Paul Conroy

Sean Been away on me hols, and reading through the replies you received there is none from the North East ( apart from Kirsty and Picerbridge) so hear we go Up here we are suffering the same as the rest of the country, the attendances are dropping.I don't think it has anything to do with Holiday periods,myself personally there are too many events on in a small area which attracts a small number of people anyaway, and to make it worse they clash. I've just recently stopped writing for Nsoul re the North East Scene, but when I did I attended every event possible up here and I noticed about a year ago attendances were dropping, Why??, well this is a personal view, the same tunes are being played, at the same time , bythe same DJ's!!! in the same order, it was becoming boring. I could go to an event on a Friday night and hear the same tunes on a Saturday night. there needed to a variation and sadly it is not happening, and to add what about clashing, here's a one for you last year me and me mate Micky Bishop who always accompanies me went to 5 do's in one night up here starting off in Newcastle, South Shields,Sunderland,Newton Aycliffe then Darlington, before returining to the Toon, there was ahandful in each event and to be honest there was not that much difference in the sounds that were played, these types of situations cannot help either Me and Micky promoted The Fed, which sadly is no more, we were getting over 450 in and we used to ask what people wanted to hear, we even put out questioners at one event,the answer was 'we want something different' we did it and were criticised for not playing enough Oldies, because of this we suffered attendance wise at the next Fed. so we reverted back to Oldies with current floorfilles, got criticised again too many Oldies. We already had 2 rooms going the second being modern Room, so we decided to go for 3 rooms, extra costs meant we had to raise the price from a fiver to £7, from 4pm til 2.3am we had 29 DJ's on in all 3 rooms catering hopefully for everyone and his dog, it was starting to work but with all 3 rooms working great particually the Modern and Rare rooms, and if the new company which came in not trippled the costs of room hire our attendneces may have risen but I'm sure it would of stayed the same 450 plus, but we will never know over the pst 5 years one club the Cumby in Newton Aycliffe has always been progressive in it's music policy,but even there the attendances suffered the lads have had to move to a smaller venue, others are trying like The Rolling Mills in Darlington and Bob Armstrongs new venture in Easington to play something different, not too sure what the attendances are like as I've not been able to go due to work and personal reasons, but the people I know who have attended say they have had healthy numbers I have wondered if it would be best for venues to go Bi-monthly, you could still attend an event every month, support one event one month, another the next, so on and so on, this may raise attendances and stop the clashing Sorry for going on a bit All the best Paul Conroy

Chris I doubt very much if the person who has written this letter is a Police Officer, there is too much contridiction in what is written and what actions this person took I agree with Simon re the Offences committed by the letter writer,and if genuine ( doubt very much) they should be acted upon How can you Unofficially inform the Drugs Squad and ask not for this to happen again or else they will imform the Police then end with this quote The letter has been given to the local police along with the suspect package so the Police have been informed Officially??This would have been acted upon by now if genuine and the the DJ or person running the show mentioned would have been questioned by now as the person writting the letter would have had to complete paperwork etc and place the items into a property system, and the Supervision of the writer would have asked questions and answers would have had to be given Seems totally false to me, dosen't make sense, if it's another promotor or someone bearing a grudge, it's shit, however what it would done is have the desriered effect by placing doubts in the minds of the clubs managerment Paul Conroy

Forgot to mention on last post I telephoned them today and the gut I spke to said he know nothing about the item in the Daily express and no one had been casted yet for parts, so is this another project that has been written about Paul Conroy Tyneside Soul Promotions

Hope this link helps https://www.ipsofactofilms.com/films/souled_out.html Paul Conroy Tyneside Soul Promotions

Shane 'If this ain't love' has been getting some plays for quite a while up here, in fact my mate Steve Wilson played it when we had Kim Weston on last October time or there abouts andtehn when I first heard it. Getting back to the album I love the mix they have tried to create, with a Northern/Funk and jazz influence, ''Keep reaching up'is a great Funk track The last couple of weeks a freind who runs a commercial Soul Show on Radio Newcastle on a Friday night has been openining with 'Feeling Free' He loves the album 'Believe'by the Soldiers of Twilight has been getting a lot of plays and getting good reaction, if you have not heard it if you e-mail your addy I'll send you a copy Paul Conroy Tyneside Soul Promotions

Shane I've had the Album for a few weeks now, and I know it will not be to everyone's tatse, but I must say I like it, well worth a tenner, if this is what the music scene in Finland is like , long may it continue, I also bought The Soldiers of Twilight 'Believe' feat Nicolle Willis, again I like it and the flip side is great 'Move on' by Random Factor I know she is touring over here in April/May time and although the date for Newcastle has yet to be confirmed, it's looking like Sunday 30th April( May bank holiday) I don't know any other dates I'm sure someone will come on and disagree, well that's what open debate and opinions is all about All the best Paul Conroy Tyneside Soul Promotions

Hi All, Good topic this one!! The new Act should not affect Soul Events that much if at all, as long as the venue has a 'Premesis License' and the Manager or nominated name holder of venue has a 'Personal License' . It takes way all the problems promotors have had re the old Occasional Lisence and Occasional Premesis License that was atiquted to say the least, it should make life easier when applying for longer hours, as long as you know what tp apply for . The 24hour 'Thing ' has been exaggerated by the press, making the public belive that all pubss ,clubs etc will be open 24 seven, what a load of crap. there are provisions to counter act this by a premesis only being allowed longer hours 50 times a year, and personal License holder 12 times a year, however within the times requested if alcohol is to be served say at 4am the premesis must have a 'Licensed Activity' going on at the same time, so events with dancing with music will be ok as this classed as a Licensed activity. The drinking of alcohol is NOT a Licensed Activity it's only the sale of alcohol, so in theory they have legalised 'Lock ins' for example say a pub or club have to stop Selling alcohol at 2am, there is nothing stopping you bying 20 pints and sit and drink them and take as long as you like ( not to sure how the bar staff would take this!!!), If a club goes down this route stops the selling of alcohol at 2am, but will stay open to 4, NO licensed activity can take place, only the drinking of alcohol bought before 2am , therefore if you apply for the wrong License, you could be breaking the rules which could effect Soul events. I'm not an expert in this, it;s just I'm a training Officer with my employers who have just sent me on a course on this subject and I'm delivering it now to members of staff If anyone wants any advice or has any question youcan e-mail me on conroypylb@aol.com I'm more than willing to help Paul Conroy Tyneside Soul Promotions

I hope know one minds I e-mailed the production company and this was the reply I recieved this AM Hi Paul, Thanks for your e-mail regarding our forthcoming production Souled Out. We're really keen to make sure we represent the era and the scene accurately, so alongside the authorities we've already got working on the research, we'll be talking to as many sources as possible. At present the film is waiting on the 'green-light', but once we have that we'll be contacting people If it's ok with you I'll keep your details on file and possibly contact you in the future. Thanks again for your offer of help, speak soon! Best wishes, Christina Christina Robson Production Assistant Ipso Facto Films 4th Floor 1 Pink Lane Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 5DW T: 0191 230 2585 F: 0191 261 7481 I suggested to the production company it would be advantageuos for them to ask the views of the Soul Source membership, if they wanted tokeep the film authentic and as near to the 'ERA' as possible, lets hope if the film gets the green light they do contact this forum for advice, if they don't I only live about 2 mile from the office and spit my dummy out at them Paul Conroy Tyneside Soul Promotions

Sorry to hear about your accident, hope you get well soon mate, I take it you won't be able to show Luke your footballing skills for a while!!! Take Care Paul Conroy