Industrial Strength: September 4
AUSTRALIA GETTING ARIANA GRANDE SPECIAL
Australia is set to get a one-hour Ariana Grande television special later in the year. It will be screened on the BBC channel.
La Grande will be interviewed on September 7 by the broadcaster’s Davina McCall before she performs tracks off her Sweetener backed by an all-female orchestra.
“Ariana Grande is such an incredible talent. She’s very funny and incredibly kind and has achieved so much already in her career. I’m really excited about talking to her and, of course, hearing some of her amazing music,” McCall said.
ALIA’S MUSIC VENUE FINALISTS
The ten music venue finalists at the Australian Liquor Industry Awards (ALIA) on Wednesday, October 31 at Sydney’s Randwick Racecourse are:
- Brooklyn Standard, Brisbane, QLD
- Corner Hotel, Richmond, VIC
- Eatons Hill Hotel, Eatons Hill, QLD
- Frankie’s, Sydney, NSW
- Governor Hindmarsh Hotel, Hindmarsh, SA
- Hotel Steyne, Manly, NSW
- Rosemount Hotel, Perth, WA
- The Curtin Hotel, Carlton, VIC
- The Lansdowne, Chippendale, NSW
- The Tote Hotel, Collingwood, VIC
Judges will now whittle each category down to three finalists.
SARAH BLASKO WINS MUSIC FELLOWS GRANT
Sarah Basko won a Sidney Myer Creative Fellows music grant of $160,000 over a two-year period.
She was one of eight mid-career artists, with the others come from dance, theatre, visual arts, writing, music & community and cultural development and live art.
‘I hope this Fellowship will free each artist from daily financial pressures and allow them the space to keep their creative practice flourishing,’ said Andrew Myer AM, chair of the selection panel.
RED HOT SUMMER ADDS TWO QLD TOWNS
The John Farnham-headlined Red Hot Summer Tour next autumn is touching down for the first time in two Queensland cities. The additions are:
April 13: Noosa & District Sports Complex
August 27: Barlow Park Complex Cairns
“To include our first ever Far North Queensland date is a big coup for us,” promoter Duane McDonald said.
The bill incudes Daryl Braithwaite, Jon Stevens, Vanessa Amorosi, Thirsty Merc and Dragon.
LIFE MOVES ON GERMANY’S AXED ECHO AWARDS
Following the semitism insensitivity scandal centered around controversial rappers Kollegah and Farid Bang, Germany’s long-time Echo Awards were drop-kicked out of the park as everyone scuttled to disassociate themselves.
The German Association of the Music Industry (BVMI) will not be involved in the replacement awards.
The classical music awards return as Opus Klassik on October 14 in Berlin, and presented by a consortium that includes major and indie labels, publishers and promoters.
Pop and jazz get their own awards, details to be released down the track.
COTTLE FOR JAXSTA BOARD?
Former APRA CEO Brett Cottle is being proposed as a director for Sydney-based music tech company Jaxsta, the AFR revealed.
It reported that Jaxsta, which it described as start up aspiring to be “LinkedIn Pro meets Bloomberg for the music industry” has tapped former Billabong chief executive and Commonwealth Bank director Launa Inman to become chair after it completes a $13 million reverse listing on the Australian Securities Exchange.
KEEP SYDNEY OPEN SETS UP SURVEY
Keep Sydney Open has set up a survey to get a fix on what its supporters regard as priorities for the March 2019 state election.
These include nightlife arts and culture, transport and trolls, LGBTIQ+ issues, environment and sustainability right to protest and assemble, pokies and casinos, policing and law enforcement, pill testing and sniffer dogs, “corruption, cronyism and lobbyists” and housing affordability, homelessness and social housing.
MORE ARTS SA CHANGES
As of this week, the South Australian government has moved Carclew Youth Arts, Windmill Theatre Company, Patch Theatre and the History Trust from the realm of Arts South Australia to the Education Department.
SUPEJESUS SUMO TOUR: ADELAIDE SELLS OUT, DARWIN ADDED
The Superjesus’ 20th anniversary 19-date Sumo tour is sounding more thumps than two sumo wrestlers. The Gov show in their original hometown Adelaide has sold out, while a Darwin date was added at Skycity Casino for Friday November 23.
The opening act for The Superjesus are… The Superjesus, which means two mammoth sets covering everything from their ARIA award winning debut album Sumo, their two-time ARIA award winning EP Eight Step Rail, and a selection of greatest hits spanning over their two decade long career.
However, the Canberra, Sydney and Newcastle shows will have Sydney all-female band Rackett, equally inspired by Black Sabbath and The Spice Girls.
Superjesus singer Sarah McLeod said, “We were so impressed with Rackett when we caught their set at Come Together festival that we thought for some extra special shows we would amp it up yet , again and make it a 3 band bill! Rackett/The Superjesus and The Superjesus! Better get a baby sitter for this one!”
MANAGEMENT CHANGE FOR SYDNEY HOTEL
The Buena, in Mosman, Sydney, which showcases live music, is about to undergo a management change.
Public House Management Group elected not to extend the three-year management deal with owners the Fallon family after it expired.
TAMWORTH STAYS BOOZE-FREE
Tamworth Regional Council voted to extend the alcohol ban on the entire CBD for a further four years.
The ban on outside drinking in Australian country music’s capital was first implemented in 1994.
The Tamworth ban is bound by Kable Avenue, Marius, Darling and Murray streets.
