Industrial Strength: July 26
Tony Burke takes Labor’s Arts portfolio …
Tony Burke is Labor’s new Arts Minister, taking over from Mark Dreyfus QC. Burke also takes the environment, water, citizenship and multicultural Australia portfolios. At 47, he is regarded as a solid performer, who after graduating from Sydney University in arts and law, went through the union movement before going into politics at 33.
He twittered as soon as he got his appointment: “Environment, Multicultural Australia, Arts. Three issues that have mattered to me my whole political life. Really happy. #caughtthemall.”
Labor’s election promises to include an extra $80 million over four years for the Australia Council, combining Sounds Australia with the Live Music Office and Australian Music Centre to strengthen live music and make it more exportable (and a $5.4 million increase over four years for this) and $8 million over four years to expand arts and touring in regional Australia.
…and Michelle Rowland is Shadow Communications Minister
Michelle Rowland, the member for Greenway in western Sydney, has taken over the Communications portfolio from Jason Clare, who has been moved to Trade and Investment. Rowland was previously Shadow Minister for Small Business and Citizenship and Multiculturalism. Under the new regime, plans by the Government to initiate media reforms may prove difficult with new independents Derryn Hinch and Pauline Hanson holding the power sway.
Perth gets first NYE heavy music event
Perth gets its first New Year’s Eve heavy rock festival, with Unify, 24Hundred and Red Hill Auditorium teaming up for Redfest. The Amity Affliction are headlining, with the bill including Northlane, Deez Nuts, Make Them Suffer, Hellions and Saviour. It will be held at Red Hill Auditorium, which provides a picturesque backdrop of the Perth cityscape.
M Advertising relaunches, bolsters management team
M Advertising, founded 18 years ago by Emma Triggs as a media buying agency catering to the entertainment market, has relaunched as The M Agency – The Entertainment Experts to better reflect changes in the market.
Triggs says, “We have created an agency to deliver what our clients need to meet their business objectives. It’s a very complex category and each project has a unique set of challenges. You need specialized experience to get it right, including sophisticated targeting for Entertainment audiences. And the ability to deliver campaigns against tight deadlines with regular movement, normally 24-48 hours, is mandatory.”
M has created thousands of campaigns over the years, including live tours for P!nk, AC/DC, Coldplay, Beyonce, Prince, Madonna, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John and Robbie Williams. It created campaigns for albums including all of Adele’s releases, Sia, Rod Stewart, You Am I, Usher, John Farnham, Guy Sebastian and Elvis Presley. It worked with brands as Disney, Sesame Street, The Wiggles, Hi-5, Giggle & Hoot and Mister Maker as well as those in theatre, film, DVD, gaming, festivals, arts, exhibitions, comedy and sport.
M also announced that Emma’s brother Tim Triggs is returning as Partner, Head of Digital. He spent nine years at the agency from 2002 and moved on to senior positions in digital media as News Digital Media, Perform Sports Media Group and The Media Store. Staff numbers at The M Agency have grown by 50% over the last 6-8 months and next month the agency will move to new offices in North Sydney.
Tim Rogers to warm up Adelaide Reclink Community Cup
The second Adelaide Reclink Community Cup (Sunday August 7 at Coopers Stadium, Norwood) has announced that as well as coaching the Rockatoos, You Am I frontman Tim Rogers and his band Draught Dodgers will play the pre-match warm up gig. Kicking off the Cup weekend on Saturday August 6 is a pre-game concert at the Grace Emily Hotel, home of the Adelaide Rockatoos. Joining the Draught Dodgers are local Adelaide acts as the fuzz rock West Thebarton Brothel Party, country /soul Hana Breneki & The Morning Whisky Waltz, singer songwriter Abbey Howlett and bush rock collective of The High Beamers.
At the actual game, kicking off are groove merchants Slick Arnold while jazz afrobeat purveyors Shaolin Afronauts play half time.
The Wheatsheaf, which is sponsoring the media team The Anchors will host the Cup after-party and awards presentations and additionally brewing its smooth creamy Ink Slinger Stout “to give The Anchors superhuman athletic abilities.”
New concert venue for Canberra?
