Mike

A fair few other events on this weekend, Birchfield, Dundee, Stafford, Bretby, Northampton, Wolves, Bilston etc etc, As always am shouting for views and reviews so if you have any words send them in and let rest of soul world know what went on, and also give your local/top events some exposure. Well that time came round again, time to brave the M1/M6 and get down to North London, for the CSC event at Dome. After a good nighter last weekend refreshed my faith, was well in the mood for some quality rare soul, and a quality nite out. Got there about 10.30, with still a queue outside, got in, and straight away felt the buzz, place was fairly packed, sounds system working great and atmosphere was….well. …atmospheric. Stuart Tyler who was standing in for Irish Greg (who was on at a Spanish weekender) was just finishing his spot so missed him yet again. Spoke to Matt J, who told me his offer of free entry to the first people who turned up with a Bombay Aloo meal complete with all the bits was successfully claimed. Record bar was busy with usual wheelers and dealers - Mark Hanson, Andy Dyson, Roger Banks (also main guest Dj), and more. My vinyl budget is well in red so kept well away from that den of inequity. Did a fair bit of catching up , so added Trivia points, name checks and odds at the end. Caught up with a bit of feedback on recent events from those who went, Llandudno: all who went said top, enjoyable event and going to next one Wilton: getting the name as the No 1 Rare Soul niter of the North, Someone said the buzz they got off the rare sounds there was equal to the 100 club at its best. Crowd wise, well have said it many times before, top crowd, well mixed, and up for it, mentioned the atmosphere just seems to be a air of excitement about the place and the way the crowd "reacts" to the sounds. People from all over, were there - North and South Wales, Scotland, all parts of England, international wise usually miss them out but did speak to a few first time Australians. Dance floor wise don't think saw it less than a third full all night, packed full a fair part of the nite, the overall crowd dropped off round one-ish but the dancefloor constantly got used right to the traditional packed ending. Last 30 minutes finale was handled by David Flynn with The Drifter being the last but one, reaction after playing this one was a mass round of spontaneous applause from the packed floor. Not just your usual couple of claps but …well just say anyone who is getting jaded with things should have been there, could just hear the enthusiasm and enjoyment of the crowd in the clapping. Then more of the same with the Trends finishing the nite off, then onto a quick regroup and coffee at M1 services and then the joys of getting home. Sounds wise -Did hear a fewbits of discontent from some with the amount of revivals played, and the balance did seem to swing a bit more that way than usual. To me ratio seemed about like 1 revival in 4. Suppose the full playlists will prove that right or wrong, though gotta say that balance wise, with all different styles, as in revivals, one offs, r+b, raities, traditional, 70s etc the balance seemed to work to me, think it was Roger Banks who said "here's one to keep everyone happy" and reckon that was achieved on the night. Speaking off balance and various tastes. Off on a tangent, went to a event recently and had a great time, with some well enjoyable sounds, though found out afterwards that whilst enjoying myself, the "play some proper northern" gang went off complaining to the promoters and anyone else who was listening about the fact that their regular diet of teenage memories were interrupted by djs having the audacity to play other stuff, oblivious to the fact that a fair few punters were enjoying it. Gripped my goat this as thought how many times have sat thru "classic spots" and thought fair enough, some people enjoy this sort of thing, will go and have a look round bar or similar. Perhaps answer is instead of doing that should play their game and every time hear likes of "that's not love" or "just a little misunderstanding" go and give promoters earache. On same sort of vein someone said last nite, wonder how many people at other events who now flock to the floor when the likes of "world of happiness" and other newly available stuff is played, where the ones who slagged and abused the northern djs who were playing it and similar yonks ago. Anyway back to the nite here's a rough sounds guide Yet again working off a fast fading memory, so details may be a bit sparse and even some errors might even creep in, and obviously some of the first hears/rarities will be missing, hopefully all djs will continue the trend of passing on full playlists once they have recovered! Warm Up Guest - Paco Totally missed the warm up/opportunity knocks spot where CSC give up and coming DJs chance to show what they are made of, hopefully someone will pass on Stand In Regular - Stuart Tyler After doing such a top job on his appearance as warm up, Stuart T was chosen to stand in for Irish