JUNIOR EUROVISION ENTRANT DECIDED
The Junior Eurovision Song Content 2018 (JESC) will be 12-year-old Melbourne performer Jael Wena.
She began recording in her father’s recording studio aged nine and won the Fast Track Talent Showcase for three years running.
The event held on Sunday, November 25 at Minsk Arena, Belarus will be broadcast for a second year by the ABC.
Last year’s Aussie entrant, Isabella Clarke, came third with her song Speak Up.
ANDRE RIEU MARKS $50M GROSS – IN ONE CITY
Dutch violinist and conductor Andre Rieu has crossed the $50 million mark in career grosses in his hometown of Maastricht, Netherlands.
He started out in July 2009 and has played 76 times there, Billboard noted.
He did a 13-night residency there on his latest world tour, bringing the tally to $54.1 million.
BOWERS, BOEHME CHOSEN FOR INTERSECT
Candy Bowers and Jacob Boehme were selected for INTERSECT, a British Council and Diversity Arts Australia led knowledge exchange initiative that aims to support greater cultural diversity and inclusion in the arts.
The program enables six curators, programmers, producers, publishers or artistic directors who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, as culturally and linguistically diverse or from minority ethnic background to connect and collaborate with international colleagues.
Bowers is a Melbourne based multidisciplinary writer, actor, producer, theatremaker and filmmaker of the Narangga and Kaurna Nations, South Australia.
Jacob is creative director of YIRRAMBOI festival, biennial First Nations arts festival presenting contemporary and experimental First Nations arts practice from around the world
They travel to the UK September 10–14to participate in the exchange.
TWO ADDS TO MULTICULTURAL ARTS BOARD
To additions to Multicultural Arts Victoria board are Fiona Ford, a legal counsel with a love for the arts, and Dr Teresa De Fazio who is manager of cultural diversity at Victoria University.
TIA GOSTELOW PROMISES NEW LIVE SHOW
Tia Gostelow is promising a new live show when she launches her debut album Thick Skin with three parties, in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
She says, “It’s going to be so different to what people who might’ve seen us live before are used to and I have been waiting so long to play these songs live! Super keen to head back to Sydney and Melbourne and play in my new hometown Brisbane later this year!”
Thick Skin, out on September 21, was recorded with Konstantin Kersting at Airlock studios and out on her own Lovely Records.
CARRIE UNDERWOOD ON PROMO TREK
US singer Carrie Underwood is doing a series of media engagements September 26 – 28 behind her new EMI album Cry Pretty before heading to Deniliquin to headline at Deni Ute Muster.
NEW MD FOR AMAZN MEDIA GROUP.
Henry Tajer, has joined Amazon Australia as the managing director of Amazon Media Group. He comes from the media agency sector and was global CEO of IPG Mediabrands until last May.
NEW NAME, VENUE, FOR ROYAL CROQUET CLUB
Royal Croquet Club, a fave hub of the Adelaide Fringe, is making two significant changes for 2019.
Jason Di Iulio and Roberto Cardone, who took over its running two years ago, have changed the name to RCC Fringe and will move the hub from rom Pinky Flat to Adelaide University using many of its venues and offering benefits for students and alumni.
AND A FEW OTHER THINGS …
At triple j’s One Night Stand in Tasmania, Alex The Astronaut was joined by Ball Park Music’s Sam Cromack for a rendition of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind in tribute to Luke Liang. The in-demand session player and former Papa vs Pretty member was to have played with Alex at ONS and the band found out he succumbed to depression when they were about to board the plane to Tasmania.
Sneaky Sound System’s Connie Mitchell and Angus McDonald returned in mid-August from Greece they’ve been doing DJ sets on the island of Mykono, to prepare for the birth this week in Sydney of their second child, and first daughter. Mitchell who was back onstage a week after the birth of their first, will be performing at the Caloundra Music Festival on September 28 and Newcastle’s Scene & Heard on November 4.
New Zealand singer songwriter Anika Moa is pregnant for the first time and looking at a March birth. She and her wife Natasha Utting married last year and have three children – Soren, Barry and Taane.
During Amy Shark’s performance of Adore at the Metropolis Fremantle, two audience members became engaged.
A new cocktail bar named Ziggy’s is opening up in London, and it’s entirely based on David Bowie.
Kate Ceberano is re-assembling her old band I’m Talking for a set at a new Victorian regional festival Live. Love. Life which she is co-curating.
A Gold Coast man escaped with just a fine for punching a DJ at a warehouse party. He told the court he felt he had been ridiculed – but, umm, couldn’t remember what the heck was said.
The Sunday Telegraph revealed that Sydney nightclub czar Justin Hemmes is “in talks” to buy troubled joy flight company Sydney Seaplanes.
Tickets for the John Farnham-headlined star-studded drought relief concert in Tamworth are heading rapidly for a sell-out. In days, the first 4,000 of the 10,000 tickets were snapped up.
APRA AMCOS ambassador Emily Wurramara, who grew up in remote Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria before moving to Brisbane to pursue music, has joined the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA) conference program in November on the Gold Coast.
Nicky Minaj has lived up to her promise last month that she might have postponed her North American tour to get the production right but would be in Australia in January. Yesterday she was announced as the headliner of FOMO festival, which plays Brisbane, Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne.
Sam Smith is headlining the 2018 Lexus Melbourne Cup Day entertainment on November 6, dashing out two songs at Flemington Racecourse before his tour kicks off at Rod Laver Arena that night.
Newcastle gets its own International Comedy Festival May 25-27, with the city council throwing in $15,000.
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