Digital music has Australia in love with the iPod

Australians caught in iPod frenzy

from TheCourierMail.news.com.au

Liliana Molina and agencies
14jan06
AUSTRALIAN music-lovers from school age to grandparents are joining the iPod revolution, which has Apple singing all the way to the bank.

At its Macworld expo in the United States this week, the computer giant announced sales of the music machines surpassed forecasts, with more than 14 million sold in the December quarter, generating $US5.7 billion ($A7.6 billion) in sales.

While the iPods range in price from $149 to more than $500, the money is in the accessories, which can cost more than the iPod itself.

Analyst Richard Doherty of the Envisioneering Group estimated sales of more than $US1 billion in add-ons, from cases to car accessories to speakers, in the same period.

Apple receives a licensing fee and royalties from companies whose products access the iPod port.

The company also sells its own range of accessories, which includes novelty cases and the crystal coated iBling, but designers normally seen on Parisian catwalks like Louis Vuitton, Dior and Gucci also have gotten in the act.

"It's the iPod economy. And (Apple CEO) Steve Jobs is the Alan Greenspan of that iPod economy," Mr Doherty said.

Australians are following the same trend, with Harvey Norman general manager of computers and communication Rutland Smith forecasting stronger sales for Christmas 2006.

"We're one of the largest iPod retailers in the country. We had forecast very high numbers and we met them," he said.

Attachments like speakers were popular because digital technology offered a better quality sound from a small portable machine, he said.

Even if the company does not receive direct payments, the more businesses that build creative accessories, the more desirable the iPods become.

At this point, there seems to be no end to the iPod-related business plans.

Chrysler just announced that it was providing iPod-friendly gear as an option in most of its 2006 models – at the Macworld expo, there are autos decked out with iPod equipment – and Levi Strauss said it would sell jeans called Levi's RedWire DLX jeans with an iPod docking cradle built into a pocket.

article from TheCourierMail.news.com.au



Arts, Culture and Music-related links:

Blue Pie recording artists:

Find songs from Blue Pie acts on the Hurricane Healing music for charity CD, to benefit the victims of the Katrina hurricane damage affecting Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and region:

HurricaneHealing.us


Blue Pie artist Yuya has songs featured on StayAround.com:

StayAround.com Yuya Music

To help out the New Orleans area, buy and download songs from the Hurricane Healing music for charity CD, to benefit the victims of the Katrina hurricane damage affecting Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and region. 50% of all revenue goes to Salvation Army efforts in New Orleans and Caribbean / Central American region:

HurricaneHealing.us



1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die!

Find the Perfect Holiday Gift at Amazon.com Gift Central

Hottest Cameras and Photography Equipment

Hottest Cameras and Photography Equipment



Hurricane Relief CD, Come Together Now

End of Creative Links Section

Tommee to appear at Exodus Festival in NSW

Blue Pie artist TOMMEE AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD



Hailing from Sydney, Tommee And The Neighbourhood are able to combine their variety of influences including; reggae, blues, jazz and African and Latin beats into an exotic mix that transcends all boundaries to provide an uplifting sense of well being to all. They return after their Urban Jungle Groove tour earlier this year, with new songs from the upcoming "Kachampo" album. Tommee was born in a small village called Bima in the Indonesian jungle before growing up in Bali and moving to Australia.

13th - 15th January: Exodus Festival, Tenterfiled NSW

Fri 20th January:The Tea Club, Nowra NSW



See and hear more of tommee's music at TommeeMusic.com

Nigeria's 2 Face now available thru Blue Pie

2FACE is one of the hot artists from MGN Productions Nigeria. 2FACE is out now on Blue Pie Productions for MGN Productions & Perfect Pitch Australia. 2 Face is available at all leading digital retailers on the planet.



To download African world music songs by 2FACE, please visit StayAround.com



NEWS AND MEDIA

It’s official – Nigerian 2–Face Idibia tonight made music history by becoming the first artist to win the Best African Act award at the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon. The award was created in 2005 to mark the addition of MTV base, MTV’s pan-African TV channel, to the MTV global television family

2-FACE won the top prize at the glittering ceremony from the Atlantic Pavilion, Lisbon, despite intense competition from fellow contenders 02 (Angola), Zamajobe (South Africa), Kleptomaniax (Kenya) and Kaysha (DRC). 2-FACE received his award from MTV VJs Tim Cash (MTV UK & Ireland) and China (MTV France).

