Samantha Marq Interview By Moe Jackson !

Samantha Marq first scored success with his single "Supergirl" and do it again with, "I like to party." An heir to the SC Johnson company and the daughter of a flock of seagulls drummer Michael Marquart, Samantha grew up around the music industry and decided at an early age to make it her career.

TPG PR Samantha Marq first scored success with his single "Supergirl" and do it again with, "I like to party." Samantha Marq Interview are age to make it her career.

Video:

One Love

Today marks the 30th year since we lost reggae legend and activist Bob Marley. People across the world today are remembering the legacy the 36 year-old artist through celebration of his life and craft. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a white Jamaican of English descent whose family came from Essex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 60. Marley faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected:

“I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.”

The London footprint left by Bob Marley includes a Bayswater B&B, a Chelsea townhouse and the unlikely setting of a school gym in Peckham. Guide books tend to point visitors to an apartment block in Camden, where a heritage plaque unveiled in 2006 honours the Jamaican musician at his former north London home. Robert Nesta Marley lived at 34 Ridgmount Gardens in 1972 when he first came to England, just as his group the Wailers were making a name for themselves.





They also lived in the somewhat bizarre confines of a semi-detached house in Neasden. From here Marley & Co would have enjoyed panoramic views of the North Circular, parts of Wembley and the Welsh Harp by Brent Reservoir.

1977 brought another sojourn in London for Marley, this time for nearly two years as he and the Wailers decamped a Chelsea townhouse at 42, Oakley Street. The financial constraints of the past were gone; the reggae star could afford a cook and was able to bankroll a huge entourage. Marley had a cosy retreat at the top of the house where he was visited by his girlfriend Cindy Breakspeare, a former Miss World.

It was also a highly creative time and the Wailers went on to make a further two albums, Exodus and Kaya, the latter recorded in a converted laundry in Ravenscourt Park. This was the era of hits such as Jammin', One Love and Waiting in Vain. It was also here that a cancerous tumour was discovered in Marley's toe, which later would spread fatally to the rest of his body. Within three years reggae's global ambassador would be dead, leaving a wife, 13 children and no will - and a back catalogue of music that would be mined, reversioned and reissued for decades to come.



Marley is considered by many to be one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Most critics agree that no other musician has single-handedly held such sway over a music genre the way Marley did with reggae.

Bob Marley also helped popularise Rastafarianism, which venerates the late Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. Selassie, who was deposed in 1974 and died in 1975 (many people believe he was murdered), is hailed by Rastafarians as an incarnation of God.

Bob Marley, who was born Robert Nesta Marley, grew up dirt poor on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica. Much of his music aims to lift up the impoverished and powerless, and anthems like "Get Up Stand Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff" carry a strong antiauthoritarian streak.

At a young age Marley fell in with the Rastafarians—known as the blackheart men among the Kingston residents who feared them. The Rastas then were a group of street preachers who taught the Bible and smoked marijuana.


Haile Selassie in 1934


Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, the only African country not to have been colonised.

Although its roots go back to the early 1900s, Rastafarianism takes its name from Ras (Prince or Duke) Tafari Makonnen, Haile Selassie's name until he was crowned emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. The faith predicted that a new king with the power of God would rise out of Africa.

Many of Bob Marley's songs had an African connection. "Exodus" and "Redemption Song," for example, decried racism and the European colonisation of Africa, and celebrated freedom from oppression.


Bob Marley and the Wailers, Dalymount Park, Dublin


I only saw him once the summer before he died when Bob and the wailers played their only Irish gig on 6th July 1980 at Dalymount Park in Phibsboro, the home ground of Dublin’s Bohemian Football club. It was a precious memory and despite the lousy sound quality a great concert. But it had its surreal moments also. Behind Bob, The Wailers And his backing singers The I-trees was a large cloth banner in Rasta colours of the Emperor Ras Tafari with the Lion of Judah in the background. By way of contrast in front of the stage being wildly distracting were a group of 30 Dublin skin heads moshing and jumping up and down. I remember Marley looking askance at them on a number of occasions – like the rest of us he wasn’t sure seeing these animated skinheads if Jah would be there. I’m not sure the skinheads “got it.”

Later that year Bob Marley and the Wailers played in New York City in September 1980 (Madison Square Garden), as support to The Commodores. Two days after this concert Bob Marley collapsed in Central Park, and was diagnosed with cancer. He died a few months later on 11th May 1981. What a great journey Marley had made from Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. To his fellow Rasta he is on that journey still.

"One love, one heart, one destiny."

Bob Marley

Nesta Robert "Bob" Marley, OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981)

http://www.bobmarley-foundation.com/foundation.html

One Love

Today marks the 30th year since we lost reggae legend and activist Bob Marley. People across the world today are remembering the legacy the 36 year-old artist through celebration of his life and craft. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a white Jamaican of English descent whose family came from Essex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 60. Marley faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected:

“I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white.”

