The Selecter plan Electric gig in Bridport (From Dorset Echo)

The Selecter plan Electric gig in Bridport

12:00pm Friday 25th November 2011 in Live Music and Clubs By Nick Horton

THEY say what goes around comes around, particularly when you have one foot nailed to the floor, and music is no different.

Cast your mind back 30 years or so: rioting in the streets, soaring unemployment, and songs from the Two-Tone label on the radio and in the charts.

Thirty years on and not that much has changed.

As anyone who was at the recent storming Specials gig at the BIC will tell you, Two-Tone is still very much the colour to be seen in.

And The Selecter, one of the original Two Tone quartet along with Madness, The Specials and The Beat, are still going strong.

Pauline Black and her band are at the Electric Palace in Bridport next Saturday, December 3. Tickets are £10 in advance (£12 on the night) and available from the Bridport TIC on 01308 424901.

Now then, talking of things coming round again, 70s soul/disco legends Rose Royce are back on the road and will be at Weymouth Pavilion on Saturday, December 3. (Tickets £17.50 from box office on 01305 783225), with support from local jazz-funk heroes Mariana Trench.

Famed for their floor-filling hits Car Wash, Is It Love You’re After? and Wishing on a Star, you can read Ruth Meech’s interview with chanteuse Gwen Dickey on page 1.

The band will always hold special memories for me as I recall playing their heart-breaking Love Don’t Live Here Anymore... at a wedding. A real ‘start the van’ moment...

From the stars of the past to one for the future: Seventeen-year-old Greg Ryall has been gigging for a few years now with his Dorchester band Epic Journey.

But the last few months have seen him writing and recording his debut album First Things First which is available for download today.

He’ll be celebrating this auspicious achievement tonight at the Dorchester Arts Centre with a host of fellow talented singer-songwriters Sarah De Warren and Aiden Simpson. Tickets are a mere £2.

Right, that’s it for this week. I’m just off to wash Gwen Dickey’s car. Beep beep...