Miscellaneous Music News

[RealityDiva]

I loved the concert that was on a few years ago. I can't remember if it was Live 8, or Aid... Either way, it was great. I sat down and relaxed the whole day, and I did learn a lot about different things going on in the world. Too bad about the Rio concert being cancelled!

[Google]

 

[razorbacker]

Originally Posted by RealityDiva

I loved the concert that was on a few years ago. I can't remember if it was Live 8, or Aid... Either way, it was great. I sat down and relaxed the whole day, and I did learn a lot about different things going on in the world. Too bad about the Rio concert being cancelled!

XM Radio is going to broadcast the whole thing across 3 or 4 different channels.

[ThehappyCynic]

I don't know about boradcasting in other countries, but I know here in Canada, all of the concerts will be shown in their entirety. Between CTV, MuchMusic, MuchMoreMusic, Bravo and MuchVibe... all of the concerts will be shown. Tokyo and Sydney will start late tonight, and then the concerts will keep going through tomorrow. I agree that these concerts wont really raise awareness but they're still enjoyable.

[razorbacker]

Life is good. It just can’t get any better than this.

Rolling Stone: » Paris Hilton Hits the Studio For Post-Prison Album

7/17/07, 11:33 am EST
Paris Hilton Hits the Studio For Post-Prison Album

Paris Hilton wants to follow in the footsteps of Akon, T.I., Chuck Berry, Merle Haggard, Bobby Brown and Steve Earle — she’s ready for her post-jail album. Hilton is apparently over her prison-induced spiritual awakening and is once again ready to chase her dream of legitimate pop stardom via a second album overseen by (who else?) Scott Storch, the super-producer she breathily shouts out during the opening seconds of her first record, Paris. “I’ve been working on it with Scott for a few weeks,” Hilton says, and a source close to the heiress insists Paris takes voice lessons regularly. “She’s really serious about her music career.” Does this mean we will finally get to hear those Rob Cavallo-produced tracks that rocked too hard for the last album?
And if the promise of a new Paris album isn’t enough, go buy the Smashing Pumpkins’ Zeitgeist. The album insert contains shots of Hilton taken by Billy Corgan; the photo above adornes the cover of the U.K. “Tarantula” single.
-- Elizabeth Goodman

[razorbacker]

How About This!!!

Rolling Stone : Source: Jimmy Page to Reunite with Jeff Beck for Yardbirds Tour

Jimmy Page to Reunite with Jeff Beck for Yardbirds Tour


According to an industry insider, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck are going to tour as the Yardbirds this fall alongside founding bassist Chris Dreja and drummer Jim McCarty. The tour is said to kick off this October. It’s unclear who will be the reformed Yardbirds’ lead singer (original vocalist Keith Relf died of electrocution in 1976). Eric Clapton, the Yardbirds’ founding guitarist, has no plans to participate, according to the source.
Page and Beck’s tenure in the Yardbirds overlapped by only a few months in 1966, but they have remained close friends since. The British blues legends disbanded in July of 1968, although Dreja and McCarty have been touring steadily under the Yardbirds name since the 1990s, and are currently on the road through August. The band reunited for one night in 1992 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[lei]

Originally Posted by razorbacker

How About This!!!

That's exciting! I'm guessing their tour will do well.

[razorbacker]

Interesting to see what genre is cooking (Country),and which isn’t (rap& hip/hop)

Country road tours are rockin' - 07/22/2007 - MiamiHerald.com

Country road tours are rockin'
BY HOWARD COHEN

MILES AND MILES: Soul2Soul 2007 is the third go-round for the husband-and-wife team of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

Pianist Glenn Gould famously predicted the death of the concert in a High Fidelity magazine piece ages ago. ''Its functions . . . entirely taken over by electronic media,'' he opined in 1966.

