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:: NEWS BEFORE ISTANBUL ::
< return to current news >The Special Broadcasting Service doesnt seem worth the hassle
You're a TV exec. Your top show in years when the World Cup of soccer aint on is Eurovision. Two years ago you let some lame comedians talk over some of Wogan's commentary and all the postcards. The result from fans was massive and violent in its opposition. What do you do??
Well, if you're SBS Australia, you enter Australia into Eurovision for 2003 as a passive participant so your version of Elvira (though male and without the wig and dress) can sit in a Riga commentary box and talk all over the contest.
Not content to irritate thousands of viewers - many of whom wont know the idiotic mistake until the night itself - SBS has managed to get all passive participants banned. To quote doteurovision.com: "Australia have registered as passive entrants this year, it appears, solely to allow the presence of their own commentator in Riga."
Sara Yeun - the co-ordinator of Eurovision, when asked about the future of ESC stated: "I do not see Australia participating in the near future. The Australian broadcaster is called 'passive' this year, but there are no longer passive participants any more."
SBS's Head of Programming apparently quit recently. Saves us having to call for his head.
No Trust? No Fear!Scandal bunnies t.A.T.u. seem set to cause an uproar on Saturday night. They have been warned that if their performance is not PG rated then the tape of Friday's rehearsal will be screened instead.
So, Julia didn't show for the rehearsal (she's got a doctor's certificate saying her throat was sore). Elena performed with 3rd tATu-girl Katja on stage as a backing singer. So now the EBU's safety net is gone. tATu can pretty much do whatever it wants on Saturday night as the dress rehearsal tape that cannot be used as a replacement
EBU regulations state the dress rehearsal and final performance must be the same (in case of technical problems).
Love Shine a... Turd?Katrina Leskanich - 1997 winner of ESC (Katrina and the Waves) has described Eurovision as "kind of like when your dog takes a crap in the corner of a room. At first it’s really offensive and then you don’t smell it anymore and it loses its offensiveness."
"Turds in the corner, that’s what [the songs] are." The Waves broke up a few months after winning in 1997 and Katrina now makes her money appearing at clubs - like Big Brother evictee. "At the end of the day [winng ESC] made f***-all difference."
Every Way That They CanRomania broke the news last year, Malta reignited it and Denmark has added its voice, as the unthinkable becomes suspiciously credible. Eurovision is RIGGED.
Ira Losco (Malta 2002) recently revealed that different countries had lobbied for points throughout the week preceeding Tallinn. It had been agreed that Romania would give Malta twelve points, which the Romanian jury failed to deliver.
The agreements received coverage in the Romanian press at the time of the contest - as it was obvious even to the Romanians that there was no way Monica Anghel and Marcel Pavel could finish eighth in a fair contest.
After Ira's outburst, 'Ekstra Bladet' - a Danish rag - reported that seven countries swapped points in 2002. Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Russia, Malta, Croatia and FYR Macedonia were named. Each of the countries involved were using at least some element of jury voting.
The allegations have lead to a tightening of security by the EBU who have made changes to the rules for the 2003 contest, who are recommending outlawing SMS votes whilst insisting strict controls and checks are in place for telephone voting.
One More NightThe Latvian TV execs may have swallowed most of the seats for the night, but they're smart enought to not want to see their own show. So they've hired foreigners to do Eurovision for them! Of the 11 main organisers, 8 are non-Latvian. The EBU is apparently worried that Athens will be ready for the Olympics before Riga is for ESC, and as a result the postcards and live interval act have been dropped.
Postcards will still be done - just shots of the contestants wandering around Riga in the week leading up to the contest. Originally a full scale magical journey theme was planned, and half shot before the plug was pulled. Interval will be a taped act on a screen.
Quote of the schamozzle: "A lot of important decisions are still to be made. There's no tragedy, we just have little time" - Juhan Paadam, consultant on ESC 2003 & executive producer of ESC 2002. (Its 40 days Juhan)
The Measure of a PunterThe betting odds for Eurovision 2003 (as of April 11th) are showing four clear favourites: Russia, Spain, Latvia and Iceland. This probably indicates none of the four have a chance - if the last few years shows us anything.
Looking further afield Austria's 'comic' entry has earned it 150/1 odds (extremely fair, if youve heard the song!). Earlier, some generosity (or wishful thinking) had songs of similar awfulness at 33/1 (Slovenia, Ukraine). However Ukraine has now descended to a more appropriate 66/1 whilst Slovenia is heading to near the faves - 14/1 (as of 11 April).
The best bet: Romania at 25/1 seems a damn good offer. The song is very modern (if a bit daggy - which must be a plus in ESC!) and the location of Romania makes it a sure fire thing to pick up votes from the Balkans and former Soviet Union nations.
