Frankie Crocker

Danny Moore rather than Danny Monday. Tracked down by a New Jersey sleuth and shipped in bulk to the Potteries. A few punters had their fingers burned on this one, myself included. Same partnership brokered the Dream Team on Gregory I think. Richie Rosen had quantity of Frederick Hymes III and was behind the flood of Reverend George Mortons, fingers burned again... On the plus side, it is good to see the trackers uncovering hoards of good records such as Four Tracks, Clara Hardy, Willie Pickett etc - the down side is paying too much for a copy in the hurry to be at the front of the queue. Trick is, get to know the dealers and their M.O. so the records can be sourced for a reasonable outlay. And if someone says 'this is the last copy', maybe think twice before handing over the cash.

Monday 27th January 7.00 p.m. and it's just been aired again - first time I've heard/seen it. Shows the BBC have some taste but witnessing a classic instrumental reduced to an advertising jingle is blasphemous. Who is the mole at the BBC who has the power to choose the Northern tunes foisted on the public? Does he/she have a title? Anyone know who it is? Are there royalties to be paid? I'd rather my license fee was spent on pop music jingles or the BBC orchestra - Northern tunes deserve to be kept out of the limelight...

Went there October 1992 and Val said no one was allowed behind the counter. He also said credit cards weren't welcome so I left empty handed. Since then, stock has increased from two to three million records but as most are Doo Woppy things on ghastly maroon labels, I would imagine sales are rather slow. There's a clip somewhere showing a smirking Val putting a Temptones or something on Arctic into a box to tempt diggers into ploughing through picked over stock - when I read comments like Ady Croasdell's Jimmy Andrews, I know who is having the last smirk...

Yep, maybe late August. The Casino was heaving. Getting in was a real scrum with just half the front door open and everyone pushing in at the front.

It is not February 1974. I went to the Casino on 24/3/74 and 31/3/74, first two occasions, and I am sort of in the picture, very top with shirt only visible...read on. A roughly similar picture features on the Soul Function DVD and The Wigan Casino Story CD GCSD51 and I can clearly see myself. Sadly, I can not name any fellow dancers but recognise about five of them as regulars, memorable in some way. About half a dozen people feature in the two photos wearing the same clothes, some almost in the same positions. The shirt I am wearing is very distinctive and was bought in the summer of 1974 - I went to the Casino a few weeks before the first anniversary to get a ticket so I suspect the Footsee photo was taken in late August or early September 1974, perhaps 31/8/74 or 7/9/74. Another version of the Footsee photo appeared in Blues and Soul edition # 209. If folk who attended roundabout the above dates could check these other photos, we might be able to make a few more positive ID's.

Well reasoned Brian. I always thought it was the first anniversary but on this basis, it is evidently not.

Shrewd observation fellas but can a 'Walk' actually be a dance? The Wigan Walk was, and still is, the nursery slopes for timid movers, a kind of Hokey Cokey for line dancers who have watched a YouTube dance class clip and are primed to dance the night away for the first time...

Richard - yes, agreed, if you've got soul, you react to the music consciously or subconsciously, usually tapping the feet... Tension though is not a common sensation experienced by Northern fans, the clappers and spinners: maybe the deep soul lover of shouters and screamers perhaps? Real Northern fans feel the 'build up' and respond by clapping - as already noted in other threads, spinning is too often disconnected from the music but spreads like a rash when there are cameras around... ATB

Good idea for a thread. I might have been on the train from Bangor via Llandudno Junction (hi Mike), Chester, Warrington Bank Quay then Wigan North Western - took half a day there and longer to get back on a Sunday. Did the Swansea, Cardiff, Crewe and Wigan journey a couple of times one summer, hooking up with Gloucester crew to break trip at Birmingham Locarno. At all the interchange stations there were soulies playing live cassette tapes nice and loud so you were up for it even when a 100 miles from Wigan. Best regular journey was the last train from Manchester Victoria to Wigan, all carriages packed with maybe 200 plus soulies in trenchcoats, often with two or three cassette players blairing away - possibly scope for a thread on this topic ...

Yes. Craig Moerer sold one a couple of years ago. The white demo is more common but still on the scarce side. Must be valued at £100 at least these days.

Sorry, mucked up the above quote but it's followable I think...

If we had had internet and social media "in those days" I'm sure this would never have been a topic Clapping was and is part of dancincing .. as you got into the scene you was swollowed up by an atmosphere that was awesome!! When you get on the dance floor and that record/sound becomes your own personal enjoyment.. and that enjoyment that starts in your ears .. makes its way to your brain ..from there sends signals to the hairs in your neck .. sends signals through your whole body including feet and hands ...makes your heart beat faster ... makes it feel like you never want it to end... subconciously connects you to other clappers... its AWESOME!!!!! Why an issue .. who cares .. if people are enjoying themselves and most of all enjoying the record, what difference does it make if you clap or dont clap. This was a topic back in the day... We were unique in that dancers applauded a DJ for spinning a vinyl track - this did not happen in clubs or discos, only at live performances. Moreover, we were pretty clever to be able to clap in unison during a track, lifting the atmosphere a few notches higher and heightening the whole experience. Strikes me that a lot of Soul Source members care about this sort of thing.

Spine tingling stuff Pete. I love this record but the live version with 'unison' clapping is 21 carat gold nostalgia...

Why not tell us who these old guards were and how old they were? Are you implying Hucknall went to the Casino? If so, how old was he? I gather Kevin Rowlands of Dexys Midnight Runners went to the Casino also but this thread is not about musicians that went to Wigan...

Dave, thanks for this I wasn't aware of this so will check it out later...

Dave, thanks for this tit- bit...probably stretching the truth then to cite she was an early fan! Running with the minor-celeb theme, in yesterday's Weekend Telegraph (page W4), Wayne Hemingway, the designer, pops up and states 'By the time I was 13 I was doing all-nighters at Wigan Casino': it would be interesting to know if anyone younger than this managed to attend the Casino?

Wardie, make sure you look after the P Funk capped t- shirt and leave the heirloom to someone who will pass it to the curator of the Wigan Casino Museum when it eventually gets built... ATB

Hi Dave. I know you too but not seen you for a while. Always used to chat to you around the gaffs, bought your magazine and we did a few record deals. We had the Culcheth conversation a few times. Went there on January 2nd for the first time since 1975 - much the same but more shops and restaurants: old schools demolished and new one sprouted up. I think there are soul events at the Sports Club from time to time so there are probably a good few soulies in the area.

Priceless Baz. Hailing from Warrington, I'm proud of you son. When I lived in Culcheth, I sometimes wondered why there was a Mental Hospital in Winwick...

As Mr Flood said at his party, 'Compared To What'?

Cheers Pete. This is the clip that turned many of us onto the song. It is a scintillating performance that encapsulates much of what is so good about the music we have a shared admiration for.

Good call. Any serious collector with records to trade is missing a trick if they attend an event without a small box. Bigger dealers with table-size boxes are always willing to consider part-exchange deals also. Sure, the internet has has had an impact on dealing at venues, but ultimately it's about the records in demand and whether the supply can meet this.

Beg to differ. It is a very good Northern record. Big 100 Club spin before the Millennium. Like most good records eventually have their day, this one arrived later than some and at a time the scene needed an infusion of good, fresh sounds.

Spot on Pete, getting my years muddled. I was not there, but remember the anti-camera stirrings prior to the event. Lots of regulars stayed away and many new faces turned up. At least the session yielded some colour footage if not a lot else...

Sam Williams...gobsmacked.