Harvey Goldsmith Blog
BA and Terminal 5.
25.Jun.2009 17:12
This morning i was at Terminal 5 to go on a BA flight to Nice..... what a cock up!!!
They lost a piece of luggage that we were not allowed to put on the plane as hand luggage as it was 1/2 inch of required size, so we had to check it in.
When we arrived in Nice there was no luggage!!! It turns out it was still in London along with 10 other passengers!!!
British Airways service and custome carre is just getting worse and as for Terminal 5, what a joke!
Harvey
Blackberry Hot Tip 4-App World.
01.Jun.2009 15:32
BlackBerry App World can be downloaded here by pointing your BlackBerry browser at http://appworld.blackberry.com (currently UK, US and Canada only – more territories coming soon!).
Some of the better music apps are US only: slacker is amazing (slacker.com)! Let’s you cache stations to your SD card so you can take new music with you. It is Free ad supported with a premium service with no ads and unlimited skips (free one allows for 6 skips an hour). Slacker learns what you do and don’t like based on heart/ban buttons and whether you skip a track. It then can recommend new music as you give it more feedback.
Pandora, Nobex Radio Companion and iheartradio are all very good music apps. Pandora is similar to their online music recommendation engine. Clear Channel produced the iheartradio application and it let’s you listen to 100s of their terrestrial radio stations on your BlackBerry. Nobex is particularly cool as it shows you the last 10 songs that played on any terrestrial radio station in North America (~3000 stations!). You can also listen live to about 1000 of them and click and buy the song that is playing. They also have lyrics for many of the songs too (slacker does as well). Watch for some of these apps to come to the UK soon. There is also an excellent music purchase and discovery application from 7Digital launching in the UK soon.
Gwabbit is a soon to be released app that is a simple concept but so useful. It just runs in the background and whenever you open an email that has a person’s signature in it the app pops up and asks if you’d like to add them to your contacts (or update an existing contact if they’re in there already). Brilliant!
Viigo is a phenomenal and customizable on-the-go news reader. Highly recommended.
Goal.com is the app for tracking the footie
Guitar Hero is fun for the wannabe Clapton/Beck/Pagey’s out there
Urban Tours is a restaurant recommendation tool (UK only) that gives celebrity resto recos. A nice compliment might be the Livestrong Calorie Counter (from Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong foundation).
You should check out App World and see what tickles your fancy.
22nd May '09.
22.May.2009 17:54
Have been very busy over the last few weeks and naughty in not doing my blog!
Jeff had the best time in Los Angeles, particularly when Rod Stewart, Joss Stone and John Mayer joined him on stage. In case you are not aware we have added a show in Glasgow on the 28th June at the Royal Concert Hall.
We are working on Jeff Beck’s European Tour at the moment and he is starting working on a new album which will be out next year.
Andrea Bocelli’s shows are selling extremely well so if you haven’t got a ticket, get to the box office before it is too late.
Our Festival at the Tower of London in September is taking shape. We have one more night to announce which will be at the end of next week to complete our line up. We hope to establish this as an annual event and I am very pleased with the way it is shaping up.
Dame Edna is currently organising brand new frocks for upcoming ‘Last Night of the Poms’ Tour. If you want to have a good laugh after all the crap we have been living with in the financial world then this show is a must. See Shows & Events for further details.
Times are very difficult and one thing as you all know which constantly bugs me is how you buy a ticket and the price you pay for it.
In the US on Jeff Beck’s Tour we used paperless tickets and I can not tell you how many people remarked to the local security that even though it was more complicated, they were thankful that someone had made the effort to stop scalpers and the secondary market. Half the time I think it is the representatives of the Artists are just as much to blame as they keep pushing for more and more although not in a transparent way. I guess this is no different from the current disgraceful situation with the MP’s in our Parliament.
If there is anything to be learnt from the financial mess it is for greed and under the table deals to stop. If you want to rip someone off then be brave enough to stand up and do so and at least everyone can see where you are coming from.
The British Music Experience at The O2 continues to get rave reviews. People are amazed at the smartcard technology incorporated into your ticket and how it works when you get home. Go see for yourself and let me have your comments.
Harvey
P.S new blackberry tip to follow
Blackberry Hot Tip 3-Auto Text.
21.Apr.2009 16:32
I think the number one time-saver for me when using my BlackBerry is the amazing usefulness of AutoText.
Let’s say you often want to send people the link to my blog. This means typing out the cumbersome (and tiresome) http://www.harveygoldsmith.com/harvey-blogs.php. And, if you’re like me, you’ll probably miss a couple of letters and make some creative typos and type something that looks more like http://ww.hairygoldfish.con/harvey-bog.pp. Whilst hilarity will ensue it will be fairly useless to the recipient.
