Steve G

dunno about Bromley last month. Wigan is the place to be. "Come and get those memories". We'll be in the corner by HSBC bank and Top Shop in case anyone wants to check us out. I have already requested that the Djs play "Time will pass you by" and "I'm on my way".

Very "divvy" looking since you ask - you need baggies and badges mate. Frank Wilson rules O'Keh.

It IS still open. that's why there's the 35th anniversary on the original site of the hallowed Casino toilets. It lives on in my soul and you soul police anorak anal types cannot stop me and thousands of others from enjoying it. It will live forever in our hearts. Long live Russ - the original soul pioneer. Just because you don't dress like a proper soulie don't belittle those of us that do. Live and let live, northern soul - it's "A way of life", so stop digging us out with your elitist jibes "Keep the faith" Tezza - and get up to the "Heart of Soul" - you know you want to! Pass the booze back - hick

WOt about soul nights Terry which are more local "A-Road soul" ?

Agree 100% Russ. I really hope the attendance is very poor and that we can bury this Wigan Casino revival bandwagon for once and for all - these days it is just an embarrasment and a poor parody of anything whatsoever to do with northern soul. I know that will upset the "live and let live" brigade but there you go. :phoar:

Such a sad loss. Somebody should try and find the interview we did with him in Blackbeat and post it up here. He was a legend.

It might surprise you to know but I never had any problem with SWONS at all, just grateful to see so many artists that I love singing their songs.

That's been there for a long time......it means I don't want to go to a Wigan Casino revival night in a shopping centre

Well they do sound very similar vocally, so I am not going to say it unless I think it.

Steady on, steady on..........The vocals Ian, it was the vocals that i said sound almost identical to Arctic.

No and with a playbox like Russ's I don't think I ever want to be

Henry Stone at TK productions should own it. Google him Jules.

Part of me says bring it on......and I will be as polite to him as I have been to Ian - what is it with 70's big name DJ's and me??? But why would Russ want to come on here? He is not really part of the scene anymore - he just does his Wigan Casino memory nights. He's about as relevant to today's scene as the guy that makes Adidas Bags or the lady that sells Milkshakes at Kings Hall.

He actually lost a bit he told me after you add in DJs, Wales Wallace, venue hire, advertising etc , and it was a brave gamble on his part. But agree my favourite ever live soul night - just amazing.

Well yes it's a tourist thingy I guess for WBC. I mean there's not exactly much else in the town to see is there? As for WC, yes you are right - a total dump - but great for music. Many younger members (or those that drifted away in the late 70s) won't know what happened in the end either when there were only 300-500 going on a sat night. Do you remember when it was closing? "We're closing - One final nighter" - cost a fortune to go as they hiked the prices up - but it meant we could be part of the "last ever" nighter. A few friends went. Then on the night Russ or someone announces "Just one more all nighter" next week, pay through the nose again you mug punters. Friends were shocked "we've been had" etc. Then 3 months later when Richard has got another allnighter in the town up they pop again "Oh we've managed to secure the Casino....for "just one more all nighter". F*ck that was not only embarrassing even then, it was a disgrace. I wrote about it at the time and never forgave the "powers that be" for taking everyone for idiots with these extra "last ever" allnighters. By now WIgan was well and truly buried, and all credibility had been lost.

Cost Chris Burton about 34K to bring them over a few years ago. They were still massive in the late 90s aqnd could fill a hall anywehere in the USA.

Hey from what I remember the vast majority that did turn up last year were very scathing of it. Couldn't get drinks, queues everywhere, crappy sound system, poor tunes, Champaigne VIP area (for which people paid extra) was just some cordoned off seats and a slice opf pizza and warm pomagne etc... I don't really care if people want to go to this, or what they choose to wear - just don't want it associated with Northern soul - for the same reasons as Terry says. It is not what northern soul IS about. So maybe we do need to change the name then.... ....cos this stuff is a million miles from where I am or want to be.

think these Wigan nights have nothing to do with the northern scene anymore. they are totally irrelevant to it. I don't care what people do, wear or go, but I don't have to be warm and cuddly about it if I think they look daft. Exactly the same thing with Teddy Boys - I think they look daft too. But soul WAS about being COOL, and trendy, going to seedy places to hear and dance to obscure records. As for oldies, I like oldies - just not the same bloody few all the time.

The question was why the venom? I think that's quite easy to answer - for most people who were around Wigan was a big part of our life...... But we've moved on, and the scene has moved on. Today's scene is nothing like the late 70s when Wigan ruled OK. Frankly dancing to those old Wigan sounds in a shopping centre with baggie trousers and vests with patches on has nothing to do with where many of us are now, and as others have said when talking aboput Northern soul it is a total embarrasment. The scene moved on after Wigan - Stafford, 100 Club etc. The only thing is dear old Russ didn't. So he still tries to create this aurra of Wigan Casino, and the longer it goes on, the more ridiculous it becomes to us. I've got nothing against the bloke, but he's not part of the scene as far as I can see, and just trades on the Casino name. These folks that think the idea of dancing in a shopping centre "just like they did when they were 17", need to get out and support a few more soul nights that are reflecting life after Wigan Casino. It closed down nearly 30 years ago.

No Ian, can't buy that the vast majority decide where to go for themselves.

I don't get this - because you have a few people that are vitriolic on this thread you can't go to venues? Sorry Ian I don't buy that either, you stopped going a few years ago. As you say you hate the scene (but love the music). I wouldn't let a few vitriols prevent me from going anywhere I wanted.

Ian do you have any real evidence of this? Even if there was a promotor driven campaign against the Rocket as you say happened, for it to have been succesful that means that the London soul scene are basically sheep that do as they are told. You are not saying that now are you?

No nor me. I went because I chose to go, never had any "feedback" about me going from the "northern soul underworld" that supposedly exists in London. That's why I am annoyed with this attempt to re-write recent history and blame others for the demise of the Rocket. Jees makes me wonder how accurate some of the older stories might be The Rocket didn't ultimately fail because on one night there was another night on in London, it failed for a multitude of other reasons.

Don't think that proves anything Sebastian, just less ink in the printer for one copy over the other.