Jimmy Savile
Plaza Ballroom
photograph, 1978

Dave Starr says: So the old brigade are all still alive and doing well? Thanks for that Ged, we'll have to put a reunion together and have a night in town. Now where could we go? Pips -gone, Tiffs - gone, The Italian Stallion, Rotters, Fagins, Herriots, Blueberries, Brubakers, Saturdays, Sachas, Kicks, Jenny's,Cellar Vie, Deno's, Mr Smiths, North Westward Ho, Belle Vue, hell where did it all go? Now where did I put my password for Facebook? Hello? Gail?

Hacienda, The
advert, 1982

mat says: ...and what a great book it is!

Jimmy Savile
Plaza Ballroom
photograph, 1978

foleygee says: ha ! gail glough..she use to keep in touch by sendiing me a x mas card and on the back she would tell me what she was doing.. although some of the stuff sounded a bit o.t.t..i last met up with gail at a castlefield bar 8 years ago ..she had changed her a job agin and was now something do with getting acts booked to go and work in dubai and she waas in manchester to scout any good ones at the frog and bucketetc she would also name drop like mad an dtake calls on her phone and say out loud about flying up to scotland cos there on the v.i.p guest list after party concert with eminem !!blah blah...anyway some thing cropped up the next day she says she has to get back to dubai important meeting and all that..you can track gail down on facebook under her real name not cherelle..moving on to chris lesser ..yes i knew he came from placemate ..as did john chapman ...who ran the clubs as a whole for britannia..he brought with him ...paul risby who ran fridays in northenden...harry asgill who ran kicks where all the barmaids wore knickers and a bra.chris apparently now runs a little hotel in wales from the last i hear..paul anthony i met him at my audition for fridays at saturdays ..it was on a thursday night.. the reason is paul wanted to drop the weds night he was doing because it was quiet and he was going down to london a lot keeping in touch with gay davies and hopping something might come his way..last thing a heard on paul a. he was doing m.u.t.v

Sweet Sensation
promotional item, 1974

1963 says: Left to Right: Vincent James(vocals) Leroy Smith (keys) Gary Shaugnessy(guitar) Marcel King (lead Vocal),Barry Johnson(Bass) St. Clair L. Palmer (Vocal) Junior Daye(vocal) Back row Roy Flowers, (drummer) thanks to Donald Johnson

Jimmy Savile
Plaza Ballroom
photograph, 1978

Dave Starr says: Oh Ged... Some of us are still living at that pace now! The girl jocks used to do early week nights on the boat and me and a guy called DJ Duke Ozzy (no not that one) used to do weekends. How the hell did you find that out about Gail Clough? Confession here guys, I was the one who re-invented her as Cherelle when she came on our books at Deejays in Hazel Grove and worked Kicks in town for us, I always had a soft spot for Gail. You mentioned Placemates on Tuesdays, Chris Lesser was the manager there before he opened Saturdays on Portland Street. It was Chris who took me on there, initially to work with Paul Anthony and to be honest was one of the best club managers I ever worked with! Oh, and in answer to sbilts re the fate of Westward Ho - the comet jet on the car park which was the restaurant was closed after Granada TV went in there to film for something and they ripped all of the interior out and re-fitted it. That never opened again and the boat fell into major disrepair and was eventually sold to be re-fitted and opened somewhere else although I never found out where.

Jimmy Savile
Plaza Ballroom
photograph, 1978

foleygee says: I only did a couple of hours at tiffs with phil...sorry the way i put was a bit ambiguous..my main residency was leisure 2000 s gaff pips and then later (that s why i love this photo) rotters ...cos thats the view you got when you were stood outside and turned to the left(if you turned to the right fagins would come into view with mickey francis standing on guard behind the smoked glass)phil novac was the dj who also made a living out of playing a clint eastwood lookalike...even to this day.. i think he went on to dot.com radio station in whythinshawe but now is working or doing something in spain my spies tell me.. an di do remeber the westwood ho ..did a girl dj work there called holly berry..girl dj s there something whatever happened to jackie gee and her cats...cherelle aka gail glough the scruff (as wee willie used to call her) is in dubai working in a plastics surgeons office ....all of us from pips used to go to placemates on tuesdays anyone remeber that.. i would be knackered the next day getting up for work but boy did i enjoy it ..the energy and stamina you had as a teen ..it would kill me now if i did it..

