Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Lucie Thorne / Heidi Elva

Nice ladies with buckets of talents. The interviews have been uploaded if you want to listen.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

pirate bay founders jailed

from SMH
Pirate Bay founders guilty and jailed


April 18, 2009 - 3:17PM


* Pirate Bay server becomes a tourist attraction



A Stockholm court on Friday found four men guilty of promoting copyright infringement by running The Pirate Bay, one of the world's top websites for illegal filesharing, and sentenced them to a year in prison.

The court also ordered the four - Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Peter Sunde and Carl Lundstroem - to pay damages of 30 million kronor ($4.98 million) to the recording industry, which hailed the ruling as a symbolic victory.

"The Stockholm district court has today convicted the four people charged with promoting other people's infringement of copyright laws," the court said in a statement.

Representatives of the movie, music and video games industry had sought some 117 million kronor ($19.41 million), in damages and interest for losses incurred from tens of millions of illegal downloads facilitated by the site.

Founded in 2003, The Pirate Bay makes it possible to skirt copyright fees and share music, film and computer game files using bit torrent technology, or peer-to-peer links offered on the site.

None of the material can thus be found on The Pirate Bay server itself.

The four, who have denied any wrongdoing, are expected to appeal the verdict and have previously vowed to take the case as high as the Swedish Supreme Court if necessary.

The Pirate Bay claims to have some 22 million users worldwide.

"By providing a website with ... well-developed search functions, easy uploading and storage possibilities, and with a tracker linked to the website, the accused have incited the crimes that the filesharers have committed," the court said in a statement to the media.

The court added that the four "knew that copyrighted material was being fileshared".

The one-year jail sentences were motivated by the "extensive accessibility of others' (copy)rights and the fact that the operation was conducted commercially and in an organised fashion".

IFPI, which represents the recording industry worldwide, hailed the decision.

"The trial of the operators of The Pirate Bay was about defending the rights of creators, confirming the illegality of the service and creating a fair environment for legal music services that respect the rights of the creative community," IFPI chairman and chief executive John Kennedy said in a statement.

"Today's verdict is the right outcome on all three counts," he said, adding: "The court has also handed down a strong deterrent sentence that reflects the seriousness of the crimes committed."

During the trial, the four had pleaded innocent, insisting that filesharing services can be used both legally and illegally.

One of their lawyers, Per Samuelsson, argued that The Pirate Bay's services "can be compared to making cars that can be driven faster than the speed limit".

Another defence lawyer, Jonas Nilsson, had insisted that "the individual Internet users who use Pirate Bay services ... must answer for the material they have in their possession or the files they might share with others".

Swedish police raided the company's offices several times and seized nearly 200 servers in 2006, temporarily shuttering the site. But it resurfaced a few days later with servers spread among different countries.

The site is still in operation.

Friday, April 17, 2009

Lucie Thorne interview


OK it's been awhile since I posted anything here however I have uploaded the interview I did with Lucie Thorne today. She hails from the beautiful Bega Valley, and is a very talented singer song writer who sings about personal experiences in a way that would melt your heart. She will be performing across the country up until August, so if you get a chance to hear her perform please do so.

Here are the dates for the tour:

BLACK ACROSS THE FIELD Album Launch Tour

NSW

Thursday 16th April, 2009
Interview + live-to-air performance on The Morning Show, with Deb Cameron.
702 ABC Radio. 10.30am.

Saturday 18th April, 2009
The Surry Hills Festival, Prince Alfred Park, Sydney.
Lucie + band performing on the main stage at 12.45pm.

Tuesday 21st April, 2009
Interview + live-to-air performance on The Morning Show, with Chris Coucouvinis.
FBi Radio. 11am.

Tuesday 21st April, 2009
Interview + live-to-air performance on The Spice of Life, with Hans Stoeve.
2SER Radio. 1.30pm.

Wednesday 22nd April, 2009
The Basement, Sydney.
with special guests Leroy Lee and Maxine Kauter.
Tickets $18 + bf presale / $22 at the door.
Doors open 7.30pm / Show starts 8.45pm.