Angolan nominees 02 attended the Awards in Lisbon alongside 2-FACE (Nigeria), Zamajobe (South Africa) and Kaysha (DRC) who rubbed shoulders on the red carpet with the biggest and best in the music industry including soulful Senegalese newcomer Akon, multi-million selling Brit quartet Coldplay, electrifying rock band, Foo Fighters, animated four piece Gorillaz with De La Soul, politically-charged US punkers Green Day, legendary music icon Madonna, irrepressible music showman Robbie Williams, sassy pop act Pussycat Dolls, Latin American superstar Shakira, uncompromising rock quad System Of A Down and pop-funk music collective The Black Eyed Peas.

Among the presenters at the star-studded awards were Jermaine Dupri, Nelly Furtado, Nono Gomes and a host of presenters from the worlds of film, music and sport including electro vixen Alison Goldfrapp, pop/rock siren Anastacia, dazzling movie star Brittany Murphy (Sin City, 8 Mile), UK R&B sensation, Craig David, Mexican movie star Diego Luna, Latin film idol Gael Garcia Bernal (Motorcycle Diaries, The King), Hollywood actor and rock musician Jared Leto (Requiem For A Dream, Lord Of War), singer-songwriter-pianist John Legend, Portuguese football hero Luis Figo, ragga master Sean Paul, dancehall king Shaggy, feisty pop trio Sugababes and Russian pop act t.A.T.u. The Awards were hosted by the fictional ‘Borat Sagdiyev’ character from the comedic arsenal created by Sacha Baron Cohen (better known as Ali G).

He started his music like most Nigerian youngmen with raw talents but he has been able, within so short a time, to carve a niche for himself locally.

But it would seem he is also set to conquer the world. Last Thursday in Lisbon, Portugal, Nigeria's 2 Face Idibia won this year's Best African Artist Award at the prestigious MTV Europe Music Award for 2005, thereby putting Nigeria on the global musical map as he now sings for a larger audience. How far will his talent take him? Davidson Iriekpen reports

Innocent Ujah Idibia as a name would draw recognition from only a select few who are informed music listeners and enthusiasts. But mention the name 2face and wham! You get everyone chanting any one of his popular songs such as Ifana Ibaga or African Queen.

2face entered the consciousness of Nigerians as a member of Plantashun Boyz, the immensely successful R&B/Hip-Hop boy band which included Blackface and Faze. Easily the most dominant force in the Plantashun Boyz, 2face has carried that overwhelming success over to his solo pursuit.

His debut album, Face 2 Face, presently enjoying heavy rotation on television and radio, is reported to have sold over 300,000 units in less than three months of release and the mania seems to be just getting started. Considered a sex symbol by adoring female fans since his emergence with the Plantashun Boyz, 2face's fan base has grown to include the guys, the kids, the mamas and papas.

Born in tin mining city of Jos, Plateau State, in the late 70s, 2face is a product of the Institute of Management Technology, Enugu. and he has emerged as one of the most respected vocalist/song writers in his country today. He is also a recipient of numerous awards such as Fame Music Awards (FMA), Award For Musical Excellence in Nigeria (AMEN), MNET's Award (Where You At?) etc.



He has also graced some of the biggest concerts in the land. 2face is unarguably at the top of his game and the Nigerian music scene at the moment and has every reason to chant his infections "Nothing Dey Happen" slogan because it is all too obvious that for the young man, this is only the beginning.

On Thursday night, in far away Lisbon, Portugal, 2 Face emerged the 2005 MTV Best African Artist in a contest that pitched him against four contenders also from the continent. They include, Zamajobe of South Africa, Kaysha of Democratic Republic of Congo, 02 of Angola and Kleptomaniax of Kenya, who are by all standards rising stars in their respective countries. That 2face clinched this prestigious title is a serious to Nigerian music.

The event tagged: 2005 MTV Europe Music Award, held at the prestigious Atlantic Pavilion located at the heart of the ancient city of Lisbon. Before the presentation on Thursday night, pundits had actually predicted 2face's victory considering his exploits on the music channel since its launch early this year in Lagos.