Canberra looks like getting a new 2000-seat theatre, which will showcase major concerts as well as ballet and opera shows. A feasibility study was made in 2009, which showed that an addition to the 1200-seat Canberra Theatre, would be economically viable, according to Cultural Facilities Corporation CEO Harriet Elvin. The ACT Government has approved the theatre in principle, but now comes the hard part of determining where it will be built, and how much specifically it will cost to build the figure $120 million has been bandied around). Like Adelaide, Canberra is missing out on “tens of thousands” of arts and music patrons to Sydney and Melbourne because of its lack of sufficient venues.
More Venue Updates: new bookers, fund raiser, return
* Sydney venue and event management company Kingdom Sounds has added two more venues to its roster. Max Watt’s in Sydney used to be booked by The Venue Collective which is now in the process of winding down operations. Kingdom Sounds’ Director Stephen Sewell says, “Max Watt’s, Sydney has an undeniable history of incredible artists who’ve graced the stages and also during The Forum and Hi-Fi eras. We’re excited to be taking on bookings for the venue and look forward to exponentially increasing the amount of events coming through.”
* The other is the NSW Central Coast’s Long Jetty Hotel, which was recently renovated to include a 450-capacity band room. In the ‘70s it featured shows by INXS, AC/DC and Midnight Oil but drifted out of the spotlight until now.
* Darwin’s Happy Yass, set up by an arts collective, celebrated its 10th anniversary on Saturday with a fundraiser. Ten years ago, five mates decided to put together a home for original music, stealing stuff from builders’ sites to build it. It has lasted a decade but with rising competition from other venues in the city, things are tight. Staff are now on volunteer basis with money raised to renovate the venue.
* Newcastle’s new look Family Hotel has in its latest incarnation gone back to using the name it had for 60 years. In the meantime, it also traded as Duck’s Nuts and Silk.
* The Blackhearts Club at The Forum Theatre, official bar of the 65th Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), which kicks off this week. The Blackhearts, with a speakeasy atmosphere, delivers a range of music and DJ entertainment including Ray Parker Jr (of Ghostbusters fame, doing a DJ set), Jane Clifton, The Dusty Millers and Albrecht La’Brooy. Jazz pianist Mark Fitzgibbon is its official Player-In-Residence, tickling the ivories of the glorious Steinway & Sons concert grand piano most evenings, usually solo but occasionally joined by musical guests.
* So how are Gold Coast bars beating the 3 am lockout? As suggested in this column some weeks back, every venue can extend their hours and trade up to 12 times a year. Promoters have applied for those 12 times by the end of 2016, figuring the Government will panic at the backlash and dump the lockouts. Eleven nights have been approved in Surfers Paradise with 10 “pending” and four green-lighted in Broadbeach.
Australia part of global MTV experiment
MTV Australia played a major role in a global Viacom experiment which involved 30 Viacom employees in the U.S., the U.K. and Australia. A report in Digiday recounted how on July 14, an hour-long music video block on MTV Australia embedded with 50 rotating live streams of people dancing to the music — all on TV. A control room in the UK determined which of the 50 streams would appear on the air next to the music video.
The experiment will lead to the development of new live stream web and video shows to be coordinated by staffers in the three countries. Ross Martin, EVP of marketing strategy and engagement for Viacom said the hour broadcast was “rudimentary. An elegant hour of TV it wasn’t. What’s exciting about it is the behind-the-scenes work that went to it and the coordination among different global offices that opens up a new lane of storytelling for us.”
Creative Partnerships back with Plus 1 funding
Creative Partnerships has opened its 2016/7 round of Plus1 funding for business. It provides matched funding for fund raising campaigns by small to medium arts organisations.
Successful recipients will share in $1.2 million in funding, capped at $50,000 per project. Applicants must run their campaigns between October 14, 2016 to May 19, 2017. Deadline for application is 5pm on August 26.
Among Plus1’s funding success stories, Helpmann Academy focussed on big value sponsors. Griffin Theatre mobilised everyone in the organisation to help redevelop its online presence and build a donation portal. Junction Arts Festival identified and targeted five groups of supporters for their campaign to raise funds for a new venue and new staff.
Gympie Muster goes hi-tech
This year’s Gympie Music Muster in Queensland (Thursday August 25 to Sunday 28) has hit the “hi-tech” button, unveiling a number of new initiatives. The 12,000 festival goers will be given RFID wristbands to make their visit a cashless experience to make buying things on-site quicker and easier. A dedicated Muster app, introduced for the first time, provides info including maps, performance schedules, artist profiles and songs, festival news, weather and FAQ’s.
Increased wireless connectivity on site “not only makes the Muster experience more ‘user friendly’, but you might also need to whip out your phone for a rare Pokémon Go appearance,” the festival said.
