Latest news with #Woodstock
Perth Now
8 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Billy Joel: I didn't enjoy Woodstock
Billy Joel "didn't enjoy" Woodstock. The 76-year-old star attended the legendary music festival in 1969, but he didn't actually have much fun at all. He told People: "I didn't enjoy it, to tell you the truth. "I wanted to see [Jimi] Hendrix. I wanted to see The Who, and I missed them. I just saw the first day. And it was so muddy and rainy and messy and no place to use the bathroom, and everybody was drugged out. I wasn't doing drugs or anything back then." Despite this, Billy can understand why so many people remember the festival so fondly. The singer also appreciates the "communal aspect" of the festival. He said: "I got that. And same thing with what I loved about the Beatles. I loved the Beatles, but I recognised, as I grew, it wasn't just about the Beatles. It was about us. "I had a lot in common with my fellow boomers who were listening to the Beatles. 'This is great. Everybody's on the same page. We're all growing up and listening to this stuff.' I really appreciate that about my own generation." Billy is the focus of a new HBO documentary series called Billy Joel: And So It Goes, but the veteran star recently admitted that he was hesitant about committing to the project. He told People: "I've resisted this kind of thing for so long. I'm sick of talking about myself. Some of the stupid stuff I did, that's painful to talk about. (But) they asked me for some thematic guidance. I said, 'Just tell the truth.'" The chart-topping star initially just wanted to get the documentary - which features contributions from his family and friends - "over with" because he doesn't enjoy talking about himself. The Uptown Girl hitmaker - who is one of the best-selling artists of all time - said: "My goal was to get it over with. "When I do interviews, people just ask you about yourself and you get a little self-conscious about it eventually. It's almost embarrassing. "When you're talking about your personal life detached from the material ... I suppose there's a little bit of wariness involved."
NZ Herald
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Phil Gifford: When Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath lit up a farm in Ngaruawahia
Black Sabbath (L-R) Bill Ward, Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi and Ozzy Osbourne pose for a portrait on May 31, 1970 in London, England. Photo / Getty Images 'I hope we didn't freak you out,' yelled Ozzy. 'This one should help you. It's called PARANOID!' The Ngāruawāhia festival came three years after the film documentary on Woodstock was screened here. Woodstock was a turning point in first world youth culture, radically departing from older generations' attitudes to everything from drugs to nudity. I'd been despatched to Ngāruawāhia as a reporter by the newspaper in Auckland where I was writing about everything from music to sport to shipwrecks. It was quickly clear the massive influence Woodstock had on many of the music fans who headed to our first home-grown festival. After a restless night trying to sleep in a small tent, I was puzzled by what the material was in the bikini the topless woman from the tent next door was wearing. Then I realised she wasn't wearing anything. Tribute to Black Sabbath front man and legend of heavy metal music, Ozzy Osbourne, by NZ Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson. Nudity, a la Woodstock was commonplace over the next three days. The opening act, Kiwi singer Corben Simpson, sang a couple of songs and then announced it was 'too hot'. He stripped naked to finish his set. Five months later he was in court where he was fined for 'wilfully and obscenely exposing his person'. Musically, Ngāruawāhia offered a stage to an amazing range of future giants in New Zealand music. The festival's co-promoter Barry Coburn was the manager of a gifted Auckland group calling themselves Split Ends. Sadly it was the wrong place and the wrong time for a band, which was then featuring flute and violin solos. At best the audience reception could be described as cool. Ozzy Osbourne (left) and American musician Randy Rhoads (1956-1982), on electric guitar, as they perform during the Blizzard of Oz tour, at Nassau Coliseum in 1981. Photo / Getty Images The future Split Enz weren't the only ones battling, at the very start of their careers, to win the crowd over. Dragon, with just one Hunter brother, Todd, played to a muted reception. On the other hand, there was an ecstatic reaction to the co-headline act, the British folk band Fairport Convention. Very much the yin to Black Sabbath's prototype heavy metal yang, the Fairports had the moshpit dancing to old Scottish and Irish reels and jigs. But there was no question that the big-name act was Sabbath. To get them to New Zealand required a trip to Britain for tyro promoter Coburn. In 2011, he wrote in the Herald how he had flown to Europe and saw Sabbath's manager Don Arden, at Arden's home in London. Coburn was greeted at the door of the luxury house in Wimbledon by Arden's daughter, the then-teenaged Sharon. (Who would have guessed that Sharon would later marry Ozzy and become known throughout the world with the stunning success of the reality TV show The Osbournes?) Coburn was just 22, so dealing with Arden, described by the Guardian when he died in 2007, as the 'Al Capone of British music' took some backbone. In the mid 1970s in Auckland I found myself sitting next to Arden and his Irish wife Hope at a dinner hosted for the visitors by a local record company executive. Hope, a former dancer, was a delight, rolling out anecdotes about film star Cary Grant, their next door neighbour when they were in Los Angeles. Don was exactly what I had expected, revelling in stories that basically painted him as a semi-gangster. When he heard that rock and roll pioneer Chuck Berry had recently been in Auckland, he took special delight in recounting details of a show he had co-promoted in the 1960s in Germany with a former SS officer. Berry was refusing to go on stage until he had been paid. 'The German pulled out this big Luger pistol and pointed it at Berry's head. There were no more arguments.' The night made it very clear that any charm Sharon Osbourne has comes from her mother.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Oxfordshire farm pioneers mushrooms grown from coffee grounds
What are thought to be the first gourmet mushrooms grown from coffee grounds have been Mane and King Oyster blue-grey, golden, and pink mushrooms have been grown on a surface created from sawdust and recycled coffee grounds from the 440,000 cups of coffee sold every year at Blenheim Palace in Woodstock, running at full capacity, the farm based in Combe, will be selling 100kg of its produce through local farmers' markets and non-profit group 15kg will be sent each week to the palace kitchens. The farm consists of three units for preparation of the substrate and inoculation with mushroom spawn, incubation and harvested, the spent substrate from the mushroom growing is converted to a a charcoal-like compost in the palace's walled garden. The compost is used to grow produce and the cycle begins again. The farm is the latest stage in the Country Estate Carbon Demonstrator Project, Blenheim's collaboration with bioeconomy company Tumblebug. The project unlocks the value of Blenheim's organic waste, such as food, coffee and sheep Cox, managing director for estates at Blenheim Palace, said it was "incredible" to see mushrooms grown using its own organic waste."The mushroom harvest is the final piece of the puzzle, which completes this self-sustaining circular ecosystem," he received a five-star food safety hygiene rating from West Oxfordshire District Council. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X, or Instagram.
CBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Modular manufacturing ramps up production in N.B. to meet housing demand
Henrique Manreza knew he would love small-town life in Woodstock when he moved to New Brunswick three years ago from San Paulo, a Brazilian city of 12 million. An outdoorsy person, he loves to hike and kayak, and he's even learning to fish. "In San Paulo, if you want to go into nature, you need to travel two hours or something like that. Here, in 15 minutes I'm in the middle of the woods or in the middle of a huge river. It is just an awesome place." Manreza also knew he wanted to work in construction, specifically the modular construction industry with Woodstock-based Ironwood Manufactured Homes, where he would work indoors all the time. "I'm from Brazil, so winter [here] can be hard on us," he said. "And then here you can work the entire year inside. Of course you feel the cold, but it's not the same as working outside." WATCH | 'With us it's always on time, on budget,' says modular housing developer: Home shopping? Your new place to live could come from a factory 4 minutes ago The ability to work indoors is one of the strengths of an industry that has become a focal point for provincial and federal governments trying to meet demands for new housing nationwide. Workers like ducking the cold weather outdoors, and companies say it considerably shortens the time frame for the construction of new houses and apartment buildings. Manreza is part of a pipeline of trades students from New Brunswick Community College in Woodstock. Many want to work in modular construction, and one of the main reasons is to avoid the inclement weather in the outdoor construction industry. Ironwood owner Mark Gaddas likes the mix of employees — young and older, newcomers and people born and raised here. "We have a pretty diverse workforce," Gaddas said. "We've got a really good working relationship with NBCC. Most of our employees have come through one of their programs. We certainly work with the Atlantic immigration program too. We are going to have to look towards immigrants as our workforce needs increase." Companies like Ironwood need the infusion of new people as modular construction becomes a key driver in a housing sector that's trying to keep pace with a growing population in New Brunswick and across the country. To keep pace itself, Ironwood is building a new 100,000-square-foot factory to replace the 10,000-square-foot one. The current plant produces a house every one to two weeks, and has turned down opportunities to do projects such as multi-unit apartment buildings because it would tie up their operations for weeks, and they'd have to turn away house builds that are the staple of the business. "We've got 33 guys on the floor right now, and they go non-stop," Gaddas said. Brandon Searle, the director of innovation and operations of the Off-site Construction Research Centre at the University of New Brunswick, says speed is a key feature of modular construction, which is especially important given Prime Minister Mark Carney's commitment to doubling the amount of new homes constructed per year to 500,000. "I don't think the country's ever built much more than 250,000," Searle said. "If you want to really produce that, we have to rethink how we do things." The UNB centre works with industry partners on innovative pre-fabricated solutions in panellized, precast concrete, mass timber, modular construction, and has produced a simulation for the production design and flow in the new Ironwood facility. Carney has said that modular and other forms of pre-fabricated construction will be critical to doubling the amount of new housing. The New Brunswick government has said the same. David Hickey, the minister responsible for the New Brunswick Housing Corp., said they're counting on companies to ramp up production, as Ironwood will do when the new plan opens in the fall. The provincial and federal governments have put 2.5 million into helping the company expand its workforce and build a plant that can produce multi-unit buildings and more single-family homes in the $200,000 to $300,000 range. "We need to be doing a better job of making sure we're investing in [modular construction], seeing the economic development opportunity … but also as a solution to the supply crisis that we're in in housing and really solving that question around how we fill the 'missing middle,'" Hickey said. Gaddas said the main attractions for modular-home buyers are speed and price predictability. His team can construct a single-family home in the shop, deliver the large Lego-like pieces by truck to the site, and assemble it all within four to six weeks. A traditional on-site build is four to six months, he said. The price is also locked in once the estimate is done, because there are no cost overruns that come from dealing with weather and co-ordination of tradespeople with on-site construction. "With us it's always on time, on budget," he said. Ironwood currently employs 54 people, with 33 on the shop floor. Gaddas said the new plant will have up to 85, with as many as 65 on the shop floor, ramping up production and opening up new opportunities for the company. "We're essentially recognized as a custom-home builder for single-family homes," he said. "Our new facility will open up additional markets such as the multi-residential, and the hospitality industry, so a lot of your hotel chains now are looking at modular builds. University dormitories can be built using modular technology."
CBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Home shopping? Your new place to live could come from a factory
A need for faster construction of quality homes and apartments to address the nationwide housing shortage has companies like Woodstock's Ironwood Manufactured Homes ramping up production.
