Ian Dewhirst

He's been collecting since he was 8 Simon! He probably raided his old man's collection over the years although he insists all his records are his own. By the way, I crashed my car in Leeds on Friday night trying to find the bloody hotel! Sound familiar? Ian D

I didn't know Alex was on here. If he is, then so much the better. Local promoters should take note, I'd book him in a flash! Ian D

Where where you Malc? I will bump into one of these days won't I? Even Schofield came along and then we checked out the Central (Hi-Fi Club) on Saturday. Leeds is rockin' even though I had a car crash and no sleep! Bit like the old days in fact........ Ian D

I only met her briefly on Friday Andy. Lovely lass who I wish I'd chatted with more as you don't get too many female DJ's on the scene. I think she was born a couple of years after I left Leeds! And she probably did buy the Jackie Moore 12" - another real enthusiast. On Friday I was in my usual 'laissez-faire' pre-deejaying mood happily chugging away pints with Liam the promoter when I suddenly realised that the guy deejaying was pretty good. When Liam told me he was only 16 I was amazed. But then I remembered I was that age when I started so I checked him out and watched him for the next 30 minutes. Definitely the real deal and very refreshing to see some youthful energy behind the decks...... Made me feel so nostalgic that I actually went down to the Hi-Fi club (formally Leeds Central) on the Saturday night to see what was happening down there these days. Boy has the place changed! It looks much bigger now and they've really kept the character of the place. Felt like home. Music was interesting and very eclectic - some early James Brown uptempo stuff, "Long Train Running" - The Doobie Brothers, "Alright, Alright, Alright" - Mungo Jerry (which sounded great), some Curtis and a great Reggae version of "Upside Down". Yound crowd - all in their early 20's. The only thing missing was a guy with long hair right down his back who when he spun, sprayed a nice belt of sweat into everyone's faces LOL! Ring any bells Andy? I had a good weekend trawling around places I haven't been for 25 odd years. Still lively in Leeds for sure! Young Alex should go for a residency @ the Hi-Fi Club 'cos he'll get a young crowd in there and probably spawn the next generation of Northern Soul fans in Leeds! Y'now it was kinda nice to see plenty of young energy at these places. All they need is the opportunity to hear the right stuff with people their own ages and a few OAP's and that would be a good balance instead of the other way around! Ian D

Sign of the times! Ian D

Just a quickie, we always seem to question the lack of young people on the scene but on Friday night @ Leeds Irish Centre myself, Steve Luigi and Lucy Locket had the pleasure of deejaying with a youngster called Alex Simms (son of John Simms who used to go to the Central in the early 70's). This kid was great! He's not only a serious DJ with several well-stacked boxes of his own originals and his own sound system but he clearly loves the music and dances with all the passion and energy a 16 year old can muster. Yep. 16 years old! Credit where credit's due. He clearly has the same passion about what he does as many of us did when we started out at the same age and it was refreshing to see someone less than 40 yrs old behind the decks who could play with a level of professionalism which would put many to shame. Check him out if you get the chance. This is exactly what the scene needs IMO. Nice one Alex. Pleasure to work with ya! Ian D

I concurr with everything Tony and Ian have said above on some of the artists who badmouth companies. Whilst it's fair to say that most record company contracts were crap anyway, many of us in the re-issue game often get stuck with artists whose careers we are attempting to boost/resurrect only to be virtually held to ransom sometimes because the artist signed a lousy contract 20 odd years ago. I spent 3 years of my life comprehensively re-issuing the best part of the Salsoul catalogue with virtually no help from many of the acts! If you do a licence deal with a U.S. company, then the U.S. company is obliged to pay on the royalties, providing the artist is recouped. And that's usually where the bone of contention lies, as very few artists ever recoup in my experience. It's a thankless task for a fan of the music, as you spend half your life arguing with your heroes about the fact that you've already paid a huge advance to the owner of the repertoire and have to recoup that advance before you can start making payments wily-nily. Myself and my then partner paid $150,000 for the priviledge of re-releasing a U.S. labels 70's & 80's repertoire in the UK for 3 years. We did over 90 releases, all lovingly put together with passion, pride and the maximum respect for the original artists. End result: We only just recouped the advance after the end of the licensing period and both of us ended-up working for free for 3 years! Which is why I'm broke these days. Yet throughout this period we regularly got held-up/high-jacked and black-mailed by some of the artists. We once had 2 days worth of Press and prime-time TV set up for a well-known Soul Diva, who then refused to do any of the stuff unless we paid her a £1000 per diem per day. All this happened whilst I was juggling bills and wondering where my next paycheck would come from.....all during a point where I wasn't even earning £1000 a year........ For sure there's a million stories about artists getting ripped-off but take note that there are only a small handful of those great independent companies from the 60's, 70's and 80's still operating. Most of 'em went bust or went out of business, 'cos it's expensive running a record company as I know too well.......... Ian D

