The charity said the project was part of its campaign to pressure world leaders to welcome more refugees during what it described as the most serious crisis since the Second World War. Oxfam GB chief executive Mark Goldring said the album would be made in memory of the Batley and Spen MP, a former Oxfam activist, who was killed in Birstall on 16 June as she left a constituency surgery.
Orlando Benefit - A benefit concert is being organised to raise money for the victims and survivors of the Orlando nightclub shooting. The Imagine Dragons and Nate Ruess will headline the All is One Orlando Unity Concert to benefit the OneOrlando Fund. The concert will take place on Wednesday at Hard Rock Live Orlando. The OneOrlando Fund was set up after the Pulse nightclub shooting earlier this month that left 49 people dead and 53 injured.
Viola Beach - Viola Beach's debut album is to be released next month on their own label, Fuller Beans Records. All four members of the band and their manager died after the car they were travelling in came off a road in Sweden and fell into a canal in February. The group's family members have released a statement saying they wanted their music to be heard.
"We are tremendously proud of everything the boys achieved in such a short space of time," it says. "Craig, Jack, Kris, River and Tom shared a huge passion, talent and dedication to music. We believe the best way to celebrate our sons' lives is to release an album of their songs. This is their legacy and we know deep in our hearts that the boys would want the world to listen to the music they poured everything into."
In The Courts - Lawyers for Led Zeppelin have asked a judge to throw out a case accusing the band of stealing the riff for Stairway to Heaven. Singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and Warner Music argue that the prosecution have failed to make their case after three days of testimony. US District Judge R Gary Klausner is expected hear arguments on the motion when the trial resumes today (Tuesday). The band are accused of basing Stairway on the 1968 Spirit song, Taurus. The case was brought Michael Skidmore, who runs the estate of Spirit's late guitarist, Randy Wolfe.
Salmon Jailed - Theatre producer Michael Salmon has been sentenced to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to four counts of fraud totalling nearly £65,000. The Cardiff-based co-director of Waking Exploits Theatre Company was jailed on 17 June for making fraudulent claims for grant aid from a number of bodies between May 2015 and February 2016. Cardiff Crown Court heard that he spent more than £9,000 on himself, mainly on trips to London.
The charges included falsifying bank accounts to show a bogus sum of £29,000 in support of a planned production of Kaite O'Reilly's Cosy, featuring disabled performers, at the Wales Millennium Centre, and defrauding Equinox Theatre Company of monies obtained from Arts Council of Wales for its proposed production of Nina Hamnett, Queen of Bohemia. Salmon was also found guilty of dishonestly obtaining £13,000 from Playwrights' Studio Wales and making false representation to Arts Admin Ltd.
(Jim Evans)