The London footprint left by Bob Marley includes a Bayswater B&B, a Chelsea townhouse and the unlikely setting of a school gym in Peckham. Guide books tend to point visitors to an apartment block in Camden, where a heritage plaque unveiled in 2006 honours the Jamaican musician at his former north London home. Robert Nesta Marley lived at 34 Ridgmount Gardens in 1972 when he first came to England, just as his group the Wailers were making a name for themselves.





They also lived in the somewhat bizarre confines of a semi-detached house in Neasden. From here Marley & Co would have enjoyed panoramic views of the North Circular, parts of Wembley and the Welsh Harp by Brent Reservoir.

1977 brought another sojourn in London for Marley, this time for nearly two years as he and the Wailers decamped a Chelsea townhouse at 42, Oakley Street. The financial constraints of the past were gone; the reggae star could afford a cook and was able to bankroll a huge entourage. Marley had a cosy retreat at the top of the house where he was visited by his girlfriend Cindy Breakspeare, a former Miss World.

It was also a highly creative time and the Wailers went on to make a further two albums, Exodus and Kaya, the latter recorded in a converted laundry in Ravenscourt Park. This was the era of hits such as Jammin', One Love and Waiting in Vain. It was also here that a cancerous tumour was discovered in Marley's toe, which later would spread fatally to the rest of his body. Within three years reggae's global ambassador would be dead, leaving a wife, 13 children and no will - and a back catalogue of music that would be mined, reversioned and reissued for decades to come.



Marley is considered by many to be one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Most critics agree that no other musician has single-handedly held such sway over a music genre the way Marley did with reggae.

Bob Marley also helped popularise Rastafarianism, which venerates the late Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie. Selassie, who was deposed in 1974 and died in 1975 (many people believe he was murdered), is hailed by Rastafarians as an incarnation of God.

Bob Marley, who was born Robert Nesta Marley, grew up dirt poor on the streets of Kingston, Jamaica. Much of his music aims to lift up the impoverished and powerless, and anthems like "Get Up Stand Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff" carry a strong antiauthoritarian streak.

At a young age Marley fell in with the Rastafarians—known as the blackheart men among the Kingston residents who feared them. The Rastas then were a group of street preachers who taught the Bible and smoked marijuana.


Haile Selassie in 1934


Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, the only African country not to have been colonised.

Although its roots go back to the early 1900s, Rastafarianism takes its name from Ras (Prince or Duke) Tafari Makonnen, Haile Selassie's name until he was crowned emperor of Ethiopia in 1930. The faith predicted that a new king with the power of God would rise out of Africa.

Many of Bob Marley's songs had an African connection. "Exodus" and "Redemption Song," for example, decried racism and the European colonisation of Africa, and celebrated freedom from oppression.


Bob Marley and the Wailers, Dalymount Park, Dublin


I only saw him once the summer before he died when Bob and the wailers played their only Irish gig on 6th July 1980 at Dalymount Park in Phibsboro, the home ground of Dublin’s Bohemian Football club. It was a precious memory and despite the lousy sound quality a great concert. But it had its surreal moments also. Behind Bob, The Wailers And his backing singers The I-trees was a large cloth banner in Rasta colours of the Emperor Ras Tafari with the Lion of Judah in the background. By way of contrast in front of the stage being wildly distracting were a group of 30 Dublin skin heads moshing and jumping up and down. I remember Marley looking askance at them on a number of occasions – like the rest of us he wasn’t sure seeing these animated skinheads if Jah would be there. I’m not sure the skinheads “got it.”

Later that year Bob Marley and the Wailers played in New York City in September 1980 (Madison Square Garden), as support to The Commodores. Two days after this concert Bob Marley collapsed in Central Park, and was diagnosed with cancer. He died a few months later on 11th May 1981. What a great journey Marley had made from Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. To his fellow Rasta he is on that journey still.

"One love, one heart, one destiny."

Bob Marley

Nesta Robert "Bob" Marley, OM (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981)

http://www.bobmarley-foundation.com/foundation.html

Happy Birthday Dear Albert!

Happy Birthday Dear Albert! Today 140 years ago in 1871 on the 29th March the Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria, with the intention of hosting arts-and-sciences exhibitions, and its beautiful architecture has since led to it receiving the honour of being a Grade I listed building, a fitting tribute to one of London’s most iconic landmarks. It was so named after Victoria’s beloved ex-husband, Prince Albert.


A golden Prince Albert sitting in his memorial looking at the Royal Albert Hall

Located on the border between the City of Westminster and Kensington, the Royal Albert Hall is one of the world’s most illustrious concert venues, making the RAH one of the essential London attractions with music fans of all genres. The Royal Albert Hall is probably most famous for hosting The Proms each summer (which culminates in the famous televised ‘Last Night’) but also hosts a wide variety of other events, ranging from rock concerts by 1960s counter-culture legends likes of Crosby, Stills & Nash through to The Masters Tennis.



