Industrial Strength: Jan 19

Three Aussie musicians attacked

Three Australian musicians have been attacked in recent weeks, two were hospitalised as a result.

Melbourne club DJ Daniel “Dan Dan” Warrington needed full facial surgery to insert 30 screws and metal plates as a result of a beating he received earlier this month. He was walking along Swanston Street at night when he spotted two men from trying to set someone on fire. He intervened, only to have a mob bash him with a skateboard and a bottle of alcohol.

Potbelleez’s Jonathan Murphy aka Jonny Sonic was in hospital this week with facial and hand injuries after being assaulted on the Gold Coast last Friday night. He posted photos of his injuries on Instagram and Facebook, exclaiming, “King hit … at least hit me from the front you absolute cowards.”

A full plastic water bottle flung on stage at Perth YouTube star Troye Sivan’s January 13 show at the Sydney Enmore Theatre ricocheted off his mic stand and struck him. “It 100% hit me in the face”, he tweeted, but added he “didn’t really feel it because of adrenaline.” Another missile, a Nutella jar, missed his head.

Judging begins for Queensland Music Awards

As plans for the Queensland Music Awards become firmed up, the 50-strong judging panel has been shortlisting the “hundreds of songs” entered. The final judging begins this week, with finalists to be announced on Monday February 8 along with more details of the event. The awards, at Brisbane Powerhouse on March 21, are presented by BOQ and Hutchinson Builders.

In addition, Arts Queensland’s Billy Thorpe Scholarship judging is also underway. Selection panel members are going through all the applications this month and will meet in early February to determine the top four finalists to be unveiled. The winner will be announced at the awards.

Shazam looking for new radio/TV partner

Shazam is talking to new media partners after Southern Cross Austereo dumped the weeknight Shazam Top 20 as part of a programming shuffle. The two brands entered a revenue-sharing deal with the countdown show, which was hosted by Angus O’Loughlin and Ash London.

SCA has now introduced a new Hit 30 show, teaming O’Loughlin with Emma Freedman.

Steve Sos, VP of Shazam Asia Pacific, told Mumbrella, “From our side everything about the show was incredibly positive” and confirmed the music discovery platform was looking to see “if we can take it elsewhere – not only from a radio perspective but also a TV broadcast perspective both locally and regionally.”

Origin promoter faces fines

Promoters of the Origin music concert, which drew 20,000 to the Claremont Showground on New Year’s Eve, will be fined over a number of issues. Claremont Mayor Jock Barker said the fines would be for three instances of the music going over the set volume, and for providing incorrect contact details for residents before the event. Barker has long campaigned to get live music out of the Showgrounds, and called Origin audience behaviour “appalling” although police reported general good behaviour.

Tax guide for arts organisations

Creative Partnerships worked with the Australian Tax Office for a guide to tax implications for arts and music associations receiving philanthropic income. It explained, “Navigating the sometimes muddy waters of taxation law, particularly in relation to fundraising, can mean the difference between an effective strategy that secures new revenue streams, and failure (not to mention breaking the law!).” See https://www.creativepartnershipsaustralia.org.au

The Cat Empire bring forward album release

The Cat Empire have brought forward the global release date of their sixth studio album Rising With The Sun by a week to March 4. “The music is finished, the artwork is done, we’re all excited about getting the album out as quickly as we can, so people have time to listen to it ahead of our world tour this year,” said singer Felix Riebl. The new songs are custom-made for festivals, he added.

To recapture the sound on 2013’s Steal The Light, the band recorded in Melbourne with producer Jan Skubiszewski, in between global treks which saw them play to 500,000 fans. The artwork, by Sydney-based ARIA winning artist Aaron Hayward, was inspired by a traditional Mexican design “Ojos de Dios” (Eye of God), traditionally created for a celebration, and often presented as a gift to bless a home.

The inside booklet includes photos of 3500 fans. The band, when making the call-out for these explained, “Sometimes from stage the audience can start to look like a blur of faces. We want to know who you are, and we want to be able to see each and every one of your faces.”

