Industrial Strength: Gudinski book promises revelations; Six industry names up for inaugural GC awards; Move to wind up Soundwave; Heat remains on Brandis’ arts “slush fund”

Gudinski book promises revelations on Mushroom sale, UK losses

The word on Stuart Coupe’s Gudinski, The Godfather of Australian Rock’n’ Roll (detailed in TMN yesterday) is that some chapters are explosive. There’s never before published information on the wheeling and dealing involved with the sale of Mushroom Records to Rupert Murdoch’s News Ltd, the back story of Mushroom UK, the huge financial losses and the nasty falling out and power play between Michael Gudinski and his right-hand man at the label Gary Ashley. It seems many of Gudinski’s long time associates opened up for the first time.

Six industry names up for inaugural Gold Coast awards

Six stalwarts of the Gold Coast music industry are up for Local Music Champion of the Year in the inaugural Gold Coast Music Awards. They are held at Burleigh Brewery on July 22 where winners will be presented with a commissioned Swell sculpture by artist Dion Parker.

The six are music producer Guy Cooper; Scott French of Love Street Studio; Graham Ashton of Footstomp Music; Rob & Jackie Saunders of the Gold Coast Folk Music Festival and acoustic club Coast Acoustics; and Polly Snowden of promoter and music video maker at Rabbit Media and Rabbit Radio.

The Soundlounge, elsewhere and Miami Marketta are up for Live Music Venue.

Listed in Live Music Event of the Year are Gold Coast Folk Festival, Wallapalooza, (m)ocean as part of Bleach and Buskers by the Creek.

Multi-nominated artists are Casey Barnes, Gracie Hughes, Felicity Lawless, Hanlon Brothers, Jimmy the Saint & The Sinners and Lane Harry x Ike Campbell.

New Zealand snatches up AC/DC tickets

More than 30,000 tickets were snatched up in New Zealand in the first four hours on sale for AC/DC’s Rock Or Bust. The Seedies play Westpac Stadium in Wellington on December 12, and Western Springs in Auckland on December 15.

Move to wind up Soundwave

A Soundwave creditor applied in Victoria's Supreme Court to wind it up. Spotless Facility Services said its $47,666.15 invoice from March 19, 2014 for security and waste services had not been paid and made the move on June 23. After media inquiries, Soundwave’s AJ Maddah said the invoice had been found and would be paid. Last August Queensland fencing company Pink Fence Pty Ltd filed an application for a winding up order but it was dismissed a month later.

Venues update: red tape closures, sales collapse, irate neighbours

* Darwin music venue The Chippo is shut down over a red tape fiasco. It was to open in its new location in Woolner (it moved there in 2014 from Coconut Grove). But co-owner Rod Fitzgerald told the NT News that “a bit of a stuff-up” over “a building certification issue” saw the NT Fire and Rescue Service’s Community Fire Safety Command close it down until the issue was resolved.

* The Gold Coast’s Courthouse Hotel is closed with the staff awaiting news of their future after its sale fell through. In December, the Anthony Moreton Group signed up with plans to upgrade the hotel and build a residential tower around it. But the deal collapsed this month at the eleventh hour.

* Perth gets an exclusive members-only club for the creative and artistic industries in 2016. It is based on London’s Arts Club or Soho House. The still-unnamed venture will be part of the redevelopment of the old Treasury Buildings.

* The Stag in Adelaide’s Rundle St, which went into administration in April, is returning this year with a new cashed-up consortium of owners, a new name (Fat Stag) and a new look.

* The Ivy in Sydney is denying reports it was shut down by police on Sunday night’s after medics were called out three times in three hours to deal with allegedly drugged up patrons, three who were hospitalised with alleged ODs.

* Neighbours of Brisbane’s Normanby Hotel are photographing patrons’ anti-social behaviour– including urinating in gutters – and presenting them to Brisbane City Council and the Office of Liquor and Gaming Regulation. They complain they’re awoken up in all hours as noisy revellers leave and are appalled by the rubbish left behind.

* Perth gets a new 200-capacity venue, The Boston on Milligan Street in Northbridge this month. Opening to live music on Fridays and Saturdays, it is booked by Monster Management.

