Roburt

To tie in with the book of Manc 60's photos that just got a thread on here, a few Manc club related bits ... Think some useless more modern group may have taken the name of a famous old Manc club ... ... ... ALSO the group pic I've posted up (THE MOTOWN SECT) is of a Manc based mod / soul group who played lots of Manc area venues in the early to mid 60's (BTW, the guy in the middle in the college scarf is LEMMY of Hawkwind & Motorhead fame) ...

Is this the place in Blackpool ...

Missed out a mention for yet another Lancs CASINO .... that's cos I couldn't find out anything more about it than this solitary mention ... JUNE 1962; opening of Casino Pigalle Club in New Brown Street, Manchester ... (not that far from the Wheel's location).

I'm from the superior side of the northern hills (the dry side -- God's country), so wasn't exposed to too many Lancs clubs back in my youth. Of course, I attended the Wheel niters and if we arrived in Manc too late (after midnight), another Manc niter venue (can't recall it's name). Mates who dropped off the niter scene after me used to go to Va-Va's (Bolton) but not too many of 'our crowd' lasted till the Wigan Casino opened. So we were never aware of the various 'Casino Clubs' dotted around Lancashire. As these all operated in the 50's and through the 1960's, many were frequented by the local mod / soul crowds ... BUT just why was there such a trend of calling clubs THE CASINO in Lancs ? I know of no Casino Ballrooms, Casino Dancehalls or Casino Clubs in Yorkshire (apart from betting establishments, most of which came much later). But in Lancs there was the Bolton Casino, Wigan Casino (in the same ownership in the 60's), the Burnley Casino, the Leigh Casino, the Casino Club in Westhoughton (which had been the Empire Theatre & after it's days as the Casino became the Gaiety Club). The Bolton Casino had also started out as a cinema, not sure what the Burnley & Leigh versions had started life as. I've checked on tintanet and it seems there was a Casino Ballroom on Canvey Island, a Casino Dance Hall in Mumbles (Swansea) and also a Casino Ballroom on Corporation St, Birmingham (it became the Mecca there). Back in the Manc area, there was a Casino Cinema on Wilmslow Rd but that burnt down in 1960 (before TV took over from films as the main family entertainment and many old cinemas were converted to dance halls). With our crowd attending clubs mainly across Yorkshire & Lincs (Donny, Wakefield, Sheffield, Leeds, Hull, Brid, Scarboro, Tadcaster, Lincoln, Cleggy, etc) before we were forced to head further afield (a couple of trips down to London, to Nottingham, Leicester & finally the Wheel), we were unaware that the likes of Geno Washington & RJB + Ike & Tina Turner played 'Casino' venues in Lancs. We had top venues closer to home & so had no need to venture to those far flung (to us) venues. BACK TO MY QUESTION FINALLY ... Anyone here know why THE CASINO was such a popular name for dance venues in Lancs but hardly anywhere else across the UK ?

My mate Steve Mercer (a DJ in the late 60's / early 70's at various Hull soul clubs) had the 1st copy I ever saw. He played it for me in 1969 & I instantly fell in love with it. It still wasn't easy to get hold of import soul 45's back then -- apart from bidding for them on mailed out lists from around the UK & this 45 never appeared on any of the lists I was sent. So I went searching for info on the group & the label. At the start of 1970, I wrote into Blues & Soul asking about stuff I was chasing on labels such as Soul Clock & Original Sound -- suggesting they did articles on such small US indie soul labels. They got my letter & reacted to it by publishing it (& a reply) in the April 1970 edition of the mag. Steve Mercer decided he needed a car more than his 45 collection around 1972, so gave up DJing, sold up and bought the car he wanted. He can't remember these days who ended up with his Fuller Bros 45. P.S. back at the time I wrote my letter, Invictus & Hot Wax didn't have a UK outlet yet -- that came about in mid August 1970.

I believe that set of Original Drifters WERE the Original Drifters ... they weren't the Atlantic recording group or Roy Tempest's fake outfit (actually the Invitations) but were Bill Pinkney's group (who'd been the 'Atlantic' Drifters in the 50's till sacked by George Treadwell / Atlantic).

The above includes an ad for Stringfellow (King Mojo Club) appearing @ the Torch (after the Mojo had been shut down) ... Here's a couple of bits for another iconic Stoke area club ...

