Danko Jones Reveals Below The Belt Track List

Danko Jones have firmed up the tracks that will appear on Below The Belt, the band's seventh studio album due out the week of May 10 to 14. The follow-up to 2008's Never Too Loud was produced by Matt DeMatteo, who handled 2003's We Sweat Blood and 2006's Sleep Is The Enemy. Danko Jones the man has described Below The Belt as the band's "best album yet." Danko Jones will head out on a North American tour with Clutch this spring before releasing Below The Belt, and you can see Jones, drummer Dan Cornelius and bassist John Calabrese here: March 18-20 Austin, TX @ Texas Rockfest March 26 Los Angeles, CA @ Viper Room March 30 Portland, ME @ The Asylum w/ Clutch March 31 South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground w/ Clutch April 2 Traverse City, MI @ Ground Zero w/ Clutch April 3 Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall w/ Clutch April 5 Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall w/ Clutch April 6-7 Flint, MI @ The Machine Shop w/ Clutch April 9 DeKalb, IL @ Otto's Nightclub w/ Clutch April 10 Madison, WI @ The Majestic Theatre w/ Clutch April 11 Des Moines, IA @ People's Court w/ Clutch April 13 Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep w/ Clutch April 14 Fort Collins, CO @ Aggie Theatre w/ Clutch April 16 Lincoln, NE @ Box Awesome's Bourbon Theatre w/ Clutch April 17 Springfield, MO @ Remmington's w/ Clutch April 18 Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue w/ Clutch May 30 Landgraaf, Netherlands @ Pinkpop June 5 Helsinki, Finland @ Helsinki Live Festival June 13 Interlaken, Switzerland @ Greenfield June 18 Scheessel, Germany @ Eichenring (Hurricane Festival) June 20 Neuhausen Ob Eck, Germany @ Flugplatz (Southside Festival) July 3 Wiesbaden, Germany @ BeastFest July 17 Munich, Germany @ Sonnerot July 18 Cuxhaven, Germany @ Deichbrand July 31 Karlskoga, Sweden @ Putte I Parken Oct. 9 Stockholm, Sweden @ The Globe Here are the songs on Below The Belt: "I Think Bad Thoughts" "Active Volcanoes" "Tonight Is Fine" "Magic Snake" "Had Enough" "(I Can't Handle) Moderation" "Full Of Regret" "The Sore Loser" "Like Dynamite" "Apology Accepted" "I Wanna Break Up With You"

