Category Archives: Culture

The Talks Release Radio | Music News

Posted on by

Their new single on All Our Own Records

Radio

 

Release Date: 30th June

Format: Digital Download

 

“There aren’t many bands that are good enough to catch the attention of members of The Specials, but then there aren’t many bands like The Talks. Proving that hard work, persistence and a pocket full of irresistibly catchy tunes can pay dividends” – Music radar

 

thetalks

L-R: Jody Moore, Pat Pretorius, Iain Allen, Richard “Titch” Lovelock

 It’s an exciting time for The Talks and the release of new single ‘Radio’ is only going to add to the buzz that surrounds this four piece from Hull.  The band have built up a reputation across Europe for bouncing, blistering live shows supporting the likes of The Specials, Rancid, Madness, The Beat, King Blues and The Toasters.

 

Their 2012 single ‘Can Stand The Rain’ featured the legendary Neville Staple of The Specials and had over 55,000 views in its first week on YouTube. 2013 saw the release of their ‘West Sinister’ EP, which received fantastic reviews and airplay on both Ska and mainstream stations across Europe, leading to The Talks being invited to appear at a large number of festivals across the continent, including the famous Mighty Sounds Festival (CZ), Rebellion (UK), Galtres (UK) and This is Ska (DE).

 

The success of The Talks last single ‘Don’t look behind you’ has brought the band to an even bigger audience and with sellout shows and invites to play across more European festivals including Boomtown (UK), Sapi Festival (FR), Camden Rocks and Fusion Festival (DE) amongst many others.

 

Lead vocalist Pat says “it is amazing to see so many people showing up to the gigs and seeing such great reviews from the likes of Team Rock, Punk Archives and Louder than War to name a few. Truly makes us happy to know that driving miles and miles in the tour bus is worthwhile when we know people out there are digging it.”

 

Further proof that The Talks are on the receiving end of a huge amount of attention from all corners comes in the form of tweets praising the band from big hitters ‘Less Than Jake’, ‘Sonic Boom Six’ and Itch from King Blues; glowing reviews, front cover features and appearances on various UK TV networks.

 

The Talks highly anticipated debut album ‘Commoners, Piers, Drunks and Thieves’ is released later in the year.

 

 

CrimeFest 2014

Posted on by

This year’s CrimeFest happened last weekend, May 15-18 at the Bristol Royal Hotel. So, what’s CrimeFest? It’s the annual gathering for anyone who has any interest in reading, writing, or simply talking about (sometimes quite loudly over several drinks) that curious and  bloody phenomenon: crime. Especially crime fiction, but there’s always room for true crime, too. Why go? You want to meet authors? Find out what they’re writing? Try to work out how people with such deviant imaginations can be really great company? These are all good reasons. Mark Billingham, one of Britain’s best-selling thriller writers was one of the featured authors this year. His books are spell-binding and disturbing – and he gave one of the funniest interviews I’ve had the pleasure of hearing. At the rather less dark end of the spectrum of crime-writing, Simon Brett was on top form as a speaker. There was also masses to learn about the Iceland Noir writing which has acquired such an enthusiastic following on UK TV – you could even have won a trip to the Iceland Noir convention in Reykjavik.

CrimeFest4 B Forshaw EUROCRIME Panel

CrimeFest4 B Forshaw EUROCRIME Panel

The long weekend is full of difficult choices: should I go to the panel discussion on historical crime or does it clash with the one which asks Does a crime novel have to have something to say? The one that deals with the problem of When your character isn’t qualified to solve crimes, or What have old thrillers ever done for us? Choices, choices, choices. There was a quiz on the Thursday evening when we discovered just how competitive we all were – who said you couldn’t argue with the judge? Not us. The Gala Dinner on the Saturday, was a triumph of organisation and good food, which kept us all comfortable in our seats, happy to celebrate the award of prizes for humorous crime, for e-books and audio books, for works in translation and for Euro Crime. And afterwards you could linger at the bar ….

CrimeFest 6 crimefest bar

The joy of CrimeFest is that it doesn’t discriminate between readers, writers (wannabe or distinguished), publishers or agents, nor does anyone show the slightest sense of exclusivity. You can find yourself talking to a top author or an ardent fan. You can discover how the Alibi Channel’s crime dramas Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and The Murdoch Mysteries have developed from page to screen; or hear the husband and wife team which makes up the author Nicci French (Nicci Gerrard and Sean French) discuss how they combine their relationship with writing international best-selling psychological suspense.

CrimeFest5 Alison Joseph, Felix Francis, Susan Moody

CrimeFest5 Alison Joseph, Felix Francis, Susan Moody

Alas it’s all over for this year – but it will happen again next year. If you enjoy crime writing or reading, or just want a slightly different weekend with a lively mix of people, all of whom seem eager to talk to you (I think writing, or reading, about terrible events must make people appreciate the good things about real life) then you might want to think about giving it a try.

 
Penny Deacon
Photos: thanks to Ali Karim of Shots Magazine

 

 

Ashton Kutcher, Kit Harington, Courteney Cox, Emma Stone Read Mean Tweets About Themselves

Posted on by

A group of celebrities have reacelebsreadoutmeantweetsaboutthemselvesd aloud mean tweets about themselves,and it is funny and sad at the same time. Jimmy Kimmel had a number of celebrities read out the tweets in his “Mean Tweets” segment on his show.  Ashton Kutcher, Kit Harington, Courteney Cox, Emma Stone and Julia Roberts all joined in.

