AD FOR THE WARDROBE - 1986

An ad from 1986 for Whitehall Crescent fashion shop, The Wardrobe.

For the record - there was no truth in the story that they specialised in Winter clothing to cater for those who stepped into The Wardrobe on their way to Narnia!

THE CLASH - CAIRD HALL - 1980

The 18th January 1980 saw The Clash rumbling into town for a gig at the Caird Hall.

This was their "16 Tons Tour", the band arriving on stage to the sound of Tennessee Ernie Ford's version of the song "16 Tons".

Quite a lively night needless to say, the band wearing black, red & white combination gear and telling the crowd at the front to stop gobbing!

There were at least 2 dozen songs in their set on the night, recordings of which exist and I have in my collection.

I was tempted to accompany this item with a Caird Hall sound sample but I thought you'd like what's below even better.

It's footage of the band in Dundee the day after the gig, about to depart for their next show elsewhere.

It has Joe Strummer doing his bit for the camera, filmed at the Tay Hotel and around the corner area of Whitehall Crescent.

The cops are making their presence known too....just in case!

WHITEHALL THEATRE AD - 1970

Let's find out what was going on at the Whitehall Theatre in April 1970...
First up was "The Lex McLean Show". Lex, you may recall, was a Scottish comedian/actor, full of Glasgow patter, who cropped up on the telly quite a lot around this period. Looks like he had a sizeable team with him for the Dundee performance.
Next was a musical called "Viennese Nights" featuring Marion Studholme.
A crime drama followed it, one entitled "Meet Mr Callaghan". This starred Neil McCallum who was in the TV series "Vendetta". Was he the brother of U.N.C.L.E. agent, David?
Final week had a local production running, "The Student Prince", an operetta presented by the NCR.
This ad appeared in the Courier on Saturday, 11th April 1970.

JACK DANIEL'S AD - 1984

Many of you will recognise Jack Daniel's logo in this ad from 1984, as it used to be imprinted on the window of the pub and dotted around the interior.
A pub I used to visit, but mostly as a daytime drinking den rather than when in full flow at night.
You can catch a glimpse of the outside of the pub in a photo of Whitehall Crescent I have in the November 2008 archives.

LILIAN'S BOUTIQUES - 1973

There were 2 of Lilian's boutiques in town in 1973 - the one in Panmure Street specializing in French perfume, and the other in Whitehall Crescent that stocked Mary Quant designs.

To give you a reminder of the kind of fashion that was on the go in 1973, below is a news item featuring the latest creations on show in Paris that year.

I'm not particularly impressed with what's on offer in the Paris collection mind you. Most of it looks a bit on the corny side to me.

Even the hot-pants don't look anything like the proper ones the girls on Top Of The Pops used to wear.

The Oxford Bags being about the only item on the footage I think that look ok.

RICKY ROSS IN DUNDEE

Ricky Ross's music career took off when he moved to Glasgow and formed Deacon Blue. There is plenty of information about Deacon Blue's history on the net already, but not quite so much about Ricky's early Dundee days, so I thought I'd drop a few bits & pieces of the lesser known stuff about him.
RR actually lived near Dawson Park I recall (my old roll delivery patch) and was a Dundee High School kid. He then went to Dundee College of Education to become an English teacher.
Ricky was also involved in the local music scene around this time too (late 70's) - one aspect of which was playing in a band called Cahoots. Another connection with the Dundee music scene was his friendship with the Scrotum Poles, going to all their early gigs and helping them out behind the scenes, which included travelling to London with the the band, sharing driving duties on the way down, when it was time for the Scrotum Poles to cut their "Revelations" EP.
RR also ran a youth club in town called The Other Door Cafe, in a city centre church. A place where local bands could play and teenagers could grab a few soft drinks.
He even dabbled in a bit of acting on stage, along with Scrote, Craig Methven. There is photographic evidence for that one!!
Anyway, these wee snippets of his youth spent in Dundee, all eventually lead up to him going west in the early/mid 80's - and the rest is well documented.
I had a sift through some old music papers I have and found the above item in an NME from June 1987, an early tour schedule which shows a Deacon Blue gig at Dundee's Dance Factory (Fat Sams) on 5th July that year.
2 years later, the band put on a show at the Whitehall Theatre, and as if by magic, I have a track from this gig, below, the concert having taken place on 1st March 1989.
Apart from a bit of sax near the end, it's pretty much a Ricky Ross solo spot. A track called "Thunder Road".