A London area club that burnt brightly for a short time. I believe it was pub based & the building was swept away by a road widening scene (I'm told where the venue stood is now a large roundabout) ...

TOP STAR on @ the GOLDEN TORCH (and I don't mean J J Jackson either) ...

A few more related bits .... photo was taken @ Derby Clouds ....

The Bournemouth area got in on the blues / R&B / soul scene quite early (after having hosted jazz music allnighters ahead of this) ... don't think the area has figured that much since the mid 60's ... seems the same building was used for a number of different clubs between the early & late 60's ...

One I love (and it features Teddy P) ... ....

We've lost yet another star musician. Saw him perform @ a Southport Weekender & got to spend some time with him there too. A great guy ... ... .... 2nd pic Roy with Steve 'MY HAT'S BETTER THAN YOUR HAT' Hobbs ...

Kim in Cleveland; January 65 ...

Friends of Distinction founder (group's big hit -- "Grazing In The Grass") Harry Elston has passed away. He was 88 years old. He'd started out in the Hi-Fi's and the Vocals (who cut for Tangerine in 64).

Yet another soul star lost to us (info from Tats) ...

Could be but I was told it was Venezuelan.

Another few Kim Tolliver related bits ... Kim was on quite a few US TV shows in the 50's / early 60's ... unfortunately tapes of none of them have survived. Kim had a 45 released in Venezuela ... She did lots of shows down in Florida in the late 60's / early 70's ... she was part of Sam & Dave's Revue package for part of that time ... she even did shows in conjunction with Little Beaver ...

Got my copies already (but then Alex is great & I did write the notes for the Kim T 45). Ad from the period when Kim was based in Florida ... Otis R was also pencilled in to appear on this show BUT he died a few days earlier in the plane crash.

Got a copy of that somewhere here.

Must have been great to go along to an actual gospel concert when the groups were in their prime. Weet to a couple of House Of Blues Gospel Brunch's about 25 years ago but they are quite 'staged events'.

Lots of great gospel tracks put out by Chess Records -- Greg B has been on the case with the recent comp LP ... BUT there are still other tracks from Chess that deserve an airing. ALSO a bit 'left field' but this has to be the rarest UK Chess label release ...

Back to the UK clubs ... the TAMLA-MOWTOWN sound of MAJOR LANCE !!!

OHH NO, not another big loss ... ANGIE STONE ... R.I.P. ... killed in a car accident ... TMZ and other sources.

A slight divergence from the main theme of this thread, but the UASF bases in the UK also had a part to play in the 1960's mod / soul scene. Quite a few GI's based over here would go out to local British soul clubs -- to enjoy a night out dancing but sometimes also to pester the live acts on there to let them get up on stage & perform themselves. Thus, we got Geno Washington, Sonny Childe and more. In addition to military folk based here, US based acts would be signed up by the USO to tour to perform for troops based in Vietnam, Germany or the UK. I know quite a few US recording acts that came over here to play concerts in bases in Germany, Norfolk / Suffolk, Oxfordshire, etc. (Kenny Hamber being just one of these). Taking just one base as my example, UPPER HEYFORD in Oxfordshire. This base (as did every other US one in the UK) had it's own shops, bowling alley & theatre. The US also ran the AFN radio stn in Europe as well as on-base radio stns (& newspapers). Most US personnel lived on base but in the case of Heyford, whole housing estates were built for officers & their families in local towns such as Brackley & Bicester. While lots of the time, the families would use the on-base facilities, they also frequented local shops, schools and pubs. Thus the opportunity was there to pal up with a Yank serviceman or two. If you did get to know any, they could take you on-base to go bowling with them or even to attend an on-base concert. The Norfolk bases such as Alconbury, Bentwaters, Mildenhall and Coltishall had more going on but Upper Heyford also had it's attractions. The theatre there; the SKYKING (where they showed movies & staged live shows) was quite small, so didn't accommodate huge numbers. But if the demand was there, a visiting act would have to do 2 shows on their visit. No doubt, others have tales to tell about getting onto British USAF bases or getting hold of copies the US military newspapers printed over here. I know I have seen a few of these newspapers & they plugged upcoming live act visits quite extensively in order to keep locally based folk from getting too bored or homesick.