Latest news with #LynyrdSkynyrd
Glasgow Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
New Dumbarton owner on not being a 'dud' and drafting in David Byrne
There is nothing, though, that is in the slightest bit routine about the new owner of Dumbarton, the larger-than-life French-Canadian businessman Mario Lapointe. Lapointe, a musician and performer whose stage name is Vintage due to his love of all things old, has spent the past week at The Rock casting his eyes over his latest investment, meeting staff and supporters and finalising his ambitious plans for the future. The Quebec-based entrepreneur spoke to the media yesterday to explain how and why he had got involved with the venerable Dunbartonshire institution and he did, their longsuffering fans will be reassured to hear, outline in detail how he intends to stop them haemorrhaging money, turn a profit once again and revive on-field displays. But there were revelations, opinions, quips, asides and declarations aired by the colourful, engaging and hugely likable character during the course of a lengthy chat with reporters at the stadium which have never been heard at a fitba press conference in this country before and almost certainly never will be ever again. Read more: Asked about who his musical influences were and what kind of artist he is, Lapointe said, 'It's weird because I listen to rock, to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Supertramp, Styx, Def Leppard and the like, but I don't sing like that. 'People tell me I am a triangle of Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. In terms of my own style, it's more of a storytelling style. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, all these places. Someone recently told me I have 7,000 people in Brazil who listen to my music every month.' So what composition can one of his Instagram followers in Sao Paulo expect to be treated to next? A heartfelt rendition of his latest power ballad I'm So Happy I've Bought Dumbarton FC perhaps? Nothing should be ruled out. 'I will have to wait for the emotions to go down,' he said. 'I was at a bar recently and someone said to me that I must be really proud of what I have done. I started to bawl. But I have a song for every emotion that you have. Whatever you're going through, I have something for you. If you go and listen you'll see that it's very authentic. There are a few songs that are dark.' (Image: Colin Mearns) Lapointe is about as hail-fellow-well-met an individual as you could ever have the good fortune to meet. So where on earth does this darkness he mentions come from? It turns out that his woman done gone and left him. That devastating life event was the catalyst, in fact, for him dusting off his Gibson Hummingbird and returning to the stage once again. 'I used to write music when I was much younger,' he said. 'I used to be in a band around the time I went to engineering school. Then I basically stopped for about 30 years or something. But after 25 years of marriage, three boys, a cheating wife and getting divorced you end up with quite a lot to say. So I wrote songs about it.' Popular music legend David Byrne, the founding member and lead singer of the seminal American new wave band Talking Heads, originally hails from Dumbarton and it was no surprise whatsoever when Lapointe admitted yesterday that he had attempted to get in touch with the Sons' most famous son during their hour of greatest need. 'I tried to reach out to him so that I could get him to make a little video so that I could pump the tyres of the volunteers,' he said. 'Just so he could say something like, 'Hey! Dumbarton! I heard that there's a new sheriff in town!' But he didn't answer.' Dumbarton were on the Road to Nowhere for a long time under their previous owners. Cognitive Capital appeared far more interested in using the land around their stadium for lucrative property developments than assembling a winning team for fans to cheer. But Lapointe, who has been a hockey and football coach for the past 20 years as well as a successful electronics entrepreneur, believes he has devised a recipe for success on and off the park. Read more: 'I always compare a good team to a good salad,' he said. 'You can't have a good salad with just lettuce. I like radishes. In sports terms, that would be guys who have a little character. People like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, guys who are a little bit different. 'I want to have a team with Dumbarton who have character. It should be tough coming here for opposition teams. When a team shows real passion and character, sometimes you overlook a little bit the results. Even if you're not top of the league, people recognise a team giving it's all and being totally committed.' Lapointe added, 'The burn rate (loss) for the club has been close to £200,000 per year. My goal is for the club to move away from that and not to burn money. 'One of the first things we are going to do is spend around £20,000 to revamp our main hospitality suite. We want that to be something that appeals to people. They can come and have a great day out at the football and really enjoy our hospitality experience. 'We also have some big spaces, big halls, inside the stadium. Those could be used for birthday parties, wedding functions, stuff like that. At the moment, they are not being used at all. 'I also want us to start hosting music nights and open mic comedy nights. These are things that could help with revenue whilst also engaging with the local community in Dumbarton. Read more: 'You have to invest in things like this initially to start finding ways of bringing in revenue. Otherwise, you will just end up in the same situation where the club is pouring money down a hole. 'Stevie (manager Farrell) knocks on my door every week. We've had good conversations so far about our budget. But cup money, league money and sponsorship money equals the player wages. That's basically it. It can't be any more simple than that. You can't run a club purely with ego and ambition. You have to run it with math. (Image: Colin Mearns) 'People will attach themselves to our story of resilience if they feel we're successful. Nobody wants to be struck with a dud. I want everybody to be positive, because positivity spreads like a virus. 'The romance of Super Mario will fade. But we have one year where we can say, 'If you want to help this crazy French-Canadian, get a season ticket'. Some people are going to get in the locomotive and some are going to sit in the wagon. But at some point I'm going to unpin the wagon and we'll continue without the deadwood.' Only time will tell if Mario Lapointe can resurrect Dumbarton's fortunes. They are an odd couple and then some. But one thing is absolutely certain. There will not be a dull moment as he tries.