The Canadian classical pianist, who died in 1982, didn't live to meet Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Martina McBride or Rascal Flatts, or he would have had to note that the concert scene is not only still very much alive, but it's thriving -- arguably, the one traditional bright spot within a music industry struggling through change. According to Pollstar, concert revenues in North America have increased from $1.3 billion annually to $3.1 billion a year over the past 10 years.

Maybe a bigger surprise is where these touring stars are coming from. Aside from the boomer classic rock and pop acts with huge catalogs like the Rolling Stones, U2 and Elton John, the winner on the live scene has been country music.

''No genre has been better at developing arena-level headliners in the past decade as has country music,'' says Ray Waddell, who covers touring for the trade publication Billboard.

Sure enough, no one sold more concert tickets last year than country star Kenny Chesney. The Stones, Madonna and Barbra Streisand made more money on the road -- but their average ticket prices of $136, $183 and $298 topped Chesney's average asking price of $58. Chesney put 1,130,529 people into seats at his shows; for Madonna's shows, by comparison, only 467,314 parted with their money.

Boot scootin' right past Chesney: the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill Soul2Soul Tour 2006, which sold 1,097,585 tickets last year and, with a higher average ticket price ($80), wound up as the most successful country tour in history, besting even Garth Brooks' historic runs in the mid-'90s.

Soul2Soul 2007, the third go-round for this joint husband-and-wife moneymaker that stops Tuesday night at Sunrise's BankAtlantic Center, is looking to beat that. Year-to-date numbers are calculated differently, with averages per venue rather than ticket prices and audience counts. Last year's tour averaged $1 million per venue; so far this year, Soul2Soul is averaging $1.7 million per venue, second this year only to the Police reunion stadium tour ($3.2 million). Chesney, again, hits the Top 3, grossing more than $1 million a show, making two of the top three tours country. The Rowdy Frynds Tour featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd and Hank Williams Jr., and Brad Paisley/Kellie Pickler are also among the Top 20 according to this week's numbers, with new road shows from Martina McBride/Little Big Town and Toby Keith's Big Dog Daddy Tour safe bets for the Top 10 at the end of the year.

Noticeably absent: Hip-hop. Though still a fixture on contemporary hit radio playlists, hip-hop/rap has seldom been able to generate crowds. Part of the problem, Waddell says, is that rap is not viable in a large venue. ``It's a live performance of a guy with a mike and some dancers. That's not as compelling as people whaling away on guitars and singing and who can play. It may be exciting in small club venues but it doesn't translate in a large arena.''

So why does country manage so well? Opinions are as varied as the music itself:

• Repackaging one's youth and selling it back in the digital era has enormous appeal. It's not much of a leap to go from Southern rock's Lynyrd Skynyrd, yesterday, to country's Van Zant, today.

''In the '70s I listened to rock but in the '80s I didn't like the way rock went and I started to listen to country,'' says Miami fan Tim Morgan, 48. ``There's such a wide variety of styles in country music. You can go from soft ballads to Montgomery Gentry to southern rock like it was in the '70s.''

Country radio has also absorbed new music from acts that once belonged to rock: Bon Jovi, Bob Seger, John Mellencamp, Sheryl Crow -- and more are on the way.

''Country has become the pop radio as we knew it in the '70s and '80s,'' says singer McGraw, who will open his solo portion of the concert with a cover of the Steve Miller Band's 1973 hit The Joker. ``There's more variety in our format and it has taken over being the mainstream radio.''

• Country music is getting more exposure on national television today, including on morning programs like Good Morning America and The Today Show, says WKIS-99.9 FM afternoon DJ ''Downtown'' Billy Brown, who also cites the stars' ''accessibility'' at meet-'n'-greet events such as Nashville's CMA Music Festival every June.

Ironically, the mainstream pop factory American Idol has been responsible for creating more viable stars in the country field than it has managed in pop, rock or R&B. Thanks to Idol, country scored hits from Carrie Underwood, Josh Gracin, Bucky Covington, Kellie Pickler and, currently No. 12 this week, Kelly Clarkson, who re-recorded her 2004 pop hit Because of You as a duet with Reba McEntire.

