The News Review:
- Tony Blair to launch pop music career
- Roller derby leagues making a comeback
- Tribute bands rock at Glastonbudget
- China set to rock music charts
Tony Blair to launch pop music career
The Spoof – The Spoof (satire) – May 28, 2007
He spoke in a calm but slightly Jaggeresque manner about his record as a Prime Minister and his future as a rock artist. "You know I mean what it is that I'm trying to say is sometimes I'd be sitting in my ministerial office and I just wanted to like throw the filling out the window man. " Prime Ministerial life was boring he went onto explain it did not allow him to vent his anger at how punk music had been hijacked by what he considered to be a bland and commercialised generation "modern music just doesn't provide the grounding for musicians to feel that they're truly and honestly changing and participating in real social change people. " The Prime Minister will offically leave office on 27th June this year to be replaced by the current Chancellor of the Exequer (Finance Minister) Gordon Brown a politician who to Blair's admitted annoyance didn't share his enthusiaism for late 1970s Punk. "It caused arguments all the time" Tony became somewhat tense as he explained the friction his interest in music had caused with Brown over that past decade "he just didn't get the vibe that we had going over at 10. "What now for Tony Blair as an artist and as one of Britain's most high profile politicians "the album comes out in September [Blairing ut To The World] and it's really just a chilled out record in which I express who I am through a mix of various musical styles based on numnerous influences. "BLAIRING UT T THE WRLD – Track listThings Can nly Get Better.
Roller derby leagues making a comeback
nline Athens – nline Athens (subscription) – May 28, 2007
n this night about 600 people gathered at the All-American Skating Center in the shadow of towering Stone Mountain right across the street from the tennis complex that was used during the 1996 lympics. Just don’t expect this sport to join the establishment any time soon. Part show part legitimate athletic competition roller derby’s latest incarnation is rapidly carving out a subculture of its own sprouting from the punk music scene but embracing women of all types. Some came for the exercise. Some were drawn by the chance to level a competitor. Some leaped at the chance to trade their conservative 9-to-5 clothes for the outrageous personalized costumes of roller derby. Sara Riney pays the bills by working in public relations.
Tribute bands rock at Glastonbudget
BBC News – May 28, 2007
Passion for musicThis is the answer to overpriced stadium gigs and while it might attract some sneers it reflects a demand for something the mainstream music industry hasn’t been providing. Several tribute bands can now fill London’s Royal Albert Hall and Pink Fraud will themselves be playing at this year’s Glastonbury. Indeed the whole event feels very “punk” in the sense that this is homegrown do-it-yourself music far beyond the corporate music industry.
China set to rock music charts
Toronto Star – May 28, 2007
com – News – China set to rock music charts Years after authorities crushed rebellious rhythms of the ’80s an underground music scene emerges May 28 2007 Bill Schiller ASIA BUREAU BEIJING?Nearing midnight in the northern nether reaches of Beijing in a shoebox of a club called D22 Jeff Zhang has wrestled his Gibson SG guitar to the stage and is eliciting sounds from it that few in the West ? and even fewer in the East ? have ever heard. With its exposed brick velvet curtains and smoke rising through dimly-lit spotlights D22 seems a veritable re-creation of ’70s New York in the heart of the punk scene. Club manager Michael Pettis shouting against a crescendo that continues to climb says he and his partners hope D22 will be "a hothouse for young Chinese talent" which will "ultimately compete with the best in the world. "n stage Zhang continues to play a ragged piece of genius in the key of C as the audience rises to its feet. Like every other facet of civilization that is poised to feel the impact of China’s strength rock ‘n’ roll is also about to experience China’s might. "There are three or four young innovative guitarists is this country who will soon rank in the world’s top tier" says Pettis a former Wall Street warrior who now teaches finance at Peking University… And for a while so did the music. What has emerged since has been mainly bland local versions of Western rock and imported pop tunes from Taiwan. But in a few clubs like D22 original music ? a kind of underground scene ? is slowly beginning to emerge. Still ? knowing what has gone before them these young Chinese musicians take pains to be politically careful even here. They emphasize it’s about the music not about the politics. And that’s not surprising. nly last month on the eve of opening for veteran American indie rockers Sonic Youth in Beijing Zhang’s own band the Carsick Cars was pulled from the program after the Ministry of Culture stepped in.