The event, which generated a record-breaking 13 million votes on-line and via WAP was spiced up with comics and jokes of the inimitable Borat Sagdiyev from the Sacha Baron Cohen arsenal of comedy characters.

Having watched him perform at launch, Alex Auks, Vice President and General Manager, MTV base, was full of confidence that the Nigerian pop music sensation would break record as the first African artiste to win the award.

The category which made its debut on the global live music event at the Lisbon outing was created to underscore the contribution that African artistes have made to the realization of the objective of the music channel. "This is a landmark year for Africa. First, MTV launched its first ever African channel, MTV base, and now it has created this milestone award to recognise the artistry, creativity and passion of African musicians.

MTV: Music Television, the first 24-hour video music network, is today the world's most widely distributed television network with nearly 419 million subscribers in 164 countries and territories. The leading multimedia brand for youth the world over, MTV has been named the world's most valuable media brand by Interbrand for the past four consecutive years and consistently ranks among the top 50 brands overall. With 80 distinct music programming services in Canada, Asia, Europe, Australia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa, MTV tailors its channels to local cultural tastes with a mixture of national, regional and international artists, along with locally produced and globally shared programming.

Music and lifestyle are at the heart of the channel's programming, from music video-based shows to award-winning news coverage, as well as original long-format programming. MTV's regular programming includes series such as Total Request Live and The Real World: specials such as MTV's Choose or Lose and MTV News Special Reports: and events such as The MTV Video Music Awards and MTV's Movie Awards. MTV's edgy graphic look, irreverent VJs and innovative music specials and documentaries all contribute to MTV's status as the leading authority on music for generations of music fans and a worldwide pop culture phenomenon.

As a young band singer/songwriter, 2-FACE had since caught the picture of a superstar as a member of a pop music group, Plantashun Boyz. But his profile as R&B exponent of note began to assume a distinguishing outlook when he broke away from the group and cemented his solo popularity with his catchy, lyrically inspired, heartfelt songs, sung in a mixture of English, local dialect and Pidgin English


A truly iconic status was conferred by the massive success of his hit song, African Queen, a soulful anthem to the beauty of African women, which won fans across the African continent, and was subsequently chosen as the first ever song played on pan-African music channel and MTV's 100th channel, MTV base.

After major critical and financial success for his debut album, Face 2 Face, which has sold in excess of two million copies, a mantelpiece full of awards, and collaborations with Wyclef Jean and Beenie Man, Idibia's eagerly-awaited second album is due in late 2005.

Altogether, the presentation, which lasted till early hours of Friday, featured a total of 29 categories with pop music stars, Coldplay and Green Day winning two awards each. The former won awards for Best Song for 'Speed of Sound' and Best UK & Ireland Act while the latter won the Best Album for 'American Idiot' and emerged 'Best Rock Act'.

Popular musicians who performed at award night included Akon, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Gorillaz & De La Soul, Green Day, the Queen of pop, Madonna, Pussycat Dolls, Robbie Williams, Shakira, System of a Down and The Black Eyed Peas.

For more information on 2FACE please visit StayAround.com or go to Blue Pie Productions website at www.bluepie.com.au . 2 Face is a Blue Pie Productions, MGN PRODUCTIONS Nigeria and Perfect Pitch artist. 2 Face is out now on Blue Pie at all leading digital retailers on the planet.




NOVEMBER 2005

Blue Pie Productions + Perfect Pitch + MGN Productions team up to take Nigerian Music to the World. Blue Pie Productions has partnered with Nigeria's MGN Productions and alliance partner Perfect Pitch Marketing to showcase to Australia and other audiences outside Africa, what we consider to be a wonderful catalogue of exciting new Nigerian artists. Under the three-way agreement, Blue Pie will be responsible for digital distribution of MGN's catalogue via major online retailers including iTunes, MSN, eMusic, Walmart, MusicNow, MusicNet and Rhapsody. Perfect Pitch will be responsible for marketing the artists and their music including possible Australian tours in conjunction with Flying Fish Touring. Exciting Nigerian artists covered by the agreement, most in the urban, hip hop, r 'n b and reggae genres, include Agustine (‘Blackface) Ahmedu – founder of the renowned Plantashun Boiz - Azadus, Eedris Abdul Kareem (a.k.a. Eddy Remedy), Majek Fashek, Lord Of Ajasa, Sunny Neji, Rugged Man and Styl-Plus. Negotiations are also underway to have recent MTV Europe African Artist of the Year, 2Face Idibia (another former member of Plantashun Boiz), join this formidable collection of musicians.