The National
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The National
New Dumbarton owner on not being a 'dud' and drafting in David Byrne
There is nothing, though, that is in the slightest bit routine about the new owner of Dumbarton, the larger-than-life French-Canadian businessman Mario Lapointe. Lapointe, a musician and performer whose stage name is Vintage due to his love of all things old, has spent the past week at The Rock casting his eyes over his latest investment, meeting staff and supporters and finalising his ambitious plans for the future. The Quebec-based entrepreneur spoke to the media yesterday to explain how and why he had got involved with the venerable Dunbartonshire institution and he did, their longsuffering fans will be reassured to hear, outline in detail how he intends to stop them haemorrhaging money, turn a profit once again and revive on-field displays. But there were revelations, opinions, quips, asides and declarations aired by the colourful, engaging and hugely likable character during the course of a lengthy chat with reporters at the stadium which have never been heard at a fitba press conference in this country before and almost certainly never will be ever again. Read more: Asked about who his musical influences were and what kind of artist he is, Lapointe said, 'It's weird because I listen to rock, to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Supertramp, Styx, Def Leppard and the like, but I don't sing like that. 'People tell me I am a triangle of Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. In terms of my own style, it's more of a storytelling style. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, all these places. Someone recently told me I have 7,000 people in Brazil who listen to my music every month.' So what composition can one of his Instagram followers in Sao Paulo expect to be treated to next? A heartfelt rendition of his latest power ballad I'm So Happy I've Bought Dumbarton FC perhaps? Nothing should be ruled out. 'I will have to wait for the emotions to go down,' he said. 'I was at a bar recently and someone said to me that I must be really proud of what I have done. I started to bawl. But I have a song for every emotion that you have. Whatever you're going through, I have something for you. If you go and listen you'll see that it's very authentic. There are a few songs that are dark.' (Image: Colin Mearns) Lapointe is about as hail-fellow-well-met an individual as you could ever have the good fortune to meet. So where on earth does this darkness he mentions come from? It turns out that his woman done gone and left him. That devastating life event was the catalyst, in fact, for him dusting off his Gibson Hummingbird and returning to the stage once again. 'I used to write music when I was much younger,' he said. 'I used to be in a band around the time I went to engineering school. Then I basically stopped for about 30 years or something. But after 25 years of marriage, three boys, a cheating wife and getting divorced you end up with quite a lot to say. So I wrote songs about it.' Popular music legend David Byrne, the founding member and lead singer of the seminal American new wave band Talking Heads, originally hails from Dumbarton and it was no surprise whatsoever when Lapointe admitted yesterday that he had attempted to get in touch with the Sons' most famous son during their hour of greatest need. 'I tried to reach out to him so that I could get him to make a little video so that I could pump the tyres of the volunteers,' he said. 'Just so he could say something like, 'Hey! Dumbarton! I heard that there's a new sheriff in town!' But he didn't answer.' Dumbarton were on the Road to Nowhere for a long time under their previous owners. Cognitive Capital appeared far more interested in using the land around their stadium for lucrative property developments than assembling a winning team for fans to cheer. But Lapointe, who has been a hockey and football coach for the past 20 years as well as a successful electronics entrepreneur, believes he has devised a recipe for success on and off the park. Read more: 'I always compare a good team to a good salad,' he said. 'You can't have a good salad with just lettuce. I like radishes. In sports terms, that would be guys who have a little character. People like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, guys who are a little bit different. 