... Musicians warned not to ignore royalty payments MUSICIANS may be missing out on massive royalty earnings because they are too wrapped up in their art to worry about business, according to accountants Touche Ross. One leading international recording artist was found to be as much as £500,000 down after the firm looked into record company contracts. Other royalty claims of between £20,000 and ...

... By HELEN GOULD FORGOTTEN West German-based families of British servicemen have sent out a desperate appeal for entertainment, after government defence cuts halted variety tours to their camps. The Ministry of Defence ordered a freeze on showbiz spending for UK troops in Germany, Cyprus and Gibraltar three years ago. Families left alone in German bases had to wait until last month for their ...

... The show goes on at Gorleston THE SAGA of the Gorleston Pavilion was resolved at a recent council meeting in Great Yarmouth. For some weeks a question mark has hung over the sea side theatre, which has been run suc cessfully for the past seven years by East Anglian impresario and Entertainer Carl Adams. The lease was up for grabs this year and it was suggested that the building was ideal for a ...

... Bosses win royalty rates rise fight BRITISH record bosses have won their two-year fight against a rise in royalty rates to songwriters, which had threatened to force major companies into spending cuts and smaller labels out of business. Royalty collection agency, the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society had demanded that British rates be boosted by more than one per cent to bring them in ...

... A Grand pay off A BUMPER year has enabled Blackpool Grand Theatre to pay £10,000 off a loan it received 11 years ago. Representatives of the Grand Theatre Trust presented the cash to Blackpool Mayor Jack Smith as part repayment of a £50,000 interest-free loan granted by the council in 1980. The theatre repaid £5,000 in 1984 and the council agreed in 1985 that the £45,000 balance should remain ...

... Centre pays Panto's price AN ARTS centre has finally agreed to pay for a pantomime 12 months after it was cancelled. Actor Joe Ging spent most of the summer of 1 990 writing the Jack and the Beanstalk panto planned for Hexham's Queen's Hall arts centre. He even turned down the chance of an Italian performance so he could continue to work on the script with Tyneside comedian, Billy Clark. But ...

... Derngate conjures up Panto Aid for orphans NORTHAMPTON'S Derngate this week sent out an urgent call for every theatre and pantomime company in Britain to join its Christmas appeal to raise money for emergency medical aid for Romanian orphans. Harrowing press reports of the continuing plight of youngsters, like two-year-old Catalina (pic tured above), a year after the Ceauscscu regime collapsed ...

... Chrysalis to convert church into studio MUSIC giant Chrysalis is plan ning to transform a Victorian Church in Hampstead into its new recording base and a live concert venue and theatre for the capital. The Grade II listed building at Lyndhurst Hall is to undergo a £10 million conversion into a multi-pur pose complex incorporating a record ing studios, all-purpose theatre, video and editing ...

... CARDIFF Rigoletto PUTTING firmly behind them their controversial 1985 production of Rigoleno-gimmicky even by contemporary standards-Welsh National Opera have come up with a spirited presentation that, while not totally trad, allows this tuneful tale of revenge its true melodramatic strength. Under the baton of Carlo Rizzi (who becomes the company's MD next year), Verdi's music swept along on ...

... Sixties boost for cancer appeal By NATASHA FIELDING AN ORGANISER of a Midland cancer appeal is staging a Sixties Dance Night to help raise much needed cash for research into secondary brain tumours. Management of The New Kings Cabaret Theatre in Birmingham have donated the auditorium and are fund ing the show on behalf of a cancer suf ferer, who is paying a personal thank you to her specialist ...

... Dakotas issue court warning to copycats VETERAN rockers from chart-topping sixties band The Dakotas have sent out a warning to anyone trying to pass themselves off as the originals: We'll meet you in court. Drummer, Tony Mansfield, was furious when he received a call from a fellow rock 'n' roller claiming that a trio in the West of England was adver tising under the same name. Mansfield, ...

... Clean up bid fails to save Hacienda By HELEN GOULD THE HACIENDA, the Manchester dance club at the centre of the city's music revolution, has given up the fight to clean up its image, becoming the third venue to close its doors in the face of a licensing crackdown by Greater Manchester Police. Ironically the announcement came barely four weeks after the venue was granted a six month reprieve ...