Blue Pie CEO Damien Reilly pictured in his office.



A compilation CD of this sensational new music will be released online as part of Blue Pie's Hurricane Healing project assisting the Salvation Army in its bid to bring relief to victims of 2005's horrendous hurricane season in the U.S.

Mogul Rocks; 2004 / 2005 notes from Little Big Music / Blue Pie stars

Now that Mogul have been included on the new HurricaneHealing.us Volume Two charity compilatiion cd, here's a little background to the rockin UK lads:


Genre: Rock, more info at: www.mogul.co.uk

Jamie, Jamie and Mike met at school in 1994 aged 16. The trio played in various guises until, they met Keith at a gig in 1999 and formed Mogul. Since then Mogul have played many of the hot venues through the UK including The Shepherds Bush Empire, Borderline, Scala, Barfly, The Hammersmith Palais, The Clapham Grand and Cargo. They have built up fans from all over Britain, including many recognisable faces. Fiercely independent Mogul are one of the hardest working bands in Britain today and certainly one of the most exciting. Having shunned the usual route they continue to record, play and write at their own pace and specifications. Mogul are distributed through Little Big Music and through Blue Pie and at all leading digital retailers globally.

September 2005

The Secret Garden Party was Amazing thank you to all those who braved the rain and came out to watch us, we had the greatest time and feel some how blessed that the rain stopped for the hour that we were on.
The Mogul Album is now being sold on the HMV and Karmadownload sites, so if you haven't already found it at rough trade or smaller retailers then punch in the site name and get it pronto, you owe it to yourself. The reviews of the LP are still good and include 10/10 in Rockit, 9/10 in Gig Review and What's on in London said it had "considerable emotional depth". Our new residency at On the Rocks attracted 150 good souls and will be going on as usual every second Saturday of the month. Next one is on 10th September. The Mogul Fake tour has been confirmed kicking off with the Mean Fiddler on 4th November. Click on tour to take a look.

June 2005

Big thanx for so many of you turning up to the Shepherds Bush and Astoria shows. We are happy to confirm a slot at this years Secret Garden Party near Cambridge. The festival features bands Hard Fi, Super Furry Animals, The Eyes and Desmond Dekker. For more info go to www.secretgardenparty.com. Also watch out for the Mogul Video at T in the park and V2005. It will feature on the big screens in between bands going on and off.

May 2005

First thing to note is the new look website. It has more features including the blog and video sections and we hope it gets your approval. In fact please let us know your thoughts by adding your comments under the relevant post in the blog!
With a new website comes a new Manager. Mogul has signed to Lee Management (Benjamin Zephaniah and the Cortez Loop).

C.E.O. Jasmine Lee has already got various exciting projects in the pipeline for Mogul, of which we will update you on as soon as we get confirmations.
Lee has over ten years working Knowledge of the industry including being one of the key members at Big Brother recordings (Oasis Label). She has also represented artists including Jamie Cullum and Toploader, as well as top producer Jan 'Stan' Kybert (Massive attack, Bjork and Paul Weller).

In addition to the new look website and Management the self titled Mogul album has been gaining steady ground and has received many B and C lists at regional radio stations up and down the country.

The first reviews for the LP have also been favourable and include a 4 out of 5 stars in Nuts magazine and a "Mogul deliver catchy, addictive tracks with anthems that grow and grow" from Front magazine. The release date is yet to be set but is likely to be towards the middle of June. For advance copies head on over to www.wretchedrecordings.co.uk.

