Waking Up The Neighbours!
In this edition we bring you everything that is new: new ventures, new tracks, new shows and new collaborations...Man, we love this industry!
Author: estelle.vent@gmail.com
Can’t Stop This Thing We Started
This is a big year for South Africa. Not only are we hosting the FIFA 2010 World Cup, but our stages were graced by musical legends such as Deep Purple, Elton John, Uriah Heep, Cliff Richard and Tom Jones, newer stars such as Alicia Keys, John Legend, Shakira and Kelly Clarkson, and now prolific rock musician Bryan Adams will be touring the country in July. This tour forms part of his “Bare Bones Tour” which Adams started more than a year ago, and will include all the hits you have grown to love over the years as well as a selection tracks from his eleventh studio album, entitled “11”.
In this industry success is measured in staying power & sales, and with a career spanning 3 decades and sales in excess of 65 million internationally, Bryan Adams has proved his worth 65 million times over. The Canadian – who was awarded with the Companion of The Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia – can list 21 top ten hits, nominations for three Academy Awards and five Golden Globes, 18 Juno Awards, an American Music Award and five ASCAP film and Television Music Awards for Most Performed Song from a Motion Picture (Everything I Do) as only a fraction of his achievements, but Adams has used his fame to bring attention to worthy causes such as His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales Prince's Trust, Live Aid, Greenpeace, Amnesty International and Breast Cancer. Adams is also an avid photographer and his works have been published in various publications including Vogue, Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar and Esquire. In 2002, Adams was invited along with other photographers from the Commonwealth, to photograph Queen Elizabeth II during her Golden Jubilee. As a photographer, Adams has worked with many of his musical peers including Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant, Joss Stone, Billy Idol, Lenny Kravitz and Annie Lennox to name a few.
Adams will kick off his tour at the Coca-Cola Dome in Johannesburg on Friday, 9th July as a guest on the Celebrate Africa, Grand Finale Event, from where he will perform at Grandwest Casino in Cape Town on the 13th, CTICC on the 14th, Feathers Market in Port Elizabeth on the 15th, ICC Durban Arena in Durban on the 16th and lastly again at the Coca-Cola Dome on the 18th July. Ticket prices vary from R220 – R500 and can be purchased at www.computicket.com.
Google VS Apple
Digital music is the way to go, and Google will soon follow this technology when they launch a new music download service to compete with the industry giant iTunes. According to a source at a major record label, Google is in very preliminary talks with various labels to roll out a subscription service by late 2011, and consider this a golden opportunity to enlarge their market share.
The new Google service is likely to allow iTunes or Windows Media Player users to stream their entire online libraries to various players including cell phones. So rather than transferring songs one-by-one from their computers to their phones, or subscribing to streaming services such as Rhapsody or Spotify, users will be able to access thousands of their own downloads via any player, and instead of storing your tracks on a specific player, you will now store them on an online database and be able to access it through various mediums – similar to Apple LaLa (which was closed down last year). Says a Google spokesperson: “That is very compelling. It's potentially a huge market. But a lot has to happen”
Fruitbats & Crows
Irrespective of which radio station you listen to, you would’ve heard the track: “Kissing Devils On The Cheek” during the past weeks, becoming another hit for Natal born Farryl Purkiss. This second single from his 2009 album: Fruitbats & Crows follows the equally successful “A Million Grains of Sand”.
Purkiss first picked up the guitar when he was fifteen years old and penned his first song entitled: Ducking & Diving when he was only sixteen years old. Little did he know that this song would appear on his future album that would cement his name as a favorite on South Africa’s music scene. He started gigging locally; supporting fellow Durban band: Perez and was soon spotted by guitarist Nibs van der Spuy. On Van Der Spuy’s urging Purkiss released an EP in 2004: The First Chapter. This album was produced by former Squeal vocalist & guitarist Dave Birch and was recorded at Birch’s Tropical Sweat studios in Durban.
It wasn’t long before the record label 2Feet Music offered the talented Purkiss a record deal. His self-titled debut album was released in 2007 to high acclaim and the track: “La-Di-Da” from this album has been used in television ads, and also reached number 1 in France. The First Chapter might have stirred the curiosity of both critics and the public, but this album placed Purkiss solidly on charts nationally.
