Amsterdam Russ

Could have been a prototype image for the creation of the emblem of the Young Ornithologists Club circa 1974!

Not long back from a shopping trip to the Hague - Marks and Spencer opened up a store there not so long ago! The M&S cafe and food hall makes the trip worthwhile. Anyway, back to the point. We saw quite a few daffs in full bloom on the way. Spring has sprung!

Or click on the link here… https://www.mixcloud.com/fingerpoppinsoulsoulradiofroma/fingerpoppin-soul-1113-26-02-2015-full-show-with-special-guest-william-bell/

No, this isn't from this year. As you say, too early yet although the daffs I can see out of the window should be blooming very soon.

Congrats. Still building mine up after the tragic accidental deletion a year ago!

Crow - looks like a young 'un. Saw it sitting very still in the grass, which isn't normal behaviour. Perhaps it was sick in someway, although it looked well preened.

Very unusual, Pete! Anyone hand rearing them locally?

That's annoying! Checking their Facebook page, I see that they've not made any updates for getting on for six weeks. I can only guess that they're busy with the new record store or something. There should be no excuses though, a customer is a customer and an order is an order, and if they carry on like this they'll build a bad reputation for themselves. That said, I trust them to deliver… eventually. Here's the Facebook page. Might be worth contacting them through that. https://www.facebook.com/Colemine45

Out of interest, when were these considered provocative? Haven't these been "Northern Soul" classics for decades. Are the musically ignorant people who were so offended "way back when" still on the scene? If so, please do point them out. Better still, let yourselves be known...

Depends on who's in the cast...

Then stop searching for yourself on YouTube!

Good points. How many would that account for, do you think - 10-20,000 duplications? That would still mean 80,000 members. And, of course, not everybody who was into Northern went to Wigan, so that would bump up the numbers again. Maybe it's easier to have a guess at how many people are on the scene in the UK now. Between five and 10 thousand? Too high/too low?

Rufus R. Jones aka "Freight Train" Jones - professional wrestler!

Based on a run of, say, 500 per bootlegged item, what loss of earnings and royalties, etc, compared to the mass-scale digital piracy associated with today's music? I'm sure that in many cases it would probably cost rights owners more to chase someone pressing a limited run boot than they'd ever recover when they caught and prosecuted the people involved. Think of all the legal costs, salaries, etc, etc. I'd doubt if any court outcome would award costs that would cover all of that and even more to make it worthwhile. Online marketplaces such as eBay and Discogs should perhaps be taking more responsibility - especially if eBay forbids the sale of counterfeit products in sectors outside of records. To not do so for records while doing so for other products seems rather hypocritical.

Added to Amazon 'wish list'. Got a birthday coming up soon.

Relative to how 'big' the scene was back then, it's often been said that the Wigan Casino had a membership of around 100,000. Was that actually true? Presuming so, there must have been a hell of a lot of tourists in that number, and many others who were on the scene for a while, drifted away for one reason or another and never came back. People talk about the commercialisation of the scene now, but I wonder if UK venues combined are attracting anything like 100,000 today.

I've noticed a rise in clubs creating vids as a means of promoting themselves via social media, YouTube, etc, etc. Some of these have a real professional feel to them. This is particularly so with mainland European venues. This is great as you can get a good idea of the size and feel of a venue as well as an indication of what the crowd and thus atmosphere will potentially be like. That's very useful if you're thinking about paying a visit to an event in another country.

Likewise. When I left school, my first job was in Boots the Chemist, which in those days had an audio section and sold those poly-lined sleeves. I've still got a fair few of them in use and have never seen any signs of deterioration visually or otherwise.

Fifty shades of Crane?

Back at work? Sabbatical's over now? Hope you've enjoyed it.

Come on in. The water's lovely! Taken in Filey, W. Yorks on the weekend of my younger brother and fiancé's wedding (they being the couple on the left of the pic).

I wasn't asking whether it was an *unreleased* track only available on an acetate, just whether my suspicion that it sounded like it was recorded from one was right or not. At least we now know it's available as a 45. ;-)

Anyone seeing signs of spring yet? Looking out the front windows towards the embankments opposite, I can see daffodils have broken through the soil and are not far away from flowering. Alongside our building are a number of trees and they're covered in tiny buds. Spring is almost here again.

Always a sucker for triple-time disorderly tracks like this. I like it, whatever it is. It's one of those tracks where the group borrows from different genres of the day - soul and garage in this instance (the vocalist sounds as if he could be white or Latino) - and mashes them up in a frenzied musical attack on the senses. The dull but deep background noise makes me think it was recorded from an acetate. Is that right?