❚ Breaking news from PopJustice: “We haven’t quite figured out exactly what’s going on in it yet but Lady Gaga’s You & I video, which has appeared online this evening a few days ahead of its intended debut, has exceeded expectations almost as much as the Edge Of Glory video failed to meet them, and makes us just as happy as The Edge Of Glory made us sad…
➢ Read on for PJ’s killer verdict on how this Gaga video changes, er, everything!
Posted in Europe, Media, Pop music
Tagged 2011, Born This Way, Lady Gaga, Popjustice, Video, You & I
Chavez Campbell today: “I’m an outcast because everyone is doing crime and I’m trying to stay on the straight and narrow.” (Guardian video)
❚ A WEEK BEFORE LONDON EXPLODED with the most shocking violence in memory, 18-year-old Chavez Campbell predicted the reaction to cuts in local youth services. “There’ll be riots,” he said in a video interview [below] for Guardian Online six days before they actually occurred. He and other young Londoners were describing the bleakness of their daily lives.
Campbell, who has recently left college and is struggling to find a job, does not condone rioting but does represent a voice that has been rarely heard in the maelstrom of recent days. He saw the riots explode, but went home to stay safe. Today Guardian Online publishes a second video interview in which he expresses further concern: “I don’t think it’s over. Because everyone came together and created this massive war zone, I think it will happen again.”
➢ View the July 31 Guardian video about Haringey youth club closures: “There’ll be riots”
Chavez Campbell six days before the riots: “There’ll be riots” (Guardian credits: Cameron Robertson, Alexandra Topping and Elliot Smith)
Manchester city centre: as arrests continue, police appeal for help. (BBC video)
❏ The police are asking for people to shop those who destroyed and looted stores across the country [above]… Trouble is, as witnesses point out, “there’s no worse crime than grassing” … and “They’ve given out sentences of four months and six months, it’s farcical. In four weeks’ time those people will be out on tag anyway. There’s no point sending them to prison.”
➢ BBC News video August 12: Suspects appear in court
Posted in London, Media, Politics, Social trends, Youth culture
Tagged 2011, Chavez Campbell, Interview, looting, Manchester, UK riots, Video, youth services
Tony Hadley in Rome, spring 2011: a busy year as a solo artist. Photograph by Riccardo Arena
❚ ON SATURDAY SUAVE BRITISH SINGER Tony Hadley debuts his solo show in the United States, his first professional visit since winning the British TV reality show Reborn in the USA in 2003. Otherwise American audiences haven’t seen him live since he visited in 1985 as vocalist with Spandau Ballet, onetime New Romantics turned pomp-rockers. Following a busy summer of festival appearances, the American tour represents one of the biggest and long-awaited challenges in his career. The first of his six big-city dates is at New York’s Irving Plaza, after which the divorced but happily remarried father of four then plays the Rivers Casino Stage as part of a gay street festival in Chicago.
John Keeble: Spandau pal whose drums drive the Hadley band too. Photographed by Shapersofthe80s
He’s backed by his long-standing band featuring Spandau’s John Keeble (drums) plus Phil Taylor (keyboards), Phil Williams (bass guitar), Richie Barrett (guitar). In October they head down-under to Australia for seven more shows, with Go West in support at three.
Hadley split acrimoniously from his school-mates Spandau Ballet in 1990, since when the singer with the mighty and melodious voice has pursued a vigorous solo career which often involves 200 live shows a year. It has yielded six albums, the last in 2006 titled Passing Strangers moving into jazz-swing territory, though his 15 singles have seen only minimal chart success. In live concert he loves covering pop standards by Bowie and even Duran Duran. Today he’s a declared fan of The Killers and My Chemical Romance. He also enjoyed a stint in the musical Chicago in London’s West End.