'I want to have a team with Dumbarton who have character. It should be tough coming here for opposition teams. When a team shows real passion and character, sometimes you overlook a little bit the results. Even if you're not top of the league, people recognise a team giving it's all and being totally committed.' Lapointe added, 'The burn rate (loss) for the club has been close to £200,000 per year. My goal is for the club to move away from that and not to burn money. 'One of the first things we are going to do is spend around £20,000 to revamp our main hospitality suite. We want that to be something that appeals to people. They can come and have a great day out at the football and really enjoy our hospitality experience. 'We also have some big spaces, big halls, inside the stadium. Those could be used for birthday parties, wedding functions, stuff like that. At the moment, they are not being used at all. 'I also want us to start hosting music nights and open mic comedy nights. These are things that could help with revenue whilst also engaging with the local community in Dumbarton. Read more: 'You have to invest in things like this initially to start finding ways of bringing in revenue. Otherwise, you will just end up in the same situation where the club is pouring money down a hole. 'Stevie (manager Farrell) knocks on my door every week. We've had good conversations so far about our budget. But cup money, league money and sponsorship money equals the player wages. That's basically it. It can't be any more simple than that. You can't run a club purely with ego and ambition. You have to run it with math. (Image: Colin Mearns) 'People will attach themselves to our story of resilience if they feel we're successful. Nobody wants to be struck with a dud. I want everybody to be positive, because positivity spreads like a virus. 'The romance of Super Mario will fade. But we have one year where we can say, 'If you want to help this crazy French-Canadian, get a season ticket'. Some people are going to get in the locomotive and some are going to sit in the wagon. But at some point I'm going to unpin the wagon and we'll continue without the deadwood.' Only time will tell if Mario Lapointe can resurrect Dumbarton's fortunes. They are an odd couple and then some. But one thing is absolutely certain. There will not be a dull moment as he tries.
The Herald Scotland
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
New Dumbarton owner on not being a 'dud' and drafting in David Byrne
Lapointe, a musician and performer whose stage name is Vintage due to his love of all things old, has spent the past week at The Rock casting his eyes over his latest investment, meeting staff and supporters and finalising his ambitious plans for the future. The Quebec-based entrepreneur spoke to the media yesterday to explain how and why he had got involved with the venerable Dunbartonshire institution and he did, their longsuffering fans will be reassured to hear, outline in detail how he intends to stop them haemorrhaging money, turn a profit once again and revive on-field displays. But there were revelations, opinions, quips, asides and declarations aired by the colourful, engaging and hugely likable character during the course of a lengthy chat with reporters at the stadium which have never been heard at a fitba press conference in this country before and almost certainly never will be ever again. Read more: Asked about who his musical influences were and what kind of artist he is, Lapointe said, 'It's weird because I listen to rock, to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Supertramp, Styx, Def Leppard and the like, but I don't sing like that. 'People tell me I am a triangle of Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. In terms of my own style, it's more of a storytelling style. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, all these places. Someone recently told me I have 7,000 people in Brazil who listen to my music every month.' So what composition can one of his Instagram followers in Sao Paulo expect to be treated to next? A heartfelt rendition of his latest power ballad I'm So Happy I've Bought Dumbarton FC perhaps? Nothing should be ruled out. 'I will have to wait for the emotions to go down,' he said. 