V Festival latest

The Killers, Deepest Blue and Syntax just confirmed. Like that's going to change your minds...

I've been quiet today, beavering busily on busted balance sheets, so HEY! Here's some news written by someone else; The Killers, Deepest Blue and Syntax have been added to the V Festival lineup... An old workmate of mine is in Syntax, friend to the stars, that's me... On with the release:

You’ve been warned: prepare yourself for a hit of pure Las Vegas indie pop at V this summer. Festival organisers have just confirmed that desert-dwelling kings of cool, The Killers will be bringing their ‘marvellously buoyant’ sounds to the line-up this summer. Joining Nevada’s finest will be masters of the contemporary pop anthem, Deepest Blue, and electronic dance duo Syntax, who will be shaking up the JJB/Puma arena at Hylands Park, Chelmsford and Weston Park, Staffs, on 21st and 22nd of August.

It had to happen eventually. When you survey previous exports from the city of Las Vegas - a ragtag assortment of suspect hair metal bands, one-hit wonder Toni Basil, and Andre Agassi - it was only ever going to be a matter of time until a group would emerge from Sin City and wipe the slate ceremoniously clean, giving the inhabitants of that Nevadan outpost some fresh hope and an escape from their culturally underperforming past. The unique habitat in which The Killers developed – “a world of snuff and nonsense where hermaphrodites dance in casino halls and boyfriends murder girlfriends over bottles of bourbon” (NME, 01.06.04) – as well as their mind-bogglingly kaleidoscopic musical influences (Morrissey, Bowie, Ocasek, Gallagher, Presley, Smith, Sumner, Corgan, Cocker, Byrne, Lennon, to name but a few…), have gone towards creating a band so clearly the product of their environment and yet so perfectly adapted to becoming a truly dominant species in the world of pop. Hailed as “unashamedly joyous indie pop with a sheen of retro cool” by Time Out (01.06.04), The Killers’ debut album, ‘Hot Fuss’, infused with exuberant, irrepressible indie pop, is set to make stars of the Nevadan four-piece in 2004. With music “built to tug you on to the dancefloor”, The Killers’ appearance at V Festival this summer is sure to be a murderously marvellous experience.

With their own brand of radio friendly, intelligent and uplifting contemporary pop anthems, lyrically accomplished and musically innovative duo, Deepest Blue, are currently scoring big. The brainchild of Israeli born producer and classically trained violinist Matt Schwartz, and singer/songwriter/unassuming wunderkind with a complete commitment to his music Joel Edwards, the artistic meeting of minds is central to Deepest Blue. Having worked with a wide variety of some of the biggest names in music (most notably Massive Attack), their inspired lyrics, and polished but fresh sound is down to their eclectic taste and combined musical trainings. With their smart, infectious, expertly crafted pop music, and their live set in V’s JJB/Puma Arena, Deepest Blue are all set to irreversibly capture the imagination of music lovers in 2004.

Who knew that when Syntax’s Mike Tournier and Jan Burton shut themselves into a West London studio to jam, drink, and stir up the spirits of dark hybrid electronic music, it would be the starting point for one of the great synthesiser blues adventures? By chance, a wandering rock singer manque from Wales and a respected avant-dance producer from London had found a majestic route forward out of the repetitive beat trap of pure electronic grooves. A brand spankingly new, vocal-lead, post-electronic band, grafting bloody poetry, fractured states of mind, fevered emotions, and narratives of lust, death, life and hope onto a deep knowledge of club music, and an instinctive love for the Dionysian, epic possibilities of rock, Syntax are poised to be one of the most effective new crossover groups out there in 2004. With their gliding electro hymns and cyber beats of rare gravitas, they’re most definitely going to be one to keep a sharp eye on at V this summer.

Tickets for this year’s V Festival have nearly ALL gone! All camping tickets have now completely sold out and there are only a very limited number of day tickets still available. Get V Festival tickets here or here and support popex or call the box office on 0870 405 0447 for current availability, and to purchase tickets, or visit www.vfestival.com. Tickets are priced £46.50 for a one-day pass.

