60s girl group night in Manchester... FAP?

I'll be there!

(and I might drag other's along if I see them)

Dammit, why couldn't the Norfern leg of our tour be just a week earlier...?

(I've never actually been to a Da Doo Ron Ron in London cause by the time I find out it's happening, it's over...)

Kate, are you the Kate that knows Michael clunkie? Just wondering!

And Graham, cheers for that - it's the first one so I'm a little nervous about it... so every "i'll be there" makes me relax a bit. :-)

Uuuhhh... :racking brain:: ... I don't think so.

(Unless he's one of those people I know while drunk but have no clue who they are when I'm sober?)

Nah, you're another Kate. This one was Canadian but lives near Leeds...

Where the heck is Norfern?

Ah, good. Coz I'm NOT Canadian! (sorry, I get stroppy about this, cause I'm forever being accused of being Canadian.)

I've heard The Norf is located somewhere above Ver Midlands, and somewhere below Scotland.

Ah, well I *am* Canadian so I didn't get the Norf thing, eh? :-) Sigh. All this lingo to learn...4 years on and I can still get confused!

Ah, if you're Canadian, it's all Norf. ;-)

Good luck with the club and the DJ-ing. I really REALLY wish I could make it, coz it sounds ace!

Kate stop being in denial and accept your Canadianess. Heck your band is Canadian Content, you lived in upstate New York, you like Sloan, you constantly have to explain your citizenship and what else is there other then drinking Molson Canadian or Labatt Blue?

Sigh. OK, that night I was pretending to be Canadian for the Cultural Atache, I do have to say that that Sweet-something beer we had was very, VERY nice.

Forget Molsons and those other big brands. Bring on the Sleemans cream ale!

I actually found a cool off licence in Manchester that imports Sleemans silver creek lager. Hey, it'll do. I nearly had a heart attack! 2 days later I had a fellow Canadian visiting from London, so I dragged him there to buy a case because he's never managed to find any down south. The people there must thought we were insane to get so excited over beer...

Yeah, cause British people *never* get excited about beer... ;-)

is it monthly ? or what ?

Sleemans lager is my favorite out of the bunch (its the green label right?) but the Cream Ale comes in mini kegs which makes up for the fact it smells sickly sweet. The best Canadian beer IMNSHO is an ale made by Moosehead breweries called Clancy's which is sadly only widely available in New Brunswick.
Still this thread is about 60s music and Kate being a Canadian despite her best attempts otherwise.

Oh, I know they get excited. But I'm talking vaguely homesick hysteria coming on at the prospect of finally being able to taste sweet sweet Sleemans... :-) Add to the list: Catalina dressing, salt & vinegar popcorn powder, Miracle Whip, Triscuits, Jell-O pudding mix...god, I go nuts when I'm back home and we stop at Swiss Chalet.

Sleeman's cream ale has a sort of red/goldy label. The lager has a green label. Where did you see these mini kegs?

Ahem. Back to Slow Fizz. Sorry Mr. Pisces, much as I'd love to there's no way I can do this night monthly off my own back. The work involved in promoting and all that yadda yadda on your own is pretty stressful when you're juggling a full schedule. Also, as it's a fairly specialised night I don't want to over do it.

However, I'm going to see how this one goes and maybe throw a party every 3 months or so. There are definitely inklings of plans already for the next one, which might also include some west coast sunshine pop for variety.

The minkegs or "Bubba"s are available through the LCBO liquor stores or The Beer Store in Ontario. You can also get them for Canadian, who have a great commercial on TV for them.

"Look guys, I found MEAT!"

Ooooh, those are new to me! They didn't have them 3 years ago. I always thought of kegs as a frat boy thing, but I'd make an exception for Sleemans!

Too bad I can't get them to bring in a barrel or two for my night.

i'm going to london this wknd so that's really annoying, because i used to be on th' mail list for 'da doo ron ron' but never managed to make it down ! honestly i could never have realised that there was some kind of club next to 'malmaison'. the spar is bang in the right place to load up on fags before hand too.

bah !

anyway - good luck slow fizz / elizabeth k.
let's hope it packs them in.

The Hideaway soul night happens there on the last Saturday of every month, which is how I found out about the place. It's very old school, but the function room is upstairs and totally private. I also like the fact that it's off the beaten track so annoying people won't just wander in to dance "ironically". (don't get me started on that!)

Also, today I bought the new City Life and we got a nice big listing - 7 lines instead of the usual 3 or 4. I knew they liked us as the club editor called me to say he'd like to do a feature if we have another one! Even more satisfying is that Tiger Lounge gets reviewed on the same page - and slated. YES!!!

