Industrial Strength: Sept 11, 2013
Groovin’ The Moo expands to South Australia…
Groovin’ The Moo next year adds another regional stop: Oakland, South Australia. The tour kicks off there at the Oakbank Racecourse kicks off the tour on Friday April 25 before moving on to Maitland NSW (26), University of Canberra (27), Bendigo Vic (May 3), Townsville Qld (4) and Bunbury WA (10). Acts announced Jan 29 tickets on sale on Feb 4 for around $100.
…and Melbourne’s So Frenchy So Chic to debut in Sydney
So Frenchy, So Chic, the festival of fine food and French music, will debut in Sydney next year. Presented by Renault and Cartell Music, it returns to Werribee Park Mansion in Melbourne on Jan 14, and bows in Sydney’s St John’s College, Camperdown on Jan 18. Performing are Lou Doillon (daughter of Jane Birkin, half-sister of Charlotte Gainsbourg) whose album Places won her Best Female in the recent French Grammys, and the duo Lilly Wood & The Prick who took Best New Act at the same awards.
Festivals #1: Launceston’s Breath of Life loses council support
Launceston’s Breath of Life has had its request for $20,000 towards staging the event on March 9 turned down. The Launceston City Council, which has $21,150 in council sponsorship over two years, was faced with 13 requests totalling $150,400 from an available budget of $84,875. It decided that ten other events more deserving. Festival organisers were put out that they heard about Council’s decision from a newspaper than from Council.
Festivals #2: Splendour hands out community grants
Following the staging of Splendour in the Grass at North Byron Parklands, the two teamed up to a total of $25,000 to local community groups. This year’s recipients were Shores United Soccer Club $10,000, Tidy Towns Ocean Shores $5000, Wires $2000, Ocean Shores Primary School $2000, Crabbes Creek Primary School $2000, the Pocket Primary School $2000 and Brunswick Heads Primary School $2000. Splendour co-promoter Jessica Ducrou said Splendour had handed out $350,000 in cash in the past 13 years, and that every event that was staged at Parklands would do the same.
Awards #1: Nominees announced for WAM song of the year
The Ghost Hotel, Gilded, Ruby Boots, Diamond Eye, Abbey/Foster/Falle and Stillwater Giants were among the 80 nominees in 16 categories announced for the 24th WAM Song Of The Year. Full list at wam.asn.au/songoftheyear. Organised by Western Australia’s peak music association WAM, the winners are announced at the Fly By Night on October 9. The Mental Health Commission of WA is its presentation partner and sponsors the Mentally Healthy category for songs with a positive outlook on mental health.
Awards #2: Hussy Hicks lead wins at The Dolphins
Country duo The Hussy Hicks’s The London Sessions took out Album of the Year and adult contemporary at the NSW North Coast’s Dolphin Awards. Organised by the North Coast Entertainment Industry Association since 1991, the Dolphins have 20 categories and held at the Star Court Theatre. Song of the Year went to Jeff Joubert & Tim Tonkin for Sailing. Dual winners were Marshall Okell (male vocals, blues), Serinna McGrath (female, youth), Parissa Bouas (jazz, world/reggae) and Round Mountain Girls (folk, protest). Other winners were Daniel Pinkerton (production), Lionheir (music video), Reilly Fitzalan (alternative/indie), Brett Hamlyn (pop), Broadfoot (rock),Chris Staff (country), Oratrix (urban/hip hop/ funk) and Lawrence Kennedy (electronic).
Awards #3: EG Awards rebranded as The Age Music Victoria Awards
The Age Music Victoria Awards are the rebranded version of the EG Awards, initiated by The Age’s EG Friday entertainment guide liftout. It is now a partnership between the newspaper and music association Music Victoria, with the name change due to the fact that the EG name was changed to The Shortlist this year. Renee Geyer and Mushroom’s Michael Gudinski will be inducted into the Hall of Fame, with Geyer among the night’s performers. It is held at the Billboard club on November 20.
TRIPPING
Which reality TV/pop star is coping with the constant invasion on his personal life by having three mobile phones and three email addresses?
Which R&B singer journeyed to Thailand to get his teeth fixed before a video shoot because it was cheaper?
Arctic Monkeys told triple j they’ll be back here in 2014.
Among the gems from Nick Cave’s skyped keynote at this week’s BigSound conference in Brisbane: he is a brand and it’s exhausting being Nick Cave. He feels more Australian being out of Australia. He marks a day in the calendar and starts writing songs on that day. He used to write on a computer but now uses a typewriter.
