spirit

You've just said you don't! People might note their absence from one room or the other for any of a number of reasons, eg. To appear cool to people who's opinion they worry about. Insecurity. To imply disapproval of the room they didn't visit or didn't stay in long, without being too critical. Diplomacy. To make it clear that their lookback/review isn't comprehensive because of a notable omission, or musical bias, so should be taken with caution by anybody who might be influenced. Good manners. So, apart from being cynical, your claim that this is behaviour only associated with people who aren't keen on oldies rooms is just plain wrong - I've read plenty of lookback posts implying modern/r&b/underplayed rooms are not to be ventured into for being unlistenable/undanceable/unpopular/pretentious/etc. Snobbery (ie. judgemental blinkeredness) works both ways.

There is or was skating at RollerWorld near Time Nightclub, which was itself a former occasional Nighter venue over the last couple of years. I used to go to RollerWorld as a kid to play roller hockey. I didn't know they did allnighters though. https://www.derbyrollerworld.co.uk/index/AllNightSkates

Heyup MadMandy! Weapon of Choice is a cool video, and RUN DMC were a great band. You may be aware Christopher 'Dead Man' Walken was a professional dancer in his early days and danced with Judy Garland...

Cool, takes me back to my roller-disco days...

Oh, here's one I forgot. Great modern soulful dance record, and its got 'Northern Soul Dancers' in - including a couple of 'familiar' faces (geddit?) - and that bloke out of Dead Man's Shoes* and The Bourne Thingummy! Woo hoo! Moloko - Familiar Feeling *not paul-s

Heh heh. Dare you. There'd be a riot. I would love to go to an event where the only criteria was danceability, and 'soul' in its abstract sense. I tried convincing a DJ/collector aquaintance recently that Loves "Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark and Hilldale" from the wonderful "Forever Changes" album would be eminently danceable on a Northern floor. He was very sceptical. I can't find an audio link to the original, but here's a very competent live version from the late great creator of the record, Arthur Lee.

How about... Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy Sounds like an updating of one of those plaintive 'stigma' soul tracks.

A lot of the early eighties acts mentioned above never made any secret of their huge love for soul, and the influence it had on them. They were often wrongly dismissed en masse as superficial, plastic, or similar. Some of my favourite music comes from that era. I think ABC in particular would describe themselves as a Motown band made up of 4 working-class lads from Sheffield - what a wonderful, soulful record "Lexicon of Love" is. My favourite of the lot though was Dexys.

Get you. I wouldn't know what its like, but I would say there arguably isn't a conflict. Small minded soul police People who consider all eras and styles outside their chosen one 'crap' exist in every genre under the sun. When some life-change causes them to swap music genres they will sometimes retain an emotional attachment to their former life (as say a punk) despite the music they now will cling-till-death-to being completely different to the music they were clinging-till-death-to last week. They can justify this attachment to themselves by noting that within (eg.) Punk you had your 'fakers' and 'pop acts' (the horror!), just as you do in Soul, and that regardless of their evolving musical taste, they have remained true to integrity and no doubt being an individual. The same timidity they had in exploring the former genre carries across with the self-righteousness.

I don't think age should come into it, although I agree that youngsters will be better at the gymnastics. I tend to vacate the premises when the comps come on, as soulful dancing doesn't seem to come into it, and that's what I want to watch in the contenders. (I would love to be able to do the breakdancing stuff, but only to show off). It would be really nice to see a competition won by someone who is not able to jump upside-down with their head up their arse. Most of my favourite dancers on the scene are well past 40.

Although I prefer earlier music, I spend quite a lot of time in there when I'm at Prestwich - at times it outdoes the main room for dynamism and atmosphere; it can really swing on a good night.

More votes for current (why 'was'?) 2nd rooms: DDA Carl & Maria @ Middleton/Prestatyn Rugby Freestyle I prefer second rooms without a fixed policy, and with room to dance.

I did, and enjoyed it. Interesting stories and several familiar names, as well as some obscure ones. I particularly liked the moment when the way-too-patient-and-diplomatic interviewer politely asked Darge to take the fag out of his mouth, so we could actually hear what he was saying. Programme available here.

Opera fine.

+1 God's Jukebox (web page here), though I find the live acts tedious and the interviews awkward. He often drops some Northern in. I regularly listen to him on the way to/from events, and its nice to hear someone with such a discerning, catholic taste on the radio. Kind of like much-missed John Peel, but with more of an ear for black music.

Apart from some of the very young looking older extras (Hi Casper), who I believe were very much to the foreground in some of the scenes.

The older extras were used to make up the crowd at the back in the big dance scenes (the idea I think being individual faces and bodies will be indiscernable - I predict lots of pause/slow-mo buttons being pressed on DVD players regardless), and a few of them had tertiary parts, eg. bouncers, etc. They were also asked in to help the younger dancers get an idea what it was about, and what worked as a dance and what didn't, and for some sort of 'community outreach' type of thing.

To be fair, it works both ways. There is suspicion and dismissal on both sides - your own term (I use 'Nostalgia Mob'; cf. also 'chinstrokers', 'elitists', 'sheep', 'handbaggers', etc. etc.) is evidence of that. My Nostalgia Mob mates disapprove of Bidds, and I'm sneered at by my Prog Rock pals when I mix it with the handbaggers at WestGate. Doesn't phase me. Different events have different atmospheres; it's not purely about the music. Back on topic, is there any evidence that there are a lot shutting down (and not being succeeded by another event nearby)?

Yeah, despite my own facetious effort, I was hoping for some serious attempts. I hope its a good film. There's been a few - notably Russ Vickers - but my own knowledge of this music is too new and pathetic to come up with any good ones.

Another vote for the Kestrel nighter. My first time at the last one, and it was terrific.

Wigan With Latitude.

You are right, though they haven't changed the name on IMDB. "Souled-Out" always struck me as a tacky, cheap pun, and not exactly a title to inspire confidence in the film itself. Perhaps it was a working title; or there's a change in plan; or an admin error when updating the website and the name is not changed; or they just want to maintain interest. Who knows? So, what should the film be called?

Rugby. Easy peasy.

I'll be in the rnb room wearing the floor out.

Cool. I will be interested to know, as I'm often passing by that way. Be good to say hello as well if you are there. You too, Tony.