FULL CIRCLE

The circle started in 1982. I was 13 years old. My parents took me to the Isle of Wight for a bank holiday weekend away. They were not happy about all the 'yobs' who had also chosen to visit the island that weekend. Me, I was fascinated. I had never seen a Lambretta or Vespa before...

At the time I lived in a village in Devon, not known for its scooterist, mod, or northern scene (never has been, never will be). There was one other guy a lot older who rode a scooter. I got to know him, he taught me about Vespa, mods, scooterist, rallies, allnighters, and most importantly he kept lending me Kent albums to listen to. I was hooked. I remember the first northern track I heard ' ain't nothing but a houseparty', so much adrenaline in one track - amazing!

I turned 16 in 1985, that meant I could get myself a scooter (Vespa SS90, with a 50cc engine - honest!). That was it, I could get to rallies and the northern do's that used to go with them. By now, I was living in Weymouth, however I used to be away every other weekend throughout the year at different runs, parties, or soul do's. Life was great! I got into many other types of music, punk, rock, psychobilly, gothic, etc.., but northern soul was the real music of my life and nothing got me dancing any quicker!, 15 Lambrettas & 3 Vespas later, the scene had changed, my music taste had got even more alternative, but I would always be the first dancing when it came to Northern Soul.

I gave up the scooter scene in the early '90s. It was starting to go bad. Since then my love of Northern Soul has remained, and in 1994 I moved to Manchester to attend Uni (as a mature student!). I soon found Jazz Fm and Richard Sterling, on a Sunday afternoon, blasting out the northern tracks that I had grown up to and loved. By now though, my love of canoeing and climbing, kept me away from Manchester at weekends and away from a radio on Sunday afternoons. I kept promising myself that I would go to one of the do's he kept plugging, but for various reasons I never got round to it, until...

Last Sunday (end of May bank holiday), no-one was up for climbing, or canoeing, my girlfriend was revising for her exams, so I was working on my van, listening to Richard Sterling, who was in the middle of a three hour special, playing the hits of the 'Casino' as build up to a big allniter at the Ritz, Manchester that night. I mentioned to my girlfriend that there was an allnighter on, and she replied 'let's go!'.

My girlfriend, 20yrs old, grew up in a different kind of way to myself. She had never heard of northern soul, until she met me. She had no idea that music scene's existed, or that people rode 'mopeds' all round the country. But, she soon came to love Northern Soul, though I have still got to work on her about the Lambrettas! She certainly had never been to an allnighter, nor had any idea what went on in one.

We hung around Manchester, watching Soulies wander around with their holdalls. We walked around and around keeping warm, waiting for the doors to open. Finally the doors opened. My first soul do in over six years! I walked through those doors straight back to the hot and sweaty do's that I grew up with as if no time had passed between then and now. Everything was just as it used to be, and every little bit as magical.

My girlfriend was amazed. The style of dancing, the way the crowd clapped after every record, the way everyone behaved as if they were your friends, the clothes, the music, the bouncy dancefloor, the spread of age from young and impressionable (we were all one once..) to the original faces. She was hooked. After four hours on the dance floor, she had to drag me out of the building, knowing that I would have been there until the end, as her exams loomed in a few days.

If you were there you might remember us, I was the surfer dancing by the stage, she was the long ginger haired female who gave up trying to emulate the dancing style and just did her own thing, living for the music every bit as much as everyone else there.

What a great night, one that I will remember for a long time to come. Both my girlfriend and I will be back for more in the future.

Why full circle? Well, it feels that my musical tastes have gone full circle back to that music that hooked me in my impressionable years, and it now looks like that circle is starting to roll for my girlfriend.

Keep on keeping on, I know I will.
Graham Beckram