Since it wasn't very often that we could get so many collectors with so many great records in one place, we decided to have some of them spend Saturday afternoon behind the decks, playing some of their selections for us. It turned out to be laid back afternoon with lots of great sounds being played and discussed. You're really going to enjoy the fun laid back atmosphere of these radio shows. It's just like in the picture...lots of laughs...lots of beers...45s galore!



Part 1: Dave & Russ

Part 2: Tommy & Mike


We had the pleasure of capturing every single DJ set throughout the entire weekend, so here they are for your listening pleasure! You'll hear a really nice cross-section of rare soul music, ranging from some hard hitting oldies to lesser-known sounds, cheapies, mega-rarities, sixties, 70s, crossover...it was all represented.

Just a few records got played more than once throughout the weekend, but no one complained. Would you object to hearing Flash McKinley's "I'll Rescue You" twice in one weekend? I doubt it. other than that, barely any songs were repeated.

We had a nice warmup at the DJ villa the night before, so by the time Friday, 9PM rolled around, all the deejays were prepared to take the turns at the decks.

Davefest 2006: Dave Greet, Dave Moore, Dave Ferguson, Dave Bywell

Here was the weekender DJ lineup:

Friday: 9-10PM-Dave Ferguson, 10-11PM-Rare Soul Millionaires (Sonny & Aret), 11PM-12 Midnight-Jeff Lemlich, 12 Midnight-130AM-Dave Greet, 130-4AM-Jazzy Jas

Saturday: 9-10PM-Jazzy Jas, 10PM-11PM-Tommy Potts, 11PM-12 Midnight-Dave Ferguson, 12 Midnight-1AM-Dave Greet, 1AM-2AM-Russ Vickers, 2AM-3AM-Dave Bywell, 3AM-4AM-Dave Moore, 4AM-5AM-Mike Umholtz, 5AM-6AM-Howard.

 


To kick off our weekender, Fergie decided to ease us in with some nice midtempo and crossover sounds from his first class collection.

After awhile, he launched into some killer 60s tracks that just happened to be on some rare UK pressings. The sounds were just as much of a delicacy as the rare labels that were spinning around.

Dave joined us again mid-way through Saturday night, he kept the dancefloor buzzing with many fantastic oldies like Kenny Carlton, Herb Ward and many more.

Part 1: Friday Night

 

Part 2: Saturday Night


Right after Dave, this American DJ duo took to the decks and treated us to track after track from the Windy City. They opened their set with Monique's "Never Let Me Go" on Maurci, so we knew we were going to be in good hands.

They drove all the way from Chicago to Florida to play for us and from listening to their set, you'll definitely feel that it was worth the trip!
Friday Night

Jeff, a native of Miami, has been a longtime collector, author and historian of Florida music, so we thought that it was high time he graced the sound system and share some of his great 45s.

There were some fantastic Florida sounds being played, like Reatha Reese on Dot, and a few more surprises like Jason Steel on the Detroit M-S label and the Del Rays on Paris Tower, which had many people having a look at the turntable during his set.
Friday Night

On both nights, the records that Greety played were simply phenomenal! He put the needle to quite a few rarities like Chuck Holiday, Emory & the Dynamics, and Flash McKinley-which we had the pleasure of hearing both nights.

And if that wasn't enough, he played some of the most brilliant crossover 45s this side of 1969, like the Aristocrats, Charisma Band, Bill Brandon and many others. If you were on the fence about crossover soul, he could have made you a fan right then and there.

Friday Night

 

Saturday Night

Dave warmed the crowd up considerably, so I hoped that I could keep them there for the remainder of the night. Luckily I was able to do just that, starting out with some more crossover sounding songs, picking up where Dave left off. After that, I broke out all my best oldies and played them all in a row: Yvonne Baker, Silky Hargraves, etc. The crowd was very energetic and we went on for another two hours. I played until they locked the doors!

I was right back at it on Saturday, opening things up a bit more low-key than the night before with some 45s from Dave Moore's collection along with some of my own.

Friday Night Part 1

Friday Night Part 2

Saturday Night

Like father, like son...Tommy Potts carried on the tradition of playing some fine sounds, as he just simply strolled up with a small box of records and treated us to a solid hour of great rarities and classics, like Fred and the Turbines on Cenco, Thee Midniters on Whittier and the Tomangoes "I Really Love You", which literally packed the dancefloor from the opening bars.

Saturday Night

Mr. Vickers had many nice little surprises up his sleeve this year, like William Cummings, the Ascots "Just a Few Feet From the Gutter", Emmit Long, and Charles Mintz "Running Back" which tore us all apart this year just as much as last year. When Russ played, we were truly uninhibited... that's all I'm going to say.

Russ definitely takes the award for having the only cover-up and having the most people coming up to the turntable at once to see the record he was playing (Barons of Soul).

Saturday Night

Longtime collector and absolute fanatic of northern soul, Dave Bywell took to the decks after Russ and played quite a few hard hitting tracks that you just don't hear everyday.

He played Moses Dillard "I'll Pay the Price, the Appreciations on Aware, Cashmeres on Hem, 4 Voices, and then delivered the knockout punch with Jackey Beavers on Revilot. You could almost hear a collective gasp across the room when that song came on.

Saturday Night


If you know Dave, and you see him step up to play some records, you know exactly what's coming next...pure quality. His collection is to die for and just about every song guarantees your presence on the dancefloor.

Larry Clinton, Yvonee Vernee, Robby Lawson, Del Larks, and it just went on and on... The rare anthems of northern soul all played back to back... Breathtaking!
Saturday Night

It was a smooth transition of quality sounds when Mike U stepped up. It was 4AM by the time he got on, but he really kept us going with the likes of Johnny Summers on Yorktown, Conquistadors, Pat and the Blenders and Eddie Foster, all played amongst lots of great lesser known sounds all well picked from Mike's already fantastic collection.

Mike is truly a natural behind the decks and truly seems at home when he takes the microphone. It's like he was born to be a rare soul deejay.
Saturday Night


For the die-hards still left, we got to hear some 45s from the collection of Howard Griffin. It's a shame he didn't spin for us last year, because he has great taste in music. Every single song Howard played wasn't taken off until the last second of music. You truly took in each and every track he played and anticipated the next one.

A few highlights were some of the great records that he flipped over, like "The Night" by Billy Preston and the Blendells on Dontee. Howard officially ended the weekender with "Tomorrow is Another Day" by Gene Stridel. Very classy.
Saturday Night