Eighteez Hey Days
What a difference a day makes. 24 little hours.Gosh! Stepped out this morning, to be greeted by a fresh breeze and sunlight on my face. A stark contrast to the foul weather and general mood I experienced around London yesterday. From Barbican to Hounslow, it seemed as if the miserable rain had immersed the whole of London into a mild depression. Not a smile in sight. Finding one, was like finding free parking in Camden. Not a dickie bird. The only one I remember was my physio, Dr. Bell's devilish deep blue eyed grin. Never seen eyes that blue. As I mentioned I had to get my physio exercises into my 'culture', he said 'yes culture' with that grin of his. I never know if he's just being pleasant or taking the piss.
Back to this morning. To add to the summer mood, Roots FM (95.4 for those who don't know)were playing 80's soul classics. I was standing outside taking in the fresh air and gazing at the sky while 'Mutual Attraction' by Change (formerly fronted by Luther the Crooner himself) boomed out behind me. After that the DJ played 'Magic Touch' by Rose Royce. Both tracks seemed perfect heralds for the upcoming bank holiday carnival weekend, and reminded me of my favourite carnival era, 1985 to 1989 (just before Acieed and the mad smiley people took over carnival). Those were the days when we all rocked to pulsating soul such as the SOS Band, played by Mastermind and Rapattack soul sounds in the cage under the flyover behind Acklam road. I remember bopping to Maze's 'Twilight' one minute, then reacting to a ripple in the crowd the next, and rushing back with everyone else as the crowd parted like the Red Sea letting a gang of youths steam through. I remember them flashing their blades this way and that at the crowd as their leader dragged another guy before them by the scruff of his neck. His neck dripping rich red blood from ear to ear. The crowd joined back together after they passed, like some living creature, and the music soon resumed. Those were the good old days eh.
Rose Royce's 'Magic Touch' always brings back vivid memories of my first attempt at sound system toasting. It was around 1984 and my little upstart sound system, Ambassador (cool name yeah) were due to play the baddest bad bwoy crew in Bristol, the Gold Teet Posse! Our headquarters was in the basement of our manager Noel's flat and that's where we held the party. Well he was really our landlord and helped us out with equipment and stuff. Most of our crew were made up of my close friends at the time. Earl my best friend, aka Early B; Martin the sound operator, aka Butty Ranks (an operator was the technical mix man on the amplifier); Raymond, apprentice selector; and the original older sound men, Jimmy Williams, the main selector; Wayne Pinnock, aka Sticky Ranking; Adrian Douglas, aka AD King; Clinton, the sound hanger on and driver (every sound had one); and myself Commander Ridley, aka Bigga Ranks, aka Joe 90. You can see from my multiple aliases I had just started in the public arena. That night I was Joe 90 and I was shitting my Farrah slacks.
Later on though I started to get that customary buzz you get when promoting a party. As the crowd starting to fill up the dingy basement, and the atmosphere started to electrify with girls screams and whistles, my knees started to wobble with adrenalin and I was getting excited at the thought that we were making people happy. All our efforts leading up to the night, all the speaker box splinters were worth it. It had all paid off.
Back to this morning. To add to the summer mood, Roots FM (95.4 for those who don't know)were playing 80's soul classics. I was standing outside taking in the fresh air and gazing at the sky while 'Mutual Attraction' by Change (formerly fronted by Luther the Crooner himself) boomed out behind me. After that the DJ played 'Magic Touch' by Rose Royce. Both tracks seemed perfect heralds for the upcoming bank holiday carnival weekend, and reminded me of my favourite carnival era, 1985 to 1989 (just before Acieed and the mad smiley people took over carnival). Those were the days when we all rocked to pulsating soul such as the SOS Band, played by Mastermind and Rapattack soul sounds in the cage under the flyover behind Acklam road. I remember bopping to Maze's 'Twilight' one minute, then reacting to a ripple in the crowd the next, and rushing back with everyone else as the crowd parted like the Red Sea letting a gang of youths steam through. I remember them flashing their blades this way and that at the crowd as their leader dragged another guy before them by the scruff of his neck. His neck dripping rich red blood from ear to ear. The crowd joined back together after they passed, like some living creature, and the music soon resumed. Those were the good old days eh.
Rose Royce's 'Magic Touch' always brings back vivid memories of my first attempt at sound system toasting. It was around 1984 and my little upstart sound system, Ambassador (cool name yeah) were due to play the baddest bad bwoy crew in Bristol, the Gold Teet Posse! Our headquarters was in the basement of our manager Noel's flat and that's where we held the party. Well he was really our landlord and helped us out with equipment and stuff. Most of our crew were made up of my close friends at the time. Earl my best friend, aka Early B; Martin the sound operator, aka Butty Ranks (an operator was the technical mix man on the amplifier); Raymond, apprentice selector; and the original older sound men, Jimmy Williams, the main selector; Wayne Pinnock, aka Sticky Ranking; Adrian Douglas, aka AD King; Clinton, the sound hanger on and driver (every sound had one); and myself Commander Ridley, aka Bigga Ranks, aka Joe 90. You can see from my multiple aliases I had just started in the public arena. That night I was Joe 90 and I was shitting my Farrah slacks.
Later on though I started to get that customary buzz you get when promoting a party. As the crowd starting to fill up the dingy basement, and the atmosphere started to electrify with girls screams and whistles, my knees started to wobble with adrenalin and I was getting excited at the thought that we were making people happy. All our efforts leading up to the night, all the speaker box splinters were worth it. It had all paid off.
The night started with a typical heated exhange between our Butty Ranks and Senator Blaggy of Gold Teet (those two never seemed to like each other much). It turned into a sound clash for much of the earlier part of the night and at one point I thought it would come to blows. I remember both DJ decks (or control towers as we used to call them) were squeezed into the tiny concrete space under the stairs, and both sounds were separated by a large piece of thin wooden board. As I was classed as a young 'banton' (a talented lyricist) Butty wanted me to go on in the middle of the clash period. Somebody was playing a reggae version of Micheal Jackson's 'Billy Jean' by Shinehead. We, Ambassador had a brand new version of that rhythym with a sample from the popular cop series, Hawaii Five-O. It started with Steve McGarrett saying "Book him Danno!". Every bad boy loved that, and I started my chant after Butty gave me the nod. I remember hurtling into my lyric, gasping for breath, not fully aware of what was going on. I was barely conscious of the crowd accalamtion I was getting from the whistles and female screams, but knew I had caused some upset as Senator Blaggy of Gold Teet forced the thin partition aside to see who was on the mic and what was going on! Or "what di raas!", to be more precise.
Things went a bit crazy between our two sets for a while before things calmed down with a soul intermission, and that's when I remember Gold Teet playing Rose Royce's 'Magic Touch'. I went out into the crowd to seek out the other friends I had invited receiving hand shakes and plenty 'nuff respects from them. I bopped the rest of the night away in my Farrah slacks, leather should bag/purse (they unfolded into a larger item) and my Pierre Cardine or whatever diamond jumper I was wearing. Hey it was the style of the times man!
Those were certainly the days.
posted by Elegba The Red Dog at 7:50 PM
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