Hooker1951

What a load of bollocks, This is close to the end, Frightening , depressing, We are all Doomed ML

I’m with Karl on this one it should always be down to the quality of full set playing and pleasing the punters who love NS and have paid for that privilege , not for a box full of different coloured centres on most occasions only mediocre tunes that should decide who a good DJ is? And wether he is booked, I never minded following the so called big name DJ,s I always played an honest set depending on the crowd in the venue, That I felt was my privilege and duty to do, It is what’s in the groove and how you tell the jokes that matters, pity a lot of people on the scene have forget that. I did at one venue following a so called big name DJ have him boasting that he had 8000 singles on all the best labels my reply was try playing them in an hour because that’s all you’ve got to make an impact, Soul music is a great leveller it can tell you a lot about the DJ whose playing , the energy they are giving out and what they are getting back is definitely in the grooves and how the grooves are played, Anyway hope you all have a great times in the future and stay healthy . God Bless ML

A loose term for a foot in each camp Soul music , sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t , sometimes sounds good , a lot of times sounds a little weak doesn’t quite get there, because when you walk in the middle of the road your not getting anywhere fast, it’s become over the years a sweeping statement on Soul music that in my interpretation is much too generalising and simple to explain, Just like all Soul music there will be Good and Bad Crossover whatever it is LoL, KR ML

The Sherry’s is a great record for its time and place in NS history, a real full on dancer for those halcyon days when most on the scene were 25 and under who just wanted to dance and feel free and enjoy theirselves , It still has a place now at a nostalgia and oldies night at the right time and for the right people, it’s up to the DJ when! If he doesn’t know it will fail like hundreds more do, It’s not the Jokes it’s the way you tell them. KR ML

Far to many to mention

Hi Ken I would be on top of Big Ben shouting not guilty it was the Snake that made me do it. ML

Remember first seeing the Ronnettes on Ready Steady go late 1963 thought they were real sassy loved them and the Crystals KR ML

If your lucky it might work once, ML

There is no solution to this , the only way going forward is that if various venues have a second room, they stipulate that everything played should be fresh new discoveries, underplayed but that is only relevant to the people listening and what they have heard before, The old top 500 is probably in fact an old top 5000 these days. The age factor comes into play again how many Soul lovers have the energy these days to push the agenda and suffer a financial loss to promote this. It’s a sad situation for all the real hardcore Soul fanatics who still want to dig deeper, I wish there was a solution to it but the way the soul scene sits at present I think the second room is the only hope. KR ML

Big Joe Turner Shake Rattle and Roll been played out and Restless Breed out of restless breed movie played out late 80,s early 90,s

Merry Christmas to the Soul Source team and everybody on here, Keep Strong, and Happy. ML.

I rest my case with the posts I’ve already sent, quite obviously there were parallel Soul scenes evolving in Europe the same time as in the UK. Considering there were literally millions of American servicemen and personnel doing service time in Germany and parts of Europe from 1945 especially in Germany it’s not surprising they brought their preferred music with them especially in the 50,s and 60 ,s being RnB and Soul, they had their own clubs on their bases playing it and it would not have took long for it to spread to the civilian and local clubs, Mck L

And so what? He played more all nighters than all dayers I’m sure, to say that popcorn was only played in the day time at clubs is ridiculous , have you ever lived in Europe for a large amount of time and visited many cities and looked at the night life , lived it, danced and felt the atmosphere, it’s a lot different to collecting records and knowing labels, I’ve been there and done it ML

Hi Chris They did do gear ,where there are licensed clubs open 24 hours there certainly would be gear to follow and Germany was no exception, In fact there was much more drugs available and being used in the cities I worked in Germany than the UK ,It was a very cosmopolitan scene in the night clubs with all kinds of music being played, I prefer Soul so myself and friends looked for these kind of places, I love good popcorn as well as soul, and unknown American oddities, it wasn’t called popcorn then it was music that we loved , we only got Sundays off so we used to look for all night clubs to suit our taste, Just because some people on here weren’t there doesn’t mean it didn’t exist, Trust me it did, I don’t make things up I don’t need to . One club I used to frequent was in the basement of a french martial art Savate club where most of the members who practised there were also into Soul, I’ve heard what is termed Popcorn today and believe me it was being played there, And to some of the Boffins of Ballihoo on here who say it was just all dayers , I say Cobblers you weren’t there so how do you know, Some who were too young don’t believe everything you are told, be flexible accept that things might have been different than you thought. Just another point this was not a young crowd age range 21 too 45 very mature in their behaviour, Some of the environments were pretty intense and there was no room for your usual clown behaviour . Stay Safe Mick Lyons