In 2004 Hadley wrote an autobiography called To Cut A Long Story Short which made clear how his worldview had always been markedly different from the other members of Spandau even at their peak of success. Hadley wrote: “I’m busier now [2004] than I was then [1983]… A couple of times I suggested we bring in a more experienced manager. I just thought it made sense to have someone working with us who knew more about the business than we did. No one else saw it that way.” In describing 1988, he devoted pages to a nit-picking analysis of the many cracks splitting the band, the last straw being the Kemp brothers, Gary and Martin, absenting themselves to star in the film about The Krays (notorious London gangsters), when all Tony wanted to do was sing his heart out on a stage. Then in 1999 the old school-mates found themselves daggers-drawn in an ugly court case over royalty payments, which Tony’s side lost. For years, the feud seemed irreconcilable. In 2005 Tony told me that by then he reckoned he personally was owed “about £2 million” to include interest.
Moment of trust, 2009: Hadley and Kemp shake hands after their duet at the O2 Arena in London. Picture © by Paul Simper
Out of the blue in 2009 Spandau Ballet resolved their differences after Tony’s son Tom and Gary’s son Fin had met up in a pub and agreed to knock their dads’ heads together. The band reunited, they insisted, well, because all families have their squabbles and the old band of brothers from schooldays were really one big happy family again. It seemed just as pragmatic to assume that, as they were all approaching 50, the band knew a world tour might be their last chance to secure their pensions. What they agreed, though, was a one-year deal and it ended with an open-air show for 19,000 people at Newmarket racecourse on June 25 last year.
Hadley was always the non-Labour voter among the Spandaus and today at 51 he is a supporter of Conservative prime minister David Cameron. In recent years the singer harboured ambitions of becoming an MP. Given the horrendous violence that erupted this week on the streets of Britain, a remark he made in 2007 seems prescient. Tone was talking tough on crime to The Independent while attending the Conservative Party conference in Blackpool: “The fabric of society is torn. I walked through Blackpool and there were gangs walking the backstreets and 16-year-old pregnant women everywhere. What we need is Cameron to be like Thatcher, to say enough is enough, things have gone too far.”
This week as he packed for the States, Big Tone has given three lively online interviews, and here are some teaser quotes from him, which include news that his new solo album is now delayed …
Liverpool Empire 1982: a fan and her handbag shin up a drainpipe to gain access to Spandau Ballet’s dressing room. Photographed by Shapersofthe80s
➢ By New York blogger Geoffrey Dicker, August 8,
at According2g.com
TH There’s so many. OK. We were playing the Liverpool Empire in 1983 [Actually 1982, Tony — Shapersofthe80s]. The dressing rooms were on the second floor and there were screaming girls outside going absolutely ballistic. So all the windows were shut and we’d just done the show. Suddenly there was a strange tap on the window. We opened the window and two fans had climbed up a drain pipe and shimmied up two floors just to get to us! If they’d have fallen, they would have been killed. We invited them in, signed all of their stuff and gave them something to drink. It was pretty wild.
➢ By Jerry Nunn, August 10, 2011 for the gay website
Windy City Times
Q Leaving for the United States soon?
TH I can’t wait. For some reason it has been very difficult to get into the States. An American agent saw my band in Europe and wanted to get us over there. We want to come to the States and prove ourselves. We are doing a handful of shows, then come back next year and do 20 or 30 shows.
Q You have a new album coming out this year, right?
TH No, next year; I am a little behind on it. It will be the first album that is written by me. It will be 12 tracks that are classic pop rock. A few weeks ago I was in Miami for a private show and I was introduced to Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees. We are going to write together so I have to factor that in as well. How bloody brilliant is that?
Spandau Ballet reunited 2009: their first live performance for 19 years was on the Jonathan Ross TV show. (BBC)
➢ By Andy Argyrakis for ConcertLivewire.com,
an American online music magazine
Q Will the Spandau reunion be ongoing?