For Londoner’s and visitors it has since become a well loved venue nor more so than at the annual “Proms” or Promenade Concerts to give them the full title. Designed to make classical music accessible to all so called because they are a series of Classical Music Concerts where Promenaders, people who walk in, can get unreserved tickets on the night. The other unique feature of The Proms is the promenaders stand in the floor of the hall and their enthusiasm and eccentricity lends a very definite flavour to the proceedings.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/09/proms-in-park-2007.html


But back to Albert’s Birthday, in the spirit of Victorian exhibitionism engendered by the Great Exhibition the story of its birth is told for all to see on the outside of the building. Surmounting the exterior walls and above the ballustraded smoking gallery, runs a continuous 800 foot long terracotta frieze composed of allegorical groups of figures engaged in a range of artistic endeavours, crafts, scientific and other cultural pursuits. Above the frieze in one foot high terracotta runs the following text which neatly encompasses the evangelical fervour of Victorian England:

“This Hall was erected for the advancement of the Arts and Sciences and works of industry of all nations in fulfilment of the intention of Albert Prince Consort. The site was purchased with the proceeds of the Great Exhibition of the year MDCCCLI. The first stone of the Hall was laid by Her Majesty Queen Victoria on the 20th day of May MDCCCLXVII and was opened by Her Majesty the 29th day of March in the year MDCCCLXXI. Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. The wise and their works are in the hand of God. Glory be to God on high and on earth peace.”


The Frieze

A great Central Hall, dedicated to the promotion of Art and Science, was a key part of Prince Albert’s vision for the South Kensington estate, which was to be developed on land purchased with the profits of the Great Exhibition of 1851. From the outset the Hall was intended to be a versatile building used not only concerts but for exhibitions of art and of manufactured goods, and for scientific conferences and demonstrations. Its purpose was to enable the population at large to engage with the work of the surrounding museums and educational institutions.


The Crystal Palace, home of the Great Exhibition in 1851 held in Hyde Park in front of the site of the Albert Hall and Albert Memorial

This area was dubbed by the Victorian press as Albertropolis' a name coined in the 1850s and resurrected in recent years for the 87-acre site south of Hyde Park, purchased by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 with profits from the Great Exhibition. Exhibition Road - whose route the subway from South Kensington Underground Station follows - forms the spine of “Albertropolis”. The nickname satirised the vision of Prince Albert, the Commission's President, of the area as a centre for education, science and art - an ambition largely realised within a few decades of the Prince's death. There was a great deal of historical revisionism for the truth is Prince Albert was not actually popular during his lifetime. Government and The Court saw him as arrogant, self serving and pushy and the public saw him as German. He was also something of a conspious consumer, building (and largely designing) extravagant homes at Osborne, Isle of Wight and Balmoral, Scotland whilst ensuring the Royal Family enjoyed tax free status. The Cult of Great Albert came about due to a combination of national guilt after his death and Disraeli’s efforts to flatter Victoria and coax the “Widow of Windsor” back to her duties. Few of us today could take a 25 year paid leave of absence to cope with bereavement!


Albert Hall - acoustic "mushrooms" on the ceiling

Plans for the Hall fell into abeyance with Albert’s premature death (1861) and the construction of what was to called the Royal Albert Hall in his memory was due to the determination of Henry Cole, one of Albert’s collaborators in the Great Exhibition and who was later to serve as the first director of the South Kensington museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). The design and robust structure of the Hall were inspired by Coles’ visits to the ruined Roman Amphitheatres in the South of France and to his determination that the building should be placed in the hands of Royal Engineers as he distrusted architects. Detailed design of the building was started by Captain Francis Fowke and completed, following Fowke’s death, by another engineer Lieutenant Colonel (subsequently General) Henry Darracott Scott.





The original intention that the Hall should accommodate 30,000 was, for financial and practical reasons, reduced to approximately 7,000. Modern Today’s fire regulations have reduced that figure to around 5,500. Much of the money originally intended for the construction was diverted to the building of the Albert Memorial and work on the Great Hall was further delayed while Cole raised the necessary money by selling “permanent” seats in the Hall for £100 each.


The opening 29th March 1871

Today visitors can complete the Royal Albert Hall tour, giving them a behind-the-scenes view of this famous venue. Whilst waiting for the RAH to open visitor can enjoy the many delights of neighbouring Kensington Gardens (including its imperious Albert Memorial) or one of the three free glorious nearby museums: The Natural History Museum, Science Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

For more about Albertropolis and Kensington see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-circle-line-journey.html

The first Proms concert took place on 10 August 1895 and was the brainchild of the impresario Robert Newman, manager of the newly built Queen's Hall in London so this year is the 112th year of these highly democratic and entertaining concerts, over 100 in total in a two month season attracting some 275,000 in the audience and many more with television and radio broadcasts by the BBC of all the concerts. While Newman had previously organised symphony orchestra concerts at the hall, his aim was to reach a wider audience by offering more popular programmes, adopting a less formal promenade arrangement, and keeping ticket prices low.