2004 :: Comment / reply

Folkestone camera club update

On 30th March was our 5th digital image competition of the season when our members learn from the judges comments, tips, advice and experience. Our judge was Mr Dave Mason who came to us from Woolwich, a very experienced photographer, and his results (out of 20) were:-

Monochrome: GEMMA by Dave Turner 20

(21 emtroes) LOCAL TIKI by Paul Gavin LRPS 20

WALL OF WATER by Alice Gosling 20

BEACH, BOAT, SKY by Sue Cowell 19
WAITING FOR THE TIDE by John Mitchell 19
Open Group 2; MORNING MIST OVER HAWKSHEAD by Jan Mackay 20

(18 entries WINCHELSEA AT DUSK by Paul Melia 20

SUNSET OVER WESTMINSTER by Pam Wraight 18

THE PATH THROUGH THE WOODS by Tony Reeves18

Portrait Group 2: STEPHANIE by John Mitchell 20

(13 entries) PRINCESS STELLA by Monica Stringer 19 EMMA by Paul Melia 19

LIBBY by Jim Wraight 19

Open Group 1:- ROBIN (ERITHACUS RUBECULA) by Trevor Page 20

(16 entries) GERMAN PALIAMENT BERLIN by Paul Gavin LRPS 19

THREE RED CHAIRS by Bob Brisley LRPS DPAGB 19

PINK RUDBEKIA by Melanie Chalk 19

KINGS COLLEGE FRESHMAN by Arthur Bailey 19

Portrait Group 1: OLIVIA 3 by Paul Gavin LRPS 20

(9 entries) THOMAS by Keith Green 20

JESS AND LEAH by Sue Cowell 19

SU THAILAND by Alan Meek 19

Creative:- BENEATH THE WAVES by Dave Turner CPAGB 20

(15 entries) LOST SOLES by John Mitchell 20

AEROSPACE by Paul Gavin LRPS 19

NIGHTMARE by Bob Brisley LRPS DPAGB 19

WATER MUSIC by Alice Gosling 1

Although we are coming to the end of our season we still have 5 more competitions to see. New members are still coming along too, so we hope they will continue into the next season.

Saturday 19th April is the Kent County Photographic Association Biennial Audio Visual Competition which Folkestone is proud to be hosting this year. It is being held at the St. Andrews Methodist Church Hall, Surrenden Road, Cheriton from 2 p.m. Further details can be found on our website.

Many photographs taken by members, including the above with 20 points, can be seen on our website at www.folkestonecameraclub.co.uk

Our meetings are held at the St Georges Church, Audley Road, (on the corner of Shorncliffe Road opposite West Station) Folkestone September to May, on Mondays at 7.45pm. New members are always welcome, if interested please phone Mrs Jenny Barraclough (Press Officer) 01303 245399. E mail: jenny-bar@btconnect.com

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The perfect crime

After the fabulous treat of yesterday evening (sausage, beans and fried potatoes for tea AND two episodes of Lovejoy), this morning's long wait outside the office was probably due. No keyholder turned up for over an hour, so I couldn't get into the building. A right stroppy delivery driver did turn up though, with some huge bails of insulation, that I signed for. Now, maybe it's the remnants of gentle TV crime drama addling my brain, but I started thinking, what if no-one ordered these bails of insulation? There was no name on the order, just the building address, and they were quite big, 1.2m by 0.6m by 0.6m (4ft x 2ft x 2ft Dad), and there were five of them... What if there were burglars hiding inside them? Once we'd lugged them into the building, they'd bide their time and then pop out to do the place over!

Only a few points make this unlikely, these bails would be pretty itchy to hide inside, and also the burglars would have to be pretty light. I was wondering, what if you had bubble wrap that was filled with helium instead of just air? How much would you need to balance out the weight of a man?

The grumpy delivery driver got a parking ticket (no deliveries allowed here before 10am), so again that's karmic balance in action I think.

Looking forward to the weekend, my brain needs the lie in I think.

Off to play some more with script.aculo.us, I'm trying out some "drag and drop" type stuff for a site. Don't know what put me off using script.aculo.us until now, I'm sure the code is quite bloaty, and as a proper programmer myself I feel that I should be writing all the bits I need and not including anything I don't need, but this is fun to play with.

Also, haven't looked at Google Earth for ages, so downloading a new version of that, and fixing up my own maps, they've been a bit wonky for quite a while now.

Hmm, forgot the hosting centre were upgrading things today so sorry this page was unavailable for a few hours! I will stack up all of today's "thoughts" into one post and slap it up when I can.

Can we go to Las Vegas again? Why couldn't it have been this Rock Honours show that we won a trip to..?

VH1 announced Thursday that it will debut the "VH1 Rock Honors" next month to pay homage to the gods of hard rock. The inaugural honorees are KISS, Queen, Def Leppard and Judas Priest.

The ceremony, to take place May 25 in Las Vegas, will pay tribute to hard-rock legends much like the Rock Hall of Fame does, with "spoken tributes, filmed packages and performances by some of today's hottest rock acts as well as the legends themselves."

2006 :: Comment / reply