Jimmy
Savile (UK / Radio Luxembourg DJ and a
cycling fan as were many early Manchester mods), used to own a club in Fountain Street, Manchester called the
Three Coins. It was not successful and became derelict. About a year later the
end of 1966/7? Roger
Eagle the DJ at the Twisted Wheel
and Blue Note, opened it up as a Soul Club called STAXX.
It didn't last long as it mainly catered for the all nighter crowd from the
Twisted Wheel who were in the process of 'chilling out' from the events on the
night before.
Roger's entrepreneurial spirit continued with The Magic Village once the writing
was on the wall and the lunatics were on the grass. His
love of Soul continued, however and in the late seventies he opened Eric's club (punk) in Mathew
Street, Liverpool and in the mid 1980's he was involved with Simply Red. Roger
died in 1999 but can be seen on DVD disc one of The Strange World Of Northern
Soul.
Roger was a champion for Stax Records. He loved the Stax sound and
when he was the Blue Note DJ he really let Stax rip, almost as if he had been
held back at the Twisted Wheel which had become Motown dominated. The list of
Stax tracks were just too large to list here: he played all of the greats. I especially
remember him importing Grab This Thing by the Mat-Keys. It became his theme
tune at the Blue Note and he carried this over to the STAXX Club.
At Staxx he obviously played all his imported Stax repertoire
singles and a few LP's. He also kept up the SKA and Blue Beat.
However the club was dark, echoing, usually empty and
quickly closed.