Outspoken musician Tony Brannon has launched a scathing attack on Government for not doing enough for musicians but Minister of Cultural Affairs Dale Butler said his party has done quite a lot for them and that Mr. Brannon is speaking out of turn.

Mr. Brannon, who hit headlines over the now infamous Blackberry debacle when Premier Alex Scott accidentally sent an email insulting Mr. Brannon to him, stated in an email sent to several Government Ministers as well this newspaper that the Government has done ?nada? for musicians.

His comments blamed both the Progressive Labour Party and the opposition United Bermuda Party for failing to take into account the needs of the entertainment industry. Mr. Brannnon stated that entertainers only have five months to earn their living due to a short tourism season.

?The UBP and PLP never do anything about entertainment to help the industry... unless it is political window dressing,? he wrote in the capital-letter ridden email. (In emails capital letters are thought to indicate that the writer is yelling at the recipient.)

?Under Sir John Swan we had the Commission of Competitiveness, which I was on,? he went on. ?Not one thing, nada, nada, nada was enacted after weeks of people giving up their time.

?That was in the 80s when the issues were almost the same as today.?

Mr. Brannon also expressed his disappointment with a report compiled last year which looked at issues in the entertainment industry. The report was headed by Stuart Hayward.

He said that in countries that also depend on tourism, such as Ireland and Costa Rica, tax breaks for the entertainment industry have helped musicians who are now ?thriving?.

He called on Cultural Affairs Minister Dale Butler to face the musicians and tell them what the Government has down for them. ?Cause so far pal, a report just doesn?t cut it,? he wrote.

But Mr. Butler said yesterday he believed his party has done quite a lot for entertainers.

?As the Minister I commissioned the report, it was done by Bermudians, with Bermudians and was debated in the House of Assembly,? he said. ?Our last involvement was to sponsor their webpage.?

On August 28, 2005 the revived musicians? union held a meeting to start implementing recommendations from Mr. Hayward?s report on reviving Bermuda?s struggling music scene.

Saxophonist Mile Manders was elected president of the union. But in his email, which was send directly to Minister Butler, Mr. Brannon claimed the union president has failed to attend almost all its meetings this year.

Yesterday, Mr. Butler said he does not deal with individual musician?s queries and complaints and recommended that the union be used to ensure entertainers are speaking with a united voice.

?That?s why we worked hard at getting the union up and running,? he said.

?We are always available for the union to come and speak with us and hopefully they will take advantage of that.?

He added that he had not had a request for tax breaks for musicians and said he could not comment on whether the Government would consider it in the future because the union had never mentioned it.

He also said that while he did have the odd entertainer telling him that they were not able to secure a job, the majority of entertainers said they were extremely busy this summer. was unable to contact union president Mr. Manders last night.