Industrial Strength: November 17
Image:Martin Scorsese & Mick Jagger
Music part of Foxtel’s summer programming
Foxtel’s music content over summer includes Australian premieres.
To celebrate Max turning 15 on December 1, Celebrating Max – 15 Years In 15 Days screens between December 1 and 15 at 10 am and 9 pm each day. The sessions include Coldplay, Jimmy Barnes, K.D LANG, John Butler Trio, Neil Finn, Powderfinger, Slash and The Angels. Aired dally is 15 of the best Top 100s including and One Hit Wonders, Home Grown Legends BBQ Anthems.
Premiering on Sunday December 6 at 5 pm is the 30-minute [V] Island Parties, with Australian and overseas names performing against the Sydney Harbour Bridge backdrop. First party has Swedish electro pop duo Galantis on decks.
Another premiere is the 2 ½ hour special From Broadway To La Scala on Foxtel Arts on Thursday December 31 at 7.30 pm. Classical singers David Hobson, Teddy Tahu Rhodes, Greta Bradman and musical theatre’s Lisa McCune recorded songs from the last two centuries at Sydney Opera House this month.
Fox8 is expressing from the US the final season of American Idol on Thursdays and Fridays from January 14 at 8.30 pm.
The Martin Scorsese-Mick Jagger(pictured) produced Vinyl series will premiere in February. The sex and drugs drama centred around the 1970s New York music industry is seen through the eyes of a record label president Richie Finestra as he tries to save his label and his soul at the dawn of punk, disco, and hip-hop.
Perth getting new venue The Sewing Room
The City of Perth’s new nine councillors unanimously voted for the setting up of new 320-capacity live music venue The Sewing Room. It is the initiative of Patrick Coward and Martin Black who run the Margaret River Chocolate Company. They’re turning the empty basement of their building at 317 Murray Street into a performance space, nightclub and bar. The late 1880s building was once the manufacturing and sewing room for the Pierucci fashion empire.
A launch date will be fixed once liquor licensing is approved. “We’re building the space around the music,” say the duo, explaining that the basement has been untouched since the ‘60s, and they will even leave the holes in the ceiling. It’s for all types of acts, and with a Steinway piano for when visiting stars feel like a jam session after their concerts.
Sugar no longer on the market
Adelaide nightclub Sugar is no longer on the market. Owner Driller Jet Armstrong had announced in autumn that he wanted to move on to new projects and embrace a new lifestyle to deal with his cancer. Now he tells Rip It Up that he’s now cancer-free and, after organising the first Victoria Square Art Market, he wants to get back to clubland lifestyle and keep running the Rundle Street club.
More Venue Updates: court cases, tributes, re-openings
* The Supreme Court accepted a claim against Gilligan’s nightclub in Cairns by catering company Mad Dogs for breaching a three year agreement. Mad Dogs had sued for $500,000 claiming intimidation to drive it out of business. The matter returns to court on November 27 to decide the amount Gilligan’s must cough up.
* The lengthy wait for public transport after AC/DC’s show at the QSAC in Brisbane re-ignited grumbles that authorities have failed its promises to fix the issue since U2’s show in 2006 and Pearl Jam’s in 2009.
* Sydney DJ Ray Isaac brings back the Madonna Bar next year to mark her visit. It opens on March 4 on the eve of the Mardi Gras and a concert after-party on March 19 at The Burdekin on Oxford Street Darlinghurst. Isaac will play rare Madonna tracks while Madonna impersonator Madanni appears.
* Arts ACT is inviting applications from arts and community organisations for support towards the hiring of Llewellyn Hall External Link to present music concerts in 2016. Deadline is December 4, contact artsACT on 6207 2384.
* Rockhampton’s Heritage Hotel sold for $1.4 million. It’s not known if the new owner will continue to showcase live music.
* The historic Uraidla Hotel in the Adelaide Hills is set to reopen after being bought by winery owners Ed and Julie Peter who recently also revived Crafers Hotel. The Peters will renovate the two-storey 1880s place, which closed suddenly three years ago and has been boarded up since.