Thanks for the good wishes. I hope we're busy too.

They're not full kegs, about 5 litres though. And the marketting is at frat boys no doubt, but its still a funny commercial, providing my office with a marching song down the hallways on Fridays.

twang !

that's the sound of elizabeth hitting the
nail squarely on the head when it comes to
the key problem in
the clubbing/going out scene in manchester -
people wandering by mistake into the wrong place.
happens all the time.
like, who's idea was it to put FAB cafe in between
a yates and a mcdonalds ? cause it's classic
for accidental moron wanderings.

*never* happens in london.

tiger lounge used to be aces
but now (or rather, last time i went 2 yrs ago)
it's shamp.

i'm going but i'm not meeting up with you lot. geeks.

Ooh, hark at her. Nobody asked you anyway, Mr Pot (calling the kettle black).

Well, Smile used to be good many years ago before the guy who ran it fell into insupportable circumstances with the pub's evil owner and left for good.

The landlord has carried on with the night though, stealing the name and just getting other DJs to do it. I went once and it was awful. We went on a Friday once as well because our friend has been asked to DJ - it wasn't Smile, but some of the same organisers. It was dire. Highlights included enduring a tinny cassette bootleg of B&S's cover of "poupee de cire, poupee de son" and one of the DJs making "effects" by turning the volume up and down. Needless to say our friend was deeply ashamed and annoyed to have been roped into it and we left the second he finished his set, but not before he got into a massive row with them because they refused to pay his train fare as promised.

I hate the Fab Cafe too. I took two Japanese friends there one night near Christmas and no joke, the second we walked in these guys pounced on them and tried to chat them up with "Were you in my dream last night?" I'm sure there might have been good nights there at some point but as piscesboy said, the location means you get an awful lot of yobs walking in off the street.

I hate Oxford Road. I hate how Canal Street is full of hen nights now. I hate Jabez Clegg and around the uni. And I really, really hate Deansgate/Peter Street. All rubbish clubs and ropey bars with people picking fights and girls squeezed into tarty clothes.

I don't hate Manchester though - far from it. You just have to be incredibly choosy about where to have a night. I'd rather organise something in a working men's club in Prestwich than go for a club on Oxford Road anyday!

Those anger management classes really paid off, didn't they Elisabeth?

I'm only saying what you're already thinking, oh boyfriend dearest! ;-)

Cor Elisa you've just described my complete experience of Manchester! I hope one day you'll show me the good bits.

Hope the night goes well.

Course we will Tim, how does a night of pierogies and kielbasa at the Manchester Polish Social Club sound? We had a Polish taxi driver the other day who told us about it and we're dying to check it out. I think Pam, Mike, you and everyone else should come up and we'll have a big dinner out there.

Wait...where is the Manchester Polish Social club again? I know there's a Ukrainian one up Cheetham Hill way.

I was also making plans in my mind for a night of Northern Soul and electronica called Wigan's Novation.

...of course I'm not particularly fond of Wigan right now.

haha you could have just put BIG DINNER and I'd have been persuaded.

I've had a look at yell.co.uk and there are two - one on Lloyd Street North (near my work) and one in Whalley Range (quite close to us!) on Shrewsbury Street. We should check 'em out and get back to everyone.

Tim: BIG DINNER.

MMMmmmmm.

hurrah, I've sorted out my medical trial so I can come along tomorrow night. I should be able to bring a good few people along too. However... a few people who I mentioned the Waldorf too have said words to the effect of:
"The Waldorf? I went to a N.Soul night there once and it was full of SCOWLING OLD PEOPLE WHO SMELT OF PISS and SNOTTY YOUNG MODS..."
So is this the expected clientele? What shall I say to my floating clubgoer mates about this?

Tag, why do you hate Wigan right now? Or more to the point, why were you once fond of it? It's a dreary little hole which caters for just two types of people: a) Teen goth rockheads, and b) Face-slashing Kappa-clad skinheads.

Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow night.

Well...Northern Soul nights do often attract an older crowd, especially if they're organised by veterans. Mind you, having been to all-nighters at the Ritz, some of them can teach us jonny-come-latelies a bit about dancing until the not so-small-hours. Anyhow, I hope there won't be any scowlers and mod upstarts tomorrow. We're just aiming for a night of sweet music and minimum up-our-own-arses-ness. Friendly, but with just the right dose of vintage glamour.

