spike1

Or could it be ???? General Norman Johnson, at the age of twelve, formed the group The Humdingers that would eventually become The Showmen. In the late 1950s, Noah Biggs began managing The Humdingers. He sent a demo to Banashak. The songs on the demo were "The Owl Sees You", "For You My Darling", "Skinny McGinny" and "I Go On Loving You". Banashak arranged for Toussaint to record The Humdingers. "Our Love Will Grow" on Swan Records became a Northern soul track, listed as number 382 on the Northern Soul All Time Top 500.[citation needed

Marv Johnson is the artist who performed on the first record ever to come from Motown, and he went on to put two songs in the top ten. Born in 1938 in Detroit, Marv performed as a teenager with a group known as the Serenaders in the mid-50's. He managed to become a talented singer, songwriter and pianist. One day in the late 50's he was singing on a float in a carnival, and he was noticed by a young entrepreneur named Barry Gordy. Gordy offered him a recording session at his fledgling Motown Records, which at the time was only a production company. Johnson recorded Come To Me and when it was issued regionally on the Tamla label, it became Gordy's first record release. Eventually United Artists picked it up and by the Spring of 1959 it reached the top thirty nationally. From 1959 to 1961, Marv Johnson put nine records in the top 100. Two in particular were big hits, and top ten records in the United States: You Got What It Takes and I Love The Way You Love. In late 1960 his final top forty hit in the US (You've Got To) Move Two Mountains reached the charts. Johnson's records were also very popular in the United Kingdom, especially You Got What It Takes. It reached number five there and inspired a cover by the Dave Clark Five, who brought it back to the top ten in 1967. On many of his songs including his biggest hits, Marv Johnson was backed by a group of Motown singers known as the Rayber Voices. Johnson continued recording throughout the 60's. Marv Johnson's recordings from 1959 and 1960 gave a preview of the Motown sound and the hits that were to pour out of Motown throughout the 60's. In the early 70's, he worked in sales and promotion for Motown.

depends on the type of "white powder" your talking about???

He Could have there were a few that got hooked on those evil things Start off taking a couple to ease the come down then they started to take over your body bad bad stuff Hope he sorted himself out vos he was a nice guy circa 77/78 Thanks

Anyone remember a black guy called John ? Had " John of Bolton " sewn in the back of his shirt Really good dancer rapid spins were his trademark move Top bloke Anyone? Spike

Chalky with some of the more commercial stuff for exampkePhil Collins going back you get an electronic style booklet Msybee in time this will happen for all downloads??? Spike

Don't k iw about dance police at Wigan But there was some police who tried to dance ! The loverly police cadets who dressed like they were going to a disco and danced that way too !! Av you got any gear mate?? Eff off !!!!

Used to do the gymnastics back in the 7ts But always concentrated on the foot work Fast stomper style or smooth style depending on the beat I don't have any trophies like lamberettanic but I do have the same dodgy knees and hamstrings And my acrobatics stay firmly under lock and key!! Love to see guys who can still do the floor work but fir me it has to fit in to the beat Not just a gymnastic show Just my opinion Steve( just getting some more cod liver oil caps) Pike

In 78 we had about a three month run of hiring 50 seater coaches from the Chesterfield / Mansfield area mainly we met at clay cross On the bus they would be about 20 to 25 hardcore dancers we practiced all week we copied moves of other dancers. At that time we mainly used to sit at the right hand side in the big room near the front I always danced in that area Did not feel at the time that there was a pecking order If I remember there was usually the Bolton crew at the front lots of Manc lads n lasses Sandy holt Julie bebb and a guy called vinney from leyland all danced at. The front Loads of top dancers if some one wanted to dance near you , you just gave them some space and respect if you knew that they were into fast spins or lots of acrobatics most dancers knew when to get out of the way! There would be some collisions but a quick smile shake if hands usually ended up in a lifelong friendship!! As the big floor was huge to me I did not matter where I danced as long as I danced there was some great dancers at the front but there was also some. great dancers All over I'm mr m's. You just danced where you could ! I agree carms the best place to watch was from the balcony used to go up there fir a breather and a smoke??? Spike

POLICED???

Went the wheel yesterday enjoyed it along with hundreds of others Hope everyone else round the scene and the country had a great time also Enjoy it Hey hey her times a wasting!! Spike

Best yet sharmo!!! Great memories ! I've still got an old dansette (in fact it's all I've got to play my megre collection of records on) Spike

Can't remember the first soul record I purchased cos my older sister was into Motown so we used to play all hers But I think it was about 73/4 I " borrowed" one of my mates albums Aladin Sane by David Bowie and swopped it with a guy at school for Bok to Bach on a green and gold heritage lable (more than likely a re-release pressing and worth about ten bob or 50p ) But I thought that I'd won the pools!! ( now theres one fir the teenagers !!!) Spike

Get ready were gonna swing Going going to a handbging Got my slippy shoes and holdall on Spray my talc and dance all night long Gonna do what we feel f*ck You ! Were gonna dance at THE twisted wheeeeel Get ready were gonna swing Going going to an happening Who are you the soul police????