* WA’s Cottesloe Beach Hotel aroused the ire of at least one resident who complained about the level of live music as it celebrated Melbourne Cup with bands and a horse on its grounds during the event.
* For the last show of the year for Sydney’s Eastern Lounge, promoter David Keogh dedicated the night to one of the club’s most fervent supporters. Janet Babula, who would book a table each month for the past four years, passed away on October 31 a week after her 65th birthday.
* Matthew Bega, owner of Townsville’s Crown on Palmer, says the venue continues to trade despite the company Crown on Palmer Pty Ltd being placed in voluntary liquidation on October 26.
Macquarie Radio becomes Macquarie Media
Macquarie Radio Network Limited (MRN) has changed its name to Macquarie Media Limited, after shareholders voted for the proposal at its annual general meeting. The idea was mooted by executives after its April 1 merger with Fairfax Radio Network (FRN).
“MRN needs to keep evolving to capitalise on commercial opportunities in the media landscape and to fully realise the potential created by the merger,” explained Executive Chairman Russell Tate. “The name ‘Macquarie Media Limited’ sets our new ambition in a world where traditional media is only part of the puzzle whilst acknowledging the origins of our company.”
Germein Sisters at Eurovision … for Switzerland
Adelaide act Germein Sisters have teamed with Switzerland’s The Alphorn Trio Fröschental to represent Switzerland in Eurovision 2016. They recorded a song together called Sunshine to enter it in the competition.
Study: Netflix continues to grow in Oz
Research by Roy Morgan shows that Netflix continues to be embraced by Australians. In October the service hit 1,039,000 household subscriptions. A month after its March launch the figure was 286,000 households. It’s closing in on Foxtel which is in 2.4 million households.
According to the Morgan study, the younger tech-savvy demographic lead the move to Netflix. As a result, the number of Australians who bought a DVD during April to September dropped 19.3% from 2014, while those renting fell to 12.4% from 15.3%. The rate of movie/TV downloads declined from 10.8% to 9.1%.
Alberts moving base
Alberts has taken up a lease at the 600 sq.m Level 4 at 68-78 Wentworth Avenue in Surry Hills, Sydney. It was in Neutral Bay until the premises were closed.
Meanwhile over at the Media i Awards…
This year’s Media i Awards, set up in 2011 to recognise the important role media sales reps play in media advertising, was voted for by 1,760 agency pros. Among winners:
Sales Representative of the Year – Radio
WA: Clare Porter, Southern Cross Austereo
SA: Libby Collison, Nova Entertainment
Qld: Linda Smith, Australian Radio Network
Vic: Ben McMillan, Nova Entertainment
NSW: Rhys Mugdan, Australian Radio Network
2015 Teams Winners List
WA: APN Outdoor
SA: MCN/TEN
Qld: Mi9
Vic: APN Outdoor
NSW: Nova Entertainment
WA Government announces $3.1m regional tour fund
The WA Government announced a new $3.1 million Regional and Remote Touring Fund to increase the number and variety of performing arts in regional WA. The fund is part of the $24 million Creative Regions program.
The idea of the new fund is that regional communities get a say in who tours their towns. Culture and the Arts Minister John Day told TMN that, “Applicants will need to demonstrate that their tour is supported by two or more towns or remote communities in the State. This will allow local communities to determine the types of shows they would like to see in their region.”
Books Update: NZ photos, Sunbury, Parkinson memories
Shhh… The Music Is Talking has 200 pages of photos of New Zealand acts by Alexander Hallag, and due out on December 15. Austrian-born US-raised Hallag made his name photographing international names before moving to NZ. He spent the last five years shooting all its major names including … Lorde at her second show at Mighty Mighty in Wellington which sold out in 45 seconds.
The pre-release buzz about Sunbury co-founder Peter Evans’ book about the legendary Victorian festival, is over its attention to detail. We hear its release next year might coincide with the release on CD for the first time of the Triple-Sunbury album which grandiosely launched Mushroom Records.
