OVO - stuff that really doesn't deserve to be played at all IMO. OVO doesn't make a record good and I've been to too many sparsely attended do's which are like the British Legion too! Ian D

And the proof of the pudding - sounds just fantastic on the radio IMO. It's about 1 hr 22 minutes in.......... Gratuitious plug over now! Here we go........ 1st Hour Will Powers - Smile Crown Heights Affair - Foxy Lady Ray Munnings - Funky Nassau Al Marshall - Let's Get Down Jimmy & Vella Cameron - Be Fair To Me Robin Thicke feat Mary J. Blige - Magic (NYC Remix) Chew - I Like It Mo Grazz - Some Things Never Change Jeffrey Osbourne - I Really Don't Need No Light Steve Arrington - She Just Don't Know Johnny Hudson - Better Love 2nd Hour Lee Andrews - I've Had It Ila Vann - Can't Help Lovin' That Man Bob Relf - Girl, You're My Kind Of Wonderful Al Mason - Good Lovin' Towanda Barnes - You Don't Mean It James Perry - April Lady Gary The Master Blaster - Caf Reggio's Voices Of East Harlem - Wanted Dead Or Alive Stevie Wonder - Knocks Me Off My Feet Stevie Wonder - Superwoman Jeannie Reynolds - The Fruit Song Tommy McGhee - Now That I Have You Clausell - Let Me Love You Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - Back Together Again https://www.sixmillionsteps.com/6MS-2008-09-14-Starpoint.mp3 Best, Ian D

Well after a few weeks out of the saddle, I found myself flying solo for the Original Mastercuts show this week (Al has switched to the Saturday Football Show 3.00-6.00pm). In a couple of weeks time we should have a new sponsor on board and possibly a new co-presenter so I can banter with someone again! In the meantime here's this weeks show packed full of the usual Original Mastercuts brand of Soulful gems! Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show with Ian Dewhirst Sunday 14th September 2008 on www.starpointradio.com. To download the show simply hit the link below! Or for this and all archived shows please pay a visit to www.sixmillionsteps.com where you can download the last 4 weeks worth of all Six Million Steps produced shows. That's 16 hours of free music over the last 4 weeks alone! Plus, loads of new fully downloadable KILLER mixes in a variety of styles! So let's go with this week's show:- 1st Hour Will Powers - Smile Crown Heights Affair - Foxy Lady Ray Munnings - Funky Nassau Al Marshall - Let's Get Down Jimmy & Vella Cameron - Be Fair To Me Robin Thicke feat Mary J. Blige - Magic (NYC Remix) Chew - I Like It Mo Grazz - Some Things Never Change Jeffrey Osbourne - I Really Don't Need No Light Steve Arrington - She Just Don't Know Johnny Hudson - Better Love 2nd Hour Lee Andrews - I've Had It Ila Vann - Can't Help Lovin' That Man Bob Relf - Girl, You're My Kind Of Wonderful Al Mason - Good Lovin' Towanda Barnes - You Don't Mean It James Perry - April Lady Gary The Master Blaster - Caf Reggio's Voices Of East Harlem - Wanted Dead Or Alive Stevie Wonder - Knocks Me Off My Feet Stevie Wonder - Superwoman Jeannie Reynolds - The Fruit Song Tommy McGhee - Now That I Have You Clausell - Let Me Love You Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway - Back Together Again https://www.sixmillionsteps.com/6MS-2008-09-14-Starpoint.mp3 Best, Ian D

And none from the 69 downloads on the track so far either! Nice of Ian to OK us to be so cavalier with the music he's financed and still trying to recoup on! I reckon a voc/inst 7" of this would sell like gangbusters if it was limited..... Ian D

