Tag Archives: Music

Avon Launch Singing Competition – 'Sing-Song'

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To celebrate it’s 125th anniversary, global beauty brand Avon today launches its biggest ever worldwide online singing and song writing talent search, ‘Avon Voices’. Supported worldwide by industry stars, including Black Eyed Peas singing sensation Fergie and song writing legend Diane Warren, contestants are competing for the rare opportunity to record a professionally produced album which will be available to buy internationally.
 
Entrants in to the singing search must be female and aged 18 or over, although both men and women aged 18 or over can enter the song writing search. Everyone is also invited to be a ‘talent scout’ by rating their favourite videos when they go live online on 1 January 2011. The Avon Voices celebrity panel will announce the 200 first round global contenders on International Women’s Day (8 March 2011), with the successful UK singers and songwriters being treated to a glamorous video shoot in Paris.
 
Further rounds will then take place in New York and Hollywood for those that are successful in the initial stages.
 
Anna Segatti, Group Vice President, Avon Western Europe and Middle East, comments: 

“In celebration of Avon’s 125th anniversary in 2011, we are inviting people from around the world to come together and showcase their talents. For generations Avon has been empowering women to find their individual voices, tell their stories and share their dreams. Now we are asking women to find their singing voices.  We are thrilled to have music industry legends on board to join us in the hunt for the UK’s next big star. If you’re an avid singer or songwriter now is really your time to shine and be in with an opportunity to win this once in a lifetime chance with Avon Voices.”

 

There’s a set song list for you to sing and it’s jam packed with cheesy uplifting female ballads. For further information including dates, voting and video submission rules,  visit www.AvonVoices.co.uk.

Musical Style {Style}

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With new artists continuously emerging from all walks of life there is constantly something fresh on the music scene however when an artist comes to the forefront of the public eye, it’s not just their music that makes them famous. It is their personality, their style and of course their fashion.

Fashion and music are inexplicably linked.

This idea is of course, is not a new phenomenon, think back to ‘The Beatles’ and their iconic suits, ‘Kiss’ and their unmistakable face paint, as well as Run DMC and their Adidas. In the case of Run DMC, fashion even influenced their music with the song ‘My Adidas’ which was a result of the group “rockin” their “superstars/shelltoes” with the tongue sticking out and no laces, making a huge impact on both hiphop and future generation styles.

More recently, Lilly Allen started the idea of wearing prom style dresses accompanied by trainers and Oasis set an example which Manchunians especially still emulate to a certain extent, with the casual-smart way of dressing.

Even hair styles are copied, this is seen again with the Oasis style; they are more dated now but even back in the 1980’s the long curls on men were copied from artists such as Brian May from Queen, amongst others.

A lot of these music producing fashion trends emerge and continue to appear for years to come. For example, Run DMC’s style; the fashionable street/sports wear, this is still very obviously apparent within the hip-hop music scene, take a look at Jay-Z or Justin Timberlake, but new versions are constantly evolving as well such as the N-Dubz, ‘Dappy-hat’ is a particularly obvious and surprisingly popular one of these.

An infamous trend which emerged some time ago is the Punk Music scene, which although materialized up to thirty five years ago, remnants of it are still constantly surfacing.

Vivienne Westwood is a prime and noted example of this but these characteristics are seen across the board with even high street stores using qualities of the style. For example tartan dresses and ripped jeans.

Fashion will always be influenced by music, the only question is, whose is your favourite artist?

Gensler unveils Design for Museum of Bond vehicles and espionage {Cult}

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LONDON — International architecture, design and planning firm Gensler today, unveiled its design for the Museum of Bond Vehicles and Espionage, which is slated to open in Momence, IL, in 2012, on the 50th anniversary of the first James Bond movie, Dr. No.

The 14,000 square foot museum will house the exclusive collection of the Ian Fleming Foundation, including the world’s largest collection of vehicles used in Bond films. A partnership between the Ian Fleming Foundation, the Kankakee County Museum and the City of Momence, this Gensler-designed museum will also feature cultural artefacts of espionage with exhibits exploring contemporary culture’s impact on the Bond films as well as Bond’s influence on popular culture.

With projections of 20,000 visitors per year, the museum hopes to revitalize Momence, Illinois, a historic border town located 50 miles south of Chicago.

The project itself is a bit of a double agent, says Gensler Design

Director Brian Vitale. At face value, we¹ve designed a showcase for a world-class collection of James Bond vehicles and the culture that surrounds them. But its real mission is to become a powerful catalyst for the revitalization of a once-vibrant city.