The DJs certainly know their stuff - two were involved in putting together all those compilations ("Here come the girls" etc). and are pretty much *the* GG aficianados in the UK, another guy used to do the excellent Da-doo-ron-ron in London a couple of years back. Plus E and me, although we'll be on a bit earlier before the proper experts take over. Oh, and Elisabeth's going to sing a couple of songs over original backing tracks.

My petty dislike of Wigan was entirely based on mid-week football results.

See you tomorrow then.

So how do I recognise you then?

(I have rediculous hair and a bright blue B+S T-Shirt)

I'll be the one with wall-to-wall grin after today's derby result.

Real answer - short, strawberry blonde (OK, ginger), DJing around 9.30.

What do you mean by ridiculous?

This, only longer and looks worse from the sides.

Bastard, just typed a twatter post and ILX ate it. Ok, here goes again:

It was a superb night. Ace ace ace music, any chance of posting a playlist up here?

The only neg was the labour clublike venue, it'd be better in a proper club place, like the Retro Bar - even if it does mean bringing in a few of those filthy streetpeople.
And February is waaay too long for the next one. I'm still holding out for a xmas special, guest starring ILX's resident Mancy poet, Piscesboy.

Elisabeth, your PA set was superb. My girl mates were gushing all night: "oh, look how she GLIDES across the floor, in high heels too..."; "ooh, she's got such a lovely voice, so sweet..", etc.

Graham, what did you think of it? I hope my mates didn't blag your head too much. I'm gonna claim a pint back off you next time I see you round town, cos I'm a shit like that.

Tag, it was good chatting to yer, hope to see you around town sometime. I'm gonna check out that soul night at Sofa this friday so all you people from last night should come along an' all.

It was cool, Elizabeth was amazing (and amazingly dressed), but the sound system was a bit rubbish.

Ian, your mates showed little interest in acknowledging I exist, beyond asking the time. No change there then.

hmm, Graham shall we take this to email or discuss it here?

Well, this thread isn't about you, it's about the night so I'm taking it to email anyway.

Thanks for the feedback. A few problems were to be expected when it's your first night and you're doing it on a shoestring budget, but I was really pleased that so many people I didn't know came up to say hi and say how much they liked it. My only regret was having to forego DJing because the timing went a bit off due to technical problems at the beginning.

Re: the sound system - we had massive problems from the start as we weren't allowed in until 7 (and even then they complained we were early!) only to discover that nothing was patched through correctly and sound was only coming out from one speaker. The landlord was completely unhelpful and washed his hands of us, claiming there was a DJ there the night before and it was fine (yeah right!) - happy to take our money, but not bothering to make sure the room was fit to hire. I thought I was going to have a heart attack! Thank god for our friend Phil (who sorted out my backing tracks) whose wizardry managed to get it up and running. I don't think it sounded that bad overall, but sure, it could have been better. We had to run the mic through an unconventional route - if we'd been able to get in there at 4 as promised, we could have gone to Maplins to get what we needed and it probably would have been a bit better.

Personally, I quite liked the pub as a venue - cheap drinks for a start! But maybe that's because I've been to a lot of soul nights in similar types of places. That said, I won't be having it there again because of the nightmare with the equipment and the crap service. Retro Bar was originally a possible on our list, so I might revisit that idea. It really depends on what sort of a night we could get - I don't want anything other than a Friday or Saturday and some places just won't go for it.

And I guess I've had a lot of practice dancing in vintage heels...! Glad it was entertaining.

Graham, it was very nice to meet you. Ian, I didn't get a chance to talk to you but I did see you chatting away with Tag. Thanks for coming along. Hope you guys make up. :-)

A playlist is tricky, because there were so many different DJs and I was running around all evening. A few that come to mind:

The Toys - Sealed with a kiss
Melba Moore - The magic touch
Ann Margret - You turn my head around
The Kittens - Ain't no more room
Sandra Barry - We were lovers (when the party began)
Dusty Springfield - Little by little
Jackie Lee - The town I live in
McKinleys - Sweet & tender romance (ace!!!)
Samantha Jones - Go ahead
Lulu - Try to understand
Nita Rossi - Untrue, unfaithful
The Caravelles - Hey mama you've been on my mind

Maybe Tag can add a few more?

i'm in mancy at some point over christmas, prob in urmston for a day, but then might be out at night, if theres anything lovely like this on

Yes, a good night. A bit fraught at the start with all the technical probs, but I enjoyed it. Nice to meet Graham and Ian. Just looking through my records to remember what I played and here's some more:

Nothing but a heartache - Flirtations (twice!)
Take me for a little while/Billy Sunshine - Evie Sands
Nightmare - The Whyte Boots
Il voyage - Francoise Hardy
N'attends plus - Les Coquetttes
SOS (Heart in Distress) - Christine Cooper
What should I do? - Little Ann
You didn't say a word - Yvonne Baker
Everything is everything - Sandy Waddy
Hit and run - Rose Batiste
Don't pity me - Joanie Sommers
Just look what you've done - Brenda Holloway
You don't mean me no good - Jelly Beans
Mister Good Time Friday - Ann d'Andrea

Ian, let us know what this soul night on Friday is like. I have to go out with some work type people and I'm not sure they'd be up for it.