A salutary lesson for people who hammer their OV, would be the other week where a famous name DJ had to have his records valued for legal reasons. Condition was marked out of 10 and he was averaging around 5-6 out of 10 on most of his top tunes. In real terms, this meant that his £200K book price of the records was reduced to circa £100-120K because of the relatively poor condition of most of them! This is because he is an OVO DJ and wears his records on his sleeve. I would have thought that many of these records were really too valuable to be played on an assortment of decks which can only devalue them massively. And collectors and buyers put such a premium on the condition that I'm surprised people would actually risk playing a 5K rarity out on wildly differing equipment. They must be nuts. It's not much fun listening to 'em if they're beaten up or have 'styrene burn'. Also, I'm noticing a few people now playing boots of their own rarities becuase they don't want to risk wearing out the originals. So if someone has an original Billy Woods on styrene and obviously doesn't want to risk ruining it so plays the bootleg instead, is that acceptable? Also isn't the whole OVO thing really about money? Namely, whoever can afford to have a boxful of the the most valuable records? If someone won the lottery tomorrow and went on a huge buying spree they could be challenging Butch by mid next week couldn't they? Playing the format game can only restrict the scene in a wider sense. It strikes me as being elitist for elitist's sake if you see what I mean and will eventually fragment the scene even further because really, 98% of the customers don't even know whether OV is being played or not. They don't mind! I think that it's really different strokes for different types of events. On the cutting edge of the rare biggies scene naturally everyone would be expected to play OVO. That's the nature of the beast and the kind of gig where an OVO policy possibly makes sense. Although I'm increasingly seeing boxes of carvers at quite a few different gigs these days. As one famous DJ from another 'Rare' scene told me, he doesn't spend £2K on a record to wear it out in a few months. He makes carvers of EVERY rarity he owns and keeps the originals at home. But you'd seriously have to be stupid to be playing OVO rare oldies on a regular basis. To risk wrecking a Joe Mathews, Billy Woods or Mel Britt to different needles every week is either just plain stupid or a great way to depreciate both your financial and emotional investment by 50%! Ian D

Yep, agreed. I'd go for that. It'd work nicely and I think it would appeal to a few different scenes. In fact let's give it another listen - 52 downloads so far.......... Gary The Master Blaster "Cafe Reggios" https://www.zshare.net/audio/183698315b8bc59d/ Ian D

Nope, I heard that wasn't working out. Bit further North than Hayes......... Ian D

Ms Ross defines the word Diva with her general stroppiness. I've never taken her that seriously as a vocalist but I admired her star quality and she does look fabulous. I broke "Chain Reaction" in the UK by mailing it to every commercial DJ in the UK and plugging the video relentlessly which eventually provided her last UK No.1. That video was pehenomenal though - I don't think she ever bettered it...... Surprised she lasted 8 hours in the sack with Berry though. She looked a bit scrawny for any serious action back then LOL....... Ian D

Yeah, probably. I think we could do this through a mutual friend. I just think it could hit the spot with lots of people. JJ Barnes for the 'B' side..........? Ian D

No she isn't! She's an arrogant bitch who stopped the live show in front of 10K fans who were soaking wet in a torrential rainstorm @ Petworth Park to complain that people were filming her on their mobile phones and that the clips would be on You Tube the next day and she wouldn't get paid! Bitch didn't do an encore either! By the way I played "Cafe Regios" - Gary The Master Blaster on the Origional Mastercuts show today and it sounded just fantastic! Took a couple of calls asking who it was. I can see a limited-edition 7" of this doing really well if you put it out there......... Ian D

No mate. Luckily I can tell the difference between a Swedish boiler and a secretary from Mitcham. Come to think of it, closer than you may think........ Ian D

Well obviously it's highly embarrassing to not be able to recall the label colour of a Nosmo King record Malc, but we build in a bit of leeway for our senior citizens luckily. Ian D

Errr. Not quite. Mary J. Blige is signed to the Universal stable and "Rubber Band" - The Trammps is now owned by Sony-BMG......... Actually whilst we're on this subject does anyone know what sample the GREAT Robin Thicke record which is currently out uses? Ian D

Well, I reckon the No.1 job in the world has to be curator for the Northern Soul Archive. Imagine spending your life looking at people's collections and then walking out the house with 'em for FREE! I'm sure this could be an excellent way of circumnavigating various laws surrounding divorce proceedings, inheritance taxes or even bankruptcy. I'll set it up as a historical foundation, probably register it as charity whilst I'm at it (for deaf DJ's, 70's speed freaks or 'baggy' victims) for instance) and blag a couple of mill from the lottery and bob's your uncle! So how about treasurer Harry? I need someone who's good with figures! Plus I think we still owe your other half a trip to Beverly Hills following the Soul Train litigation don't we? We could do that easily on the basis that the foundation needs to contact the likes of Leon Haywood, Jimmy Conwell and the various estates of the singers we love. Right. Will register everything on Monday......... Ian D

Yeah! The one on the right was OK wasn't she! Ian D

Well, if it's really been a labour of love it would be nice to share them with a new audience wouldn't it? He could look at them as being his legacy of a lifetime of passionate collecting. This has given me an idea. I'm gonna set up a charity called The Northern Soul Archive (© Ian Dewhirst 2008) for future generations to witness the beauty of the scene! If I become the curator of the archive, then I'd use my powers of persuasion to convince all these collectors to leave their records to the official Northern Soul Archive for posterity and the future of the scene. If they left 'em to the archive it would prevent their money-grabbing relations splitting the collection for financial gain only. There could also be some interesting tax benefits/inheritance implications. I'll research it and find out....... This way I would accumulate all the great Northern Soul private collections and take over ze world hah............ Ian D