William Morris gallery wins £100,000 Art Fund prize

The William Morris Gallery in north-east London has won this year's £100,000 Art Fund prize for Museum of the Year following a £5m renovation.

The Walthamstow gallery was praised for its community outreach and for "setting the highest standards of curatorship".

A second prize, of £10,000, went to the Hepworth gallery in Wakefield for its "world-class" education programme.

The winners were announced by Private Eye editor Ian Hislop on Tuesday at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

The recipients were revealed live on BBC Radio 4's Front Row.

Born in 1834, William Morris was one of the principal founders of the British Arts and Crafts movement, a pioneer of the socialist movement in Britain and a writer of poetry and fiction.

His world-famous designs for wallpaper and patterned fabrics are now housed in the home in which he grew up.

The gallery opened in 1950 but faced closure in 2007 before securing funding for its redevelopment.

"Its extraordinary collections, beautifully presented, draw the visitor engagingly through Morris's life and work and through the building itself," said the judges.

Funding concerns

The Art Fund prize, now in its 11th year, rewards "innovation and creativity in bringing objects and collections to life".

Other nominees this year included the Baltic in Gateshead, Narberth Museum in Pembrokeshire and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow.

Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund and chair of the judges, said the 10 finalists had set "world-class standards" despite concerns about public investment and arts funding in the UK.

"Important and beautiful collections and their visiting publics are being brilliantly served across the country," he continued.

"The prize intends to draw attention to this national success story."

Source: BBC

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Johnny Vegas Directs and Stars in New Billy Bragg Video

JOHNNY VEGAS DIRECTS AN ALL-STAR VIDEO FOR BILLY BRAGG’S ‘HANDYMAN BLUES’ SINGLE

FEATURING KEVIN ELDON, RICKY GROVER, PHILL JUPITUS, STEWART LEE, NEIL MORRISSEY, ROSS NOBLE, JOHNNY VEGAS AND SAMUEL WEST PLUS A CAMEO APPEARANCE FROM BILLY BRAGG AND FILMED IN A WICKES D.I.Y STORE!

Johnny Vegas has directed and appeared in a video for Billy Bragg’s new single ‘Handyman Blues’ (released July 15 on Cooking Vinyl) with an all-star cast of comedians and actors who are Billy Bragg fans.  Johnny, a lifelong fan of Billy’s songs, recently sought out the ‘The Bard Of Barking’ for help with some music for a drama he was directing called ‘Ragged’, featuring Ricky Tomlinson. As a thank you, Johnny offered to make a video of the song he loved on Bragg’s new CD ‘Tooth & Nail’.  In the song ‘Handyman Blues’, Billy laments that he is useless at DIY, but suggests that he is creative in other ways. The video, produced by Beverley Dixon of Woolyback Productions, was filmed at the Wickes D.I.Y. store in Uxbridge.

Johnny says, “It's not every day that you get to direct a video for a genuine icon, especially one as respected and admired as Billy is”.

Billy Bragg is currently finishing a short UK tour (remaining dates below) and plays Glastonbury Pyramid Stage on Saturday June 9.

Tues June 4 - Manchester, Band On The Wall 
Wed June 5 - London, Union Chapel

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Review: Fremont John – Contrarian

Fremont John – Contrarian (Independent)

Fremont John earned his spurs touring the Midwest, singing and playing electric guitar / keyboards with his band InnerVision - supporting major artists like Rush and Styx, before a career in banking and then his own environmental business began to demand more of his time. However, the music bug isn’t so easy to kick, and in the early ‘90s he returned to the stage with InnerVision drummer Michael Carden, and together they formed Alias, a popular classic rock outfit that gigged extensively throughout the decade. Simultaneously, Fremont John began to perform solo, acoustic shows, which he enjoyed as much as his audiences, and in 1999 he sold his business, relocated to Key West, and decided to properly re-launch his music career.

There, he’s become something of an institution amongst local fans, with monthly tours and a succession of acclaimed records under his belt. An extremely gifted acoustic guitarist, he’s well known for re-inventing well-known and classic songs, and there are four of them on “Contrarian”. Indeed, his take on The Allman Brothers’ “Melissa” is revelatory, with his comfortable vocal combining with his guitar, and neither dominating the space. Equally, the Isley’s “Summer Breeze” is relieved of its languid electric solo and is replaced with something earthier and innate. It’s a great version.

