Drewtg

I've sold quite a few from here in Malta (to UK) and my postage was sometimes less than some folk were charging within the UK. I detest skimmers and always p.m. seller, if I'm not happy with p+p cost = dealbreaker.

This is really interesting. One would assume that, as a capital purchase, the records would be a depreciating asset on your books. The longer you hold on to them the less they are worth. If you then sold them for let's say the same price you paid for them, would it be a capital gain against the value on your books? Any accountants out there?

Dave, you need an android box for the telly. €60, plug it into your interweb and Bob's your do dah, live TV from anywhere in the world. Works for me in Malta.

Classic. "You may have a shit job, but you iron your clothes and polish your shoes". You tell 'em Elaine. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/05/elaine-constantine-interview-northern-soul

Maybe like a few of you, the tears come a bit easier as I get older, but here are a few throat chokers: Better - Ruby Winters Strange Fruit - Billie Holiday and, a bit left field - Stardust - Louis Armstrong (genius).

Hey Russell, stand back from this a moment. The reason some of us find this appaling is because we like 'soul music'. It is performed with some kind of meaning - it speaks to us. I didn't 'learn' to dance, I just wanted to dance because that is how the music made me feel. I was never - and am still not - a brilliant dancer (whatever that is). I would watch someone like Steve Caesar own the floor and just know that I could never dance like that. I still danced and put my heart and soul into what I was feeling, singing along to the music I loved. There was a guy - who's name I can never remember - who used to dance down by the stage. His dance was all jerky, jumping around as though he was trying to put out a fire, he looked ridiculous - but boy did he love to dance! That guy had the respect of the whole floor because he was a dancer, unconcerned with what others thought of him. Maybe in his own mind he was brilliant, I don't know but I do know the guy loved the music and did his thing - and that's what it's all about, not choreography. Hit the floor mate, do what you feel, it's not a competition!

The music is so infectious, so compelling, so spontaneous; it makes you wanna...................go and get some dance lessons! FFS

Etta had a great growl.

Was just reading this. Unbelievable that he should be homeless and living in a van. Let's hope that this money doesn't go the same way as his last fortune.

Oops! I meant "cast". All the worlds a stage, and all that...............

Interesting to get his take, and the connection with 'The Film'. Obviously he likes his own work, but this fifty-something has to disagree that the actors "look cool".

My missus is French and it is amazing the number of songs that she thinks are French but are actually covers of UK/USA hits. I love taking the piss when she claims a Frog song and I have to put her straight.

Yes, unfortunately Dave passed in 2006. Hell of a funny guy, also did stand-up comedy. RIP The Soul Fox.

Yes Winnie, you confirmed how these people work. They had already done their "research" and decided that they wanted someone in fancy dress, hence the request for you to take 70's clothes. Anyone normal need not apply. Betcha glad you missed it now eh?

Wasn't he the first white act to play the Apollo?

I for one thought that the film was extremely accurate in it's portrayal of 'Burnsworth' and some Casino goers in 1974. The research was incredible. What really disappoints me with the media when covering the scene is the complete lack of research. They start off with a pre-conceived notion of N.Soul (baggies, talc, vests and badges), helpfully provided by previous incompetents, and then search for things to re-inforce that stereotype. They are not in the least bit interested in portraying a balanced or accurate view. What they want to portray is a caricature, and what we end up with is a cartoon. I have given up expecting any research at all from the Beeb or other stations, hardly a year goes by without some piece talking about N.Soul as though it was, and is, all about Wigan. A familiar talking head (Waterman talking about f*cking miners) and a snatch of Frank Wilson, some star-struck imbeciles still wearing the clothes worn by a few, sartorially challenged, poor kids forty years ago and that's it folks. Let's move on to the nude vicars charity calendar. On the whole, our music is used to good effect in advertisements but what surprises me about the Shreddies thing is that, unlike TV, a lot of money is spent making advertisements. A thirty second ad in Coronation St. will cost at least £100,000 per showing. For that sort of money you would expect a lot of research, and so the conclusion I draw is that the ad agency know they are being inaccurate but; the ad guys must genuinely believe that a man dressed like a clown will encourage people to eat their product as opposed to an everyman figure. They are therefore guilty of misrepresenting our scene - on purpose. Is there a film or an ad that I would be happy with? I've already praised the film, I don't think TV is capable of doing a balanced view of N.Soul. Most ad's are just music so that's ok but this ad is a deliberate misrepresentation. For what it's worth I think they blundered. I can't see many people identifying with this bloke (a nice chap by all accounts) and I think the point would have been better made with an everyman/woman figure. But hey, what do I know? Now. Moving on to the nude vicars charity calendar................................

OK let's do it... Jeanette White - Muesli The Valentines - Brekkieway Shreddie and Ernie - I can't chew it Tommy Nabisco - I cried my rice away Ok nurse, ready for my pills now................................................................

What I actually asked was why the media always try and depict N. Soul folk as dressing like Coco the clown. If Dave wants to dress like that then good luck to him, but he is a tiny minority. Most people don't wear the same clothes as they did when they were fifteen.

Can anyone tell me why these media types are drawn towards the 'Coco clown' look? The ad would be a lot cooler if they picked a dude with some dress sense, surely?

Met a bloke from Rhyl last night. He used to go to Wigan Casino and he knew Ray Henderson; no, not the actor who played him, the REAL Ray Henderson. Good mates they were.

Memory is a funny thing. "Heartache Avenue" wasn't released until 1982, well past the closing of The Casino.

Not on the album, but one of my fave's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6mhxZ02btE

Facebook was awash with people complaining about the recent film; they said it laid too much influence on the 'drug scene' at Wigan. If you want to know what M's was like just think of a smaller version of the main dance hall and think of people dancing and dancing and dancing to ANYTHING that was popped on the decks. I'm not saying that everyone WAS blocked - it just seemed like it. M's opened regularly after the 2nd anniversary (Sept 75), at that time the Casino opened at 2:00 am and so M's used to open after the dj's who had been doing The Beachcomber carried all their kit from there to M's. From it's first opening, M's was for dancers only. I heard many an old Wheel, Torch, even chart sound in there ('Wooly Bully' springs to mind). It was probably about a 1/3rd or a 1/4 the size of the main hall and the floor could get really packed - not much room for floor-work but if you liked to stomp you were guaranteed 1/2 a square yard. As you probably know, the club was a shithole, with the eponymous Mr Marshall refusing to spend anything from his ill-gotten on the punters. There was banquet seating around the sides of the room with some formica topped tables and the carpets around the edge of the dance floor and the upstairs balcony were a disgrace - definite health hazzard even in those days. There was a bar upstairs but I can't remember if it was ever open. There was an ante-room to M's where you could chill and possibly a cloakroom there once upon a time. Years later they opened a hole in the wall just outside M's to flog 'Spencer's' to the wannabe's. The music policy was whatever Kenny and Steve, etc wanted to play. Downstairs we would rush from the record bar to listen to the latest crime being commited by Minsh or Winstanley, but M's was immune from all that. The sounds were eclectic to say the least. I heard Sack o woe (Cannonball Adderley), Scratchy, Anne Dandrea (Inst) and Only so much oil in the ground (Tower of Power). As the years went by, older Wigan sounds and chart stuff like Don Covey (Better to have) were played, I am told. If you want to get a mental picture of M's, think of a dancefloor about as big as a penalty area, in a condemned nightclub, add about three hundred sweating, amphetamine soaked dancers. Rack the temperature up to about fifty degrees C, turn up the music. Can you hear it?..............Creation - I Got the fever. Get stomping boy

For those of you out of the country https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_dXS8UMrxE