In 2009, Purkiss followed this album with Fruitbats & Crows. This album was recorded at Sesalos Studios in Durban and produced by one of South Africa’s most successful producers, Brian O’Shea, who is responsible for albums by Watershed, Arno Carstens, Saron Gas, Sugardrive and Jesse Clegg, to mention a few. O’Shea earned a SAMA for the production on this album.
Fruitbatts & Crows contains 12 brand new tracks and feature international guest musicians such as Ash Grunwald (Australia) and John Ellis (Tree 63). According to Purkiss, the album was inspired by his experiences on the road, travelling to other countries to play and promote his music, and is no longer just songs about girls.
Purkiss’ accomplishments include performances at Musexpo (Sunset Boulevard), Big Day Out (Perth) and at the Goldcoast Festival (UK), 5 movie placements and 3 sync’s for TV advertising campaigns, being playlisted on radio stations in Germany, Tokyo, France and Australia, and with the release of Fruitbats & Crows, we expect this already impressive resume to expand even further. Get your copy at any good music store.
Snippets
-
Many stars don’t survive the crossover form teenage singers to adult entertainers. Mmmbop stars: Hanson offered this advice on how to survive the industry to Jonas Brothers, Miley and Justin Bieber: “…if you don't define who you are or what you represent pretty quickly, then that can take away from everything you do in the future and cheapen any real art or any real thing you want to say…Really for anybody, regardless of whether you start young or do pop or rock, surviving in the business of entertainment is difficult. I mean, 90 percent of people don't succeed. You just have to identify what it is you do and know that you're always going to be the one who cares the most” Hmmm, wise words. And we can see it worked for you guys.
-
Check out Dakota Fanning & Kristen Stewart’s version of “Cherry Bomb”. This track was one of the few successful releases from the 1970’s all girl band The Runaways. Fanning & Kristin portrays the roles of Joan Jett and Cherie Currie in the rock biopic of the same name as the band. After the band disbanded, the only member to ever make it big in the music world was Joan Jett.
-
Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will perform for one night only at the Coca Cola Dome in Johannesburg. The multi-award winning artist Bocelli, who boasts worldwide record sales of over 70 million copies, will be joined on stage by the celebrated Canadian singer/songwriter Bryan Adams and South Africa’s own soprano sensation Pretty Yende. Andrea Bocelli and Special Guests will be supported by the Italian flautist, Andrea Griminelli, the Gauteng Choristers (sixty member choir) and the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra (with sixty-eight musicians), and will be conducted by Marcello Rota, one of the world’s leading classical music- and opera conductors. Get your tickets at www.computicket.com. Ticket prices vary from R800 – R3500.
- Madonna Ciccone is getting back to her Italian roots with her new ad campaign for Dolce & Gabbana, playing a housewife from the old country. A housewife with bulging cleavage. In one shot, the 51-year-old pop legend dons a crucifix and strokes a kitty cat, while wearing a looooow slung number. She never gets too old.
- The latest version of the Vuvuzela is designed to reach only 107 decibels instead of 127. Masincedane Sport, the manufacturers of this-chew-off-my-wrist instrument had to effect the changes after many players, as well as FIFA complained about the noise levels at the games. Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo was the latest World Cup star to voice unease about the trumpet, telling reporters that it affected players' focus.
-
Turns out Gabourey Sidibe is not the only talented member of her family. Sidibe’s mother: 58 year old Alice Tan Ridley recently auditioned for America’s Got Talent and wowed the audience with her rendition of “At Last” (originally by Etta James.) Ridley has been performing on the subway for the past 20 years, but we reckon those days are now over, at last!
-
We love a good mash-up! Check out “Like, OMG Baby”, Queen VS Outkast, Rick Astley VS Nirvana and MC Hammer VS Black Eyed Peas.
Funny Tweets
Life was so much simpler two weeks ago before I knew about vuvuzelas.
In case you were wondering, academyofmotionsickness.com is still available for domain registration. You're super welcome.
Sources
www.wikipedia.org; www.mtv.com; www.bigconcerts.co.za; www.jacarandafm.com; www.goodhopefm.co.za; www.popeater.com; www.popeater.com; www.youtube.com; www.noisecreep.com; www.mio.co.za; www.2feetmusic.com; www.farrylpurkiss.co.za; www.rollingstone.com;