Cream @ Amnesia, Ibiza

Superclub/ dance music festival pioneer James Barton has sold Creamfields to Live Nation as part of the US event conglomerate’s plans to expand into hosting EDM events.

The sale, which Business Week said also includes Cream club events, will see Barton becoming Live Nation’s new ‘president of electronic music’, and will involve Creamfields launching new events in ‘key markets in North America, Europe and Southeast Asia.’ (Business Week: http://buswk.co/KooJGz )

Details of the sale emerged just one day after Radio 1/ IMS/ William Morris executive Pete Tong warned about the dangers of ‘investment funds running around buying up (EDM) assets’ in an interview with Billlboard magazine.

“I think people have got to be very smart about how they go about dealing with all the opportunities that are before them. We all want to protect the scene,” the multi-millionaire entrepreneur urged.

‘”It’s not just about grabbing the dollar, selling out as quickly as possible and everyone getting rich. (Though) that’s an option,” he conceded. (http://bit.ly/LOcCom )

Chatting to Skrufff several years ago about his business philosophy though, James Barton retained the same no nonsense approach to promotion that saw him build a business empire from throwing acid house raves in Liverpool in the early 90s.

“In plain English, dancing in a field with your best mates listening to damn good music is the best feeling in the world,” said James.

He also adopted a similarly pragmatic approach to the commercial threat posed by the massive increase in new festivals which saw 450 events in the UK alone in 2007.

“It is a concern and in a way it does remind me slightly of the boom time of dance music when everyone was jumping on the bandwagon then,” he admitted.

“For me it’s simple,” he added.

 “If there are good artists around then the punters will support them. But that support will only stay if we as promoters and the artists continue to deliver shows and music that excite and inspire at affordable prices. It’s really important that we don’t fall into the same trap we did at the end of 90’s by not listening to the audience.”

http://www.creamfields.com/

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Click for more

LA Times’ pop music expert Randall Roberts criticized Coachella’s superstar DJ headliners David Guetta and Kaskade for producing ‘dumb and thumpy . . . anti-thinking’ house music’ this week and said their presence ‘suggests to many that Coachella has lost sight of the dance music vanguard’.

In a somewhat confused piece, however he also criticised  ‘dance music snobs’ for complaining, whilst saving his cruellest critiques for Swedish House Mafia and Madonna’s latest sideman Martin Solveig.

 “At its worst, today’s big dance music can sound like Air Supply remixed by an automated production plant (i.e. “Save the World,” by Swedish House Mafia),” Roberts continued.

“French dance producer Martin Solveig’s “Hello,” best known to most for its use in a chewing gum commercial, is virtually indefensible to anyone interested in non-cheesy music, and he’s got a prime time slot in the Sahara tent,” he added. (LA Times: “It’s like a VIP-bottle Las Vegas casino nightclub has taken over the Sahara . . . http://lat.ms/HyNcoo: “

The Times’ piece coincided with another article on financial website Policymic.com in which writer Annie Ferrer raised the issue of whether EDM is the ‘next dot come bubble to burst’ in which she attributed its crossover success to producers successfully eliminating any sexual ambiguity earlier electronic music might have possessed.

“As DJSs like David Guetta, Swedish House Mafia, Deadmau5, Kaskade, Tiesto, and Skrillex have demonstrated, the oftentimes criticized, but undeniable “brostep” to dubstep captivates both the fist-pumping pseudo-male as well as the bippity-boppity, free-spirited female,” she suggested. “Both genders can throw their arms in the air and rid themselves of inhibitions within 20 seconds of turning the music on.”

DJ Sneak, meanwhile, continued his one-man Twitter tirade against Swedish House Mafia with a pointed follow up to his earlier onslaught last week.

“I encourage real djs to challenge themselves to be more creative when they play,” he declared, “I expose fake djs for fun.”

http://bit.ly/HxeUCs (‘David Guetta Meets Wall Street’)

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Electric Daisy Carnival Vegas; click for more

Missing corruption suspect Tony Estrada taunted authorities to ‘come over here and get me’ in a phone call to the LA Times this week, in which he said he was ‘floating around . . . in the jungles of Brazil’.

The former Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum employee faces embezzlement and conspiracy charges alongside leading US rave promoters Pasquale Rotella and Reza Gerami, and went on the run after reportedly liquidating his US assets six months ago.