With AutoText you simply set up AutoText short codes. So for the example above create a new email on your BlackBerry. Click the BB key to the left of the trackball. Scroll down to Edit AutoText. The AutoText screen appears. Click the BB key again and select “new”. Where it says “Replace:” type hgblog. Below that where it says “With:” (carefully!) type http://www.harveygoldsmith.com/harvey-blogs.php as this is the last time you’ll ever have to type that mess out again. Use the escape key (right of trackball) and select “Save”. This will return you to the blank email. Type hgblog [space] et voila!
Now…some words of caution:
1) I strongly recommend that you create a note in MemoPad on your BlackBerry and track all your AutoTexts by writing the short code followed by a description of what it does. (i.e., hgblog – link to my blog). A real advantage to this too is that not only will you want to refer to it frequently it will also automatically update/backup itself on Outlook for you. If you change devices, your short codes should transfer to your new device and just work; however, if (God forbid) you lost your BB you’d be able to easily recreate your Autotexts. Trust me, these are addictive and you’ll wonder how you ever survived without them.
2) Do not use a real word for your AutoText. If you had just used “blog” for the above example every time you type “blog” on your BlackBerry it will insert your blog’s URL. That said, one click back on your “del” key when typing an AutoText will return you to the original word. You can then carry on typing and AutoText will not insert the “replace with” statement (i.e., in this case your URL). Try it in a blank email with hgblog that you just created and you’ll see what I mean.
17th April '09.
17.Apr.2009 17:52
I am still on the road with Jeff Beck and loving every minute of it even though it is exhausting. Sleeping on the tour bus however seemed to be much easier when I was younger. Not sure I want to come back to the office.......
Jeff is receiving amazing reviews for all his shows and is thoroughly enjoying his US tour. We have our last show in Chicago tonight and then we play Milwaukee on Saturday.
Jeff''s Live at Ronnie Scott's DVD is number 1 in the US music DVD chart.
Nigel Kennedy and the Philharmonia Orchestra are performing the Opening Gala Night for the Continental Tower Festival on the 10th September. Don't forget to get your tickets........ Nigel Kennedy and the Philharmonia Orchestra will be performing the Opening Gala Night at the Tower Festival. Nigel will perform the whole programme which will range from Back to Duke Ellington. Go to www.towerfestival.com for more information.
Harvey
2nd April ‘09.
03.Apr.2009 13:12
I am off to Cleveland today with Jeff Beck. On Saturday 4th April Jeff is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Jimmy Page, alongside Metallica, Run-D.M.C, Bobby Womack, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Wanda Jackson, Bill Black, DJ Fontana and Spooner Oldham.
Jeff will then commence a 14 day tour of the USA. I have not been on the road like this for about 20 years so it should be great fun. Needless to say I am looking forward to it.
Jeff Beck ‘Live at Ronnie Scott’s’ DVD has entered the charts at number 2, and is rocking!!! Please check out Jeff’s new website www.jeffbeck.com which is being launched over the weekend.
Life in London is pretty hectic. We have been having a spring clean in the office. Serena looks great with her broom and rubber gloves!
Last week we went on sale with 4 shows for the amazing Andrea Bocelli and tickets have been selling really well. The 4 shows are:
24th September London, O2 Arena
27th September Birmingham, NIA
6th November Liverpool, Echo Arena
8th November Glasgow, SECC
Tomorrow we will be announcing that Nigel Kennedy and the Philharmonia Orchestra will be performing the Opening Gala Night at the Tower Festival. Nigel will perform the whole programme which will range from Back to Duke Ellington. Please go to www.towerfestival.com for more information.
Don’t forget to buy your tickets for ‘Last Night of the Poms’. Visit Shows and Events on my website for more information.
The British Music Experience at the O2 is now alive and kicking! If you want to know anything about Rock n Roll history and have the chance to play an instrument with a fast lesson come and visit, the BME.
2 weeks ago we did our first show there that was fantastic. We will be doing some interesting combinations of artists in a very exclusive way, so watch out for news! The BME is the only experience of its kind where your ticket is a passport which you can use afterwards when you get home and log onto the website. Everything you did at the BME is registered and you can play back and watch yourself by simply logging on to www.britishmusicexperience.com.
So ‘Come on feel the noise’!
Harvey
10th March ‘09.
10.Mar.2009 13:27
I have recently returned from Japan from spending a week on the road with Jeff Beck and his fantastic band. The highlight of the week were 2 concerts at the Saitama Super Arena were Jeff performed 2 shows with Eric Clapton and his band. Jeff and his band played a set, then Eric and his band played a set which was then followed by a final 30 minute set with Jeff playing with Eric and his band which was high Energy, incredible guitar playing and a lot of fun.
