barney

phil behave yourself and please refrain from winding chalky up we are trying to establish a pertinent point which goes to the root of our scene and involves deep and meaningfull discussion on our core beliefs and how they were established

dont think its that simple phil and maybe I am being a bit naive thinking that from my perspective motown got me into northern soul and therefore everybody else went down the same path and ditto no motown no northern soul , when obviously there were other labels playing out great sounds that were being heared and danced to by other people and maybe the scene would have become established without motown its just a thought and a bit of musing as to why I am here today and northern soul is still very much part of my life and of many others of my age and older or younger for that matter

also a good point chalky , but we all had to start somewhere and back then the scene ie those who went to the wheel were few and far between, and it was not has big and diverse as what it was to become and as a typical 14 -15 yr oldk, mainstream motown was basically the only thing on offer and in no way would any of the older lads lend us any of there stuff and it was drip fed to us as the latest sounds were aquired, if it were not for motown maybe I would have gone down another path or taken up other interests ,

thats sort of my point phil back in the 60s and coming from a mining village near barnsley the only music that was on offer locally was at local youth clubs , bops ,church halls etc and the dj was more often than not the local vicar ,church organist or schoolteacher come youth club organiser and the music was commercial , merseybeat /rock and roll and the odd motown type of music and surprisingly the motown was easy to dance to and it was great when you went to the local fairs and heard motown booming out on the waltzers etc and it was something that a lot of us liked, then we heard sounds brought in by older lads and lasses from the wheel and other places which have been mentioned on here and as said the rest is history , if it wasnt for my initial introduction to motown and my liking for it ,and the interest it created .to want to listen and dance to similar sounds , for me the scene wouldnt have come to what it is . this is obviously my own personall take .and it is obvious there were people on the scene before me who may have a different perspective and this is why I posed the question. one of my all time faves is the four tops ,turn to stone , hearing this being played out at the easter fair on brierley common and dancing around on the waltzers with the then love of my life ,was about 15 and in heaven , oh happy days

some really interesting replies personally think the scene as we know it would not be anywhere near like it what was ,and still is today can you remember the 60s beatlemania, the mersey beat and all the young girls chasing them round and the receptions they got at airports etc.the start of the pop revolution. thought this was dead uncool and found motown at first on the pirate radio stations then it was being played at local youth clubs and the rest is history as we say. maybe this is one of the reasons why liverpool has never had a big NS following they are happy to stay in the beatle/merseybeat groove. bit simplistic perhaps but why did we go down this path and back in the day who would have thought there would still be a soul scene in 2010 for me its all down to motown

dont know if this has been done before but, was wondering the other day on one of my neverending journeys to a far off workplace and happend to be listening to the radio when hittgv , marvin gaye was played and then had to change channels due to poor reception thru the scottish borders .got onto another channel and soon enough the supremes and wdolg came on followed soon after by jnr walker and rr , began to think that these iconic sounds and their like is what drew me into this scene, and were it not for berry gordy,s and tamla motowns efforts to get black american contemporary music at that time to be accepted by the mainstream ie, white listeners and to become commercially acceptable , would there have been a northern soul scene, cheers b

gotta agree the northern soul heartlands are along the M62 corridor with as been mentioned a few well known outposts ,such as stoke and can agree with nuneaton loads of soulies there and the east midlands is a bastion for northern soul especially the classic oldies events must also say the 100 club though have never been is a beacon for our music , travel extensively up and down the country and in the southwest, south wales ,south coast and scotland it hardly ever gets a mention though there are the odd soul do,s and many diehard followers in these parts of the country . personally I feel sorry for these people who live in souless regions , earlier on this year worked in spitzbergen and held my own northern( northern lights) soul nights with a few appreciative workmates and some bemused norwegians

wot do they call him

palestinian pitboots

went to drax friday and the place was packed ,heard a bit of everything and got hammered managed a ride to town on my scoot saturday morning ,pottered about in the garden rest of the day. our dear friends from tother side of penines sharon and bernie aka jack n vera came saturday evening to stay and we went to local pub with some other good friends saturday night . took part in the quiz ,had a great chillout night and got hammered again. went to metrodome ont scoots sunday morning to help set up for the night with team tarn only to be told that our good friend steve (yocky) had been taken to hospital with chest pains , this shocking news put a bit of a damper on things but after talkin to joy and heard he was ill but ok , we assured them that the show would go on,we set up the room and sound systems as per usual and went home somewhat subdued, got to the metro dome early and angie , jean and val set up on the door , met nel and johnny redpants and a few more early arrivals , helped out on the door most of the night , running erands etc and meeting faces old and new many had heard about steve and were anxious for news and some were hearing about it first time , managed to get in both rooms and everything seemed ok and the night flew by in a whirl and went really quick for me ,didnt drink that much but enjoyed it immensly and was thoroughly worn out. had a lazy day monday weather not too good said goodbye to jack n vera and spent the rest of the day watchin crappy tv. cheers b

ps will add that he does spin a few cds at soul in the sun lol ,but so have I and it doesnt really count .

