Musician

A celebration of music journalism and Belfast’s musical legacy

| Readers 947

On a memorable evening at The Deer’s Head, music journalist Stuart Bailie launched his new book chronicling 40 years in music journalism — The Song is Nearly Over. The event featured an intimate conversation with Tim Wheeler of Ash, followed by closing reflections and a performance by Terry Hooley, the legendary founder of Good Vibrations record label. The evening brought together three generations of Northern Irish music history, weaving together stories of punk, Britpop, and the transformative power of music journalism. …

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‘Long on material for jeremiads like this’: John Andrew Fredrick’s ‘The King of Good Intentions II’: Book Review

| Readers 296

A fresh novel about the travails of a struggling musician on L.A.’s indie-rock fringe, this sequel to The King of Good Intentions continues the story of John and his jangle-pop band, The Weird Sisters. Likely at least semi-autobiographical, narrated after all by John with frequent asides to us, this takes up the tale on the 5th of April, 1994, the day Kurt Cobain died. While only Raleigh, the new drummer, feels bereft by this news as the band ends its …

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RIP Gil Scott-Heron

| Readers 33

Woke up to hear the news of the premature death of Gil Scott Heron aged 62. He rose to fame during the early 70’s and is perhaps best remembered for his song “The Revolution will not be televised” A poet, writer, singer and author his influence cannot be underestimated. He fought drug and alcohol addiction through his brief life but retained his voice of protest. He leaves a back catalogue of 15 studio albums,11 compilations and 9 live recordings. Considering …

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