Grapevine Soul (16-10-03) London

CALLING ALL LONDONERS....SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL TEAM!!!! I went down last night to check out Grapevine Soul in Brixton. Among the Djs on last night were Frankie, Kev Moore, Ady Croasdell, Roger Stewart.... and Heikki (who i didnt get to see as Janice asked me to cover the door whilst she danced). Although the Brixton Road is not the Champs Elysees, to state the blindingly obvious, it's more pleasant than one might suspect - and Bar Lorca has a good car park for those not a pieds. It is a fine venue, which combines chilled out lounging with pleasing touches of hipness. If like me you have to be up at the crack of dawn on Fridays - its still worth popped out to Grapevine for a quick drink and dance - you definately feel like it's been exciting and worth it, even if its just for a couple of hours. Grapevine Soul has two rooms, the first as you walk in is the modern room which has a superb wooden floor and also houses a large projector screen playing NS footage throughout the night. The second room is blinking massive - a little darker, with an atmosphere more suited to 60s soul (funnily enough). Kev has also done all the art work across the walls in this room. Very impressive! Anyway - despite the boys putting a lot of effort into getting Grapevine off the ground over the last few months , attendance is still very very low. The venue is perfect, the music is off great quality and the promoters hearts are in the right place. So why has no-one bothered checking this place out This could be down to one of a few things - either people don't want to come to Brixton, they don't like coming out on a Thursday night, or not enough people are aware of Grapevine yet. I'm sure once you've checked this place out that you'll get over the Brixton thing! It's psychological and heck, we've all travelled to more hostile and far flung places than South London for a bit of soul. The Thursday thing Kev is trying to address and is in negotiations with the venue owners to get it shifted to Friday. And lastly - awareness, .. well that's all just down to word-of-mouth and a little bit of time. Ooh I remember that days of Capital Soul at Bar Shoreditch and look at it now. Right ... enough bantering for today .... better get back to work . Grapevine Souls website Next Night: 30th October (9pm to 2am) Special guest DJs - Fish and Gavin Paige. cheers Kolla