TH It was only meant to be a one-off, and from my point of view, it was just a one-off. But I always say ‘Never say never’. At the moment, I’m touring Britain, the States, Australia, New Zealand and Germany before Christmas, plus with the new album, there’s a lot going on, but maybe one day in the future.
Q What would you say to more casual fans in the States that only know the softer side of Spandau Ballet?
TH In America [in the 80s], Spandau really cocked it up unfortunately. America’s a country where you have to tour and tour and tour to prove yourself and we didn’t do that. For whatever reason, whether it was management, thinking we were clever or whatever, we just didn’t play it right. I love playing live, and the thing is now I want to prove myself in America. Some people will think “This guy sang that sweet little song True” but when they see us live, they might be surprised that it’s a lot heavier than they imagined.
➢ Listen online to Tony interviewed Aug 12 by Revenge of the 80s Radio, a New York station, with his thoughts on a possible Cool Suits Tour with Martin Fry and Paul Young. Tony leads off the second hour of the show.
➢ “We want to show people what we’re made of” — Tony interviewed by the North County Times ahead of his band’s San Diego gig on Aug 18
✩✩✩
➢ Tony’s US dates 2011 — Aug 13 Irving Plaza, New York; Aug 14 Northalsted Market Days Festival, Halsted Street, Chicago; Aug 16 House Of Blues, West Hollywood, Los Angeles; Aug 18 Ramona Mainstage, San Diego, CA; Aug 20 Fremont Experience, Fremont Street, Las Vegas; Aug 21 Red Devil Lounge, San Francisco.
➢ Tony’s Australia dates 2011 — Oct 26 Hindmarsh, South Australia; Oct 27 South Morang, Victoria; Oct 28 Doncaster, Victoria; Oct 29 Chelsea Heights, Victoria; Oct 30 Rewind Australia, Wollongong, NSW; Nov 3 Coolangatta, Queensland; Nov 4 Penrith NSW.
➢ Tony’s own home-movie video wall
➢ Spandau Ballet, the Blitz kids and the birth of the New Romantics
Posted in London, North America, Pop music
Tagged 2011, Australia, Interview, John Keeble, New Romantics, Reformation tour, Spandau Ballet, Tony Hadley, tour dates, Video
London riots, Saturday: Fire rages through the Carpet Right store in Tottenham, north London, after an arson attack
London riots, Saturday: three text messages sent via the BlackBerry BBM service by some organising hand to rally looters. (BBC)
❏ Tottenham Hale retail park, Saturday-Sunday: One looter asks the cameraman to look after his bike so it didn’t get nicked while he went inside the shops (by viceuk1)
❏ Fires over north London: Time lapse filming as Tottenham buildings burned into early Sunday morning (by itdrewitself).
London riots, Sunday evening: Two young men are detained outside the Currys electrical store in Brixton, south London. Photograph © by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
London riots, Monday: A woman leaps from a burning building into the arms of neighbours in Church Street, Croydon. She was later identified as 32-year-old Monika Konczyk from Poland, who works in the local Poundland store and was able to spend the night with her sister. Photograph by © Amy Weston/WENN.com
❏ Update Aug 10: The photographer Amy Weston took this dramatic shot on Monday night in what she called a “war-zone”, meaning the outer London borough of Croydon where the House of Reeves furniture store was ablaze [below]. It was published on the front page of Tuesday’s final editions of the Guardian, Times, Sun, Daily Mirror and Daily Telegraph and in many other papers. Weston says: “In front of me was this fire with six or seven riot police and this lady falling from a window, but directly behind me was Surrey Street market where the larger stores sell electrical products… As I turned around it was like a war-zone… People were turning on each other and beating each other up, and mugging and robbing each other. That’s when I took my cardigan off and wrapped it round my camera so nobody could see what I had and I ran as fast as I could through that crowd back to my car.” Listen to the full four-minute interview for BBC Radio 4’s Media Show here:
London riots, Monday: the 144-year-old House of Reeves furniture store ablaze in Croydon, south London. A 33-year-old man was later charged with arson. (BBC)
❏ Driving through London riots: Video of looters ruling in Clapham about 21:30 Monday before police took control of the situation (by RussiaToday).