Of course, there’s no shortage of original material to be found amongst the dozen tracks on “Contrarian”, and the fact that they happily co-exist alongside genre-defining songs is worth emphasizing. “Back in the Game” makes an impact straight away. It’s urgent and vital with a perfect riff and a chorus that sticks like musical glue. “My Momma, She Really Loved to Dance” is jazzy and lyrically reminds of the sort of thing Ray Davies might have come up with as a sequel to “Come Dancing”. The title track brings things to a conclusion with a statement of being, that might have been better placed at the beginning - which means I’d better play the whole thing again.

www.fremontjohn.com

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Phil S.

Tonight at The Musician: Shawn Jones Band + Brother

Shawn Jones Band

Tuesday 4th June

£7adv / £8door

plus Brother

www.shawnjonesmusic.com

www.facebook.com/thebrotherband

Shawn Jones is the epitome of American Roots/Rock music. He has proven over time that he has an international appeal. Shawn is true to form of his influences, spanning from all the greats in Rock, Rhythm 'N' Blues, Jazz and Country. His father raised him on Hank Williams, and he grew up in the heartland of Southern California, where he learned from experience how to play and sing the blues.  Shawn has been touring in excess of 200 dates a year, creating new fans and followers literally everywhere he performs.

Shawn Jones' ability to combine undeniable guitar playing, singing, writing, and recording, coupled with heartfelt emotion, has earned him the slot as one of the most compelling new artists on today’s roots music scene.

Remember; always check with the venue before travelling:

www.themusicianpub.co.uk

Review: Hussy Hicks – The London Sessions

Hussy Hicks – The London Sessions (Funk Fauna)

Hussy Hicks - Julz Parker and Leesa Gentz – a progressive folk duo from the Australian East Coast, got together in 2006, and were busy from the off, gigging, recording and releasing their music. Indeed, they debuted on plastic in 2008 with their “Life Plays Out” album, and have issued new recordings, on various formats, every year since. Their prolific output suggests they’re enjoying what they do, and that certainly comes across on their 2013 offering, “The London Sessions”. The pair – Parker plays guitar, and Gentz sings – throw themselves into the music, and their enthusiasm and joie de vivre is palpable. The sound is completed by a rhythm section that understands its obligations, and they swing like few folk groups do.

Not that they’re purists by any means. Taking inspiration from various genres, including jazz, soul, old country and blues, the different combinations they employ keeps their music fresh, without sacrificing their trademark sound. That’s defined by Parker’s expressive musicianship – she’s played with a variety of acclaimed guitarists from Tommy Emmanuel to Lulo Reinhardt – and Gentz’s distinctive and versatile vocals.

Standout performances come thick and fast. Opening cut, “Armageddon (Outta Here)” arrives on blues-rock guitar lick, and Gentz is soon in on the act. It’s a cracking start, and brings to mind Little Feat, Bonnie Raitt and the best of ‘70s FM radio. “Breaking It All Down” serves up a little social commentary, though it’s observational rather than preachy, and not forgetting my current fave, the rootsy, old-fashioned “Empty Room”, which would probably be hailed a classic had it originated in Austin rather than Australia.

www.hussyhicks.com

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Phil S.

Rob Mulholland: Russian steel sculpture completed in five days

Scottish artist Rob Mulholland has completed a new sculpture in the Russian steel town of Vyska.

The Aberfoyle-based artist attracted worldwide attention for his larger-than-life-size mirrored figures.

It led to a number of new commissions including one from the industrial town of Vyska, which asked him to use materials from its local steelworks.

Rob completed the sculpture, including installation, in just five days, with the help of two local welders.

Rob's stainless steel mirror sculptures have sparked interest from around the world.

The Edinburgh College of Art graduate said the authorities in Vyska, which has one of the largest steelworks in Europe, asked him to submit a plan for a permanent sculpture for their new sculpture park.

"I developed the idea of a 4m-high (13ft) tower which has collapsed, creating an arched sculpture," said Rob.

He told BBC Scotland that the sculpture had gone down "incredibly well".

"This is very much a steel town, everything including the roofs of garden sheds is made of steel and 75% of the local workforce make steel products, so I think this is partly why they have taken to the sculpture," he said.

Rob added: "I've had an amazing insight into life in Russia and met some charming people, they are a bit like us Scots, a little reserved to begin with and not too full of themselves, but once you break the ice they have a great sense of humour and are incredibly resourceful people and nothing is too much trouble."

Source: BBC

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Projectionist rolls credits on 50-year film career

Barney McCue, one of the last projectionists in Scotland, is retiring from the job after 32 years at the Glasgow Film Theatre

Cinemas are as popular as ever but projection of 35mm film stock has almost completely disappeared in recent years, with the rise of digital projection. Projectionist Barney McCue has decided now is a good time to roll the end credits on a career spanning half a century.

