The rapper was up first - he performed his number one hit Pass Out and new single Written In The Stars. Kylie performed an acoustic version of All The Lovers and the night's biggest crowd-pleaser, her 1988 worldwide hit I Should Be So Lucky. Pub landlord Reuben Goddard commented, "The locals were shocked but we all had an evening we'll never forget. It's a bit out of the ordinary for round here."
Fine Tuning - X Factor producers have admitted using vocal enhancement processes on the ITV talent show. Fans had claimed after the opening show that 'autotuning' had been used to improve some contestants' voices. An X Factor spokesman said post-production work was necessary on the show due to the number of microphones used during filming. "The judges make their decisions at the auditions stage based on what they hear on the day, live in the arena," the spokesman added. "The footage and sound is then edited and dubbed into a finished programme, to deliver the most entertaining experience possible for viewers. When it gets to the live shows, it will be all live."
Celebrating Zappa - 19 September has been declared Frank Zappa Day in Baltimore. The date marks the anniversary of the 1985 testimony on Capitol Hill when Zappa took a stand for free speech at a Senate hearing instigated by the PMRC led by Tipper Gore, wife of Al Gore concerning censorship of music. The Mayor of Baltimore will officially declare 19 September Frank Zappa Day with a full weekend of celebrations and the renaming of a stretch of road as Frank Zappa Way. A free concert, headlined by Frank's son Dweezil Zappa will take place that Sunday afternoon.
Breakfast Theatre - An Edinburgh Festival venue is to beam five new short plays into cinemas across the UK in a first for Scottish theatre. The Traverse Theatre is to broadcast the shows from its season of breakfast theatre live into cinemas. Traverse artistic director Dominic Hill says, "This exciting project celebrates the fact that people are accessing theatre in new ways, and also de-mystifies the process of bringing a script to life. We are capturing the essence of what we do at the Traverse, and are delighted to bring the work of these five exceptional writers to a much wider audience through the live broadcast."
(Jim Evans)
