Joe Kavanagh's Music News

The fourth annual Choice Music Prize was awarded to Jape for his album Ritual, at an awards ceremony in Dublin last week. A somewhat surprising, but thoroughly deserving, winner, the man known to his mother as Richie Egan beat out stiff competition from acts like Lisa Hannigan, The Script and David Holmes, to clinch the prize, which is chosen by a selection of Irish music industry insiders. Previous winners include Neil Hannon, Super Extra Bonus Party and Julie Feeney, and the award comes with €10,000 ($12,659) in prize money, and is considered to be the top honor in the Irish music industry. Known in some circles as Ireland's answer to Beck, Ritual is Jape's third album and the electronic-rocker has also been nominated for a Meteor Award for Best Irish Male...

Liverpool's Hope University has announced that they are launching Master of Arts course studying the Beatles, as in the band and not the insect. Titled "The Beatles, Popular Music and Society", according to senior lecturer, Mike Brocken: "Forty years on from their break-up, now is the right time and Liverpool is the right place to study The Beatles. This MA is expected to attract a great deal of attention, not just locally but nationally and we have already had enquiries from abroad, particularly the United States." Given the current recession, I would have thought that a degree in the Beatles would be about as much use as a bacon buffet at a bar mitvah, but there you go...

One man who presumably won't be taking the course is Van Morrison, who recently had something of a pop at the legendary Liverpool band, telling an interviewer: "You measure things in terms of the Beatles. We don't think music started there. The Beatles were peripheral. If you had more knowledge of music, it didn't really mean anything. To me, it was meaningless." Give the quality of their work, their innovativeness in the studio and their indelible imprint on the world of music, I would hardly call their contribution "meaningless". Van the Man wouldn't be known for his pleasant demeanor but statements like that are a little bitter for even him. Van Morrison is an example of someone that actually looks like their personality, if you catch my drift...

Boyzone "singer" Ronan Keating recently revealed, that he has never been offered cocaine despite spending over a decade in the music industry. Speaking to Glamour magazine, the Dubliner claimed: "I don't take drugs, smoke or throw TVs out of windows. I ain't one of the Gallaghers, I ain't Pete Doherty - I'm just something in between. And do you want to know something? I've never, ever been offered cocaine. Fifteen years in the music industry, watching people walking out of the toilet saying: 'That guy just offered me coke,' and it''s never happened to me." Given how boring he comes across, that doesn't really surprise me. The last thing you'd want to be stuck with at a party is a coked-up Ronan Keating spouting on about hair products or some such nonsense. I actually get bored just writing about the guy and nodded off three times in the last two sentences...

While Ronan's on the subject Pete Doherty, the latter - who definitely has been offered Colombian marching powder on several occasions - told an interviewer last week that he hopes to rebuild his relationship with his father now that he has cleaned up his act, well, kind of. The troubled singer told an interviewer: "I'm mostly clean, I won't lie to you - it's still a struggle. My dad and I are estranged. In his mind, if I'm still using in any way then I'm not his son. But my mum still speaks to me secretly. I try and wrap myself up so none of it gets to me but really, of course, it gets to me. I love the man. It's breaking my heart that for him the be-all and end-all of out relationship is whether or not there's something despicable in my system. I'd love to just go to the football with him like we used to, or go for a drink and just be a son and him a father." Hopefully he gets his wish one day but I'm guessing that his mother won't thank him for ratting her out...

Roger Daltrey has blasted people who donate money to animal charities, as he thinks that human issues are far more important. Daltrey who organizes gigs each year for his own charity, Teenage Cancer Trust, railed: "It is a blot on our society when, if these teenagers had four legs and fur or feathers we would raise the money in a year. It's tragic and it makes me want to fight even harder." While I do see where he's coming from, I think it's up to people what causes they donate their hard-earned lolly to. After all, there are people out there who don't understand why someone worth millions can't give some more of their own cash to causes if they mean so much to them...

Rumors have begun swirling that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will appear on stage together next month at a charity gig in New York for the David Lynch Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting the power of meditation. The foundation is currently trying to raise funds in order to teach meditation to a million of the most needy kids in America. Yikes, I wouldn't have thought that meditation was too high on the list of needs for underprivileged kids. And Roger Daltrey thought that giving to animal charities was bad? I'm guessing that he won't be attending this shindig...

Singer Lulu has rebuked music industry bosses for encouraging female talent to sex up their acts and claims that women should be judged on their talent instead of their looks. A very good point but it would carry a bit more weight if it didn''t come from a woman who is an outspoken advocate of Botox, and is on the record as saying that she will definitely have plastic surgery to maintain her looks - if indeed she hasn't already...

Blur's upcoming reunion will definitely be the band's swansong, according to band member Dave Rowntree, who is anxious to refocus his efforts on a career in politics. The drummer, who recently completed a law degree, claims that he will return to his political life as soon as the band has met all their touring commitments this year and then turn his back on music permanently. Given the fact that he already ran unsuccessful campaigns for election to his local council in 2007 and 2008, I don't think he should be getting too far ahead of himself just yet...

Marianne Faithfull claims that she believes Keith Richards assisted her in the making of her new album, out of a sense of guilt at how she was treated by Mick Jagger, during their highly-publicized relationship during the late 60s. Perhaps he helped her for the hell of it because if Keith Richards was to go around helping out all the women Mick Jagger has used over the years then he wouldn't have time to play guitar in the Rolling Stones. Or do much of anything else to be honest...

Andy Burrows has quit as drummer for Razorlight, after failing to turn up at one the band's gigs last week. He later released a statement saying: "The past five years in Razorlight have been an amazing experience. I am very proud of everything that myself, Johnny, Carl, and Bjorn have achieved together, but for personal reasons I have decided to leave the band. I will be pursuing other musical ventures." Given singer Johnny Burrow's reputation as a total egoist, buffoon, I'm frankly amazed that he lasted five years and would be in favor of awarding him with some kind of medal...

Speaking of egoist buffoons, Jamiroquai singer, Jay Kay, was in the news last week after a man committed over $40,000 worth of damage to his Enzo Ferrari, by throwing stones at it. The obnoxious singer allegedly insulted 21-year-old culprit, along with half of the town of Adelburgh if witnesses are to be believed. The man was so enraged at Kay's arrogance that he left the pub and was later seen throwing stones at the car by several witnesses. It would have been cheaper and imminently more rewarding to punch Kay's lights out and if you'd like to see that happen, just type "Jay Kay" and "head butt" into Youtube