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Richard Searling's Run Out Groove

Welcome to my latest round-up from the North, as usual there's lots to tell you about, including great news for fans of US Soul supergroup, Atlantic Starr, news of the once every 20 years Preston Guild Soul All-Dayer, the long overdue visit to these shores of Northern Soul legend, Judy Street, an update on our Wigan Casino 39th anniversary this year graced with the presence of Yvonne Vernee and The Elgins, and some exciting news for early next year for North Wales and the North-East...

THE PRESTATYN SOUL WEEKENDERS ARE BACK!

Following on from many requests for it's return, new owners Britannia have announced that the Prestatyn Soul weekender will return over the weekend of Friday March 8th to Sunday March 10th 2013.

The site at Prestatyn Sands has now undergone a considerable refurb, with over 100 more top quality "Club" apartments now available, giving the venue a capacity of almost 4,000.

Booked to headline the event are The Vibrations and Ronnie McNeir (in the Northern room), and Vince Broomfield will appear in the Modern Room. The live shows will be enhanced with one of the UK's best loved backing bands, Snake Davis and The Suspicions.

In addition to the on-site 24 hours a day radio station, there will be five arenas where the full range of soul will be played buy a DJ line up including the names that made Prestatyn so successful for 10 years between 2001-2011, and some new faces.

To date 50 DJs have been booked, including...

In the Northern Room they include Nige Brown, Sean Chapman, Ginger, John Poole, Mick H, Bob Hinsley, Andy Dyson, Soul Sam, Dave Evison, Pete Roberts Mark Freeman and Brent Howarth.

In the Northern rarities and R+B room there will be sets from Carl Willingham, Ian Cunliffe, Jumpin Joan, Ted Massey, Keith Money, Simon Hunt and guests.

In the Contemporary Modern room there's Fish, Mark Randle, Neil Self, Bigger, Andy Davies, Terry Jones, Mike Stephens, Steve Hobbs, Mick Farrer, Colin Curtis, and Jim Hargreaves.

In the Crossover Modern room there's a line-up including Sean Hampsey, Ivor Jones, Andy Tats Taylor, Adey Pountain, Steve Plumb, Eddy Edmondson, Cliff Steele, Glyn Thornhill and Kev Briscoe.

The fifth venue is the Queen Vic pub and in here there will be specially invited guest DJs featuring themed R+B, rare 60s and 70s and Modern soul sets right throughout the weekend.

Over 25 top dealers will be there including John Anderson from Soul Bowl.

Over 1,000 places are already sold, and there are great value deals starting at only £49 per person for the full 3-day event.

For more details about Prestatyn 2013 please go to their website prestatynsoulweekender.com

THE PLACES TO GO...

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 8th -BLACKPOOL WINTER GARDENS ALL NIGHTER

The 4th Blackpool Winter Gardens 3 -roomed All Nighter takes place on Saturday September 8th, co promoted with local broadcaster, Radio Wave. The event sees the best in Northern Soul, Motown and Modern Soul all coming together under one roof, and in stunning surroundings. Djs in the Northern Room include local spinner Glenn Foster, who is joined by Mark Freeman, Nige Brown, Ginger, Richard Searling and special guest Steve Whittle for the 9pm - 6am session. In the Motown/60s soul room you'll find local radio presenters Rod Allsworth and Keith Fletcher, Jimmy Scriv plus Pete Roberts from the Twisted Wheel. Completing the line-up, in the Windsor room , there is the tops in Modern soul as played by Jim Hargreaves, Bob Hinsley, and John Kane. Tickets are on sale now priced at £13 each on 0844 856 1111, or via blackpoollive.com Please note that there is no admission after 1 am without an advance ticket.

RARE SOUL BACK AT LOWTON CIVIC HALL ....

The North West Soul Club have announced that starting from Friday September 14th, the "back room" at their monthly Lowton Civic events will be featuring a new line-up of DJs who will feature "Rare and Underplayed" Northern soul and a touch of 60s R+B. Also, the session will now run longer, from 9pm to 1am. The "back room" will be run by founder DJ Kev Murphy, and guests booked for the inaugural session on Friday September 14th are Ian Cunliffe and Phil Threlfall, supported by Kev and Bob Hinsley. In October the guest DJs are Wigan Paul and Jumpin Joan, while in November it's Andy Dyson and Ian Cunliffe. The main room remains unaffected, featuring a musical menu of classic Northern Soul and Motown with today's big-hitters mixed in. On Friday September 14th, DJ Richard Cryer from "Dracs" in Yorkshire is the guest DJ, ably supported by Ginger Taylor, Bob Hinsley and yours truly. Lowton Civic is located on Hesketh Meadow Lane, Lowton near Wigan and is within easy access of the East Lancs Road and the M6 and M62 motorways.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 22nd - WIGAN CASINO'S 39th ANNIVERSARY !

