Industrial Strength: July 11
ASIC WIDENS GUVERA INVESTIGATION
The Australian Securities And Investments Commission has contacted the Institute Of Public Accountants citing the fund raising methods of Australian company Guvera.
Last month it took the angle that the company’s Amma Private Equity, which raised millions from grassroots investors, allegedly didn’t warn then of the risks.
Now it’s claiming that Guvera may have side-lined documents needed for small investors by getting accountants to run a company trust on behalf of their clients.
ETERNALLY YOURS: BRISBANE GREENLIGHTS ED KUEPPER PARK…
A four month campaign by music fan Maurice Murphy to name a park in Oxley, in south Brisbane, after Ed Kuepper has been successful.
Murphy, an Oxley resident, became interested after an ABC documentary on the Brisbane music scene pin-pointed that Oxley was the birthplace of the Australian punk in 1976. Kuepper grew up in Lawson St., where his parents still live, and the first Saints album (and parts of the second, Eternally Yours) were written there.
Earlier this year Murphy set up an e-petition on Brisbane City Council’s website to give the unnamed park at the corner of Lawson Street and Oxley Road. He got over 800 signatures – 80% in the campaign’s first two weeks.
Murphy wants the suburb of Inala to start a campaign for the Saints’ singer Chris Bailey.
In the meantime, Go-Betweens bassist John Willsteed told The Guardian he is pushing for Brisbane to honor other landmarks from The Saints’ early history. The Go-Betweens of course already have a bridge named after them.
…WHILE GEELONG BEGINS SECOND AMPHLETT MURAL
Geelong in Victoria, the birthplace of the late Divinyls singer Chrissy Amphlett, has this week started work on a second mural in tribute to its biggest music export.
The City of Greater Geelong had earlier commissioned artist Glenn Smith to do one in 2014, a year after she died of cancer and problems with multiple sclerosis.
The new one, by Ian Lowe, is much bigger, taking up two storeys on a building in McLarty Place, just off the entertainment strip Little Malop St, as part of Revitalising Central Geelong’s Laneways project.
The mural will also feature an “augmented reality experience” in coming months, Council said.
CLICK! AUSSIE DIGITAL SNAPSHOT
Among the stats churned up by Sydney-based market research firm EY Sweeney’s Digital Australia: State of the Nation are:
- music streaming revenue has jumped 90% in the past 12 months
- 80% use Facebook with 30% of these increasing usage in the past 12 months
- 40% cut ties with firms that gave them a bad digital experience
- 33% consider themselves early adopters
- 22% think they spend too much on digital.
The report is available online. An EY Sweeney exec warned that Australians are suffering app fatigue, and that very few apps on a mobile phone are being used on phones, no more than six a day.
MUSIC ACTS SHARE IN WA GRANTS
Music acts were among 12 Western Australian artists who shared in Culture and the Arts (WA)’s Creative Development Grants program pool worth $411,676, to assist them to create new works, expand their profiles and encourage community participation in arts and cultural activities.
Methyl Ethel got $6400 towards European dates, BATS $14,000 for the making their debut album, Spirit of the Street Choir $6724 to perform at the Denmark Festival of the Voices and Tired Lion $13,339 to promote their debut album.
BARNES TAKES STORIES BACK TO SCOTLAND
Much of Jimmy Barnes’ successful memoir Working Class Boy was set in Scotland, in particular the rougher streets of Glasgow, where he grew up.
Hence he’ll slip in his Working Class Boy: Stories and Songs show in Glasgow and Edinburgh when he plays concerts with his band in Glasgow, London, Dublin and Belfast in December.
BIGSOUND INTRODUCES MUSIC TECH SHOWCASE
This September’s sees the introduction of the BIGSOUND Music Tech Showcase.
It is accepting applications from existing and emerging music tech companies with products at a minimum of prototype stage who are looking to showcase to an international audience, try and get help in raising capital or launching their product, and market test their product to get industry feedback.
10 products will be selected for the showcase on Wednesday September 6.
CALLING HEATHCLIFF: KATE BUSH DAY GOES AUSTRALIA-WIDE
Last year, the inaugural Australian version of the global The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever drew 2200 in billowing red dresses to Melbourne’s Myer Music Bowl to recreate Kate Bush’s 4 ½ minute video for the 1978 classic hit Wuthering Heights.
It’s returning on July 15 to Melbourne and expanding to all the capital cities as well as some in NSW.