Both Artists came off stage having thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Even better the audience loved it so much they would not leave.
Back in London I spent the whole of last week doing press and showing people around the fantastic British Music Experience. Housed in the exhibition Bubble at the O2 Arena in London, this is something I am very proud of. The incredible team of Curators, Designers and AEG Management have created this interactive exhibition that will be enjoyed by fans, students and families alike. Please got to www.britishmusicexperience.com and go and see it for yourself.
This Friday we are hosting our first mini concert in the main hall of the BME, featuring Jamie Cullum with guest Jeff Beck. This is not open to the public but hopefully future concerts will have to tickets available. We have started our Masterclass programme and thanks goes to those Artists who have assisted with our opening week.
I would be very interested to read your comments after you have been to the BME.
The Tower Festival is now on sale and we will have a hot link to the Festival website very shortly.
This weekend is the ILMC and conference for the live music business. I imagine the hot point for debate will be the Livenation/Ticketmaster proposed deal.
Harvey
Last Night of the Poms-with Dame Edna & Sir Les.
11.Feb.2009 11:38
You would have seen the news on Barry Humphries and Last Night of the Poms.
I am really looking forward to this tour. Allan McKeown and I originally co-produced this show as one off at The Royal Albert Hall, immediately after Last Night of the Proms (a major event in the UK) in 1981. The show was an incredible success.
I met up with Barry Humphries recently and we were talking about what fun the original show was. Barry and I decided to revive this project as a tour.
For those that don’t know, the Last Night of the Proms is the end of 70 odd Promenade concerts that take place every Summer at the Royal Albert Hall. They are serious in nature and reflect the complete cross section of classical music. Whereas The Last Night of the Poms is a spoof on The Proms and is a show where ‘you will split your sides laughing’ from beginning to end.
Sir Les Patterson and Dame Edna’s version of this however is quite different. Sir Les will be narrating Peter and the Shark, his version of the well known Peter and the Wolf. Dame Edna will be performing The Song of Australia, a specially written piece by Carl Davis our conductor as a finale to an evening of Dame Edna favourites.
All of this accompanied by an 80 piece orchestra and roughly 100 piece choir.
In addition of course, will be the audiences ritual bathing of Gladioli!
This show is going to be one of the funniest tours of the year. Currently Dame Edna is performing to sell out audiences across America so will be well warmed up for this tour.
In addition to the UK, both Dame Edna and Sir Les have agreed to perform in Dublin for the first time.
You will note that we are playing in many of the arenas across the UK. This is so that we can have a stage big enough for the show. However please note that all of the arenas are in THEATRE MODE with a much smaller number of seats. Dame Edna has insisted that she must be able to reach the last row with a Gladi!
See ticketing and book now!
Look at my new gripe out today………….
Harvey
HOT TIP 2 FOR BLACKBERRY USERS.
04.Feb.2009 16:39
Special Characters
Did you know that there’s an entire plethora of handy little special characters lurking beneath every key on you BlackBerry? What could be more apropos to the music industry than clicking and holding the “c” key whilst spinning the trackball left or right until you find the copyright circle C logo? Beneath the “t” is the always useful TM trademark logo. There are also all sorts of various foreign language characters as well that will make it look like-a you speak-a the language.
Harvey
HOT TIP 1 FOR BLACKBERRY USERS.
30.Jan.2009 14:55
I as with most people in our crazy business am an avid Blackberry person. However like most of us I am not a techno head. Whilst at Midem I bumped into my 2 new best friends from Blackberry, Pete and Eric. They were clearly flavour of the month because everyone wanted to talk to them. In my conversations I explained that when things go wrong with machines like Blackberry and you go to either the manual or the website to try an d fix them, unless you have a degree in cryptic techno language, the simple fix becomes a walking nightmare. For example, I have the new Bold which I quite like, but it eats my battery. I mentioned this to my new best friends and said what I would like to do is have hot tips for Blackberry users on my blog.
Tip number 1 for lay Blackberry user:
When travelling, if you find that your battery is draining very quickly:
Go to manage connections
Open it
Switch off your wi-fi
Switch off your Bluetooth
If you don’t need to use 3G click mobile network options and switch to 2G
Guess what, when I did this my battery lasted for 2 days instead of what was about 8 hours! Now I know that this is something you probably now and understand but for someone like me who is always in a rush who doesn’t have time to think I need to be told the obvious rather than discover it.
I hope this will be the first of a series of hot tips for the lay person and that Pete and Eric continue to feed me with information that I can than pass on to fellow users in a language that they understand.
