Industrial Strength: Part 2

Image: Childish Gambino, Atlanta

CHILDISH GAMBINO’S ‘ATLANTA’ GETS AUSSIE PREMIERE

Musician and actor Donald Glover’s (also Childish Gambino) much anticipated Atlanta series makes its Australian premiere this month on SBS Viceland. Created, co-written and produced by Glover, he plays a college dropout who manages his cousin rapper Paper Boi as they try to break into the Atlanta scene.

Atlanta won two Golden Globes this year and in 2016 scored Glover Best Actor in a Comedy Series at the Critics’ Choice Television Awards. It is available on SBS On Demand from Tuesday Feb 28. Weekly double episodes screen on SBS from Thursday March 2 at 11:30pm, and single episodes on NITV from April 6 at 9:00pm.

SBS Viceland Channel Manager John Beohm said: “SBS Viceland continues to bring younger audiences unique global and local programming that explores new cultures and ideas – Atlanta is a great example this, exploring a range of social issues in a witty and humorous way.”

NOMS OPEN FOR JAZZ BELL AWARDS

Nominations are open for the seven categories in the Jazz Bell Awards, held at Bird’s Basement in Melbourne on May 18. The winner of each category gets $5,000 while the grand winner gets a statuette. Nominations close on March 15.

The categories cover Australian jazz vocal, instrumental and best produced albums, as well as best Australian jazz song, ensemble and artist of the year. There’ll also be induction(s) into the Graeme Bell Hall of Fame.

REGIONAL RADIO CONF. UNVEILS WORKSHOPS

SCMA, which represents regional, rural and sub-metro community broadcasters has unveiled the workshops at its conference that will be staged in Wagga Wagga in mid-March.

They include social media, team building, station culture, production, copy writing and programming as well as sessions on one-page business plans, info from the ATO on how to become a tax deductible charity, and mentoring.

CEO Ray Holzen reveals that this year the conference (and accompanying X Awards) are “doing it without a safety net”. They didn’t get any grants because they didn’t get the application in on time. The SCMA is also having a membership drive for the first time.

SCA IN TALKS WITH WIN FOR RADIO, TV

Southern Cross Austereo is on the expansion trail, in talks with regional WIN Corporation for its radio and TV assets. The radio asset is i98FM Wollongong: SCA has 68 regional stations but none in Wollongong.

STEVENS, GAMBLIN, JOIN BODYGUARD

R&B singer Prinnie Stevens and ballet dancer and actor Kip Gamblin join the cast of the Australian premiere of The Bodyguard. Singer Paulini Curuenavuli has already been announced in the lead.

The Michael Harrison, David Ian and John Frost production begins at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre on April 21. It will then play Brisbane’s Lyric Theatre from July 19 before moving to Melbourne in August at a yet-to-be-announced venue.

CITY OF JOONDALUP OFFERING GRANTS

Grants of $10,000 are being offered to encourage performing arts companies and artists to invest into the City of Joondalup in Perth and set up audience bases there. Round 1 closes on April 13, Round 2 on October 19.

AND A FEW OTHER THINGS…

Folks are divided over Lady Gaga’s Superbowl half time appearance on the weekend. But they still tweeted about it – to the tune of 2.2 million tweets during her set, and a total of 5.1 million tweets before, during and after.

Gaga has announced a world tour – but with dates in the US and Europe taking up all of 2017, it’s unlikely she’ll make it to Australia until next year.

Tame Impala’s manager Jodie Regan revealed to The West Australian that frontman Kevin Parker really needs to chill after the recording of Currents and touring the world behind it. “He really opened himself up a lot more than he ever had. It really, truly exhausted him.”

When the band goes on hiatus after Laneway Fremantle, he’ll do some record producing. “I think he’ll have some fun for a while, a couple of years, and we can’t really expect anything (from Tame Impala) for a while. He won’t make an album if it’s not better than Currents.”

Among the strange places that last month’s triple j Hot 100 countdown was heard in was under the Indian ocean, off Matilda Bay, Perth. The University of Western Australia’s RiverLab team had the music blasting out through giant speakers as they measured how noise affected living creatures under the water. Little wonder, too, that they were hoping that someone called Amy Shark would win.

The day was “uneasy” and stressed out, Shark ‘fessed up to triple j’s Ben & Liam. It started at a BBQ where she confessed that people would be talking to her and she’d interrupt them mid-sentence because she wanted to listen to the countdown. She finally went home, joined by friends who arrived toting champagne bottles. By this time the countdown had juiced into the Top 20. “It was so stressful between every song because I was like ’I don’t know, maybe I’ve missed it — this is getting pretty high now, this is scary’.”

New Zealand’s first floating music festival, Flochella, at Lake Taupo, proved a sell-out success. The capped 4,000 turned up to watch from inflatables of all shapes, sizes and colours rising acts as Theia, Maala, Jupiter Project and Mitch James.

In the meantime, one of the unexpected highlights of the One Love reggae festival in Tauranga was when Fijian singer Fiji started singing the old Maori folk song E Papa Waiari – and the entire 15,000-strong sell-out crowd who’d come to see Che Fu, Katchafire and Andrahna sang along. A video posted online of the sing-a-long gathered 500,000 views in the first 24 hours.

British popsters S Club 3 had a health scare in New Zealand, when Jo O’Meara needed treatment in an Auckland hospital for a strangulated bowel condition. The first show in the city was axed while the second saw only two members perform. They were touring as part of a ‘90s acts tour with B*Witched, Atomic Kitten and Liberty X. The latter got roasted for playing just two songs.

Former Bon Jovi guitarist Ritchie Sambora, holidaying in Adelaide, did four songs with Bruce Springsteen and the E-Streeters.

During an off-night in Melbourne, guitarist Steve Van Zandt went to see the Hoodoo Gurus playing the zoo – and got hauled on to do an unrehearsed The Seeds’ ‘Pushin’ Too Hard. The Gurus later posted that aside from digging his music, “We’re also huge fans of The Sopranos and his portrayal of Silvio Dante in the series Bada Bing!”

Guy Sebastian will perform at sunset on February 22 aboard Foxtel’s [V] Hits Island Party.

WA singer-songwriter Gina Williams, who writes and performs songs in the Noongar language, has released her first book Wanjoo to look at the language in new ways and with illustrations from primary students. Sales of the book go to enabling WA schools to access the language.

Melbourne music marketing guru Carl Gardiner is holding an exhibition of his paintings between February 24 and March 5 at 4Dverse Gallery in St. Kilda. Called Beats Working, the art combines his passion for music, surfing and nature.

The NSW Government gave $25,000 to support the 2017 Canberra Area Theatre Awards being staged in Dubbo on February 18 – the first time outside Canberra.

Country music identities Smoky and Dot Dawson’s niece Judy Lipman donated their collection of the couple painted by Pro Hart to the Tamworth Regional Gallery. “When the paintings came up here for the launch of Smoky’s statue, I thought they don’t need to be on my wall, Tamworth’s their second home and they should be part of it.”