SOULCENTRAL

HI JULIAN, IF YOU STILL HAVE THAT OLD LAMBRETTA IN THE SHED I WILL GIVE YOU A HUNDRED QUID FOR IT ROY

HI STEVE, Talking to a lot of people and word is getting around about the Central reunion. Quite a lot of interest from people who missed out due to age as well. Shaping up to be well attended so get the flyers sorted and i will gladly spread the word. ROY

HI PETE, I CAN RECALL TONY BANKS ON MANY OCCASIONS AT THE MARKET STALL IN BRADFORD BUYING RECORDS IN TENS AND HALF DOZENS ON THE SATURDAY AFTERNOON BEFORE TRAVELLING DOWN TO THE TORCH ON THE NIGHT TO DO MUCH WHEELING AND DEALING. ALTHOUGH A LITTLE YOUNG AND NIEVE AT THE TIME I ALSO BOUGHT QUITE A FEW RECORDS ON VERVE, MGM,VIP, CAMEO ETC I WAS EARNING ABOUT £18-50 AS AN APPRENTICE AT THE TIME SO ONLY BOUGHT IN ONES AND TWO'S. :( HE ALSO BOUGHT SOME SILLY SOUNDING LABELS LIKE OKEH AT THE TIME!!! DOH IF I ONLY KNEW THEN WHAT I LEARNT IN LATER YEARS. :yes: THE STALL HOLDER ALSO CAUGHT ON TO THE FACT THAT THERE WAS MONEY TO BE MADE WITH BANKSY BUYING SO MANY RECORDS OF THE SAME LABEL/ARTIST, SO HE PUT THE PRICES UP FROM 30P TO 50P A SINGLE. ABSOLUTELY CRIMINAL. :yes: ROY

HI CALLUM, PMSL AT THIS QUOTE :yes: :D ROY

HI CHRIS, No "bingo Wings on your Lesley then Chris :yes: ROY

EY UP CHRIS, No chance of you falling fowl of Willie as he could not catch you becuase you danced too fast :D It was good fun in the day when we all chipped in to keep the Central going and certainly put a smile on all our faces when we saw the eventual outcome of packed friday and well attended sundays eventually leading to packed all nighters. Remember Pete D coming upto me on many occassions grinning from ear to ear saying well thats another fifteen members signed up by me tonight- smug git- but all contributed to the cause. This has a real "authentic" feel about it, probably a little more so than some other events of a similair nature planned in the near future. Will be really interesting to see who will be going from the old days. SO COME ON WHO'S GOING THEN-- I AM ROY

HI STEVE, I DONT WISH TO BE PESSIMISTIC ABOUT THE PROJECTED NUMBERS THEY HAVE QUOTED ABOVE BUT THEY REALLY ARE TAKING THE P*SS IF THEY THINK 700 COULD FIT INTO THE CENTRAL. Having helped promote events at the Irish Centre for the last few years we have had some seven hundred people in there and it has been chocker, even using both levels of the venue. The Irish Centre as a venue using both levels is about 3 times the size of the Central so when you decide on numbers i would plan for around 350. Although Joan and Derek never divulged the exact numbers that attended the Central allnighters i believe it was in the region of 320 to 350, never did get hold of that infernal clicker that Derek kept glued in his hand :lol: . regards ROY

HI STEVE, I know that you will probably have been in touch with Ian Dewhirst, Twink, Pat Brady, Swish etc but have you managed to contact Tony Jackson, Keith Atkinson???. Not heard of Keiths whereabouts for donkeys years, although Tony is still doing the rounds as you probably know. So any thoughts on the format and times as i have no doubt you will end up with about ten dj's for the afternoon/night. regards ROY

STEVE, My old friend and buddy , i never doubted you for one minute. However total clarity was never one of your strongpoints :lol: but we all forgive you as your enthusiasm for all things Central knows no bounds :D Well done on securing the venue, the "chips" are nearly done :thumbsup: ROY

NOW, NOW STEVE, All of us that went to the Central know that the "building" is five floors high! :D So what is it to be are we on the top floor or have you secured the original venue which is now known as the Hi-Fi club. :thumbsup: Don't be shy let us all into the secret. ROY

HI ALISON, Shame you missed out the Central was a great club and venue. If the Central reunion does eventually happen you will be lucky enough (but not too old) attend regards ROY

Cheers pete, you can pm me if you find anything ROY

HI BEARSY, No need to explain pal i know exactly where your coming from and i could not agree more with your sentiments on this issue. I too have very similair opinions on this and feel it can be tied down to one element from the promotors point. That is to make the event succesful from a monetry (in the first instance) and attendance angle. The more diverse the music offer as advertised on flyers etc. the more chance you will appeal to all and therefore fill the venue and make money. Sorry to be cynical about this but it does seem to me that these days its more about money and kudos than the music and progression of the soul scene. By the way your ATB above does it mean "all the best" or across the board :yes: regards ROY

HI PETE I have still got mine and somewhere in the shed have one of the original Central scooter club sheilds as per Steve Luigis photo gallery. Still got the membership cards too, both the Central Dance club and Central Soul club ones. Just need one or two original flyers with a couple of piccies and i can complete my framed collage Central Soul Club which i have been meaning to complete for the best part of twenty years now :) Anyone got a few to spare!!!! ROY

