Thursday 20 January 2011

The Hook & Sling Soul Weekender - Review & LIVE mix

Welcome Back!!

I return here thoroughly exhausted, slightly run down all in all, but extremely happy and content after our first Weekend event passed successfully! The turn out on all three days was truly immense and far exceeded all of our expectations!

Friday 5th February 2010 – The Impellers / Hoppin’ John & Mr Double Down


Friday kicked off with The Impellers joining us all the way from Brighton and London. After a minor scare involving the rush hour and a large traffic jam they made it to the venue and delivered a truly explosive set to a packed out crowd! People arrived early and by 8pm (after a swift last minute sound check!) The Vestry was full as Hoppin' John and Myself kicked off the weekend with some Deep Funk classics.





By this time The Vestry was at full capacity and it was one in, one out on the door for those unfortunate enough to be stood outside in the queue! The Impellers took to the stage and delivered a well drilled performance for the first of two sets. Lady Clair being a local girl, had some great banter with an appreciative crowd. The band took us through some tight instrumentals, before dropping an amazing cover of Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings ‘Pick It Up Lay It In The Cut’, which definitely knocked things up a gear or two!





Hoppin’ John dropped a few more 45’s in the interval and then The Impellers were back on stage. Their second set really shook the crowd into motion as they went through some of the recent material from their LP, Robot Legs, as well as some blistering covers including The Ting Tings ‘That’s Not My Name’ (Please release this as a 45!!!!) and ‘Silly Savage’.


The Impellers – That’s Not My Grandma’s Tenalady!! – Check out the drum and horn break 3 minutes 15 seconds in, Killer!!


Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better they dropped their latest 45, ‘How Am I?’, which had the crowd screaming for more! The band dutifully obliged with an energetic version of ‘Get Up Offa That Thing’, ‘Fire’ and a blistering reworking of ‘Crazy In Love’!! Amazing stuff!!


The Impellers Set List


The Impellers are a seriously amazing band and I urge those of you out there who aren’t familiar with their stuff to dig deeper and check out their LP. I promise you won’t be disappointed! If you’re in the Brighton area they’ll be supporting The James Taylor Quartet at The Komedia on Saturday 13th March 2010. Check their MySpace page for more information.

Pick up The Impellers New LP, Robot Legs from iTunes HERE or on lovely super vinyl HERE

Follow The Impellers on MySpace HERE

Follow The Impellers on Twitter HERE

Follow The Impellers on FaceBook HERE


Saturday 6th February 2010 – Ed Meme / Hoppin’ John / Mr Double Down


Day two, and with the buzz from the night before still in the air, it was down to business as Hoppin’ John and myself were joined by the first of our guest DJs, the fabulous Ed Meme AKA Glenn Fallows.



For those of you not in the know, Glenn, aside from being an all round lovely chap, runs a great night in Brighton called Sweat Shop Funk, as well as writing and playing guitar (rather well I might add!) for The Impellers. We had a blast spinning 45s with him!


Clockwise from top left: Ed Meme, Hoppin John, Mr Double Down And Lady Clair Modelling a rather natty exclusive H&S Impellers banner!




Our crowd of regulars, which had significantly swelled in number to the point of queuing to get in, got down to some rare Funk and Soul 45s, all played alongside vintage film footage from the 60s and 70s.



It was by far and away the best night we’ve put on in terms of music, crowd reaction and the sheer amount of fun we had behind the decks!! I’m pretty sure I speak on behalf of everyone who made it down on Saturday when I say Ed Meme is always welcome back to spin at H&S!!


Hoppin’ John warming up the floor with some JB








Sunday 7th February – Soul All Dayer – Eddie Stenner / Keith Barnes / The Popcorn King / Hoppin’ John / Mr Double Down


Sunday rolled round and to be honest after the previous evening I was pretty beat and in need of my bed!! We pulled ourselves together and we’re joined by Guest DJs, Eddie Stenner, the man behind the fantastic Sussex By The Sea Soul nights on the South Coast, Keith Barnes, a Motown and Soul collector for over 45 years (What Keith doesn’t know about Soul and Motown isn’t worth knowing!!) and H&S regular contributor, The Popcorn King.


