08 PM | 09 Jan

JANE KELSON Presents WONKY EARS

For many years Jane Kelson thought Paul Young’s 1980’s smash hit “Everytime you go away you take a piece of meat with you” was set in a butcher’s shop (correct lyric is “you take a piece of me with you”). Talking to friends years later, Jane realised she wasn’t the only one who heard songs through wonky ears.

Jane’s fascination with songs of the wonky variety has lead her to collect an amusing assortment of wrongly heard lyrics. In this year’s Midsumma Festival she explores the very funny and downright embarrassing business of hearing things that aren’t intended to be in songs.

“Apart from mishearing lyrics, we tend to hear all ballads as love songs”, says Jane, “And they’re not all love songs. Sometimes they’re actually malicious and sinister and you find people unknowingly serenading their sweethearts to something quite black. It’s a little sad, but very funny”.

This return season of Wonky Ears, at the kooky, quintessentially kitsch The Butterfly Club is an entertaining romp through songs you thought you knew.

“…the intelligent songs of Jane Kelson.” – Joel Crotty, the Age……

LISTING INFORMATION Venue: The Butterfly Club 204 Bank St South Melbourne Dates: Thursday 17 – Sunday 27 January 2008 Tickets: $20/15 concession or groups of 8 Times: 9 pm Thursday – Saturday; 8 pm Sunday Bookings: www.thebutterflyclub.com; (03) 9690 2000 or at the door E: wonkyears@janekelson.com (NB: no .au)

08 PM | 09 Jan

EMI Offered Radiohead $3 Million For “In Rainbows”

According to a report from UK newspaper The Times, Radiohead and their former label Parlophone, part of EMI , hit a sour note when the label offered them an advance of $3 million for In Rainbows. Radiohead reportedly thought that was an insult and demanded $10 million. This was the meltdown between label and artist that led to the name-you-own-price In Rainbows

The man wearing the suit in the case was Guy Hands, who recently acquired EMI after his private equity company Terra Firma took over in a £2.1 billion deal. Radhiohead’s management implied that Mr. Hands didn’t “negotiating seriously.”

“Radiohead were demanding an extraordinary amount of money,” a rep from the label insisted, “and we did not believe that our other artists should have to subsidise their gains.”

“We couldn’t move ahead with EMI because Guy Hands irrevocably refused to discuss the catalogue in any meaningful way,” Bryce Edge, Radiohead’s manager told the paper. The band were attempting to negotiate the rights to some of their previous albums, something the label knew would lead to a loss in future profits.

“We sold 25 million records and we have the moral rights over those six albums,” Edge insists. “We wanted a say in how they are exploited in the future. We were not seeking a big advance payment, or a guaranteed marketing spend as discussions never got that far.”

In other words it got nasty before it got too far. The band won’t be able to own any rights to their previous six albums for 50 years dur to copyright law.

This still left the suited bigwig a little worried and led Mr. Hands to write a letter to EMI artists, like Coldplay and Gorillaz, saying, “We really value the collaborative relationship you have with the many EMI staff globally, who work on your projects.”

In other words…they know they are in trouble

Cited MogBlog

02 PM | 06 Jan

UNDERSCORE: CALL FOR ENTRIES

The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and ABC TV are proud to present Underscore, a unique opportunity for talented young screen composers. APRA and ABC TV are offering emerging composers a commission to write original music for an ABC production or to write a package of screen music for use by ABC producers. To enter applicants must score a 30 second opening titles theme for a fictional youth program and two minutes of incidental music from The Silence.

The vision for both segments are available on the website http://www.abc.net.au/tv/underscore/

Screen composer Antony Partos, who has composed music for feature films including ‘Home Song Stories’, ‘Walking on Water’ and ‘Monkey Mask’ will mentor the successful composer. Entry is only open to APRA members who are Australian permanent residents or citizens, aged between 18 and 26 years.

Membership of APRA is free to all songwriters and composers. To find out more about APRA and to submit a membership application visit www.apra.com.au Deadline for applications is 5pm, Friday 15 February 2008.

For more information please go to the website http://www.abc.net.au/tv/underscore/

02 PM | 06 Jan

Comedybox.tv

Comedybox.tv is not just the place to go for access to funny clips and material from top name comedians, it is also a terrific tool for comedians looking to break into the industry. Best of all, it’s completely free.

The new UK based networking and video showcase website features a section where up and coming comedians can sign up and create their very own home on Comedybox. Comedians can use their profile pages to share their talents with the world, upload their material, write a background piece about themselves, and let people know about their upcoming live gigs and events. In essence, these pages are a very effective platform for comedians, from which they can promote themselves and their material.

View the Comedybox comics already on the site at www.comedybox.tv/explore. To view the sign up page to become a Comedybox comic, CLICK HERE.