Ian Dewhirst

Yep. I was disappointed. As with many of these shows, I thought it gave a totally disjointed account of what I remember. As an example, those guys who said that it was embarassing to be a DJ before 1985 are just stupid. I have no idea what they were talking about. They obviously weren't around in the 60's and 70's. And the idea that Ibiza 'started' when Paul Oakenfold, Danny Rampling, Nicky Holloway and Johnny Walker went there in '87 is ridiculous. They were at least 20 years too late to the party. Ibiza has been rocking since the mid 60's. I heard the best mixing I've ever heard in Pacha in 1976 when I was 21 so the so-called Balaeric scene was no mystery to me. The fact that 4 mates went on holiday to Ibiza and witnessed something for the first time doesn't make it definitive. I give 'em credit for bringing that vibe to London in the late 80's but it's not like it was a mystery before then. I'm not knocked out with the live deejaying either. No live dancefloor? Just a deejay spinning to a camera crew. Boring. It'll be interesting to see what audience figures they get....... Ian D

Yeah but good DJ's with nerve have always 'reactivated' tunes haven't they? Lots of previous underplayed and known tunes broke massive when they were reactivated by good DJ's at the right place at the right time. Such tunes should be part of any DJ's arsenal. Records like "Girl Don't Make Me Wait" - Bunny Sigler, "Night Owl" - Bobby Paris, "Time Will Pass You By" - Tobi Legend, "You've Been Away" - Rubin, "Your Love Makes Me Lonely" - The Chandlers, "I Still Love You" - The Seven Souls and TONS of others were all 'known' long before they ever took off. All it took was one inspired play at the right time in the right place to the right audience and boom! Suddenly a 'sleeper' for several years would be the hottest record on the scene within weeks. However, it's pretty rare for such things to happen these days. I think it's great when 'lost' or forgotten records get revived but Butch is probably the only guy who has the available reach to make a big impact these days - the Lee Fields revival being a case in point. But in answer to the question that the thread asks, there's loads of Northern DJ's I'd like to hear out but I won't be able to because I don't have the available time, energy and limitless resources to go to dozens of different venues to catch 'em. What the scene needs more than anything is a major venue and regular all-nighter which will attract a big audience and be a real event.This is not to knock the many regular smaller venues that feature great DJ's regularly but it strikes me that the scene is now incredibly fragmented into too many numerous regional and musical factions, so it's incredibly difficult to get any cohesive unity going. Someone, somewhere needs to create the 2012 version of the Torch, the Casino, Cleethorpes Pier or Stafford, i.e. a venue which will attract thousands of fans on a regular basis and keep 'em happy with a rotating line-up of the country's best DJ's with guest spots for the best up and comers. And obviously no obvious oldies either as there's enough venues who cater to traditional audiences. Or is that a crazy idea......? Ian D

At least he's keeping with the theme of b*llocks though Chalky... Ian D

Good, so not only me that's had ball problems then Dave. We should keep this kind of thing quiet otherwise it'll be all over the forums....... Ian D

Yeah, Spike's kinda cool. Totally impractical though as everytime someone called me Spike, I'd automatically wince with pain and cross my legs....... Ian D

Nah, I've always walked like that, even way before the spike. My left ball has always been kinda sensitive as long as I can remember, so ramming it into a metal spike @ 30mph was merely the pinnacle of a lifetime of nervousness about it's welfare. Effectively, both my left ball and I knew, that one day there would be a world of pain in that general area, so we were both prepared in our own ways. So it was no surprise when it happened. But a 30mph accelaration of your balls directly into a metal spike with 1000 people watching is still pretty extreme whichever way you look at it. So yes Steve. I'm pretty sensitive about the status of my balls OK? The John Wayne quips really aren't helping mate...... Ian D

He had you sussed immediately Andy. If he was already well-established on the scene (as he obviously was 'cos I knew the name Rob Thomas too), then I reckon back then he probably thought his best defence was attack if you see what I mean. It was the way of the scene back then - a simple defence mechanism to sort out the wood from the trees. It was probably the most effective method now that I really think about it. There were so many dickheads who arrived on the scene and were desperate to impress, so it was an almost automatic response to humiliate any newcomers simply in order to see who had the balls to continue. Like an initiation process. It worked pretty well though didn't it? I take it that eventually you and Rob Thomas would have gravitated towards a better standard of conversation? Ian D

It does kinda sicken me when this happens. I tried to license Cecil Washington legitimately which would have meant the owner would have received an advance and a decent royalty for the next 3 years but we couldn't trace the owner in time for the release in question......such a shame. Ian D

You're an angel John! Many thanks. I'll PM you the address to send to! Ian D

I don't suppose anyone could send a high-res scan of the back of the Tommy Young album on Soul Power could they? A thankyou credit on the finished comp is of course mandatory.... Cheers, Ian D