Speaking to the LA Times this week, however, he claimed to be the ‘whistleblower’ who alerted authorities about the case and insisted he is innocent.

“I am the one who provided the information about the corruption and I have been betrayed,” Estrada, 72, complained, “Instead of being a hero, I am a ‘criminal’.” (LA Times: http://lat.ms/H95txe )

In more developments Pasquale Rotella and Reza Gerami both appeared in court in LA asking the judge to unfreeze their assets after being released the week before on US$1.2milion bail each. Each promoter reportedly claimed the huge bail payments mean they are unable to do business, though prosecutors instead said Pasquale in particular is ‘fabulously wealthy’. (CBS News)

Prosecutor Jennifer Snyder said the bail sums were set to allow taxpayers to have a chance to recover the alleged missing monies.

“It permits you to seize up to three times the value of the loss or the taking, so in this case the loss that we estimate from the charges was approximately $2.5 million,” she said. (http://cbsloc.al/H9VbII )

Spin Magazine, meanwhile, published a feature asking ‘is this  (case) part of the war on raves?’ to be told by prosecutors that it was a straightforward ‘paper case’ based on ‘cut and dry’ evidence of wrongdoing.

“When SPIN asked D.A. spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons if the charges leveled at Rotella could be tainted by politics, she actually laughed,” the US magazine reported. “No. There is nothing politically motivated about this,” Gibbons said by phone.” (Spin: http://bit.ly/HPYBVy )

Pasquale and Reza face up to 13 years in jail if convicted.

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Kidnap Kid; click to listen (via soundcloud)

• 1: Kidnap Kid – Vehl / Black Butter Recordings TUNE OF THE WEEK
• 2: Kate Wax – Dust Collision (Solvent Remix) / Border Community
• 3: Bagagee Viphex13- Lost9 (Citizen Kain Remix) /
• 4:GgDeX – Disco Wombat / Kling Klong
• 5: The Hacker – Shockwave (Mark Archer / Altern 8 remix)

Kidnap Kid- Vehl: Click to listen

BBC style documentary: click to watch

Billionaire business publication Forbes launched a new ‘Entrepreneurs’ series focusing on the ‘worlds greatest DJs’ this week in which ‘Gen Y’ expert Dan Schawbel used his acclaimed analytical skills to uncover the secrets of superstar DJ success.

Mercilessly grilling his first interviewee Avicii, Dan discovered that the Swedish 22 year old travels quite a lot and sometimes goes out for dinner before gigs if he’s got time, and also spends quite a lot of time on Facebook and Twitter (Forbes: http://onforb.es/GCEIMY )

(More next week, as Dan, who BusinessWeek cite as ‘someone entrepreneurs should follow on Twitter’ fearlessly asks Paul Van Dyk- ‘What is a typical day like for you? How do you manage your life?)

In more US/ rave news Billboard magazine columnist Kerri Mason, confirmed that America is officially experiencing ‘an explosion of electronic dance music’ when quizzed by a New Jersey news site about the fact that Electric Daisy Carnival New York sold out in 4 hours, though sounded a touch quizzical about what it all means.

“Young people aren’t going to see big rock bands in this cultural moment,” she told NJ.com. “Right now, with the recession, things are kind of marginal and bordering on crappy and all kids want to do is bounce around to happy dance music,” she suggested. (http://bit.ly/GAtNVT )

Bullying shock jock Howard Stern also entered the dance music is massive debate this week, launching a grumbling grandpa – ‘disco sucks’ style onslaught against Deadmau5, David Guetta and DJs in general.

“A weird thing in music going on right now,” the soft-rock fan sneered (to the delight of his sycophantic sidekicks). “Guys who stand there and play, like, records,” he scoffed.

Dismissing Deadmau5 with the observation ‘and all he does is spin a record?!” he was equally garrulous about David Guetta.

“He stands in front of a turntable, and raises his arms every once in a while.”

“I would never have the balls to have a career like that,” he added, “Like if I went out and played an ipod and just went out and scratched my ipod, I just think people would lynch me.” (Click here to listen in full: http://bit.ly/GHsuXw )

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Project X Trailer: click to watch

A teenager was shot and killed in Houston this week, as 1,000 revellers flocked to a house party reportedly inspired by a film trailer for new Hollywood rave movie Project X.

