I spent the late afternoon with Jonathan Stewart and his assistant Charlotte at the Coliseum in Charing Cross Road, interviewing some of the musicians in the English National Opera orchestra who have been affected by the severe cuts in funding for the organisation.
Tag: News
Tribute to Rab Noakes
Rab Noakes was a fine singer, songwriter, guitarist, BBC Radio music producer and Union activist. He served superbly representing musicians’ rights on the MU’s Executive Committee for many years.
Coral Room
One of my favourite bars in central London can be found in the Bloomsbury Hotel in Great Russell St, just along from TUC Congress House. The Coral Room serves a fine range of beers, shorts and cocktails, in surroundings inspired by the jazz age of the 1920’s and created in collaboration with Martin Brudnizki.
ACE funding
The MU has today heavily criticised the decision by Arts Council England to make major cuts in public funding to English National Opera and other arts organisations. While the MU supports increased funding for arts organisations outside London, today’s announcement reveals a deliberate decision to do this at a direct cost of London-based companies.
Record of the Day anniversary
The excellent daily news service for the music industry, Record of the Day (RotD, has just distributed its 1000th issue, which is a considerable milestone for any such service, and I have joined many colleagues in the business in acknowledging this feat.
Northern Cowboys
It has been a delight working with the superb team from Northern Cowboy Films, led by Mark Lewis and Thomas Dibb, who have been recording our MU EDI Conference in Leeds so effectively.
Response to CMA report
In partnership with Kindred, the MU’s PR agency, we secured encouraging coverage of our release sent out yesterday following the publication of the CMA Report. 145 items in total.
Los Angeles
Our last drive between stopovers saw us head for Los Angeles and our final hotel, The Garland in Vineland Avenue, North Hollywood.
Palm Springs
Tuesday morning’s burning sunshine signalled our leaving Las Vegas and an entertaining drive south west from Las Vegas via Yermo. An obligatory pit stop for lunch at the famous Peggy Sue’s Diner followed, where we were greeted in the lobby by the Elvis Presley fortune-telling machine!
Mammoth Lakes
On Thursday (7th) we left Yosemite and headed for our next stop, the Mountain Inn, Minaret Road in Mammoth Lakes. This journey involved circumnavigating the National Reserve to the north via the R49 and the 108 Highway, which initially proved an intriguing drive along narrow country roads.
San Francisco
Julie, Ben and I arrived in San Francisco on Friday (1st July) and having collected our Nissan SUV for the duration of our visit, settled in at the Riu Plaza on Mason Street, close to the famous Fishermans Wharf.
National Plan for Music Education
The MU has expressed its welcome today for the Government’s plans for music education, at the same time highlighting that this publication represents only a first step in the provision of this key subject over the coming decade.
The Musician (summer)
The summer 2022 issue of The Musician magazine is scheduled to be dispatched in print format to MU members this week. This is the 70th edition for which I have been editor, a role I have fulfilled since spring 2005 when the relationship with Future Publishing was established.
Streaming research
As part of the ongoing Government and Intellectual Property Office (IPO) music streaming work, a small group of researchers have been commissioned by the IPO to interview artists and industry stakeholders about industry contracts.
Caring soul video
A superb day at Rimshot Studios, Sittingbourne, in the company of producers Mike Thorne and Greg Fitzgerald, make-up artist Emily Bellussi-Fitzgerald, plus videographers Josh and Reuben, as we collectively shot a performance video for ‘Caring Soul.’