Penning his memoirs is veteran singer Doug Parkinson. He’s using his three year journalist cadetship at the Sydney Daily Telegraph in the mid-60s (he threw it as he was making too much money from playing 10 gigs a week). Parkinson hopes to have it out next year to coincide with his 70th birthday.
Black Arts Market returns after two years
Black Arts Market makes a return next November after a two-year hiatus. It is in Carriageworks 2016 program, and curated by Hetti Perkins and Jonathan Jones. It used to be part of indigenous festival Corroboree Sydney which was axed after a funding dispute with the NSW Government’s tourism and events agency Destination NSW. There is talk that Arts NSW may cast Corroboree a lifeline.
Adelaide arts business hub The Mill is saved
Adelaide’s arts and business incubator hub The Mill – which has 40 new businesses in its space interacting creatively – was set to close when it fell victim to its own success. Amber Cronin and Erin Fowler found their financial resources stretched and decided not to continue. But Premier and Arts Minister Jay Weatherill chipped in $20,000 and Committee for Adelaide $10,000.
Blues On Broadbeach generates $18m to economy
A report to the Gold Coast Council showed that the Blues On Broadbeach festival injected $18 million into the local economy (up 12% from 2014) after drawing 127,000 over four days. The strategy of a free festival in 2002 by the Broadbeach Alliance to draw more people to the area has worked. Local businesses doubled their turnovers. The Alliance’s CEO Jan McCormick said that local hotel bookings were almost full for next year’s event in May, in anticipation that “one of the biggest blues names in the world” is to be announced as headliner.
RADF calls for committee members
59 councils across Queensland are calling community members with arts leanings to join Regional Arts Development Fund (RADF) committee. It invests in arts and cultural experiences on locally determined priorities.
Darwin Festival expanding
The multi-arts Darwin Festival is looking for a new General Manager. More info from current GM Mark Crees on 08 8943 4206 or [email protected] by November 27.
The festival is also seeking two voluntary non-executive board members with entrepreneurial expertise.
Arts SA contemporary music grants info night
The next round of Contemporary Music grants through Arts SA, for projects after March 1, closes on December 4. An info session is held on Wednesday November 25 at St Paul’s Creative Centre (200 Pulteney Street, Adelaide) 5.30pm – 6.30pm. It is followed by industry networking night BANTER.
Christmas hope on digital radio…
Sydney’s Hope Media’s 24 hour Christmas music streaming service Christmas Hope is back for its seventh year. Aside from familiar carols and holiday music, the playlist covers contemporary stuff including Elvis, Michael Buble, Taylor Swift, Blind Boys of Alabama and Paul Kelly. Hope Media’s Android and iPhone apps are updated to stream Hope 103.2, Inspire Digital and Fresh.
…while ACF pushes for Christmas gift giving
The Australian Cultural Fund, a collective funding platform for artists, is encouraging those needing to raise money for gigs and projects to ask supporters to donate as a Christmas gift. “Much more interesting than a new pair of socks!” it declares.
Melbourne’s Taste reunite for two shows
The original lineup of Melbourne glam-rock band Taste is reuniting for two shows – at Sydney’s Bridge Hotel (November 28) and Melbourne’s Ding Dong Lounge (December 2). The band has an album Life On Earth due out in February.
Taste members formed the band in 1975 while in their teens, with their glam look giving them appearances on Countdown. They had a series of hits and the albums Taste Tickle Your Fancy and Knights Of Love. A chance meeting with Queen firmed up a close friendship: Queen blasted out their hit Boys Will Be Boys on the PA before their A Night at the Opera shows. The Brits approached their US label boss Seymour Stein to sign them to his Sire Records. Plans were formulated for Taste to tour the US with Queen. Guitarist Ken Murdoch told TMN, “Publicity in the US had begun but the band had broken up by then.”