The film features American school kids throwing a house party when their parents are away, which attracts hundreds of ravers who take ecstasy, have sex and smash up the neighbourhood as riot police look on helplessly and was reportedly inspired by Australian teenager Corey Delaney.

Hundreds of ravers smashed up his neighbourhood after his own Melbourne house party slipped out of control in 2008, though the then 16 year old youth became a global media star after hilariously out-manoeuvring TV critics.

Top Australian columnist Andrew Ramadge branded him ‘prodigiously media-savvy’ and a poster boy for Generation Z soon after declaring he ‘embodies the post-Australian Idol teen’.

“HE’S been called a “brat”, a “bugger” and a “turd” – but no one has added “genius”,” he declared.

“Corey Delaney’s talent for showing up interviewers trying to trade on his vilification, while still looking like an extra from Clueless, has made him a pin-up for a generation of young Australians suspicious of the media and clued-in to the ways of modern marketing.” http://bit.ly/FOd1SF

Corey’s greatest moment came when he refused to remove his trademark yellow sunglasses despite the patronizing demands of A Current Affair TV hostess Leila McKinnon, ridiculing her even further when she demanded “What would you say to other kids who are thinking of partying while their parents are out of town?”

“Get me to do it for you,” he replied. “Best party ever, so far. That’s what everyone is saying.

click to watch the trailer

Speaking about the party ABC News presciently declared ‘it sounds like the plot of a B-grade American movie: mum and dad go away on holiday and their teenage son throws a party for 500 people in the backyard’ though in Houston, cops continue to look for the suspected killer.

“Patrol officers got here first and they said there were people everywhere,” Houston Police Department Sgt. Adolfo Carillo told local TV station KHOU 11. “There were people running everywhere and trying to leave the scene.” http://bit.ly/yia0X9 )

http://bit.ly/tBxzLB (‘Project X’ Trailer HD)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc0CB6URrV0 (Corey Delaney: Best Street Party Ever’)

ABC: http://bit.ly/AysKpB

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Rocktronic- click for more details

Details were released of a new three-day pop festival in San Antonio this week, which will combine a bizarre selection of veteran pop stars playing alongside DJs including David Guetta, Axwell and Luciano.

Promising ‘on-stage collaborations’ between mainstream pop stars including Sting and Fatboy Slim and ‘today’s global superstar DJs’, organisers were particularly excited about ‘Lenny Kravitz joining forces with Luciano!’ prompting bemused reactions from online media Inthemix and Resident Advisor.

Dubbing Rocktronic festival ‘an odd one’, Inthemix said the pairing ‘certainly raises an eyebrow (unless they’re talking about the reggae veteran Luciano?)’, while RA suggested it’s indeed the Cadenza star.

“Luciano appears on the bill twice—once as a DJ, and once playing live with pop-rock veteran Lenny Kravitz,” they noted, “How exactly that one will work is anyone’s guess at this point.”

The decision to include Lenny Kravitz (no relation to Nina) came 20 years after Pet Shop Boys singer Neil Tennant demolished the American rocker’s credentials in an essay published in Andy Warhol’s Details magazine about the inspirational aspects of hatred.

Outlining how he became a pop star as ‘revenge’ for being mocked as an outsider at school, Neil ridiculed the already morose ‘Rolling Stone’ rock star culture of the early 90s, branding it ‘essentially a fear of the new.’

“Look at all the ‘new’ artists – Curtis Stigers, Michael Bolton, Lenny Kravitz – all of them living in the past,” he pointed out, “I think you have to live in the future. Or at least in the present.”

Rocktronic’s decision to combine radio friendly popstars with credible DJs such as Luciano also struck an unlikely chord with the pre-acid house memories of Altern 8’s Mark Archer who in an interview with Knowledge magazine last year recalled similar mash-ups in pre Summer of Love era Stoke.

“1988 was for most people when the club scene changed from being just a night out on a Saturday listening to all types of music in your local Ritzy to going to an underground venue,” the hardcore legend recalled.

“Where you didn’t have to wear trousers and a shirt, but could dress down a bit with jeans and a t-shirt, listen to house and hip hop without any chart rubbish being thrown in with loads of like-minded people.”

(Neil Tennant: Hatred can be “positive”)

http://www.ibiza123festival.com (Ibiza 1 2 3 Rocktronic Festival takes place between July 1 and 3^rd at San Antonio’s Sunset Strip (near Café Mambo).

