Weekender Feever: The 6th annual Togetherness weekender took place over October 3rd - 5ht and was one of the most successful yet. We were promised fantastic appearances from two Chicago legends and the promoters definitley delivered that. Ruby Andrews didn't dissapoint and performed everything from her current in-demander 'Merry Go Round' through to the legendary 'Just loving you'. Although it has to be said the night belonged to The Artistics front man and solo artist Marvin Smith, the people who witnessed his performance will understand what I mean when I say that his performance ranks among those of The Originals, Phillip Mitchell, JJ Barnes etc.
New additions to the DJ line up at the Cala Gran included Neil Jones co promoter at Bury Town Hall who performed a fantastic set which was well received in the Northern room. Look out for Neil appearing at the King Georges Hall, Blackburn next year along with the regular team of DJ's and i'm sure this will just add to the popularity of those events.
Blackpool Hilton: Next up on the weekender horizon is the new year feast of soul at the Blackpool Hilton. Along with five rooms of soul with over 25 of the country's top DJ's covering the soul spectrum from 60's club classics and Jazz - Funk anthems up to the latest soulful dance and new release soul music.
This years live acts at The Hilton serve up a who's who of Philadelphia soul with acts appearing over the weekend including Jean Carne, Bunny Sigler and Dexter Wansell along with the brilliant soul diva Ledisi and last but not least The Braxton Brothers. This one is very close to selling out although if you're quick you may be able to pick up all weekend entertainment passes. For more info check out: www.jazzfm.com or listen to Richard Searling sunday's (1-4) on 100.4 Jazz FM.
Prestatyn Sands Weekender: Early Spring (March 5th - 6th) sees the next Prestatyn weekender take place, now recognised as one of the events of the year, the next one is set to be bigger than ever. Along with some of the country's top Rare soul DJ's, live acts for the weekend this year include the legendary Phil Perry in the modern room and in the Northern room The Masqueraders, Baby Washington and Melvin Davis. Prices start from £33.00 so get booking beause this event is sure to sell out soon. For more info check out: www.soul-weekenders.co.uk or call: 0870 604 5644.
Latest North West events: Soul Expression at The Orwell Wigan Pier was back on Friday October 24th and another top night was experienced. Quickly establishing itself as one of the quality venues for top class crossover and modern soul in the North West this event keeps going from strength to strength next one comes up in late January.
The 5th anniversary all-nighter at Bury Town Hall took place on October 18th with a near capacity crowd in three rooms covering the best in Northern, Modern & RnB. North Manchester Soul Club will be taking place every third friday at Bury Town Hall throughout 2004. Along with the main room, rumour has it that the promoters will now be opperating a new 'bring a box' policy in the room at the top were any 6tsconnoisseurs and R&B enthusiasts/DJs canspin a few at Bury Town Hall. For more info call Neil or Jayne on 0161 766 9086. Also watch out for news of the next three room event at Bury Town Hall in March of 2004. Other biggies later this year include the annual Boxing Day party at The Ritz Manchester, hte night after that its back to the King Georges Hall, Blackburn for the Jazz FM christmas soul party featuring two rooms of Jazz - Funk and Modern Soul (N.B: No Northern room for this event)
New Releases: Expansion records have been busy lately releasing two significant albums to rave reviews. Firstly the annual Soul - Togetherness album now upto volume four and possibly the best one yet. As with the previous releases a mix of the best latest releases and in-demand crossover tunes is the order for this album. The album features in-demand items such as The Tower of Powers new release 'Nothing Like It', Niteflyte feat Jean Carne with 'If you believe', Frank Popp 'Breakaway' and people who are trying to track down a copy of The Futures anthem 'Party Time Man' but can't afford the high prices for a copy on P.I.R will be happy to know it is featured on this album from Expansion. Also out from Expansion is Terry Jones Village Soul which features tracks that made Terry's Village soul nights the longest running soul night in the UK along with new release tracks in the same vein of the Village such as Kim English with 'Simply Grateful', also featured are in-demand tracks from Beres Hammond 'Do this world a favour', Betty Lavette's 'You made a believer out of me', Cory Glover 'Little Girl' and so much more prove this to be one of the best albums of recent times. Congratulations to Terry on such a fantastic project.
Soul on the internet: Just a look at what has been happening on the net lately in regard to soul music. I launched my own website www.seanlivesey.com in late August although still in its basic stages this will be up-dated with more features at every given opportunity. Current features on the site include an interactive 'Whats on guide', 'Record dealers address book', 'Featured Artists page', 'recomended releases', 'latest news page' and so much more. Hope you can check it out and don't frget to leave me a message in my guestbook. Many of you will be familiar with vocalist Glenn Leonard who was a member of groups such as The Chancellors, True Reflection and The Unifics before becoming lead singer of The Temptations during the period of 1975 - 1983. Well Glenn recently launched his own website www.glennleonard.com which includes among other features a biography on Glenn along with a discography of all his albums.
Recomendations: For modern soul entusiasts, anyone who hasn't yet picked up a copy of this album I highly recommend it Barrington 'BO' Henderson: Best Kept Secret. Barrington recently left The Temptations to pursue a solo career and he gives us a great album for his solo debut. Stand out tracks include 'Ain't no doubt about it' (currently being championed by Richard Searling), 'In Da Pocket' and the sublime 'Sorry'. This one is proing hard to pick up so your best chance of obtaining a copy is through independent music stockists www.cdbaby.com . Following up his highly successful 'Enough is Enough' album Dome recording artist Dennis Taylor is back with his new album 'In the mood' set to be just as big as his previous three albums it is now available from www.domerecords.co.uk . A collecton that I've recently picked up comes from Motown & Atlantic legends The Spinners, this collection is well worth picking up and covers everything from the guys early days at Motown through to the dizzy heights they experienced at Atlantic with over 54 tracks from their illustrious career. This one is available from Warner Bros. Currently going big on the Northern scene and a modern soul anthem is Aretha Franklin's 'Integrity' (B-side of 'Jumpin Jack Flash') easily available through second hand record shops or over the net at Ebay. Although be warned as with other 70's/80's records that go big on the Northern scene this could get a little over priced in the coming weeks.
Levi Stubbs: As many of you know Motown legend and 40 year long lead singer with The Four Tops LEVI STUBBS is now in semi - retirement from The Four Tops. Levi hasn't been a healthy man recently as a couple of years back he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer. Although the Cancer had left his body and he seemed to be heading on the right track he suffered a serious stroke a year or so ago.
This has limited Levi's movement and energy, therefore stopping him from performing with The Tops. I have recently been in contact with Deborah Stubbs (Levi's daughter) and have managed to arrange through my website a get well soon message service for Levi and these in time wil be passed on to Deborah for her Dad to read personally.
This will be a massive boost of confidence for Levi and i'm sure many of you will want to leave your messages for him. To do so you can go to the homepage of my website www.seanlivesey.com and search for the page from there or go directly to Levi's page: www.seanlivesey.com/levi1.html . Next year The Four Tops will be celebrating their 50th anniversary of performing and hopefully Levi by then will be healthy enough to take part in some of the celebrations. Lets make sure his fans are 100% behind him.
Well thats about it for this edition, but remember anyone who would like to get in touch with me can do so through my website: http://www.seanlivesey.com or you can email me at: livesey1@hotmail.com . Hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year .
Sean Livesey (first published nov 03)