Australian tour report

WHITNEY Houston tried to rehabilitate her fading reputation as a singer last night amid growing criticism of her Australian tour.

The 46-year-old took to the stage at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena, where the top tickets cost $195, despite widespread claims that she could no longer live up to the demands of a world-class show.

It is Houston's first tour in a decade and her first to Australia in 22 years. In her early years, she made her name with a string of hits and the film The Bodyguard, winning a Grammy Award for the soundtrack.

But after her struggles with substance abuse and a failed marriage to Bobby Brown, Houston has battled to regain her glory.

Her imperfect singing, lack of stamina and poor health have all been under fire on this latest tour, which began in Brisbane last week before moving to Sydney then the Hunter Valley over the weekend.

In a comment that has been picked up by websites around the world, from The New York Times to blogs about music, one fan said Houston "couldn't entertain a dead rat". Even fans on her official website are debating whether Houston's magic has gone.

On Melbourne's 3AW yesterday, entertainment commentator Peter Ford was scathing of her weekend show.

"It was embarrassingly bad," he said. "My message to Whitney this morning is welcome to Melbourne and time to give it up, girl. Because this is just a sham tour that is not going to get any better."

Local promoter Andrew McManus went to ground yesterday, failing to return repeated phone calls and emails ahead of Houston's sold-out Melbourne concert. He has reportedly refused to refund tickets to upset fans.

Houston is due to play on Thursday in Adelaide before returning to Melbourne on Saturday for a concert where the top price is $285. Her tour then moves to Europe, with performances in Paris, Manchester, Glasgow and other cities.

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2010/02/rolling_stones_exile_on_main_s.ht...

not sure if this is old news

the screed reads as follows

Domino is incredibly proud to announce that it will be releasing the new album from The Fall. Recorded at various studios in the north of England over the past year, Your Future Our Clutter, is Mark E Smith and co’s debut for Domino and will be released on April 23.

It will be available on double LP, CD & digital download. Full album tracklisting is as follows:

1. O.F.Y.C. Showcase
2. Bury Pts. 1 + 3
3. Mexico Wax Solvent
4. Cowboy George
5. Hot Cake
6. Y.F.O.C. / Slippy Floor
7. Chino
8. Funnel Of Love
9. Weather Report 2

The Fall are:

Peter "PP" Greenway - Guitars
Dave "The Eagle" Spurr – Bass Guitar
Eleni Poulou - Keyboards, Bass, Backing vocals
Keiron Melling - Drums, PCSN
Mark E. Smith - Lead Vocals

Next Tuesday a rally will be held in Melbourne that I think will be quite unique- especially if it is as well attended as expected.

http://www.slamrally.org/

Due to alcohol related violence, new liquor licensing laws were introduced. Live music venues s a categoryare now regarded as high risk requiring hiring of security. This extra cost has driven out of business some long standing venues.

Evidence of the Govt and the licensing commission's ignorance was when they proposed a compromise - security would only be required if the venue was open ...wait for it ... after 10 pm. Most bands I see aren't on before 10pm.

There next solution was to set up some sort of foundation with a "high profile Director" to promote Melbourne as a live music centre. Pathetic. The obvious point is that violence originates in recorded music clubs, casinos etc and the categories need changing.

Melbourne readers of the Word the rally is next tuesday.( click on the link above)...it's been a while since I've said "see you at the demo"

I was dubious about her show when I saw it advertised and this review came as no surprise.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/music/articles/2010/02/07/12...

I was wondering whether others have had a similar or contrary experience of late.

seems he missed his plane to australia - doh !

http://www.undercover.com.au/News-Story.aspx?id=10212

I need some counselling.

3 years ago my family spent 6 months renovating our house in Sydney. A week after we moved in I went to Melbourne for a family event.My son claimed to have to play school cricket and stay behind. That same night, at around 10.30 I got a call from the sergeant of the Rose Bay Police to say there were 4 squad cars and 2 ambulances outside the house. Countless youths were in every laneway , nook and cranny being chased by police and parents in the adjoining houses. we returned the next day to an over scrubbed house , an empty liquor cabinet and a persistent waft of vomit.

Last weekend I returned from Indonesia. My new partner's daughter was left in the house for 2 weeks with regular parental suopervision and having made an almost religious commitment to behave. I was anxious but was told to show more trust.

I returned to multiple complaints from police and neighbours who had also passed on complaints to the landlord. My car has been pranged, the keys lost, my watch missing, my wine drunk, 30 cigarette burns in one room alone ,filthy carpets etc.

A friend asked me ...just who did you p#ss off in a past life?

So humour me -regale me with experiences far worse.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/music/hope-for-the-tote-as-m...

The Tote is a classic sticky carpet , grungy rock n roll pub in Melbourne.Its foreshadowed demise is due to new licensing laws that require security to be hired due to violence at nightclubs. Of course the nightclubs are not rock venues and there has been minimal evidence of problems at live music venues.

But the point of this blog entry is to highlight that the responsible minister has been called backed from holidays to discuss what can be done to save this local institution.

The tatts were a great straight ahead hard rock band copied by many overseas

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/music/articles/2009/12/23/12...

this time little drummer boy - a collage of painted images quite enjoyable

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=pe_35060_13799200_pe_04/?docId...

it reminded me of his jokerman video which was simply excellent

i thought this was interesting

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/just-a-dotty-idea/2009/...

I currently have Nero 7 installed. There is a bug that I habve had great difficulty eliminating. In researching, others said that in addition to the bug the software chews up a lot of memory running unnecessary files or whatever.

So sod it - time for a new program.

All I want to do is burn discs and make compilations.For more fancy stuff i use audacity et al.

So any suggestions for something reliable and doesn't have a whole lot of unnecessary stuff to slow my PC down?

many thanks

Continuing on with my Go betweens threads.

I saw this recently http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/29/2699443.htm

quite clever - go betweens > bridge and of course an honour for the late brisbanite grant mclennan

A laneway in Melbourne featuring a rock n roll bar,the Cherry Bar, was remnamed AC DC lane some years ago. Needless to say they have had to affix the street sign REALLY HIGH up due to multiple theft.

I was wondering how many other bands have had public thoroughfares named after them .

I have recommended separately a new collection of music writings by Robert Forster, formerly of the Go Betweens

Without wishing to steal his thunder, Word readers may be interested / amused in his list. My personal favourite is #7, closely followed by #10.

1 Never follow an artist who describes his or her work as dark.
2. The second last song on every album is the weakest.
3. Great bands tend to look alike.
4. Being a rock star is a 24 hour a day job.
5. The band with the most tattoos has the worst songs.
6. No band does anything new on stage after the first 20 minutes.
7. The guitarist who changes guitars on stage after every third number is showing you his guitar collection.
8. Every great artist hides behind his manager.
9. Great bands don't have members making solo albums.
10.The three piece band is the purest form of rock and roll expression.

apparently rieu had plans to team up with michael jackson

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/andre-rieu-reveal...

we should all feel spared