And here's the other embarassment linked to the first one..... "Exploding Balls" - The Epilogue So, shortly after I was admitted to hospital, the first thing they had to do was 'drain' my balls to relieve the pressure on my twisted epididymus. This meant that a young lady had to insert a drainage tube into my ball sac which continued the pain threshold to even greater heights. Also, because of my unfeasibly large testicles the only position that I could really adopt, was to lay in bed with my legs wide open so I didn't accidentally smash my grapefruit-sized balls with one of my legs. It was whilst I was in this position in my hospital bed aproximately 24 hours later, when a consultant doctor and 12 trainee medical students started doing the rounds of the ward. Immediately, I recognised at least 3 young female students who were regulars at the Warehouse, one of which I really fancied. Imagine my horror, when the consultant doctor headed over to my bed with the 12 students and then pulled the curtain around my area and asked me what my ailment was. What else could I do? I had to tell 'em that I'd slid down a 20ft ladder and impaled my testicles on a metal spike. Already the 3 female students were smirking but the sting in the tail, was when I had to basically hoist my arse in the air and show all 12 students my swollen grapefruit balls complete with the bespoke ball-sac drainage tube. I never did get to meet her again. I mean, there's simply no coming back from some situations is there? Ian D

This is painful but true. When I was up in Leeds in the late 70's I deejayed for a while at a huge bar/club opposite Leeds Train station called Amnesia. Since Amnesia was formally a bank, they ended up building a balcony and stage area about 20 feet above the ground level and the only way you could get up to the DJ stand was via a metal ladder which went up through a trapdoor in the floor of the new balcony and was accessible behind the bar. At the bottom of the metal ladder there were two 'handrests' which inexplicably had spikes at the top of each one. Over the course of the next few months, so many people were going up and down the ladder that one of the holding screws on the right-hand top of the ladder starting working loose. On this particular night, the place was packed and being the DJ and having to keep popping up and down the ladder to get drinks, go for a piss etc, etc, everyone would see me zipping up and zipping down this ladder every hour or so. The place was peaking at around 10.00pm and I thought I'd better get a drink in to glide through till 11.30pm and closing time, so I zipped over to the trapdoor and started down the ladder when the right hand-screw came loose which suddenly spun the ladder round and I lost my footing. Result was, I ended up sliding 20 feet down the left-hand side of the ladder and the only thing which prevented me crashing to the floor was the fact that my balls slammed into the spiked armrest at around 20 mph resulting in me literally hanging by my balls about 4 feet above the ground. This was in front of around 1000 people who witnessed the whole thing. The pain was f*ckin' indescribable - essentially the most pain I've ever endured in my entire life. But the thing is, 'cos everyone was watching, I couldn't be uncool. So despite the white-hot shards of pain which were screaming from my balls, I very cooly shook my head and then lifted my balls off the spike and very gingerely continued to the bottom of the ladder. I then went down to the loo, went in a cubicle, assumed a foetus-like position on the floor and bawled my eyes out. After about 10-15 minutes, the pain subsided enough for me to very carefully stand up. I didn't dare even look at the damage 'cos I didn't really want to see it. But the pain was subsiding, so I carefully walked back upstairs, got my drink, very carefully went back up the f*ckin' ladder and started deejaying again. I had a seat up there but I couldn't actually sit down - it was that tender. But the show must go on etc, etc..... A couple of hours later, I'd had a few more drinks and seemed to be a bit more mobile and ended up going to my second gig of the night up at the In-Time. I'd been after one of the dancers up there for a while and typically she decided to choose this night for some action, so by 3.00am I was over at her place and she wanted to give me the works. I mentioned to her about the 20mph balls-spike scenario and told her I wasn't feeling as robust as usual but that just seemed to encourage her. So we ended up having a pretty intense session. By this point I'd had a ton of drinks and had gone past the point of pain so it didn't seem too bad at the time. Anyway, I woke up the next morning tried to swing out of bed and collapsed in agony. Oh and my balls were the size of 2 massive grapefruits. Couldn't move at all. They had to send an ambulance and take me to hospital. It turned out that I'd badly twisted my epidydimis and the sex session has basically exploded my balls. Here's some backgound info on the epidydimus by the way:- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epididymis The whole thing cost me 10 days in hospital before it was eventually sorted out. However the new balls have been so much better than the old ones ever were....... There's actually a further embarassing postscript to this, but the post-traumatic stress of writing all this up for the first time ever has made me want to assume a foetal position again! Ian D

Nope, can't recall bumping into him although I was aware of Move records. I think I moved from EMI in early '86, so maybe he came in as I was going out............? Ian D

Didja just read "Kill Your Friends" by John Niven I wonder? Not much of that stuff goes on these days I'm afraid. There's not enough staff anymore, so those who are left are working flat out just to keep their jobs I can assure you. Ian D

I worked @ Manchester Square from '83-'86. Who was your mate as I'll probably know him......? The 80's was probably the last time that record companies were seriously over-staffed. There was a LOT of wastage back then, but the money coming in to the majors was simply astounding at the time. Strangely enough, that was one of EMI's more successful periods..... Ian D