London riots, Monday: Looters run from a clothing store in Peckham, in a third night of violence. Photograph © by Dylan Martinez
Posted in London, Media, Social trends
Tagged 2011, Amy Weston, BBM, Brixton, Carpet Right, Clapham, Croydon, Interview, London riots, Monika Konczyk, Peckham, Tottenham
The Guardian’s Nick Davies: giving evidence to the Commons media committee in 2009. Photograph by PA
◼ BRITAIN’S BIGGEST-SELLING NEWSPAPER, the tabloid News of the World, closes tomorrow, a victim of its own phone-hacking scandal. First published 168 years ago, this hugely powerful title became the most toxic media brand in the land, all within the week. And much of the cause was down to the work of one investigative journalist, Nick Davies of The Guardian newspaper.
“ I have no doubt at all that Nick Davies is the greatest living British journalist ” — Peter Oborne, chief political commentator on the rival newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, speaking on Radio 4 tonight
➢ Listen to Jonathan Maitland’s profile of Nick Davies,
on BBC Radio 4 (July 9 and on iPlayer)
➢ “Cameron is in the sewer” — Peter Oborne at his
Daily Telegraph blog
Nick Davies is considered one of Britain’s leading investigative journalists. He has broken numerous stories, mostly for The Guardian. His scoops include the story about the nurse turned serial child murderer, Beverley Allitt, and the recent WikiLeaks revelations in classified US military and diplomatic documents. He it was who tracked down Julian Assange and persuaded him not to post his latest secrets on the WikiLeaks website but to hand them over to The Guardian. Among his published books, Flat Earth News accuses British newspapers of what he calls “churnalism”, churning out stories based entirely on PR, press releases or wire copy, without further fact-checking.
One irony is that in this year’s Society of Editors awards, Davies lost the award for News Reporter of the Year to Mazher Mahmood (the “Fake sheikh”) of the News of the World, whose winning submissions included exposing the Pakistan cricket match-fixing ring, and the claim that Fergie “sells” Andy for £500k. [Update July 10: In the NoW’s final issue, “crimebuster” Mahmood reminds us of the 250 successful prosecutions his investigations have achieved over 20 years, from paedophiles, arms dealers, drug peddlers and people traffickers to bent doctors and lawyers.]
Among the awards listed in his Debrett’s People of Today profile, Davies is cited as Feature Writer of the Year 1997, Journalist of the Year 1998, Reporter of the Year 1999, Martha Gellhorn Award 1999, European Journalism Prize 2003.
“ The Milly Dowler story changed the politics of the whole saga and made it impossible for anybody to defend the News of the World and that included the prime minister and the Tory leadership… And so they’ve switched sides, specifically on the question of whether there should be a public inquiry. ”
➢ Davies on pursuing the phone hacking investigation — on video at Guardian online
Davies decided to become an investigative journalist after seeing the brilliant film All the President’s Men, about the US journalists who cracked the Watergate conspiracy that brought down president Richard Nixon in 1973 and helped indict and jail numerous Nixon aides…
All the President’s Men, 1976: Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford playing the Woodstein investigative team in a film studio
➢ VIEW the terrific trailer for All the President’s Men
◼ OF ALL THE MOVIES ABOUT JOURNALISM the best by far is All the President’s Men. It tells the real-life story of how two young reporters on the Washington Post saw the corrupt American president Richard Nixon out of office. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman play the “Woodstein” team of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, both hitting 30 when they pulled off their scoops about conspiracy in the White House. The Oscar-winning film is a gripping thriller that also gives the most authentic view of newspaper life yet, shot in an exact replica of the colour-coded Washington Post newsroom, built by knocking together two Warner soundstages in Burbank and ensuring all the coffee-cups and paperwork came from the real office 2,000 miles away.
