Zac Who?

It’s Zac Harris ladies and gentlemen, and those of you who don’t know his name already, will soon because he’s the next big thing on the alternative music scene. Written by Daniel Duke.

Sitting in Starbucks with Zac Harris in Bournemouth town centre, he seems nervous; perhaps because this is the first profile piece anyone has ever written about him. He asks if they do Earl grey tea, an interesting request for an 18 year old. “I’ve never been served tea in a mug before”, he says, a comment that could reflect on Harris’ personal life or perhaps on Starbucks’ etiquette. Zac nervously plays with the strings on his teabag, revealing vulnerability you wouldn’t associate with someone in the public eye.

Zac Harris is an 18 year-old singer songwriter from West Howe in Bournemouth. He’s just started to make it big on the local music scene and further afield; supporting Pete Doherty at the Bournemouth Opera House and playing a private exhibition gig at Selfridges in London being just two highlights of an impressive portfolio of past gigs.

Zac has always loved music and used to sing along to the radio when he was younger. He attempted keyboards but began playing guitar when he was 12. He was inspired to write songs and perform his music when he watched a DVD of Jeff Buckley performing live. “Watching that, I just knew what I wanted to do,” admits Zac. Buckley has been and still is a huge influence on Zac and reviewers have duly noted it. One admirer even went as far as saying, “Your music’s dope, it’s like the soul of Jeff Buckley reincarnate.” To Zac, though being compared to such a great musician is a compliment, he doesn’t want to be branded as the next Buckley. He says, “It’s really flattering when people say that I sing like Jeff Buckley but I don’t want to be Jeff Buckley; I just want to play my own stuff.” Today Zac’s inspiration comes more from bands like Radiohead, artists like Patrick Wolf and interestingly, the lifestyle and poetry of the beat generation of the 1950s.

Playing to a crowd of 10,000 people last year is one of Zac’s greatest achievements but more so, is his opportunity supporting Pete Doherty. He notes that this is the biggest crowd he has ever played to “who were there for music”.
He is a fan of Pete Doherty and went to a Babyshambles gig in The Twisters, when he was 14, “I didn’t know it was 18 plus until I left the venue. That was crazy, it was a good gig.” He talks about it being weird, supporting someone as famous as Pete Doherty and saying that it was “an honour” to play on a bill with so many talented people. Zac was full of nothing but praise for the other artists. He met Pete Doherty after the gig and simply says, “He was cool.”



The compere of the Opera House gig managed to get on everyone’s nerves says Zac. “The crowd were chucking pint glasses at him by the end of the night, he laughs.” Pete ended his set by throwing a chair and table off the stage, nearly injuring someone. The security apparently said it was the roughest night they’d experienced. Zac on the other hand, simply describes it as “a great night,” and adding, “It was an experience,” he says grinning.

Zac is sure of his goals and aims for the future. He is hoping to complete his debut EP for release in the first quarter of 2009. He is very excited because he’s never done an official release before and he is recording this with Stuart Semple, the artist, who has produced work for The Subliminal Girls including music videos and CD releases. Zac has been frustrated by delays on the release, especially glandular fever, which meant he couldn’t sing at all. He will definitely be releasing something soon, though and is hoping, “It’ll be nice and special as well.”

The next step for Zac after that is to get on the bill of a whole tour, supporting a band. His dream is to support Radiohead, but realistically he’d love to support Kid Harpoon, another up and coming artist. Zac sees him as another musician doing something similar to what he is, namely in the way he plays guitar, “He strums the hell out of it and I give my guitar hell all the time.” He says he loves the sound it gets and the aggressive feeling he can achieve in his music by playing like this.

Zac has already played with artists like Sue Denim of Robots in Disguise, supporting on half of her mini tour. He did a duet with her, singing Leonard Cohen’s ‘First we take Manhattan.’ “The tour was really good fun and I met some wicked people as well,” says Zac.

Zac talks about his family fondly and states how supportive they are of his music. His dad used to play him Manic Street Preachers and Bob Dylan when he was just a kid though which could have affected him and says of his son’s talent, “I have always enjoyed Zac's music and ideally I think with his unique abilities, and by that I mean his voice, style of guitar playing, song-writing and performance he will be able to get the type of contract with a record company that will enable him to develop a long term career.” Zac’s sister, 15, also plays guitar and sings but he sees her as a writer instead. “She’s good with words,” he says. Zac’s close friend, Mike Dent, a 17 year-old student in the band Metropolise said, “I've known Zac for 6 years and he's been my best friend. He's a great guy, he's very nice and his music is fantastic. There are a lot of solo artists in the Bournemouth area, but Zac really does stand out from the crowd.” Dent also said, “I've always known that he would get far at some point and supporting Pete Doherty at the Opera House proved that.”

