Music News Australia: 10/26/11

Wednesday, 26 October 2011

Stevie Wonder Media Frenzy Star City Lyric Theatre; Red Carpet Report, by Eva Rinaldi - 25th October 2011

We know you have heard of Star City Casino, recently rebranded as The Star, but wait for it... introducing you to The Lyric Theatre. It falls under parent company Echo Entertainment these days.

Stevie Wonder was the headline act tonight, as he performed to an intimate audience of 2000 patrons, paying between $225 to $455 to see the music legend close up.

Around the corner on the red carpet, news media waited for the celebs. The name listed included Jennifer Hawkins and Jake Wall, Kate Richie and Stuart Webb, Wendell Sailor and wife Tara, Ricki-Lee Coulter and boyfriend Richard Harrison. Does anyone know how much the celebs are getting paid to turn up to Star invites, or is it just a win - win, all done to generate positive media buzz?

Finally, after what seemed like hours for Russell Crowe and beautiful wife, Danielle Spencer did the red, fresh off dinner at the revamped casino aka integrated entertainment complex.

For the record, Stevie Wonder did not do the red carpet. Promoters across Australia, if not the world, are attempting to find out how much money Mr Wonder is making for his intimate appearances at The Star, and that's likely to be something that is kept well under wraps for a while yet.

The Star may be a bit of a media darling at the moment, but nothing lasts forever. The Star would do well to go out of their way to also impress news media who have been quite supportive of the Echo Entertainment owned complex, since they first announced it was going to get a massive makeover.

We've heard that the next trump card for more news headlines will be the official opening of The Darling, the 5 star boutique lifestyle hotel and spa.

Just how long it may take The Star to recoup its almost billion dollar casino revamp investment is unknown, but Echo Entertainment looks to be in this for the long haul, so good on them.

Websites

The Star

www.star.com.au

Echo Entertainment

www.echoentertainment.com.au

The Darling

www.thedarling.com.au

Eva Rinaldi Photography

www.evarinaldi.com

Eva Rinaldi Photography Flickr

www.flickr.com/evarinaldiphotography

Casino News Media

www.casinonewsmedia.com

Splash News

www.splashnews.com

Australia's Next Top Model; Montana Cox wins, by Eva Rinaldi - 25th October 2011

Australia's wait is finally over.

Australia's Next Top Model is the ultra talented and beautiful Montana Cox.

The sweet 18 model said she was both surprised and delighted when it was announced Cox was in fact the season 7 winner of the reality television series at the world famous Sydney Opera House.

"I did not think I would get this far", she told the press.

Cox was the fashion biz favourite throughout basically the whole competition and went on to also win the public vote via SMS.

"It was really good to have that support from the industry," she said.

"It gave me a lot of confidence."

The brunette bested runner-up, my favorite, Liz Braithwaite from Bris Vegas and third placed Simone Holtznagel from Wollongong.

Thank god the event was smooth sailing, with no repeat of last year's rather controversial close when Sarah Murdoch announced the wrong contestant as the winner. Even models who progress to high level media identities are not quite perfect.

Foxtel's Fox 8 will show series eight of Australia's Next Top Model in 2012.

It's understood that tonight's 1 hour broadcast did impressive ratings and most advertisers and sponsors were extremely happy with the end result.

What will Australia's teen girls talk about now? Don't worry, there will be something, and of course the New Zealand equal of Top Model is coming up soon too, just to make sure we all get our fix of thin (and healthy) models.