Muster Executive Director David Gibson commented, “We’re constantly in search of ways to make the Muster experience a little bit more enjoyable for our Muster Mates and bring down the barrier of logistics so everyone can really just enjoy the artists and the atmosphere we create, and not be burdened by drink tickets and all of those bottlenecks.”
More Festival Updates: returns, ballots, dramas, noms, funds
* Love Police confirmed that Melbourne’s alt-country and Americana Out On The Weekend is back for a third year, landing on Saturday October 15 at the Seaworks site in seaside Williamstown. Headlining is Marlon Williams & the Yarra Benders, making their only appearance in their hometown for the rest of this year. To mark the 20th anniversary of Denise Hyland’s Twang program on community radio 3RRR, it will broadcast live from the main stage.
* The Parkes Elvis Festival won the Festivals and Events category, edging out the Tamworth Country Music Festival, at the 2016 Regional Tourism Awards on Saturday night.
* The official ticket ballot for NYE On The Hill has opened with ticket numbers capped at 2500. Thirty acts will play between 2 pm on Friday December 30 and 3 pm on Sunday January 1. People who register for the ballot can buy tickets from 9 am on Thursday August 4. The lineup is announced a week later. Any queries, email thefarmer@thehillsarealive.com.au.
* Last weekend’s Splendour in The Grass in Byron Bay was * another success. But there were six things promoters could have done without: a public transport snafu on the first night leading to cold, tired and thirsty people stranded for three hours and which Splendour made amends for by providing them free bus travel after that. The Avalanches bailing out of the triple j broadcast two hours before. A snake spotted near the Mix Up Stage. Social media complaints about long queues for the portaloos. Reports, heatedly denied by Splendour, that it might not have a home in 2018 as its five-year trial approved by the NSW Government to operate from the North Byron Parklands runs out next year – but they’re in discussions to extend the term.
* After a mini-me try out at this year’s Vivid LIVE, a full version of Dress Up Attack! will stage in Sydney on September. 17 at the Community Club, Marrickville .The arts and music initiative is for big and small kids, offering performances, theatre and workshops. Live music is from Kimya Dawson (The Moldy Peaches, The Bundles), Custard, Bunny Racket, Angie Who and Benny Time.
The National Institute of Dramatic Art will host workshops with sessions for age groups of 2-5 and 6-8, stimulating children’s imagination and introducing them to performance-based storytelling. Paint What You Hear will host a series of workshops in collaboration with musicians Erica Rasmussen and visual artist Zakiya Kurdi. Theatre performances will be put on by Awesome People Reading Books.
* Canberra International Music Festival is recruiting a new General Manager for the 2017 instalment (and beyond). Full description is on the festival’s website, applications close at midday this Friday (July 29).
* The month-long Winterlude, in Ballarat in regional Victoria, wound up after achieving its attendance target of 100,000.
* The 2015 Tyalgum Music Festival is a finalist in the 2016 Art Music Awards for Excellence in a Regional Area, the second time it was nominated. It vies against Moorambilla Voices for their 10th anniversary season, Queensland Music Festival for Under This Sky, and TURA New Music for the 2015 Reflection Tour to regional and remote Australia.
* Artist Fund applications have opened until September 7 for the Adelaide Fringe 2017 (February 17 to March 19) to help indie artists present their work. Up to $40,000 goes to selected individuals, groups and organisations for travel, freight and accommodation, artist fees or salaries for creative and technical personnel, venue and equipment hire, marketing and publicity, costumes and materials, Fringe artist registration, and administration. See www.adelaidefringe.com.au/adelaide-fringe-artist-fund or www.facebook.com/adelaidefringe.
Fringe Director and CEO Heather Croall said the organisation was very serious about its responsibility to foster new, exciting Australian talent. “Artists at the Fringe are taking a risk and using their own funds to present a show – the Artist Fund grants can help reduce the pressure,” she explained.
* After its successful debut in Sydney earlier this year with a shift of 100,000 tickets, the bands and barbeques Meatstock is expanding to New Zealand. The two-day event is held at ASB Showgrounds in Auckland on February 25 and 26. “New Zealand is well know for it’s amazing food and wine, but we think low and slow barbecue is something very new and exciting that Kiwis will love,” reckons Meatstock co-Director Simon Luke. Along with blues and country acts, there will be butchery demonstrations and workshops. After NZ, Meatstock heads to Melbourne in April and Sydney in May.
