What I meant to say, before being distracted by the Secular, was that I just got back from a ten-day trip (which means this a bit of gratuitous what I did on my hols that you might want to skip, except that you must know about the Nick Rossi Set - oh yes...) which took in the craziness of the Las Vegas Grind (not really modslist fare is it? Quite bonkers but really, really great anyway, with lots of crazy young and not-so-young'un loon types partying the nights away till lateish - bit of a low modcount but a high standard of dress and dancing among the mods that were there - and Mike Stax as Screamin' Lord Sutch and Anja as a vamp from Barbarella had to be seen - some good sets of beat/soul/hammond (tho' not enuff for my liking), even if I did miss Tony's set, and even if I did have to leap over empty beer bottles and the occasional feuding rockabilly couple to dance sometimes. Then it was on to lovely San Diego and the wonder that is SF. Huge thanks firstly to lurking modslister Robert Knepher, who put up with me as I took him on a ten-mile hike around Tijuana and only let him have two margaritas at the end of it, who generously drove me to some of those cool vintage and record shops in San Diego and put me up for the night, AND gave me my first scooter ride the next morning (around the hilly suburbs of El Cajon, looking out over the mountains - wow). Huge, humungous thanks then to Nick Rossi and his fantastically cool girlfriend Gabriella, who were mine very fine hosts in SF, showing me around town on my near week-long stay there from Tuesday of last week, putting up with my garbled attempts at speech (it was LVG wot dunnit guv'nor, honest) and my nefarious determination to stay out late every night (yeh, like I had to twist their arms half the time...;)). And man, do the Set work hard - they had three shows that week, the first in the Hi-Ball Lounge, a swanky, low-light club on North Beach where unfortunately I only saw the first two songs because I had to nip off with friend elsewhere, before ending up at a nice soul night at the In'n'Out club (phew - packed night!). Nick claimed that I'd arrived on an unusually good week for stuff to do in SF, but even if I'd only done half the stuff I did (er, if that makes sense at all) I still would've thought that SF was a really great mod-6ts place to live in - smart bars, great record shops, good vintage finds to be had, as well as lots of scooters to be heard and seen buzzing around town. Gabriella picked me up on her's on Wednesday night and we headed (well, she did, so to speak - I just sat behind her trying not to fall off or look like a complete idiot) over to Haight Street to see the Dukes of Hamburg fresh from LVG - crazy Merseybeat mania! I think they have a record out - buy it! - then on to a snazzy little bar where things got very blurry. Thursday night saw the Popscene/Cafe Bleu "clash" at In'n'Out. No, it was a larf, really. Watching the mod-dressed yuppies dancing to Duran Duran: The Reflex (what's that about?) was entertainment enough. OK, so I got to dance to the Creation and some other tunes too, and don't you dare mention the shoes, Nick...) Friday meant time for luvly bubbly at the In'n'Out anniversary do, with a killer smooth set from The Set, and the pleasure of finally meeting Dan Geddes (bit of an unofficial gathering of Cult of Cliveists, I s'pose - ya shoulda been there Mr Luther ;)) before heading down to the basement of the Coco club (all clubs should be in basements, shouldn't they?) to enjoy the grand soul/r'n'b/hammond combo of tunes played by Nick and Carlos at Flamingo West. Lots of cats and kittens turned out in their finest togs (tho' what the guy in the parka and winklepickers with union jacks painted on them was on, I don't know) and danced (eventually) till past 2am. Only wish the punters hadn't been so shy about starting dancing earlier - maybe their tootsies were too chilly with that fan on ;) Come Saturday and I was beginning to feel in need of a bathchair to be honest, but the best was yet to come - an early evening casual soul shindig on Haight Street followed by an evening of the Set at the ever-so-swanky Cafe du Nord, which is the kind of place, with its red-walls, plush pool tables and smart tables, that I'd imagine well-heeled swingers used to hang out in. And still do. The Set played THREE sets that night (authentic or what - I swear steam was coming off that hammond by the end), the highlight of which for me was a ska adaptation of Comin' Home, but really, all a pleasure. We even nudged the swing-dancing couples out the way to dance some. Greetings also to Scoot model-girl Ayesha (that's not what it sounds like, honest) and all the other SF-ers - and LA-ers - I met in that fine town who made my stay really memorable (as well as those Britishers at LVG who also worked their magic). You is all cool, and no mistake. Burbling aside, I picked up some nice finds stateside and I have some stupid questions. Did Chairman of the Board release Pay to the Piper before or after Sly and the Family Stone's Dance to the Music? How many versions of The In-Crowd are there and how famous is the one by Ramsey Lewis? (See, told you they were stupid questions?) Anyone know where I can get a full Mitch Ryder discography? And why does no-one play more Nancy Wilson? She's ace! OK, that's it, you'll no doubt be mightily chuffed to hear, Katrina np: Nancy Wilson: You've Got Your Troubles Archie Bell & The Drells: There's Gonna Be A Showdown The Pentangle: Bells ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
