Matthias

Wasn't there a similar story about most of Angels being played to Williams by some unknown Irish lad years previous to it's release and him lifting the whole thing? I seem to remember that not much could be proven on the music, so the tooth-and-nail outcome was he eventually got a lyric credit but not a single penny.

I just got back from Electric Picnic in Ireland where they played a very strange and inconsistent set. There were lots of them on the stage and a few of the upbeat rollicking country-but-with-a-beat songs came together and were quite fun (complete with showgirls). However, it didn't seem well planned and despite the big ensemble a few of the songs were just the guy talking over a backing tape with musicians just standing there - hardly main stage entertainment. I imagine just three of them playing acoustic will be a very different affair.

Ah but Twerto you're forgetting that they have cornered the market with a product that is purposely very limited in scope. Now that the ipod is widespread and people 'get it', the market is calling out for more features (wireless, open formats, etc) and when they bring that out they can sell a brand new one (at an even higher price!) to all their existing customers (right at the exact time the irreplaceable battery in the old one suspiciously dies). While it's horribly devious, it's the way corporate america works. For a similar example, look at McDonalds.. they spent a whole decade purposefully making their junk food progressively worse. Then when it reached critical point and they were getting all sorts of negative press, they bring out all sorts of "healthy" options like salads and sandwiches with lots of shiny vegetables (that are actually every bit as bad). Because they had already set the bar price-wise for the junk food, they are able to price these supposed healthy options in a much higher profit bracket, as people are willing to pay more to con themselves into believing they won't die fat and depressed. Now they are making more than ever, at the expense of the health service, but to the beneit of the pension fund. So never eat there.

Twerto I don't quite understand your post. I've had various mp3 players since I got this 32MB one in 1998: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_PMP300 (I was 14 and saved and saved!) I usually walk about an hour a day, and quite often spend that time listening to my ipod. As well as the music I load onto it, I really like the Trash podcasts and a few others that feature new music, and the Harvard lecture podcasts are amazing.

hehe that is brilliant: http://www.that1guy.com/pages/Video.html

Just had a listen on your myspace - sounds good

Seen them once before and was very impressed

Wow well done on that one mate - do they want to pop down here to Orkney as well?

Thanks to everyone who has expressed an interest / provided information, it's very encouraging to get such a positive response. I've been taking advice at this end as well and a few of us are going to form write a constitution, start a bank account etc so that it's all in place for when we get to the stage of seeking funding and sponsors for the events. We'll also create some kind of passworded forum and send out invites to organisers/ bands etc.

noted marvin - in my optimism i hadn't realised it was quite that bad. so 'highland artisan cultural exchange' funding and flights it is

Thanks for the info Jono - could you send me his email address? I suppose really it would all come down to funding. If we could get Northlink to provide the transport (the bands could even play a tune in the bar crossing-permitting) and found a few people willing to host a guest at each end then that would be most of the costs covered, and the door could go to band / sound crew. On the other hand, the arts council and lottery and the like love a bit of the old 'cultural exchange' so it might be an avenue to pursue once some of the other pieces of the puzzle are in place.

Thanks Hambone, just had a listen to your podcast 2 and am very impressed. We'd like to do and Orkneybands podcast soon, just don't want to try and add too much to the site at once until people get used to it. It's a pity that there isn't more mixing of Orkney & Shetland artists. A regular 'swap' night where an Orkney band came up and played with a Shetland band, and then they came down and played here the next month could work well, but as with all things, would probably take time to build up support. Has anything like this been tried before?

http://www.orkneybands.com Hello everyone. I hope people don't get too annoyed at me for this, but I wanted to let you know about the new site a few of us have been working on and see what you all think. All the best.