News:
· Puff 'n' Stuff
Everything that's happening in Adelaide this fortnight.
· Industry
The latest from the music industry.
· Puffio
Theatre news.
· Dance
Dance and electronica news.
· Metal
Updates from the wide world of metal.
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Industry.
Sanity Owner Buys HMV
Record companies are spitting chips (or shivering) at news that Brazin Ltd bought HMV Australia's 32 stores for $4 million. It means Brazin has about 30% to 35% of the music retail market, planning to run Sanity, Virgin and HMV under one management division. That gives Brazin, already tough negotiators, a greater clout in the deals they get. Brazin's nearest rival is JB Hi Fi, which has 15% to 18% share.
Ferdinand, Iggy, For BDO?
Big Day Out announces its lineup this week.
Franz Ferdinand already confirmed to this column they were in,
raving about how Aussie crowds at Splendour In The Grass were
so awesome that they include a track off the show on their upcoming
DVD. Iggy Pop & The Stooges, Magic Numbers, Beck, AFI, and the
White Stripes are bandied about as are The Pixies (possibility),
Tool (no) and Audioslave (maybe).
Buddle On The Boards
Noelene Buddle, former general manager of Austereo Adelaide, is now CEO of the State Theatre Company of South Australia.
Wolf & Cub Sign To 4AD
Adelaide band Wolf & Cub have signed to legendary
UK label 4AD for the world except Australia and NZ where they
are with Dot Dash. 4AD is/was home to Pixies, Breeders, Cocteau
Twins, This Mortal Coil, and Mountain Goats, and Oz acts The
Birthday Party and Dead Can Dance.
Joining Country Arts SA
Country Arts SA is looking for country residents with arts, business or management experience to join their boards, and play a larger role in the development of the arts in their regions. CASA runs centres in Whyalla, Port Pirie, Renmark and Mt Gambier, runs programs for touring companies, and provides nearly $500,000 in grants for regional creative types. From January, these boards will play a larger role in determining funding to ensure regionals get equal share.
Talkin' 'Bout Their Generation
The Internet has surpassed radio as the preferred medium through
which 13 to 24 year olds hear their music. The report by Yahoo!
and OMD Worldwide, 'Truly Madly Deeply Engaged: Global Youth,
Media & Technology' surveyed 11 countries. In the US 47% prefer
the 'Net for music compared to 27% for radio. It allows them
to do up to four things while they surf the net. But it isn't
all good news for Internet companies. The My Media generation
is cool with ads on TV and mags but only 36% were OK with ads
online and 9% to ads on their mobiles.
Radio Chooses Its Stars
A panel of program and music directors from commercial radio has chosen eight emerging acts it believes are the "next big thing" and which radio will support over the next 12 months. They are NSW Central Coast pop/rock band After The Fall; country singer Aleyce Simmonds, 18-year old rock, roots and funk singer songwriter Clint Crighton, Brisbane four piece Dead Day Sun, Sydney's Faker, 21-year old hip hop kid from Sydney's west Figgkidd, 21-year old guitarist and singer Jake Nickolai and Melbourne's brother sister team White Room. They were chosen from 50 submissions. They showcase at October 14's National Radio Conference's New Artists To Radio event which launched the radio careers of Delta Goodrem, Thirsty Merc, Sarah Blasko, Tammin Sursok, Jade MacRae, Kid Courageous and Eran James.
Adelaide Clubs Brace For Raids
Adelaide nightclubs can expect visits from authorities and be
checked to see if their management have any biker links, since
South Australia's anti-biker taskforce Avatar has been working
with the Licensing Enforcement Bureau to work out raids. Whether
they'll happen over a period of time or on one mass move remains
to be seen.
Spray It Again
Someone set off the fire alarms five times one night at the Holiday Inn on Hindley Street. Police were called, and headed straight to a bunch of rock and roll type guests drinking in the front bar. However Unwritten Law explained to them they were "punk" but got their kicks in other ways than spraying foam. The blueys bought it.
Pussycat Dolls In Oz
With their Don't Cha topping the ARIA chart for five
weeks and going platinum Pussycat Dolls will be here next month
for a quick promo tour. Nicole, Carmit, Ashley, Jessica, Melody
& Kimberly are burlesque dancers with their own Pussycat Dolls
Lounge in Vegas. Their album 'PCD' debuted at #16 in this week's
ARIA chart.
In The Charts
Summer must be around the corner: of nine Aussie acts to enter the ARIA chart this week, four are about sun or shining. Pete Murray's 'See The Sun' album and Shannon Noll's single Shine both entered at #1, with Ricki Lee's Sunshine and Paul Mac's Sunshine Eyes.
Aussie Presence Increases For SXSW
Austrade has agreed for the fourth year in a row to pick up
the tab for a four unit Australian stand at South By Southwest
in Texas in March. 160 acts from Oz and NZ have applied to showcase
there, with that number expected to rise to 450. SxSW plans
to let 50 acts from Oz and NZ play, a rise from 30 this year.
