Interviews & special items
David LaChapelle – The Beatification (segment)
Following its controversial run at the National Portrait Gallery in London and the Grand Palais in Paris Michael Jackson: OnThe Wall has continued to court publicity during its current run at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn. No publicity is bad publicity? It certainly won’t do the attendance figures any harm that Dan Reed’s ‘Leaving Neverland’ film has put Jackson back in the spotlight.
Does the world need another book on the rise and fall of The Rocker? Thirty one years after Lynott’s drug-induced death, Graeme Thomson’s book on Philip Lynott ‘Cowboy Song’ seems to step back a little further than previous efforts and is a worthwhile, if sad, analysis of the rise and fall of a Rock legend.
In 2010 Bonn’s local newspaper ‘Express’ asked its readers to vote for their favourite Bonn Musician. No surprise in first place – Beethoven. Robert Schumann also scored highly of course. In a very respectable 8th place though, ahead even of Schumann’s wife Clara, came local Pop coverband Sunny Skies.
Ahead of their 40th Anniversary Harmonie concert on 21 April, 3SONGSBONN asked founder member of the band Rope Schmitz how Sunny Skies came into existence, and how he explained their continued popularity.
‘blues powerhouse meets hillbilly boogie’. You certainly can’t forget the description of her music, or her name for that matter: Cherry Lee Mewis. Walter Trout, Robin Trower and former Whitesnake guitarist Bernie Marsden have all shared stages with the girl who’s base is in Bedford but heart is in Memphis. This month saw the release of Cherry’s excellent third CD, ‘Heard it here First’ which impressed 3Songs so much that we wanted to know more – so we asked, and Cherry kindly took the time to answer…
Jug-bands, trumpets and dinner with Billy Gibbons. Not things I expected to crop up when I assembled my notes for the continuation of my interview with Jimmy Bowskill. Whilst a lot has changed since Museumsplatz 2010 though, one thing hasn’t – Jimmy is still a thoroughly nice bloke with a huge musical future ahead of him.
A hot tip for concert goers this year is the Dr Feelgood/Jimmy Bowskill show at the Harmonie on 5 February. As a taster, here is an interview I did with Jimmy Bowskill after his show at the Museumsplatz in 2010 supporting Joe Bonamassa and Jeff Beck.
New girl Victoria Smith (centre)
Victoria Smith is from Leicestershire and she plays bass guitar. 3SongsBonn thought that wasn’t much information about the new girl on the upcoming Blues Caravan ‘More Girls With Guitars’ Tour though, so we asked her about herself.