Queensland, Tasmania, seeking ways to ban Wicked Campers
The Queensland Government has found ways to get Wicked Campers and their offensive slogans off the road. Initially it was thought that a review of the anti-discrimination act could solve the problem. But a review by the Queensland Law Reform Commission never took place. It was a followed parliamentary committee inquiry. Currently, the Government’s strategy is new legislation whereby commercial registration holders “who fail to comply with determinations by the Advertising Standards Bureau” face having the registration of those vehicles cancelled.
Meantime, although a motion to ban the vehicles from campsites in the Break O’Day municipality was voted down by the council, Infrastructure Minister Rene Hidding is investigating regulatory or legislative options.
Number Crunching
22% sales jump in the United States for Sia’s This Is Acting album, selling 24,000 units last week to move from #14 to #12. It is its highest US chart position since its #4 debut on February 20.
1 bodyguard hired for One Direction’s Harry Styles to protect him from “crazed fans” while he films the Dunkirk movie.
#5 ranking for the US city of Cleveland on Shazam (up from #26) after the Republican National Convention was held there, and people seem to have “discovered” Queen’s We Are The Champions, which was played as the intro.
Glenn Wheatley launches 24-hour digital sports radio
Glenn Wheatley, who was part of the consortium which introduced FM radio to Australia in the late ‘70s with EON FM, continues to move the goalposts for radio. In recent years, he revived the EON name to own 92.7 MIX FM and 91.9 SEA FM on the Sunshine Coast.
Last week he launched EON Sports Radio digital network in partnership with John Wall of Aquire Learning. It has a deal with England’s UK’s TalkSport to locally broadcast Premier League matches with other deals covering the Socceroos, National Basketball League and English FA Cup Games.
Regional Victoria gets $10 million boost
The Victorian State Government announced $10 million over three years for 33 regional performing arts centres and art galleries as part of Creative Victoria’s Regional Partnerships programs. The Government explained, “This boost will ensure access to high quality arts and cultural experiences for communities across the state, increasing employment and tourism opportunities in regional Victoria and enable regional cultural facilities to leverage further investment and income.”
Support for seven venues will encourage more families to be part of their program. Ararat Performing Arts Centre will host a hip hop festival to bring local young people together with professional artists. Ballarat’s Her Majesty’s Theatre will create an interactive audio experience for primary school students to explore the history, and imagine the future, of Australia’s oldest purpose-built theatre.
Bairnsdale’s Forge Theatre and Arts Hub will put on workshops on putting on a performance. Mildura Arts Centre will use its grant to partner with local tertiary arts students to create music, dance and performance works as well as exhibitions, sound and light installations that will transform the venue. More information regarding successful recipients can be found at www.creative.vic.gov.au.
Ten get CBAA Conference Scholarships
Ten community radio reps were recipients of the 2016 CBAA Conference Scholarships (valued at almost $1,100 each) to cover their costs of attending the CBAA Conference in Melbourne between November 10 to 13 with 300 others. Each recipient also receives a 2-year Hindenburg Broadcaster licence for their station, which can be installed on up to two station machines.
CBAA CEO Jon Bisset says, “These scholarships focus on helping those attend the conference who mightn’t otherwise be able to, and bringing a diversity of voices to the table at this national gathering of community radio hearts and minds. I’m very happy to invite this group to join us in Melbourne, which is made up of 10 women, from all States and Territories, with the majority from regional or rural stations. The group includes three young people, and recipients from Indigenous and RPH stations. We are looking forward to having them there in November, especially those who haven’t had the opportunity to attend in the past.”
2016 Scholarship Recipients:
Sarah Hammond, 88.9FM Hills Radio, SA
Becky Cole, CHY FM, NSW
Gemma Sidney, Vision Australia, WA
Alison Hanly, Main FM, VIC
Erin Liddle, CAAMA, NT
Rheanna Leschke, Valley FM 95.9, QLD
Fiona Branch, 4RFM, QLD
Cassandra Klabbers, Smart FM 99.1, VIC
Diane Hamilton, Radio 4YOU, QLD
Pam Rolley, King Island Radio 100.5 FM, TAS
Vale
Perth club DJ and promoter DJ Suave (Jaime Fernandez) popularised the Latino sounds of hip hop on his playlists and helping to tour these acts with his company Suave Productions with business partner Don Juan Entertainment. In 2012, Suave made legal headlines after he manipulated Pitbull’s Bon, Bon by adding an audio drop” of Pitbull saying “Mr 305 and I am putting it right down with DJ Suave” as a pay-back when Pitbull pulled out of an Australian tour in 2008. Pitbull sued, and a court ordered Suave to pay $10,000. In totally independent circumstances, last week, WA police were investigating his “suspicious” death after his body was found in his Tuart Hill apartment. DJ Suave was 41.
