Amsterdam Russ

Yes, Bogarts was early 80s. My first real experience of going to soul nights. I must have been 15-16. It's interesting that people often talk about the fights. Undoubtedly there were some, but I don't recall seeing any, and I was going up there just about every Sunday until it closed. Perhaps I was too busy enjoying myself on the dance floor and missed all the kerfuffles! KG Promotions: Keith Rylatt and Graham Sage, and Graham's lovely wife Liz on the door. As well as Bogarts in Strood there were plenty of other soul nights in the Medway & Kent area. Kev Griffin and Kim Styles, for example, held regular nights down in Tonbridge, and Jo Wallace held events down in Margate now and then. There was a lot going on for a young, naive, wannabe soulie. Happy days indeed.

"Roads beyond, once dark and long, won't stand in my way now."

According to the interweb, a previous trumpet sample used by the group came courtesy a James Last recording! https://www.whosampled.com/sample/170360/Active-Member-Στον-ΚαιÏÏŒ-Του-Αλλόκοτου-Φόβου-James-Last-Passion-Flower/

Thought about asking Active Member themselves? Their official Facebook page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/ActiveMemberOfficial Being Greek, they might appreciate the money.

Snap!

I've quite a number of books which I mainly collected when I was an enthusiastic kid and eager member of the Young Ornithologists Club. That must have been late 70s, I suppose. The one I use as a field guide is The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe (author Bertel Bruun, published 1975). No idea if that's still available today. Because it covers Europe as well it's handy to take it on holiday - very useful when encountering all those unfamiliar species. Had a quick look on Amazon and this book is still being published with the most recent edition being June of last year. Here's a link to it if anyone's interested: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0753725274

Investing in a dslr is well worth it. Mine's a 2nd hand Nikon D80, which is pretty antiquated now if you believe all the techno-gadget hype. However, it'll do me for a while yet. My first digital camera was a compact Canon that took 3mb photos - tiny by today's comparison - but it was enough to get me hooked, and I like to think that I took some cracking pics with that If you do buy a camera, I absolutely recommend that you buy one of the unofficial manuals. They go by the name of the "Digital Field Guides" and tell you all the things that the manufacturers manual either tells you in terrible English or doesn't tell you at all. I'd also recommend a practical 'how to' book or two so that you can start to get to grips with basic techniques. I particularly like a a guy called Bryan Peterson. His book "Bryan Peterson's Understanding Photography Field Guide" is a favourite. He also has loads of quick and easy photography tutorials on YouTube. he's well worth checking out. Buy a dslr and you'll be in for hours of fun!

Some more pics from me. These were taken through a window at home last winter (not had a winter over here in the Netherlands this year, I'm delighted to say! Result ) Blackbird Hedge Sparrow/Dunnock Robin

Can't he post for himself, bearing in mind his membership here?

Pharrell Williams' routine at the Brits... https://youtu.be/WW6Khk0MG68

Agreed!

Don't think I've posted this one - apologies if I have. Ike & Tina Turner - Somebody needs you - Dutch.

Doesn't give them much time on these damp shores. There's just about enough time for a couple of beers before they have to turn around and head home again! I hear they had a good time on the boat in spite of it all, and at least they were able to set sail eventually.

Better late than never, I guess, but I've now figured out how to add a notice about this in the Events section so that more people can see it.

Sorry, Mods. Not sure how best to let people know... The Amsterdam Soul Club All-dayer, which was supposed to take place tomorrow (Thurs) and was being held to coincide with the Soul Cruise from Hull has been cancelled. Because of the bad weather the ferry has not been able to sail. The Amsterdam Soul Club organisers (and the source of this info) are on the ferry and can't get back in time for the event. I read somewhere that some people were not going on the cruise but instead were travelling straight to Amsterdam. If you know anyone who is doing that, please let them know. Thanks. Russell

Thought it about time I added some more of my own pics. These were taken around our old house, which we moved out of in December. Now we're in a 2nd floor flat in the middle of town, so opportunities for wildlife shots on our own doorstep, so to speak, are going to be rare. Male House Sparrow Magpie Starling - they put on a fantastic display to attract a mate during the breeding season. This was taken from out an upstairs window looking down and across to the top of the work unit opposite. The birds built nests under the eaves until the owner blocked up all the gaps, which was a real shame.