Greg who was off dj-ing in Spain. Grabbed his top five off him, quality stuff, going by reports if you're after a quality set for your event give him a shout Hattie Lydells - Heartaches Trouble Misery and Pain - Jobette Acetate Deadbeats -no second chance-strata Martha Starr - Love is the only solution - Thelma Soul Communicators- Lonely Nights - Fee Bee Liz Lands - Midnight Johnie-Jobette Acetate Carl Fortnum - delivered his usual strikingly good set mixing rare one offs with rare and worthwhile revivals including likes of Frank Foster - Moods - Bell Acetate - Pounding instrumental building up be a monster Anita Anderson - Secretly - Contact - up in soul sounds as part of latest dome mix Love Slave - Antellects- Flodavieur - big mid 90s-00 spin, not heard much recently, but apparently just bought for big bucks by NW Dj so expect it to be given a new lease of life Martha Starr - Sweet Temptation - Charay- up in soul sounds as part of latest dome mix Alan H - issued out his own unique style mix of r+b, tumbleweed, and up-tempo soul such as Allen sisters- downtown crowd -quality test pressing Day-tripper - JJ Barnes -ric tic - bit of a neck turner this, went down well with some Love slipped thru my fingers- Towanda Barnes Tommy Navarro- I cried my life away-- de jac David Flynn - threw at us his usual quality stuff including: The Jokers - Soul Sound Sko-Filed Donna Loren -Blowing Out The Candles - Capitol My Proposal - Soul Inc - Coconut Groove I Need A Man -Precious Three Ref-O-Ree Hayes Cotton -Black Wings Have My Angel Resist Edwin Starr -Scott’s On Swingers Roger Banks - Doing the main guest spot, started off his set with words similar to "Best Soul Nite in Country" and gave us a great set, mixing it up all the way, rare r+b, quality revivals and stunning seventies. Appreciation was shown by the floor remaining busy through out. Left out - Jesse Johnson - old town Soul Bros. Inc-Pyramid Memory’s fading away now so details dodgy Cadets instrumental - title anyone R+B track that used same backing of the travelling salesman one - Either you can’t have your cake or which side is your bread buttered on - know it was one of them or even maybe both! Finish - as said DF took the last half hour with usual finish on a high set, which included Chandlers-Your Love Makes Me Lonely Jesse Davis - Gotta Hang On In There Girl The Drifter - Ray Pollard Trends- Thanks For A Little Loving That’s about it then hopefully memory not failed me too much. Final thoughts, overall another enjoyable cracking nite, not the best one ever but will say up to the usual high standards and still gotta say, if you know of any soul nite that is up to this standard of atmosphere and sounds and enjoyable let us know asp As always thoughts above are just my own views on it all, feel different, agree or whatever just send them in. Mike Trivia: Spent a bit of time catching up, various odd bits of trivia that retained were Clare told me she was still shouting for a 45 – Oh Mama - C M Lord - capitol 4262, heard possible hard to trace as its flip of country style a side, anyone help her out??? Dave G passed on his event at Greenwich, London is going well, mixing Northern and Funk and going well, on first Saturday of each month (full details posted soon on site) Mike Hump and Julie passed on a Cd full of photos from Rarest of Rare, 100 Club, and more. Should be up on site next couple of days Johnny T spoke about future plans for Valatones, next one up on 20 Oct and flyer has Ian Levine now as a regular. Jo ”How many jobs do I do” Wallace was taking care of cloakroom after her guesting on Wire FM up there in Warrington and later Dj-ing with PTP up at Runcorn last week. Have been told her spot on radio was “brilliant” apparently she had a “free “ hand to do and say what she liked and it was a right old laugh. Plus feedback from her and PTPs spot at Runcorn was it went down well and the punters really enjoyed it. Simon - was saying how the Brighton all-dayers have proved very successful, said may not be so many of them in winter months, but says the one on tomorrow (Sunday) is looking at being another cracker. Quote of the nite- was passed this one on, from someone from up Yorkshire on first visit "Can't believe have missed this, husband is in his element, this is what its all about" Laugh of the nite - Getting a phone call at six to see how far had got, as traffic on M6 was bad, “err ........ still in the bath” Name checks: All usual suspects were there, the usual gang mike, Andy, Julie with their plans of invading Llandudno at the Connoisseurs weekend in March, getting windows boarded up now. Pop up Pete popped up, Katrina fresh from travels to Oslo and Berlin, The two North Wales exiles Gary and Dave, Pete Coulson, Barry and crew who must have put some miles in this weekend, NW to London and then onto Hull, Most Wanted Nick Brown flyering the next Notre Dame on 19th Oct with Adey C as guest, Neil and his mate carrying on where we both left off at Llandudno i.e. at a bar, Rob C back from holiday Plus to all of the usual lot knocking around.