Amsterdam Russ

Jazzman worth a look... https://www.jazzmanrecords.co.uk/white-card-outer-sleeves

The winners of the "Most-liked photos" for the month of June are... @Andrew Jordan with this great action shot that perfectly captures horse and rider at full gallop... And @veedub for the great grouping of fledgling warblers! Congratulations to both of you, and thanks to everyone for all the brilliant contributions!

Susan Barrett every time. What a stomper! Dusty's version is rather pedestrian by comparison.

Back in 2007, shortly before I made the move from London to the Netherlands, I went to see a unique and much-hyped exhibition at the British Museum devoted to the world-famous Terracotta Army from China. The exhibition received huge amounts of publicity in the run-up to its opening and captured the imagination of the public. Here was a wonderful opportunity to see these near legendary characters up close and personal in an exhibition described by various newspapers as the "Exhibition of the year", "Spellbinding", "Awe inspiring", and so on. The exhibition was a huge success. Caught up in the hype of it all, I too expected to be awe-inspired but actually found it to be very disappointing. There was no "army" of terracotta warriors. In fact, there was just a dozen of them in an exhibition that was really rather small and featured just 120 artefacts in total, which wasn't much considering that many of the items on display were actually very small. My disappointment turned into angry frustration when I read (either in the small print of the exhibition catalogue or as a footnote to a description within the exhibition itself) that a good number of the 12 warriors - the star attractions tens of thousands of people paid good money to come and see - were actually replicas! Put another way, and to bring this round to the Northern Soul scene, they were "reissues"! To me this was a complete deception. I'd come to see THE Terracotta Army, not modern day replicas. And in exactly the same way, when I go to a soul night, I expect to hear THE originals, not reproductions. Taking that a step farther, imagine if it transpired that the British Museum - not content with foisting "reissues" onto an unknowing public - had chosen to display illegally manufactured copies of the famous warriors, and still charged the public the same good money to come and see them. There would be one hell of an outcry. The public, and the media, would be outraged at the barefaced deliberate deception of passing off fakes There would be an almighty scandal. The reputation of the museum would be in tatters. Heads would roll. On the Northern Soul scene, however, it's deemed perfectly acceptable in some quarters to offer the public illegal, unlicensed products manufactured by shady, black market criminals solely for their own illicit financial gain. I think not.

And a few more from the same trip... This windmill isn't actually in the woods, but is on the way home if I go a certain route. It's one of three restored windmills in the area in which I live. This one's called De Zwarte Ruiter, which in English is the black rider...

Out with the camera for the first time in way too long. Cycled to the Amsterdam woods and a little nature reserve there called Vogeleiland (Bird island), although it's actually much better for wild flowers than it is birds. Great to be out on a photographic excursion again. Must get back in the habit of doing it more regularly.

Soul Invictus run occasional mixed genre (soul, ska, reggae, mod) nights in Nice. Not sure when the next one is, but you can find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1000103886704790/ There’s a club called “Back to the 60s” based in Amiens and plays soul, jazz, and just about anything considered “cool” from that decade. They also have a Facebook presence: https://www.facebook.com/60sclub/ In Lyon you have the Blue Cat 50s & 60s Rhythm and Blues Club. That does exactly what it says on the tin. Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1772762132976197/ In Aix-en-Provence there’s the “Up Your Soul” club. They play soul, funk, R&B, jazz and more, and have an event on this weekend. Info here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2013015732073833/ The Saint Tropez Soul Patrol can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/SAINT-TROPEZ-SOULFUL-PATROL-242938154761/ Three events worth checking out are... 17th-18th August Shoes Rhythm & Soul Weekender La Rochelle, France https://www.facebook.com/events/603159946685941/ 31st August-2nd September 2018 South of France Weekender Calvisson, France https://www.facebook.com/groups/1942548356015207/ 8th December Paris Magic City Paris, France https://www.facebook.com/ParisMagicCity/

Thelma Houston performing a Jimmy Webb composition - "Mixed up girl" (also sung by Dusty Springfield and others). This appeared on her 1969 debut LP "Sunshower", which was produced by Webb...

I wonder how these “not like the old days” threads are going down on the trad jazz and tea dance forums of today...

Two great sides from Doug Banks. "I just kept on dancing" always transports me back to the 100 Club in the mid-eighties.

Brilliant sets from both of you - thank you for being there yet again at Amsterdam's small but mighty soul club!

The story goes that Kell was unhappy with the lack of promotion of his 45 at Loma and stropped off with the master of “Can’t outsmart a woman”. It seems likely that after taking it to Highland and recording a new vocal arrangement over the top of the backing track, Loma insisted on the return of the master and the destruction of “Law against a heartbreaker” at the same time.

You're clearly taking photos that people really appreciate, so keep on keeping on. More of the same, please!

Congratulations to @soulandy for his fine selection of pics from the isle of Mull, which were the most-liked photos for the month of May. Well done!

Lovely tune out of Philly

There are certainly plenty of European soul weekenders to choose from, and the number of them is growing. For about three and a half years now, I've been running a Facebook group called the European Soul Club Network, which is a continually updated listing of soul events taking place in "mainland" Europe (everywhere except the UK). In 2016, 27 weekenders were listed. In 2017 there were 30. In 2018, we now have 35, and two have already been confirmed for 2019! Not all of them will be a success and some will cease to exist after one or two offerings, and undoubtedly others will come along to take their place. At the same time, plenty of weekenders are well-established fixtures on the soul calendar while some relative newcomers have already established a solid reputation for themselves. The growth of European weekenders goes very much hand-in-hand with the explosion of pan-european soul events generally. I compile an annual breakdown showing the most "soulful" European countries and cities (ie, how many events were recorded). In 2017, the European Soul Club Network listed 266 events - up from 195 in 2016. The top 5 countries with the most events in 2017 were: 1st. Germany = 85 2nd. Italy = 33 3rd. Netherlands = 27 4th. Spain = 23 5th. Sweden = 22 The top 5 European cities with the most events were: Amsterdam (NL) = 25 Hamburg (DE) = 20 Berlin (DE) = 18 Dublin (IE) = 13 Stockholm (SE) = 13 Budget air travel has done much to encourage the rise of soul events, and weekenders especially, across Europe. And long may that last!

Well, as we get older we’ll all be underground at some point. Does that count?

As has already been said, there aren't really any "youth cultures" anymore, so why does it matter? Northern Soul has transcended "youth", which is about the finest and most solid testimonial anyone could give it.

Top tip for anyone here interested in British wildlife documentaries. Stephen de Vere - professional wildlife cameraman who's worked on many BBC nature series and won an EMMY for his work - has just released the third in his independently-made films about wildlife found in the British countryside. "Independently-made" means he's done all the camera work and narration himself, and a project that came about initially when he was in between assignments with the BBC. While he lacks the finesse of a voice-over professional/narrator, his amazing "up close and personal" camerawork more than makes up for that. We found his first film - Through the garden gate - to be fantastic, and on the strength of that bought his second offering. If they're anything to go by this 3rd production will be a treat. Really looking forward to watching it tonight. Just released this week and available via Amazon and hive.co.uk. His website is here: http://britishnaturefilms.com

Hey @Mr Jay Cee Corp - you reckon this unreleased acetate from my collection might work as Popcorn? Maybe needs slowing down a little bit?

Nice cover of the Nancy Holloway track from 2012 by Little Clara...

Great list. And lots of tracks in there that are or have been very popular on the Northern Soul scene. It just goes to remind us that one man's Popcorn can be another man's Northern, and vice versa.