The High, Dave Booth, The Sandmen, Plenty
Hacienda, The
flyer, 1990

sublimator says: I was at the October 22nd gig palying bass for the sandmen. I don't remember much about it as usual except that Martin our drummer was thought that Plenty's drummer was cheating 'cause he used a click track. Their Dad was friendly though.

Jimmy Savile
Plaza Ballroom
photograph, 1978

sbilts says: Yes...The pool table was always "listing" to one side. When you were setting the balls up they rolled away the moment the triangle was removed.I had just passed my driving test and bought a car and decided to take my future wife there for a night out. I had only been once before and I had travelled there (pissed) in the boot of someones car so was not sure of the way.We never actually got there though as I got totally lost round the docks and ended up going home with a stress induced headache...I went there a few times with the lads from work and remember throwing up over the side on more than one occasion (must have been sea sickness)...What happened to it did it sink or something?I went one time to find it had gone.

Jimmy Savile
Plaza Ballroom
photograph, 1978

Dave Starr says: eeee! Ged Foley, now that name conjures up some memories... Tell you what Ged, you're dead right! The up and comers these days will never experience townie life as it was in those halcyon days... We didn't actually meet up until much later, but If I remember correctly - at the same time as you were at Tiffs I was mis-spending my youth down at Pomona docks gigging on Westward Ho. Let's keep this thread going, anyone remember the old boat?

Sweet Sensation
Bootleg Studios
photograph, 1982

Kevin says: Sad to hear about Leroy. He helped out at Revolution in April 1982 during the recording of 41 Degrees album. He was on some Job creation scheme and we had many talks and laughs about his time with Sweet Sensation.

Bette Davis And The Balconettes
record / cd, 1996

tenchahoy says: Said my bit regarding Mcr music, and have deleted my previous comments. LOL

Oduduwa
Band On The Wall
programme, 1982

circle alcove says: Tafa on Congas was actually Mustapha Onigbanjo, A Nigerian Yoruba who came over to Manchester in the late 50's. I studied African drumming in a school in Moss side with him twice a week at his evening classes for a couple of years in the mid/late 80s. He taught Hi Life, JuJu, and kpanlogo rhythms and was very much a traditional african style teacher. He also taught the children at the school there, he said they were great at drumming. The school (or perhaps the all saints adult ed. centre on Oxford road) had funded the purchase of a lot of congas and Kpanlogo drums. It was a really great resource to have him teaching there. Sometimes he would bring his evening class pupils down to the gigs at the band at the wall and do a bit of a presentation of the rhythms before oduduwa came on, or we would play along with oduduwa. Sometimes we would play drumming for an African dance Class to perform to. Mustapha said he was a sax player in Nigeria but when he came to England his drumming was what was unique about him,whereas in Africa his drumming was just ok, as there were so many brilliant drummers. He said he got some work doing film music and so forth in the 60's for fast car chase clips , and he would play mad fast drums to it. In the early classes he would teach some of the sacred rhythms of Africa but as time went on he stopped teaching them. He said he always explained to his pupils that those rhythms were a spiritual heritage, and were used to heal people, and to call for help from spirits. He said they should only be played in special places,at a shrine, in the woods, or in private place for prayer and so forth. One day he found some drummers busking with those rhythms and he was very saddened by it. Many of the people I knew at his class, myself included , were very interested in learning about the that spiritual side of music, as we felt that it was an important aspect that was now lacking in contemporary consumer use of music. Sometimes we, his students, would compare snippets of those sacred rhythms and try and understand them. They were often complex, 12/8 timings, very different to our understanding of music.. We all felt sad that he had been so let down, and decided never to use those rhythms in such a way. . The folk in those days who turned up to Mustapha's Class were pretty serious freaks, I remember one guy used to always come bare foot, even in the snow, and he carried a massive conga on his head. Many of us had died hair or dread locks and so forth and wierd/ ripped clothes and Mustapha took it in his stride and used to just smile and laugh. He said he could never figure out the Brits as they could be so snobby and stuck up but at the same time they loved rhythm and could be really wild. I left Manchester in the late 80's. I had asked for his pemission to pass on his teachings before I left as I was doing some classes for children and so forth, and he was very pleased I was taking his teachings with me. I still teach african drumming to this day and would have had no starting place without his kind, playful teaching and his wisdom. I dont know what happened to him, I hope he is alive and well but I think he would be getting on by now if he's still with us.. I owe him a lot and would be greatful if anyone could post up what became of him. I remember he was friends with the conga player from Harlem spirit and the two of them would sometimes play with the drummers at the advanced class, playing wonderful stuff way out of our reach. Mustapha could get a better sound out an old table top than any drummer I knew could get out a top conga. On a drum he had a sound like an axe through wood. Ashe Ashe to you Mustapha Onigbango, wherever you are.