Queensland Government looking at July for lockouts

Despite continued heavy lobbying for Queensland’s live music sector, and divisions from within its own ranks, Attorney General Yvette D’Ath has reiterated that the State Government wants the new lock-out laws in place by July 1.

The bill is currently before Parliament. A parliamentary committee, which has been travelling the state talking to all sectors, is expected to deliver its report by February 8. In the 89-seat Parliament, the Government has 43 seats and the Opposition 42. It needs two votes out of four independents.

Jimmy Little bronze bust unveiled

A bronze bust of Jimmy Little was unveiled at Tamworth Bicentennial Park during the Tamworth country music festival. The first Aboriginal musician to break into the mainstream, Little’s awards included the Order of Australia and an ARIA Hall of Fame induction. Guests at the ceremony included his daughter Frances Peters-Little and his long time guitarist Cyril Green who said that sculptor Katie French captured such a likeness, “I felt I was standing next to him on stage.”

Little’s is the eighth bust at the park, joining Buddy Williams, Tex Morton, Stan Coster, Gordon Parsons, Barry Thornton, Shirley Thoms and Reg Lindsay. Funding has begun for the next bust, of Chad Morgan.

Inaugural Girls Rock! Canberra camp a success

The inaugural six-day Girls Rock! Canberra camp was a success. Around 40 girls aged 10 to 17 at the Ainslie Arts Centre learned guitar, bass, drums or vocals, formed themselves into bands, wrote songs and performed them, and were also taught how to screen-print merchandise. The idea of the camp, said founder and musician Chiara Grassia, was to encourage young girls to be whom they want to be through music and not to be intimidated.

Part of Grassia’s message of self-empowerment was a study of female role models from Queen Latifah to The Slits. The highlight was when Courtney Barnett, Jen Cloher and drummer Steph Hughes took to the stage for a set. Three of the girls joined them for Bikini Kill’s Rebel Girl. Afterwards, Barnett wished there’d been a camp like this to encourage when she was growing up.

Changes to ArtsSA contemporary music program

Arts SA announced there will only be three grant rounds for its Contemporary Music Grant Program in 2016. The March and May rounds are combined and offered in April. The August and December closing dates will become available over the next few months.

New Darwin hub for hip hop scene

Express Studios in Darwin, has opened as a hub for the local hip hop community. Owner and instructor Michael Trikilis said the space in the suburb of Woolner is for artists, breakers, DJs and graff artists to rehearse and collaborate. “The scene here is very strong but it doesn’t get much recognition”, he pointed out.

Festivals Update: crowd funding, love songs, meltdowns

* As the deadline approaches for the crowd-funding campaign by Boomerang – “the indigenous music festival for all Australians” held on Bluesfest’s Byron Bay site – more music, community and political leaders are swinging behind it as Friends of Boomerang. Byron Shire Mayor Simon Richardson has joined the ranks of Archie Roach, Paul Kelly and Troy Brady, making a video of support. The campaign is at https://www.indiegogo.com. Federal MP Tony Burke remarked, “This festival matters. There is nothing comparable in Australia.”

* Airlie Beach Festival of Music in Queensland has a $5000 songwriting competition to find the best song about the Whitsundays. The comp, open until May 7, is sponsored by the Whitsunday Chinatown Investment. The song needs to be written in English and capture the essence of the Whitsundays including Heart Reef, the Coral Sea and Whitehaven Beach. It also It needs to incorporate cultural references as love, compassion, wisdom, karma, faith and energy to engage potential Chinese tourists.

* After four events in the US, Australian hard rock site MelodicRock.com is staging its first festival on home soil. MelodicRockFest is curated by site founder Andrew McNiece. It is held in Melbourne on May 13 and 14, at the Elephant & Wheelbarrow in St. Kilda. Three are acoustic sets – Black Majesty, former Danger Danger singer Paul Laine (Canada) and The Radio Sun. Melbourne bands Vanishing Point, White Widdow, Serpentine Sky and Teargas are joined by Eclipse (Sweden), Mitch Malloy (USA), Kaato (Sydney), Tonk (Canberra), a solo set from Erik Gronwall of Sweden’s H.E.A.T. and BB Steal (Adelaide).

