NEWCASTLE singer-songwriter Alex Riordan has been kicking serious goals while studying at Boston's Berklee College of Music. Besides a host of straight As, Riordan finished second in Berklee's Songs for Social Change competition, which featured 90 entries from students from around the world.
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Riordan's song Listen and Love was an emotional piano ballad written in response to how the #MeToo movement has been turned into a competition in some quarters.
"It is about trying to change our conversations about pain in society to something where people feel seen and supported, rather than feeling like they're in a competition or like they are invalidated," Riordan says. "I was coming from my own experience of a strong woman who has been sexually assaulted."
Berklee is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Riordan, a former Hunter School of Performing Arts student, was due to graduate this year but because of COVID-19 her final subjects were deferred.
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CASTING SPELLS
THE coronavirus pandemic has wrecked havoc on entertainment, but the organisers of a Harry Potter show remain hopeful a touch of magic will bring the production to Newcastle this spring. An Evening of Magic & Wizards is a three-hour experience of all things Harry Potter, including a Q&A session with James and Oliver Phelps, who played the Weasley Twins Fred and George. The show is scheduled for Wests NEX on October 16.
STAY TUNED
WE'RE hearing one of Newcastle's premier music venues is getting close to reopening. Expect an announcement next week.