Afterwards, drummer Virgil Donati went to America and became recognised in jazz circles. Bassist Michael Tortoni (nee Gemini) ran jazz club Bennett’s Lane and the Melbourne Jazz Festival. Murdoch toured his Piano Man show. Guitarist Joey Amenta played with Moving Pictures, Dear Enemy, Wendy & the Rocketts and Uncanny X-Men.
Two new festivals
Melbourne gets a hard rock festival next year. The inaugural Rolling Thunder is held on February 20 at Kryal Castle, 90 minutes out of the city. US band The Sword headlines a bill that includes Clowns, American Sharks, Beastwars (playing their only Australian show), Radio Moscow, Kings Destroy, Salems Pot, Holy Serpent, Warped, Wolfpack, Fuck the Fitzroy Doom Scene, Los Hombres Del Diablo and Child.
Another international festival brand making its Australian debut is dance pop ‘90s Mania. It hits five national theatres (March 11 to 19) with international headliners Snap!, Corona, Culture Beat and C + C Music Factory.
More Festival Updates: Moo dates, sellouts, gripes about agents
* The regional Groovin’ The Moo announced its 2016 itinerary. It starts Saturday April 23 at Maitland Showground in NSW, then the University of Canberra (24), Oakbank Racecourse, SA (25), Bendigo’s Prince Of Wales Showground (30), Townsville Cricket Grounds (May 1) Bunbury’s Hay Park WA (7). The tour is produced nationally by Cattleyard Promotions and with Perth’s Sunset Events in Oakbank and Bunbury. The lineup is unveiled on January 28 through triple j, street press and social media, and tickets are on sale February 2.
* After Totem Onelove’s success this year with the inaugural three-city Atlantis, the trance festival is confirmed to return to Sydney and Melbourne in March.
* Mullum Music in NSW (November 19 – 22) announced that tickets for its Gala Opening Night sold out. Festival Director Glenn Wright says tickets are tracking well ahead of previous years, declaring “Eight years on and going strong!”
* Alistair Cranney, co-Director of South Australia’s cancelled Gorgeous, told the Adelaide Advertiser that he would have lost $60,000 to $100,000 if it had gone ahead this month. He said a major problem was “agents just wanting ridiculous amounts of money to book people. I was offered Paul Kelly and they wanted $100,000 for him. I love Paul Kelly but he’d already done two shows in SA this year. A lot of those people would not be inclined to pay money to see him again.
“We got pushed really hard to take Angus and Julia Stone, they still wanted $80,000 for that. Interestingly, we got offered them a year earlier and they wanted $120,000 and they kept trying to tell me the reason they wanted less this year was because they were being nice.”
* New Zealand’s Rhythm and Vines, held from December 30, slapped a ban on BYO drinks to camp grounds after a riot last year at the adjoining BW Summer Festival. Raging drunks overturned cars and set tents alight. This year, R&V will keep booze prices down to as low as $3 so patrons remain on site to be monitored by security rather than sneak off to nearby towns. The camping ground where the riot took place has also been closed with all campers now on site.
CBAA issues statement over 3CR “invasion”
The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia issued a statement expressing its “full support” and its “sadness and disappointment” at an invasion of Melbourne 3CR’s premises. On November 1, members of the United Patriots Front (UPF) barged in, filming volunteers, and posting it on their Facebook page. They had earlier made a visit to the Melbourne Anarchists Club.
3CR provides an alternate political voice to community groups including Muslims, migrants, indigenous people, unions and queers. The CBAA stated, “We totally reject these tactics of intimidation and express our solidarity with other groups subjected to their harassment and vilification.”
NUMBER CRUNCHING
$2,552,004 raised by Southern Cross Austereo’s Give Me 5 for Kids during its 2015 campaign.
9 million vinyl records sold in the US during first half of 2015.
$50,000 winning bid at LGBT charity auction for a piano licked personally by Miley Cyrus.
6 billion daily views estimated for Snapchat.
$4 billion extra revenue expected for the NSW liquor industry after the State Government approved trading on Boxing Day.