View original story : april+18+2008 Feed : CHARTattack:News Feed

First highlights of Nippon Connection film program

The 10th anniversary of Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection is waiting just around the corner, holding many surprises. From April 14 to 18, 2010, we will show more than 150 of the latest Japanese feature and short films, ranging from avant-garde to blockbuster, as well as a broad cultural program. For the tenth time, the biggest festival for Japanese cinema worldwide will offer exciting and innovative films, with many international premieres being presented by the film makers personally. In a special anniversary retrospective, Nippon Connection will take a look back at ten years of great Japanese cinema that has proved to be a magnet for the audience. PROGRAM First highlights of the film program Nippon Cinema A Piece of Our Life – Kakera by Momoko ANDO, J 2009, 107 Min., OmeU www.love-kakera.jp Bare Essence of Life by Satoko YOKOHAMA, J 2009, 120 Min. OmeU www.umls.jp The Blood of Rebirth (Yomigaeri no chi) by Toshiaki TOYODA, J 2009, 83 Min., OmeU yomigaeri-movie.com The Chef of South Polar (Nankyoku Ryorinin) by Shuichi OKITA, J 2009, 125 Min., OmeU nankyoku-ryori.com Chocolate Underground by Takayuki HAMANA, J 2009, 87 Min., OmeU www.choco-bar.jp Crime or Punishment?!? by Keralino SANDOROVICH, J 2008, 110 Min., OmeU www.tsumi-batsu.com Crows Zero II by Takashi MIIKE, J 2009, 133 Min., OmeU www.cz2.jp Dear Doctor by Miwa NISHIKAWA, J 2009, 127 Min., OmeU deardoctor.jp Glasses (Megane) by Naoko OGIGAMI, J 2007, 106 Min., OmU Heaven’s Door by Michael ARIAS, J 2008, 106 Min., OmeU h-door.jp Kaiji by Toya SATO, J 2009, 129 Min., OmeU www.kaiji-movie.jp Miyoko by Yoshifumi TSUBOTA, J 2009, 86 Min., OmeU www.miyoko-asagaya.com No More Cry!!! by Nobuo MIZUTA, J 2009, 134 MIN., OmeU nakumonka.jp/index.html Oh, my Buddha! (Shikisoku zenereishon) by Tomorowo TAGUCHI, J 2008, 114 Min, OmeU shikisoku.jp/indexp.html One Million Yen Girl by Yuki TANADA, J 2008, 121 Min., OmeU nigamushi.com Oppai Volleyball by Eiichiro HASUMI, J 2009, 102 Min., OmeU www.opv.jp Toad`s Oil by Koji YAKUSHO, J 2008, 131 Min., OmeU http://gama-movie.com Zero Focus by Isshin INUDOU, J 2009, 131 Min., OmeU www.zero-focus.jp Nippon Digital 8000 Miles, SR Saitama`s Rapper by Yu IRIE, J 2008, 80 Min, OmeU www.sr-movie.com Annyong Yumika by Tetsuaki MATSUE, J 2009, 119 Min., OmeU www.spopro.net/annyong_yumika/ Autumn Adagio by Tsuki INOUE, J 2009, 70 Min., OmeU www.autumn-adagio.com Live Tape by Tetsuaki MATSUE, J 2009, 74 Min., OmeU www.spopro.net/livetape Pyuupiru 2001-2008 by Daishi MATSUNAGA, J 2009, 90 Min., OmeU S-94 by Shozin FUKUI, J 2009, 29 Min., OmeU www.honekoubou.jp/en/s94.html Nippon Retro „Best of Nippon Connection“ Pornostar by Toshiaki TOYODA, J 1998, 98 Min., OmU (NC 2000) The New God (Atarashii Kamisama), by Yutaka TSUCHIYA, J 1999, 99 Min. (NC 2002) Annyong Kimchi by Tetsuaki MATSUE, J 1992, 52 Min., OmeU (NC 2003) Dolls,by Takeshi KITANO, J/ F 2002, 113 Min., OmU (NC 2003) Tokyo Godfathers bySatoshi KON, J 2003, 91 Min., OmU (NC 2004) Izo byTakashi Miike, J 2004, 128 Min., OmU (NC 2005) Moon & Cherry (Tsuki to Cherry) byYuki TANADA, J 2004, 82 Min., OmeU (NC 2006) Tekkon Kinkreet byMichael Arias, J 2006, 111 Min., OmU od. OmeU (NC 2007) The Tender Throbbing Twilight, (Tasogare / Ikutsu ni natte mo yaritai otoko to onna) by Shinji IMAOKA, J 2007, 64 Min., OmU (NC 2008) Love Exposure (Ai no mukidashi) by Sion SONO, J 2008, 237 Min., OmU (NC 2009) http://www.nipponconnection.com/