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Burning Man; click for more

Organisers for Burning Man announced they’ll be distributing 10,000 of their 52,000 tickets by hand to veteran revellers and those involved in creating its legendary infrastructure after a planned ticket lottery left many regulars without tickets.

In a lengthy statement posted on the event’s blog, Burning Man business guru Marian Goodell was apologetic.

“There’s no way to sugarcoat this: the hard truth is that there are a lot of you who want to come to Black Rock City to celebrate your participation in the Burning Man culture this year, but not everyone will be able to attend,” she said. (http://bit.ly/yIH7FX )

“There are indications that a large percentage of people attending Burning Man this year will be first-time Burners. As eager as we are to welcome our newest citizens into our community, it’s crucially important that we have a solid foundation of veteran Burners in Black Rock City to meet, greet and acculturate these eager new participants, ensuring that they not only survive the elements but also fully participate in the Burning Man culture,” she continued.

“We will always welcome the stranger, and all are welcome to participate in the culture of Burning Man. But that doesn’t necessarily mean we can all fit in one place at one time.”

Starting life in 1986 in San Francisco, the event moved to the Black Rock Desert in 1990 and was unfenced until 1996, though continued to grow and expand as America’s premium alternative festival/ rave. Skrufff erstwhile contributor Leslie Shill attended the event in 2004 along with 36,000 other burners and singled out the anything goes ethos that’s made it so popular.

“What was seen with usual clarity were the usual love struck Burners indulging in the now traditional in-out (sex- slang ed) on the desert floor, hopefully leaving no human detritus and stains on the playa, although numerous screams of delight were duly noted by passers-by,” said Leslie.

One exhibit, called appropriately the Orgasmatron, also had to moved away from full public view to a more discreet location so that its mechanical abilities could be tested by a number of female funseekers. Apparently it worked pretty well, leaving a number of boyfriend types to woefully drown their sorrow.”

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Click for the latest information

The father of missing London raver Andrew Cooke said they are increasingly ‘coming up with odd conclusions about what may have happened’ some three weeks after the 29 year old vanished from a Chingford squat party.

While initial postings on free party portals suggested Andrew might have lost his memory after inadvertently taking methoxetamine, his father Grahame Cooke begged fellow ravers to speak to the police.

“The concern is people that attended the party could be worried about getting in touch with the police but there is nothing to fear,” he told news portal ThisIsLocalLondon.co.uk, “They are only interested in finding Andy,’ he stressed. http://bit.ly/xROWg0 (ThisIsLocalLondon.co.uk)

Friends of Andrew set up a Facebook group soon after he disappeared which detailed his last known movements.

“He was last seen between 3-4 pm Sunday afternoon (February 12) at a free/squat party located on 1 Lea valley road near Chingford,” they wrote on Facebook.

“We are looking for any details that might lead us to where he is now as we have not heard from him since Saturday night. Anyone with the slightest bit of information please can you get in contact with us, no matter how trivial, it could be a massive help.”

“Anyone involved with the free party scene please can you forward this event on,” they urged.

Andrew’s Dad Grahame also posted on the group on February 28 declaring ‘we had a meeting with the Police yesterday for an update. Unfortunately there is no substantial new information.’

“They are still very active and we are very grateful. However the police would like to talk to anyone who was at the Party in Chingford who they haven’t yet spoken to. If you were there please ring the police on 020 7232 6246,” he pleaded.

“If you really don’t want to talk to the police then don’t hesitate to ring the #findandy 24 hour line on 07707 450505″.

Posting on free party portal partyvibe.com, General Lighting speculated on why Andrew himself might be steering clear of the cops.

“A lot of “mainstream” people finding themselves in such a situation would hand themselves in at the Police Station, but it’s understandable a raver might not wish to do so, especially in Essex where the feds are already bitter and angry with having to deal with the aftermath of the pissheads, let alone someone what might have took drugs,” he pointed out.

“Another place of sanctuary used to be colleges and smaller universities but these are well locked down in London since the 90s because of gangs. I hope the guy has found somewhere safe and nothing too bad has happened to him,” he added.

http://bit.ly/xOmNS0

http://on.fb.me/yAjX1L (Missing Friend****ANDREW COOKE*****)

Jonty Skrufff: http://listn.to/JontySkrufff

Click to watch

a World in Action 30 minute program about raving in London in 1988……