Saturday 25th April, 2009
The Clarendon Guest House, Katoomba.
Tickets $20 show only / $55 dinner + show.
Bookings: 02 4782 1322.
Dinner from 7pm / Show starts 8.30pm.

Friday 1st May, 2009
The Town Hall, Candelo.
Tickets $20/$15 at the door.
Doors open 7.30pm.
BYO / Supper available.

VIC

Thursday 14th May, 2009
The Corner Hotel, Richmond.
VITAMIN RECORDS presents INDIE SIX PACK featuring Lucie Thorne + band, Tin Pan Orange, Fireside Bellows, Sal Kimber, Tobias Hengeveld and Leah Flanagan.
Tickets $16 at the door.
Doors open 7.30pm.

SA

Saturday 16th May, 2009
The Singing Gallery, McClaren Vale.
Tickets $20/$15.
Doors open 7.30pm.
BYO supper.
Bookings: 0413 358 618.

Sunday 17th May, 2009
The Wheatsheaf, Adelaide.
4pm.

NSW

Friday 22nd May, 2009
The Murrah Hall, Murrah.
Tickets $20/$15 at the door.
Doors open 7.30pm.
BYO / Supper available.

ACT

Saturday 23rd May, 2009
The Ainslie Hall, Canberra.
Tickets $20/$15 at the door.
Doors open 7.30pm.
BYO / Supper available.

NSW

Thursday 11th June, 2009
The Vanguard, Sydney.
details tba.

Saturday 13th June, 2009
The Wauchope Hall, Wauchope.
details tba.

Wednesday 17th June, 2009
The Bowling Club, Mullumbimby.
details tba.

QLD

Thursday 18th June, 2009
The Troubadour, Brisbane.
details tba.

Friday 19th June, 2009
The Black Box Theatre, Nambour.
details tba.

Sunday 21st June, 2009
The Court Theatre, Townsville.
details tba.

NSW

Friday 26th June, 2009
The Memorial Hall, Bellingen.
details tba.

Saturday 27th June, 2009
The Musician's Club, Armidale.
details tba.

Sunday 28th June, 2009
Mt Misery Goldmine Cafe, Nundle.
details tba.

more BLACK ACROSS THE FIELD launch tour shows in regional NSW, Western Australia and the Northern Territory announced soon...

Monday, February 09, 2009

John Martyn dies


Incredibly sad news; an inspiring guitarist and wonderful singer song writer.

From the BBC website

John Martyn, who has died at the age of 60, was widely regarded as one of the most soulful and innovative singer-songwriters of his generation.

His music - a marriage of blues, folk, dub and funk - has been cited as an influence by artists as varied as U2, Portishead and Eric Clapton.

Although he rarely troubled the charts, many of his albums - especially Solid Air - are regarded as classics.

But the singer battled with drugs and alcohol throughout his career.

John Martyn
Born Iain David McGeachy in New Malden, Surrey, Martyn's parents divorced when he was five.

He spent his childhood alternating between his mother's houseboat in England and his father's home in Scotland, where he was exposed to the music of both the Presbyterian Church and the English music hall.

Moving to London in his late teens, he became a fixture at Les Cousins - the Soho club at the centre of the city's folk scene, which also spawned the likes of Ralph McTell, Bert Jansch and Al Stewart.

Soon after, he became the first white act to be signed to Chris Blackwell's Island Records, and recorded his debut album, London Conversation, for £158 in 1968.

On the road, he began to experiment with electronic effects - notably a tape device known as the Echoplex, which provided his signature sound.

By 1969, he was married to blues singer Beverley Kutner, with whom he recorded 1970's Stormbringer in Woodstock, where the couple lived near Bob Dylan.

"Jimi Hendrix owned a house literally over the road," Martyn said in 2007. "He used to fly up every Thursday in a purple helicopter. He was very quiet and used to tell me how much he loved the animals."


Martyn won a lifetime achievement prize at 2008's Radio 2 Folk Awards
Martyn cemented his reputation with 1973's Solid Air, described as the "musical equivalent of a reassuring hug" by Q Magazine, which named it the 67th best British album of all time in 2000.

