Togetherness Weekender, Fleetwood, 2003

stai visitando "un raggio di soul", il sito ... dove "c'è troppo modern"

Togetherness Weekender - 3 / 4 / 5 October 2003 -

Questo è un breve resoconto dell'ultimo Weekender di Blackpool, scritto appositamente per questo sito niente meno che da STEVE GUARNORI ( it's a real honour and a real pleasure for me ! ). L'articolo è un reportage su un evento che - un'edizione dopo l'altra - sta diventando uno dei più importanti weekender inglesi e che, per l' importanza degli ospiti e dei DJ, è destinato a crescere ancora più.

Basta scorrere le playlists [qui non riportate] e vedere i nomi degli artisti che si sono esibiti dal vivo per rendersi conto che al di là del cattivo gusto dei promoters ( Ian Levine come presentazione ha detto che in Gran Bretagna ci sono molti soul weekender "...come Cleethorpes e altri; ma quello organizzato da Togetherness è di gran lunga il migliore di tutti : ha i migliori DJs, le migliori strutture ... E' il migliore." ) e dell'eccessivo costo ( non è possibile acquistare il solo pass, ma bisogna per forza prendere l'intero costoso pacchetto comprensivo di accomodation ) questo è veramente un grandissimo, superlativo, appuntamento.

Sconsigliatissimo l'acquisto della video cassetta "ufficiale" dove Levine si vanta per ore della grandiosità dell'organizzazione, parlandone in una stanza strapiena di propri dischi; consigliati invece i video amatoriali per rendersi conto della spettacolarità dell'evento.

Trips north to Blackpool so that I can attend the Togetherness Fleetwood weekenders have now become an addition to the annual trips for me and my good lady, and having spoken to a number of people, this October's weekender was widely acclaimed as being the best yet.

The Cala Gran is a holiday camp, with caravans (affectionately known as 'vans' in the North of England), and it's own amusement arcade on site.

Whilst there I spent most of my time between the record collectors area, the modern room and the 'Tent' [ la tenda ] (more on the Tent later), venturing only occasionally into the northern room.

The modern room featured a host of top spinners, including the underrated Mike Ward, Mike Stephens, Roger Williams, Dean Johnson, and Bob Hinsley spinning all that is good and new. The room was busy the whole time I was there, and it is a testament to these DJ's that they are managing to keep the interest level up in new soul music, when a regression to anthems would be so easy.

Despite not spending too much time in the northern room I did manage to catch Ginger playing the Mark IV on Brite-Lite, some of Chris King's spot and Soul Sam spinning current favourites such as Ace Spectrum, Sam Dees "Fragile", as well as Jimmy Burns, and some delightful Motown, but these days the northern room is not where I am musically.

Just over a year ago co-promotor Richard Searling had the foresight to recognise a gap in the musical format, between the northern room ( majority oldies ), and the modern room ( majority new releases ), and thus the notion of the 'Tent' was born.

The Tent, actually a marquee with a wooden dancefloor, plays crossover soul, late 60's, 70's and 80's predominently ( though not exclusively ), and has since being erected for the first time, one year ago, now found it's own level, Fleetwood hosting packed 'Tents' on both Friday and Saturday night! Saturday afternoon meanwhile had the Triple S connection playing some lesser known sides along with the classics - Triple S being Sam, Steve Plumb and yours truly.

Amongst the tunes spun were 7 Nombres, Sy Hightower, Clarence Coulter, Alfonzo Wilson, 7 Miles High, Pro-Fascination, Toby King and an LP only track from Tommie Young's Japanese CD. The only down side to this wonderful addition to the weekend is that when the temperature drops it can get a little chilly in there, but the enthusiasm of the punters more than makes up for that !

Saturday night saw two live acts - Ruby Andrews who was hot, and ex Artistic Marvin Smith, both in the packed to the rafters northern room. Marvin blew us all away with a show that was as full of wonderful music as it was his own erergy, and this is the closest I've been for years to seeing an authentic 60's act who can still glide round the stage and hit the high notes with seemingly as much energy as he must have had nearly forty years ago. "Have more time", "Who will do your running now", "Hope we have", "I'm gonna miss you" and "This heart of mine" being five of the classics he performed in his set. His voice was in parts reminiscent of Sam Cooke, in short the show was nothing short of excellence.

After the live acts it was back to the 'Tent' where Terry Jones, and Andy Davies was keeping proceedings running through to 4.45 a.m., at which point I had to leave to get home and prepare for work on the Monday. Of course the proceedings continued on Sunday, but alas without me.

All in all, an excellent weekend.

STEVE GUARNORI

THE HALL of SHAME (grazie a Martin )