Mike

The annual Soulgate FREE all-dayer celebrates its 27th year on Saturday 12th July 2008 - in loving memory of Randy Cozens. The all-dayer kicks off at 12pm Closes at 1AM The Venue: Fishmongers Arms, 3 Winchmore Hill Road, Southgate, London N14 6AD. This now legendary all-dayer, originally hosted by Randy Cozens, and now held in his will memory, will include a collection for the Royal Marsden Hospital Great DJ line up as ever; Ady Croasdell, Taff, Steve Guanori, Eddie Piller, Ivor Jones, Terry Jones, Jon Farrell, Johnny Timlin, Val Palmer, Jo Wallace, Toby, Pete Wid, Roger Stewart, Nigel Flood and many more spinning Deep Soul, Northern Soul, and Crossover - with a bit of ska & funk too We have seats outside in the sun and 22 car parking spaces for those who turn up early. Those needing to park can also park at Asda. Everyone welcome to this now legendary all-dayer

As reported in the forums and on the New Century Web site, the New Century Soul Club is no more. After five years of promoting the main man behind it all and indeed one of the two co-founders Chris Waterman has called it a day. You can read his reasons and reactions via the forum thread (link is at the end) While the above may not be exactly "white hot off the press" news, as am still playing catch up on the news/articles front on here, do feel that though delayed it still deserves a shout/acknowledgement, espically when consider the vast amount of New Century content that hasbeen featured on Soul Source over the years, Suppose the fact that havent really got the time at the current moment to knock an article together of all the New Century highlights over these 5 years or so, sort of says it all! I was just thinking of some my own personal memories/highlights that have and when you add them all to all that was New Century connected, the many events, the venues, dvds, live acts, the tie-ins etc etc, there's no doubt that if did try and mention everything it would be a very lengthy and time consuming effort. So while it's a bit of a cop out for now due to time available, here's a sort of potted diy history/highlight link of New Century Soul via the Soul Source articles search feature The original forum thread as mentioned earlier can be found here in the forum And just say can expect a more featured lookback in the near future. Thanks to all involved with New Century over the years for what looking back was a great trip.

Latest news on appeal Thanks to Marc Forrest for posting up the latest news in the forum thread Have highlighted details below Can read the full story and background poste don the forum via this link https://www.soul-source.co.uk/Ov-Wright-Unmarked-Grave-Need-t70089.html while can visit the offical site and donate via this link http://www.ovwright.org/ Got this update via email: Hello there: As a member of the O.V. Wright Memorial Fund team, you are receiving this email to help keep you informed about what's going on. This past monday, June 23rd, there was a meeting in Memphis at which Red Kelly delivered a Cashier's Check in the amount of $1763.02, which was the total amount received so far through our PayPal campaign, to Preston Lauterbach, the man who started all of this in the first place: The other gentleman in the photograph is Sylvester Sartor, the newest member of our team. An invaluable addition, Sylvester knows just about everybody in Memphis, and will be assisting us as we move forward with our plans. He is currently in discussions with the Cemetery about just what type of memorial our contributions will allow us to purchase, and we will keep you posted on what he finds out. Now for the exciting part: Sylvester has been friends with Willie Mitchell for years, and was the man behind getting Willie his long overdue 'Trustees Award' at the Grammys this past February. He agrees with us that any celebration of O.V. Wright's work must include Mr. Mitchell, who produced virtually every thing he ever recorded. Thanks to Sylvester, Red was able to meet with Willie at Royal Studio on June 22nd, and talk with him about our plans for some kind of tribute concert this Fall in conjunction with the laying of the stone. Here's what he had to say: "...you've got the eggs and the ham, right? Well let me tell you something, if you all are the eggs, I'm the pig!" In other words, he's whole hog on this and ready to go. We spoke about using Hi Rhythm as the back-up band for the concert ("no problem," he said, "I practically raised Teenie Hodges up..."), and spoke a little about our concept of a host of different singers performing O.V. Wright's material. Which, of course, brought us to the subject of Al Green: "Al's funny," Willie said, "Let me call him. I'll tell him when he's got to show up, and he'll be there, don't worry." SO, as you can see, this whole idea of ours is beginning to grow. With Willie on board, the possibilities are truly amazing. The target date for the concert is Saturday, November 15th, with a graveside ceremony (and possible Gospel concert) scheduled for the following day. There is an incredible amount of work ahead of us to make this happen. We are working on possible sponsorship options now, as well as political and governmental backing. A concert of this scope (which, if you think about it, not only honors O.V., but Willie Mitchell as well here in his 80th birthday, Grammy award winning year) needs to be held in the right setting (like the Orpheum Theater), and consequently will take some serious financial backing. We can do this, folks. There is no force so great as an idea whose come. It is time for Memphis to stand up and honor O.V. Wright, Willie Mitchell, and the incredible body of work that Royal Studio continues to produce to this day. We welcome any of your thoughts and contributions about all of this, and your assistance in spreading the word. There are, of course, no firm commitments on any of this as yet... and I am writing to you before we post anything on the web about it... but just imagine the possibilities! ...like Al Green, Don Bryant, Otis Clay, Percy and Spencer Wiggins, Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles, etc. etc all backed by the one and only Hi Rhythm. Lord have mercy! THE O.V. WRIGHT MEMORIAL FUND ovwright.org

New York Times features news that Soul Train now has a new owner. Reading the article not sure if it will led to a lot more commerically released episodes or clips , but can always hope. A few snippets of the news below Can read the full article at the NY Times site (link below) Now a production company, MadVision Entertainment, has bought the “Soul Train” franchise from its founder, Don Cornelius, and plans to breathe new life into it. The plan is to open up the show’s archives for older consumers as well as to create a new version of the program for younger ones. “The series has never been shown on DVD, and it’s not been utilized on video-on-demand or mobile or Internet platforms,” Peter Griffith, a co-founder of MadVision, said. “There are many opportunities that we are exploring.” For MadVision, the rights issues will be complicated. The company will have to compensate artists, producers and labels for rebroadcasts of the songs played on the show. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/business/media/17soul.html