Jason Robards won the 1976 Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his charismatic depiction of the executive editor Ben Bradlee. “WOODSTEIN!!! Get in here!” At the press screening this writer attended, he raised repeated cheers for his oh-so-true-to-life rigour as he harried the young reporters again and again when they failed to convince him they had the scoop of the century. Our hearts sank, along with theirs, as Bradlee took his pen to their report and deleted line after line after line. We’ve all had bosses like him. “Get some harder information.” – “We haven’t had any luck yet.” – “Get some.” This film excels for showing how good newspapers work.
The real thing: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein in the Washington Post offices at the height of the Watergate investigation. (Associated Press)
◼ TODAY ON NEWSWEEK’S WEBSITE Pulitzer Prize-winning Carl Bernstein draws a comparison between Nixon’s downfall and the anything-goes approach of News of the World owner Rupert Murdoch and how it threatens to undermine the influence he so covets…
“ The hacking scandal currently shaking Rupert Murdoch’s empire will surprise only those who have wilfully blinded themselves to that empire’s pernicious influence on journalism in the English-speaking world. Too many of us have winked in amusement at the salaciousness without considering the larger corruption of journalism and politics promulgated by Murdoch Culture on both sides of the Atlantic.
“ The facts of the case are astonishing in their scope. Thousands of private phone messages hacked, presumably by people affiliated with the Murdoch-owned News of the World newspaper, with the violated parties ranging from Prince William and actor Hugh Grant to murder victims and families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. ”
➢ How The Guardian broke the story — Murdoch papers paid £1m to gag phone-hacking victims
➢ Yesterday’s Media Talk podcast: Alan Rusbridger, Nick Davies, Roy Greenslade and Janine Gibson
➢ A message for the times we live in: How good journalism worked at the Washington Post
48-page freebie: today’s News Of The World includes a souvenir of famous pages since the paper was first published on Sunday October 1, 1843, including “Crippen’s life at sea” as the killer doctor fled abroad in 1910 and “Prince Harry’s racist video shame” in 2009. During the 1950s — under its slogan Henry James’s phrase “All human life is there” — sales averaged 8.4m copies weekly. Its latest average sale was 2.6m copies
Posted in Film, London, Media, North America, Politics, Social trends
Tagged 2011, All the President’s Men, Carl Bernstein, Interview, News Of The World, Newsweek, Nick Davies, Radio 4, Video, Woodstein
✱ Deejay legend Robbie Vincent has returned to JazzFM on Sundays 1-3pm… Catch Robbie’s JazzFM August Bank Holiday 2020 session thanks to AhhhhhSoul with four hours of “nothing but essential rhythms of soul, jazz and funk”.
◆ Who was who in Spandau’s break-out year of 1980? The Invisible Hand of Shapersofthe80s draws a selective timeline for The unprecedented rise and rise of Spandau Ballet –– Turn to our inside page
✱ If you thought there was no more to know about the birth of Blitz culture in 1980 then get your hands on a sensational book by an obsessive music fan called David Barrat. It is gripping, original and epic – a spooky tale of coincidence and parallel lives as mind-tingling as a Sherlock Holmes yarn. Titled both New Romantics Who Never Were and The Untold Story of Spandau Ballet! Sample this initial taster here at Shapers of the 80s
✱ Jawing at Soho Radio on the 80s clubland revolution (from 32 mins) and on art (@55 mins) is probably the most influential shaper of the 80s, former Wag-club director Chris Sullivan (pictured) with editor of this website David Johnson
➢ Search for all on Bowie here
at Shapers of the 80s
✱ “I’m not a rock star” Bowie often said – No, David, you were a messiah – Obituaries and key videos on the godlike one
✱ Prince Rogers Nelson RIP: ‘A funny cat’ and ‘sole authentic genius’ of the 1980s
➢➢ Shapers of the 80s ➣➣ 