George Stubbs' kangaroo and dingo paintings get export bar

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The UK government has taken steps to keep in thecountry two oil paintings that gave the 18th Century British public their firstchance to see what a kangaroo and a dingo looked like.
A temporaryexport bar has been placed on the two George Stubbs works, which went ondisplay in London in 1773.
However,potential buyers will have to come up with £5.5m if the paintings are to stayin the UK.
Stubbs wasunable to paint the animals in the flesh so used spoken accounts.
He also madesketches after inflating the preserved skin of a kangaroo.
The KongouroFrom New Holland (The Kangaroo) and Portrait of a Large Dog (The Dingo) werefirst shown at London's Royal Academy in 1773.
They have beenpraised for bringing the animals, most closely identified with Australia, tothe attention of the British public.
The works arethought to have been commissioned by Sir Joseph Banks following his part inCaptain James Cook's first voyage of discovery to the Pacific.
Culture Minister Ed Vaizey announced the export barfollowing a recommendation by the reviewingcommittee on the export of works of art and objects of cultural interest.
Committee chairman Lord Inglewood said it would be a"terrible shame" to lose the "extraordinary paintings" toan overseas buyer.
"They were the British public's firstintroduction to these exotic animals from the Australasian New World which wasopening up at that time," he said.
The export bar remains in place until 5 August, andcan be extended until 5 November if a serious intention to raise funds to buythe paintings for £5.5m is made.
Source: BBC
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Review: Mister Sippy – S/T

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MisterSippy – S/T (Independent)A big hit in their home-city of Melbourne, Australia,Mister Sippy describe themselves as a stomping, swamp blues, funk-o-billyfour-piece, and they’re not far wrong. Their six-track, self-titled debut isfull of vim and energy, and combines Fat Possum-style electric blues with araggedy rock ‘n’ roll stance. It all sounds incredibly fresh and inviting, andit’s delivered with a level of musicianship and professionalism, which neversounds slick or over-produced, but consistently impresses throughout its26-minute duration.
There’s no room for filler on a record of thislength, and the band (Marshal Sayer, Max Maxey, Roger Brown and Dr. RussellGruen) are in complete accord. From the opening bars of “Leave Me and My Woman Alone” they barely waste a note.Frontman Sayer plays a mean harp, which’ll remind a select few of The RedDevils’ Lester Butler (though there’s probably an old blues guy that influencedboth of them), and on tracks like Butler’s own “Goingto the Church” and a blistering take on R.L. Burnside’s “Skinny Woman”, he shows just how good a harp can bewhen used as the lead instrument in the right blues-rock setting.
Gruen and Brown keep the beat tight but fluid, andguitarist Max Maxey is neither showy nor indulgent, but takes a razor sharplead whenever called upon, and his hard driving style might just be the perfectfoil to Sayer’s sinuous harp.www.mistersippy.com.auwww.facebook.com/mistersippywww.reverbnation.com/mistersippyPhil S.

Picasso portrait of mistress sold for £28m at Sotheby's

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One ofPicasso's portraits of his mistress, Marie-Therese Walter, has been sold for £28.6mat Sotheby's.
The 1932 piece, entitled Femme Assise Pres d'uneFenetre (Woman Sitting Near a Window), was the centrepiece of Tuesday night'sauction.
Helena Newman from Sotheby's said: "Thisportrait is a striking and notably modern-looking work from one of the artist'smost celebrated periods."
In total, the impressionist and modern art saleraised £121m.
It was the second-highest haul for a Sotheby'sevening sale in that category in London, with 18 lots selling for more than £1m.
Another highlight saw three pieces by Austrian artistEgon Schiele Liebespaar fetch a combined total of £14m.
His 1914 Selbstdarstellung mit Wally (Lovers - Self Portraitwith Wally) was sold for £7.9m, a record price for a work on paper, while SelfPortrait in Green Shirt with Eyes Closed went for £5.1m.
Elsewhere,Claude Monet's water lily painting Nympheas avec reflets de hautes herbes,which dates from 1914-17, sold for £9m and his snow scene Le Givre a Givernyrealised £8.7m - much higher than the £4-6m estimate.
"Bidders,both new to the market as well as seasoned buyers, reacted with greatenthusiasm, in particular to the selection of impressionist works that wereconsidered to be the strongest offering in many years," said Newman.
On the Picassosale, which saw a final bid of £25.5m, rising to £28.6m with the buyer'spremium, Newman added: "We are delighted that this stunning and monumentalportrait, which is part of the defining series that introduced his 'goldenmuse' to the public eye, fetched such a strong price.
"In recentyears in particular we have witnessed the remarkable allure of Picasso'sportraits of Marie-Therese to collectors.
"LaLecture sold for £25m - double its pre-sale estimate - in Sotheby's February2011 sale, and Nature Morte aux Tulipes selling in Sotheby's November 2012 salefor £41.5m."
Marie-Therese,who Picasso called his "golden muse", was the artist's mistress from1927 to 1935. Their relationship began when he was 45 and she was just 17.
The pair, whohad a daughter, Maya Widmaier-Picasso, split when Picasso found a new mistress,Dora Maar.
Marie-Theresewas the focus of several portraits by the post-impressionist, including the1932 work La Reve (The Dream).
Source: BBC
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Paul Tanner: Good Vibrations musician dies aged 95

