ImberBoy

I know we have done "what makes a good venue" but there seams to be a certain movement of quality about on the UK Nighter scene, If it's just me then "hey, I'm having a great time!" Barnsley has emerged with the Citrus Rooms, its mega and one of my regular haunts now. https://www.tafsc.com/BARNSLEY.html Tonight its Middleton and we now have a superb selection Allnighters that are not stagnating nor are they playing: Northernsoul floor clearers volume II, The "B" Sides" Is it me or is there a renaissance ?

The Middleton Allnighter Website In life there are many banana skins, some we miss and others we just can't avoid. A few months ago I had a corker of a banana skin that knocked me and my family for six! https://www.tafsc.com/Soul.htm I'm back to normal jogging now and back to the nighter scene with a passion, tomorrow is Middleton and I am eager to go! The Middleton Allnighter Website is back and ready to be updated with this Saturday's photographs and revues. I would like to thank Andy for his kind words of support over the last few months and Imberboy is back to normal, what ever normal is. Love the scene and love the people.

Chalky not sure why you have assumed I have been away from the scene? Is it because I served 22 years in the Army? I need to clear up one or two misconceptions, first I was in the British Army for 22 years and not in prison! Now days you can actually leave the camp gates and get married and have kid's n stuff, I even had a car and some civilian cloths. I joined up in 1984 and left three years ago, I was a nighter goer before I joined, I was a nighter goer whilst I served and I am a nighter goer now that I am a civilian again. I did the arse end of the Casino, a little Blackpool Mecca, Bradford "Bensons" Bradford "Queens Hall", Keel, The 100 Club, Drummonds, Cleethorpes (Dancing on the video, I'm the one in shorts white socks and sandals) The first Togetherness weekender, the last togetherness weekender, Bretbey (Chris Kings Birthday) Canklow (I was a regular) The Bank hall Miners Club, Winsford, Wilton, Middleton and Prestwich (Before the hype!) These are just the UK nighters I remember off the top of my head, I attended during the lean years and during the mean years, During my tours in Germany I would holiday with my family back in the UK, that's was the done thing to do and yup I smashed as many nighters as I could. I did every German Nighter and Scooter Rally, more than most Germans did apart from one or two. I wrote article after article for Echoes, and Manifesto, Scootering and a few bits for Mr Rimmer. I run the biggest scooter club in the world, do the nighters, run a business and head my family. I still find the time to be a local Magistrate and I can shat shite fook fight and ride a motor bike. I will continue to do the alnighters because that is where you meet the soul crew, hear the top tunes and be part of the most enduring musical culture the world has ever seen. To view it from the side lines is as fake as a Trannys fanny, no one needs to spend a fortune, no one needs to do drugs and no one needs to be scared. If you think you have heard all the sounds there are then get down to Middleton.

I am quite pleased that this didn't turn into an arse kicking contest and we didn't get too personal. I feel for the mum's n dads who have their time taken up with caring, god bless you. There are no words and one can only imagine a life that is dedicated to another. "You don't need to go to India to have a Curry?" Of course you don't but here is the rub........... Didn't the curry you had in Goa whilst on holiday taste like heaven and it's not quite the same when you get it at The Passage to India down the High Street? Why is this? Well it's like any think in life when there are different elements surrounding an experience. The best fish and chip memory for me is walking home with my young wife cold wet and hungry, "You and me lifting latches striking matches on our way back home.... Where on our way home" I can still see her now with her wet blond hair, she had a smile that still makes me weep and tits that stood up on their own. We had fish chips n peas that night walking home and I have never tasted a fish supper as delicious. When I play my broken duke box of memories I have a wealth of Northernsoul tunes that have become part of my DNA, they have become me and I have become them. This didn't happen listening to a cold MP3 player or downloading a file, they didn't come from a soul night with Trev and Sharon dancing in high heals pissed up on the latest Pear Cider with ice, it didn't happen in my car whilst listening to a disc. It happened because of an Allnighter. If I have to explain the difference then your fish and chips would never taste as great as mine and my wifes did that cold wet night nor would the curried lamb you had during that perfect holiday be special enough for any memories. Keep it real Keep it curried!