Haha LOL. With the best will in the world, Charlie Records aren't exactly renowned for their accounting procedures anyway are they? Unless I'm mistaken, Universal have given up the ghost of even chasing 'em on the Chess catalogue haven't they? I'm not even sure what country they're operating from at present............ Ian D

Yep, that makes sense. It's the same musicians I believe........ Ian D

Well blow me down! You're absolutely right - it's thinly disguised instrumental version of "Domino"! How weird. I bought it in Peterborough for a tenner in '75 completely unheard 'cos I liked the look of it but it's taken an SS post 33 years later to state the bleedin' obvious...... Ian 'Cloth Ears' D

Rumour has it that there's Stafford and post-Stafford 100 Club albums in the works to cover this neglected period! Long overdue by the looks of it.......... Ian D

This thread's really handy actually Russ. A lot of the 70's Nighter regulars had taken a break in the 80's & 90's to marry, have kids, advance careers and so forth, and maybe didn't get back into it for a while, so to many people both Stafford and post Stafford can be a bit of a blur musically - one of the reasons why there's so much ignorance about this era from some quarters. Many people simply don't know the tunes.......I'm still playing catch-up myself....... Also there wasn't much in the way of Stafford or post Stafford compilations to catch up with either. Did much of this stuff come out on Goldmine? Either way, it's certainly an era which needs documenting........ Ian D

Sorry for highjacking Russ. So I guess post Stafford will be mid '86 onwards.......? Ian D

At least you can refresh yourself on the key details for the liner notes with the help of SS contributors, y'know salient things like opening date/closing date/DJ line-ups etc, etc! That Harold Melvin poster that Chalky just posted would be handy for the booklet too! Also we may need to track down a couple of music files too.......... Ian D

Let's get this right Dave. You ran the No.1 all-nighter in the 80's and you can't remember when it closed? I'd hate to do a Stafford comp with you mate! Ian D

The grammar utilised on that title is terrible. Is the song about hillbilly vampires? Ian D

Haven't you heard? Apparently the name Gavin is the new 'black' here in trendytown.......... Ian D

The stories of Bernie's barn are becoming almost legendary. I gather the barn was in a state of disrepair and virtually falling apart but with 40,000 records there. Seems an odd place to store a major haul of records if that is the case.......... Ian D

I made a special effort Jocko! Ian D

I think Colin used to play it before then Pete. It used to be a 'last hour @ the Mecca' fave and I'm pretty sure Colin had the first copy 'cos I was tracking it for a long time..... Ian D

Are you sure about that Pete? I found Al De Lory and I can't recall any simularity to Van Morrison at all. Totally different songs surely.....? Ian D

One thing which hasn't been discussed on here so far, is when Ian sold up his first collection sometime in the late 70's I think. I know a trail of people went over to Blackpool and bought plenty of records from him. I went with Pat Brady and I can remember buying "Look At Me Now" - Terry Callier and "Grooviest Thing This Side Of Heaven" - Wendell Watts and Pat got "Strange Change" - Herb Ward amongst others - this was before they were generally known. I'm just curious what else he sold at the time which then went on to become big. Also what was in that huge stash that he sold Bernie Golding? Did anything come from Bernie which has since gone big? It's this kind of stuff that I like on a thread like this. What were the records and where did they go? Ian D

Ian D

Was Ady's US record trawl the one where he found Guy Mark's "Loving You Has Made Me Bananas" and turned it into a UK Top 40 hit in the process? Ian D

Tons of stuff was found in London in the early 70's! I think Ian acknowledged Tony Rounce's turning up of most of the RCA stuff. The Del-Lark's came from Jim Wilson's place in Shoreditch and whenever any of us made the pilgrimage to London in those days the meeting point would be Cheapo Cheapo's in Berwick Street where things like The Ideals, The Differences, The Heartbreakers, And The Echoes and The Vontastics were all available for the princely sum of 25p I seem to remember - Ady will probably recall some others. Dave was further up the street, downstairs in Harlequin Records, where, if you were dead lucky, you might prise a mega-rarity out of him. I always wondered whether anything huge came out of Contempo Records? Also, did John Abbey have some goodies in his collection (think the second James Fountain came from him didn't it?). Also wasn't Eddie Foster found in London? Ian D