And A Few Other Things …
In an interview with New Zealand’s Waikato Times, promoter Paul Dainty revealed he’s negotiating to bring Guns N’ Roses and Adele to Australia and New Zealand. Alas, no time lines were provided.
Jessie J confirmed to the Live with Kelly radio show that she will not return to The Voice in the UK or Australia. She said being a judge was “time consuming”. She added, “If I’m honest with you I get to the point where I’m in the chair and I just want to sing. ‘I want to tell you how to make it better, I want to coach you, but I want to make it a duet’.” Aside from working on her third album, she also wants to do more movies, after providing a voice to the new Ice Age movie.
Expect two more memoirs from Australian music names. Robert Forster’s Grant and I: Inside and Outside the Go-Betweens will shed light on the relationships and the 1989 demise of the GoBs, and due out on Penguin on August 24.
Meantime, Catherine Britt reveals that her tome is so personal that she dismissed the idea of using a ghostwriter.
NSW South Coast troubadour Hein Cooper hit 1 million streams on Spotify with his song Rusty. While playing a pub in Sydney, he was spotted by Franz Schuller, manager of Canadian band Half Moon Run. Schuller signed him up for management, and took him to Montreal cut to his first album The Art Of Escape, with producer Marcus Paquin (Arcade Fire, The National). The album, out last April, not only picked up triple j airplay but sold well in Germany and France. As a result, Cooper is currently touring Europe on the summer festival circuit, and then hits Germany in October for a club run.
One of the surprises of last weekend’s Splendour In The Grass was Guy Sebastian’s guest appearance with electro-pop act Paces at the packed out Tiny Dancer set. Sebastian, who got a chanting welcome even as he did a pre-show soundcheck of his keyboards, got a standing ovation.
Iggy Azalea posted a pic of herself with her plastic surgeon Dr. Ghavami on Instagram thanking him for her “fabulously perky boobs”.
‘70s Australian soul singer Max Merritt has been hospitalised in his long time base of Los Angeles. He’s had to pull out of the Go!! Show Gold retro tour and replaced by Glenn Shorrock. Merritt’s manager Wally Bishop announced, “At this time, I have no idea the extent of his illness and he is waiting on test results. I know that he was so looking forward to catching up with everybody and will be bitterly disappointed that this wont happen.”
Friends and colleagues of Brisbane singer-songwriter Jackie Marshall launched a GoFundMe after she was diagnosed with breast cancer. More than half the target was achieved in the first 24 hours. This is Marshall’s second battle with the Big C.
Self-managed 24-year-old progressive Sydney guitarist and songwriter Plini has wracked up 5 million views on YouTube. After a strong run of US shows, he is now in Europe, touring with Animals as Leaders and Intervals. His new album Handmade Cities is out on August 26 after which he embarks on a headlining tour through Australia. Those who pre-order the album are up to win a strandberg* Boden OS guitar and Skype guitar lessons. The album includes the
February single, Every Piece Matters, which Plini used to raise over $7000 for RawImpact.Org, an Australian non-profit working in Cambodia to create sustainable livelihoods for families living in poverty.
Adelaide trio Germein Sisters, who made waves on their last European tour, are returning to that part of the world. Ronan Keating has asked them to open for him in Germany in September, taking in Munich, Frankfurt, Bochum and Hamburg.
After doing some writing in London, Samantha Jade is moving there to live for six months. There are rumblings she might be Australia’s 2017 Eurovision entrant.
After 35 years and a couple of Top 20 singles, Hamilton, New Zealand band Knightshade are packing it in with a final show on August 6 at the Altitude Bar. Lead singer and founder Wayne Elliot is battling an aggressive form of asbestos related cancer that affects the lungs.
Mark Parton, who quit 2CC Canberra in December, is believed to be seeking a spot on the Liberals’ ticket for Tuggeranong in the ACT election. Last year, when asked if he had any political aspirations, he replied the chances of his standing for this year’s elections were “0% to 2%.”
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