April 2005

Firstly can we apologise for the long delay in an update. Mogul have been evolving into a sleeker abridged version and it took some time. Jamie Singha has returned from his six week sabbatical to Asia a brighter more enlightened individual. Mogul have parted company with there keys man and management. Usually when a band says that they have parted company with management and/or a member of the band they are on the brink of what is known as "the split". This however couldn't be further from the truth. It is business as usual. With the first Borderline residency looking like a sell out, a confirmed offer to play the Shepard's bush empire in may and an open air gig on Trafalgar Sq in April things have never looked better. In addition to the live stuff. A self titled album will be released through wretched recordings imminently. If you would like a copy head on over to www.wretchedrecordings.co.uk. We have made a wicked video for Under Rub (which you can download soon from the audio page) and are looking forward to going back into the studio in late summer to complete the second LP.

Dec 2004

Playing their centinary gig at the Borderline was amazing band and audience loved it. Recording yet more material with Jan klybert (The Verve, Oasis and The Cortez Loop) at Wheeler End Studios has been amazing. We will be playing one final gig at the Garage before we break for Christmas and a well deserved sleep. Back gigging in early Feb at the Forum, Cargo and with a residency at the Borderline starting in March. Also check out some of the more recent fruits of our labours in the Audio section ... we hope you dig.

October 2004

Because of the hold up on the release of the record, Mogul have posted five songs from the album available for free download on the audio page. Having finished a further two tracks at sphere studios in September, Mogul are looking forward to playing spot dates in October and November. Jamie Fisher (guitarist), after competing in the world renound gumball rally in the summer, was asked if Mogul would play at an exclusive aftershow gig in Sudely Castle on the 2nd of October. The huge australian band Killing Heidi have asked Mogul if they will play a series of three dates at the Forum in late November. In addition to these gigs Mogul will be headlining Cargo and Borderline in the coming months. Please check the events page for more details.

August 2004

Mogul have finished the album "Rules" and are currently in the rehearsal studio writing. We are in talks with various people and the response so far is very positive. Due to a high level of interest in the record it is unlikely to be released untill the new year. If you can't wait to hear the record you can listen online by visting the audio section. Mogul return to the live arena in August with a gig supporting awesome U.S band The 45's on August 30th at the Boarderline.

May 2004

Mogul have spent the last three months recording their debut album. With strong production coming from Chris Kimsey (Rolling Stones and INXS) and Dan Swift (Aqualung and Snow Patrol) they have recorded and mixed a body of work that is without doubt the band's best yet. Recorded and mixed at both Sphere and the Fotress Studios the album that is yet to be named is due for release at the end of the summer. For sneak previews look out for new audio on this here website. Having played only a hand full of gigs this year Mogul are set on playing more in the coming months.

January 2004

Happy new year one and all, here is a brief update. Additional dates at Metro, Water Rats and Cargo are planned due to popular demand, check events for dates. The domain name mogul.co.uk has been aquired and will come into effect within soon. Mogulmusic will still work so not to worry.

Check out www.HurricaneHealong.us and www.Mogul.co.uk

Canadian singer Carole Pope on Hurricane Healing Volume 2

from A History of Rough Trade

A Brief History of Rough Trade
With Carole Pope and Kevan Staples By Joseph Levy

Birds Of A Feather "Crude, lewd, rude and socially unacceptable," as well as uncannily literate and years ahead of their time, are apt descriptions for Carole Pope and Kevan Staples, the principals behind Toronto, Canada's Rough Trade.

Carole Pope was born outside of Manchester, England, on August 6, 1950.1 Her father, Jack, was a salesman and circus stilt walker, among other professions, and her mother, Celia, was a music hall performer. At age five, she immigrated with her parents to Montreal. A couple of years later the family moved to the Toronto area. She studied sculpture and worked as a commercial artist, but secretly harbored dreams of being a singer.

Kevan Staples was born January 23, 1950, in Toronto, Ontario. He came from a musical family in which everybody played an instrument or sang and, as a musician, was largely self-taught. His father was variously an actor, dancer, choreographer, and dress designer and his mother an interior designer.

Carole first met Kevan in 1968 at an audition for a band called Deva Loca Sideshow. Although that band never materialized, the two hit it off and formed a group called O, which was active in 1969-1970. In 1970, as O, the were featured in the film Osaka '70, which was produced in conjunction with the World's Fair in Osaka, Japan. About this experience, Kevan recalled, "The film chronicled the travels of a bus trip across Canada and we were in the part about Toronto. We played on top of the bus in front of city hall. It was Carole, myself and our dear friend Clive Smith playing piano. This was the group 'O.' Clive was from England where he had played with the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and went to school with Pete Townshead and many other fab gear rave limey types. He is a terrific guy and now a very successful partner in an animation company called Nelvana."

