Vespa and Lambretta and Dancing The Wigan Casino Dance

Have you had a hobby that really exited you? What about it did you like? How did it make you feel?

I am into classic Vespas. The vintage ones. Lambrettas too.

Growing up in my hometown Lund in the south of Sweden in the 1980s we were a bunch of kids into the 1960s. We were mods and wore our parka jackets and Clark desert boots with pride.

To us, being a mod was a way of life. Modernists. It was about the music. About the clothes. About the hairdos. About the dancing. About the Vespas and the Lambrettas.

There was an endless universe of great music to listen and dance to. Pop. Bossa nova. Soul and r&b and tamla.

We adored everything British and saved our money for annual one week trips to London, to go shopping on Carnaby Street and to go to the clubs and and the concerts. We got our trousers tailor made by tailors still around since the sixties. It was about style into the finest detail.

We danced like the dancers at The Wigan Casino, the legendary nightclub in Wigan, England, that operated between 1973 and 1981. Known as the number one venue for Northern soul music.

To show you were a real cool cat you brought along a bottle of talcum powder as you went dancing, powdering the dance floor with talc to give your moves that extra slide.

Here are some links telling about Wigan Casino:

Northern Soul .. 1977 .. The Wigan Casino

In The Club – Wigan Casino Documentary complete

Northern Soul: Living For The Weekend Part 1 BBC4

Northern Soul: Living For The Weekend Part 2 BBC4

BBC 1 Inside Out Northern Soul Wigan Casino Final Allnighter Segment:

We held annual runs – weekends of dancing and scooter ride outs. Every second year we who lived in Skåne County, the south of Sweden, organized the event. Every other year the mods in Stockholm were the hosts.

These events – mod run or scooter runs – were frequented by mods and scooter-boys from all over Europe. Weekenders like these were organized in other countries too. Popular runs were held in Italy, Britain and Germany.

We were always on the lookout for the next fun get together. The date and location of the next Northern Soul All Nighter carefully jotted down in our calendars.

The scene is still deliciously alive. Yesterday was the annual Scooter Day, celebrated with a traditional ride out. What fun it was to be on a scooter again. Cruising through busy streets in the city, small roads in peaceful villages, showing up in a delightfully long lineup of vintage Vespas and Lambrettas. I find them stunning. Like many scooter enthusiasts, I’m in awe of a 2-stroke machine. It has this quirky unique personality. I delight in the characteristic sound the vintage two-stroke engine gives off. You recognize the sound of it in a heartbeat. Not to mention the scent. A whiff of 2-stroke engine oil evokes an intense hit of nostalgia. And the design. I can devour every detail in these iconic designs of Italy’s vibrant postwar era for hours. The lines. The curves. Such designer perfection.

The scooter meetup made me reach for my vinyls. The dance part is a world of feel good moves. Dancing those dances. Listening to those beats. MVP’s – Turning My Heartbeat Up is a favorite.

Is there a hobby you have left on the back burner that you would enjoy diving into anew? What makes you feel eager and proud?

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