Proceeds cover the event hosting costs and support charity partners Safe Steps Family Violence Response Center and Alannah & Madeline Foundation to continue to provide vital services to victims of domestic violence.
MUSIC DOCOS IN PERTH FESTIVAL
Scheduled among the titles screened at the 20th Revelation Perth International Film Festival (until July 19) were The Go-Betweens’ Right Here (it made its debut at the Sydney Film Festival last month) and Radio Birdman’s Descent Into The Maelstrom.
ANGUS AND JULIA STONE FACE THE BIG CHILL
Angus and Julia Stone say that their fourth album Snow, due September 15, recreated a process that Rick Rubin taught them when they worked on their self-titled album of 2014.
“That was the first time that we actually started writing together, in the same room, and I guess we took a leaf from that chapter into this record,”explains Angus. “This time round though, every song on the record we wrote together.”
Having sold half a million records in Australia, the Sydney-born siblings produced and largely engineered it themselves, in Angus’s cottage studio, Belafonté, in the Byron Bay hinterland.
“It was quite magical because Angus and I have never spent that much time together, just the two of us,” says Julia.
“There’s always at least an engineer or tour manager but the last phase of writing and recording was just eight weeks of him and me and the quiet of the land. It was a beautiful time.”
Most of the dates on their September 21 – 29 national run are sold out.
LINEUP UNVEILED FOR BRISBANE COMMUNITY CUP
The national Reclink Community Cup hits Brisbane for the second time, this time with the Brisbane Lines (media) and the Rocking Horses (musicians) facing off at Leyshon Park in Yeronga on Sunday July 30.
The actual team members and coaches will be unveiled shortly. But the live entertainment comes from Adele Pickvance, Good Boy, Seja and Velociraptor.
WAMFEST DATES CONFIRMED
With new coordinators Mark Neal and Simon ‘Skinny’ O’Leary in place, plans are still being hatched for this year’s WAMFest and locked in the vault.
But what has been revealed are the dates. These are the WAMFest Showcases between Thursday November 2 and Sunday 5. The WAMAwards are staged on Thursday November 2 while WAMCon is held on Friday 3 and Saturday 4.
LAWYERS CHASING NEWCASTLE LISTENER
Newcastle’s 2HD has been given the go-ahead by Judge Davies of the NSW Supreme Court to appoint their lawyers Stacks Goudkamp to chase up money owed to it by defamatory talkback caller Craig Stephens.
On February 23, 2010 at 3.21 am, Stephens got on the blower and mouthed off to presenter Gary Stewart about how the ABC Radio’s award-winning breakfast presenter Aaron Kearney had been convicted three times in two years for drink driving, and that the ABC should do something, and how dare he keep his licence, etc.
He also claimed the drink driving issue had been highlighted on the front page of the Newcastle Herald, which turned out not to be the case.
Stephens, a regular station caller, later told the court he had got the news from a stranger he met at a truck stop and took him at his word.
Kearney, who’d never been hit for drink driving, sued for defamation, and 2HD settled for $70,000 and a suitably grovelling apology on air ten times over three days.
2HD’s Station Manager of the time, Guy Ashford, thought the station had been set up and hired a private investigator to track down Stephens.
The station then figured that Stephens and his mouth should pay $46,796 of the $106,000 of costs.
The Supreme Court agreed in 2012, but 2HD says nothing has been forthcoming. Hence, the station’s legal eagles are now chasing the dough.
VERONICA TO TAKE BABY BREAK
Triple j’s Drive show will undergo a change next year as Veronica Milsom is pregnant. Milsom revealed the news yesterday afternoon during a bit, recorded during the station’s recent regional jaunt, where she underwent an ultrasound conducted by a bovine vet.
She and Lewis Hobba began working on the show two years ago. Triple j management is working on options for the show. Milsom said, “I’m excited to create a future fan of triple j. That was my main aim, to increase our listenership one child at a time”.
FOO FIGHTERS EDGE TO CHART MILESTONE
Foo Fighters’ Run debuting in the Top 10 of the Billboard Alternative Songs airplay chart has given the band its 23rd Top 10 in that chart.
The magazine says that ties them with U2 for most Top 10s in the chart, with Red Hot Chilli Peppers leading the list with 25th.
LPA ADVERTISING FOR HELPMANNS PRODUCER
While prepping the 2017 Helpmann Awards in Sydney, Live Performance Australia is advertising for a producer for the years 2018 to 2020.