* This year’s National Folk Festival in Canberra will, in its 50^th year, include the 97-year-old spiegeltent from Belgium, The Spiegel Zelt. The 110-seat venue will host edgier acts as well as intimate appearances by some larger names on the bill. It stages Thursday March 24 – Monday March 28 at Exhibition Park.

* Tasmania’s Mofo festival drew 40,000 from January 13 to 18 to a percussion-slanted program curated by Violent Femmes’ Brian Ritchie. Among highlights were heavily pregnant Kate Miller-Heidke with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra (a sold out event), the vinyl records on a spiralling five-turntable DJ installation melting in the heat, and two performance artists turning a water cannon on the crowd.

* Gympie Muster in Queensland has started an online campaign to get Keith Urban to add the festival to his tour dates. It reached 41,000 people in the first 48 hours. Meantime, the festival’s Executive Director David Gibson is asking for someone to loan them a private plane with which to entice Urban to get to the festival, play, and hightail it out.

* Illawarra Folk on the weekend drew over 10,000 punters to Bulli Showground – half from outside the region – to catch 170 acts playing over three venues.

* The second music and arts Fun in the Sun in Bridport, Tasmania, had a larger turn-out than expected, co-organiser Gina Scott said, ensuring that it will return in 2017.

Books #1: A Theatre In My Mind

As long time exec at radio production house Grace Gibson Productions, Reg James had an encyclopaedic knowledge of radio serials from the 1930s to the present – the actors, the storylines, the trivia. He saw the final draft before he died last July. A Theatre In My Mind: The Inside Story Of Australian Radio Drama was co-written with author Jim Aitchison (who himself wrote radio drama shows for Gibson in the 1970s). The pair earlier collaborated on Yes, Miss Gibson about the company’s founder. A Theatre In My Mind is available at the Grace Gibson Retail Store: http://www.gracegibsonradio.com.

Books #2: Stranded In Paradise

John Dix’s best selling encyclopaedia of New Zealand music Stranded In Paradise from 1988, goes into a third edition in May. It is a privately funded run, Dix says, to meet orders from schools and libraries for replacement copies. The tome covers NZ popular music from 1955 to the present.

WA study equates arts involvement with mental wellbeing

In a world-first study, researchers at the University of Western Australia, found that being involved in the arts for at least two hours a week – for enjoyment, entertainment or as a hobby – is associated with good mental wellbeing. That includes attending concerts and listening to music.

Lead author Dr Christina Davies said, “Arts engagement increases happiness, confidence, self-esteem and reduces stress and social isolation. It results in the creation of good memories and has an impact on a person’s knowledge and skills. People need to give themselves permission to be creative and to make time for the arts activities and events that they enjoy.”

The study, which was published in BMC Public Health, was funded by Healthway and the Department of Health WA.

Art At The Heart – Artist in Residence program

The Shire of East Pilbara is has opened applications for its Artist in Residency program, Art At The Heart. This year’s theme is “light”, and the value of the residency is up to $55,000, which includes a $15,000 fee. It runs August to September. Application closes at 4 pm Monday February 29.

2016 marks the third year of the four-year program. This year the program aims to develop the capacity of artists and the community to engage and creatively exchange, explore and showcase the local region through the “light” theme, creatively enrich the Shire of East Pilbara through a legacy artwork and enable an artist to develop a body of work and further their creative practice.

Further information from cacd@eastpilbara.wa.gov.auor phone +61 8 9175 8000 and ask for the Community Wellbeing section.

Getting their hands out

Four names to be cemented in the Country Music Hands of Fame cornerstone at the Tamworth festival this weekend are singer/songwriter Drew McAlister, singer Patti Morgan, bush balladeer Jeff Brown and producer Steve Newton.

Also getting a Tamworth Appreciation award is long time Australian Country Music Foundation (ACMF) volunteer Judy Loffell who worked tirelessly for the association since the 1990s.

Sydney football charity game opens to public

In its third year, Sydney music industry football charity game Musica Copa will open up to a general public team. 20 teams compete to win $14,000 for the charity of their choice when the event returns to Marrickville’s KIKOFF Soccer Centre on Friday February 5 and Saturday February 6.

