Industrial Strength: Part 2

LEE KERNAGHAN GETS CMC HALL OF FAME TREATMENT

Foxtel’s CMC (Country Music Channel)’s 7^th CMC Music Awards will honour 2 million album seller Lee Kernaghan with the Hall of Fame award, and added him to the list of performers alongside Little Big Town, Kip Moore, The MyClymonts and Travis Collins.

The awards will take place for the first time at The Star Gold Coast (currently Jupiters Gold Coast, transitioning to its new name in early 2017) and will be broadcast live on Thursday March 23 at 8.30pm AEDT on CMC.

The awards were brought to the sunshine state for a third year through Tourism and Events Queensland – who also have CMC Rocks Qld on Friday March 24, Saturday March 25 and Sunday March 26 at Willowbank near Ipswich.

FIRST VICTORIAN MUSIC CRAWL HEADS TO REGIONALS

In another Australian first, the Victorian state government has come up with a new initiative called Victorian Music Crawl. Launched by Music Victoria on the weekend, the idea is to forge relationships between music industry folk in Melbourne and regional cities.

The first saw 20 Melbourne artist managers, venue bookers, promoters, artists and music media squeezed into a tour bus to undertake a three-day tour to Ballarat, Castlemaine, Bendigo and Echuca. In Bendigo, they rode the city’s Blues Tram while Echuca songwriter Benny Walker and Bendigo-based duo The Davidson Brothers performed for the visitors.

The idea is to help regional acts create opportunitiesto play in Melbourne, and showcase to Melbourne acts the regional touring opportunities on offer.

Three tours will take place across 2017-18. One to the Mornington Peninsula and Gippsland is planned for the second half of 2017. The third, to Geelong, the Surf Coast and Warrnambool, is scheduled for next summer.

SCA PULLS OUT OF i98 BUYOUT

Southern Cross Austereo has advised it has pulled out of discussions to buy i98FM Wollongong as part of an acquisition of WIN Corporation’s northern NSW media assets. No explanation was provided to the ASX.

THIRD JON ENGLISH TRIBUTE

Aside from tribute shows in Melbourne and Dubbo, Adelaide is the third place to remember Jon English on the first anniversary of his death. Adelaide Remembers Jon English is at the Arkaba on February 24 with Peter Cupples, Peter Deacon, John Brewster, Swanee and others.

It’s apt having a tribute in Adelaide. English’s last ever show, with Cupples, was at The Governor Hindmarsh. Soon after he had a fall, and during treatment, the singer’s doctors discovered an aneurysm. English passed away during surgery for the condition.

ROB SNARSKI RELEASING MEMOIRS

Perth music identity Rob Snarski (Chad’s Tree, Blackeyed Susans, occasional Triffids collaborator), is publishing his memoirs. Titled You’re Not Rob Snarski: Crumbs From The Cake, it’s out through UWA on March 1. Admitting right from the start he never intended to write a book (“I’d barely scraped through English in the final years of high school”), most recollections are when he’s on the move (“There’s something about being in motion, in-between places that helps jolt my memory”). It covers his family, pets, travels through Europe, his music, and what he did to pay the rent (including delivering pizza and the post).

BON SCOTT’S HOME TOWNS CREATE A LINK

Kirriemuir, the Scottish town where former AC/DC singer Bon Scott was born, and Fremantle, where he grew up, have bonded. Last week, community group DD8 Music – organisers of the annual BonFest – had a video linkup with Fremantle’s Doug Thorncroft (who drove the campaign to set up the Bon statue) and councillor Hannah Fitzhardinge, during which it was suggested that they should set up a friendship agreement to become musical sister cities.

Both places have fan-generated statues, and both have a Bon-inspired tourism trade.

This year’s Bonfest is held April 28 to 30, with former AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd headlining.

NOVA RED ROOM HEADS TO MELBOURNE

The next Nova Red Room is held in Melbourne on Monday February 27, starring Canadian singer Alessia Cara. Her single Scars To Your Beautiful is the fifth most played track on Australian radio, while it’s generated 241 million streams on Spotify and the video is nearing 32 million YouTube views.

US HITMAKERS WORKING WITH KIWI WRITERS

SongHubs Auckland, an APRA AMCOS initiative, will see 12 emerging New Zealand writers, this month collaborate with three major US hitmakers.