In 1971, after O dissolved, they formed a duo called the Bullwhip Brothers. Kevan described these early years as "an acoustic act with an occasional electric piano. We both played guitar and would supplement with friends on piano percussion and later drums and bass. We very early on got a lot of work out of the gay and arts communities. We worked a lot of parties and art festivals. We didn't get into the bar scene until 1974."

The Bullwhip Brothers became Rough Trade in 1974, the name deriving from Carole's fascination with gay male iconography. Kevan said, "Rough Trade was a natural progression [stemming] from Carole's interest in all things sexual. Our first Rough Trade poster had the slogan 'repulsive yet fascinating' and I have always thought this was an apt description. We were actually more interested in theatre than pop culture and considered ourselves to be quite civilized despite the press thinking we were raunchy. It was more like Cole Porter than Iggy [Pop] or Lou Reed."

Carole put it this way: "Just when everyone was experiencing the dry heaves from '70s music, an underground phenomena breathed life into the stagnant music scene. Bands such as Rough Trade were breaking new musical ground. It was much more than music; it was an upheaval in art, fashion, and lifestyle. Rough Trade, love it or hate it, was responsible for blowing the scene wide open. We were involved in not just music, but themes for each performance. We became slaves of fashion. We were so repulsed by the slovenly look of most bands that we resolved to bring some semblance of theatre into our act. Some of the transformations we went through were 'I can't remember the chords and I can't remember the lyrics' (the frightened animal look), the ceré (polyester to you) jumpsuit (just an excuse to expose a lot of skin), and my favourite, the evil black bondage suit. We wore clothes by designers such as Vivian Westwood, Toronto's Marilyn Kiewiet and Sandy Stagg, and the orgasmic leathers of Claude Montana."

In July, 1976, Carole and three actresses, Suzette Couture, Dianne Lawrence and Brenda Donahue, appeared in a concert billed as the Torch Showcase, part of a summer program of music, theater, and video at A Space on St. Nicholas Street in Toronto. In reference to her choice of songs from the 1960s, Carole said, "I was a teenager then, and all those songs meant so much to me. I was going to do a couple of Leslie Gore and Brenda Lee numbers but changed my mind because they weren't obscure enough. Instead, [I did] The One Who Really Loves You, by Mary Wells, and You're My World, by Cilla Black."

Also in 1976, Rough Trade signed with the Umbrella label and had the distinction of being the first rock band to make a direct-to-disc album, appropriately titled Rough Trade Live! Drummer Rick Gratton, who played with the group for five years, said, "It was a tough one to record. We recorded about 30 sides each and picked the two best sides [to release]."

Continued Gratton, "For the direct-to-disc, we rehearsed for a few days before the actual recording. I was honored to be working with Jack Richardson as producer. He produced all those great Guess Who records (American Woman)! I remember him telling me that I couldn't hit the drums hard enough for him. Halfway thru the sessions, I ended up putting gaffer's tape on my hands to stop them from bleeding. The tricky part about the recording was that if you made a mistake at anytime, we would have to start from the top again. We were recording the spaces between each song because with the direct-to-disc process the lathe was cutting the record from top to bottom. We had a green and red light to look at to let us know when we could start and stop playing between each tune. The silence you hear between each song is actually us being recorded in silence as we waited for the green light to go on and then I would count time in the air by waiving my stix.

"If you check out the song 'Birds Of A Feather,' you'll notice that when Carole says 'A funky motel room,' you'll hear a slight hesitation in the hi-hat part. For years, Carole always sang 'A fucking motel room,' but the producer wanted her to tame down that one word. So, when we started recording she kept saying 'fucking motel room,' and we would have to start all over again. The track they kept has the hi-hat skip because I thought she still said "fucking motel room," and thought we would have to start all over again, but for some reason I just kept going. Sure enough she said what you hear on the final version.

"There were 30,000 numbered copies printed up. They each gave each of us a copy of the disc numbered 0000000. I gave my copy away years ago and found out my ex-friend sold it for $1,000."

