Australian News 6/14

Davies Lauded At Awards

Roger Davies, manager of Tina Turner, Janet Jackson and Pink, will be presented with an outstanding services award at the songwriters and publishers APRA awards June 16 at the Sydney Hilton.

Davies was born in Australia and started out as a booking agent before engineering the rise of Sherbet, a ’70s pop phenomenon downunder.

He moved to Los Angeles in the late ’70s and also looked after Joe Cocker, Mick Jagger and Sade for a time.

 

Living End Get Shaken

The Living End is such fans of AC/DC that the band decided to shoot a live DVD at Melbourne’s ACDC Lane and rehearsed a version of "Jailbreak" to commemorate.

Alas, a fire broke out in a building on the lane two days before, so the show was moved to Duckboard Place.

"What a terrible name!" guitarist Chris Cheney told 300 fans who squashed into the gig, declaring it "The Living End Lane" for the night.

The band wanted to rush out the DVD, so artwork including ACDC Lane had already been printed. Band manager Rae Harvey told Pollstar the artwork will stay, but include a disclaimer.

 

Iconic Nightclub Under Cloud

The future of Melbas On The Park, one of Surfers Paradise’s iconic nightclubs of the past 26 years, is in jeopardy.

Operating company Rynah Pty Ltd. was placed in the hands of receivers with debts of between $15 million and $22 million owed to Westpac Bank.

The company is administered by receivers Jamie Harris and John Cronin, of McGrathNicol.

Harris said the nightclub would remain open while he weighed his options. One option is to sell it, if the current owners could not refinance their debt. The owners spent $12 million last year expanding and upgrading Melbas.

 

Dadon Honoured

Albert Dadon, artistic director of the Melbourne Jazz Festival, was presented with a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) medal for his services to jazz, as part of the Queen’s Birthday honours list June 9.

Arthur Frame, CEO of the Queensland Arts Council, and a board member of Regional Arts Australia, also received an AM medal.

Awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) were jazz guitarist Bruce Clark; Shirley Chandler, who organized country music concerts and benefits for the community of the country music capital of Tamworth; and Coralie Wood for her services to the entertainment industry of Canberra, first as a publicist and then for co-founding the Canberra Area Theatre Awards.

 

Underoath, Sparro Head Down

Florida’s Underoath is booked for three club dates for KMW Productions September 30 to October 2.

Australian born Sam Sparro will return to Australia after his global breakthrough for two dates – Melbourne’s Miss Libertine on July 11 and Sydney’s Oxford Art Factory July 16 – for Jam Music.

PopFrenzy has U.K. band The New Puritans making its Australian live debut with two shows August 12-14.

Promoter Blue Murder has one show, August 13 at Sydney’s Enmore Theatre, for Florida metal band Trivium.

 

Venue News

Brisbane venues are taking photos of patrons in case they need to be identified for assaults, but the Queensland Council of Civil Liberties claims such scans are not permitted by law and are an invasion of privacy. Venue owners and police say the practice has helped reduce assaults.

The South Australian government will spend $50 million on a facelift for the Adelaide Entertainment Centre, its first since the 12,500-capacity venue opened in 1991. Part of the revamp includes a new 2,500-capacity theatre to attract smaller acts. The venue attracted a record 378,000 patrons last year.

 

 

Short Notes

Troy Cassar-Daley was presented with the 2008 CMA Global Country Artist Award. It recognizes an artist who has furthered country music’s popularity in their country.

Expect Stevie Wonder to announce an October tour next month.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph claimed Michael Bublé was slurring at one of his Sydney shows, telling the crowd he was drinking straight vodka and breaking into a rendition of Amy Winehouse’s "Rehab." The promoter denied Bublé was affected in any way, insisting it was "a great show."

A 17-year-old was arrested and charged with endangering life after allegedly firing seven shots into the Buddha Bar in Adelaide at 3 a.m. He had been evicted from the venue earlier, and had, police were told, gone to his car and got a gun.

Only staff members were inside the Buddha Bar, cleaning up.