“Wherever you go, you can carry Jonny with you.”
So says the website for PTBO Northern Originals, which has just created a new patch and pin to “continue the legacy” of the late Jonathan Hall, known by his DJ nickname Jonny Trash.
All proceeds from the sales of the patch and pin will go to support The Twisted Wheel, the downtown Peterborough bar and music venue that Hall co-owned with Mike Judson and his wife Jennifer.
PTBO Northern Originals owner Mike Watt, who was a close friend of Hall’s, says he originally created the pin and patch design for the 2018 opening in Peterborough of The Twisted Wheel, which was named after the Manchester, England nightclub that operated from 1963 to 1971. Watt says that Hall’s own father used to frequent the U.K. nightclub.
Commonly called The Wheel, that club was one of the first in the U.K. to play “northern soul”, a music and dance movement that emerged in northern England in the late 1960s from the British mod scene. It was based on a particular style of black American soul music with a heavy beat and fast tempo.
Watt’s design reflects the poppy logo associated with the original Twisted Wheel and the northern soul movement. The clenched raised fist on the patch is also associated with the northern soul movement (often accompanied with the slogan “Keep The Faith”) and originates with the 1960s Black Power movement in the U.S.
The blue and white of the patch is “a nod to mod”, Watt says — the subculture that spread through England in the 1960s and from which northern soul eventually emerged. The mod subculture was centred on fashion and music, with mods wearing suits and other clean-cut outfits and listening to genres such as soul, rhythm and blues, ska, beat music, and British blues-rooted bands — a vibe that Hall modernized at The Twisted Wheel.
“Jon has done too many things for too many people to be forgotten,” Watt says, when asked why he created the patch and pin. “We want people to remember him and with the pin they can carry him with them and remember.”
You can buy a patch or a pin for $10 each from the PTBO Northern Originals at ptbonorthernoriginals.com/collections/the-twisted-wheel.
After Hall died suddenly of a heart attack on March 22, 2019, only a few days after celebrating his 44th birthday, Watt notes there was an outpouring of grief from Hall’s fans from around the world.
PTBO Northern Originals is selling the pins and patches online so everyone can purchase them, but they are also available locally at Watt’s other businesses, Providence and Flavour Fashion in downtown Peterborough.
Watt points out he is donating the proceeds from the sale of the patch and pin to The Twisted Wheel to honour Hall’s legacy, not because the venue is in any financial trouble.
While Hall’s passing has had a huge impact on The Twisted Wheel as well as the community, the venue continues to thrive and is actively booking live music acts and more.
“We want people to know that The Twisted Wheel is open for business and carrying on,” Watt says.