To lead the event he approached a conductor whose name has become synonymous with the Proms, Henry Wood. Born in 1869, Henry Wood had undergone a thorough musical training and, from his teens, began to make a name for himself as an organist, accompanist, vocal coach and conductor of choirs, orchestras and amateur opera companies. It is Henry Wood’s inspiration which has defined the informality and eccentricity of the proceedings and lest we forget it his wooden bust decorated with a garland of honour presides over every Proms Concert in the Royal Albert Hall.



As for myself and Londoners the Albert Hall is more than a venue for it is a repository of memories. So much so that they unconsciously refer to “our Albert Hall.” Not too inaccurate either as it is still owned and controlled by the public trust set up with the proceeds of the Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace. Any performance in the somewhat unique setting of the Albert Hall is imbued with a sense of occasion of this unique and atmospheric building. For me there are the memories of unique Prom concerts, Opera’s “in the round” such as Madame Butterfly where the stage was flooded for the grand finale not to mention some great concerts such as Eric Clapton and Van Morrison. But my favourite evening was a benefit in 1994 for the founder of the Cambridge Folk Festival which featured Tanita Tikaram and Loudon Wainwright among others. The last act was the Irish singer Christy Moore and this was the year Ireland under Jackie Charlton qualified for the World Cup but England didn’t. Christy came out on stage and announced how glad he was not to be in Ireland. He said everybody there was a nervous wreck and all anybody was talking about was football this, football that. England by contrast was far more relaxing, he opined, all he had to listen to were genteel conversations about Tennis at Wimbledon!



That is how most people in London will reference Albert and his Hall - Great nights, great performance, great musicians and great memories. After a discrete series of rolling refurbishments the Old Boy is looking good with facilities and access fit for the next 140 years. So well done Albert, you have seen off so many youthful upstarts in London since but nobody has your sense of place in the affections of the public, your presence and, dare I say it, your sense of majesty. If only the rest of us were looking so good and feeling so loved after 140 years! So all together now, Happy Birthday Dear Albert, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Albert Hall!



Renée Fleming, BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Jiří Bělohlávek.

Happy Birthday Dear Albert!

Happy Birthday Dear Albert! Today 140 years ago in 1871 on the 29th March the Royal Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria, with the intention of hosting arts-and-sciences exhibitions, and its beautiful architecture has since led to it receiving the honour of being a Grade I listed building, a fitting tribute to one of London’s most iconic landmarks. It was so named after Victoria’s beloved ex-husband, Prince Albert.


A golden Prince Albert sitting in his memorial looking at the Royal Albert Hall

Located on the border between the City of Westminster and Kensington, the Royal Albert Hall is one of the world’s most illustrious concert venues, making the RAH one of the essential London attractions with music fans of all genres. The Royal Albert Hall is probably most famous for hosting The Proms each summer (which culminates in the famous televised ‘Last Night’) but also hosts a wide variety of other events, ranging from rock concerts by 1960s counter-culture legends likes of Crosby, Stills & Nash through to The Masters Tennis.



For Londoner’s and visitors it has since become a well loved venue nor more so than at the annual “Proms” or Promenade Concerts to give them the full title. Designed to make classical music accessible to all so called because they are a series of Classical Music Concerts where Promenaders, people who walk in, can get unreserved tickets on the night. The other unique feature of The Proms is the promenaders stand in the floor of the hall and their enthusiasm and eccentricity lends a very definite flavour to the proceedings.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/09/proms-in-park-2007.html


But back to Albert’s Birthday, in the spirit of Victorian exhibitionism engendered by the Great Exhibition the story of its birth is told for all to see on the outside of the building. Surmounting the exterior walls and above the ballustraded smoking gallery, runs a continuous 800 foot long terracotta frieze composed of allegorical groups of figures engaged in a range of artistic endeavours, crafts, scientific and other cultural pursuits. Above the frieze in one foot high terracotta runs the following text which neatly encompasses the evangelical fervour of Victorian England:

“This Hall was erected for the advancement of the Arts and Sciences and works of industry of all nations in fulfilment of the intention of Albert Prince Consort. The site was purchased with the proceeds of the Great Exhibition of the year MDCCCLI. The first stone of the Hall was laid by Her Majesty Queen Victoria on the 20th day of May MDCCCLXVII and was opened by Her Majesty the 29th day of March in the year MDCCCLXXI. Thine O Lord is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine. The wise and their works are in the hand of God. Glory be to God on high and on earth peace.”