Barney McCue may not have had the cinema in his blood but it was definitely in his home.

He was born in a tenement flat above the Grand cinema in the Cowcaddens area of Glasgow.

"There was no back court so when you went up the back stairs to the building there was a projection room and the door was always open so you could peek in and see the projectors," Barney says.

And when he left school in 1964 he started a career which would see him through the next five decades.

"It was a trade," he says.

"You had to do a three-and-a-half year apprenticeship at the beginning."

In those days it was a "very hands-on" job with the reels of film being changed every 20 minutes.

"But the audience did not notice the changeover because it was just another change of scene," he says.

"There were little dots or cues on the right-hand side of the screen that told the projectionist to change over."

He says it was quite an "art" to "unconsciously" watch the movie while dealing with the other reels.

Pile of reels

Barney worked his way through a number of Glasgow's long-gone ABC cinemas until taking charge of the flagship Sauchiehall Street picture house which became an early version of the multiplex when it converted to five screens in 1980.

The task of keeping all those screens running occasionally led to the sight of Barney trying to get the film back on to the spool after it had come off the projection table and gone snaking on to the floor.

The following year he moved to the Glasgow Film Theatre where he has been for the past 32 years.

He remembers one of the first films he projected was 1900 by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci.

"I remember that because it runs about four hours and there was a whole pile of reels to be made up by hand," says Barney.

"I had worked for the circuits where we had motorised rewinders and large reels. I came here and it was like going back 20 years into the past."

But Barney says it is all part of the fun of film projection, which he describes as a "hobby with pay".

The GFT has always been a step aside from the mainstream commercial multiplex but it has seen a number of revamps since Barney started, including the addition of a second screen.

The film theatre has increased its programme and caters for a more independent film-going audience but even it had to admit that digital was the future.

"A few years ago we changed upstairs and put a digital projection in and we were running 25% digital," Barney says.

"Eventually we put a second projector in downstairs and the transition was amazing. It was like 90% overnight."

Now, the film projectors are only used when digital prints of films are not available, perhaps for film festivals.

And for Barney, whose wife Sadie is also retiring from the GFT, the hands-on excitement has gone from film projecting.

"With digital it is all programmed up. It does what a projectionist used to do. You would bring the lights down, open curtains, focus, set sound etc.

"Eventually you did not even have to press a button - it was all scheduled on a timer.

"I felt you lost the art of that, you know. There did not seem to be the same excitement eventually."

Source: BBC

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Review: Phillip Bracken – The Opole Session

Phillip Bracken – The Opole Session (Independent)

Australian singer-songwriter, Phillip Bracken’s debut album was recorded live in the studio under quite extraordinary circumstances. While in Poland – whether touring or just traveling, I’ve no idea – he met, by chance, four Polish musicians, who he spent two days with, rehearsing his songs, and recording the eight tracks on “The Opole Session”. For those for whom geography is not a strong subject, Opole is a city in southern Poland, situated on the Oder River.

The four Polish musicians, Jacek Mielcarek (saxaphone and duduk), Jacub Mielcarek (contra bass), Mateusz Szemraj (electric guitar), and Jarek Korzonek (drums) bring an urgent enthusiasm to the table and I’m reminded a little of Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks” record; certainly the process and vitality inherent in the recording.

Considering the unfamiliarity of the material to the majority of the musicians, and the live setting in which it’s presented, the results are incredibly cohesive, and not at all basic or lo-fi. Indeed, opening track “It's Not Too Late / Ishmael” is beautifully structured, building slowly and surely, with Bracken in fine voice, and “The Storm” impresses with its European gypsy jazz rhythms and the whole band providing energy and flow. “Les Moustiques” continues the trend, and it’s a wonderful track. It’s almost certainly Bracken’s finest moment here, and the musicians weave complex magic in support.

Thankfully, Bracken will be back in Europe to play some shows later in 2013.

www.phillipbrackenmusic.com

www.facebook.com/phillipbrackenmusic

www.cdbaby.com/Artist/PhillipBracken

Phil S.

Tonight at The Musician: The City Acoustic Club

The City Acoustic Club
Monday 3^rd June
Free open mic night

For up to date info and news please join The City Acoustic Club Facebook group!

Remember; always check with the venue before travelling:

www.themusicianpub.co.uk

Banksy's Slave Labour mural auctioned in London

Tony Baxter from The Sincura Group told the BBC's Will Gompertz that the auction is a chance for the work to stay in the UK

A Banksy artwork that went missing from a wall in north London is up for auction for a second time.

The mural Slave Labour was taken from Wood Green in February. It later appeared at a Miami auction, but was withdrawn after protests.