Teams include Universal Music, MTV, Ministry of Sound, Sony Music, Mushroom, WME, FBi Radio, Future Classic, Groovin’ The Moo and Spotify. Musica Copa is the initiative of UNDR Ctrl’s Paul Stix and Purple Sneakers’ Martin Novosel. Jack Daniels, Red Bull Music Academy, Smirnoff and Void are on board as sponsors. Last year Musica Copa raised $12,000 for charity – with significant donations to St Vincent De Paul Society, Beyond Blue and the Ted Noffs Foundation.

NZ consumers face higher costs from TPP

New Zealand consumers could face higher costs than first predicted as a result of copyright changes in the Trans Pacific Partnership, due to be signed off next month. The 12-country trade deal is estimated to provide economic benefits to NZ of up to $2.7 billion per year from 2030.

But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) says, as reported by the NZ Herald, that concessions of copyright which include extending copyright term from 50 years to 70 years will eventually rise to around $55 million a year although artists will benefit from a greater period of royalties.

John Kotzas given Honorary Doctorate

Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) CEO John Kotzas received an Honorary Doctorate from Griffith University for 25-years of risk-taking contribution to the state’s arts sector. Aside from his achievements with QPAC (which draws 1.4 million a year), he was MD of the inaugural Brisbane Festival in 1996.

Stan now on Xbox One

Subscription video-on-demand service Stan is now available on Xbox One, adding to the console’s features as Live TV, Voice Control, Skype, Xbox Fitness and a selection of sports apps.

Venues Update: new additions, renovations, sales, benefits

* Melbourne gets a new jazz venue, with Bird’s Basement opening on March 1 under jazz musician and festival director Albert Dadon. The club is the first international expansion of New York’s Birdland, the club set up by jazz great Charlie Parker. John Coltrane’s son Ravi launches the Singers Lane club in the City with a six day stint.

* Bunbury, WA’s historic Reef Hotel – home to the Three Monkeys nightclub – was badly damaged by fire yesterday, just weeks from reopening after a six month renovation. Initial damage bill was put at $500,000.

* Gold Coast nightclub owner Jamie Pickering has put Sin City on the market to help pay for his $50 million land development in Mackay, a 425-lot ocean frontage overlooking the gateway to the Whitsundays.

* The Grandview Hotel in Melbourne’s Fairfield launches a music program this weekend, with names as Andy White, Kerri Simpson, Barb Waters and Neil Murray.

* The business names behind the new $250 million sports and concert stadium Townsville are pushing the Federal Government to commit funding this year to the project. They say it’s essential to get a pledge as the new stadium has to be opened by 2020 with operating costs of 1300SMILES Stadium rising and a greater need for more state of the art facilities to draw major sports and music events to the North Queensland city.

* Sydney venue Vic on the Park in Marrickville is on Australia Day holding a fund raiser for the Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Womens Legal Centre. It provides representation, advice and referral services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children who are victims of violence. Performing are Bad//Dreems, Polish Club, Flowertruck and ADKOB.

* A push has begun by Dunedin’s arts sector for Council to renovate the 1,000-capacity His Majesty’s Theatre. The 1897 building is currently music venue Sammy’s and is on the market. But the sector argues it should be refurbished so that Dunedin gets a medium-size live theatre venue. A revamp would cost $10 million but building a new theatre would cost three or four times that, it argues.

* Gowrie Road Hotel in Toowoomba will undertake an extensive renovation “costing in the millions”, says owner Hakfoort Group. Director Albert Hakfoort explained with so many things need to be done – including new electric wiring, toilets and plumbing – it made more sense to knock it down and build up again.

* The Foundry in Brisbane is combining a fundraiser for cancer charities with a tribute to David Bowie on Sunday February 21. The event is partnered with Mucho Bravado and will feature local acts to be confirmed.

* A much-needed arts hub in Goulburn took a step forward when Goulburn Mulwaree Council got $1 million from the National Stronger Regions Fund. It is not decided where the hub will be, but it’s currently a toss up between The Civic Centre and the former ceramics room at the Goulburn Regional Conservatorium.