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Paul Tanner, atrombonist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra who later played the space-age hookon the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations, has died at 95.
The musician's stepson, Douglas Darnell, told theAssociated Press he had died of pneumonia on Tuesday.
The last-surviving member of the Miller ensemble, healso taught jazz at UCLA and recorded with several Hollywood orchestras over along career.
But he remained best known for his work with theCalifornian rock band.
Although many assumed the eerie whistling tones onGood Vibrations were produced by a theremin - the electronic musical instrumentplayed by waving your hands around two antennae - Tanner was actually using aninstrument of his own design called the electro-theremin.
Easier to use than its Russian counterpart,Tanner's instrument was played by moving a slider up and down a diagramrepresenting a traditional piano keyboard - similar to the later Stylophone.
Tanner, who had his design built by inventor BobWhitsell, also played the instrument on other Beach Boys songs including WildHoney and I Just Wasn't Made For These Times.
Of the recording sessions, he said: "They wereusually very late at night, and very long, and very good pay".
Born in Skunk Hollow, Kentucky, in 1917, he was anaccomplished musician who studied piano before taking up trombone at the age of13.
As well as his work with the Glen Miller Orchestra,with whom he toured from 1938 - 1942, he was a symphony player for conductorssuch as Andre Previn and Leopold Stokowski.
His music classes in California's UCLA wereunsurprisingly popular. The LosAngeles Times reported in 1979 that he had taught 65,000 students in 15years, and maintained a "continuous waiting list".
He recorded a solo album, Music for Heavenly Bodies,with his electro-theremin, and provided sound effects to several interstellarTV series, including Lost In Space and My Favorite Martian.
But he considered the instrument a "toy"and sold it to a hospital to use in hearing tests by the late 1960s.
Source: BBC
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Don't Look Now (1973)

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The film which is set in Venice, Italy is about a couple who recently lost their daughter who tragically drown. It is in Venice that John and Laura Baxter begin to experience mysterious occurrences whilst John is working for commission on a Church in the city. The film adds to the stereotypical viewing of Venice as a dark and disengaged place, the couple who are mourning their daughter meet a ‘psychic’ women in a restaurant that claims to be able to communicate with their daughter.The couple are then submit to various unexplainable events such as visions of their daughter, this leads them to stay in contact with the psychic and try and keep in contact their lost child. 


The psychic warns John to leave Venice as he is in danger, and it is at this point when Laura leaves the city to visit their son who has fallen ill in England that John begins to experience strange visions and premonitions. John searches Venice for his wife believing that he has witnessed her and that she has been kidnapped or hurt by the ‘psychic’. 


It is in this point that John is put into danger, and is ultimately killed by a crazy dwarf like character who is running around the streets of Venice one late night, after pursuing the character who appears much like John’s daughter in an iconic red coat, the character turns around and cuts John’s throat. The final scene of the film is John’s funeral with Laura and the psychic lady on board and it is this image that John had ‘seen’ in his ‘premonition’ causing his initial distress about his wives where abouts but ironically he should have been more concerned for his own. 


The film carries many of the stereotypical values that are often attached to Venice in media representations, portraying Venice as a dark and sinister city, although depicting a strong bond of love in the relationship between the characters of John and Laura which again reinforces the notion of Venice being a city of Love. 


The people that John and Laura meet are all quite strange and this creates a sense of being alone and isolated. The way in which the city is captured on film is quite one dimensional in the sense that it is mostly filmed during the night so the city streets appear daunting and scary, the Church that John is working on has much connotative values and the imagery of the stain glass windows is used through the film, captured from an angle which make the building appear threatening. 


Though out the film their are clear connotations to the Church and the death of  the daughter the link is established in the montage of shots whilst the daughter is dying to the images that John is processing of the Church in Venice and it is almost a warning not to go buythis is only apparent to the viewers. Although their is a link between the Church and the Death it is not clear or extensive.

Dan The Automator's Pillowfight shares new song + LP

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PILLOWFIGHT PREMIERES "USED TO THINK" VIA CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND

PILLOWFIGHT LP OUT 1/22/13 VIA BULK RECORDINGS

Stream: "Used To Think" -
https://soundcloud.com/bulk-recordings/pillowfight-used-to-think

Pillowfight is Dan The Automator and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Emily Wells along with a little help from Kid Koala and Lateef The Truthspeaker. Today, they are proud to share "Used To Think", the second single from their forthcoming self-titled LP. The LP is due digitally and on CD on 1/22/13 and Vinyl is due on 2/26/13 via Bulk Recordings.

Stream: "Get Your Shit Together" -
http://soundcloud.com/bulk-recordings/pillowfight-get-your-shit

"Ever had a sure thing that managed to exceed all expectations? Dan The Automator's new passion project Pillowfight surpassed all anticipatory hopes and then some" when they debuted the new project at SXSW, in Austin (mxdwn.com).