They are Mike Elizondo (who pens many of Eminem’s hits including the #1 The Real Slim Shady, as well as working with Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Twenty One Pilots, and Maroon 5), Emily Warren who helped The Chainsmokers win a Grammy for Don’t Let Me Down, and James Newman, a key collaborator with Rudimental as well as Calvin Harris, Ella Eyre, and David Guetta (and older brother of singer John Newman).

The five-day song-writing workshop will be at Auckland’s Roundhead Studios, from February 27 to March 4.

CONNECTED BECOMES MARCHMEDIA

Former Austereo CEO Brad March’s radio management firm Connected has re-branded to Marchmedia.

March says he’s keeping its roster selective. It includes Jackie Henderson (Jackie O) of KIIS 106.5 Sydney, triple j breakfast team Ben and Liam, Robin Bailey from Triple M Brisbane and Ryan Jon from Hit 104.7 Sydney.

BOOSTED FUNDING PLATFORM HITS $3M

New Zealand’s arts crowd-funding platform Boosted has raised $3 million in arts and music projects in five years. This equates to over 22,857 donations across 568 projects in fine-arts, film, theatre, music, dance, writing, fashion, gaming and photography.

Unlike rewards-based fundraisers, Boosted donors are eligible for a 33% tax credit on their donations.

Launched in April 2013, with the support of the Arts Foundation. it experienced 40% year-on-year growth since. It reached $2 million eight months ago. It claims an 84% success rate, compared to Kickstarter’s 35.81% and New Zealand’s Pledge Me’s 50.9%.

NEW ARTS RESIDENCY SPACE IN DARWIN

Accomplice, a new residency space for artists and performers has opened in a converted warehouse in Darwin’s Coconut Grove.

Set up by artist Britt Guy to overcome the high cost of living in the northern city (the artists have to pay back by holding workshops or exhibitions) it also includes accommodation quarters for out-of-town artists. More info at creativeaccomplice.com.au.

AND A FEW OTHER THINGS…

• Has Kylie Minogue been offered the role of host of British TV show Blind Date, making a reboot after 13 years? (Great timing as she’s just split with fiancé Joshua Sasse.) The late Cilla Black was the original host.
• How true are the reports that Ed Sheeran might relocate to New Zealand? He’s confirmed he has made inquiries about becoming a citizen. He fell in love with the place after staying there for a time during his gap year.
• Lorde fans, already panting impatiently for new music for the past 12 months, went into overdrive when her US label Republic posted on its website a list of releases it intended to push on US radio the first week of March… with Lorde’s name included alongside Ariana Grande and Julia Michaels.
• Various fundraisers around the Gold Coast by the biker and martial arts communities for the seven-year-old daughter of stuntman Johann Ofner have now reached $100,000. Ofner died during a Bliss N Eso video shoot in Brisbane. In the meantime, the group are playing a benefit for Ofner’s daughter on Friday March 3 at Coolangatta Hotel on the Gold Coast. They’ve also launched a T-shirt for the benefit to raise more money from sales. “The past few weeks have been some of the toughest times we’ve ever been through both individually and as a band,” they said. The act has delayed the early March release Off The Grid to late April in respect.
• A sign of the times: Canberra’s last Video Ezy store, in Phillip, has closed, although a number of automated “kiosks” still operate.
• And a sign from heaven: auditions for the Mackay’s Got Talent competition in April had to be moved at the last minute after the venue, Split Spaces, was hit by lightning.
• New Zealand singer-songwriter Anika Moa and TV journalist Natasha Utting got married on an Auckland beach on the weekend, five months after Moa proposed. It’s Moa’s second marriage, her first being to burlesque dancer Azaria Universe.
• Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton reckons that Australian telcos will take the leaf from US carriers and start offering unlimited data.
• Perth country music singer-songwriter Ruby Boots has returned home briefly after a year in Nashville as her prize for winning the Australia Council Songwriting Residency. The quick visit includes an April 27 showcase at Mojo’s, previewing her just completed second album (recorded in Texas and set for release through Lost Highway/Universal Music later in the year) before touring Europe in May/June.
• So who was the recent Grammy winner originally from Adelaide? Stop right there if you think it was Sia. It was songwriter Samuel Dixon, now based in London, who was one of the writers and producers on Adele’s 25 album and plays bass on her world tour. The 43-year old joined her during one of her five treks to the Grammy winner’s podium.
• Hamish Gee, drummer with NZ band The Feelers, lost his licence for six months and was fined $560 in Waitakere District Court after being caught driving in West Auckland with more than double the legal blood alcohol limit.