Sceneman

the house of oldies maybe still going https://foursquare.com/v/house-of-oldies/4ba38862f964a520fd4438e3 House of Oldies 35 Carmine St (btwn Bedford & Bleecker St) New York, NY 10014 United States https://mbvintagenewyork.blogspot.com/2011/11/house-of-oldies-selling-last-centurys.html google house of oldies

bleaker street used to be the place of record shops but dunno if it still is ..just have a mosey round there.. but you could be 30 years too late as mostly CDs ? i have some old 45s catalogues from shops in bleaker street ..prolly 60s priniting

he played at the el partido in lewisham on 11 september 1965 ...my copy of always something was nicked by this slag in bromley who kept a handfull of my 45s in the 70s ..2 timing bitch he should have been bigger than he was ,bad management i guess

i joined about 3 months after it opened you had to be nominated by other members as its was hard to get in at first ..i had some mates who were members who joined me up..there was always queues to get in on saturdays and you needed to get there early to get in as it was popular ..i have 2 members cards before it went out of fashion 63 to end of 65 .. at first i didnt want to spend the cash as it was a guinea to join and a guinea to get in on sats. but i soon realised it was a good deal due to the numerous bands in 1 night plus the latest sounds .i was hooked ..the amphetamines came a bit later

guy stevens had his entire record collection stolen when he was in prison some years later ..must have been a bummer.... never went to the scene on mondays as too tired from the weekend..and crawdaddy on sundays with the yardbirds blazing away ..they were the best of all .with such a stellar lineup..

https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/08/21/the-tiny-island-on-the-thames-that-once-held-the-rolling-stones-david-bowie-and-the-uks-largest-hippie-commune/

when i heard some of the 45s played at the scene its was mind blowing when i first heard screaming jay hawkins doing Spell . and another was cookie and the cup cakes doing ..got you on my mind .guy stevens really had some hot records at the time and remember we were all brain washed by the BBC tripe on the air waves ..such as gert and daisy ..who i dont mind now but then it was tripe at the time . a 17 year old was very impressed by guy stevens record selection but who was his mentor ?at that time ?

no word of mouth i would guess as if nobody was talking about it how would you know what was going on at the 100 club ..there was other jazz clubs that had a bad rep back then .bearded weirdys blowing like crazy wouldnt go down well at the time ..beatnick types were in a genre of their own at that time ..too far apart from suited mods..the osterley jazz club was another dive that didnt attract mods .although we dropped by on scooters some times but didnt go in

strange i dont have a last chance club members card ...we used to mosy there from the scene club on A sunday morning after getting chucked out at 7 and pay i think it was half a crown or 10 shillings for a few more hours of music ..sunday morning in soho saw small bands of blocked mods cruising around town ..seemed too many for the clubs to take them but they were all going nowhere in particular with a comedown and no pills to top up

drugs may have killed off the london clubs when pushers moved on to hard stuff away from the blues and purples imo..more money to be made on heroin . i recall some old scene members who became heroin addicts for good until they died

paul andersons book on mods with lots of interviews with old mods and stars of the time ,,zoot money and eric burdon refused to do an interview ..george fame also refused to do an interview .allegedly a grumpy old geezer now https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mods-New-Religion-Paul-Anderson/dp/1780385498

the last chance was down 2 flights of stairs to a basement .it was cosy and warm but the air must have been bad with all the ciggy smoke ..more or less opposite the 100 club i would guess ,but also strange we rarely went into the 100 club at the time .. around in tottenham court rd was another all nite coffee bar frequented by blocked mods ..i recall opposite the flamingo was a all nite sandwich bar that sold pill sandwiches of the purple variety

in the street opposite the flamingo which is now china town was the alphabet club which was a cut price club to get in at 10shillings ..i used to pop in there sometimes in the am .some pals used to prefer it on saturdays ..lots of blocked kids in there with a lousy sound system last tune at the last chance was always jimmy radcliffe. seems hard to believe its was it was of that period .then the lights went on and it was chucking out time and they all streamed down to liverpool street station on sunday morning where the blockers headed for a coffee and snacks ..very quiet on sundays not like today when its always busy 24/7

they were all fire traps and today wouldnt get a license to operate .luckily there was no fires as the last chance was a fire trap ..it was later known as the eidelweiss club and now demolished for crossrail at tott court road..

makes me sick when i read all the acts i missed at all the clubs but we didnt have the money to see them and unlike today there was no way to know when they were on except by the musical press..of the time or word of mouth and unlike today with all the record shops in berwick street there was only 1 record shop and they had a lousy stock of 45 ..and a strange collection of LPS ..it was called the harlequin record shop and there was no sale or return on 45s so they kept little stock unless in top 10

i forgot to mention that judge dread was a bouncer on the scene club door ..he later went to greater things ..the 1st judge dread afaik

any news on the soul hole in balham high road where denny cordell was the DJ and the moody blues started out with their copy of the bessi banks 45 ? he offered me a job as an apprentice at Island records which i stupidly turned down..he went on to make a million on ''whiter shade of pale'' 45 ..