For those of you who haven't been to a nighter for some time there have been one or two advancements. Here is a clip from out side Middleton. ">

I am always amazed at the amount of soul fans that are more than happy to click their fingers and mouse whilst sat in their computer room. If there are such big soul fans then how come you don't go to the Nighters? Now you all have choice and no one is looking down on people who don't do the nighters its just that I am curious as to why you don't go? Too old, too tired, too far, too expensive? I know there will be those who say, "been there done that", but how can you all say this yet be on Soul Source morning noon and night, surely if you are such big soul fans you would want to dance to the music and see the reaction of a crowd to the latest spins? I am 46 and regularly go to alnighters yet manage to fulfil all of my reasonability's both financially and family so without meaning to sound too personal.......... "What are the reasons for not doing the nighters"

I can't think of many nighters that I have visited over the years where I haven't seen you, thank you for the time and effort you have given to SKM and the many other projects you have been involved with, you are a genuine guy and SKM will be missed by a scene that has its fair share of shallow and mercenary word Smiths, SKM has been an oasis in a desert of shite. Dave you have always had my utmost respect for SKM.

Nice story Pete and I have copied and pasted the Youtube link into my AFSC website: https://www.tafsc.com/menu.htm The track that eluded me was from distant memories of my dear old mum singing a song to me in 1972; I couldn't remember any of the lyrics but needed for years to find this missing jigsaw piece. I found it a few years back and for purely personal and sentimental reasons it drove me to sob like a chills, the track was The Carpenters - For All We Know. Fookin hate the Carpenters but this was, and is so special as my mum sang it to me. She was so young and full of joy and I remember her beautiful face and her angelic voice.

Whispers' (Getting Louder) V John Reid and the Nightcrawlers One of my very favorite things about our music is the "Crosspollination" of talented backing musicians and indeed artists who have added their subtle fingerprints onto many of the tracks we love. I love hearing different artists singing the same songs; they give a show case of their performance in a very easily measured way. Last night I was listening to these little gems: Erma Franklin Whispers' (Getting Louder) What a fantastic lady! Why not youtube this and you can distinctly hear the clipity clop bass line of "Fontella Bass - Rescue Me " Jackie Wilson - Whispers' (Getting Louder) For me this is just dreamy and in my opinion the best track Jackie ever did, lot to chooce from but this is heaven and why its not on the dance floor more? The Isley Brothers- Whispers' (Getting Louder) this is an ever so slightly faster version and another one that oozes quality and reminds you just why and how you got into this crazy music scene. Did Barbara Acklin write Whispers' (Getting Louder)?? Another track I have been blown away by is a cover version again. This time I had to forget all the hype and just listen, John Reid and the Nightcrawlers All Over The World. I didn't like the video at first but most tunes served cold take a little while to pallet and here we have a mega modern soul sound with a retro twist all be it seventies. I am not a big fan of John Reid and the Nightcrawlers but their track Keep On Pushing Our Love deserves another listen or two and me thinks one or two toes will tap. John Reid and the Nightcrawlers All over the World stands up very well on its own and I think it can more than compare to the original, not better just an addition in our super choky selection box. All the trax can be "YouTube'd" tell us what you think.

Gil Scott-Heron is full of ... Gil Scott-Heron says that "a dollar nine gets a bottle of wine" What a complete crock! The present exchange rate is 1 U.S. dollar = 0.545167094 British pounds So by Mr Scott-Heron's reckoning a bottle of wine costs 67p Tescos are selling bottles of Alta Italia Trentino Pinot Grigio for £45.54, granted this is at the top end of the scale. ALDI have a range of "Mini" wines, the cheapest is £1.29 for a very small 25cl, I think we have been lied to by a once respected soul artist. I wonder how many other so called bastions of soul have fibbed in order to sell records. Shame on you Mr Scott-Heron and I for one will not be dancing to your hypnotic beat.

It's all over Casanova Coffee Casanova De-lite (1980) mega dance record, jazz funk?? Disco?? Northernsoul???? Can any one remember this? Was it ever played at Wigan Casino? I believe it's on the same label as Benny Troy "I want to give you tomorrow"? Both records where possibly cut around about the same time, I remember Benny Troy circa this time as a real biggie!

Jr. Walker and The All stars - What does it take is me fave though.......................

Had the honour of being best man to one of my oldest and dearest friends this Saturday, only drawback is that I missed Middleton! The whole do was superb until the night thrash when "Black Magic Disco" set up, consisting of a young lad and his trusty lap top. A big thank you goes out to Martin and the Hull Soul Club for saving the night with some CDs proffed from various cars. The night soon turned into the morning and a great time was had by all. Top Soulies, top night, top wedding and my number one track for any wedding is now Junior Walker & The All-Stars --- Tune Up, whats yours?

