Tearjerker Moment # 2

Every now and then X-Factor, AGT or The Voice throw up an unforgettable moment. Here is one from the America's Got Talent featuring a young man named Jonathan Allen. Watch the whole thing and remember the name:

Spaced Out Charlie

He was a special guest at Ronan Keating's Emeralds and Ivy Irish ball last Friday night, attending with his daughter - brilliant neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo has an almost cult like following amongst scalpel wielders with many flying in from the USA and worldwide to learn his techniques.
Now Teo has a new research partner – the American space agency NASA.

Following a visit to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, Dr Teo hopes that an electronic nose developed by NASA scientists can be used to “smell” brain cancer cells. The technology, originally developed to identify gas leaks on space craft, is sensitive enough to pick up the difference between the smell of cancer cells and the smell of normal skin.
Now the plan is to put the electronic nose to work on the brain tumour bank established in Sydney by Dr Teo’s Cure for Life Foundation.

As Big as One Direction

The Collective above are set to become as big as One Direction according to X-Factor judge Ronan Keating who knows a thing or two about successful boy bands.

Nathaniel Willemse

The lads were at Sony's Wharf4Ward the kid's cancer charity fundraiser where every restaurant along the strip on the Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo donates their services and profits raising hundreds of thousands of dollars.It's also a day when the finalists from X-Factor get to strut their stuff for the audience

Luke Jacobz & Natalie

Every TV network and film company and most of Australia's top PR companies along with banks take tables.
Oddly missing from this year's lunch were judges Mel B, Ronan Keating and Guy Sebastian with all sorts of rumours about their absence. Judge Natalie Bassingthwaighte and compere Luke Jacobz  put in appearance. Below is a video of Justice Crew who performed during the day.

Nikki Phillips

Shiane Hawke & Bella Ferraro

Hot Chelle Rae

      

O What A Bar

Michael Moore & wife Angela

 left  Kerri Anne Kennerley & Jane Ferguson tweeted friends about the O Bar.

Top chef Michael Moore has launched his new venue, the O Bar & Restaurant on the 47th floor of Australia Square.

singer Ivor Davies partying with pals at O Bar

And what a sensational place this is with spectacular views over the Sydney skyline. Not only that, the outer circle of the O Bar revolves a full 360 degrees -ever so slowly-something that only dawned on the Shuttle after the second cocktail when we noticed the Sydney Tower had disappeared and was replaced by the Prudential building with the Harbour Bridge slowly coming into view!

Around 300 guests gathered on Wednesday night to celebrate Michael's new venture and the positive mood of the party indicates O Bar will be a major success. This landmark building already has super smooth elevators that get  you to the top very quickly but even they are being up-graded. As it was a warm Spring type evening the courtyard of the Square was packed so by Summer we predict hundreds will be taking those lifts upwards.

left : X Factor favourite Bella Hunter & top model Michelle Walsh

Some of the nibbles at the opening party were from the Michael's local seafood , seasonal produce and healthy menu : quinoa crusted crab and chickpea cakes with lemon yoghurt, buttermilk organic chicken with buckwheat crust and apricot mustard and kingfish pastrami with coriander, citrus and cumin. Yum.    Check out the food and drinks menu at the new O Bar website.

ShiBo & Joel Rock !

These two kids walked onto the stage last week at X-Factor and simply blew away the audience. It's time to re-visit these amazingly natural talents ahead of next weeks Factor: 14 year old Shiane Hawke from Darwin  and 15 year old Joel Goncalves from Brisbane who sang a Michael Jackson song with the most beautiful voice.

A Dickens Of a Time

TODAY MARKS THE 200TH year since writer Charles Dickens was born and celebrations are being held around the world including in Sydney.

The Centenniel Park Dickens statue

The NSW Dickens Society will be gathering at the base of the recently restored statue of Charles on the corner of Dickens Drive and Loch Avenue South, Centennial Park.

According to the society there will be speeches, readings from Dicken's books and 'entertainment pieces'.

Charles Dickens, born in Portsea in 1812 became a popular writer during his lifetime and sold many of his stories via instalments and serials, a sales method that he was basically the first to develop successfully.