Hi Benji As I Stated in my post I worked and lived in Germany nearly all of 1974, there was a British occupation Zone there , we actually used the YMC A there for breakfast if we were working nearby, I also worked in Bochum ,Essen ,Etc where there was a German Soul Scene as such , as I stated it wasn’t popcorn to me, it was Soul music, 60,s Reggae, early And mid 60,sAmerican music which wasn’t prevalent in the UK, As for Americans there I know Americans been there enough , there were bags of Americans at the time living around the area some might have decided to stay and raise family there, I know 3 of the gang I worked with there did that and are still there to this day, All I can tell you is it was a pretty vibrant and cool scene, as regards the drugs, I do know if some one has been using uppers , I was a security boss for 40 years plus and I also do know my music I’ve been into Soul since 1964, Germany as always had drugs there was a scene pre war and after the war during occupation the Americans brought Bennies into the scene there but the Germans already had Peratin there own met amphetamine , the night life in Germany was well advanced and streets ahead in The 60,s and 70,s with all nighters and such, as regards Belgium being 150 miles away that’s no distance people over here travel sometimes over 200miles to visit a venue, Besides the German punters there was always a good percentage of foreigners ie, Turkish in the nighter venues, Where this nonsense comes there was no drugs in Germany at the time and Popcorn was all dayers is fantasy island , Germany as always had one of the best all night time economies in the world even to this day. Sorry if this spoils what you thought about the Popcorn scene , Sometimes it’s hard to pigeon hole music it has a way of spreading and causing confusion . keep Safe Mick Lyons

GreatArtist could do many faces of Soul effortlessly , a real soulful voice. RiP Joe Simon

Hi Rick Yes there was definitely substances on the Popcorn scene in Germany mostly uppers of some sort or other and alcohol served all night but nobody seemed to get into drunken states, there was an element of style with it and you are right about the Reggae it was mid 1960,s with a soulful sound to it running parallel with the soul sounds of the USA 60,s always a good beat, better reggae than what came later. One venue I visited a few times had a full cinema screen showing science fiction films no sound of course it added to the oddity of the night , in fact it was probably a small cinema converted to a club. Of course I didn’t know it was called popcorn , to me it was a different style on Soul Music king Regards Mick Lyons

I was living and working in Germany in 1974 and the Popcorn Scene was buzzing there, I used to frequent all nighters there around Dortmund in the clubs, it was a great scene , I did know a lot of the tunes, but there were some great oddities, I t made for a real cool scene , some of the music I remembered from the early 60,s, I don’t agree it was for a rich set at all the crowds covered all spectrums , including American servicemen , Turks,as well as locals it was a good dancing scene, and a great night out. Popcorn is great corner stone of Soul Music and should be given the praise it deserves ML

Smokey,s funeral and service and Wake took place on Thursday and what a fantastic turnout and farewell it turned out to be for a great character of the NS Scene and off it. The Weather even loved him, The Church was rammed, The Service uplifting and with the Gospel singers and the Saxophonist, The Tunes picked made it a true celebration of a lovely guy and a great friend, He would have loved to thank you for it, So I’m doing that now thank you all for coming, and a special thanks to Alan who supported him to the last, I’m sure his family would have been comforted by your support in this sad time. Again Thank you for giving a great guy a great send off. Always Love you Ste I will see you in Another Time Another Place. God Bless Mick Lyons

Keele was a great all nighter when Neil Clowes promoted it, I had the pleasure of DJ,ing for Neil in its Halycon days on numerous occasions all through the early and mid nineties and was proud to be part of the set up it was a real good mix of Soul Sounds that pleased everybody at sometime of the night, The later ones when different promoters tried it never got the magic back. But I think most people who visited then have great memories of great nights KR Mick L

Rave and soul are compatible, true Soulies would understand that they both represent a coming together for like minded people who just want to be happy, dance, get off your head and forget about the world outside, . I promoted Soul venues and rave venues from 1990, DJ,d at Soul and Mc,d at raves all over the country, sometimes doing both n the same night at different venues , Some of the trance, dance, and techno was mind blowing, In my own Pub the Brickhouse aka Temple of Sound we played both and the crowd loved both and would travel hundreds of miles to our Sunday sessions whi cheers lasted from 12pm Sunday dinner until at least 8am Monday, from 1990 until 2000 it was magic but like everything else the mainstream moved in watered everything down attracted the pretend snowflakes and Legend days were over, But it was better than good while it lasted, Yes you can love two things at once,there is no rule book you can’t especially when they are exciting, Respect and God bless Mick Lyons Aka MC Warchief

Awful Record cheap sound, doesn’t belong in any set, must have been produced by peanut brained people, It would bring any Euphoria I had at a venue down faster than Hayleys Comet no matter what chemicals or alcohol I had ingested LoL, ML