The Frieze

A great Central Hall, dedicated to the promotion of Art and Science, was a key part of Prince Albert’s vision for the South Kensington estate, which was to be developed on land purchased with the profits of the Great Exhibition of 1851. From the outset the Hall was intended to be a versatile building used not only concerts but for exhibitions of art and of manufactured goods, and for scientific conferences and demonstrations. Its purpose was to enable the population at large to engage with the work of the surrounding museums and educational institutions.


The Crystal Palace, home of the Great Exhibition in 1851 held in Hyde Park in front of the site of the Albert Hall and Albert Memorial

This area was dubbed by the Victorian press as Albertropolis' a name coined in the 1850s and resurrected in recent years for the 87-acre site south of Hyde Park, purchased by the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 with profits from the Great Exhibition. Exhibition Road - whose route the subway from South Kensington Underground Station follows - forms the spine of “Albertropolis”. The nickname satirised the vision of Prince Albert, the Commission's President, of the area as a centre for education, science and art - an ambition largely realised within a few decades of the Prince's death. There was a great deal of historical revisionism for the truth is Prince Albert was not actually popular during his lifetime. Government and The Court saw him as arrogant, self serving and pushy and the public saw him as German. He was also something of a conspious consumer, building (and largely designing) extravagant homes at Osborne, Isle of Wight and Balmoral, Scotland whilst ensuring the Royal Family enjoyed tax free status. The Cult of Great Albert came about due to a combination of national guilt after his death and Disraeli’s efforts to flatter Victoria and coax the “Widow of Windsor” back to her duties. Few of us today could take a 25 year paid leave of absence to cope with bereavement!


Albert Hall - acoustic "mushrooms" on the ceiling

Plans for the Hall fell into abeyance with Albert’s premature death (1861) and the construction of what was to called the Royal Albert Hall in his memory was due to the determination of Henry Cole, one of Albert’s collaborators in the Great Exhibition and who was later to serve as the first director of the South Kensington museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). The design and robust structure of the Hall were inspired by Coles’ visits to the ruined Roman Amphitheatres in the South of France and to his determination that the building should be placed in the hands of Royal Engineers as he distrusted architects. Detailed design of the building was started by Captain Francis Fowke and completed, following Fowke’s death, by another engineer Lieutenant Colonel (subsequently General) Henry Darracott Scott.





The original intention that the Hall should accommodate 30,000 was, for financial and practical reasons, reduced to approximately 7,000. Modern Today’s fire regulations have reduced that figure to around 5,500. Much of the money originally intended for the construction was diverted to the building of the Albert Memorial and work on the Great Hall was further delayed while Cole raised the necessary money by selling “permanent” seats in the Hall for £100 each.


The opening 29th March 1871

Today visitors can complete the Royal Albert Hall tour, giving them a behind-the-scenes view of this famous venue. Whilst waiting for the RAH to open visitor can enjoy the many delights of neighbouring Kensington Gardens (including its imperious Albert Memorial) or one of the three free glorious nearby museums: The Natural History Museum, Science Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

For more about Albertropolis and Kensington see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-circle-line-journey.html

The first Proms concert took place on 10 August 1895 and was the brainchild of the impresario Robert Newman, manager of the newly built Queen's Hall in London so this year is the 112th year of these highly democratic and entertaining concerts, over 100 in total in a two month season attracting some 275,000 in the audience and many more with television and radio broadcasts by the BBC of all the concerts. While Newman had previously organised symphony orchestra concerts at the hall, his aim was to reach a wider audience by offering more popular programmes, adopting a less formal promenade arrangement, and keeping ticket prices low.



To lead the event he approached a conductor whose name has become synonymous with the Proms, Henry Wood. Born in 1869, Henry Wood had undergone a thorough musical training and, from his teens, began to make a name for himself as an organist, accompanist, vocal coach and conductor of choirs, orchestras and amateur opera companies. It is Henry Wood’s inspiration which has defined the informality and eccentricity of the proceedings and lest we forget it his wooden bust decorated with a garland of honour presides over every Proms Concert in the Royal Albert Hall.



As for myself and Londoners the Albert Hall is more than a venue for it is a repository of memories. So much so that they unconsciously refer to “our Albert Hall.” Not too inaccurate either as it is still owned and controlled by the public trust set up with the proceeds of the Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace. Any performance in the somewhat unique setting of the Albert Hall is imbued with a sense of occasion of this unique and atmospheric building. For me there are the memories of unique Prom concerts, Opera’s “in the round” such as Madame Butterfly where the stage was flooded for the grand finale not to mention some great concerts such as Eric Clapton and Van Morrison. But my favourite evening was a benefit in 1994 for the founder of the Cambridge Folk Festival which featured Tanita Tikaram and Loudon Wainwright among others. The last act was the Irish singer Christy Moore and this was the year Ireland under Jackie Charlton qualified for the World Cup but England didn’t. Christy came out on stage and announced how glad he was not to be in Ireland. He said everybody there was a nervous wreck and all anybody was talking about was football this, football that. England by contrast was far more relaxing, he opined, all he had to listen to were genteel conversations about Tennis at Wimbledon!