One quick question to Ian and Gareth, did either of you dance much?

eh? i wasnt there!

I didn't.

Sorry - all these G's! I made the same mistake on Saturday too.

AAAAAHHHH!!! Those playlists... please let me know when the next one is, I will come all the way to Manchester. (Especially if anyone can lend me a couch for the night.)

You're more than welcome to my kitchen table.

(or my bedroom floor I guess)

Damn, I missed the Francoise Hardy. I think I'll get leeching those other tracks though.

Me and my mate Dom danced for a handful of songs (the Yvonne Baker track, mmmm) but Dom kept slipping into his air guitar rock poses - he can't help it, he really can't, the boy was born to rock - and I felt intimdated by the other fantastic dancers there, especially the guy who does the Dancehouse soul nights.

Tag, this Soul night is at Sofa which is one of Manc's ubiquitous trendy bars *spit* so it should be nigh-on perfect for bringing workmates along. Plus, everyone likes soul music dont they? (excluding the evil Dave q, obv). Anyhow, I'll post on here what it's like.

Ian, you mean Steve Cato. He sorta helped me get the ball rolling when I was making the first attempts to get organised. He offered to have it at the Dancehouse but I didn't think it was right - beautiful place but too many random people coming in off the street because it's always free entry. He had a brilliant time on Saturday though, judging by the number of drunken happy hugs he gave me. Ha!

Anyhow, I think he guest DJs once in a while at this Sofa night - no idea what it's like though. I'll be curious to hear if it's any good.

Oh, the Dancehouse would be superb for a night like yours. But you and Tag REALLY hate the general public dontcha? You should just get all the hip soulsters to throw a few snotty glares their way when they stumble in and they'll either be converted to your lofty cause or leave in tears.

When are the good nights at the Dancehouse? I went once and it was some boring live instrumental funk band but I understand there are some proper soul nights there too.

thursday is a good night i think.
huge picture of stevie with a harmonics in
his hand. good start.

I can only get into town at the weekend. I heard they have a different night every Saturday of the month, is this true? Is there a site for the Dancehouse?

On the contrary, I have a bottomless well of love for the general public. But have you ever been to one of those nights where you're really enjoying what they're playing and a gang of "zany" students or pissed up office wankers waltz in and start doing kerrrazy dance steps to all that 'funny old-fashioned music' they're playing. Oh, what a fucking hoot. Well, that's what happened last time we went to the Dancehouse. It's a shame because it's a nice venue and a good size. Can't remember what's on there on a Saturday, maybe Manchesteronline will tell you.

Steve used to put on a soul night on the last Saturday of every month at the Dancehouse with Tom from Beatin' Rhythm, but that's changed now. I'll have to drop him a line to find out what's new. Declan Meehan, who also DJd for a bit at Slow Fizz, also does some stuff at the Dancehouse with Steve. Not sure what. I know, I'm so helpful!

Wednesdays is the night with the Stevie & the harmonica flyer. Sounded promising but unfortunately when we went, it seemed to be a "new bands" night and they were all dreadful protest folk rubbish. One guy & his guitar actually said "This song is for the victims of September 11th". In between, Steve & friends did play some good stuff but it was not a good combination.

As for the Dancehouse - as Tag said, it's not that we are unwelcoming - just that if I'm going to work myself to a frazzle to throw a damn good party, I want last say on who gets in. Basically I would like it to be unspoiled for the people who knew about it and took the trouble to come along. The Dancehouse is always free entry and until it's full anyone can come in. So you get people piling in off Oxford Road when the pubs close for the £1 bottles of Carlsberg and generally being annoying.

We'll find the right place, it's just going to take some sleuthing.

'ey up mancs.
is there a xmas edition of this northern soul/60's gurl group thing ?
i'm imagining not else it would have been mentioned already.

Nothing at Christmas. Maybe a Valentine's Day one.

Incidentally do any Mancunians or people in the general vicinity know of a bar called Timesis? It's where the (sadly missed) Ginnels Gallery used to be and has been recommended as a possible venue. The question is - has it got a dancefloor...?