* Negotiations will begin between popular Adelaide Fringe venue Royal Croquet Club and the Adelaide City Council to ensure it returns next year. But Council already decided its hours will be cut to 1am on weekends, no music past midnight and a lockout brought forward to 1am.

* Maroochydore, Qld venue Duporth Tavern aroused the ire of neighbours when it applied to extend hours to 10am-3am daily. They called it “unnecessary”. Owner rawGroup said it maintained a good neighbour policy and the extension was only to keep up with other clubs and would be used practically.

* The first stage of the redevelopment of Sydney’s The Sheaf, the Garden Bar, has opened.

* After 18 years of showcasing alternative and underground bands in Hamilton, NZ, Lorraine and John Nooyen are selling Ward Lane to move to the country.

Melbourne council worried about festival sites

In Melbourne, two important music festival sites – Flemington Racecourse and the Royal Melbourne Showgrounds – are facing the prospect of shorter concerts. Both come under City of Melbourne. But neighbouring Moonee Valley Council has on behalf of its residents, The Age said, requested a 10pm wrap up, lower volume, having events spread across the year with less concerts in summer, and better traffic and parking management. A pow-wow was held recently with all concerned but no solution was reached. The sites hosts (and hosted) brands as Big Day Out, Future Music, Stereosonic, Soundwave and Good Life.

Heat remains on Brandis’ arts “slush fund”

Opponents of Federal Arts Minister George Brandis’ funding cuts have kept up the heat.

Shadow Arts Minister Mark Dreyfus indicated he’d widen the Senate inquiry to include claims in Crikey of a connection between grants to the Australian World Orchestra (AWO) and Brandis’ senior policy adviser, Michael Napthali. The latter was an AWO board member but stepped down before the ork received $1.15 million — two grants of $600,000 and $550,000 – from the Arts Ministry outside Australia Council procedures. Napthali-managed girl group Bardot in the early 2000s and worked at Sony Music Entertainment Australia and Showtime.

The latest politician to attack the funding cuts, Victoria's Creative Industries Minister Martin Foley, fired off a letter to Brandis that OzCo funding cuts would "rip the heart out" of Victoria's independent cultural sector. He pointed out that it would hit individual artists and small and community-based companies. He also warned of job losses pointing out, "Collectively, Victoria's small arts organisations are our largest employers of artists and arts workers.”

The latest victims are Mackay, Queensland’s Crossroad Arts, which announced it will have to close in September because its funding dried up, and West Sydney’s Powerhouse Youth Theatre which says its funds run out end of the year, and forlornly looking at the possibility of axing half of its programs.

Entertainment lawyers lauded

Among the 34 lauded at the Arts Law Pro bono Awards were Darren Sanicki (GI & Sanicki Lawyers), Jeremy Storer (Storers Lawyers), Stephen Digby (Digby Law), Julian Hewitt and Marcus Walkom (Media Arts Lawyers), Raena Lea-Shannon (Entertainment Media Technology) and Garey Campbell, Tom Hakkinen and Allegra Day (Hearts for Arts Law). Arts Law said that without their free service, it would not be able to deliver services and advice to musicians, artists and arts organisations.

SBS relaunches OnDemand

SBS relaunched its OnDemand catch-up TV video service with new content including Sinatra: All or Nothing At All; Mr Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown, Freakonomics, Gonzo and Finding Fela!. It claims one of the largest online video libraries in Australia with 600 films, 350 feature documentaries, along with SBS’s broader program offering. It has a total of 4000 hours of content. OnDemand has a new website to cover the 20 platforms of the service.

New festival for Tasmania as island lures more events

Tasmania aims to be the boutique events centre of the country. The Tasmanian Government Events Strategy 2015-2020 plans to attract more cultural and business events, especially to regional areas and during the off-season.

According to Premier Will Hodgman, events draw 70,000 visitors to Tasmania injecting $100 million into the economy.

Proposed is a two-to-three-week festival at Kentish on the North-West Coast for next winter. It will be based around the theme of Fire and Light, with the key attraction a laser light show projected 5.5km against picturesque Mt Roland. There’ll be live music as well as local food and wine served around camp fires,

It is hoping to repeat the success of the island’s Dark Mofo festival which last year drew 128,000 over ten days.