'I was at a bar recently and someone said to me that I must be really proud of what I have done. I started to bawl. But I have a song for every emotion that you have. Whatever you're going through, I have something for you. If you go and listen you'll see that it's very authentic. There are a few songs that are dark.' (Image: Colin Mearns) Lapointe is about as hail-fellow-well-met an individual as you could ever have the good fortune to meet. So where on earth does this darkness he mentions come from? It turns out that his woman done gone and left him. That devastating life event was the catalyst, in fact, for him dusting off his Gibson Hummingbird and returning to the stage once again. 'I used to write music when I was much younger,' he said. 'I used to be in a band around the time I went to engineering school. Then I basically stopped for about 30 years or something. But after 25 years of marriage, three boys, a cheating wife and getting divorced you end up with quite a lot to say. So I wrote songs about it.' Popular music legend David Byrne, the founding member and lead singer of the seminal American new wave band Talking Heads, originally hails from Dumbarton and it was no surprise whatsoever when Lapointe admitted yesterday that he had attempted to get in touch with the Sons' most famous son during their hour of greatest need. 'I tried to reach out to him so that I could get him to make a little video so that I could pump the tyres of the volunteers,' he said. 'Just so he could say something like, 'Hey! Dumbarton! I heard that there's a new sheriff in town!' But he didn't answer.' Dumbarton were on the Road to Nowhere for a long time under their previous owners. Cognitive Capital appeared far more interested in using the land around their stadium for lucrative property developments than assembling a winning team for fans to cheer. But Lapointe, who has been a hockey and football coach for the past 20 years as well as a successful electronics entrepreneur, believes he has devised a recipe for success on and off the park. Read more: 'I always compare a good team to a good salad,' he said. 'You can't have a good salad with just lettuce. I like radishes. In sports terms, that would be guys who have a little character. People like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, guys who are a little bit different. 'I want to have a team with Dumbarton who have character. It should be tough coming here for opposition teams. When a team shows real passion and character, sometimes you overlook a little bit the results. Even if you're not top of the league, people recognise a team giving it's all and being totally committed.' Lapointe added, 'The burn rate (loss) for the club has been close to £200,000 per year. My goal is for the club to move away from that and not to burn money. 'One of the first things we are going to do is spend around £20,000 to revamp our main hospitality suite. We want that to be something that appeals to people. They can come and have a great day out at the football and really enjoy our hospitality experience. 'We also have some big spaces, big halls, inside the stadium. Those could be used for birthday parties, wedding functions, stuff like that. At the moment, they are not being used at all. 'I also want us to start hosting music nights and open mic comedy nights. These are things that could help with revenue whilst also engaging with the local community in Dumbarton. Read more: 'You have to invest in things like this initially to start finding ways of bringing in revenue. Otherwise, you will just end up in the same situation where the club is pouring money down a hole. 'Stevie (manager Farrell) knocks on my door every week. We've had good conversations so far about our budget. But cup money, league money and sponsorship money equals the player wages. That's basically it. It can't be any more simple than that. You can't run a club purely with ego and ambition. You have to run it with math. (Image: Colin Mearns) 'People will attach themselves to our story of resilience if they feel we're successful. Nobody wants to be struck with a dud. I want everybody to be positive, because positivity spreads like a virus. 'The romance of Super Mario will fade. But we have one year where we can say, 'If you want to help this crazy French-Canadian, get a season ticket'. Some people are going to get in the locomotive and some are going to sit in the wagon. But at some point I'm going to unpin the wagon and we'll continue without the deadwood.' Only time will tell if Mario Lapointe can resurrect Dumbarton's fortunes. They are an odd couple and then some. But one thing is absolutely certain. There will not be a dull moment as he tries.