Dickens early life was relatively peaceful in the country but when his family moved to Camden Town in 1822 his father's finances dramatically changerd their lives.  John Dickens lived beyond his means and was eventually imprisoned in the Marshalea Debtor's Prison in Southwick. Soon his entire family joined him there except for Charles who was sent to stay with a family friend. A series of strenuous jobs with long hours to pay for board gave Dickens plenty of inspiration for his books, most of which are a commentary on the harshness of British life at the time, but with kind hearted heroines and heroes to save the day. Dickens' books are a far more accurate account of life in England during the 19th century than many history book

Miriam Margoyles

At the Glen Street Theatre in Belrose Harry Potter star Miriam Margoyles is presenting  Dickens Women until Feb 13th.

Jeremy Hunt

Dickens two sons Alfred and Edward were encouraged by their father to emigrate to Austraia at the advent of free settlers and both prospered.

Edward married the daugher of a stock and station agent and managed the business and was elected to a seat in the State Legislative Council for 5 years. Alfred, successful businessman died during a trip to the USA.

When Dickens wrote his books they were so popular he was responibe for bringing to the notice of the great public some of the more shocking conditions others lived in and thus was the inspiration for change,

British Parliamentarian Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport is planning to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Dickens by giving every one of his Cabinet colleagues a copy of one of the great author's works. Each book - carefully chosen to encapsulate something about the recipient - will be presented at Cabinet today.

Let's hope they don't mistake them for government  policy discussion papers. Plenty of  Hunt's Tory partners on the right would gladly return to Dickensian times,
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  Australia's X-Factor winner 18 year old Reece Mastin has been touring non-stop since his win and has released a best selling album and a top i-tunes seller.


 Now he has become a gay pin-up after this picture of a topless Reece appeared on a gay music website.
It's spread all over the net.

A Christmas Tale

Alex Day

The Shuttle spent Christmas Day in the company of good friends at a lavish lunch, eating turkey and quaffing Bollinger ( as one should).

One guest at the table was a well known music industry lawyer who regaled us with tales of court room battles between artists and their record companies. He described his first job as a green barrister sent to London to handle a case against a hugely popular Australian band who were suing  EMI over the band's claim that the record giant had failed to promote their latest album which languished at the bottom of the charts.

In the course of his investigations for the record company, he was introduced in great secrecy to the 'hit-picker' employed by the company to assess whether the Aussie band's release would be a hit. The hit picker, an ageing musician who had seen better days had assessed, after several bottles of wine and many tokes on a hash pipe that the record was doomed to failure.

COLDPLAY

Overall the legal costs were in the millions of dollars. It would have been cheaper just to promote the album but anyone who has been unfortunate enough to deal with record companies  will know how an artist's fate can rest on the the late night worries of an executive fearful of making the wrong choice, picking a dud, losing his job and being stuck with a mortgage.

One young singer/songwriter Alex Day has just broken the mould and is currently at No 4 in the British music charts having sold 52,881 copies of his composition Forever Yours in the last week, pushing COLDPLAY into fifth place with just 50,000 sales.

Alex has no record deal. He promotes himself on YouTube.

Official Charts Company MD Martin Talbot has said that "Forever Yours is certainly one of the most successful self-released tracks we have ever seen, the Official Charts are based on sales, and sales alone, so Alex’s achievements this week are a genuine reflection of the passion of his army of fans, and of course, the power of social media."

Contrast Alex Day's success with the hullabaloo over shows like X-Factor with their millions of viewers around the world and rewards heaped upon the winners by the music giant Sony.

Local X-Factor winner Recce Mastin sold 70,000 copies of Good Night while Australia's Got Talent winner Jack Vidgen sold a similar amount. Both had the entire Sony network behind them plus a reputed million dollar budget and nightly TV adverts promoting them.

Alex Day did have help from a hit maker from way back-Jonathan King who describes here how he and Alex beavered away to beat the music industry at it's own game.

Forever Yours:

Reece Mastin's Victory

When the Shuttle encountered X-Factor contestant Reece Mastin 5 weeks ago at Sony's Wharf4Ward charity fundraiser at the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo we asked him if he was going to win. "No" was the answer.