* After all 5000 tickets to UB40 sold out, Kainui Rd Vineyard in New Zealand confirmed it will regularly showcase music acts. A permanent stage has been built, and it has council permission for one major concert a year.

* Mackay Entertainment and Convention Centre is calling for applications for its Youth Ambassador Program, due by February 5 at www.mackayecc.com.au. The program not only allows young like-minded folks to enjoy events together but also get hands-on experience in performing arts, technical productions, and media and marketing.

Oldies but goldies

The Capital Country Music Association added a new category to this week’s National Talent Quest. Golden Oldies, marking the quest’s golden anniversary, is for solo performers aged 49 or more pitching for recording time at Enrec Studios.

Number Crunching

136,000 Australian viewers for the Golden Globes on pay-TV.

7 billion daily views currently for Snapchat.

6,000 David Bowie fans reportedly squeezed into a 2,000-capacity area at Sydney’s Hyde Park for a dual-DJ tribute show for the Starman.

$43,700 what Ruby Rose commanded for a DJ set in the US, according to TMZ.

And A Few Other Things …

After living with her folks in Devenport, Lorde(pictured) is to move into her $2.8 million four-bedroom villa which she can now occupy after she bought it last winter. The 1900-built villa is on the border of Herne Bay, Ponsonby and Grey Lynn and the cashed-up singer songwriter reportedly wrote out a full cheque for it. No bank loans for this gal!

Still on NZ real estate, Ministry of Sound founder Jamie Palumbo, bought a secluded 26.9ha beachside property in Omaru Bay for $7.3 million. With two private beaches and two houses, he plans to run his business when he’s there, and also invite international acts to hang out, the New Zealand Herald reported.

Perth’s 6PR is auctioning off its entire vinyl collection to raise money for Western Australia’s bushfire victims. The 5000 black round things go under the hammer at the station’s car park from 8 am on Saturday January 23.

Popular legend goes that David Bowie was so stressed by the stage set of his 1987 Glass Spider Tour – the 360-tonne spidey needed 43 trucks to move it and cost $1 million a week – that he claimed he ceremonially burned it after his final New Zealand show. It was either in a field or a hole at Auckland airport, the wild rumours went. But after his death, former roadie Peter Grumley revealed he bought most of it and has it stored in his warehouse.

At his hometown gig at Perth’s Astor Theatre, fans of Troye Sivan camped out 24 hours before and lined up to take selfies with his mum Laurelle.

In the “too much info” section, Gold Coast expat Peter Andre revealed how he got revenge on an ex-girlfriend. He was touring with Bobby Brown, and she ended up spending the night with the headliner. Andre revealed on the Loose Women TV show that after throwing the girl out bag and baggage after she breezed back in next morning, he visited her sister and knocked boots with her.

After singer Jon Stevens split from fiancée Jodhi Meares, he’s apparently moved on to another heiress, late Richard Pratt’s eldest daughter Heloise, the Sydney Sunday Telegraph reported.

Pene Pati of New Zealand’s Sol3 Mio got married to his soprano sweetheart Amina Edris before 100 family and friends at Villa Maria Estate. There was no time for a honeymoon: they had to rush back to the US, to complete their opera course in San Francisco, and for a band gig in Hawaii.

Lee James, founder of Adelaide’s Willunga Academy of Rock, was jailed for 23 months for swapping child porn via the Kik app. A suspended eight-month jail term, imposed in November 2014 for an earlier charge of possessing 41 images, was activated.

In the Ill-Health section, 25-year old NSW singer songwriter Timothy Bowen is receiving treatment for lymphoma.

In-demand Sydney keyboardist and fiddle player Clare O’Meara was forced to honour her commitments with Beccy Cole and The Bushwackers at the Tamworth country music festival, with her leg in plaster. She broke her ankle falling down the stairs at home while sleepwalking.

After six years Melbourne band Twin Beasts/The Toot Toot Toots played their last show in their hometown … after being on hiatus since 2012, Adelaide alt-country Leader Cheetah confirmed on Facebook some weeks back they’ve split.