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1967: The summer of love


Sheffield History

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Peter Stringfellow, 67, nightclub proprietor

I have so many wonderful memories of those months. At the beginning of that summer I ran the King Mojo club in Sheffield, which was renowned for soul music and pop art. We drew MASSIVE artists including Ike and Tina Turner, Wilson Pickett and The Who, and it was the time when Jimi Hendrix was just emerging and The Beatles brought out Sgt. Pepper.

Watching the news at home in Sheffield one afternoon, I saw footage of San Francisco, where there were kids jumping around - some naked, some wearing kaftans - with flowers in their hair. I just thought it was fantastic and brilliant and immediately decided to transform King Mojo from a soul and pop art venue to a hub of the Flower Power movement. I gathered students from the university and we went to town redecorating, making it all psychedelic and magical.

As the resident DJ, I went out and bought a kaftan, got a perm and stuffed roses in my hair - a somewhat confused choice of flower! It was the most popular club in the city. I renamed it the Beautiful King Mojo to fit our new-found theme, and its change in direction quickly affected the tastes of the city's population.

It was a beautiful thing and we'd throw flowers at the audience and the whole scene was perfect, but for one significant detail. The Flower Power movement in the US was fuelled by marijuana and LSD, whereas, try as we might, we had no idea about drugs in Sheffield and couldn't get hold of the stuff for love nor money! We were powered by the sunshine and flowers and the loveliness of it all, missing a key ingredient. I've never tried drugs in my life, but if I could have got hold of something at that time, I would have taken it with glee!

Unfortunately, not everyone got the hippy concept and once I'd converted my best friend and he'd bought the kaftan and the flowers, his girlfriend thought he'd turned ***, cried a lot and left him. Nottingham was equally unmoved by the scene and when I turned up to DJ at a club where I was still known as the King of Soul, and I started playing my sitar records while sitting on the floor, it didn't go down too well. I was anticipating waves of love and harmony and when I threw petals from the stage, the crowd chucked Coke cans in return.

Another memorable moment, though slightly less wonderful, was when the Rolling Stones came to play on the TV show Ready Steady Go, on which I was the warm-up act. They'd embraced the movement and performed cross-legged on the floor, Brian Jones with sitar in tow. There I was, in my white polo-neck, and my big deal was to jump around in front of the camera. When they finished, Jones put the sitar down as I jumped on stage to stop the crowd barging the band - and I put my foot straight through his sitar. His face was thunderous and when I tried to apologise, he wouldn't even look at me.

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Guest jsoulsmith

I remember that brief 'flower power' period at the Mojo.

Pete had stopped the allnighters in a vain attempt to get the club licensed to stay open. But when it became apparent that whatever he did, the Council planned to ensure the club was closed, he staged Sunday alldayers. Then in the final weeks (up to 10th October 67), he reinstated the alniters.

I recall that for the alldayers, a large bunch from Hull hired a coach & traveled over to attend. The coach would pick up in central Hull, not toofar from a dock that had been filled in & converted to council gardens (Queens Gardens). By the time the coach left Hull, there were far fewer flowers on display in Queens Gardens than there had been two hors earlier & lots of Hull people would arrive at the Mojo with 'flowers in their hair'.

The big 45 track I remember from this period was by Dion (without the Belmonts) -- "My Girl, the Month of May".

......... I even bought a copy of the track many years later (for nostalgia purposes), it hasn't stood up to the 'test of time' too well.

BTW, I wrote a soul fanzine article on the Mojo around 1984 and sent a copy to Pete for his records. It resulted in me being photographed with Pete at the 'Remembering the Mojo' night staged at the Leadmill in 85 (this was a couple of months ahead of the big Mojo revival night staged by Pete at the Hippodrome in London, which I also went to & ended up on stage with Pete, Chris Farlowe et al).

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A fine read start to finish. Thank you.

Peter Stringfellow, 67, nightclub proprietor

I have so many wonderful memories of those months.

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I couldn't let this thread go by without posting because 1967 was an extraordinary year, for me as a teenager, for Britain and for the western world. It was fascinating to read Pete Stringfellow's story as it typifies the spirit of those times. It was late in 1967 when we moved from Hackenthorpe to Firvale and I guess that would have been the first time that I passed the Mojo Club - a month or two after it closed it's doors for the last time.

So what did I find so fascinating about 1967? A bloke sailed a yacht singlehandedly around the world - an unbelievable feat on a par with the ascent of Everest. Now 17 year old girls do it in pink boats, frantically texting their friends en route. The QE2, last of the great Cunard transatlantic liners was launched at Clydebank.

BBC2 made the first colour TV broadcasts. I remember mum saying "Wouldn't you like to watch your snooker in colour?" But dad wasn't having any of it, we'd 'only just' bought our first black and white set. (about eight years before). Prisoner was first broadcast on ITV. British Steel was nationalised. I worked for them but I never noticed. How come no one told me?

Donald Campbell, Che Guevara and my hero Basil Rathbone all died and a British rider had a heart attack and died on Mount Ventoux in the Tour de France. The Torrey Canyon spewed out it's cargo off Lands End and the Six Day War began - and ended presumably six days later.

And the Beatles released Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band LP. And really, that is what it was all about - the music. I reckon 1967 was the pinnacle of the swinging sixties in fact, I defy anyone to pick a more significant year ever in the history of British/American music. This is what you're up against, this is just my selection of songs released in 1967, there were many, many more:

Whiter Shade of Pale

All Along the Watchtower

All You Need is Love

Carrie Anne

Daydream Believer

Flowers in the Rain

Friday on my Mind

Groovin'

I was made to love her

Itchicoo Park

Massachusetts

Nights in White Satin

Penny Lane

Purple Haze

San Francisco

Ruby Tuesday

and the greatest of them all

Waterloo Sunset

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