House/Soulful House/Soul music ( Been a part of my life so long now I can't live without it) Dance in general and dancing to House/Soul music also Ceroc, modern jive, Tap, Ballroom and Latin (as I get older I am finding that the movement in all types of dance is something I am enjoying and appreciating more and more), Mountainbiking/cycling(getting a bit old for the real high adrenalin stuff but getting out is great), PC's and gaming (Unfortunately not enough time these day's to develope into a top notch gamer)
Music
To many artist to list as long as it has soul and dancability I am there. Nothing else really hit's it with me although in the last year I have seen a number of indie bands. It's just made me realize I love soul music even more.
About me: I am 41, and have 2 children. Enough of that.
My life with soul music. As I grew up I didnt have any musical influences from my parents in fact I would say they very rarely listened to music other than the radio and certainly never bought any records or any other music media of the time. So as with most kids left school in 81 and started looking for things to do. Living out in the sticks and not having a car limited me to only experiencing things that I could walk to or get a lift to. Mobile discos were the thing of the day and so they were probably my biggest influence at the time. Luckily we had a few guys locally who were playing Jazz funk and were into the soul scene at that time. I was also seeing a girl who worked at our local record shop. So things started to come together. My brother then started to roadie for one of the mobile discos which had a lot of work and so we were asked if we wanted to start our own. A few hundred pounds later and we were off. At the same time Martin Collins started his radio show on Chiltern Radio and London nights out was being broadcast on Hereward radio this started to allow us to find out about other events and other people in St. Neots who loved Soul music. Off we went to Peterborough to listen to Steve Allen and went to various nights there (Gables and Canters were the names of the bar and club) Associating with places like this and listening to the radio we were soon hearing the name of Caister I went to my first one in 84. At the same time running the mobile disco gave me access to decks mixers and a sound system. We eventually persuaded a few of our local pubs to let us do a few nights these went quite well and with a burgeoning crowed of soul music lovers in St. Neots we were able to keep things going (At one point we were able to fill a bus to go to Southport). At this time Martin Collins and a guy called Tommy Wilkinson started a night at Wyboston which was a weekly thing right on our door step again it really opened up new things for us and we met a lot of people such as Chris Brown and Max Rees from Cambridge. Also as Tommy and Martin were involved with Caister it gave us a way of meeting the most well known DJs of the time. All dayers were also big news back then with people travelling from all over at bank holiday weekends Chilford Hall at Cambridge was something we got involved with and took a bus load of people from St. Neots. My record collection was increasing dramatically over this time although I had no desire to DJ ongoing my brother took this forward. Cambridge became our main focus really, going to most of the events that were on at that time the pub opposite the football ground and frames . The weekender scene was something that grew a little although the original Caister had stopped and so of we went to Boscombe and other weekenders at Gt. Yarmouth. Then along came House music and as with most Soul boys at the time I dismissed it. Its influence was to sweep over me and off to the raves we went. Cambridge ended up with a real rave scene part of this was driven by the fact that a friend of ours had purchased a nice new ASS sound system. Because we were involved with the scene and knew about sound equipment it wasnt long before I was involved with setting up sound systems. Also all the people that we had influenced over the years started to want to come and party at these events we had a community going. This explosion in house music meant there ware plenty of nights going on around the country all of which needed sound systems. Another friend of mine decided he wanted to buy his own system 6K of ASS 4 way crossover which he did and I ran it for him. This also meant we were being given work by Tony Rossell at ASS and doing various gigs with him: Rocket club, Linford Film studios, Rain Dance, Soundshaft (strictly rhythm), eclipse at Cambridge and various other nights. Our local scene was also starting to move on and a few events were starting to kick off Coco Loco at Ramsey and Tudor Oaks at Biggleswade. Tudor Oaks was a weekly party and something I am proud to have been part of with some of the best DJs in the country playing there and getting to meet them was something I will cherish. Coco Loco was monthly and although they never had any big names there it was really all about the party for us we had one room playing the music that we wanted and the other rooms was full of the kids getting into there harder sounds. Lee Coombs is the main DJ who came through from that time although there are plenty of other guys including my good friends Stu Fisher and Nick Annies who still buy records and DJ to this day. Of course I was still of to the weekenders and went to Southport/Upnorth number 2 after a lot of the guys from St. Neots went to the first one. I carried on going until November 1999 and then took a break until November 2005. From about 94/95 I gave up doing sound systems and just became a punter and went to various nights across the south of England with my friend Marion. In 1999 I got married and other things became more important with my son being born in 2000 and the mortgage etc. strangling the cash, but I always listened to the radio and kept in touch with the scene we then moved house again in 2002 and had another child in 2004. But I am now back and with the lack of events on in East Anglia there is room for us to develop a night. At the moment we are doing things slowly with a event at the Millers Arms in St. Neots (blend) which is on Bank Holiday Sundays and should become monthly. We also intend to develop other nights with the ever growing contacts. I fell in love with this music 24 years ago now and I still get the same feeling about it I did then alright it might be soulful house, modern soul, northern all I know is I love it and it is something I can not get enough of. For the love of house is waht it's all about for me at the moment
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Who I'd like to meet: The people I would like to meet vary depending on what I am into. Alright I know I could say some of the political greats of our history but what would I want to ask them. I want to meet my contempory heroes.
I have done this in the past and in most hobbies that I have enjoyed I have alway's managed to talk to the major player's at the time
Hey! Thanks so much for your friendship! I hope you're well?
Did you find something to your musical taste? Check out my Soul page
http://www.myspace.com/carlenegraham (#1 on my friends list) for more
material...your feedback is greatly appreciated ;)
hey my friend saw your profile and thinks you look hot! she is new to myspace but wants to chat with you on msn messenger her name on there is emily24green@hotmail.com
After promoting and organising the music at The Sands, @ Southport Weekender for the past 5 years, we are pleased to announce that we are finally bringing the party to London.
DJs Richard Francis and Paul Stuart would like to invite you to a special Sands reunion, where we will once again be playing the mix of Soul, House and Disco, both old and new, that has made The Sands a memorable part of the event.
This will be held at Café El Paso, 350-354 Old Street, London, on Friday 7th September. We will be kicking off at 9.00pm and carrying on until 3.00am.
Further to this, the night will be the launch of ‘Brighter Days’, our new Friday night dance party, which will be held monthly.
Admission is Free with a flyer before midnight but Priority Guest list will be available by sending your details to info.brighterdays@tiscali.co.uk
We are very excited about our new venture, and hope you will be too.
Online Now!
