One Direction; almost as few songs

One Direction - persistent X Factor run-off band - went to Oxford to play a gig. There was an air of excitement.

The excitement kind of vanished after they only played for four songs before going off to count their money.

Twenty minutes. Now, to you or I, twenty minutes of One Direction might seem like they'd delighted us for long enough. But if you actually like the band, and had handed over hard-earned pounds to see them, you might feel miffed.

Craig Pitson, who runs promoter Soundwave Live, can't see why people are upset:

But Craig Pitson, director of Soundwave Live, said the event was always billed as 'One Direction Plus Support Acts and Live DJ’.

Right. But, generally, all gigs have at least one support act and someone flinging on records during the changeovers. At most gigs, though, the headline band play more than an ep's worth of music.

He said: “The support acts are there to create a show, otherwise it would literally be the headline performance and that, I agree, would be a complete waste of money and source of disappointment to those attending."

Well, not really - if people were paying to see the headline act, they'd probably rather see the headline act play a set, rather than a few. I don't think anyone ever comes out of a gig saying "if only the band I'd paid to see had played a few fewer songs to allow the unbilled support a bit more time. And I could have heard the unnamed DJ play records all night."

“We didn't just randomly throw support acts on stage, we carefully selected Oxford's finest up and coming talent.

“We take great pride in supporting and showcasing young artists from Oxford and we will continue to do so.”

I'm sure you do, and that's great and a positive thing to do. But given you didn't even tell people who the support acts would be when promoting the gig it's fair to assume the audience weren't there to see them play. And nearly every gig I've paid to see has a support act. The presence of a support act doesn't mean you should expect a fun size headline set.

[H]e added: “The time, effort and work which goes into these shows is vast, and although we appreciate feedback from all attendees, the show at The Regal was one of the best atmospheres ever to hit Oxford."

The show was an atmosphere. It hit Oxford. Meteorologists have confirmed that the bestness of that atmosphere certainly put it in the top five atmospheres that Oxford has ever been hit by.

It is possible that One Direction only know four songs.

The Tories love Courtney Love

I don't think I've ever picked up a Guido story on No Rock before, but this one is too good to miss: The Tories' big tent has now expanded to include Courtney Love,:

newly elected as Oxford University Conservative Association’s ’Non-Executive Officer for Rock and Roll’

Like Hank Hill's observation that Christian Rock doesn't make rock music better, it just makes Christianity worse, this is probably a move which reflects more badly on Love than it does for the teeny tiny Tory types.

Still, I guess embracing an out-of-control type famed for her drug use and violent outbursts is a step forward for Conservative students compared with how they were last time round, spending their days calling for Nelson Mandela to be hanged and embracing UNITA.

[Thanks to @jimwaterson for the tip]

Indie record shops return to Cowley Road

Good news for the people of Oxford - three years after Polar Bear melted, there's going to be indie record shop on Cowley Road again. Rapture, which already has branches in Evesham and Cameronville Witney is opening a third branch. It may or may not be called Rapture; and it's going to get marketing help from the Truck Festival team.

[Rapture Owner Gary] Smith denied it was a risk to open a shop in the current economic situation. He said: “It is a risk, but when we opened in Witney six years ago, people said it was a risky business back then, but we are still here and going strong.

“Judging by the response we got when we opened for one day, there is a market for us.”

He added: “We pride ourselves on customer service and stock knowledge.

“That is what people will get, friendly staff, great stock and great customer service.”

Hey... imagine that. Do you think HMV have thought of that as a way forward?

[Thanks to @jimwaterson for the tip]

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: Leave a light on for me

Gennaro Castaldo. He's normally to be found shedding light on the dark areas of music. Today, though, he's shedding light on why HMV in Oxford isn't shedding light.

An outraged Oxford Times wants to know why stores in the city keep leaving their lights on overnight:

Gennaro Castaldo, a spokesman for HMV which turned all its lights off, said: “Advertising and promotion is important, but the public at large value businesses managing their costs and reducing their impact on the environment more.”

It's good for the environment that HMV are flicking their lights off, certainly. But I think Gennaro might need to get out more if he thinks the public value "businesses managing their costs".

Oxford Radio station attempts to shake youth, go older

FM107.9 in Oxford won its licence to broadcast on the promise of being a station aimed at the city's young and student population. It's decided that's a hiding to nothing.

At the moment, it promises to do this:

THE STATION WILL BE THE VOICE FOR YOUNG OXFORD THROUGH A MIX OF PRIMARILY NEW, CUTTING EDGE' AND CREDIBLE CHART MUSIC (eg URBAN, DANCE AND ALTERNATIVE) WITH NEWS, PHONE-INS, INFORMATION AND YOUTH CULTURE FEATURES TARGETING 15-29s IN THE CITY.

Of course it's in ALLCAPS. It does phone-ins.

Now, though, they want to do this:

THE STATION WILL BE THE VOICE FOR OXFORD THROUGH A MIX OF EASY-LISTENING SOFT MUSIC AIMED AT 45+ ADULTS WITH LOCAL NEWS, PHONE-INS, LOCAL INFORMATION AND CULTURE FEATURES TARGETING THE CITY

Management at the station suggest this would be a cosmetic change, just swapping one pile of CDs for another.

Ofcom isn't having that, pointing out that swapping from playing The Courteeners to Jim Reeves is a "stark" one. They're inviting responses from the public.

