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Spinning ‘Em Up in the Lock Down

In the same way that the past few weeks have had such a fundamental impact on so many aspects of our lives, the fraternity of rockin’ DJs has had to adapt to a world where, even if dancing didn’t break all the rules of social distancing (apart from wild boppers who can create a […]

A Vintage Man in New York – Part Six

Lotsa serious crate digging for rekkids, and a trip back to the Tenement Museum after a walk in the New York skyline…

Our next day we’d dedicated to seeking out a legendary record shop north of Williamsburg in Greenpoint. It meant a bit of a hike, so we started with a leisurely return to the […]

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    From the Ashes of Memory Rises the Rock’n’Roll Phoenix of… The Phoenix

From the Ashes of Memory Rises the Rock’n’Roll Phoenix of… The Phoenix

Having written at length about the club below the Phoenix pub in Cavendish Square, and had the pleasure of seeing that material appear not only in the pages of Now Dig This but also as the editorial in the Rockin’ London in the 80s photobook, I genuinely thought it would stay firmly in the […]

The Scala – The Picturehouse of Dreams

From the perspective of the connected world, it’s hard to conceive that only 30-odd years ago, the concept of ‘on-demand’ anything was pretty much non-existent, particularly when it came to film. No You Tube, no on-line streaming, no digital TV, and videos eked out at a glacial pace and at a price that, in […]

The 2 Rs – Rockin’ in Soho

At one level, it shouldn’t work – a Saturday afternoon club in a venue more used to the rhythms of Diana Ross and the Village People, and with a dance floor dominated by a couple of shiny poles with bases taking up a good few feet on either side – but it does. Maybe […]

Grandpa’s War – a Century On

Although a blog is, by definition, pretty personal, I tend to stick to the lighter side of family life. But with the centenary of the end of the First World War this weekend, I thought I’d break from the usual round of eulogising about midcentury stuff to add my contribution to the stories of […]

The Long Idle Days of Summer – Not!

I’ve been slowing down the rate of posts over this untypical summer as, if regular readers have any sense, they’ll be lounging outside rather than glued to a screen reading my random ramblings. However, like any good journalist, I’ve been out amassing material for future publication, including a couple of weeks seeking out the […]

A Matter of Record

I’ve long been in awe of collectors of original 45s. Their knowledge and dedication in tracking down rare slices of vinyl, often from small production runs on obscure labels, leaves me with a feeling of cheating somehow when I load a CD chock full of rarities, farmed, sifted and labelled up for my listening […]

Hot Dang Dilly: Great Ghoulish Gigging

With all the bad stuff, big and small, going on in the world at the moment, you almost feel guilty at enjoying an evening quite as much as the Hot Dang Dilly Halloween Special, but that’s the joy of great records and a great act in a venue dedicated to real music. Little Carl’s […]

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    Of all the Suit Makers in All the World, I Had to Walk into Chester Cordite’s…

Of all the Suit Makers in All the World, I Had to Walk into Chester Cordite’s…

I didn’t start this blog with any sense of mounting a crusade but, if I had any sort of a mission, it was to celebrate the people who bring genuine passion and authenticity to a vintage scene often plagued by those eager to sling a ‘vintage’ label on something because it ‘looks old’ and […]