With a limited budget, Gensler focused on a single bold design move to make a statement against a simple backdrop. The result is the 007 window (named so because the windows angled jamb resembles a 7), located at the buildings prominent corner. The window does quadruple-duty, providing exhibit display space, signage, a day lit interior, and an iconic backdrop for photographs. The remainder of the building is clad in black horizontal corrugated metal. It’s a mysterious silhouette that reveals very little of the museum’s content, much like James Bond himself, said Vitale.

Get more info at the Museum Of Bond Vehicles Facebook Page

Director Interview – Adam Simcox [Film]

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Our emerging-talent-philes warned us about a director who was winning awards on the festival circuit so we cornered him to tell us all about his latest project. Here is what he said…

Frost: Tell me about the film…

Adam: Rock and Roll Stole my Soul is a fictional documentary about a rock band called the Fury.  It charts their almost rise to fame, and the bitterness and loss that comes with the failure of a band, or, indeed anyone, to make it in the music industry.

But, you know.  There’s jokes in there too.

Frost: What was your inspiration for making it?

Adam: I’ve been massively into music since the age of 5, and always dreamed about being the lead singer in a rock and roll band.  Or a guitarist.  To be honest, I’d have settled for bassist.  For a while, it looked like it might happen; the only thing really holding me back was a complete and utter lack of any musical ability whatsoever.  Plus, I couldn’t sing/didn’t have the requisite charisma/access to illegal pharmaceuticals.  Rock and Roll Stole my Soul is basically me living out my rock star fantasies, which is one of the reasons it was so much fun to make.

Frost:  What exactly is the film nominated for?

Adam: It picked up a best film nomination at the Twin Rivers Media Festival in North Carolina, and has just been selected for the AOF Festival in Pasadena.  That’s a biggie, as it was voted one of the 25 best by Moviemaker magazine, and is renowned for helping break new talent.  They announce the award nominees at the start of July, so I’m keeping everything that’s vaguely crossable crossed.

Frost: What was your biggest challenge you faced while you were making it?

Adam: The biggest challenge, and believe me, it’s a damn good challenge to face, is what to leave out.  I could have made another film with the material and actors I had to cut out completely.  I shot the film in two ways: there was a shooting script, which I captured, and then each scene would be acted out again, but this time completely improvised.  Because the format is a documentary one, and because it’s important for each performance to be as truthful as possible, all the auditions which were held were improvisational in format.  There are performances in this film that it just wasn’t possible to include, for reasons of story or running time.  It was a dream cast to work with.

Frost:  Is there anything you would have done differently if you did it again?

Adam: I shot this film on a rolling basis, over a period of 9 months, which was great, as it allowed me to go back and fix what wasn’t working, story wise.  For the first time, when it was finished and burning to DVD, I had the pleasant feeling of finishing a project that was almost exactly how I originally pictured it.  Visually, it’s not perfect – if I was to start shooting it again today parts of it would certainly look better – but overall I told the story I wanted to tell, in the manner I wanted to tell it.

Frost: Do you see yourself as a typical ‘auteur’?

Adam: I’m always wary of the term ‘auteur’, as it suggests a beret wearing, pretentious ****.  Now, while this is in fact a completely accurate description of me, I’d still rather consider myself as multi skilled media maverick.

The lesson I learnt from my first film, The Superhero, was that I needed a greater degree of self-sufficiency.  It’s not enough to just classify yourself as a writer/director nowadays.  If you’re working on a limited budget (and who isn’t?) it’s vital that you can do as many of the roles yourself as is physically possible.  On Superhero, because there was animation and a great deal of effects work, too much emphasis was put on other people.  With this film, I tried to make it as simple as possible, and adopted a back to basics approach, teaching myself editing, sound design and camera along the way.  This has led to me doing video work with several theatre companies this year.  I’m always up for collaborating with a project that seems like it’s going to be exciting.

Frost: What’s next in the pipeline?

Adam: I’ve made a bit of headway into the music video world this year.  I’m just finishing one for a Mexican artist called Mig Dfoe which I think is going to turn out really well.  It’s a great tune, and is out next month, I believe, on Loki Records.  I’ve also just finished shooting and editing a short film with Kirsty Eyre, who I know from the theatre world.  I can’t say too much about that one yet, but it’s unique, it’s called The Lonely Gladiator, and it could be a bit of a festival killer, I think.

Frost: Where can festival goers see your film being screened?

Adam: Any of you good people that are in the LA/Pasadena area, get yourselves to the AOF Festival in Pasadena from July 23rd onwards, snap up a ticket for the screening, and have your soul stolen by Rock and Roll*.

*Film not actually guaranteed to steal your soul, more just borrow it for 70 minutes