Wiggyflat

I think it's people who want to be famous and well known doing it through the Northern Soul scene....they have not got the nose to find the records ...scrimp and scrape to buy the records....no interest in deejaying (that's too hard), know a counterfeit from a real one (nor are they bothered).....know about the artists......learn a few moves and proclaim you are an expert. Put up loads of videos and get loads of likes and be famous online...you never know some tv company might put you on telly.. I remember a dance teacher called Sharon about ten years ago at a venue I was playing at said "why are you playing this Modern rubbish? "It was Heart Be Still by Jackie Moore. I then put on Oh Happy Day and she ran off to the dancefloor. I scratched my head. She had all the moves though and the qualifications. !

There a nice bit of footage on here from 1978 showing one style of dancing. (4) Soulboys and Scooters - YouTube

You don't see many different styles of "Northern Soul dancing" no fast shuffling to Time or Summer In The Parks .....no Russian rolls....no handstands into splits....no swallow dives.... I suppose those styles are dead now along with Karate slippers,shorts,Italian combats,canvas belts,Pods,. Never mind the Italians came third and I believe Scotland won.

I have a letter from Feb 71 addressed to Phil Saxe and Rob Bellars from a Dave Lowe who was a bit miffed he had lost out on their auction of a Sandi Sheldon.

I collect BBC transcription discs of Brian Matthews TOTP shows (not to be confused with the TV Series) there are very few US acts on them...Edwin Starr, Showstoppers and the Flirtations come to mind but all of these acts relocated here.It s good that you taped these as i doubt the BBC still have them.

I'm sure I have seen the Elbie Parker advert and from memory he was a white bloke.I have an Apollo acetate of this 45

I can rest a bit easier now then. Such a shame the adverts and the pics promised so much.A friend of mine played organ on a small soul release on the Instant label by Sonny Burke.I was imagining it was going to be something like that release.

This is a great thread. I remember seeing an advert for the Lunar 2 in the music press and thought i need to find this record. Still never come across one and i have never heard it. I remember reading about Cream Machine by Cookie Eaton on Conder but did eventually find that record though. Have you got a copy or heard the record?

I have been through 99 percent of the Wigan papers through that era. The Casino was used for loads of different events inc the Policemans ball during the early years of the Nighter. Russ had a general mobile disco called Everysound Disco. The week before the Casino opened the bouncers were up in court for GBH relating to a fight there. The Allnighters opened a week later and it seemed to come at a time when the other venues were being shut down for drugs and Russ saw the opening. . The main soul place in Wigan prior to the nighters seemed to be the Stax Disco with the deejay Neil Swann. He also did Bolton Casino. Richard has said that he provided him with records in the early years.Before that there was a Mod venue in Wigan called Room At The Top (notorious for drug dealing and shut down to re open as the Spot with live bands not a deejay)with the Empress Suite at the Casino a live music venue for bands like The Foundations etc and the main room for cabaret. Drug related busts relating to the nighter were frequently in the local paper and papers all around the country for that matter as people who were nicked seemed to always mention the place for some reason. In one article The local Wigan magistrate was sick of getting nighter drug busts in front of her and asked what were the Police doing!! Getting down at Wigan Casino seems to be the answer.

I will never forget that day at a meal with about 7 other people when a learned friend said look a float with a Nazi symbol on it....it's Northern Soul ! Kev you are into Northern Soul.....i spat red wine out.

No I haven't.....always was a Black Fist but at some point has changed into a white Fist. Lads from the Wheel era used to wear a black glove on one hand to show affinity with the black struggle. It has somehow in the last few years changed to a white fist and it is a commonly known symbol for the white Aryan movement. (well i thought it was commonly known but obviously not!)I think a lot of people wear these symbols without even thinking of the meaning or looking no further than the image. Same as when that Nazi symbol was used on the Northern Soul float.I wonder how many on that show apart from Russ would understand who Dave Godin was yet can roll K.T.F off the tongue.

Its a white Power symbol taken from the Black Power clenched fist . ALTERNATE NAMES: White Power Fist, White Fist The upright clenched fist has long been used as a symbol (both graphically and as a hand gesture) to represent themes such as defiance, unity, and power. In the 1960s and 1970s, black nationalist groups in the United States and elsewhere often used a dark-skinned clenched fist gesture or image as a "black power" symbol. By the 1980s, white supremacists in the United States and elsewhere had appropriated this symbol, substituting a white fist. White supremacists frequently claim that they use the symbol to represent "white pride" or "white power."

It was terrible.....i judge these things from the tv pieces in the past that have been good. Why all these white fists....that's a white Aryan power symbol. These tv things went downhill after Dani Behrs Northern Soul Butcher one. This England. This is great even though nobody wanted it. Something Else. Not many people have seen this but i had to pay a few quid to get it out the back door. An excellent piece covering records, the excitement etc. Jamesons People..Phil Dick one...this is One Show terrtory but is not too bad in retrospect and not as galling as The One Show pieces. Morecambe on Hearsay....a great serious piece ....interviews about the music from the deejays and promoters of the time . Whistle Test...another great piece with talk about the music and the scene. I don't think people know how to say "no" .It is being homogenised and dumbed down and the drugs and record hounds have been erased altogether to be replaced by fluffy baggy trouser oh look at the quaint northerners. I am doing a lot of research from the Mod scene through the Northern scene and the amount of chemist burglaries is staggering and the amount of people who grassed their club up was suprising.Maybe not One show material

Phil Coulter A Good Thing Going

Phil Terrell & Mike Vickers are at prices I think you could buy at set sale or even cheaper.

I was playing this at a Mod/Easy Listening/Library records club i did in Islington in 1999. One sided demo. He did some other great records on Columbia. The Hand Don't Fit The Glove being one. It's more of a Mod scene record and as someone has said above a rock record.

One thing that i have found in abundance is the amount of chemist burglaries there were and the amount of reports that were naming clubs that the burglars were going to. The Wheel and The Nite Owl feature. Going through the Wigan stuff is funny as you would get a piece on The Policemans Ball at The Casino, a pic of Russ with a gold disc for Wayne Gibson and the opposite page a drug raid on the Niter.

I am doing research for a book on the Mod Scene 1954-1990 and have started going through all the local papers for these sort of clubs. I got some great stuff on the Frollicking Kneecap yesterday. The term Mods was still in use up to around 1971.Derbys Clouds nightclub seemed interesting around this time.

I have had the Edwin Bee record in my pop collections since early nineties.I have never heard it played out though.

Soul Mags Wanted.....Rhythm & Soul, Home Of The Blues, R&B Scene , 1-5 and 17 of Blues And Soul to complete the collection . PM Me

Is it me or was that a lot for a UK Ray Pollard with a sticker on....

I have seen the emidisc Russ had....it has a UK Seventies Tamla label over it and Russ No1 written in the middle ....i wonder why he wanted and was lent the original if he had the emidisc

Myself (Kevin Johansen) & James Hill play from Original vinyl and advertise this fact at The Rivoli in South London....3 events all 400 plus sell outs (for a soul night). I know that they have other Northern Soul nights on at the venue with deejays that do not play original vinyl (we play Vinyl !) that are half empty and are struggling ...maybe the customers are picky about it or they might like the fact that we have made the effort. .

Always reminds me of Sandie Shaws Long Live Love for some reason.