Venuewatch: Oxford Regal remains sealed

Odd goings-on in Oxford, where the only-just-expensively-refurbished Regal Venue has remained closed after its New Year holiday. (Actually, isn't a venue which could hold a New Year's Event not holding one a bit odd in its own right?)

Last week, partner Charlie McCreedy told the Oxford Mail it was due to a change in shareholders and he hoped it would reopen last Friday.

But the club remained shut, with planned weekend events cancelled at short notice, and neither Mr McCreedy nor manager Michael Keel were available for comment.

The team running the Regal had previously been in charge at the much-missed Zodiac; lets hope that this is a glitch rather than the end.

[Thanks to James W for the story]

Zapped: Another festival falls

Zapfest, planned for Oxford this coming weekend, has been cancelled:

"Due to unforeseen circumstances Zapfest has had to be cancelled. Over much deliberation we have come to this decision. This is a decision that has not come lightly as we have spent over a year organising the event and have invested a lot of time and money into it. Most of all it is something that we really believed in and wanted it to work. There are a few factors that have forced us to cancel which we can't go into detail about. We can only apologies for any inconvenience that has been caused to you all. Please return your ticket ticket to the place of purchase for all full refund."

It's a little odd to cancel with just some vague words about 'things we can't tell you about' - shouldn't they have at least made up a beautiful lie about gravity being broken in Oxford that weekend?

Pop stars campaign update

If you're running a campaign in the Thames Valley, you need all the support you can muster. And that would seem to suggest you need a 90s semi-credible popstar on board.

Hot on the heels of Natalie Imbruglia throwing her weight behind attempts to keep Windsor Fire Station open overnight comes Danny Goffey calling for Stanton St John Post Office to be kept open:

Mr Goffey, 34, who grew up in neighbouring Forest Hill, said: "I used to buy sweets and cigarettes there and I want my family to be able to continue that tradition.

"I think it is definitely very important for the Post Office to stay, so people can cycle or walk there without having to go into town."

It takes the special intervention of a popstar to make a strong case for a shop to remain in business so his kids can buy fags there, doesn't it?

Concrete facts

A quick mention for the Keeping C86 Alive-affiliated club night Swiss Concrete, which happens at Port Mahon in Oxford. It does lose half a point for utilising the done-to-death wartime poster of a woman rolling up her sleeves saying "we can do it" on a flier - has there even been a club night which hasn't cut and paste that onto promo material at some point? I mean, I know everyone who picks it to promote their gigs or clubnights means it in a "strong, feminist" leftist/liberal way, but it's still a picture that was commissioned to encourage working-class women to help make bombs to kill other working-class women, which makes it a bit of an odd choice to promote an evening of dancing and a sense of sisterhood.

Still, many thousands of extra points for their line-up:

The Evenings - 30/05/07
The Rosie Taylor Project - 10/06/07
Martin Stephenson - 10/07/07
The Brights - 31/07/07
Space Heroes Of The People - 18/08/07
Monkey Swallows The Universe - 02/09/07
Callous - 22/09/07

MicrotonalObit: Rod Poole

We've just been alerted by Karl T to the heartbreaking, pointless death of Rod Poole, Oxford guitarist. He was stabbed to death in the car park of a Hollywood restaurant, the LA Times reports:

The incident occurred about 9:45 p.m. Sunday in the parking lot of Mel's Drive-In in the 1600 block of Highland Avenue. Officers answered a call of an assault with a deadly weapon and found Roderick Poole, 45, with multiple stab wounds. He was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he died at 10:06 p.m.

It appears that the husband and wife who have been arrested and charged with Rod's murder had nearly run him over; Poole's remonstrations with them had escalted into an argument which ended in the stabbing. The couple, Michael and Angela Sheridan, are being held in jail with bail set at a million dollars per head.

Poole was born in Oxford in 1962, finding his first musical feet in the Oxford Improvisors' Cooperative in the early 1980s. The group, of which he was a founder memeber, promoted gigs in the city featuring the earlier generation of free improvisers, with members taking the chance to offer support for them.

It was during his time with the co-operative that he developed a solid friendship with Shake Appeal, the band who would eventually transmogrify into Swervedriver.

In 1989, Poole relocated from the City of Dreaming Spires to the City of Angels, and in his new home Poole carved himself out a career as one of the very few musicians for whom the term "genre-defying" is apt rather than an empty cliche. Ink Blot Magazine attempted an explanation:

Rod Poole uses just intonation, a tuning system with different underlying mathematical relationships from conventional western turning, to coax overtone-rich sounds from his guitar. His music doesn't progress along a linear melodic path, but it also avoids the pronounced discontinuity characteristic to free improvisation. Instead, it focuses on gradually evolving changes in timbre and texture. Poole plucks intricate figures which become surrounded by an aura of ringing overtones; as his finger-picked patterns change, that aura shifts and shimmers like St. Elmo's Fire around a ship's mast. The effect is a little like that achieved by an Indonesian gamelan orchestra, but Poole does it with one guitar.

Talking to LA Weekly, Poole came up with a slightly simpler description of what he did:

“I just look at it as... improvised acoustic-guitar music,” he says, weighing each word. “Tuned, improvised acoustic- guitar music”

His body of recorded work isn't the widest, but his enthusiasm and skill made him one of the key figures in LA's mainly-underground microtonal movement. Beyond his solo work, Poole also played in two bands: Voice of the Bowed Guitar and the Acoustic Guitar Trio.