In 1977, they experimented with live theater, writing and co-starring with 300-pound transvestite Divine [né Harris Glenn Milstead, star of many of John Waters's films] in a revue called Restless Underwear which was presented at Massey Hall. "It played for a while in Toronto and did really well." said Carole, "Then we took it to New York [in 1980], which wasn't my idea. People came expecting to see a Divine play, and that isn't what they got. There were a lot of leather queens there who got very upset and didn't like us, and there were a lot of new wave people who liked us and hated Divine." In fact, it was Vicky Wickham, the group's manager, who promoted the idea of taking Rough Trade to New York to coincide with the release of their LP Avoid Freud. They appeared at the Beacon Theater on Manhattan's Upper West Side on February 14, 1980--Valentine's Day. However, the event was advertised as "DIVINE in RESTLESS UNDERWEAR." Bernard Jay, Divine's manager, wrote that it was a gigantic disaster: "The theatre was full of gay men, all of whom had obviously come to see this new comedy... The sound system installed for the evening was totally inadequate and the audience couldn't't even hear the feeble attempts at sketches... They booed and hissed at poor Carol [sic] Pope and Rough Trade, who really didn't stand a chance for success the way the promoters had advertised the event. When, in the second part of the show, Divine performed his two songs with his male chorus line, he received a standing ovation, which only made things worse as [he] had nothing to follow it with--and the audience's frustration, quickly turning into anger, was therefore increased. The promoters were swamped in the intermission with demands to return ticket money. Many in the audience had left before the final set from Rough Trade. Divine fled back to his home..."

At this time, Kevan and Carole were also involved in other projects, including writing music for One Night Stand, a 1978 film made for Canadian television for which they were awarded a Genie (the annual awards presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television) for Best Film Score. In addition, they wrote and performed the song "Shakedown" for the soundtrack of William Friedkin's controversial 1980 movie Cruising, a detective thriller which takes place in New York City's gay underground.

Although they produced five additional albums (plus a greatest hits compilation) for the True North label, sales outside of Canada (where their albums consistently went gold or platinum and garnered four Juno awards) were never strong enough to allow them to break-out to the wider audience they sought. Beyond Canada, touring was limited to spot appearances in Australia, Europe, and New York. Rough Trade's last recordings were in 1986, at which time they embarked on the Deep Six in '86 farewell tour. The final show in Montreal was interrupted after a curtain burst into flames.

Though occasionally reunited after the dissolution of Rough Trade, Carole and Kevan's careers basically took separate paths. In the mid-1980's, the British group Pink Floyd disbanded, the result of artistic differences between principals Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Gilmour later tried to revive the group with the help of Bob Ezrin, co-producer of Floyd's The Wall, but without Waters. Although the project never came to fruition, Carole was approached to work with Gilmour on developing material for a proposed album. She explained, "The idea to contact me came from Bob Ezrin. It was January of 1987 and they were looking for somebody to rewrite a batch of Dave Gilmour's material, so I went over to England for a few weeks to lend assistance. Bob and David also asked me if I had any suggestions for concept albums in the Pink Floyd style. By the time I left England in February, they still couldn't decide what to do. They did have one song, though, which I thought was quite nice, though it never surfaced on [A Momentary] Lapse Of Reason [a Gilmour solo album]. It was a mid-tempo thing about Roger Waters, called 'Peace Be With You.' Seems strange that they didn't use it."

In 1989, Carole moved to Los Angeles and became active writing film and television soundtracks (including the 1992 low-budget thriller The Silencer), as well as recording an occasional solo album. Kevan remained in Toronto and spent five years working as a composer for Tambre Productions (1986-1991) and then with Rosnick/MacKinnon Productions (1991-1996), writing original music for television programs, theater, films, and commercials. In 1996, he formed his own company, Rhythm Division, with Jim Longo and continues to be active in these endeavors.

Read more at A History of Rough Trade

The hurricane Healing Vol. II charity cd for the victims of Katrina and other 2005 hurricanes includes a new track from Carole Pope, a song called Dream Six (serious Mix). Check it out:

HurricaneHealing.us

For Carole's track, scroll down left side and click on Volume Two.


O yeah, Happy New Year 2 all at Blue Pie and music fans everywhere!!!


Peace and Blessings,


Yuya