As Zac talks about the Bournemouth music scene he becomes animated and opinionated. He thinks there is a lot of demand for live music in the area and he loves living here. He stresses that a lot of people criticize the music scene here but he believes that, “a music scene can only be as good as what you put into it.” He thinks that people in Bournemouth are lucky because there are so many good venues, like 60 million post cards, ibar and The Gander. “I’m pretty much in love with Bournemouth, it’s an inspiring place to live.”

Recently Zac has been expanding his sound and his style, experimenting with “using beats” in his live performance. He happily acknowledges that it went down well and he is excited about improving and expanding on this. “I feel like I’ve got so much I want to do,” reveals Zac. He doesn’t want to just keep one style as an artist and says he’d rather grow and evolve as a person. “To me that’s what’s exciting.”

[Running News Story] Heroes die in plane crash horror. (Learning Exercise)

Two heroic men have died to save the lives of their passengers after a light aircraft crashed at a military firing range in Bere Regis today.

Twin brothers, Dennis and Tony Sharman were the pilot and jump instructor on a charity parachute jump, organised by Dorset Parachute club.

Their partner who runs the club, known as “Big Mac” was informed by Dorset police and revealed the news of their deaths earlier today.

Three women and one man jumped from the plane and parachuted to the ground.
Matt McGrath, 38, one of these survivors said the brothers had given their own lives to save the lives him and his friends.

He said that while the plane was flying out to the jump site, one of the engines exploded, causing the plane to spiral.

While Tony levelled the plane, Dennis helped all four of the passengers out and pulled their parachutes.

Mr. McGrath was not hurt but one of the novice parachutists, Laura Cameron sustained a broken leg and the others have just cuts and bruises.

“Big Mac”, the spokesman for the parachute club was quick to note that, “the plane was in good condition and the pilots and parachutist were all experienced,” He did admit there was still the possibility a mechanical error occurred in flight.

He was certain that the Sharman brothers, who live in New Milton in Hampshire, were not to blame.

The brothers were ex-army members who were highly trained and had 3,500 successful jumps between them.

The plane was due to fly to the parachute jump site, just three miles out of the area.

We pay tribute to the heroic acts of both these men and the friends and loved ones they leave behind.

[Running News Story Mock] Gunman killed by police in School siege.

A man has been shot and killed by poice after holding pupils and teachers hostage in an armed siege at a Dorset primary school.

The gunman's wife arrived at the scene after a police escort from Dorcester and spoke to the suspect through a radio link just before 3.30pm.


After this he left the building, as agreed, but refused to lower his gun.


The gunman aimed his weapon in a threatening manner at one of the officers and after he received several warnings the officers had no choice but to open fire on the gunman.


The suspect was confirmed dead at the scene by a police surgeon and the police showed great remorse in the situation having ended this way.

The man was seen chasing a distressed man in the direction of the school at 1.15pm today.

Eyewitness Ian Rogerson, a 58 year old said the gunman screamed, “Keep away from my wife,” and then opened fire on the victim, shooting him in the buttocks.


The first man fled the scene but was later taken to hospital to be treated for his injuries.


At this point the attacker entered the nearby school.


Armed police were called to the scene, along with a helicopter and negotiators and Wallisdown Road was closed off from the Kinson Road roundabout to the University roundabout.


Pupils and staff, not in immediate contact with the suspect, were evacuated but the gunman still had a classroom full of children and staff at gunpoint.


A policeman, wearing a, bullet-proof, Kevlar vest, entered the building and negotiated the release of the children at around 2.35pm but staff members were still inside.


Three more shots were fired inside the building at this time and police backup rushed to the scene in order to deal with the situation.


The shots were confirmed to be simply threat and bravado but one staff member sustained cuts and bruises from the shrapnel.


They are currently being treated in hospital and are in a stable condition.


The police negotiated further with the gunman who released the last of the hostages and then agreed to come out and put down his weapon if he was able to speak to his wife.


At this time, pupils and staff were taken to the nearby university campus and reunited with parents and family members.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Rose, said, “I take no comfort in the fact that the suspect has been killed.” But he said he was happy that his officers were safe.