That is how most people in London will reference Albert and his Hall - Great nights, great performance, great musicians and great memories. After a discrete series of rolling refurbishments the Old Boy is looking good with facilities and access fit for the next 140 years. So well done Albert, you have seen off so many youthful upstarts in London since but nobody has your sense of place in the affections of the public, your presence and, dare I say it, your sense of majesty. If only the rest of us were looking so good and feeling so loved after 140 years! So all together now, Happy Birthday Dear Albert, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Dear Albert Hall!



Renée Fleming, BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Jiří Bělohlávek.

KOF is All Good

Long championed by the Sage is that talented purveyor of chunky Urban Beatz from the Pool (aka Liverpool) KOF who’s last single “FIRE IT UP” has had its video featured on MTV. KOF follows the success of 'Fire It Up' with the release of "All Good", an uplifting feel good anthem that is certain to make us all see the bright side of life. This new Merseybeat is the perfect riposte to the manufactured plastic pop which X-Factor et al. are spreading like a rash across the nation.

The New Video Taken From The 'All Good Mixtape' Available for free Download On 18th November from KOFMUSIC.com :-D

On "All Good" KOF hooks up with soul singer Esco Williams and long-time collaborator, Chartstalker, on an up-tempo melody- driven ode to the days when everything goes wrong yet still everything is essentially 'All Good'. This track is sure to cure any post summer blues, get your feet moving and have you humming the melody everywhere you go.

"All Good" has received support from Radio 1, Choice FM, KISS FM and is currently playlisted on Radio 1Xtra. It is also set to enter the Commercial Club Chart.

ALL GOOD

feat. Esco Williams

Produced by: Chartstalker

KOF is All Good

Long championed by the Sage is that talented purveyor of chunky Urban Beatz from the Pool (aka Liverpool) KOF who’s last single “FIRE IT UP” has had its video featured on MTV. KOF follows the success of 'Fire It Up' with the release of "All Good", an uplifting feel good anthem that is certain to make us all see the bright side of life. This new Merseybeat is the perfect riposte to the manufactured plastic pop which X-Factor et al. are spreading like a rash across the nation.

The New Video Taken From The 'All Good Mixtape' Available for free Download On 18th November from KOFMUSIC.com :-D

On "All Good" KOF hooks up with soul singer Esco Williams and long-time collaborator, Chartstalker, on an up-tempo melody- driven ode to the days when everything goes wrong yet still everything is essentially 'All Good'. This track is sure to cure any post summer blues, get your feet moving and have you humming the melody everywhere you go.

"All Good" has received support from Radio 1, Choice FM, KISS FM and is currently playlisted on Radio 1Xtra. It is also set to enter the Commercial Club Chart.

ALL GOOD

feat. Esco Williams

Produced by: Chartstalker

Erykah Badu does Dallas

Erykah Badu

Singer Erykah Badu has been given a $500 fine in April for filming a video in the streets of Dallas, in which she's naked for perhaps a minute; she's now also been sentenced for 6 month in jail, though on probation. All this sounds quite excessive but does not surprise me for in my humble opinion, Dallas is not a normal place.

The music video is called "Window Seat" and was recorded in one take in Dealey Plaza on a warm Saturday afternoon in March 2010.It shows Erykah Badu, Dallas native and R&B star, doing a slow motion striptease down Elm Street on her way to the spot where JFK was assassinated. Commercial filming shoots require a permit from the city of Dallas, but here, no such permit was sought or granted.


JFK

“She said she was frankly kind of surprised nobody made a formal complaint at the time, though on her Twitter account she says people were yelling at her while they were filming" said Richard Ray, a FOX reporter who spoke with Badu. According to her Twitter post, Badu stated that people she passed shouted things like "This is a public place,” “you ought to be ashamed,” and “put your clothes on."

To my eyes, what she did was bold and remarkable, as she walks the gauntlet of people gazing at her in never changing strides towards her goal: the exact spot at which John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and it is there that she lets herself fall to the ground. Debbie does Dallas this wasn’t rather I saw it as a brave piece of performance art dealing with alienation in Dallas. Let me explain why I found Dallas somewhat surreal.