The graffiti art is now being offered for sale in London by the Sincura Group. The minimum bid is £900,000.

MP Lynne Featherstone has urged the owners of the mural to give it back to the residents of north London.

The mural, which depicts a boy hunched over a sewing machine making union jack bunting, appeared on the side of a Poundland store in May 2012, just before the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

'Enhanced an area'

It was being auctioned at the London Film Museum in Covent Garden on Sunday evening.

Sincura said the mural had been "sensitively restored" and if the piece did not reach the reserve price it would be sold to a collector in the US.

Tony Baxter, director of the Sincura Group, said he could not divulge the owner of the piece but insisted it was being sold legally.

He said there was a chance the work would leave the UK unless an "angel" bought it and put it in a museum.

But Ms Featherstone, Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, said: "This is admirable, perhaps, but also incredibly optimistic.

"So now I make this direct plea to the owners of the Banksy piece: You have this one last chance to do the right thing.

"You have deprived a community of an asset that was given to us for free and greatly enhanced an area that needed it.

"I call on you, and your consciences, to pull the piece from both potential sales and return it to its rightful place."

When the Bristol artist's mural was up for auction in Miami, it was expected to fetch up to £450,000.

It was suspected the work had been stolen when it disappeared, but the Metropolitan Police said there were "no reports of any theft".

Replicas

Six identical copies of the mural reportedly appeared in Wood Green on Saturday morning, 36 hours ahead of the auction.

According to The Sun, the replicas - painted on polystyrene - were left outside the same Poundland store where the original appeared.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed to the BBC that one of the replicas was later confiscated from a member of the public.

"At 10:40 hours on Saturday, 1 June, police stopped a man in possession of a piece of artwork in Wood Green," they said.

"The artwork is being treated as property found on the street and has been taken to a North London police station."

If no-one claims the copy, it, too, will be auctioned.

Source: BBC

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Review: Matt Sanders – Come Hell Or High Water

Matt Sanders – Come Hell Or High Water (Independent)

Singer-songwriter Matt Sanders has been playing guitar since his early teens, growing up in the mountains of East Tennessee and listening to James Taylor and Billy Joel. He began writing music and songs almost immediately, recording a single, “Regrets” while still in High School and continuing to discover new songwriters to inspire him, especially Damien Rice and Amos Lee. He recorded and released his debut album in 2010, “Apathy Has Found Us Again”, and in the same year he headed out on the road with The Band Perry, as guitar technician for the high-flying country trio.

“Come Hell Or High Water” was recorded within a group setting, and both Sanders and his songs seem invigorated by the process. His sound and style is contemporary, alternative folk, both soulful and emotionally open, so it’s important that plenty of space is made for his songs to breathe. That’s been achieved with a level of subtlety and restraint that credits the artist, his band and the production team. Opening cut, “Train Wreck” makes for a perfect start, its rolling rhythm underpinned by steady keys and Sanders’ watertight lyricism. “It's You” indicates a willingness to try new things, as willful brass and percussion lay an unstable foundation for what is probably Sanders’ finest vocal, and “Ocean Tide” is equally impressive with it’s tumbledown jazz inflection.

www.facebook.com/mattsandersmusic

www.cdbaby.com/Artist/MattSanders

Phil S.

Rolling Stones and BBC in Glastonbury talks

The BBC has said it is having "ongoing conversations" with the Rolling Stones over how much of their Glastonbury performance can be broadcast on TV.

Press reports suggested the band had refused to let their full set be aired.

"Discussions with artists are business as usual for this stage of our festival planning," a BBC spokesperson said.

Speaking to The Independent, the BBC's head of music television Mark Cooper said the rock legends were "nervous about how much they should share".

The Stones, he told the paper, were "stepping out of their comfort zone". He added: "At this point, I'm quite optimistic we'll get a sufficient amount of music."

The BBC statement said: "We're confident that we'll be able to deliver fantastic coverage of this year's amazing Glastonbury line-up."

The Rolling Stones' spokesman declined to comment. The veteran rockers, he said, chose to remain "tight-lipped" on the subject.

It is not unusual for negotiations about TV coverage to continue right up to the festival.

Bruce Springsteen initially requested less airtime than was eventually agreed upon, and it is understood that conversations about Beyonce's performance in 2011 continued to the wire.

The Rolling Stones will play on the festival's main Pyramid Stage on Saturday 29 June. Mumford and Sons and the Arctic Monkeys are the other headline acts at this year's event at Worthy Farm, Somerset.

On Thursday, the BBC said there would be 250 hours of live broadcasting from Glastonbury's six main stages.

Source: BBC

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