Cairns Airport introduces music
Cairns Airport is the latest to introduce musicians playing for passengers as part of a “warmth and relaxation” strategy. Music Friday has local acts curated by vocal coach Keesha McLean entertaining outgoing passengers at its T2 terminal between 8.30 am to 11.30 am. In December, the program widens to Mondays.
Vale
Guitarist Glen Barrie emerged in Brisbane’s hardcore scene with Ashes of December before joining As Paradise Falls in 2010. Like the rest of the band, Barrie was hungry for world domination. Within four years, they’d released the Seasides and Suicides and Save Yourself EPs (the latter debuted the iTunes Metal chart at #5). They toured hard, hit New Zealand this year and, after signing to US-based Lafayette Agency, were set for their first US tour in early 2016.
APF headed to Bangkok to record their debut album at Karma Sound Studios, and were in the final run of sessions. Morale was high, with the band very happy with the results. They said, “Glen was living his dream, loving life and very excited for the birth of his son who is due early next year.” Barrie went to sleep and, in the words of his wife Cassandra, “didn’t wake up.” He was 26. As Paradise Falls set up a donation page for his family with $100,000 targeted at https://www.gofundme.com/ks9hg54s. In five days, it hit $20,000.
Brisbane-based Kev Batten began at Australasian Retail Radio Network as a radio presenter and audio tech. He then became involved in radio Seabillion.com and, as a hypnotherapist & intuitive healer, was also part of 4BC’s The Paranormal Panel. Batten died of a heart attack at 63.
Graham Bowra was one of 6PR Perth’s Good Guys in the 1960s and early ‘70s. His wife Janice told the station’s Chris Ilsley, “His experiences certainly fulfilled a lot of his dreams. He was just nuts about radio, put a microphone in his hand all his life and he would just come alive, take it away and he would go into withdrawals.” He wrote novels, worked as Humphrey B. Bear and finished his memoirs. He passed following a “long and difficult illness”.
Steve Cairns, GM of UBET Radio TAB in Brisbane, previously worked at RSN in Victoria for 19 years. In May, he returned to Queensland to join Radio TAB as their GM. UBET CEO Barrie Fletton cited his “fantastic enthusiasm”, adding “I will miss his good humour, knowledge and capability.” Steve Cairns died overnight in his sleep from a heart attack aged 53.
And A Few Other Things…
So just why did Jessie J’s corporate gig for Microsoft in Sydney end up with her just playing as an acoustic duo rather than her full band.
AC/DC’s former drummer Phil Rudd might be waiting to catch up with the band when their tour hits New Zealand. However AC/DC don’t have any intentions. No, was the brusque answer when we pitched the question.
Speaking of which, rumours swept through Wellington that Rhianna had slipped into the city last week. Apparently to work on her sci-fi flick Valerian at Weta Digital although it doesn’t start shooting until January. The story fizzed out when (a) no one in Wellington ever saw her and, (b) she was spotted at Italian eatery Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica during that time.
Olivia Newton-John isn’t someone you’d expect on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart. But she’s topped it for the first time featured on DJ producer Dave Aude’s You Have to Believe, an interpretation of Our Livvy’s 1980 chart topper Magic from her movie Xanadu. It also features ONJ’s daughter Chloe Lattanzi.
ONJ told Billboard, “It was actually Chloe’s idea to rework Magic and I was thrilled, as she is not only a great singer but a talented writer. It was a great collaboration across the board! And, a fun fact is that I met Chloe’s dad on the set of Xanadu, so, without that film, Chloe wouldn’t be here. She was the real ’magic’ that came out of that film!”
Mollie McClymont of The McClymonts announced that she and husband Aaron are in the family way by posting on Facebook a pic of herself with paintbrush with the simple message “Guess what? We thought it was time to start painting the nursery.”
The murder trial of Canberra punk identity Nicholas Sofer-Schreiber began in the ACT Supreme Court. Christopher Navin, his one time flatmate, is charged with stabbing him 29 times at his home on Boxing Day 2013.