Britain's biggest selling tabloid agrees with the Shuttle

But just as with young Jack Vidgen who won Australia's Got Talent, we already knew what Reece did not, and what a handful within a tight circle did. Sony Music was so convinced that the ex-Scunthorpe lad would pick up the gong, plans were already in place to set Reece's career into high gear the day after the contest ended.

And so it came to pass. Sony are banking on the 17 year old (his birthday is today) to become a major world-wide rock star and they are pulling out all the stops. As of today, his first release Good Night is the number one itunes download. His album will be released on Dec 9th. Listen below to Good Night:

Subo, Anna Wintour and More

Susan Boyle is in Sydney for an exclusive appearance on X Factor.  
Sony boss Denis Handlin took her on that all important harbour cruise yesterday to meet Susan's local family members and fans. What a sweet lady.
It's difficult to reconcile that the down-to-earth Subo is one of the major recording stars of the last ten years.

Meanwhile Vogue editors from around the world were summonsed to Tokyo by 'she who must be obeyed'- Anna Wintour for Japan's Fashion Night Out last Friday night and they complied.
Wintour reckons Japan is a major player in the fashion world and who are we to argue ?. Also in attendance Jonathon Newhouse  the chairman of Conde Naste International , publishers of Vogue.

Here's a snap of the 18 Vogue editors from all over the globe. Our own Kirstie Clements is second from the left.

Vogue Editors (left to right): Yolanda Sacristan, Spain (seated), Kirstie Clements Australia (middle), Anaita Adajania - India (back), Christiane Arp, Germany (seated), Angelica Cheung, China (standing), Franca Sozzani, Italy (seated), Mitsuko Watanabe - Japan (standing), Anna Wintour, America (seated), Emmanuelle Alt - France (reclining), Alexandra Shulman - Britain (seated), Victoria Davydova, Russia (standing), Anna Harvey, representing Brazil and Greece (seated), Seda Domanic - Turkey (seated), Myung Hee Lee - Korea (seated), Rosalie Huang -Taiwan (standing), Eva Hughes, Mexico and Latin America (standing), Paula Mateus - Portugal (seated)

X Factor Update

Seeing 16 year old Reece Mastin, the X Factor finalist from Adelaide (via Scunthorpe in the UK) in the flesh, it's difficult to imagine what an amazing talent he is. His performance last night, singing while accompanied by a solo violinist again demonstrated that a major star is about to be launched upon the world:

Reece is pictured here in our exclusive snap from last Thursday's Sony's Wharf4Ward charity event with fellow contestants Johnny Ruffo and Declan Sykes, 2 other terrific performers. Here is his performance from Monday night :

Australia's Got Talent winner Jack Vidgen has been telling his Facebook friends :
"My album 'Yes i Am' is now available on the American Itunes for all u guys in the US. The reaction from Brazil which I was so surprised about has been massive as well so it will be released in Brazil very soon.
A couple more days till I leave to LA. Am getting excited. I'm gonna look like such a tourist when I go site seeing hahaha".
Jack will be appearing at Ceasar's Palace in Las Vegas . He's only 14 years old!

Jack Goes Gold

POCKET Rocket Jack Vidgen has just wowed 15 million viewers on America's Got Talent and as a result will be appearing in the Las Vegas shows for the US TV series later this year.

And his first CD  has just gone gold selling over 35000 copies. Last night he sang up a storm on X Factor as you can see in this power packed performance in the video below.

The X Factor Winner

It's a toss-up !. We do the hard yards so you don't have to. Just as we picked young Jack Vidgen after the first few bars on Australia's Got Talent.

# 16 year old Reece Mastin. A natural rock star. "Fan- bloody- tastic" as Mel B said.. He makes it look so easy.

# And did anyone imagine 19 year old Zaacharia Fielding from "the desert"-an Aboriginal community of 350 (with his Mel B tribute hair) would come out with the most beautiful, natural and accomplished voice ?. Such control .

# Admit it-you too had tears in your eyes when Iraqi orphan Emmanuel Kelly sang. You weren't alone.
Watch these three sensational performances from the current X Factor and you will have to agree.