The odds from British Bookies:
Odds Nations 6/4 Russia 10/1 Spain / Latvia 11/1 United Kingdom / Sweden 14/1 Iceland / Germany / France 16/1 Ireland / Norway 20/1 Bosnia-Herzegovina / Netherlands / Estonia 22/1 Romania 25/1 Turkey 28/1 Croatia 33/1 Ukraine / Slovenia 40/1 Portugal / Greece 50/1 Cyprus / Poland / Belgium 66/1 Malta / Israel 100/1 Austria 6 April 2003
Odds Nations 2/1 Russia 8/1 Spain / Latvia 9/1 Iceland 12/1 United Kingdom / Sweden / Germany / France 14/1 Netherlands / Slovenia / Norway 16/1 Bosnia-Herzegovina / Turkey 20/1 Ireland 25/1 Greece / Estonia / Romania 66/1 Ukraine / Belgium 80/1 Portugal / Croatia / Cyprus / Israel / Poland 100/1 Malta 150/1 Austria 11 April 2003
8s/1 Coming Backt.A.T.u. have failed in their attempt to pull a swifty. As their song was only presented to the EBU in Russian on March 20th - only minor changes are allowed. Changing the language to their preferred English counts as a non-minor change and has been disallowed. Odds of a t.A.T.u. victory dropped from 11/8 before the language was confirmed to 6/4 now its in Russian. Now people have heard the song, the odds have blown out to 2/1.
Meanwhile, the sass factor continues. Julia Volkova has told newspapers, "No one should be scared of us but we're going to win Eurovision." And, Lena Katina has commented that, "We want to blast everything that's gone before with our sexy act." From the looks of the contestants, that may be easier said than done, even for under age fake lesbians in wet schoolgirl outfits.
National Finals Finish with faux Lesbian Highlightt.A.T.u. - a very popular Russian duo with chart success all over the world is the last entrant in Eurovision 2003.
The duo are Yulia and Lena (both 18 years) who pretend to be lipstick lesbians - apparently its widely known in Russia they have boyfriends and the whole thing is an act.
In a recent interview with German tabloid Bild, Julia Volkova showed she may not be a saffo, but she is a bitch. When asked about Corinna May (Germany's 2002 entrant) and Lou (Germany, 2003) she said:
"In Russia we look after blind people and the elderly, we do not send them to the Grand Prix. It seems to be different in Germany." Rrrooowww, pussycats!
Chachi in the SkyAllegations of plagarism (one of the 4 pillars of ESC) have begun to emerge for 2003. Irish representative, Mickey Harte has now being officially investigated and cleared about his song 'We've Got The World.' The EBU asked for a tape of the song so they could work out if it is a rip-off of 'Fly on The Wings of Love' which won the ESC for the Olsen Brothers in 2000.
Afro-Dite copped flak last year for their song being similar(?) to 'Never on a Sunday'
Kyiv DivaRumours going 'round are that Olexandr Ponomaryov's song will be 'Hasta la Vista' which has been written by Svika Pick - the Israeli songwriter who penned 'Diva' for Dana International.
Two Daddys? Cool!Would the real Daddy Cool please stand up!
Norway's national finals include a group called Daddy Cool. Not to be confused with seminal Aussie rock legends Daddy Cool! Just to make matters more derivative - our neo-Daddys are playing a track called 'Dont Stop' - which we all recall as a post-win hit for ESC winners Bucks Fizz.
Our own Ross Wilson tells us that there is nothing he can do about these guys using his old band name.
Hess? Hiss!
Soetkin Collier - the female singer of the band Urban Trad (Belgium's entry for Riga) has been ordered to stay in Belgium - whilst the band performs in Riga. Back-up singer Véronica Codesal will replace her just for the night - but oh what a night. Evidence has been brought to public attention of her involvement in fascist groups in the 1990s - including connections to a ceremony commemmorating Rudolph Hess. To be fair, while Soetkin knew the group used to be Nazis, she thought they'd gotten better.
Kiss Kiss!Turkey has landed a dodgy position, but is bringing out the big guns. Rumours have it that none other than Sezen Aksa will write the song - he is the author of Tarkan's Kuzu Kuzu - made famous to anglophones by Holly Valance.
Established singer Sertab Erener will likely front.
History Repeatin'Some very familiar faces are appearing at the national finals level. Big news for fans of yellow PVC is that Nusa is back! Fresh from hosting the televoting in 2002, Nusa Derenda will perform 'Prvic In Zadnijc' at Slovenia's national finals. Sure to be full of ENERGY!
Sweden's national finals are like an encore presentation of last year's ESC. Afro-Dite are back, performing 'Aqua Playa' and Sahléne (the border hopper she is) will perform 'Unbreakable.' Sahléne performed for Estonia in 2002 (coming 3rd) and was back up singer for Charlotte Neilsen (Sweden's winner from 2000).
No Repeat of GuildoGerman national finalist Joachim Deutschland has been disqualified from the competition for his 'style.' Apparently a German with style would "bring the Contest into disrepute" and this is against the Euro-rules. The meat of the matter was another song he had recorded which alludes to "sexual shennanigans with the family members of an emminent German politician."
The last German with 'style' to perform at ESC was Guildo Horn (Guildo hat euch lieb) from 1999. Love Rocket were disqualified from the German national finals in 2001 for nuding up!