Eddie Stenner (Left) & Keith Barnes(Right)



The Popcorn King


We kicked off proceedings just before 12pm and rolled all the way through until 9.30pm!! The turn out was great and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. As the weather stayed pretty dry several of the local scooter clubs took a ride out and joined in the fun which was great to see!! All in all a top day was had by everyone!!


Just a few of the fantastic Scooters from Sunday!


Now I’m assuming some of you have rolled by for your weekly dose of the ‘Good Stuff’, so I took the liberty of making my first attempt at recording part of Eddie and Keith’s sets early in the afternoon. This is a warts and all mix, admittedly the sound quality dips in and out at times due to the unfamiliar sound system, but it should give you a great idea of the quality of music from Sunday. Both Eddie and Keith’s are good examples of collectors buying music THEY love not what they SHOULD love, which in turn shines through in the quality of their selections!

If you’re in the Portsmouth area you can catch Keith Barnes at The Hilsea Lido on the Saturday 19th June 2010, this should be a great night of Soul so pen it in the diary!!

I hope you enjoyed the review and the Live Mix from today, hopefully this will be the first of many weekend events to come!! Stay safe and I’ll be back here shortly with something special for you!

Eddie Stenner & Keith Barnes LIVE MIX recorded @ The Hook & Sling Soul Weekender


Track List


Eddie Stenner


William De Vaughn – Be Thankful For What You’ve Got

Millie Jackson – Leftovers

Billie Stewart – Sitting In The Park

James Brown & Famous Flames – Every Beat Of My Heart

Music Makers – United

The Dells – Stay In The Corner

Tony Cotton – I Stand Accused

Don Covay – I Was Checkin’ Out, She Was Checkin’ In

Tami Terrell – All I Do

The Chi-Lites – Have You Seen Her

The Dramatics – It’s Hard Trying To Get Over You

The Temptations – Since I Lost You

Loraine Ellison – Stay With Me

The Peoples Choice – I Likes To Do It

John Ellison – Lost The Will To Live

Smokey Robinson & The Miracles – Point It Out

Act One – Goodbye Love (We’re Through)

Al Green – L-O-V-E

Tramps – I Know That Feeling

David Ruffin – Walk Away From Love

Keith Barnes


John Gary Williams - The Whole Damn World Is Going Crazy

Chuck Jackson – Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird)

Kenny Shepherd – What Difference Does It Make Now

George Freeman – Down And Out

Baby Washington – I Can’t Wait To See My Baby’s Face

Marvin Gaye – It’s My Baby

Ben Brown – Ask The Lonely

Gene Faith – Call The F.B.I. (My Baby’s Missing)

Anthony & The Imperials – It’s Not The Same

Roosevelt Griers – In My Tenement

Tan Greers – Let My Heart And Soul Be Free

Ray Pollard – It’s A Sad Thing

Bobby Taylor – Ok, I’ve Been Bless’d

Lorraine Chandler – Tell Me Your Mine

Chairmen Of The Board – Elmo James

Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes – Where Are All My Friends?

The O’Jays – Branded Bad

The O’Jays – For The Love Of Money

Teddy Pendergrass – The More I Get The More I Want

Cajun Heart –Got To Find A Way

James Brown – Night Train

Originals – Baby Have Mercy On Me

LaBrenda Ben & The Beljeans – The Chaperone

The Carstairs – It Really Hurts Me Girl

Archie Bell – Look Back Over Your Shoulder

Archie Bell & The Drells – There’s Gonna Be A Showdown

Download Eddie Stenner & Keith Barnes LIVE @The Hook & Sling Soul Weekender HERE



Special Thanks And BIG love to the following:
Ash, Ben & Stuart from the Vestry, Lewis and Michael, The Impellers, Ed Meme & Lady Clair, Eddie Stenner, Keith Barnes, The Popcorn King, All The Vestry Bar Staff for putting up with us all weekend!, The Talisman Scooter Club and Everyone who joined us over the weekend.


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