The haunting title track was dedicated to his friend and fellow singer-songwriter Nick Drake - who died of an overdose shortly after it was finished, aged 26.

The following few years saw Martyn descend into alcoholism, with live performances swinging erratically between moments of inspired genius and incoherent inebriation.

The singer later recalled an occasion in Spain where he had been so drunk he fell off the stage. "I still got three encores," he noted.

Inevitably, however, the substance abuse took a toll on his personal life and his marriage broke up towards the end of the 1970s.

Grace and Danger, released in 1980, presented a painfully honest depiction of the divorce - and Martyn later told recording engineer Phil Brown that "he had never written a good song since" leaving his wife.

Nonetheless, his subsequent albums - Glorious Fool and Well Kept Secret (the former produced by Phil Collins) - were the highest-charting records of his career.

In the late 1990s, Martyn began to experiment with electronic dance sounds and scored a top 40 hit as a featured vocalist on Deliver Me - a dance record by Faithless musician Sister Bliss.

But his life continued to be blighted by drug dependency and alcohol abuse.

In 2003, he had to have his right leg amputated below the knee after a cyst the size of a golf ball burst (although Martyn told some reporters he lost the limb after crashing his car into a stray cow).

"It only affected me getting in and out of bed, cars and theatres," he told The Mirror in 2008.

"I wasn't too pleased about it, but whatever happens to your bod, happens. I'd have died if they hadn't cut the leg off. My blood would have been poisoned."

The singer, who took to performing in a wheelchair, told Q Magazine he had no regrets.

"If I could control myself more, I think the music would be much less interesting," he said.

"I'd probably be a great deal richer but I'd have had far less fun and I'd be making really dull music."

Shortly before his death, Martyn was appointed an OBE in the New Year Honours.

Kim Sanders news

Kim Sanders & Friends will perform for the Jazzgroove Association on February 17. The gig will feature drummer Toby Hall. “I’m looking forward to playing with Toby again. Playing with a jazz drummer is very different to playing with a tabla-player, and we like to take the music in different directions at different gigs,” says Kim. The other players will be Steve Elphick on bass and Sandy Evans on soprano and tenor saxes. “Sandy will be just back from a month studying in India, so she’ll be full of ideas and rarin’ to go. And there may just be some Indian things happening despite the kit instead of tabla!”

Support band (8.30pm) is Flap! from Melbourne
Jessica Guille - ukelele
Eamon McNelis - trumpet
Mark Elton - bass
Ben Hendry - drums

Touring from Melbourne to promote the launch of their debut album, Flap! are a charming band led by Jessica and Eamon. Featuring musicians from Vada, C.W. Stoneking and Shane Warne, the Musical, they sing original songs about falling off cliffs, obese amputees, being poor and the essential universal themes of falling in love and getting wasted.
Kim Sanders & Friends
10 pm
Tuesday 17 February
Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills
cnr Foveaux & Bellevue Sts
www.excelsiorhotel.com.au

Kim Sanders news

Kim Sanders & Friends will perform for the Jazzgroove Association on February 17. The gig will feature drummer Toby Hall. “I’m looking forward to playing with Toby again. Playing with a jazz drummer is very different to playing with a tabla-player, and we like to take the music in different directions at different gigs,” says Kim. The other players will be Steve Elphick on bass and Sandy Evans on soprano and tenor saxes. “Sandy will be just back from a month studying in India, so she’ll be full of ideas and rarin’ to go. And there may just be some Indian things happening despite the kit instead of tabla!”

Support band (8.30pm) is Flap! from Melbourne
Jessica Guille - ukelele
Eamon McNelis - trumpet
Mark Elton - bass
Ben Hendry - drums

Touring from Melbourne to promote the launch of their debut album, Flap! are a charming band led by Jessica and Eamon. Featuring musicians from Vada, C.W. Stoneking and Shane Warne, the Musical, they sing original songs about falling off cliffs, obese amputees, being poor and the essential universal themes of falling in love and getting wasted.
Kim Sanders & Friends
10 pm
Tuesday 17 February
Excelsior Hotel, Surry Hills
cnr Foveaux & Bellevue Sts
www.excelsiorhotel.com.au