• Loyalty helps, too. ''The format doesn't churn artists the way it happens in other formats,'' adds Carole Bowen, the South Florida country station's general manager. ``People will be a star longer and the labels build stars differently in our genre.''

True enough. Even 1970s country icon Kenny Rogers was able to score a couple hits in the format this millennium; and George Strait never misses hitting No. 1 with singles from his annual albums despite a career dating back more than 20 years.

Conversely, country has been able to create younger arena acts rapidly through sweat equity on the road.

''Tim McGraw went out in the '90s and opened for George Strait. Then Kenny Chesney opened for McGraw. Then Rascal Flatts opened for Chesney. These were key artist development moves, putting them in front of a lot of people each step of the way,'' Wadell. ``If you are a performer -- which country music artists unquestionably are -- that's how you win fans.''

[rt1ky]

Almost all of the video of Beyonce falling down the stairs at her Orlando concert has been removed from video sharing sites because of Sony's "copyright." However, there are still tons of copyrighted Beyonce material on those same sites. Since Beyonce asked the concert goers not to post the video on the web, I guess if wouldn't be a stretch to ask her record company to asks sites to remove the video.

At first I was thinking about how pathetic Beyonce was that she has to control her image that much and can't laugh at herself. Especially since there were a lot of internet postings of Beyonce in Destiny's Child not even bothering to look down at Michelle as she fell of the stage.

Instead I fell sorry for Beyonce, that she feels the need to have that much control over her image. With the weird red-carpet posing, the huge weaves, and elaborate (weird/ugly) stage costumes, maybe this is what she really clings to. Too bad. She can sing, if she ever decides to stop screaming and warbling and maybe with some more acting lessons she may be able to act one day.

I've decided that maybe I should feel sorry for her, instead of always hate on her. At least until she gets on my nerves again.

[bbnbama]

Link Here

Usher Cancels Wedding With Tameka Foster
Published: 7/28/07, 12:48 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) - The wedding between Usher and his pregnant fiance has been canceled, his publicist told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The wedding between the multiplatinum singer and his longtime girlfriend, Tameka Foster, was scheduled for Saturday. The pair are expecting their first child together sometime this fall.

However, a statement released by publicist Patti Webster exclusively to the AP read: "It was announced today that the wedding ceremony for Usher Raymond, IV and Tameka Foster was canceled. No additional information will be given regarding the circumstances of the cancellation, but we hope the privacy of this matter will be respected."

Foster and Usher announced their engagement earlier this year, and later, that she was expecting his first child. She has three other children from a previous marriage.

Webster would not comment on whether the two were still engaged or even a couple.

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The announcement was made today (Saturday)...am I understanding correctly that the wedding was scheduled for today also??? YIKES!

[razorbacker]

Originally Posted by bbnbama

Link Here

Usher Cancels Wedding With Tameka Foster
Published: 7/28/07, 12:48 PM EDT

NEW YORK (AP) - The wedding between Usher and his pregnant fiance has been canceled, his publicist told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The wedding between the multiplatinum singer and his longtime girlfriend, Tameka Foster, was scheduled for Saturday. The pair are expecting their first child together sometime this fall.

However, a statement released by publicist Patti Webster exclusively to the AP read: "It was announced today that the wedding ceremony for Usher Raymond, IV and Tameka Foster was canceled. No additional information will be given regarding the circumstances of the cancellation, but we hope the privacy of this matter will be respected."

Foster and Usher announced their engagement earlier this year, and later, that she was expecting his first child. She has three other children from a previous marriage.

Webster would not comment on whether the two were still engaged or even a couple.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The announcement was made today (Saturday)...am I understanding correctly that the wedding was scheduled for today also??? YIKES!

Maybe he didn't want to be a groom. His goal is to be a constant Usher.