Posted by admin on 18 Sep 2009 | Tagged as: awards, events, meanings, news, politics, RIP, tip
The infobahn is alive with Susan Boyle’s rendition (nice word, eh?) of the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses”. There is an overwhelming opinion that Boyle has now recorded one of the definitive versions of the song. This, however, is seen as sacrilege by others, who cling to memories of the Stones and Gram Parsons. This sort [...]
Posted by admin on 04 Aug 2009 | Tagged as: events, tip
I met Jack Stafford once (so in showbiz terms he’s “a dear friend”, when he sells a few more records I’ll bill him a “very dear friend”). He’s a Brit currently living in Amsterdam and playing about 200 shows a year. Two things strike me about this vid of “Cedar Room” from the album “Long [...]
Posted by admin on 20 Jul 2009 | Tagged as: awards, events, news
Dana Winner via last.fm I just finished working on a track for the Belgian singer Dana Winner, who has released a string of albums in the Benelux and South Africa. She is also near the end of a major tour. This morning’s e-mail included news that she has been nominated in two sections of the [...]
Posted by admin on 10 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: events, gadgets, news
OK, it’s a bit gimmicky but it could be interesting. US band Of a Revolution has launched a call to co-write a song on Twitter. They are asking people to submit lines that they will choose and collate and chop up into verses and choruses. Said frontman Marc Robege in Billboard magazine: “I do a [...]
Posted by admin on 27 May 2009 | Tagged as: events, news
June 1 is the deadline to apply for what looks like a great workshop. The Kinks frontman and songwriter is tutoring a week-long, residential songwriting course at Arvon Lumb Bank, UK, November 23-28th. This is a practical course for songwriters committed to producing “quality popular music” (it says here). You will write at least one [...]
Posted by admin on 03 May 2009 | Tagged as: events
London will host a songwriting week May 18-22 with a wide range of events, mixing the creative with career help. Speakers and performers include Tom Robinson, Sir Tim Rice and Mike Read, with presentations from associations such as the Musicians’ Union, Basca, the Music Publisher’s Association and others. The events look promising, with subjects such [...]
Posted by admin on 08 Apr 2009 | Tagged as: events, news
“Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” is the name of a musical being developed for Broadway at the moment. Directed by Julie Taymor (“Across the Universe“, “The Lion King”) and written by Taymor and Glen Berger, it will feature words and music by Bono and the Edge. It will be interesting to see how this works [...]
Posted by admin on 10 Feb 2009 | Tagged as: events, news
The e-mail has been heating up with a rumour that 2 Unlimited are about to reform. The group was one of the 90s most successful pop acts, racking up millions of sales on the back of hits such as “No Limits and “Jump for Joy” and popularising the boy-girl duo as a format. The group [...]
Posted by admin on 11 Jan 2009 | Tagged as: events, news
I just came across a version of “Send me an Angel” that was sung by Nathalie Makoma, best known as the lead singer of Makoma. Nathalie is a powerful Gabanese vocalist now living in the Netherlands, and this was one of the songs she sang as part of the local pop idol show called “Idols”. [...]
Posted by admin on 26 Dec 2008 | Tagged as: events, news, tip
Long-time collaborator Perry Rose was invited to organise a special show during the summer. It sold out pretty quickly. The good news is that RTBF radio were on hand and recorded it, broadcasting it in two parts. The second part is going out on December 31 as part of the “Le Monde est un village” [...]