Dear Reader

Dear Reader is an alternative/pop band from Johannesburg, South Africa. The band was founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Cherilyn MacNeil and producer/bass player, Darryl Torr. Dear Reader is now the solo project of Cherilyn MacNeil.

History

In August 2006 MacNeil and Torr released their first album, The Younger, through South African record label, Just Music, under the band name, Harris Tweed. In 2008 they adopted the name Dear Reader, after the Scottish textile company Harris Tweed asked them to stop using their name.

In 2008 MacNeil and Torr recorded their first album as Dear Reader called, Replace Why with Funny. The album was produced by Brent Knopf, of Menomena/Ramona Falls (band). Soon after, they signed a licensing deal with Berlin based indie label, City Slang, and the album was released in February 2009 – in Europe by City Slang, and in South Africa by Just Music.

In 2010 'Replace Why with Funny' won the award for Best English Adult contemporary Album at the South African Music Awards.

Dear

Dear or Dears may refer to:

See also

Reader

Reader can mean a person who is reading a text, or a basal reader, a book used to teach reading. It may also refer to:

Persons who read

Places

Wizard People, Dear Reader

Wizard People, Dear Reader, released in 2004, is an unauthorized, alternative soundtrack to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, written by Brad Neely, a comic book artist from Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Wizard People, Dear Reader is a narrative retelling of the lives of the characters of The Sorcerer's Stone and the world in which they live. Presented in the form of a thirty-five chapter audiobook, this soundtrack is intended to replace the film's audio track.

Origins

Brad Neely, in an interview with Chief magazine, described the beginning of the idea as follows:

Presentations

In 2004, the New York Underground Film Festival rented a print of the film from Warner Brothers, screened it with the sound off, and played Neely's soundtrack instead. Shortly thereafter, website Illegal Art made Neely's work available for free download. In the following year, Neely also performed Wizard People live in several cities, until Warner Brothers took action against theatres that had rented prints, and forced them to cancel the shows. Rather than taking legal action, however, Warner Bros. reportedly told theaters which had scheduled a performance of the show that further movies produced by the studio would be withheld unless the dates were cancelled, possibly due to the protection allowed for by parody laws.Carrie McLaren, whose website Illegal-art.net promoted the work, claimed that Mr. Neely's use of appropriated plot, characters and themes interlaced with humor constituted a separate work of art in its own right.

Down Under

The term Down Under is a colloquialism which is variously construed to refer to Australia, New Zealand, and other countries in Australasia. The term comes from the fact that nearly all of these countries are in the Southern Hemisphere, 'below' many other countries on the globe.

The persistence of the media use of the term has led to its wide embrace and usage. The Men at Work song "Down Under" became an instantly recognisable, patriotic rallying song. The famous Russian-born Australian boxing champion Kostya Tszyu was nicknamed "The Thunder from Down Under", as is Australian snooker player Neil Robertson. When the then Miss Australia Jennifer Hawkins was crowned as Miss Universe 2004 in Quito, Ecuador, she was called by the same nickname by host Billy Bush.

According to Roger Ebert's tongue-in-cheek Glossary of Movie Terms, the Down Under Rule "No film set in Australia is allowed to use the word Australia in its title where "Down Under" is an acceptable alternative. For example, we don't get The Rescuers in Australia or Quigley in Australia."