I went down to Dallas in 1982 and the first shock was the flight from Chicago O’Hare Airport which left at an unearthly hour of 5.30 in the morning. I ran up the air bridge with minutes to spare and settled into the American Airlines flight to Dallas. I then looked at the safety card and realised this was a DC10. Now it just so happens that the deadliest airliner crash on US soil was an American Airlines DC10 taking off from O’Hare three years earlier when an engine separated from the wing and destroyed the control mechanisms. On May 25, 1979, AA flight 191, operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10, crashed moments after takeoff from Chicago. The jet had 258 passengers and 13 crew on board, all of whom died in the accident, along with two on the ground. As we started to roll the video monitors flickered into life and we were presented with a camera behind the pilot giving us a cockpit view of the takeoff. I thought “not only are we going to crash but we’ll see it happen in real time and hear the Captain scream!”

Never mind – we got to Dallas in the Republic of Texas safely following the mighty Mississippi River through this vast land for much of the way and Paul Simon told no lie; In the morning sunshine the Mississippi really did shine like a National Guitar. Arriving at Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW) the surreal feeling continued. Braniff International Airways had just collapsed and there were over 100 of their aircraft impounded on the tarmac surrounded by barbed wire and with guards with shotguns patrolling. The sight of these beautiful looking orange, green and purple aircraft imprisoned on the tarmac was astounding. But then DFW was astounding being designed (in more innocent times) so the Texan cowboys could park their Cadillac’s within 150 feet of the departure gate. This resulted in a huge land grab as confirmed by the hubristic billboard on the exit road “DFW the world’s biggest airport; When DFW is completed it will be bigger than Bermuda; DFW 68 square miles, Bermuda 66 square miles.”


Downtown Dallas from the flood plain of the Trinity River

In Dallas after my business was finished I had a few hours to kill before flying back so I asked my host to drop me to downtown Dallas, for these were the days of Dallas on TV and Ewing Oils gleaming glass office block so I wanted to see for myself. Now the thing is Dallas doesn’t really have a downtown, it has about 14 office blocks on a mound beside the flood plain of the Trinity River, the dried out (in summer) bed of the Dallas River and despite owing its existence to the railway a station with one working platform with the rest being developed into a “themed retail and dining experience.”


JFK memorial

Despite the temperature in the hundreds I went to see the JFK memorial, for after all in Ireland we looked upon him as “our” President. I found it strange, for all the world looking like a raised stylised concrete wall with two gaps and at its centre an empty plinth which looked like it was made for a statue which never arrived. Undaunted I headed from there down Elm to Dealey Plaza, the same route taken by Erykah Badu in her video, where John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963. Now today there is a memorial there and on the 6th Floor of the Texas Book Depository from which Lee Harvey Oswald fired the fatal shots (don’t mind the hocus theories Oswald did the deed – the only question is who was behind him) there is now a Kennedy Museum but in 1982 there was nothing, zero, zilch. It was as if Dallas wanted to forget about JFK.

It became obvious talking to people that JFK was not particularly welcome in Dallas in 1963 and he was still not thought much of today. For people in Dallas, TX, were right wing often wrapped up in a large dose of old time religion. It was obvious that many didn’t accept the Civil War had ended and cars with “Yankee Plates” were honked off the streets. There were still very obvious racial undercurrents here in the “Deep South”, you only ever saw blacks queuing for buses and even the bars appeared to be de-facto segregated being either white or black but not mixed. Indeed there were no bars in much of Dallas as part of the city was in a “dry” county. It was obvious that the White Texans didn’t much care for their black neighbours and didn’t much care for that “Catholic” 35th President of the United States from up north. Whatever else Dallas was, it was no melting pot.


Dealey Plaza, site of the assassination

I’m sure Dallas and the Southern USA has moved on greatly since 1982 and is a very different city today but Erykah Badu’s video and public striptease is not a titillating Debbie does Dallas reprise but rather a brave and challenging piece of performance art. It is about alienation and is associating the exclusion of JFK, made manifest by his assassination, with the exclusion of black people from the city government and opportunity in Dallas as in much of the Deep South for much of its history. By this gesture Erykah Badu, a women of colour, has cast aside the deference to those who have excluded black people and declared that even if they have nothing, they will overcome. It is a brave manifestation of one women’s determination that the future will not mirror the past.

Erykah Badu does Dallas

Erykah Badu

Singer Erykah Badu has been given a $500 fine in April for filming a video in the streets of Dallas, in which she's naked for perhaps a minute; she's now also been sentenced for 6 month in jail, though on probation. All this sounds quite excessive but does not surprise me for in my humble opinion, Dallas is not a normal place.

The music video is called "Window Seat" and was recorded in one take in Dealey Plaza on a warm Saturday afternoon in March 2010.It shows Erykah Badu, Dallas native and R&B star, doing a slow motion striptease down Elm Street on her way to the spot where JFK was assassinated. Commercial filming shoots require a permit from the city of Dallas, but here, no such permit was sought or granted.


JFK

“She said she was frankly kind of surprised nobody made a formal complaint at the time, though on her Twitter account she says people were yelling at her while they were filming" said Richard Ray, a FOX reporter who spoke with Badu. According to her Twitter post, Badu stated that people she passed shouted things like "This is a public place,” “you ought to be ashamed,” and “put your clothes on."