DON CHERRY - WHITEHALL THEATRE - 1987

From Street Life magazine, here's a review of Don Cherry's NU gig at the Whitehall Theatre on 22nd October 1987, organised by Dundee jazz promoters, Platform.

Although Cherry's mainstay was jazz, having worked with big hitters like Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler and many others, his lifelong global travels with his wee pocket trumpet saw him become one of the innovators of World Music, fusing various cultures along the way, and so this show had a bit of both.

His band in Dundee were - Mark Helias, bass - Ed Blackwell, drums - Carlos Ward, sax and the peerless percussionist Nana Vasconcelos.

My brother was at this gig and managed to get a signed copy of a cassette called "Garden Of Music" - that's Don Cherry's autograph in gold ink!

As well as being a highly regarded trumpeter, Don was also genuinely "cool", and remained young and hip to new musical trends right up to his death in the mid 90's.

Click the review to read the large version.

MANIFESTO & WARDROBE ADS - 1988

The top ad for Manifesto, 42 Whitehall Crescent, has a rather curious sales pitch.

Although referring to those who are diminutively proportioned is obviously light-hearted, it did get me wondering if their clothing by Retour, Replay, Verte Valle, Chipie and Chevignon, were actually available in small sizes?!!

You may need to click on the image to read the large version.

Next door at #40, was another boutique called Wardrobe, who also sold accessories.

Both ads are from 1988.

CUT IT OUT!

During the mid 80's period, when I was on the dole, I used to make Kurt Schwitters style collages. Not being able to afford art materials, I used things like cornflakes boxes, sweet wrappers, carrier bags and so on, the kind of consumer packaging you would normally chuck in the bin. I would cut them up and assemble them into wee pieces of abstract art. This wasn't a career move by the way, it was just for my own creative amusement.
I was living in a city centre flat and used to pay my electricity bills at the Hydro Electric Board showroom in Whitehall Street.
On one occasion when funds were low, I was struggling to pay my bill. Having ignored the reminders and final demand, I received a letter from them that had a large red warning stamped on it that read - SUPPLY DUE FOR DISCONNECTION. CONTACT OFFICE IMMEDIATELY.
The above item is my collage piece depicting this moment, dated 1985.
The top blue square represents my electric fire, with the orange strip showing that only one bar was working at the time!
Below it, is the actual warning that I cut out of the letter.

I ended up arranging to pay the bill in installments.

It's quite funny looking back at those days, with my mind not having any thoughts of domestic comfort. And even when totally skint, was still able to view the situation with a touch of humour!

SONY TA-2650 - R.I.P.

Earlier this year, my hi-fi amplifier blew up! Yes, sadly, it has finally died. I say finally because I have actually been using this same stereo since the mid 70's.

I bought it from Larg's in Whitehall Street. The first major purchase off my own wages. It took me 2 years to pay it up mind you!

The sound quality was brilliant, so I didn't feel the need to get a new one over the following 34 years, although I did add to it over time with a cd player, cassette deck, mini disc player, tuner, the usual gubbins.

It does mean though, I won't be able to convert my old records into mp3 format now, until I get another one.

Anyway, you probably won't be surprised to find out that I kept my original Owners Instruction Manuals that came with it, dated 1976. So if there are any old audio boffins out there, here's a couple of pages from the manuals that may interest you.

The top one shows the front of the Sony TA-2650 amp, and the middle one is the back panel.

It came with 2 large wooden cabinet speakers (Sony 5300) which were made in Norway.

The turntable deck, Sony PS-1700, still works fine. The rubber slip mat has suction cups to help the vinyl grip better.

If I was told when I bought it that it would last 3 & a half decades, I wouldn't have believed them!!

Click images to enlarge.

WHITEHALL STREET - 1978

I have 2 items linked to Whitehall St coming next, but before I do these, I thought I'd put up a wee reminder of how the street itself looked back in the day!
Here is the lowdown on the shops in the photo, taken in May 1978.
DRAFFENS dept store takes up the full length of the street down the right. The wee shade structure above the door on the far right has "Restaurant" on it. You could use this stairway to take you straight there without having to trek through the shopping departments.
On the left, starting at the Crescent corner, is - STORK CORNER, babywear - HYDRO ELECTRIC BOARD - LARG'S, musicsellers, with the clock above the entrance - the 2 stripy canopies next to each other are NICOLL & SMIBERT, bakers/restaurant and FISHER & DONALDSON, bakers - then MATHIESON SHOE GROUP - and the one chopped off at the far left corner is THE DESIGN SHOP, household goods.
There were also quite a few dentists in the premises above the shops.
Back then, Fisher & Donaldson sold brilliant strawberry tarts, but only during the summer season. A pricey luxury item available around June to August, then when they disappeared, you'd have another year to wait before you could indulge again!
A wee bonus in the picture is the reminder of the Wullie Low carrier bag. A design that resembled the "Keep Britain Tidy" logo, but in red & white.
Click image to have a nosey around.
Photo by DC Thomson.

