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I've just been scanning all of the old photos I own to put them on CD. I came across some photos of the Sisters of Mercy signing records. Would I be right in saying that they did a record signing at Selectadisc? I was led to believe this by whoever gave me the pics but since I wasn't there I can't be sure. It would nice to label the CD correctly!!

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Can't help you there , but I'm sure somebody will if we keep bumping this topic!!

I hope so as I might have been told a fib. We all used to leg it over to Nottingham from Loughborough to get the good stuff from there - and to see what was in the rarities book.

I remember getting Misty Circles by Dead or Alive on 12" from Selectadisc as soon as it came out. My boyfriend at the time wouldn't own up to having a copy as he was, how shall we say, influenced by Pete Burns, lookswise. I hope he gave up that judging by Pete's face these days!

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Have to feel sorry for pete burns really- nobody deserves ending with a face like that! As you are from Loughborough... can you remember a club that had a 'alternative night' which I used to go to on a monday night in around 1985? I'm sure that the name was 'sams'?

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It was called Sammys and was in the market place in Loughborough as part of the cinema, it's all cinema now. I used to go every Monday night so we probably know each other - by sight if nothing else!!!

As we were regulars, we could use a bit of arm-wrenching and get the DJ to play what we wanted. There were 'issues' at first when the Monday night thing started as there were several bans in place - no studs, no shaved sides of heads etc but we soon dealt with that!!! King Kurt songs were banned and stayed banned!!! Thank heavens for Rock City!!!!

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Might have meant that they were having an Immac promotion night!!

Think they meant mohicans - in their ignorance the management probably thought that we'd take someone's eye out as the hairdo's were rigid with hairspray. I do remember accidentally hitting someone in the face with my dreadlocks as I quickly turned round on the dance floor. I'd put shells and beads and stuff in them so I suppose they saw our hair as a dangerous weapon.

http://nottstalgia.com/forums/style_emotic...lt/laughing.gif

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 I used to have to go into Boots to buy my boyfriends eyeshadow, another always used my nail varnish. It was a case of his and hers make-up bags. I now know for a fact that the main man of the time took his crimpers with him to gigs in his bag and plugged them into the nearest plug socket in the building. Someone out there in Nottingham is bound to have borrowed them!

As for shoulder pads, we never wore enough clothes to accommodate shoulder pads!! Got the pictures (the scanned ones) to prove it!

http://nottstalgia.com/forums/style_emotic...ult/jumping.gif

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To add a "smilie" or whichever you want just click on the smilie at the top of the 'fast reply' box and a seperate window opens to the side....scroll down and pick the one you want ..click on it and itll show up at the end of your typing...( aint too many with make up or crimped hair tho )

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Now, are we talking about the boys or the girls here? I used to have to go into Boots to buy my boyfriends eyeshadow, another always used my nail varnish. It was a case of his and hers make-up bags. I now know for a fact that the main man of the time took his crimpers with him to gigs in his bag and plugged them into the nearest plug socket in the building. Someone out there in Nottingham is bound to have borrowed them!

As for shoulder pads, we never wore enough clothes to accommodate shoulder pads!! Got the pictures (the scanned ones) to prove it!

http://nottstalgia.com/forums/style_emotic...ult/jumping.gif

Rock city ladies toilets... or should I say mens too!!! Hairspray borrowing was the worst!!

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Sammys wan't a very big place if memory is correct and there were a lot of wall mirrors I think..... yes rock city was good in its time... also liked 'the garage' in the late 80s...mind you nearly broke your neck on the different stairways!!! Have tons of photos of this time!

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Sammys was small - and a flight of stairs to fall up too, lots of mirrors for the blokes to pose in front of - us women knew we were gorgeous, didn't need the mirrors!

Never went to the Garage, nearly but not quite. Whenever I see these old photos of all of us cool dudes, I always notice how brilliant we were at drawing our eyebrows in - very artistic. You should start a mugshot board and see if we're all on there. How embarrassing would that be?

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Sammys was small - and a flight of stairs to fall up too, lots of mirrors for the blokes to pose in front of - us women knew we were gorgeous, didn't need the mirrors!

Never went to the Garage, nearly but not quite. Whenever I see these old photos of all of us cool dudes, I always notice how brilliant we were at drawing our eyebrows in - very artistic. You should start a mugshot board and see if we're all on there. How embarrassing would that be?

My 11 year old daughter laughs at photos of my old eyebrows - jet black and I am naturally very blonde, although throughout that time I was various colours

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I thought that this might bring back a few memories:-

selectadisc.jpg

I knew it was lurking up in the loft somewhere and I found it yesterday, crap picture I know, I just stuck it on my drawing board and took the photo.