View original story : april+18+2008 Feed : Fest21.com - FILM

Infrastructure Continues To Be Strong Story On AIM

The Alternative Investment Market (AIM), the junior market of London Stock Exchange, saw the lowest level of fund-raising last year in its 15-year history. This was pretty much in line with the state of IPO markets all over the world. Marcus Stuttard, who was appointed as the head of AIM in April last year, had a busy time last year as “there was much to be handled at home itself.” The exchange saw a lot of action from Indian companies across sectors – real estate, media and commodities – but shareholder activism appears to have played a spoiler. In an interview with VCCircle, Studdard who was recently on a roadshow to India, an economy that is registering positive growths and is attractive to AIM, he talks about investor appetite and concerns on shareholder activism. Excerpts:- How important is India as a market? Indian companies registered a 212% increase last year in 2009. We are essentially here to understand the performance of the promoters and build the future pipeline. We did see a couple of fund raisings last year. In 2008, 18% of the fund-raising at AIM was by Indian companies. That aligned with the performance indices of the Indian companies this year demonstrates a healthy investor appetite. We see a lot of corporate interest and we expect to see a lot of fund-raising by Indian companies at AIM. What are you making out of the pipeline here? A lot of trends that we see globally apply here too. One of the important side effects of the financial crisis is that for a certain type of sectors, particularly technology, debt finance isn’t just appropriate. And for these small and mid-cap technology companies, raising equity has always been a difficult proposition. For companies who have international aspirations and look to raise equity, AIM serves the purpose well. We saw a lot of real estate, media and tech companies tapping AIM in the previous boom. What are the unique features of AIM? One of the key strengths of AIM (as compared to other growth markets) is that we have never designed it in such a way that there is a specific sector or jurisdiction focus. We focus on a very wide range of sectors and a very strong critical mass. During the dotcom bust, a lot of markets fell as they were dominated by technology. In any business cycle, there will always be a certain sectors in which AIM has had prominence--energy, commodities and real estate--and that makes us stronger as we enter into our next phase of development. We conducted a review of AIM regulation at the end of 2006 not that we had any regulatory failures but just to sustain our brand building in a very fast growing environment. We got corporate finance houses or investment bankers called the Nominated Advisors (Nomads) on to the corporates being listed on our markets. These nominated advisors have to work with those corporate, look after their finances, due diligence and are held responsible for all their admission documents. So, before any companies get listed on the AIM, these institutional investors look at the track record of the corporates. So, it’s the Nomads reputation that is at risk. Besides, a new rule book got designed in 2007 which dealt with the best practises of due diligence and corporate governance We maintain a balance that companies have access to capital at reasonable cost and investor protection. AIM companies were able to raise 5.5 billion pounds last year. This shows that investors believe in the practises and some of the regulatory standards that we follow. What is the perception about AIM here? From a valuation perspective, how enticing is it for a corporate to look at AIM? The perception of AIM is strong. We have a critical mass of sectors and a long-term institutional investor base for small and mid-cap companies. We find that, with companies looking to raise between $50 million and $150 million, valuation has been higher compared to other growth markets in the world. We just don’t have generalist funds but funds specialising in small and mid cap companies, and the infrastructure around these funds is such that the investor focus, valuation statistics, and liquidity event are all driven by their peer large companies. Promoters should not be thinking about valuation from day one but long-term progression in valuation. Corporates today have a lot to access to private equity money. How does that compare with raising funds on the AIM? AIM will not pitch against private equity or the domestic markets. For certain types of companies, AIM may be a more appropriate mode of fund raising. But companies, that have international aspirations, have had previous rounds of finance and now want to look up to equity markets should look at AIM. They have a lot of spinoff benefits at AIM. From what I hear, a lot of technology companies, when they got raised, they stood to benefit as a lot of their performance gets rated or analyzed against the performance of a peer large public equity company which helps them get supply contracts, projects and become much more visible. This gives the company a confidence than just looking inward and relying on PE finance. There are other benefits like incentivising the key staff. What are the sectors in India which are attracting the interest of institutional investors? What we are expecting to see in business cycles is that more established companies are looking at an IPO. The investors are looking at much more certainty than they were in 2006-07, probably at slightly more mature companies. Technology and cleantech seem to be coming back. But, infrastructure continues to be a very strong story as international institutions have a clear understanding that there is a significant growth here and are looking at exposure there. There has been a lot of news about shareholder activism in Indian companies listed at AIM (Hirco, Trikona)? How do you address this perception? I don’t think it’s a wider issue but just related to specific companies. The kind of shareholder activism seen at AIM companies is no different from strategic private equity finance be it the expulsion of the directors or hiring new board members. You got to expect this anywhere. But the major lesson learnt here is that companies need to understand that the day they are listed they are public companies with external shareholders. The last thing that an investor wants is a surprise, good or bad. Investors need to be sure that they are in investee companies where they can trust the management teams. Companies need to think about their investor relations and communication and the need to maintain constant dialogue with their investors. These investors, by virtue of them being long term public equity investors, are much more knowledgeable than private investors who look at capital appreciation in a short term. They don’t really want to manifest themselves into shareholder activism. How long-term are these institutional investors? The institutional investors tend to take a long-term view. Valuations that we saw in the recent past were not really because of shareholder withdrawal but because these long term institutional investors were holding on to the companies that they have invested in. In the last 18 months, the core investors have stayed with the core team, more often than not. Markets globally are adjusting to new sense of realities. Any company preparing for an IPO or coming to the markets now should really think about how they want to do their investor communication.

View original story : april+18+2008 Feed : VCCircle News