"What did the band Poison install in their tour bus in the mid-1980s to turn pleasure into profit?"

for the answer click 'read more'  (:

We have just come across Raven, a 28 year old girl working in the music industry for the last 7 years who had the idea of writing a blog 'Backstage Life' about what she goes through in her job which we thought you might like to read - it is somewhat longwinded but give it a whirl, there's lots to be learnt from those out there doing it! 

"By the summer of 2007, I had become that manager's assistant (her name is Jenny, btw).......It was going to be an acoustic show with a larger orchestra and different arrangements of the songs. It included a special stage design with vintage furniture, velvet curtains and chandeliers.  And it would be my first event without Jenny......She was sick, the promoters were long-time friends and colleagues. She would only be there by the showday, on showtime, but she would be accessible by phone in case of any problems. I was quite confident about it. A little too confident, maybe..

I started by checking flight dates. The crew was more crowded and some people were travelling from different cities. Prepared a daily schedule with only the basic info (sent it only to the promoter), sent backstage rider to the promoter, helped Jenny pick the stage furnitures, went to the store to make sure correct items were being loaded, and that was all the preperation I did for that highly important show.  I was oh so inexperienced, so unprepared!

The sadness of the tragic loss of a hugely talented singer and songwriter at a disgracefully early age is in no way diminished by it's seeming inevitability and historical precedent.  At 27 Amy Winehouse was the same age as Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Cass Elliot, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones and Kurt Cobain when they died.

As well as raising questions about the association between fame, talent and addictive self destruction her death also brings under scrutiny the systems and people who supposedly nurture, care for and profit from the careers of the talented and vulnerable. 

Her music and force of personality will be sadly missed shining as they did like a beacon in a fog of manufactured musical mediocrity.

Andy Corrigan FTTS

The Roundhouse and EMI dedicate September to emerging talent with 30/30

"The Roundhouse has joined forces with EMI for the third year of 30/30, a groundbreaking youth music project designed to find and cultivate new and emerging talent. Every day this September, 30/30 will offer unsigned artists between the ages of 16-25,  one day in the Roundhouse’s EMI Live Music Studio, along with top guest producers to professionally record and mix their track for free"  for further info and please visit The Roundhouse 30/30.  Deadline to submit your music 18th July 2011.

So Lady Gaga is the latest in a long(ish) line of artists that have their mum and or dad around either as a manager or as in her case to keep her on the straight and narrow.

However she should probably be careful as the precedents are mostly not promising and maybe bear in mind that one of the reasons that people get  involved with music is to get away from their parents.

Some examples from the pages of rock’n’roll history;

1 Jackson 5; Joe Jackson the family father was their manager and notorious for his tyrannical behavior.  Michael claimed he received beatings and abuse from his father and could not really have been described as happy or well balanced.