INXS’s The Very Best Of hit platinum inn its 54th week in the ARIA Top 100. Robin Thicke’s Blurred Line is now 7 x platinum, Avicii’s Wake Me Up is 5 x platinum, Imagine Dragon’s Radioactive is 3 x platinum,Lana Del Rey’s Summertime Sadness hit platinum and Lady Gaga’sApplause went gold.
AJ Maddah, who runs the hard rock Soundwave and esoteric Harvest, snarled “no way!” at media speculation he’s doing a hip hop festival. Rumours started after it was revealed that Eminem was offered a Maddah festival but turned it down because he wanted to do his own tour (in Feb through Dainty).
Celine Dion has dumped Daniel Merriweather’s song Water And A Flame as the title track of her upcoming album. Merriweather slammed Dion on Facebook for apparently pretending she wrote the song, a claim which Dion’s management hit back as “grossly inaccurate but also very hurtful.” She’s opted for Love Me Back To Life, co-written by Sia, who’ll no doubt enjoy the million dollar earnings which the impulsive Merriweather has forfeited.
Irene ‘Flashdance/Fame’ Cara axed her first tour, set to begin November 6. Lennard Promotions issued a statement: “On advice from Irene’s US solicitor the tour’s promoter was advised that Irene is unable to proceed with the tour as some of the key members of her band are now unable to travel.”
Philadelphia beatmaker Knxwledge cancelled “due to a family emergency.”
Cyndi Lauper is wowing crowds with her shows around the country, but missed out on Darwin’s September 14 show. There was confusion due apparently “to a typo” as she plays Wollongong that night. Lauper. Cyndi was among the 20,000 who caught Pink’s final Sydney show. She did her Time After Time to her, leaving Lauper teary-eyed.
At music publisher John Bromell’s funeral, son Darren recalled how his old man was a collector and hoarder of things, with a love for old Fords and muscle cars, a full size Harley Davidson bike in the living room, the kitchen turned into a workshop for engine spare parts, and a crossbow range in the hallway. He recalled that at Bromell’s first visit to MIDEM after he took over Warner/Chappell, he heard the still-unreleased debut album by an unknown artist and snapped his world publishing for a bargain basement $5,000. Of course when the artist,Prince, went on to become a phenomenon, Warner/Chappell in the US re-did the deal but Bromell never got the credit.
LIFELINES
Marrying: Nova 969 breakfast co-host ’Wippa’ and fiancé Lisa this Saturday.
In Hospital: Angels/ Skyhooks guitarist Bob Spencer had surgery this Monday for “my unwanted passenger, Eric the Tumour.”
In Court: Kings Cross nightclub operator Adam Freeman faces a maximum sentence of life in jail after he pleaded guilty to the manufacture of 19.2 kilograms of the drug ecstasy, worth an estimated $3 million.
In Court: the number of charges against Port Macquarie’s former 2MC/Star FM news director Nick O’Callaghan – relating to indecently assaulting a child and possessing child pornographic material – have been increased from three to six. His court case was adjourned to November 7 as a result.
Vale: Gold Coast singer Taj McCaskill, died aged 34, of a heart attack. He was told in June he had a blocked artery and needed to have a stent inserted. He was still on the waiting list for open heart surgery at a Brisbane hospital. He is survived by his eight year old son Reyne.
Vale: Hymie Meyerson, who ran the audio visual business Australian Monitor for a time, died in Sydney, CX News reported.
NUMBER CRUNCHING
2,267 guitarists set a new world record on a beach in Dorset, England, when they simultaneously played ‘50s rocker Buddy Holly’sRave On to celebrate what would have been his 77th birthday. (He died in a plane crash in 1959 while on tour). The world record for the biggest ever band is currently held by a 6,000 strong group who played Jimi Hendrix’s Hey Joe in Poland, in 2009.
14th Top 5 hit in Australia for Eminem with Berzerk this week.
1000 signatures needed by Sydney bride-to-be Branka Delic to send to Bon Jovi’s management asking Jon Bon Jovi to walk her down the aisle at a Las Vegas Elvis chapel on October 12. The band plays Vegas the same day.
4 billion views on Vevo reached by Rihanna.
10 billion tag milestone reached by music recognition service Shazam.
30 minutes for Falls Victoria to sell out.
£660,952 paid by police in England and Wales for music licence fees so their staff could listen to music in offices in the past year.
15th No. 1 single for Keith Urban in the US as Little Bit of Everythingthis week topped both Billboard’s Country Airplay chart and the Mediabase chart.