denis billingham

I'm So Bad I Should Have Been Born Twins O Yay - Mr Soul Satification - Timmy Willis

Jim, too many good memories to remember haha hope you have been keeping well, I saw Jock and Colin a couple of months back the first time in many many years some things never change eh! Hope to see you soon and catch up

I recon the best meeting place before the wheel, for all your medical needs was the Queens, and I agree the The Top Twenty was top draw, but I had forgotten about the out at 8.00 back in at 9.00, strange how time plays tricks on the bits you remember.......... well I think it it time that causes all the memory loss hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Hi Swish ........ I have loads of old posters and stuff some place, if you need any for your Book just let me know db PS. do you still have my Wheel Card !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ha Ha

Ha Ha Ha Ha............ This just gets funnier and funnier. Pete, what have you ever done to this guy to deserve all this abuse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I reckon you must have well and truly pis**d him well off in a previous life.!!!!!.

Whoooops sorry about the above guess it does not like cut and paste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Read On After receiving many, many texts from people who used to attend the Metro All-Nighter Sessions, and several people who did not go to these Sessions, all asking me to put the record straight, I thought this seemed an appropriate time and place to put forward one or two of the real facts. Pete, Swish, Julian, Mick and Roy - most of your facts are spot on - Soash - mmmmmmm - some? Let's start with the Metro: First off, I will confirm 100% fact that I did DJ at the Metro All Nighter Sessions. I will also confirm 100% fact that Keith Atkinson (Flash) DJ'd several times at the Metro All Nighter Sessions. I will further confirm that my friend, Les Cokell shared a spot with me twice at the Metro Nighter Sessions and I do take exception to the statement and implication that I was one of 'a few kids' that might have got sounds out of their boxes before 11 pm and were 'allowed' to play some records. I personally did DJ at the Metro All Nighter Sessions, I think, two or three times before the Wheel closed. Then virtually every Saturday, with the exception of the last one, when, as the other guys said, we all went to the birthday bash, and I ended up at Lord Jim's, where Julian was laying down the magic tunes of the day. I will also tell you that I got paid every time I DJ'd at the Metro by the Owner, (strange that isnt it?) With regard to the Metro weekday sessions, I have no idea about that or its policy. As far as I was concerned it was a Coffee Bar. I was only interested in the all Nighter thing at the weekends. You also speak about a young Ian Levine. To the best of my recollection, Ian and Bob, both from Blackpool and both part of our crowd at that time, never went to the Metro - certainly not with us anyway. Again, from memory, the first time I ever remember Ian DJ'ing was at Hernies. Going back to the Metro - I was, at that time, DJ'ing at the Central twice a week, Blazes in Stockport, and the occasional Thursday nights with Stuart and Tony at Wakefield Mecca opposite the Metro, plus of course the Metro All Nighters - hardly a wannabe! I will also tell you, your information/recollections regarding the Leeds Clubs and our crowd is way off the mark, you refer to the Bee Gee Club, this was the name it went by only in its very latter days, when there was no music policy there at all, only a jukebox, the dance area downstairs was not used and permanently in the dark. Prior to that, the whole Club was called the Blue Gardenia and the music policy was top drawer. I am also surprised, withyour extensive knowledge of the scene at this time, you fail to mention the iohanas Club in Leeds just off City Square, or slightly earlier the Three Coins or the La Concador, all with brilliant early soul/R&B policies, but enough is enough. You also posed the question why would Rob Lemoine attend the Metro every Saturday if the Central was open? Most people who were well into the Soul Scene at that time would be able to answer this very simple question. The Central Soul Sessions were on a Friday night at that time - not Saturdays, the Saturday ones started years later. I started DJ'ing at the Central twice a week in about 69, until Joan (the boss) sacked me for opening Hernies with Mick, because all the Soul crowd moved on to Hernies. Joan, to be fair, offered me my old spots back at the Central many times, but I have always been a person who does not like to go back, it never seems the same (but that is just me being me). When I arrived at the Central the music policy was pretty middle of the road, but eventually through the efforts of myself and my fellow DJ's the music started to slowly change into what we all came to know and love as Northern Soul. Back to the Metro - you talk about the 'hoo-ha' in the Press with regard to water being charged for. What you failed to mention was that most of the 'hoo-ha' was caused by the fact that the Owner had turned off the water taps in the loos, prior to putting the water on sale, which tends to put a rather different perspective on that whole situation!! Soash - don't take any of his the wrong way. I do not hold any animosity towards you. If you wish to claim to be the great 'I Was' - crack on - no-one is really bothered after all these years! But I will tell you that I have DJ'd from the North of Scotland to the South Coast at just about every major venue promoting Northern Soul over lots and lots of years. I have been an avid record collector, have promoted many venues across the country, brought several major soul artists into the UK and still continue to this day to love the music. So please remember many many other people have contributed their bit over the years too. To conclude and close this subject:- A quote I think that is quite apt ...... 'Opinions and memories are a bit like backsides and should not always be aired in public'. Regards and best wishes to all denis billingham