News From Downunder 9/1

Trucks, Belew For Guitarfest

Derek Trucks, Adrian Belew and Guy Pratt are some international axemen confirmed for the second Adelaide International Guitar Festival, which takes place November 29 to December 9.

Included in the festivities will be an AC/DC tribute concert with Hoodoo Gurus and Shihad in a bid to set a Guinness Book record, with 1,800 guitarists playing AC/DC’s “Long Way To The Top.”

Also included will be a panel of Bon Scott’s peers, including The Angels’ Doc Neeson and Rose Tattoo’s Angry Anderson, discussing the late AC/DC singer’s importance.

 

Entertainment Lawyer Brereton Guilty

High-profile entertainment lawyer Michael Brereton, whose clients include Men At Work, Kylie Minogue and Tina Arena, was found guilty on nine charges of misconduct by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

VCAT heard that Brereton took out $4.4 million from a $5.8 million investment pool meant for a retirement village project. He also borrowed $200,000 from Mushroom Records founder Michael Gudinski, which breached rules that lawyers cannot borrow from their clients.

Brereton was president of an Indonesian startup company that allegedly received an $8.1 million loan from a British Virgin Islands-based company called Westminister Finance – but no evidence of the loan remains.

His penalty is still to be decided. His artists are not in any way involved in the case or under a legal cloud.

 

Short Notes

Joe Brex was appointed business systems manager at Sydney’s Acer Arena. He spent 17 years at Arena Management, his last role being business and IT manager at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Frontier Touring Company was expected to announce Sydney and Melbourne December dates for Kylie Minogue.

Pink told Australian media she plans to return in April or May. Her “I’m Not Dead” tour with Michael Coppel Presents sold more than 300,000 tickets, making her the biggest-selling female touring act in Australian history.

Andrew McManus Presents seems to have a live wire on his hands with a November team-up of Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube. The Immigration Dept. lifted a 2006 ban on Snoop for previous criminal convictions in America. But family and victim support groups plan to lobby to reinstate the ban, citing violence that rappers supposedly attract.

Jackson Browne and his band are to return Downunder after five years for Andrew McManus Presents. He’ll do a mix of winery, theatre and festival dates March 2-14. He will be accompanied on some dates by Toni Child and Tim Freedman of Australian band The Whitlams.

The damage bill for a fire at the technology offices of Wrest Point Casino in Tasmania is more than $200,000, according to its corporate affairs manager Brendan Blomeley. Investigators are not sure what caused the fire, which damaged two rooms.

The citizens of Yelgun – new home to Splendour In The Grass – raised $15,000 to fund court action against the approval given to the festival.

The Angels’ songwriting team – singer Doc Neeson and guitarists John and Rick Brewster – were to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame at West Leagues Club in Sydney August 28.

 

New Zealand

 

Country Awards Team With Australia

An exchange program has been set up between the country music scenes of New Zealand and Australia for developing acts.

Telstra Road To Tamworth, the Country Music Association of Australia’s talent quest, has struck a deal with the Kiwi Pro-Am Country Music Organisation, which runs the NZ National Country Music Awards.

The Australian winner of Road To Tamworth will play at the awards. The winner of NZ’s Horizon Award (for new talent) will perform at one of the Telstra Road to Tamworth concert events staged throughout the year across Australia.

Tamworth is Australia’s country music capital.

 

Music Awards Finalists

As a lead-up to the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards, the finalists of the technical awards have been announced. These will be handed out September 3 at the Langham Hotel in Auckland.

“Best album cover” nominees are: Barny Bewick for Keep Me On Your Side (Goodnight Nurse); Liam Finn for I’ll Be Lightning (Liam Finn); and Tim Gummer for Inland (Michael Houstoun).

Up for “best engineer” are Andre Upston for In Swings The Tide by Anika Moa; Lee Prebble for Happy Ending by The Phoenix Foundation; and Tiki Taane & Evan Short for Past, Present, Future by Tiki Taane.

The finalists for “best producer” are: Anika Moa for In Swings The Tide (Anika Moa); Lee Prebble for Happy Ending (The Phoenix Foundation); and Tiki Taane for Past, Present, Future (Tiki Taane).