Posts for 'Music' Category

It's not every day that a commercial broadcaster clears a week's worth of prime time scheduling for a 73-year-old break dancer who goes by the name of "Grand Master Fred", a man who bites chunks out of apples as he juggles them and a Greek-Cypriot father and son Riverdance tribute routine.

But then it's not very often such acts bring in 50 percent of Britain's television audience and millions of advertising revenue in the depths of a recession.

Every night this week, barring Wednesday's Champion's League final, up to 13 million people will tune in to ITV to watch the final stages of this year's Britain's Got Talent which culminates in a grand finale this Saturday.

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 Paula Abdul makes use of auto-tune and electronic synthesizers in her musical comeback titled “I’m Just Here For The Music”. Listen to the first single from Paula Abdul’s comeback album and photos below. Paula Abdul’s “I’m Just Here For The Music” debuted yesterday during Ryan Seacrest’s radio show. The bass thumping dance track was co-written by Danielle Brisebois and Wayne Rodrigues and produced by Oliver Lieber, who helped create Paula’s 1988 album “Forever Your Girl”.

“I’m Just Here for the Music” may sound familiar to many as a remake of a track that was never released, but leaked, from Kylie Minogue’s 2003 Body Language album. In support of her new single, Abdul will be performing tonight on American Idol. About her upcoming performance, Paula says.

MERE adjectives can’t seem to justify Wang Lee Hom’s mind-blowing performance at the Music Man Live in Malaysia concert at the Bukit Jalil National Stadium last Saturday.

The American-born Taiwan-based artiste was in top form and lived up to his reputation as Music Man as he flaunted his vocals and musical skills on the piano, guitar, violin and drums.

The crowd went into a frenzy when Wang descended from the top with his Chinese-ink painting guitar and kick-started the concert with fast numbers What’s Rock with Rock and W-H-Y, which set the tone for the evening.

The dashing singer then morphed into Music Man and wielded his prized possession – the Bahamut, the custom made G-Clef Dragon-shaped electric guitar. “I have a friend who came all the way from Ireland, let us hear him roar,” he said when introducing his Bahamut.

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As the Classical Brit Awards whip up publicity ahead of this month’s shindig at the Royal Albert Hall in London, annual debates are reignited about the origins, legitimacy and future of that most provocative of music genres: crossover.

Given its current popularity it seems strange to trace, as some have, the phenomenon back to the obscure prog rock output of the late 1960s and 1970s. Of course, its genesis wasn’t quite so clear-cut. So-called rock opera evolved simultaneously, followed by dubious novelties such as Malcolm McLaren’s Fans, an album that includes a techno-tribute to Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.

In which Pinkerton’s rap account of his holiday fling is intertwined with “Un bel di vedremo” (“Cio-Cio San was her name/ And this is her tale of woe/ Take it away Cio- Cio ... ”). But it was the unlikely pairing of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury and the voluminous soprano Montserrat Caballé that launched the mainstream crossover genre and, incidentally, established its long-running association with sport, with their duet ahead of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

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Back to Bacharach and David, the revue of Burt Bacharach and Hal David songs at the The Music Box @ Fonda, feels less like a theatrical performance than an episode of American Idol -- and that's due only partially to the fact that it features two former Idol contestants.

The real reason is that no cohesion is given by co-directors Kathy Najimy and Steve Gunderson, and there's even less sense of character than found in jukebox musicals like Smokey Joe's Cafe and Swing!, making the evening ultimately feel far too repetitive.

Admittedly, some of the duo's songs are presented in interesting ways, such as "Close To You" as a harmony vocal number in a method that Manhattan Transfer would use, while. "Are You There With Another Girl" is presented as a three-act play about a woman who suspects her boyfriend of three-timing her.

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With the summer music festival season just around the corner, leading international festival producers insist that the difficult economic climate isn't putting a serious crimp on business, and key promoters report that ticket sales are on par with years past.

"We're not feeling it yet," says AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips, whose company produces large U.S. festivals like Coachella, Stagecoach, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Mile High and All Points West, among others. "I'm not saying we won't eventually, but the festival business is tremendous value for the money in terms of the show and what you get."

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Country newcomer Jamey Johnson beat out veterans like George Strait and Brad Paisley in nabbing the first honour at the Academy of Country Music Awards on Sunday, winning song of the year for his poignant hit about an old man looking back on his life, Living in Colour.

Australia’s Keith Urban is up for three awards, including entertainer of the year, at the awards ceremony in Las Vegas on Sunday night. Urban is up against Strait, Paisley, Kenny Chesney and Carrie Underwood for the entertainer of the year award - the night’s top trophy.

The show will feature appearances by Urban, Chesney and the other entertainer nominees. The ceremony began by featuring country’s top superstars in a medley of hits anchored by Brooks & Dunn’s Play Something Country.

It included Taylor Swift’s fiery Picture to Burn, Sugarland’s It Happens, Underwood’s All American Girl and Rascal Flatts’ Me and My Gang. Rascal Flatts was an early award winner, taking out the award for top vocal group of the year.

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As Michael Jackson was born of his mother’s womb while filming a Pepsi commercial with his hair on fire, his main thought was probably about how he’d one day like to inflict that same pain onto his own child. And now he finally will.

As everybody who enjoys watching glittery skeletons dance all about already knows, MJ is having a series of big comeback gigs this summer - and he’s reportedly decided to use the opportunity to launch the career of his 12-year-old son Prince Michael I.

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The DJ is the most important thing in music right now," will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas said in Miami on Saturday as the throb of the Ultra Music Festival vibrated the press tent around him. "In Europe, Australia, Brazil, Los Angeles and New York, electronic dance music really has this new inspirational energy. It reminds me of what hip-hop was in the 1980s."

The Peas chose Ultra, the massive, two-day flagship finale of the annual Winter Music Conference, to play "Boom Boom Pow," their new beat-driven single, being released digitally today. In terms of A-list talent in Miami, they weren't alone: Although DJs and dance-music mavens have been flocking to the WMC for decades now, this year hip-hop was in the house.

Producer Timbaland DJ'ed on Ultra's main stage Saturday. Diddy -- who has been threatening to make a trance album for at least seven years now -- had a spin-off against Felix da Housecat at the Miami Beach nightclub Cameo on Friday night.

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Harvey Geller, a music journalist, popular music historian and folk lyricist who wrote "Blue Water Line," died on Thursday. He was 86. Geller died of pneumonia at a hospital in Woodland Hills, said his daughter Alix Geller.

The Kingston Trio, the Brothers Four and the River City Ramblers recorded Geller's songs, including "Blue Water Line," "Charleston Town," "Mark Twain" and "Deep Blue Sea."After serving in the Army at the end of World War II in Europe, Geller got his start as a song plugger in New York City. He moved to California in 1958.

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