Being a social media phenomenon isn’t all that fun. Perth’s Troye Sivan crammed visits to Washington DC, Toronto, New York and London within one week. So by the time came for two shows in Australia, his body was sending out warning messages. He developed acute laryngitis which developed sinusitis. “This is the sickest I’ve been in my life,” he groaned as doctors banished him to bed for four days. The Sydney Metro Theatre date was cancelled hours before, as was last Sunday’s Perth’s Astor Theatre … the one which sold out in under a minute, and to which record label executives, media and family were flying in for.
Gang of Youths lead the nominations for the second AU Live Music Awards with six mentions with Meg Mac following with four. Up for Live Act of the Year areBad//Dreems, Gang of Youths, Hiatus Kaiyote, The Paper Kites and The Smith Street Band. Best Festival will be decided upon from Falls, Groovin’ The Moo, Laneway, Splendour In The Grass and WOMADelaide.
Lorde spent her 19th birthday working in a New York recording studio on her second album – and being locked out of her hotel room after forgetting her room key. She got a huge bouquet of white roses from Givenchy Artistic Director Riccardo Tisci while pop band Bleachers sent a layered Momofuku Milk Bar cake. She did have time to head to the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund awards where she was photographed with the fashion A-team and appeared on Saturday Night Live singing with Disclosure and Sam Smith. This Thursday she’ll attend the Vodafone NZ Music Awards in Auckland, for which she’s up for two gongs.
WAM’s Marketing & Communication Officer Aarom Wilson, riding high on the success of the WAM Festival, was getting a late night kebab when four idiots assaulted him and left him hospitalised. He reports, “Fingers crossed it looks likely I’ll come away with no long-term brain damage, though proper recovery time with no mental exertion is required. Speaking is also currently difficult.”
Toowoomba’s Empire Theatre is hosting a concert by world music performers on December 12 to raise funds to rebuild a Nepali school devastated after the April earthquake. It is organised by owners of the Sofra Turkish Cuisine whose staff include a number of Nepalese. The concert will feature Spirit of Bhakti, MZAZA, Gabe and Cecilia Brandolini, Tenzin Choegyal and Dheeraj Shrestha. The show is split in two, with the restaurant putting on dinner for attendees between.
Spotted at Cold Chisel’s Cairns Convention Centre gig: Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop (stopping over on her way to Papua New Guinea) with Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch and Mulgrave MP Curtis Pitt.
ABC Radio Perth breakfast presenter Eoin Cameron told The Sunday Times he might not be able to return to radio after taking leave in August. A car accident in October 2013 caused three crushed vertebrae and lead to severe back problems. He’s had six bouts of surgery, with another next month.
When Maitland NSW teenager Jorja Hope heard she was going to deaf, one of her blues was that she could no longer hear Taylor Swift sing again. Her twin sister Chloe started an online campaign for her to meet Swift at the Sydney show. Nova 96.9 invited them to the studio for a tour – and once there, sprung the news on air that Swift had agreed to meet her.
Between the release of Brisbane psych-folk-rock collective Golden Age of Ballooning’s debut album and the recent EP We Will Never Let You Go, they went through a split up of the original lineup and a regroup, and burned through 14 countries, 2 crushed Mitsubishi Magnas, 7 breakups, 6 bands, 1 cancelled engagement and 20 Airbnb’s. Their latest video for new single Life on Fire was shot at new Fortitude Valley hub The Foundry by director Luis Bran.
Sydney-via-Adelaide-via-London triple j Unearthed winner Jess Kent may have a world first. The video for debut single Get Down, directed by artist Shane Sakkeus, is composed entirely of emojis. Kent originally wanted a lyric video. “The emojis were always in the background, then it eventually became obvious that the words themselves were not necessary. The language of ’emojis’ is so global and so intertwined in our everyday conversations that it just seemed integral to the overall message of the song. I think the video, as it is, says everything that I wanted it to.”