Articles Comments

David Porter » Archive

Some Celebrities Are Worth Much More Dead Than Alive

Forbes’ Magazine publishes an annual list of the top earners among dead celebrities, who last year grossed $886m. Yves St Laurent came first, at $350m. Yves St Laurent ‘earned’ the most of the dead celebrities last year, mainly through the sale of valuable paintings), and he beat Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley ($52m), Kurt Cobain ($50m) and Andy Warhol ($9m). However, it is perhaps Jackson who has the most potential to go on year after year into the future, his estate earning millions of dollars. It made nearly $100m in the first nine months after his death. Kings of Pop Music Cynics would describe death as a smart career move for the already rich and famous, especially those who have a cloud of controversy over … Read entire article »

Filed under: Articles at Suite 101

A Game of You

A Game of You Ontroerend Goed at The Garage, Norwich Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2011 Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 7th May 2011 The fringe festival got off to a dark, strange but fascinating start. Audience members are led in singly, through tiny curtained rooms, one mirrored. You know you’ll participate and it’s going to be disturbing; you don’t know how. It’s immersive theatre, relying on clever psychology, vanity, wariness and our self-consciousness. Like a 1960s Happening which at extremes catered for an audience of one, this is about you, quite literally. You are engaged in warm conversation with a stranger. You are shown a film clip of an audience member you may have noticed outside, but don’t know. You are persuaded to play drama director, creating an imaginary life for that person. The … Read entire article »

Filed under: Reviews

60s’ Pirate Radio Revolutionised British Popular Broadcasting

Ship-based pirate radio was so successful in the Swinging Sixties, it forced the BBC to create Radio 1 & Parliament to legalise commercial radio in Britain. Offshore radio was part of the burgeoning 50s/60s pop industry. It satisfied a thirst for music from increasingly affluent, independent teenagers, who wanted to buy singles and albums, and carry music around as transistor radios caught on. The BBC provided a mere hour a week for new music on the Light Programme, but only from established artists; record companies tightly controlled music performance. Teenagers relied on Radio Luxembourg, only available at night and often crackly. From 1960 they had Radio Veronica, a ship off Holland that provided pop music with Dutch DJs. Radio Caroline, 199 in the Medium … Read entire article »

Filed under: Articles at Suite 101

Making Laws, Branding Criminals in Britain

People in the UK Can So Easily Pick Up a Criminal Record. The Westminster and European Parliaments churn out thousands of laws annually often with little debate, most of which can now lead to a huge fine, a jail term or both. The UK operates a large bureaucratic machine called the Independent Safeguarding Authority complemented by an unaccountable system of Criminal Record Bureau checks affecting everybody who works with or has contact with vulnerable members of society. These are defined as children in educational or social environments, all ages in care and those unable to be responsible themselves. It all comes out of increased global terrorism fears of the past few years and it sounds fair enough: people should be checked. However, it’s now applied to … Read entire article »

Filed under: Articles at Suite 101

Nicked

Nicked at High Tide Festival 2011, The Cut, Halesworth Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 3rd May 2011 Halesworth’s High Tide Festival incubates new work and this year they surpass themselves with Nicked, a brave, innovative musical about last year’s still-unbelievable formation of the Coalition Government. Dramatised from the unlikely material of Cameron, Clegg, Brown, Cable, Laws, Miliband, Balls, Osborne and politicos wheeling and dealing in the days after 2010’s inconclusive election, it works. It’s being tried out in Halesworth, with fresh angles added as news breaks, scenes are still evolving. Last May’s events are fresh in people’s minds, so it has a contemporary feel with enough distance to be safe to laugh at. Richard Marsh produced book and clever lyrics: ‘are you a man or a focus group?’, songs about proportional representation (at one … Read entire article »

Filed under: Reviews

Myths and Truths About the 1960s

1960s: Peering Through the Rosy-Tinted Mists of Time at Iconic Decade. They say if you remember the 60s, you weren’t there. But that’s just one untruth about a decade that is cited as inspirational or source of all problems by many today. How one views the 1960s, particularly in the UK, is both a philosophical thing and where people stand on the political divide. Many political, industrial, banking, education, media leaders are of an age to remember their youth fondly or recall their parents’ affection for those heady days. People who lived through the 1960s and many younger people today, think well of the fashions, the tolerance, social reform/transformation, new liberal ideas, “sex, drugs & rock ‘n’ roll” and England winning the football World Cup. Terms also associated with that decade (roughly 1964 … Read entire article »

Filed under: Articles at Suite 101