I ditto that...

In spite of the years between the recordings, do Nicky and Nickie sound alike at all?

Thank you for the extended reply, Robb. I appreciate that as a writer words flow easily for you. I, as a magazine editor, often favour brevity. I think they're still in relatively common usage, mainly among older people, and in those parts of the UK that are not London and the south. I spent the first half of my childhood in Scotland before moving to Kent in the south east of England. After a while in the Garden of England I began to realise that my use of all four of the words you highlight was pretty unique. In speech and in writing I still favour them. Curiously, the Dutch — who often think they know more about the English language than native speakers (and sometimes they do) — tend to pick me up on my supposed erroneous use of these words in texts. Naturally, I try to explain how certain words are spelt, but they, being Dutch, still assume that they are correct.

Thanks to Paul (Soul Shrews) for the loan of not just the copy of Tracks to your MInd magazine, but also a pressing of "Burning Sensation"/"I Have Searched". Listening to the disc confirms that the acetate version of "I have searched" is not the same one that appears on the Robby Lawson 45. This is confirmed in the magazine by Paul Kyser, who states: "'I Have Searched' is just a pretty song. I re-recorded that by someone else but the record never came out, nothing happened to it..." The label on the acetate is for Broadway Recording Studios, and in the first part of the magazine interviewee Earl Morgan, a colleague of Paul Kyser, states that they did use these studios occasionally, which were part of what is known as the Ed Sullivan Theater. So, according to the Sweet Soul CD, both "I Have Searched" and the dance track "Poet" are sung by someone called Renee White. Who this is appears to be a mystery. I mentioned that it could be useful to find out who put out that CD. After a bit of checking online it came as no real surprise to learn that it was in fact put out by Paul Kyser himself. Perhaps time to drop him another email.

There's a spelling of spelled you don't see very often these days. It's almost archaic, in fact. You got Scottish or Northern English ancestry?

You're right about the Del Capris acetate - it's trashed, but for less than 18 bucks, and not knowing the actual ID of the track or artist, it was worth a bid. Likewise with the 2nd disc, it was worth a punt . That there was so little interest in it was surprising, and I certainly didn't expect to get it for the price I did. Even better, after much argument with the seller over the mailing costs, I managed to get a 10 buck refund into the bargain. Still looking for a soundfile of the "Burning Sensation" flip that's taken directly from the Kyser disc. Surely someone on here must have the 45...

A-ha! I assume you didn't read the thread from the beginning and so missed Sebastian's crucial post. You witnessed the acetates go for next to nothing? Out of interest, why did you not think them worth bidding on?

That's a thought, Benji. I'm going record hunting with Paul (Soul Shrews) tomorrow and he's bringing along the issue of the Tracks to your mind magazine with the Paul Kyser interview in it. We'll have a read of that over a good curry in Amsterdam. I did send an email to Paul Kyser using the email address he gave out when he was posting here a few years back, but I've no idea if that's still active, and I haven't had a reply. What might be useful is to find out who put together the CD comp. Whoever is behind that should know more about the tracks and who Renee White is (and isn't).

I downloaded "I have searched" from iTunes. Two files are available there, one of which is from the CD Comp. Both the digital versions are the same as each other (the one featured on the CD Comp is obviously taken from disc because you can hear number clicks and pops, and the sound quality is not as good). Although the digital version & acetate may sound alike from the samples here (with you suggesting that one is a faster/higher version of the other), they are completely different tracks. They have completely different arrangements and it is a different singer. That's immediately obvious if you have the complete songs to hand. So, if the digital versions are the same as appear on the Robby Lawson 45, then it seems likely that the acetate version is by someone else. That someone else is definitely the same singer as can be heard on the song "Poet" (where both the digital and acetate versions are the same), and that points us back to the mysterious Renee White. So, if Renee White isn't Robby Lawson, who is he? Or is it a case of will the real Robby Lawson please stand up?