I hope that the upfront scene continues to grow and thrive Looking for new stuff to play weather it be " new"', old but seldom played or undiscovered Is what the dj's at the wheel , torch Wigan ect were all about some great. I don't know how many more undiscovered 6ts tunes are left though! But I'm sure you toys will keep looking ! As I now only regularly attend the twisted wheel twice a month I don't know what people judge as overplayed oldies? As the wheels policy is to try and keep to The Origanal playlists from both the brazenose St and whitworth St sites you'd assume that it would be smae old same old , yes loads of classics but every time I go I hear something new to me have to ask someone "what the fxxk is that!" Now that may be my lack of knowledge of early soul or r&b or it could be that dj's at hte wheel try and keep things fresh by playing obscure sounds? would I go to an upfront do? Don't think I'd fit in I wear brogues, sta prest Fred perry and have the skinhead I carry a black holdall (cos I dance for most of the 5 hours and need several change of shirts) Would this class me as a " holdall wankee" "Dinosaur " "stuck in a time warp" "returnee "??? Don't think I'd feel welcome Yours in soul Steven pike 52 years young and still enjoying it!!

August 2000 The twisted wheel re~opens on whitworth street 39 years after it was closed Still going strong

Not long ago Roy posted a superb article about the Sheffield Esquire which was written by Steve Bellamy...Here is an article from the same person about a 1965 King Mojo Club outing to London... London had the Scene club and Sheffield had the Mojo and the twain never met. After all why should we go all the way to London (by BR no less) when we had Violet May's record emporium (still regarded as the best Mod record outlet in the UK) Burtons tailors, La Favarita coffee shop, City Hall hairdressers and a plethora of Boots the chemist branches. We were set for life. TV really wasn't something that had any consequence. After all, as far as 'our' music was concerned it was a wasteland. Programs like "6-5 special" "Thank Your Lucky Stars" and the truly horrible 'Top of the Pops' were as blinkered to 'soul' music as Hercules the dray horse on Steptoe and Son. This all changed in August 1963. For a few months prior to this we heard from some of the groups who played the Mojo about a TV show that was being planned by Rediffusion to be called '3-2-1 Go' that would actually have 'in' bands appearing, playing their records, with hip kids from the London clubs dancing in the studio. In effect it would be the club scene in a TV studio. But not 'our' club scene! Talk of seeing groups like the Stones, Small Faces and the Who on national TV had us grimacing in disbelieve and suppressed resentment. Honestly, we didn't want the straights - especially Mom and Dad, to find out about what was driving us out of the house on Friday nights. Somebody in broadcast TV down there (London) was really going to do it and we - the 'in crowd' - were going to left out of it. NOT BLOODY LIKELY (deep voiced strong Sheffield accent there) Eventually, we found out that a was going to be a pilot show shot at a Teddington studio on Tues July 16th with a few local groups and a bunch of kids from the Scene and the Flamingo. What to do, what to do. Enter Pete Stringfellow. Pete together with his brother Geoff was the owner of the Mojo club in Sheffield. With the notable exception of David Frost, I have never met anybody as determined to be a success as he was. He was an extrovert and entrepreneur extraordinaire and a pretty good soul DJ to boot. He called Peter Croft the assigned director for the show and essential told him that he was the son of a big shot ABC television producer and also co-incidentally owner of the biggest disco in the North of England, the Mojo. By sheer force of personality he wangled an invite to appear on the show and to bring along a 'few' friends. Forty-eight of us turned up and took over the entire dance studio. Pete grabbed the mike twice straight out of the hands of Keith Fordyce and preceded to do his Mojo DJ spiel for the cameras. Meanwhile we were dancing ourselves silly to Manfred Mann, Freddie and the Dreamers, and Bo Diddley (one for our side at least) When it was all over and declared a, quote - 'whiz bang success' Keith Fordyce came over to a group of us Yorkshire lads and innocently says 'so you chaps have come all the way from Sheffield on a Tuesday no less. I expect you'll be eager to go home and get back to work, what with the weekend coming up and all. John Varney, our hometown 'Ace Face' looks at him 'gone out' and says 'are you kidding mate - the weekend starts here' A little light bulb went on in Fordyce's head and a slogan was born. Over the next three years Pete Stringfellow and the Sheffield Mojo crowd were as much regulars on the now renamed 'Ready Steady Go' as Cathy McGowan, Patrick Kerr or even that warm up dancer fella Paul Raven better known now as Gary Glitter. Such is the stuff of legends. I know, cos I was there Found this post on the twisted wheel forum Thought it was interesting

Sorry Malcolm buy I confoooz myself these dayz

Think I caused the confusion!! By saying I first went march 76!!! So 2am tonight or today or whatever we call 2am at an allnighter ;

Nice one Irish " don't get mad get even" Great to meet you at the wheel The Other Sunday Spike

Was it 38 years ago today that the casino opened as a nighter? March 76 was my first time at Wigan Went 3rd anniversary were "the chants" on live that night???

Speedy recovery Keith Hope to see you down at the wheel soon Get well soon my man

Travel could be a problem But hotels are cheap Xmas day Where would you have the event??