It said, “We are interested in receiving responses from individuals and/or groups, organisations, production houses and event management companies that deliver events of scale.”
LPA is open to discussing different types of producing models during this period. Expressions of Interest close on Friday July 28, more info at http://members.liveperformance.com.au/uploads/files/Helpmann Awards 2018-2020 Expressions of Interest 20170630-1498802927.pdf.
BELLO WINTER MUSIC SELLS OUT
Organisers of the third Bello Winter Music in NSW reported that the event, on the weekend, “was once again a sell-out success that saw thousands of patrons of all ages fill the halls, cafes, clubs and streets of the Mid North Coast town of Bellingen.”
According to Festival Director Glenn Wright, many attendees were repeat patrons, “and bringing their friends and family with them.”
Up to 90 international, national and local musicians played 13 venues. Capacity rooms met Joe Pug, Ben Ottewell, Courtney Marie Andrews and Salmonella Dub.
Festival discoveries included The Teskey Brothers, Ukulele Death Squad, Gold Member, Leah Senior and Radical Son, while the Youth Mentorship winners also did themselves and their mentors proud with their performances.
CREATIVE PARTNERSHIPS OPEN PLUS1 APPLICATIONS
Creative Partnerships Australia, which creates art and investment opportunities, has opened applications for its 2017/18 Plus1 matched funding program.
Last year, it matched over $1 million for 40 organisations. This year’s program has new options for smaller organisations, and increased emphasis on building sustainable and resilient arts organisations.
Applications close on Friday August 11 at creativepartnershipsAustralia.org.au. The site also has instructional videos on how to apply.
MEDIAWORKS REMAINS AT #1 ON NZ RADIO
The latest New Zealand commercial radio ratings showed Meadworks remaining top spot and widening its reach. The GfK Total New Zealand Commercial Radio Survey showed that its nine radio brands were now reaching 2,274,600 listeners every week.
For the first time, The Breeze is NZ’s top rating music station with an 8.2% market share translating to 521,600 listeners. The network’s The Edge, The Rock and More FM were also in the Top 5 of music stations.
AND A FEW OTHER THINGS….
Billboard noted that Los Angeles-based New Zealand producer Joel Little was involved in three albums in the uppermost region of the US charts— Lorde’s Melodrama, Imagine Dragons’ Evolve and Khalid’s American Teen.
Speaking ofLorde, the staris celebrating her 21st birthday on November 7 with plans to down a yardie – traditionally filled with beer, though she’s wondering whether to go with wine. She’ll be touring New Zealand at the time, playing in Dunedin on the big day.
Among entries for the Archibald Prize this year is a painting by Brisbane artist Symone Male of Violent Soho bassist Luke Henry. Taking almost 100 hours to finish, it depicts Henryshirtless and tattoo-resplendent holding a bass guitar he bought during their first US visit seven years ago.
If you see someone looking like Delta Goodrem thumbing a ride on the street, it’s probably her. She had her driver’s licence suspended after going over the speed limit on two occasions in New South Wales.
Boy George is taking his The Voice protégé Hoseah Partsch on Culture Club’s summer tour.
Silverchair’s Ben Gillies and psychic, entrepreneur and reality TV star wife Jackie were briefly back in Newcastle on the weekend from their current base in Melbourne. She was yesterday given the keys to the city by Newcastle City Council.
Paulini has another reason to celebrate when The Bodyguard musical hits Brisbane this month. She told The Gold Coast Bulletin that her boyfriend lives on the Coast, and she flies up from Sydney each week to hang out. They met at a health farm in Thailand 18 months ago. “He’s not a sportsman. He’s not an entertainer. He’s just an amazing regular dude.”
After three years living in Germany and playing yearly piano-bar residencies in Phuket, Thailand, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Kent Eastwood has returned to call Australia home. Before boarding that big Qantas bird home, he hit the studio in Berlin to record his third solo studio album, New Beginnings.
Following the success of its Singapore expansion, Australian video technology startup Shootsta is expanding to the US and UK by early 2018 and scouting a GM for its London office.
Perth band Small Town Heroes are recording in LA with sessions produced by John Feldmann and Blink-182’s Travis Barker. The songs were co-written with an impressive list of names including Twenty One Pilots’ Josh Dun, Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz, The Living End’s Chris Cheney, Rachael West, Fiona Bevan, Nick Bailey and James Bourne of Busted.
Image: former Guvera CEO Claes Loberg
Jobs