 

Mindy Kaling read out her mean tweet from  @chipheuston94, “Mindy Kaling is not funny or attractive, she has an annoying voice and just plainly sucks…why does she have her own show.” and then quipped “I feel like this is more than 140 characters.”

Courteney Cox read out, “I hate Courteney Cox I f*cking hate her. P*ssy hoe” Courteney’s excellent response makes something horrible funny, “That’s sweet.”

What do you think? Would you read mean tweets about yourself?

 

 

Scarlet Starlings | Music Profile

Posted on by

music profileAlbum released June 1st 2014 Unsigned. Independent release.

Scarlet Starlings are a London-based folk rock band made up of cousins, siblings and significant others. They grew up listening to their large musical family playing jangly folk music like Fairport Convention, Crosby, Stills & Nash and The McGarrigles. Granny Maisie, the family matriarch, taught each of them how to play on an old Takamine guitar held together by a piece of Meccano nailed to the bridge. Mike Scott brought his love of electro pop and Grant Lee Buffalo to the mix – he and Sara-Mae have been writing songs together for years. Now, they love bands like Fleet Foxes, Sufjan Stevens, Conor Oberst and Unknown Mortal Orchestra.

Their sound will take you down some unexpected roads where folk, indie and alt country deliciously combine with harmonies and sweet melodic riffs.

They are Sara-Mae and Mike Scott, Simon Tuson, Joe and Jen Tuson and Talitha Gamaroff.

 

Their music was on the soundtrack of 2011 Portabello Film Festival award winning documentary, ‘Hard to Get: From Patient to PinUp. One of their songs ‘Ransom’ was played on Gary Crowley’s BBC London Calling radio show. They have played at festivals Lakefest 2013, Shuffle Fest London 2013 and a variety of venues across London including The Old Queens Head Islington, Folklore at the Half Moon in Putney, Into the Warm at The Harrison Kings Cross and many more.

The debut album has been a year in the making and includes these 9 tracks:
1. You Give It All Away 2. So Glad You Stayed 3. Anyone Can Say I Love You 4. The Wolf 5. Death of Innocence 6. Montauk 7. Beckons 8. Don’t Fix it 9. Shape You’re In
It was mostly recorded at a small studio just outside Oxford, England. Jason King at Shed Studios recorded So Glad You Stayed, The Wolf, Montauk, You Give It All Away and Beckons. John Laurence (of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci) and Geraint Jones mixed and mastered those tracks. Daniel Green of Laish mixed and mastered Anyone Can Say I Love You, Death of Innocence, Don’t Fix it and Shape You’re In.

 

 

Chelsea Flower Show 2014

Posted on by

The Chelsea Flower Show 2014 is in full swing and a number of celebrities have made an appearance at BrandAlley’s Italian Renaissance themed garden. Amy Willerton also appeared and posed as Venus in a giant clam shell. Top to bottom: Jennifer Saunders and Edmondson, Mary Nightingale, Tim Wonnacott, Amy Willerton, Anneka Rice, Lesley Garrett, Mary Berry and Nick & Jessica Knowles

jennifersaunders

chelseaflowershow timwonnacot amywillerton annekarice lesleygarrett maryberry nickandjessicaknowlesDo you like the Chelsea Flower Show?

 

 

Sarah Millican Responds To Criticism About Her Appearance On The Red Carpet

Posted on by

The red carpet can be a brutal place for women: their talent is put to one side and they are based entirely on the sum of their parts and ability to dress. This is what happened to Sarah Millican at last year’s BAFTA Awards.

“I’m sorry. I thought I had been invited to such an illustrious event because I am good at my job. Putting clothes on is such a small part of my day. They may as well have been criticising me for brushing my teeth differently to them” She wrote in her Radio Times Essay.

 

Sarah millican responds to trolls BAFTA Awards

Trolls on the internet attacked her red carpet look, calling it “disastrous” and “nana”-like. She was hurt but choose to respond and point out the sexism of a woman being judged on her appearance rather than celebrated for her achievements.

“I’m not a model (I’m a comedian), have never learnt how to pose on a red carpet (I’m a comedian) and I have pretty low self-esteem.”

She also had this to say about her John Lewis dress:

“Fancy expensive designer shops are out for me as I’m a size 18, sometimes 20, and I therefore do not count as a woman to them.”

“It was like a pin to my excitable red balloon. Literally thousands of messages from people criticising my appearance. I was fat and ugly as per usual. … I cried. I cried in the car.”

Then she got angry….

“Why does it matter so much what I was wearing? … I felt wonderful in that dress. And surely that’s all that counts.”

 

Cate Blanchett also got sick of the sexist double standards after the cameras kept scanning her up and down at this year’s SAG Awards. She asked, “Do you do that to the guys?”

Funnily, Millican, points out the sexism of the situation: “My husband wasn’t asked who he was wearing, which disappointed him. Mainly because he was dying to tell ANYONE he was wearing an Asda tux.”

Even better, Millican had this to say about the dress she wore:

“I made a decision the following day that should I ever be invited to attend the Baftas again, I will wear the same dress. To make the point that it doesn’t matter what I wear; that’s not what I’m being judged on.”

 

 

This Will Be The Weirdest Thing You’ll See All Day: Terry Crews and Jimmy Fallon Nip Synced Shirtless to Ebony and Ivory

Posted on by

This will be the weirdest, and possibly funniest, thing you will see all day: Jimmy Fallon and Terry Crews performing a shirtless duet of Ebony and Ivory on yesterday’s Tonight Show. Fallon loves to lip synch and it seemed they could not pass up the opportunity to get the Brooklyn Nine-Nine star shirtless for a different take on it.