Gotta tell yer this about my brother Michael, forgive me mate if you ever read this xx. I was born in 1962, six years after my older brother. What this did was place us very much in opposing camps as far as music was concerned, he was a fookin long haired hippie trippy greaser into Black Sabbath, The Stones, Led Zepp and such like. Nowt wrong with that stuff but remember back then your record collection defined who you where, or at least it gave the veneer of who you wanted to be. I took the same path as most reading this, Motown, Soul, and of course Northernsoul. The youth club disco's then later the Mecca and the odd visit to the Casino saw me enter the dance floor and become a bit of a mover! Ten years ago Michael started asking what Northernsoul was and showed a strained interest in the music but he was always asking about the dancing. It turned out that he'd met Mandy, who would later become his second wife. Mandy was slender porcelain girl who loved and adored ballroom dancing to the extent where our kid was going to miss out on smashing her back door in if he didn't get with the program and start to go with here dancing. The problem was that he had two left feet and as much rhythm as Dave Rimmer! Undeterred he enrolled into one of these dance schools and spent a considerable amount of time and money chasing the dream. Six months later he emerged like a butterfly having kept all this secret from Mandy and dbuted at her local ball room. He still can't fookin dance and just looks like a complete twatt who has spent a lot of time learning some thing that you either can or can't do. Mandy of course fell head over heals for him and as all women love a tryer he is now happily married.

I am always left scratching my swede as to where and how a fantastic track walks straight past the charts and embeds its self into the Northernsoul dance floor. With the passage of time and the internet we now have definite points in our time line, we can trace the origins of many a great, and not so great track but most have stood the test of time or at least allowed them selves to be dusted off and introduced back onto the scene. I'm not ever bothered about record collectors, what they have hidden away in their boxes are neither here nor there, what gets onto the floor and how, makes me interested. Take a track like Terry Callier - I Don't Want To See Myself (Without You), I think this was first outed at Stafford? How did the DJ who broke this get past the massively long intro? I think its mega that some one some where had the Kohonies to break with the norm and crack open some thing different. The success stories are not well know and should be, who broke Curtis - How Can I Tell Her and Luther Vandross - Never too much? J Blackfoot where is love? I'm not talking about the predictability of some one playing Duffy, we have had recent tracks played and accepted such as Drizabone that came straight onto the main floor rather than bleeding in from the Modern Room, unless I of course have this wrong? Is there any thing else out there that will miss the charts and smash in?

Couldn't agree more mate. I come on here to pick peoples brains when I'm trying to piece together a track I can only just remember from years back, I have never been let down yet by the sheer knowledge and experience of the Soul Sorcerers. Nowt wrong with hugging the odd tree either, except when you start to rub up and down the fookers like my uncle Brian did in Hull, he got six months and splinters! Do we have any Northernsoul records about wood I wonder? Salvadors - Stick by Me Baby Leon Heywood - Baby Reconsider

Sorry Mike

And Ian Levine was in fact Mickey Moonshine, I hope this clears things up?

Nosmo King was in fact Boz Scaggs.

Sean, cant find a clip of "You Make It So Hard To Say No" any where? I have found Boz Scaggs - "Miss Sun" its fookin mega! ">

https://www.tafsc.com/0101imber%20(1).jpg https://www.tafsc.com/055imber%20(2).jpg

https://www.tafsc.com/01122imber%20(2).jpg Sorry folks lol

Oi you ! less of the old!! I prefer the term "Ex soldier" rather than "Old" You'll be doing star jumps! Great talking to you the other day Ian, I do have a problem mate with my phone so can you text me please I'll PM you my number.

Soul Sourcers where do they go? Up stairs or down? I have ordered and paid for my Blackpool tickets and booked into Cat Piss towers just around the corner from the great tower where the weekender will be held. Last year I noticed a distinct split in the crowd, the trendy bendies where of course in the modern room but the meat and potatoes boys where up in the modern room as well, why was this? Was down stairs too full of divvies I wonder? I am Middleton through and through but once a year I like to do the floor filler anthem sounds either at Blackpool or Stoke, I just keep remembering to my self that these are super tracks even if we have heard them a zillion times before. I will be in my usual spot, not bothering with up stairs much this year, I am going to pretend it's the Casino and celebrate Northernsoul, have a few pints and talk shite with who ever I can ambush walking past! So if any of the Soul Sorcerers wanna come up and say hello I'll do my best to hold a conversation with you. Who's going? And up stairs or down stairs??