HI CHALKS, As someone said earlier this is a can of worms that could be well and truly be opened up again!! Bearsy seems to place the emphasis on too much Northern oldies being played at ATB NIGHTS which probably does not fall in with his own musical tastes anyway(not being critical here just an observation) but to be fair he has a point. I have been to a few events which advertised similairly ie Underplayed,70s,crossover and northern night only to be met with aload of 60s/R&b dross that virtually put me off the rare and underplayed scene for good. So it does work both ways. Lets all canvass our local MPs to put forward a motion in parliament to outlaw the term ATB when advertising soul nights then nobody will be disillusioned. Secondly get promotors to advertise on their flyers the two main genres of music they wish to have played and supplement it with a "smattering of" for any other genres that will be played. :yes: Unforunately i dont think this will ever happen. So how many "types" of soul events do we have to contend with now????? Across the Board Northern and Tamla Rare and Underplayed R and B and 60s Crossover, 70s and Modern Leave you with that one , time to find the coedine i have a headache coming on :) ROY

Hi MALC, Just wanted to share a little story with you about Willie the doorman and the Central Club. After finally being allowed in as a fresh faced 16 year old circa 1970, after a few months i began to get a little more confident within the club and improved my dancing somewhat and social skills. One of the proviso's on Willie allowing me in was not to touch the alcohol as he knew how old i was. Anyway i finally plucked up the courage to go to the bar and order myself half a Double Diamond which was duly served and i returned to my little dark alcove at the far side of the club. I had a few sips and remember thinking, this is it i have finally arrived. After a cople of dances i went for a drink again and as i put the glass to my mouth i felt a vice like grip around the back of my neck which completly parylised most of me. I could not put the glass down or turn around but i had a good idea i was in trouble and who it was-Willie. The words he spoke began to ring in my ears "what did i tell you not to do" over and over. By this time a small audience had gathered at which point Willie marched me over to the bar and made me pour what was left of the Double Diamond down the sink and as punishment for my indescretion made me collect glasses for the rest of the evening :D . It was an abject lesson in humiliation but fair play to him he did not chuck me out and when i returned the following friday he still let me in, but not without the wry nod of the head and smile which i took to mean dont do it again!!! ROY

STEVE, Just complimented you on your good memory and you then come out of the closet and admit to showing signs of sinility courtesy of memory loss :thumbup: . Nothing to do with those little blue "Tic Tacs" that were consumed many years ago . Keep well pal ROY

HI STEVE, Your memory seems to be pretty sharp for an old un!!. The Carousel was one of the few coffee bars to be seen in when you were in Leeds as well as the others mentioned in previous posts on this thread. I remember frequenting the coffee bar you mention opposite the old ABC, although i too cannott remember the name i do remember joining my first scooter club that met there- The Incas and when that one closed we ended up down the road at the Texas Grill??. As pete previously mentioned the bar upstairs at the Spinning disc was the Keyhole club and Pete was lucky enough to have a membership card, must be something to do with the fact he could grow facial hair from the age of 11 . I think your cracking up episode would have been on a return trip from the torch as that was one of the places we ended up in when landing back in Leeds. The fact that people were looking at you was because your eyeballs were three times the size they should have been and seemed to be on sticks :thumbup: ROY

HI PETE, I wont say the memories are flooding back but some things i keep recalling about the Central. If memory serves me correctly do you remember the time probably around mid 1971 when the Central nearly closed its doors for good. I recall being down there one friday night when there was only about a dozen of us in there. Joan and Derek were going back and forth between Len Caves office and it was unusual that Len was in that early anyway. The upshot of it all was that the ballroom evenings, like the soul nights, were dwindling in numbers and as a result the club was suffering financialy. Joan called a few of us for a chat and explained the club may close. From that night on i believe we all more or less took over the paid jobs in the club, obviously doing them for nothing. Tony jackson,Keith Atkinson and others dj'd and we all gave a hand serving behind the bar and on the door. Well we did regard it as our club and wanted it to stay open. :thumbsup: Yourself, Mick,Chris,Dave,Tony,Keith and myself managed to persuade some new faces to attend including some new people off the street and the club started to pick up again. About this time some of us started going to the Torch and got into buying records to take back and play at the Central. A great discovery at this time was the legendary record stall on Bradford market which helped put the Central well and truly on the musical map as many off the finds here were also being played at the Torch. By 72' the club was again well and truly vibrant again and people were travelling from far and wide including regular coachloads from Newton Aycliffe. The dj rosta had changed as well with the addition of the likes of Swish, Tony Banks and various guests to be followed later by Steve Luigi, Twink and some guy called Ian Dewhirst :lol: . The great thing in all this was that nearly all those guys are still around and great friends. Genuine people who built a comeradery around soul music and a very special club in which they could listen, socialise and meet new friends. :lol: . Pete this is a great thread to indulge in a bit of history and many stories yet to surface so come on everyone who went lets hear some more. ROY

HI IAN, Did you go to the regular saturday morning sessions at the Spinning Disc in the county arcade and then progress to saturday afternoon where a lot more soul orientated music was played?. I remember on a few occasions when Sir Jim graced us with his presence on the afternoon and played a few soulful tunes. Could not get into the Leeds Central until i was 16 although i tried for some 10 months before hand. The reason for this was i happened to go to school with the brother of the doorman at the time, big Willie Richardson, and also lived just down the road from him so he knew exactly how old i was. If you know him you will appreciate that there was no point trying to sneak passed him as he filled the doorway!!!!!. Yes the Leeds Central does not get the recognition it deserves and as you say was inspirational for many at the start of their soulful journey. regards ROY

COUNT ME IN FOR A FEW IF YOUR LUCKY ENOUGH TO FIND THEM. I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET SOME PICS,FLYERS ETC FROM THE CENTRAL DAYS OF 1970 to 1974 FOR AGES. ROY

CHALKS, At the time took on board your repost to Malcs thread and you are spot on regarding the talc issue. Just thought the rest of it, however justified in its content, did not really enter into the spirit of Malcs thread- hence my qoute. ROY

CREASED!! :( ROY