Dead Daisies push spotlight back to the US

After a massive European festivals tour with Kiss, the Dead Daisies are heading back to the U.S. for the northern summer. They’re joining Whitesnake on their 10-date Purple tour (July 27 to August 16) and release their Revolución album there on July 31. Revolución was recorded in February during their Cuba visit and features new singer John Corabi (Mötley Crüe, Ratt).

The Cuban trip is also captured in a short movie (edited by Kenn Michael and produced by Danny Saber) and a photo e-book with shots by photographer Katarina Benzova and Cuban videographer Karel Renzoly Green.

Vale

Neilma Gantner was founder of the Four Winds Festival in NSW in 1991, determined to make it an event which drew young people into music. Living by the motto “When in doubt – do”, she was its primary donor, and her energy drove the building of a permanent amphitheatre and indoor creative space for the festival. The US-born author and sailor passed at 92 in her home at Bermagui. She was also a founding member and life governor of The Myer Foundation and a member of (her father’s) Sidney Myer Fund’s Arts and Humanities Committee.

And a few other things …

Two more Australian musicians have been struck by cancer. On the weekend, INXS’s Kirk Pengilly revealed he underwent a five-hour surgery in Sydney earlier this year for prostate cancer.

Marco Goldsmith, guitarist, singer and songwriter of Warrnambool blues band Blue Heat begins radiotherapy on July 6 for throat cancer.

In the meantime, ‘50s rocker Johnny Devlin, 79, revealed he had a heart attack on the final day of a 10-day cruise along the Australian East Coast on the Sun Princess. He was quickly transferred to hospital when it berthed in Sydney.

Def Leppard will be accompanied on their Australian tour by guitarist Viv Campbell who’s been cleared of cancer.

515,000 viewers tuned in to Blood and Thunder: The Sound of Alberts, about the famous Alberts music company, aired on ABC-TV on prime time.

Sydney artist manager Gregg Donovan hosts a free online lecture today (June 30) called ‘How To Successfully Self-Manage Your Music Career And Thrive In The Music Business’ at www.musicbusinessfacts.net/webinar.

Lovelines

Sydney nightclub operator Justin Hemmes and model Kate Fowler are expecting their first child.

MIX106.3 in Canberra EP Luke Gemmill proposed to girlfriend Vanessa by panting a huge mural in downtown Dickson.

The reason i98FM Wollongong’s Bianca Dye is leaving radio, as revealed in On The Dial yesterday, is that the 41-year-old wants to have a baby.

Our fave reading Woman’s Day said Delta Goodrem and DJ Chris Stafford of The Stafford Bros are secretly dating.

Yet another “intelligent alternative” for young women, Birdee magazine, went belly-up.

Speculation is that New Zealand’s major rights holders settled a confidential deal with ISPs to withdraw Global Mode from services, stopping Kiwis from getting around geo-blocking to access TV programmes not shown in that country.

When Tamworth Regional Council Director of Business and Events John Sommerlad and Manager of its country music unit Barry Harley were in Nashville (they had a “Visit Tamworth” stand at CMA Music Fest), they met up with Keith Urban. Urban donated a signed autograph to be displayed at the local museum and told them he wanted to bring his two daughters back to Tamworth to show them where he started out busking on Peel Street.

On their current tour 5 Seconds of Summer are bringing up relatives onstage. In New Zealand, Callum Hood hauled up his 9-year-old cousin to play bass for a song. In Sydney, Ashton Irwin’s 11-year-old sibling Harry got his 15 minutes, after which elder bro’ encouraged fans to set up their kid sisters with his kid ‘bro.

Just how much is Lorde worth? The celebritynetworth.com site puts it at $9 million. Forbes has her at $2 million.

ABC Radio presenter Polly McGee raised almost $7,000 to the Vets Beyond Borders charity. She donated all royalties from her first book Dogs Of India, inspired by a trip to India.

The all-night Fruity Melon Festival rave in NSW, which drew 1000 EDM fans, was shut down by police after noise complaints.

Sia won the PETA Australia’s Sexiest Celebrity Vegetarian award for 2014, over models, actors and fellow-musicians John Butler, Xavier Rudd, Missy Higgins and Sophie Monk.