To my eyes, what she did was bold and remarkable, as she walks the gauntlet of people gazing at her in never changing strides towards her goal: the exact spot at which John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and it is there that she lets herself fall to the ground. Debbie does Dallas this wasn’t rather I saw it as a brave piece of performance art dealing with alienation in Dallas. Let me explain why I found Dallas somewhat surreal.



I went down to Dallas in 1982 and the first shock was the flight from Chicago O’Hare Airport which left at an unearthly hour of 5.30 in the morning. I ran up the air bridge with minutes to spare and settled into the American Airlines flight to Dallas. I then looked at the safety card and realised this was a DC10. Now it just so happens that the deadliest airliner crash on US soil was an American Airlines DC10 taking off from O’Hare three years earlier when an engine separated from the wing and destroyed the control mechanisms. On May 25, 1979, AA flight 191, operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10, crashed moments after takeoff from Chicago. The jet had 258 passengers and 13 crew on board, all of whom died in the accident, along with two on the ground. As we started to roll the video monitors flickered into life and we were presented with a camera behind the pilot giving us a cockpit view of the takeoff. I thought “not only are we going to crash but we’ll see it happen in real time and hear the Captain scream!”

Never mind – we got to Dallas in the Republic of Texas safely following the mighty Mississippi River through this vast land for much of the way and Paul Simon told no lie; In the morning sunshine the Mississippi really did shine like a National Guitar. Arriving at Dallas Fort Worth Airport (DFW) the surreal feeling continued. Braniff International Airways had just collapsed and there were over 100 of their aircraft impounded on the tarmac surrounded by barbed wire and with guards with shotguns patrolling. The sight of these beautiful looking orange, green and purple aircraft imprisoned on the tarmac was astounding. But then DFW was astounding being designed (in more innocent times) so the Texan cowboys could park their Cadillac’s within 150 feet of the departure gate. This resulted in a huge land grab as confirmed by the hubristic billboard on the exit road “DFW the world’s biggest airport; When DFW is completed it will be bigger than Bermuda; DFW 68 square miles, Bermuda 66 square miles.”


Downtown Dallas from the flood plain of the Trinity River

In Dallas after my business was finished I had a few hours to kill before flying back so I asked my host to drop me to downtown Dallas, for these were the days of Dallas on TV and Ewing Oils gleaming glass office block so I wanted to see for myself. Now the thing is Dallas doesn’t really have a downtown, it has about 14 office blocks on a mound beside the flood plain of the Trinity River, the dried out (in summer) bed of the Dallas River and despite owing its existence to the railway a station with one working platform with the rest being developed into a “themed retail and dining experience.”


JFK memorial

Despite the temperature in the hundreds I went to see the JFK memorial, for after all in Ireland we looked upon him as “our” President. I found it strange, for all the world looking like a raised stylised concrete wall with two gaps and at its centre an empty plinth which looked like it was made for a statue which never arrived. Undaunted I headed from there down Elm to Dealey Plaza, the same route taken by Erykah Badu in her video, where John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963. Now today there is a memorial there and on the 6th Floor of the Texas Book Depository from which Lee Harvey Oswald fired the fatal shots (don’t mind the hocus theories Oswald did the deed – the only question is who was behind him) there is now a Kennedy Museum but in 1982 there was nothing, zero, zilch. It was as if Dallas wanted to forget about JFK.

It became obvious talking to people that JFK was not particularly welcome in Dallas in 1963 and he was still not thought much of today. For people in Dallas, TX, were right wing often wrapped up in a large dose of old time religion. It was obvious that many didn’t accept the Civil War had ended and cars with “Yankee Plates” were honked off the streets. There were still very obvious racial undercurrents here in the “Deep South”, you only ever saw blacks queuing for buses and even the bars appeared to be de-facto segregated being either white or black but not mixed. Indeed there were no bars in much of Dallas as part of the city was in a “dry” county. It was obvious that the White Texans didn’t much care for their black neighbours and didn’t much care for that “Catholic” 35th President of the United States from up north. Whatever else Dallas was, it was no melting pot.


Dealey Plaza, site of the assassination

I’m sure Dallas and the Southern USA has moved on greatly since 1982 and is a very different city today but Erykah Badu’s video and public striptease is not a titillating Debbie does Dallas reprise but rather a brave and challenging piece of performance art. It is about alienation and is associating the exclusion of JFK, made manifest by his assassination, with the exclusion of black people from the city government and opportunity in Dallas as in much of the Deep South for much of its history. By this gesture Erykah Badu, a women of colour, has cast aside the deference to those who have excluded black people and declared that even if they have nothing, they will overcome. It is a brave manifestation of one women’s determination that the future will not mirror the past.