Dan The Automator (Deltron 3030, Handsome Boy Modeling School, Gorillaz), has a new brainchild. He has teamed up with Emily Wells in a new collaborative project called Pillowfight.

The delivery is a deft combo of down tempo sexy cool, brimming with the Automator's pristine multi-layered production. Wells sings with effortless sultry appeal, while the band drops the beat like no one ever started suing over sample use. Amazingly so, the band also includes none other than Kid Koala nimbly shredding on the 1's and 2's (and sometimes 3's), and Lateef the Truthspeaker on backing vocals and some well placed verses that only this particular Bay Area resident could deliver.

Dan The Automator might be best known for his contributions towards the Gorillaz' first album, though he has been consistently putting out fresh music for over 20 years. Emily Wells is a respected solo artist with s a long-standing musical career as a songwriter and violinist, with her own solo recordings. Though all musical contributions came from Dan The Automator and Emily Wells, the group has generated quite a bit of attention due to David Choe's involvement in the project. All artwork and two music videos are contributed by Choe, who is a respected American painter and muralist.

Pillowfight came about after Kid Koala was paired with Emily on an artist workshop at a Canadian music festival. Knowing that Dan was looking for a female vocalist for a new project, Koala was sure that Emily was that vocalist. Wells went to San Francisco to meet up with Dan The Automator in the studio and worked on tracks that were a part of Dan's new "passion project". After Wells wrote and recorded vocals for three days in San Francisco, the two decided to expand the project into a full length album scheduled for release on Bulk Recordings / EMI in January 2013.

wearepillowfight.com

PILLOWFIGHT
(BULK RECORDINGS)
JANUARY 22, 2013

1. Used to think

2. In The Afternoon

3. Rain

4. You're So Pretty

5. Get Your Shit Together

6. Redemption

7. Get Down

8. Darlin' Darlin'

9. You Don't Need Me

10. I Work Hard

11. Lonely City

12. Sleeping Dogs

Merchandise shares new track + tour dates + EP details

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MERCHANDISE SHARES "ANXIETY'S DOOR" VIA PITCHFORK  

ANNOUNCES TOUR DATES WITH WET HAIR, ICEAGE

TOTALE NITE EP OUT THIS SPRING ON NIGHT-PEOPLE RECORDS

Photo courtesy of Aldo Padaldo

Tampa, FL's Merchandise are heading out on a month long national tour in March. The shows will be the the first to feature new full time drummer Elsner Niño (of NYC bands Shoxx, and Pollution).

In celebration of this news the band is bestowing a brand new track upon us entitled "Anxiety's Door". David Vassalotti's visceral guitar work, and Carson Cox's always impressive vocal stylings lie perfectly with the driving bass on this song that Patrick Brady has been perfecting since the band's first CD-R in 2007. This song, along with 4 others will appear on the Totale Nite EP coming out this spring on the wonderful Night-People Records. Artwork and release date details will follow shortly. You can stream the song and check out the tour dates below.

STREAM: "Anxiety's Door" -
https://soundcloud.com/life-or-death-pr/merchandise-anxietys-door/

TOUR DATES

3/7 - Savannah, GA - The Savannah Stopover
3/8 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl *
3/9 - Oxford, MS - Lamar Lounge
3/10 - Denton, TX - 35 Denton Festival
3/11 - Mcallen, TX - Cine El Rey Theatre (GALAX Z FAIR II) !
3/12 - San Antonio,TX - Korova
3/13 - Austin, TX - SXSW
3/14 - Austin, TX - SXSW
3/15 - Austin, TX - SXSW
3/16 - Austin, TX - SXSW
3/18 - El Paso, TX - Black Market
3/19 - Phoenix, AZ - Dead Horse Warehouse #
3/20 - San Diego, CA - The Soda Bar #
3/21 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo #
3/22 - Santa Ana, CA - Observatory (Burgerama Festival) # $
3/23 - Bakersfield, CA - Munoz Gym #
3/24 - Santa Cruz, CA - The 418 Project #
 3/25 - San Francisco, CA - The Rickshaw Shop # ^
3/26 - Oakland, CA - The New Parish # ^
3/28 - Portland, OR - Backspace #
3/29 - Vancouver, Canada - Media Club #
3/30 - Seattle, WA - Barboza #
3/31 - Olympia, WA - The Northern #
4/2 - Boise, ID - Neurolux #
4/3 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby #
4/4 - Denver, CO - The Marquis Theater # ^
4/6 - Norman, OK - Opolis %
4/7 - Houston, TX - Mango's
4/8 - New Orleans, LA - Siberia
4/9 - Gainesville, FL - The Atlantic (
6/1 - Austin, TX - Chaos In Tejas
6/2 - Austin, TX - Chaos In Tejas

* = w/ Chelsea Light Moving, Talk Normal
! = w/ Mac DeMarco, Audacity
# = w/ Wet Hair
$ = w/Black Lips, Nick Waterhouse, Bleached
^ = w/ Iceage
% = w/ Mr. Lies
( = w/ White Lung


Merchandise
Totale Nite
(Night-People)
Spring 2013

1. Who Are You?
2. Anxiety's Door
3. I'll Be Gone
4. Totale Nite
5. Winter's Dream