It's album sized, typical 70's, could it be unique.

They used to produce, similar, single sized bags as well, anyone got one of those.

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I've just been scanning all of the old photos I own to put them on CD. I came across some photos of the Sisters of Mercy signing records. Would I be right in saying that they did a record signing at Selectadisc? I was led to believe this by whoever gave me the pics but since I wasn't there I can't be sure. It would nice to label the CD correctly!!

Why not post this picture Suzuki maybe we could tell if it was Selectadisc ?

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I only remember the yellow plastic bags - not THAT old! Although motif looks the same I think!

I only remember the yelow bags too. Funny thing is, everyone's trying to make us shop with re-useable bags, or if in Dublin, good stong paper ones like in the photo. Bit like flares - they've come back. And now I'm old enough to have been fashionable twice in my lifetime!

Does anyone remember the hassle of trying to carry an LP or 12" single? The wind always caught the bag and it would sort of flip around. Any record shopping had to be done on the way home as the grief that could come to the record was immense - and the bag handle was always too small to get on your wrist if you needed your hand free. The good old days.

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i think brian selby still owns selectadisc and i know jim is still there,when it used to be near the theatre royal i can remember the "be stiff tour" all came in to do a signing but apart from that everything else is a blur but i did get some cracking records from there,same as when virgin records opened up they caused havoc by putting up the never mind the bo***cks poster in the window yeah good times

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From http://nottstalgia.com/forums/index.php?sh...=2541&st=80

UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT

Brian Selby who opened Selectadisc in 1966 and has owned it ever since, has recently decided to retire and are now under new ownership. Ex-employee, Phil Barton, who took over the London shop (now trading as Sister Ray) a few years ago, is now running Selectadisc with existing manager Jim Cooke. The shop on Market Street will be converted into one unit, with two trading floors stocking the same wide range of genres on CD and vinyl, hopefully by the end of March.

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  • 5 weeks later...

Selectadisc owner explains why it must close

A LEGENDARY Nottingham music store will shut its doors at the end of March.

Selectadisc, which in its 40-year history has championed new music and hosted a slew of music greats, will close in a month. The Market Street shop is now holding a clearance sale.

"We've been trying to avoid this for two years," said owner Phil Barton, who bought the shop two years ago when closure loomed. "The shop has been basically uneconomic for the last two years. We've been trying to keep it going more as a social service than as a normally functioning business.

There comes a point where you just say 'I cannot do this any more.'

"Unfortunately people are consuming their music in different ways and they are not using independent music shops in the same way. Ninety-five percent of the traded music in the world is trading for free on-line.

"When you have the downloads, the fixed costs remaining the same, the downturn in the music industry, the downturn in the worldwide economy all conspiring together - a business that is on a knife edge suddenly becomes a business that is never going to make any money."

It's a trend happening around Britain, he noted. Ten years ago, the country had more than 1,000 independent music stores. Last year, there were 410. Now there are 305. So cold economic realities come down on a shop that has been the beating heart of new music in Nottingham.

"Selectadisc in this town has been a focal point for new music for 40 years," he said. "Every new genre of music that has come out has been championed by this shop."

The roll-call of musicians who have turned up for intimate gigs is an impressive one. Over the years The Clash, Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and the Ramones all played Selectadisc. More recently the Magic Numbers and the Kooks have turned up.

But that doesn't help sales. Mr Barton has heard from people who thought of the shop as a "well-loved friend", but the question he sometimes asks then is: "Well when was the last time you actually came in and bought something?"

The list of musicians who have played Selectadisc might also indicate place that values "interesting" over "popular".

"A shop like Selectadisc doesn't go out of its way to compete with supermarkets," Mr Barton said. "We don't stock pop music - things you'd find advertised on television, for example. Our customers know that."

If anyone wants to keep the place alive, Mr Barton says he'd take their call. But he's not optimistic.

"If there's anyone in Nottingham who wants to keep the name of Selectaadisc alive and has good ideas about how to ... I'd be happy to talk to them," he said. "It would take someone with a will of iron and a lot of money to attempt it. It won't be the same Selectadisc if it comes back."

In the meantime, he wants to give the much-loved business the final weeks it deserves.

"We're going to be running it until the end of March and hopefully giving it a dignified sendoff.

"I want to close it with dignity, and I want people to remember Selectadisc as a fantastic place, not something that went out with a whimper."

Some nice commemts http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/homenews...il/article.html

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I too am sad to see it go. Been around for so long, lotta history there.

Have to say tho' I'm guilty of gettin music off the net these days, so easy to do

I wish the guys well & thanks for bein a part of Nottinghams music history.

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