THE JUSTICE XMAS AD - 1965

The last of the ads from '65 is this one for Justice, the housefurnishers store who used to be on the corner of Whitehall Street and Whitehall Crescent.
I have no memory of visiting this place, but I do like their ad with the piece of festive string tied around the finger reminding you that it's present time!
Click image to enlarge.

THE TOY SHOP - WHITEHALL CRESCENT

I'm not sure how long The Toy Shop was at this spot in Whitehall Crescent, but I do have a photo of it there in the 1940's and the above picture was taken in 1982, so it had been on the go for around 4 decades at least.
The decade that was of interest to me though as a primary school kid, was the 60's, the age of Scalectrix, Lego, Action Man and a whole heap of other classics. Having said that, because we usually got our major toys at Christmas, my only visit to The Toy Shop, apart from window shopping, would be to get small items like a Corgi car or suchlike. I do remember getting a Gyroscope from there. Once you got one of them spinning, you could get it to balance on anything. It was like having magic powers!!
Photo by DC Thomson.

WILKIE'S MUSIC HOUSE - WHITEHALL CRESCENT - 1978

Wilkie's Music House was a wee shop in Whitehall Crescent that sold musical instruments.
Not sure how long it was there for mind you because just a few steps away around the corner was an established rival, Largs, so it would have to do battle with them.
This is how the shop looked in July 1978 anyway.
The shop next door to it on the corner is Cantrell's, the fish monger and the large store with the sale signs on the windows, is Draffens.

1963 AD #1 - DRAFFENS

3 adverts from 1963 coming up, of particular interest to the ladies!
First is this one for Draffens, located on the corner of Nethergate & Whitehall Street.
Here they are letting you know about their Lancome Beauty Consultant who will give beauty tips when visiting the Perfumery Dept and keep you informed of the latest trends in Parisian make-up.
Ooh la la!

THE GALLEON BAR - INTERIOR

This was the view you got from the balcony inside the Galleon. Most folk made a grab for the seats nearest to the balcony railing because you could keep an eye on what was going on down below. It was like getting a window seat on the bus..!!

THE GALLEON BAR - EXTERIOR

A little reminder of the curvy exterior of The Galleon in Whitehall Crescent. A pub I used to drop in on now and again rather than regularly. In fact, looking back, I think I only went there when there were bands playing, that would have been in the late 70's early 80's.
The main reason why it wasn't a "regular" so to speak, was probably down to the basic fact that it was quite difficult to get around ALL the pubs, all the time...although there were quite a few of us who gave it a good go..!!

LARG'S - WHITEHALL STREET - 1977

I used to really like going to Larg's in Whitehall Street. I always made a beeline for the basement to gape at all the guitars hanging up on the wall, the drum kits on the floor and the amps in their wee room. Always ended up buying more plectrums than I could use when schoolboy age.

Another room in the basement area sold racks of sheet music.

Upstairs there was a roomful of electric organs and another area that sold electrical goods & records.

Underneath the photos is a reminder of the record dept.'s carrier bag with a keyboard design on it.

Below that is an advert for the shops range of amplifiers.

The reason they were highlighting the fact that The Beatles used Vox was because the ad was published in the local press on the night the Fab 4 were playing at the Caird Hall in October 1963.

In 1976, I made quite a major purchase now that I was a wage-earner. I bought a very expensive hi-fi. Huge wooden speakers made in Norway with a very powerful amp and top quality turntable. The amazing thing is, it's the same one I still use today. I have of course added lots of modern extras to the stack since but over 3 decades later, the Larg's hi-fi still gets played on a daily basis!

WHITEHALL CRESCENT - 1980'S

There were 2 places worth a visit in the mid 80's in this section of Whitehall Crescent. The pub, Jack Daniels, on the left and Manifesto on the right, the fashion boutique which is still on the go.