macca

The Norman style is known in Spain as Románico. It encompasses roughly the same period of construction as the great Norman cathedrals and churches in England. Love the simplicity of it. We’re quite lucky in Galicia to have some excellent examples. Arzúa and Melide are famous for cheese and octopus respectively. Sometimes we jump into the car and drive to Melide from Coruña just for an octopus sesh. No place like Galicia for polbo á feira, of course. In Santiago de Compostela one of the best places for pulpo is O Bochinche near the Porta do Camiño, in Rúa San Pedro, well away from all the tawdry shite and rip off joints near the Cathedral, lol.

Hola, nice trip you’re having, I see. I’ve lived in Galicia (Pontevedra & A Coruña) since 1991. My father-in-law, now 86, did the French route several times and the Primitive twice, a real tough nut, back in the early 90s, his final hike being the Vía de la Plata from Seville to Compostela. Huge respect. My knees wouldn’t take it now but I am considering the e-bike option, lol. Buen Camino!!

Very sad to hear this, and at 65 no age at all. I’ll always remember his name from the full page ads that Wigan Casino ran in Blues & Soul long before I got to go up there. He was also a friendly guy that never hesitated to share his enthusiasm for those classic sounds with the younger crowd. He’ll also go down in NS history as the guy that played the VERY last tune at Wigan which if I’m not wrong was The Night, perfectly matching the mood… RIP Steve.

A thoroughly enjoyable read, thanks! Always been convinced I was born 10-15 years too late!

Not because it’s a particularly great record, but an abiding memory I have of the man is with Margaret Mandolph’s Something Beautiful, when he used to play the intro twice over ‘cos it was incredible’... grinning to myself now just thinking about it... I’ve watched him two or three times in the last few years over here and he rocked the joint. Every time.

Right. Thanks. :)

Which TM would that be?

27 years and had only one record not arrive which was sent to Uruguay for some reason. Uruguay happened to be the name of the avenue I lived on at the time, so who knows. The record, worth a fiver, eventually wound its way back to the UK and the seller asked me to cough up for postage again for him to resend. I never bought from him again.

Rank though not Top...

Dreams are made of this. Well done Pete.

We could bang on about this for hours...

Lovely bloke. Always ready to share knowledge with budding collectors like me. You could always spot him from way off as he was so tall and if I remember well, had a liking for big woolly cardies and polo-neck jumpers. When he worked for JM it was a pleasure when he picked up the phone as he'd let you down easy if a record had gone and even congratulated your taste and asked you if there was anything else you were after. I'm sure his warm attitude with punters helped JM snare quite a few extra sales. We've all bought and sold countless 45s at niters over the years but I'll always remember selling my Otis Smith on Perception to him one night at the Sheffield KGB. A sweet guy and as Arthur says, charismatic on the decks, even though some of his selections would turn me off, lol. Ben Zine!!

Man of stone!!

Agree with Roburt. One of the finest things ever committed to analogue tape. A rites of passage tune if ever there was one. I proudly own my sister's copy she'd bought from Boots on release. Sends me back to my first tentative steps on a dancefloor, a good year before I got into this here Northern thing. So what if the handbaggers love it? A stone classic in the true sense of the word.

Did we get an intro?

I was there in June and found zilch. I asked my SD host where the vinyl joints were and she dropped me off at two or three. Also tried a Sunday morning yard sale crawl up in the University Heights area. One guy had a huge box of classic Soul 45s, mainly 70s stuff, but all beaten to fook and sleeveless. It was hot and I got bored very quickly.

The Nite Spot Bedford in 1980. Another Ken Cox job. Flak between Mods, those who thought they were Mods and progressive types dancing to Will Collins & Willpower. Interesting times.

I mean in the most general sense. If you go to one of these macro events in the UK it's right there in your face. It's easy to see without looking too far that not much is really sacred. Bob said that. But then again, was it ever sacred?

And the grubby exploitation continues unabated.

Ken Cox started the Fleet in June 78. He'd lost St.Ives the previous autumn, the last allniter being held in October from memory. He held an allniter at the Samson & Delilah ballroom in Norwich in January 78 as a stop gap or water tester. It didn't take off sadly. Love Naarwich.

The Javells and Sam The Sham & The Pharoahs even. Dreadful.

And who, pray, might be the arbiters of taste? Tastes are like colours, there are lots of them (old Spanish proverb).

Debbie Taylor should have been up there in lights...

Garfield Fleming had a tremendous voice. Does he still walk this earth?

Hahaha... I have to say I do actually like the vocal. The fact that a lot of these Mecca/Cleethorpes shufflers have fallen from grace amongst the oldies crowd is kinda sad, I reckon.