Jimmy Savile
Plaza Ballroom
photograph, 1978

foleygee says: I remember tiffinys 19 80 the monday nights were great wi th let me think ...phil novac as dj who would then double as a dj at the weekends at pips ..he would get 25.00pounds per night then which was good money as most of the jocks including myself were on 10 pound a night ,,with not being able to socialise at the weekend most of the clubland people would visit other clubs through the week i.e placemate on a tuesday and the likes of ..he hee grand old stuff ..am so glad i was there then at that time ..the kids nowdays have nothin to compare with what was about ...nuff said ..GED FOLEY

The Chameleons, The Reegs
poster, 1998

julio says: Kaleida was originally PJ BELLS.

Brigade, Steve Toon
Manchester Polytechnic
photograph, 1986

philriley427 says: I've seen Steve Toon just a handful of times in the past 25 years. He was manager of the Brigade from 1985- 87. By coincidence I had a chance meeting with Steve when I was working on the creative, for the advertising agency involved in the official launch of KFM in the early 90s. It's about 5 years since I last saw Toon, however we recently became friends on Facebook. Good guy!

Tarzanz Milkmen
record / cd, 1985

circle alcove says: the drummer was actually called John Wilshaw and he was in Divorce Buro before that, who were a sort of acid punk group from Heald Green and Wilmslow. Tarzanz milkmen changed thier name to the milkmen after a while. They also had a casstte e.p i think as well, called ' my lousy london ones' or something like that.

Brigade, Steve Toon
Manchester Polytechnic
photograph, 1986

circle alcove says: steve toon was one of the main djs with KFM a stockport based pirate that came on air first in 83. He focused on local bands and the wierd wonderful and obscure, fulfilling a john peel sort of function for Kfm. KFM were busted I think in 85 and then got a licence in 87 or so and Toon was back on the air for a only a short while before there was a bust up of some sort btween him and the management. not heard of him since. a good bloke.

Inner Sense Percussion, Johnny Dangerously, Kalima, King of the Slums, Metro Trinity, Dave Rofe, Little Martin, Ram Ram Kino, Asia Fields, Freezing Idiots
Boardwalk, The
flyer, 1987

Permafrost says: Really interesting stuff! Thanks!

Zanathus
photograph, 1979

sbilts says: Dave was telling me about a legendary gig in which the plug was pulled as the management took exception to him stripping.The Bear apparently just carried on drumming throughout whilst the bouncer was searching for his undies on the darkened stage by the light of his torch. The power was restored and the old valve amps faded back in in a Top of the Pops type moment.Dave said the stripping antics caused them to be repeatedly re-booked at Portland Bars as the owner was gay and once remarked that "Hes got a lovely arse,but a shame about his c..k".Dave reckons this was one of the reasons he plays the bass so low slung so as to conceal his appendage...

Zanathus
photograph, 1979

circle alcove says: i was at a gig at stockport college, early 1980 a sort of blues punk night. First on were the transparent blues band, who were a sort of zappa meets the tubes meets motorhead thing, then the Zans then the Cheaters. the zans seemed to take their cothes off a lot.I think they did that night ( or it might have been another gig) but whenever it was I was was quite impressed with thier nerve as there were some very dodgy hard men there at the front but the Zans didnt see to care.