The Herald Scotland
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Jim Prime, widely admired keyboard lynchpin of Deacon Blue
Died: June 19, 2025. WHEN Ricky Ross was putting his band Deacon Blue together in 1986, he heard of a talented keyboard player named Jim Prime. He rang Prime's number but a woman who answered told him that he had picked a bad time. At length, a breathless Prime picked up the receiver and told Ross that he had gone into the street to 'stop a guy beating up his wife' in a domestic argument. As Ross wrote in 2022, 'the strangeness of the conversation set the scene for the next thirty-five years'. When Prime attended a rehearsal and heard a new song, Raintown, wrote Ross, 'something began to happen to make it sound like a band who had a direction. A lot of that 'something' was about what Jim brought to the arrangement'. Read more: Who was Deacon Blue keyboardist and 'Killie boy' James Prime? Deacon Blue announce death of founder member Jim Prime after short cancer battle Deacon Blue announce new album and huge Scottish shows for 2025 Prime, who has died, aged 64, of cancer, 21 years to the month since the passing of the band's guitarist, Graeme Kelling, also from cancer, was an integral part of Deacon Blue's sound. The band's debut album, Raintown, featured Prime and Kelling alongside Ross, Ewen Vernal on bass, Dougie Vipond on drums and Lorraine McIntosh on vocals. Released in May 1987, it went into the British Top 20 and yielded such classic Deacon Blue songs as Dignity, Born in a Storm, Raintown and When Will You (Make My Phone Ring). Two years later the band released a follow-up album, When the World Knows Your Name, which went to number one and opened doors for them in America. All told, the band enjoyed 12 UK Top 40 singles and two chart-topping albums, and became one of Scotland's most successful musical exports. James Miller Prime was born in Kilmarnock on November 3, 1960. Asked last year on the Australian interview series, The Keyboard Chronicles, when he realised he had a passion for music, he said he had been brought up classically trained and that he came from a 'long line of piano players in my house'. His three sisters played the flute, piano and guitar, but he had 'something else that was going on'; he started playing piano at the tender age of four. 'My mum said, 'I was in the kitchen and you heard Loch Lomond on the radio and you ran through to the piano and you just played the melody - you couldn't even play the piano'. I couldn't even reach it. 'I guess that's something I know inside myself, that I'm kind of joined to this thing', he added, indicating his piano. The bass guitarist Alan Thomson, who had played with John Martyn, was a neighbour, and he would regularly arrived at the Prime household at 8am, drag Prime out of his bed and force him to practice. The US Southern rock band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, were the reason that he became a keyboards player; their keyboards player, Billy Powell, was 'outrageously good'. Prime dropped out of college at the age of 20 to join the brilliant guitarist John Martyn's band but, as he told the Deacon Blue biographer, Paul English, he eventually left because he could not stand it. 'There was drink everywhere, paranoia and violence. I was too young to be with these really heavyweight musicians. I left under the guise of joining Altered Images, and eventually ended up on tour with them in America when I was 22. We toured right across America, it was absolutely stunning. People like Blondie and Nile Rodgers came backstage and I ended up with a load of tips on how to be a pop musician'. Returning to Glasgow after the break-up of Altered Images, he got a job in a Southside pub, The Granary. An encounter with the owner of the nearby Park Lane Studios led to a recommendation to contact a Ricky Ross. 'When we met, I immediately thought there was something about this guy', he told English. 'Not only was he writing songs on the piano, but he had gear, and he was dead set. And I fell in love with the idea that he wanted to put keyboards at the centre of his songs'. Prime's career with Deacon Blue spanned world tours, bestselling records and many memorable moments. One early such highlight came at Sir George Martin's AIR Studios in London, during the making of the debut album: the piano he was sitting at turned out to be the same one used by Stevie Wonder to compose his hit song, Superstition. In 1990, at a John Lennon tribute concert in Liverpool, Prime met Yoko Ono, Lennon's son Julian, and the Superman actor, Christopher Reeve. That same year, Deacon Blue headlined the massive Big Day event on Glasgow Green, part of Glasgow's European City of Culture celebrations. Deacon Blue broke up in 1994 and the band went their separate ways before reconvening in 1999. Prime toured with the colourful French singer, Johnny Hallyday, and played in the band that accompanied Bill Bryden's 1994 epic promenade production of a Govan regiment in the Great War. He was also involved in the establishment of a School of Music and Recording Technology in South Ayrshire. Away from Deacon Blue, Jim Prime was also a popular lecturer in music at the University of the West of Scotland (UWS). He spoke about his time teaching there, sayinG: 'You can imagine a class with me doesn't come from any book. I try as much as I can now to tell people about the power that their music has for other people, not just writing songs in bedrooms and being on the stage. I do a lot of work with Alzheimer's Scotland, and I've done stuff with special needs and I try to encourage kids to get out there and talk to all people and help them with their memory'.
CNN
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Hollywood Minute: Jennifer Lopez to launch a new Vegas residency
returns to Las Vegas, 'Captain America: Brave New World' hits streaming, and Lynyrd Skynyrd finally releases an official 'Free Bird' music video. Rick Damigella contributed to this story by David Daniel.