He also made it clear that he could not reveal either the name of the suspect or his estranged wife at this time.


An enquiry will be held, by the Home Office, into the death of the suspect under these circumstances.

Music shops beat credit crunch

The musical instrument business is still going strong considering that people are unlikely to splash out for pricey luxuries in the current financial climate.

The music shops in the Winton area have not seen the marked drop in sales that most people would have considered inevitable due to the credit crunch.

Alan Kay, owner of Dave Allen Music in Winton even went as far as to say that his sales for October this year were actually up on last year.

He said, “there is little evidence of people not spending and business is reasonable”.

He added that he had sold two pianos, worth hundreds of pounds each, in the last week so people are clearly still digging deep for expensive items.

Mr. Kay believes that his steady business is due to the fact that his business covers a large geographical area, delivering to most of Dorset.

He also said that Christmas isn't a vital time for him and he isn't worried that sales will fall around the festive season.

Sean Metcalfe, owner of Strummin' Monkeys, a guitar shop on Wimborne Road, said that he has seen a decline in people buying accessories for their instruments like strings, straps and plectrums.

He hasn't seen a drop in instrument sales, though, and says that's simply because, “People don't buy instruments too frequently anyway so there isn't much change.”
Mr. Metcalfe did make it clear though that his business was “only just surviving” the credit crunch.

In recent years, he has noticed a huge drop in repair work with numbers going from six jobs in a week to one repair job every six weeks.

He, too, doesn't think that the Christmas period will be a hard time as he thinks that, “People spend at Christmas regardless of the Financial climate.”

He said that business is erratic in specialist shops anyway so the financial crisis isn't having a huge effect.

Alan Kay, owner of Dave Allen Music: still

very much in business.

Guardian veteran reveals secrets of good reporting

Michael White, Associate Editor of The Guardian, thinks a good reporter must be cunning, like a rat.

He said, “The answers are as varied as there are different kinds of report in any newspaper on any day.

Nicholas Tomalin, top flight Sunday Times reporter, killed by a Syrian shell on the Golan
Heights, 30 or so years ago, famously said ' a plausible manner, low rat-like cunning and a minimum of literary ability.'”

White, whose incredible career spans 4 decades, also believes that “curiosity and persistence” are key qualities in a good reporter.

He also said, “You can make it many ways; a tenacious pursuit of the facts or a lively writing style also matter.

At the end of the day it's up to you, no one can make it easy, but if it's what you really want to be, a reporter, you will devise your own road ahead."

Michael White was born in Wadebridge, Cornwall. He attended Bodmin Grammar School, and then studied for a BA in History at University College London. He began his career at the Reading Evening Post and and then moved to the London Evening Standard. In 1971 got a job with The Guardian.

White has been writing for the Guardian for over 30 years, as a reporter, foreign correspondent and columnist. He was political editor from 1990 to 2006, and was previously the paper's Washington correspondent and parliamentary sketch writer.

He is also a regular commentator on the BBC, introducing newspaper reviews and commenting on Newsnight, Breakfast News, BBC News 24 and Question Time.

When asked about earnings, White responded,
“A journalist can earn anything from £10,000 a year at the bottom to £1 million plus if you are editor of the Daily Mail.”

Seasoned reporter: Michael White

Howells recalls poverty-stricken youth.

Living in poverty and watching the V-day parades at just three years of age, Mr. William Howells, from Middlesborough recalled his earliest memory.

He said, this morning, that the first thing he can rmember is being just three years old and seeing the street parties and celebrations at the end of World War two.

He spoke about the feeling of happiness and celebratory atmosphere, “Even at such a young age, I could sense the stir of victory.”

The 65 year old said he could recall the air raid shelters outside his house and remembered that they were never used during the war.

He said he could remember sitting in his high chair looking at the shelters out of the window.

Mr. Howells, a retired electrician, also rmembers how different things were when he was young.

He said, “you could leave your door open and not have to worry about thieves or vandals.”

He$ said he felt like there was a lot more honesty when he was young and that everything is very different now and it's difficvult to trust people in this day and age.

He also told me that he had lived in near poverty at this time and because of this he appreciated things much more now.

Mr. Howells, grandfather of 13, said, “You knew poverty,” when he was young and that, “times have changed.”

Mr. William Howells rmembered his youth at the end of WWII.