think gary whatdoyoucallhim who is the okeh club promoter at keithley doesnt dj or if he does I have not seen or heard him. cheers b

great summary of the issues chalky and got to agree with you,, and the questions you pose are not easy to answer in some cases ,but maybe some promoters should examine their choice of dj,s and not always rely on the old pals act, and think hard and long about their venues and dates to avoid clashing with nearby promotions, difficult but not insurmountable,whats needed as you say is co-operation and an end to the bickering and fall outs , same with all of us less bad mouthing others choice of music and show more of a willingness to listen to all the different genres of the beautifull sounds, if only we lived in a perfect world , but I think it can get better.and improve because most of us are genuinely good people, cheers b

got to agree sharon theres a golden corral on the crossroads of international drive and sandlake road behind wallgreens and theres one on highway 192 (irma bronson memorial highway) just inside the kissimee city limits they are both ok and better than most of the others cheers b

we even go into injun country (lancashire) ,monaco hindley and others for a soul night

just noticed the emoticon must be a typo sorry' as said dont do allnighters , went to one earlier in the year and just re-inforced my reasons for not doing them, but I wont criticize it , because although it wasnt for me there were lots of people there who were really enjoying themselves and the music and great for them , the point being yes there are a lot of events , soul nights and allnighters going off on the same dates, and these do have an impact on each other and I do care that whichever event people want to attend that they have a good time and get to hear good music and are able to dance , drink and chat in reasonable surroundings without getting ripped off in the process, those who say its about the allnighter scene and the soul nights dont affect them want to get real , this month I have been to 6 different soul night 3 in south yorks,2 in west yorks ,an1 in notts. 4 were full ie standing room only and 2 were half full, the full venues were well established and the other 2 havent been going for very long, and will probably struggle ,heard some great sets from well known dj,s and in my view an awfull set from a very well known dj , and before anyone chips in with name em , no way.would probably have been to a few more but been workin abroad and didnt get back in country till tues 6th of this month, so yes I do travel to different venues and see and hear a large number of different dj,s some of whom also dj at allnighters, so to me the soul nights get to play to some extent what is played at allnighters , but to me in sensible time and not daft oclock. am just one of the great unwashed a mere mortal punter with nothing at stake except being able to go out and listen to good music and have a good time, wherever.

only one place for me next sunday and its very local but do know people from far (australia) and wide will be there in large numbers.

we have a pub in barnsley called the soul bar and its on every friday saturday and sunday night oldies and motown played off cd,s and a fookin laptop , wouldnt be seen dead in the place . thankfully there are many soul nights within say an hour or hour and a half travel time which are well run .play decent music ovo, and are well attended. yes the pub disco soulnites are a joke. and will soon wither on the vine. what I am talking about are venues which attract us punters regularly and play a good mix of music mainly classoc oldies but some good rare and underplayed gems and the latest monster massive (lol) numbers. cant help where you live mate , seems to me the best thing you can do is move north

to some extent I can agree with you about the first part of your post, but think you have a jaundiced view about the soulnight scene , dont do allnighters for various reasons , but attend soul nights local and not so local every w/end and yes I am middle aged and so are most of the punters , but to say we are not interested in the music is a bit of a sweeping statement and a slur on the many hundreds if not thousands of punters who go to soul nights the length and breadth of this country every week. what is it with some of you who go to allnighters why do you think you are the chosen few , no doubt there are people with as much knowledge of our music as any attendee of an allniighter and they probably wouldnt be seen dead at an allnighter . yes there are good and bad soul nights and no doubt good and bad allnighters ,but think the allnighters would be the first to close with the exception of one or two , way before most of the good well run long established soul hights,

there are 4 events next sunday in south yorkshire all within spitting distance , none of them are allniters but there is an allniter in leeds.

its a case of put up or shut up, moaning aint gonna do any good , ok your not a promoter , are you billy no mates , find a venue , get somebody to promote it , do your bit , and start a night of your own and educate those lost soulies, its not gunna be easy , but its not rocket science . simples cheers b

similar thing happened round here the other year where the owner of a popular venue decided that the promoters of the event (which was very well attended usually a sell out) were in his opinion running the show as a private club and said he was going to get someone else to run it, this caused a lot of friction and the fallout from same still exists, because the people who took over ran the event on the same nights as the original promoters (who were well liked and respected) who in the meantime had re-arranged their event at another venue on the original dates , the people who ran the original event had worked hard and put a lot of effort into promoting and organising the said event and felt let down under the circumstances in which they were treated and for fellow soulies to step in and run an event on the same dates in my opinion just wasnt on, thankfully sense has prevailed and events no longer clash, the original promoters now run a packed out night on a regular basis at the new venue, to me its about respect and if people are going to act in this manner then they dont deserve respect and fellow soulies /punters should see it for what it is , and were what is stated ,to happen then surely any right thinking person should no longer attend such a venue , cheers b.

think a lot of people like w/enders because they know when they are on and can plan well in advance , you get there ,stay in digs near venue and everythings sorted for the w/end. the three regular w/ends I go to are very well attended and well run . the point I made earlier on in this thread regarding w/end and a package was to try and encourage people to attend the club on the night ie, niter. dont want to change the ethos of the 100 club , just keep their regular niter by all means but a trip to the big city can be a daunting experiance for us up country folk believe me worked there loads of times was there a few weeks ago and getting around , traffic and parking is a nightmare, plus the exspence of doing it for just one night , didnt envisage a 100 club themed w/ender but a w/end in the big city with a 100 club nighter included, surely there must be folk who know of reasonable digs close by and something soulfull to do say on the friday night and maybe a trip down the markets etc on the saturday , somewhere soulfull early saturday evening , then the niter , then back to the digs for some kip then a leisurely ride home sunday pm. simples really cheers b

fingers crossed for your dad and hope to see you at the metrodome, should have flown to tenerife today but cancelled , cant do anything about that, may get away in a few weeks but hey ho , as been said .yours kinda puts it into perspective , have a safe journey mate and see to dad cheers b