A much needed Black Music thread.
- Thread starter Insidious Von
- Start date
Ok so they're white but you have to imagine you're at the gay/straight Lime Light Disco in Montreal, 1976, with Robert Ouimet the best disco dj in Canada spinning this, with massive bass speakers and a wall of Crown DC-300a amps blowing your ears out. My ears would ring for hours after. Probably why I need to use headphones or closed captions when I watch TV now.
Imagine the bass drums so loud you can feel them in your chest...
Imagine the bass drums so loud you can feel them in your chest...
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Wigan Casino
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This England, a TV documentary about the Wigan Casino, was filmed in 1977. Russ Winstanley and Dave Nowell wrote a history of the club, Soul Survivors, The Wigan Casino Story, which was published in 1996. A stage play by Mick Martin about the Wigan Casino years, Once upon a time in Wigan, debuted in February 2003 at the Contact Theatre in Manchester and has since toured nationally.
History
'The Casino Club' (erroneously known as Wigan Casino) was the name of the last incarnation of a Wigan ballroom called the Empress. Local DJs Brian Rigby and Alan Cain approached lease owner Gerry Marshall to run all-nighters. Venue manager Mike Walker brought in Russ Winstanley, who had a DJ set at the local rugby club, to the Casino. At 2 am on Sunday 23 September 1973, Wigan Casino started its first-ever Northern soul all-nighter, with Winstanley as the DJ. After Winstanley and his helper Ian Fishwick, Kev Roberts was the third DJ at Casino all-nighters, who was quickly joined by Richard Searling. Soul performers that performed there include Jackie Wilson, Edwin Starr and Junior Walker.
Young people from all over the UK regularly attended Wigan Casino to hear the latest northern soul artists and to dance. There were long queues to get in. The second dance floor, Mr M's, stayed open until 6 am and played oldies songs from a variety of DJs including Dave Evison and Steve Whittle. All-nighters generally ended with three songs that became known as the '3 before 8': "Time Will Pass You By" by Tobi Legend, "Long After Tonight Is All Over" by Jimmy Radcliffe, and "I'm on My Way" by Dean Parrish. Parrish (born Phil Anastasi) remained active on the Northern soul circuit until his death in 2021.
Wigan Casino's 500th all-nighter was held on Saturday 16 May 1981, from midnight to 8 am. Over the eight years it was open, it reputedly had over one million people through its doors.
Wigan Council owned the building and wanted to extend the nearby Civic Centre, but short of funding, it never went ahead. The club closed on 6 December 1981; that final night of Wigan Casino in its Northern soul state was DJ'd by Winstanley, and the '3 before 8' were played three times consecutively at the end of the night. The crowd refused to leave; according to Winstanley, to "break this spell of hysteria", he picked a 7" at random from his box and played that. This final Wigan Casino song became one of the most famous Northern soul songs of all time, Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)". Annual reunions are held in Wigan and Blackpool hosted by various original DJs.
The Casino is commemorated with a Blue plaque, which was installed in 2014, marking the place where the doors to the club once stood.
The site is now occupied by the Grand Arcade shopping centre, which pays homage to the club with its Casino Café.
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DJ Mark the 45 King passed away today. He was 62. An influential DJ/producer from the late 80's/early 90's Golden Age of Hip Hop. His signature track was an instrumental called The 900 Number
He took the sax sample from Marva Whitney's 'Unwind Yourself' and slowed it down.
The 45 King's big break came when he was signed to be an in house produce for the Flavor Unit, a hip hop collective out of New |Jersey. He produced most of Queen Latifah's debut album and also produced for Chill Rob G. This track was my favorite.
Later on in his career he produced two big tracks - 'Hard Knock Life' by Jay-Z and 'Stan' by Eminem.
Rest in Beats Mark
He took the sax sample from Marva Whitney's 'Unwind Yourself' and slowed it down.
The 45 King's big break came when he was signed to be an in house produce for the Flavor Unit, a hip hop collective out of New |Jersey. He produced most of Queen Latifah's debut album and also produced for Chill Rob G. This track was my favorite.
Later on in his career he produced two big tracks - 'Hard Knock Life' by Jay-Z and 'Stan' by Eminem.
Rest in Beats Mark
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Very interesting. I remember those great soul singers from back in the day. Sure miss their music.