Firstly, many apologies for not posting up the playlist and downloads for the previous shows. It's been a hellishly busy time just lately and I'm usually knackered when I finish work so more typing is like doing homework on an evening. I will remedy this in the next couple of days which should bring us nicely up-to-date again. As always in August, it's a busy time what with Vintage @ Wilderness last week, Soul At The Pavilion (with Snowboy) in Southend next week and the Preston Vintage Guild Weekend on the 1st September with Richard Searling, Colin Curtis, Mark Grice and the rest of the North West gang. And then Love Soul Ibiza at the end of the month. Phew! As per usual, this week we have some cool new release, some incredible new re-edits, some Vintage Northern Soul, some fantastic retro releases, some mellow sleazers and the usual trawl through the eras with nothing but the best Soul Music I can find. Six Million Steps Presents The Original Mastercuts Show LIVE with Ian Dewhirst between 2.00-4.00pm on Sunday 19th August 2012 on everyone's favourite Soul station www.starpointradio.com. Featuring...... Michele McCain presents Marivent Soul * Cool Million feat Gary B. Poole * The Sunburst Band * Linda Clifford * Cerrone feat Jocelyn Brown * Garfield Fleming * Zalmac * Main Ingredient * Bobby Paris * The Velvet Satins * Al Wilson * The Casualeers * Lou Ragland * Kings Go Forth * The Fabulous Kays * Jesse James * Darrow Fletcher * Leon Ware * Larry Saunders * Audio * R. Kelly * David Ruffin See you @ 2.00pm hopefully. Ian D X

Rockin' Rekid! It got devalued very quickly in the early 70's 'cos it was readily available at Bradford Market for 25p a copy which meant we didn't play it 'cos it wasn't rare enough! Sheer stupidity and daft ego. It's one of the better Verve Northern Soul releases IMO. You couldn't give away The King Davis House Rockers and the Billy Woods Verve releases at the time. Little did we know that the entire stock was in Bradford. The arrogance of youth and an almost endless supply of cheap MGM/Verve 45's from a market stall killed this brilliant record off before it even got started. Perfect Northern Soul. Ian D

My geography mistress's arse had a tendency to block out most of the blackboard........... Ian D

Well, I went through the whole dispute process which the buyer kept escalating. Because the Paypal process didn't offer me the right options to reply I ended up having to ring them and explain the circumstances. Within 2 minutes of the call, Paypal closed the dispute and refunded my payment in full. So, no I didn't lose Bob. I did say to the Paypal guy that I'd been personally advised and read on forums that I'd automatically lose because Paypal always side with the buyer and the guy said, "yeah, but the only people who tell you that are ones that have lost the process, very seldom the ones who have won the won the process". He may have a point. Ian D

Somebody got a bargain when I sold that Jocelyn Brown for a fiver a few years back then! One sold on Discogs for £20 a few months back. I take it's gone big just recently....? Ian D

Funnily enough Dean will be putting together a Jerry-O compilation shortly for the Backbeats Artists series. We recently did a deal for the rights to Lovelane Music and, as a result, the Boo-Ga-Loo label. Some info here:- https://www.lovelanemusic.com/#!__boo-ga-loo-records Ian D

Don't listen to him. He's a dealer and so he'll mark up the kidney. I however, am a serious aesthethic lover of kidneys and willing to pay a fair market price. Ian D

Actually it was EMI that re-released it in '86 and it was me that did the remix and supplied the acappella for the first time. We'd re-released Chuck Brown's "Busting Loose" when the Go-Go stuff started taking off and I couldn't resist putting out "Prayin" again 'cos EMI still had the rights to Source back then........ Always been a cracking record for me! Ian D

Interesting that Eddie Spencer is in there. So presumably, Arc, a Canadian company, were working their records in the Northern U.S. cities....? Ian D

It's a fascinating subject. I always thought a good idea for a series would be in providing comps which would be snapshots of the local U.S. scenes throughout the mid 60's to even the mid 90's. It's such a huge territory and tastes vary quite a lot over every decade that it's kinda fascinating to see what records were breaking in different areas. It still goes on to this day. There's many a time I've only heard stuff on the radio in one city and nowhere else - Mich'elles "Nicety" in L.A., Kid Frost's "La Raza" in San Diego, the Gucci Crew's "Sally (That Girl)" in Florida, Rockin' Sydney's "My Toot Toot" in New Orleans are just a few examples off the top of my head. I once went to the New York Public library and photocopied all the regional dance charts from Billboard when I was researching localised dance hits from the 70's. I've still got 'em under the stairs somewhere LOL. Also it's fairly easy to tell from U.S. digging trips in the 70's and 80's which local labels seemed to have clout and obviously wide distribution locally. No probs ever finding Jimmy Bee records in L.A. but not many anywhere else as one example...... Great thread! Can you start compiling regional Soul hits 1965-1975 please? Ian D