The annual Wigan Casino (39th) anniversary soul night at the King Georges Hall in Blackburn takes place on Saturday September 22nd with authentic celebrations of this legendary All Nighter led by Wigan Casino DJs Richard Searling, Kev Roberts and Dave Evison, ably supported by Pete Eccles, Ginger and Keith Fletcher. On stage to add to the event will be Motown legends The Elgins (featuring Yvonne Vernee), plus Snake Davis and the Suspicions, playing a specially put together live set of set of Northern soul classics. On this night only, Snake and his band will be backing Yvonne on her Northern classic, Just like you did me. It will be the only time that she will ever have performed the song with a live band since it was released on the US Sonbert label back in 1966!. In addition there will be two other rooms of Jazz Funk and contemporary soul and R+B. Tickets are on sale now at £10 each from the King Georges Hall box office on 01254 582582.

MANCHESTER "TWISTED WHEEL" CLUB - LAST ALL-NIGHTER DATE IS NOW CONFIRMED..

Organiser Pete Roberts informed me recently that all the signs now point to the closure of the legendary Manchester soul club at the end of December 2012. Despite local opposition to the building being converted into (yet another) hotel and a media support frenzy, it would appear that the writing is on the wall. So, as it stands, the final Twisted Wheel All-Nighter will take place on Friday September 28th with a 10pm start. In the meantime the second Sunday of every month sessions continue ( 3pm -8pm) as do the last Friday of the month 9pm-2am sessions. The good news is that Pete has been approached by several Manchester venues to keep the "Wheel" torch burning, and has successfully launched a third Sunday of every month session at Club Moho Live, Tib Street in Manchester. This club has two rooms and a similar capacity to the Wheel and is of a very similar atmosphere. In the meantime, beware of any "Wheel" imitations that seem to be popping up in the area, a subject we'll be returning to in the future.

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 30th - THE NEXT MANCHESTER RITZ REUNION ALL DAYER

Following on from the extremely well-attended inaugural event in March this year, promoters Soulvation and Music and Media join forces once again for a follow-up All Dayer on Sunday September 30th, 3pm-11pm.

What's very special about this event is that the first 100 people through the doors will each receive free a special limited edition 7" release of The Carstairs classic It really hurts me girl containing a newly discovered version of the song!

The Ritz now has two rooms, so it's the Northern, Jazz Funk and Philly classics upstairs with Richard, Neil, Colin Curtis, Ginger Taylor and Ian Dewhirst and downstairs in the studio club the best in soulful house, and all of today's new and recent soul favourites with Mike Stephens, Tony Cooney and the Soul Kandi brothers.

The Manchester Ritz is situated on Whitworth Street (west) and tickets are on sale now at £10 each from www.soulvation.biz , or from Beatin Rhythm Records on Tib Street in Manchester or from Fopp Records on Brown Street , Manchester.

Alternatively they can be obtained by phone from the HMV tickets hotline : 0843 221 0976

ATLANTIC STARR REFORM TO HEADLINE AT THE BLACKPOOL HILTON LUXURY SOUL WEEKENDER !

Lead vocalist Sharon Bryant has rejoined Atlantic Starr after a 30-year absence especially to headline the forthcoming Blackpool Hilton Luxury Soul Weekender which takes place on the North West coast during the weekend of January 4,5,6th 2013.

The group will be performing their vast array of class numbers including Lets get closer, With your love I come alive, Silver Shadow, When love calls, Always, Your love finally ran out, Touch a four leaf clover and many more at the 3 day event which has run at the North West resort in 4-star surroundings for 11 years. Great value accommodation deals are on sale now ranging from £149 pp to £179 pp , or if you are just looking to visit on a day pass, then Ticketline have non-accommodation passes on sale now either via www.ticketmaster.com or on 0161 832 1111. In addition to Atlantic Starr, there is the usual top DJ line-up in 4 rooms featuring the whole spectrum of soul from Northern to a3 so.y

NORTHERN NEWS

I'll be presenting a 6-hour Northern Soul special for Smooth Radio to be aired on August Bank Holiday Saturday / Sunday. Entitled "Richard Searling's 40 years of Northern Soul", I'll be looking back at the biggest floorfillers from the clubs that have influenced the scene between 1972 and 2012. The programme will be available on both FM and online, and via DAB. The clubs that will be featured include The Catacombs in Wolverhampton, The Golden Torch in Stoke, The Pendulum in Manchester, Wigan Casino, Va Va's in Bolton, Leeds Central, The Blackpool Mecca, Stafford Top of the World and London's 100 Club. Over 120 tracks will be featured and a sample playlist is featured in this month's print edition of Blues & Soul ....

Staying with the radio and over in West and South Yorkshire every Wednesday evening from 7pm-10pm check out John Kane's[b} top-rated Northern and Modern Soul programme on which I ll be presenting an hour of my current tips and listener's requests on the first Wednesday of each month. You can pick up the show on BBC Radio Sheffield ( 88.6/ 104.1 FM) and BBC Radio Leeds (92.4 / 95.3 FM ) and of course via the BBC's "listen again" service....over 1,500 attended the filming All Dayer recently at the King Georges Hall in Blackburn.