Online magazine 'Undercover' also plans to set up a site, to
stream videos by Aussie acts attending.
Maccas & Rappas
Remember the furore when it leaked out in March that McDonalds planned to pay hip hop artists to namedrop Big Macs in their lyrics. ($1 to $5 every time the song was played on US radio). It was part of Maccas' "I'm lovin' it" campaign to counteract the negative publicity they got for the quality of their grub. McDonalds got such a fright at the anger from parents and consumer groups about buying their way into music via shameless hip hoppers (the word "deceitful" was bandied) that they initially denied a deal existed. It did, of course. Several tracks were submitted to McDonalds via marketing firm Maven Strategies. But, alas, "We have not yet identified the match that we've been looking for," moaned a McDonald spokesperson.
Lifelines
Expecting: Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell and wife, Vicky,
a son in November.
Split: Delta Goodrem's mum Lea and dad Dennis parted ways recently.
Split: on the eve of his kiddies porn trial, R. Kelly and wife
Andrea are splitting, she claiming he was abusive and stalked
her.
Injured: R&B singer D'Angelo in a car crash. Police say he was
badly hurt, the singer's people are playing it down.
Injured: A mad fan almost bit off rapper Layzie Bone's finger
because he was infuriated that a Bone Thugs-N-Harmony show in
Palm Springs concert was cancelled by cops.
Ill: Nine Inch Nails are looking for a new drummer after Jerome
Dillon discovered he had a heart ailment.
Detained: Pete Doherty for drugs after police raided Babyshambles'
tour bus following their gig in Central England.
In Court: Casey Donovan got an apprehended violence order against
her estranged father Mervin after an alleged incident on August
27 at the Basement club in Sydney where pa and his wife Susan
arrived allegedly drunk and assaulted her during an argument.
In Court: Phil Spector's murder trial is likely to begin in
January.
In Court: rapper Beanie Sigel was acquitted of attempted murder
in Philadelphia, but still has to face court for assaulting
a man.
Suing: Rapper Lil' Jon wants $30 million from porn czar Larry
Flynt's company for including footage of him in porn flick 'Phat
Tuesday'.
Suing: The RIAA in America took action against 757 people for
alleged file sharing copyright infringement, including students
from 17 universities.
Fright Of The Week
Those chilled out listeners of ABC Radio nodding along to its late night soothing mix of adult contemporary music and lifestyle chat were startled out of their cocoa last week. When the clock struck midnight, they were assaulted by the sounds of death metal. Had a foreign power invaded Australia and taken over the radio airwaves? Had the devil won? Had someone at the staid old ABC lost their religion? Apparently there was a technical glitch - they accidentally switched to Triple J for ten minutes. Usual apologies followed although we reckon most of the ABC's listeners had either gone into shock or gone deaf.
Interstate Venue Update
In Melbourne, The Carlton Music Room at The Dan O'Connell has
a new booker, 1 AM, at (03) 9417 0728. The Corner Hotel in Richmond
celebrates its 10th anniversary in December with a souvenir
magazine. They're looking for anecdotes or memorabilia. See
www.cornerhotel.com. Metro Melbourne is closing for six weeks
for $1.5 million renovations. The Prince Bandroom launches a
series of showcases Lil' Prince. Heat closed on the weekend
at Crown Casino but continues its search for new premises. Trak
Centre will launch a lavish new nightclub next year. Chasers
is returning to Chapel Street.
Sydney's Pubboy, which owns eight pubs in NSW - and is considered
such a fast rising company it has been mentioned in three Business
Review Weekly lists this year, with its CEO Mark Alexander-Erber's
personal fortune estimated at $16 million - is tipped to expand
into Queensland and Victoria.
Brisbane's Basement has a new lease of life, with International
Touring Artist Services taking over bookings and intending it
to be a major live music venue. ATAS' Michael David is contacted
at (07) 3390 1566 and michael@itasnet.com.au
Sydney's groovy club Hemmisphere won hotel of the year at the
Australian Bartender magazine awards, which also gave owner
Justin Hemmes an outstanding contribution gong. The club last
Thursday also launched its new "Hemmesphere" CD and celebrated
its fifth birthday with 600 guests entering by sporting a butterfly
tattoo and butterfly girls and metal butterflies swung above
them.
ISC Deadline
Deadline for the International Songwriting Competition is Fri 14 Oct, winner gets $10,000 cash. See www.songwritingcompetition.com
Warner, MTV Sign
Warner Music Group and MTV Networks have signed an unprecedented
global deal. It allows Warner's videos to be downloaded or streamed
by MTV viewers through their mobile phones. In Australia it
can be done via MTV and VH1. Programming is available through
some of their shows. Coming up shortly is a feature that MTV
has made just for mobile phones featuring Warner acts talking
about their past and future. Warner reckons it's a great way
to break its acts globally. MTV has 670 million viewers outside
the US.
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