Robert Johnson Project
From: 2009 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND - Live - Beacon Theatre, New York (with John Hammond, guitar and vocals and Bonnie Bramlett, vocals)
The best of our city in summer is back with a vengeance as Sydney Festival returns in its 39th year. 2015 will see a spectacular program of free and ticketed events spanning contemporary and classical music, theatre, dance, visual arts, circus, cabaret and much more.
There’s no better way to get into the swing of summer in Sydney than by enjoying a free outdoor concert in the heart of the city, with 60,000 of your closest friends. The Domain concert series return with four large-scale concerts including a special Summer Sounds in The Domain headlined by South American superstar Seu Jorge whose samba sounds will kick-start summer in Brazilian style.
Sydney Festival 2015 will see 18 world premiere performances including Masquerade based on the iconic children’s book by Kit Williams, and 11 Australian premiere works including Quebec’s Cirque Alfonse in Timber!, Roysten Abel’s newest work The Kitchen, and a taste of Belgian theatrical flair in Kiss & Cry a dance work for a duo of hands.
Sydney Festival is an annual three-week arts Festival celebrating Sydney in summer. Every January, the Festival brings the harbour city to life with an explosive array of theatre, dance, music, visual arts, film, talks and genre-defying events, with something for everybody.
Sydneysiders and visitors know Sydney Festival is one of the most wonderful summer festivals in the world – a claim underpinned by the city’s lustre and charisma, making it an ideal showcase for the world’s great artists.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/players/English/58124-sydney-festival-2013/
Sydney Festival opened its 2012 program with Australia’s largest free outdoor cultural event, Festival First Night, attracting hundreds of thousands of people into the city centre for eight hours of music, theatre, dance and visual arts. Headlining the event was internationally-acclaimed music superstar Manu Chao, who had 60,000 people dancing to his unique blend of Latin reggae. Audiences thrilled to a mix of Australian and international entertainment including a 1950s swing dance, painted caravans, Australian singer-songwriter Meagan Washington, Indigenous singer Gurrumul and dapper Jamaican gents, The Jolly Boys. Keeping things at a lively pace were street performances by Tuba Skinny, Lewis Floyd Henry and Norman J and his Good Times Bus. Casper Babypants, Holly Throsby and Erth’s mythical puppet creatures kept the kids laughing and dancing throughout the afternoon.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/players/English/53512-sydney-festival-2012/
Exhilarating spectacles were taken to new heights this afternoon as Michael Jackson ONE by Cirque du Soleil partnered with Gibbon Slacklines to showcase a record-breaking highline walk from the exterior of Mandalay Bay and House of Blues Foundation Room, 63 floors above the Las Vegas Strip . As the kick off to the 2013 World Slackline Federation (WSFed) Slackline World Cup Finals taking place inside the Michael Jackson ONE Theatre on Oct. 17, Andy Lewis, the daredevil Gibbon athlete and slackliner made famous for his Super Bowl XLVI halftime show performance with Madonna, set a new world record for the longest urban highline walked. Lewis thrilled spectators by forging a 480-ft. high, 360-ft.-long slackline, running parallel to the Las Vegas Strip, rigged from two of Mandalay Bay’s resort towers.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://www.multivu.com/mnr/63628-mjone-by-cirque-du-soleil-and-mandalay-bay-gibbon-slacklines-megastunt
Me playing my own arrangement of "Time on my hands" on the Stockport town hall Wurlitzer organ. The day before I listened to a recording I made playing this very piece on the Southampton Guildhall Compton organ and was amazed at how similar I made two very different instruments sound particularly between 0:46 and 1:00.
Playing "La Mer" which I always associated with the film "Mr Beans Holiday"!!! I used the organs upright piano attachment for most of this piece but the camera microphone was unfortunately not able to pick this up. Like all theatre organs the organ works on the "extension" principal with 20 ranks of pipes in 2 chambers laid out as follows: CHAMBER 1 Open Diapason Flute Clarinet Viol D Orchestre Voix Celeste Quintadena Dulciana Tuba Horn Tibia 1 Solo String 1 Marimba Harp Vibraphone CHAMBER 2 Tuba Mirabilis English Horn Saxophone Trumpet Solo String 2 Tibia 2 Orchestral Oboe Oboe Horn Kinura Vox Humana Xylophone Glockenspiel Chimes Drums, Cymbals, Novelty effects etc Unenclosed is the upright piano and the "master" xylophone. I couldnt help but include a couple of clips of my favourite comedian!!!
St John's Methodist Church in Bloxwich, West Midlands was the result of Wesley, Pinfold and New Street Methodist Churches merging in the mid 1960s. The organ was built and installed here by Nelson & Co of Durham. The bulk of the pipework is from the old Pinfold Methodist Church instrument and a couple of the pedal stops from the Wesley church. The pipework is on a plinth at the rear of the church and the console at the front left of the communion area. Parts of the console is from a Compton theatre organ and was originally stopkeys in horseshoe layout. In 1975 the organ was overhauled by Henry Groves of Nottingham. In 2003, it was rebuilt by John Lloyd of Bilston and some tonal alterations were made including the addition of a powerful "Tuba en Chamade" stop on the choir division. The console was also rebuilt and drawstops fitted in place of the stopkeys. In this video I am playing Handels "March from Scipio" which gives the general idea of what the organ sounds like.
Me at the organ of St John Vianney Catholic Church in Clayhall, London. Im playing the old tune "If I could help somebody" and using the organs electrostatic melotone unit blended with the Tibia for most of the melody and to round it off I use the Triangle! The organ was originally installed at the Ritz Cinema in Nuneaton and has 3 manuals, 6 ranks of pipes and of course the melotone unit. It was designed by organist Harold Ramsay. When this church was built in the late 1960s, rather than spend large sums of money on a new organ the priest at the time was a cinema organ enthusiast and had this organ brought and installed here. The organ is used for the sunday services, weddings, funerals and other church activities and regular concerts are organised by the cinema organ society.
I've played several theatre organs built by Compton and Wurlitzer but never a Christie until today! Im playing "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" on the Christie theatre organ at the Social Welfare Hall in Harworth near Doncaster. The organ was originally built in 1934 for the Essoldo cinema in Durham and had 2 manuals and 7 ranks of pipes. It was installed here in the 1960s and had an extra manual and some extra ranks of pipes added. When playing a cinema organ my aim has always been to try and play as they did in your average 1930s surburban cinema. In otherwords - knock out the tune! The emphasis these days tends to be on "orchestral" styling etc.
When the world's biggest hip-hop superstar decides to put on his first ever live TV concert from his hometown, it's kind of a really big deal. FUSE presents the historic performance to benefit the Kanye West Foundation. Kanye West - Live From The Chicago Theatre world television premiere Saturday July 25th at 8pm/7c exclusively on FUSE.