some more info of the scene inside and other stuff https://sixtiescity.net/Culture/Soho1.htm

https://garagehangover.com/jazz-cellar-kingston-upon-thames/

when the scene club conked out we moved on to the ricky tikk and eel pie island and other out of town clubs as we didnt want to go to the piccadilly area ..when the kingston jazz cellar closed there was a jazz club on a barge moored along near kingston.then when the richmond crawdaddy closed there was new crawdaddy on taggs island near hampton court.. the sound was different now with hendrix and other experimental bands which wasnt to my taste ..the marquee and flamingo kept going for many years tho but they had a distinct customer base according to TV prog about london criminal gangs of the time there were various groups fighting for control of the vice and drugs in the west end about this time so that might explain the changing times..i then heard mates talking about clubs playing soul up north but i didnt join em the who played at the scene club as the high numbers a few times but i didnt see them as there was no ads to know about it

and the creme played there on several occasions wtih eric clapton etc

Eel Pie Island Hotel A 1900 postcard of the Eel Pie Island Hotel The island was the site of the Eel Pie Island Hotel, a genteel, 19th-century building that hosted ballroom dancing during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1956, trumpeter Brian Rutland, who ran a local band called The Grove Jazz Band, started jazz sessions at the newly reopened hotel.[5] Some time afterwards, Arthur Chisnall took over the running of the club and continued to promote various jazz bands and then, in the 1960s, rock and R&B groups.[6][7] Famous names who performed at the dance hall between 1957 and 1967 include: Long John Baldry's Hoochie Coochie Men (including Rod Stewart)[8] Acker Bilk[9] Ken Colyer[8] Cyril Davies Rhythm & Blues All Stars[8] The Downliners Sect[8] John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (featuring Eric Clapton)[8] George Melly[9] The Rolling Stones[8] Screaming Lord Sutch[10] The Tridents (featuring Jeff Beck)[8] The Who[8] The Yardbirds[9] In 1967, the hotel was forced to close because the owner could not meet the £200,000 cost of repairs demanded by police.[8] In 1969, the club briefly reopened as Colonel Barefoot's Rock Garden,[9] with bands such as Black Sabbath,[9]The Edgar Broughton Band,[9]Stray, Genesis, and Hawkwind[9] (then known as Hawkwind Zoo) performing there. Caldwell Smythe (entrepreneur, vocalist, ex-Riot Squad and, briefly, The Honeycombs) said: "I approached the owner Mr Snapper who lived in Kingston and we agreed a rental deal. I called it Colonel Barefoot's Rock Garden and plastered west London with quad crown posters." Smythe booked bands such as Edgar Broughton, Free, Deep Purple, King Crimson, Genesis, Wishbone Ash and Mott The Hoople. Smythe said: "There were two stages: the headliner was on the big stage and the support on the small stage with the light show projectionist above it. We had a bar doing tea, soft drinks, hot dogs and hamburgers. We then did Colonel Barefoot's Killer Punch (cider, cooking brandy and cinnamon) and we gave it away along with beer in half pint plastic disposable cups. I had rows with the fire department as the emergency exits were chained shut to stop people bunking in. Eventually, after a raid by the Fire Chief, I closed down and walked. I was living in Chiswick at this time."[citation needed] In 1969, the hotel was occupied by a small group of local anarchists including illustrator Clifford Harper. By 1970 the Eel Pie Island Commune had become the UK's largest hippie commune.[11] In 1971, the Eel Pie Island Hotel burned down in a mysterious fire.[8][12] The centre of the island was devastated by fire in 1996, and a year later, the footbridge was damaged by a utilities contractor.[12] A new footbridge opened in August 1998.[12]

trouble was getting in at the marquee as there was always long queues esp when the Who were appearing there it was virtually impossible to get in unless you joined the queue at 5 ..recall long john baldry at the bar towering over everyone else .. we used to go see the who at the goldhawk club in goldhawk rd working mans club and many times we didnt think it was worth the outlay to get in as at that time they were known as a chaotic nutty band among local youngsters ..this was when they were all out of their heads and making a racket ..we didnt feel it was worth the expenditure

some club cards yes there was a london cavern club as well

unfortunately the new scene club was rubbish and didnt last long as guy stevens had moved on and the best sound system had been ripped out and replaced with a bad stereo system..it was painted garish white inside instead of black matt it was shocking inside i doubt it lasted 2 weeks and the area was infested with muggers on hard drugs and not the sort of place you wanted to hang around ..it was a black period for soho with some mod stragglers sporting mullet haircuts and dirty clothes still hanging around and the pill pushers had left the area .most likely the cop raids had had a bad effect on what was a great place to do some clubbing ..even though the flamingo kept going for many more years to come