Posts for 'Music' Category

Well, he's no bikini-girl Katrina Darrell, but Michael Castro still made a splash Wednesday night on "American Idol" for his family ties: the hot pink-haired singer is the brother of last season's sweet-voiced crooner Jason Castro. Castro, 20, showed up for the Kansas City auditions and guess what? He's going to Hollywood! Just like big brother Jason.

The younger Castro performed Gavin DeGraw's "In Love with a Girl" to earn his ticket to the next round – a harder rocking tune than those favored by the elder Castro. Big brother Jason won hearts during Season 7 with his yearning acoustic performances – the highlight being a rendition of the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah," – famously rerecorded by singer Jeff Buckley.

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Wii-gamers in the States are getting pretty fed up with delays from Harmonix, first with delays of Rock Band 2, and now with delays on its DLC.The game was eventually released on Nintendo's platform on 18 December. Three months after the other versions were available.

Now downloadable songs, confirmed in October and promised to arrive alongside the title, are also delayed until some time in 2009. To ease the anger of Rock Band fans swamping forums with Harmonix hate-mail, the company has promised that the content is "in the final testing stages" and will be available "as early in 2009 as possible".

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The 92nd Street Y’s chamber music series began as an East Side echo of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and it has long seemed a paler, or at least homier, version of Lincoln Center’s. But in important ways Chamber Music at the Y has maintained the Chamber Music Society’s original spirit better than the society has.

The society began as a recombinant troupe of “artist members”  the violinist Jaime Laredo, who now directs the Y series, was one  but these days its roster is regularly juggled and expanded, and it sometimes bypasses its members in favor of outside ensembles.

At the Y Mr. Laredo quickly established the trio in which he performs, with the pianist Joseph Kalichstein and the cellist Sharon Robinson (to whom Mr. Laredo is married), as the core ensemble. Members of the trio perform at every concert, with guest players expanding the instrumental palette and keeping the repertory varied.

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PETA came full force after Britney Spears this week for the use of live animals in her recent music video titled ‘Circus’.

“In order to force elephants to perform silly tricks like those in the music video, trainers shock the animals with electric prods or gouge sharp, steel-tipped bull hooks into the most sensitive parts of the elephants’ bodies,” PETA’s press release reads. They then went on to single out the trainers of the elephants saying,”Gary and Kari Johnson … have gone so far as to defend the use of cruel electric prods on elephants.”

Now, the Johnsons are fighting back — insisting that not only do they care deeply about the welfare of their animals, but that an American Humane Association rep was on hand to ensure such treatment. From the article,.

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The Grammy Museum will open downtown this weekend, but on Wednesday night the venerable awards brand was trying to prove it's no relic in this "American Idol" era.The nominations for the 51st Annual Grammy Awards were announced Wednesday not at some early morning news conference  as they have been.

In the past  but sprinkled in a one hour prime-time special featuring performances by Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and other stars singing classic songs at the Nokia Theatre.It was a move that could be considered an entrenchment bid by a show that pulled its third-lowest audience ever this last February and its all-time lowest number in 2006.

We are evaluating everything and, as this new nomination concert show proves, we are very open to doing new things that reach an audience and celebrate music," Recording Academy President Neil Portnow said.

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The British Music Experience will open at the O2 in London in March, and is intended to be a major new attraction.  It will mix costumes and instruments used by top artists, with cutting edge displays designed to bring the last 60 years of British music to life.

Other acts behind the idea include The Who, Oasis, Blur and Paul Weller.  The Who singer Roger Daltrey has loaned the tassled outfit he wore on stage at Woodstock, while Sir Mick Jagger has given an Ossie Clark-designed 1970s jumpsuit.

David Bowie has handed over his Ashes To Ashes clown suit and a classic Ziggy Stardust costume. A vintage dress worn by Amy Winehouse in her Tears Dry On Her Own video and a live DVD will also be seen.

Noel Gallagher's iconic Union Jack guitar will be on show, along with guitars played by Paul Weller, Marc Bolan and Blur. As well as the memorabilia, curators are promising a fully interactive experience. The memorabilia will be accompanied by footage of the objects in action, while fans will be able to explore the history of pop and rock in a series of hi-tech zones.

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The big dog in the music pound, Universal Music Group, says rather than feeling sorry for itself as the music industry’s woes spiral out of control, it has managed to have a good 2008 so far.

Universal’s parent, Vivendi, the French telecoms and media conglomerate, said on Thursday that the world’s largest music company had actually grown revenue by 3.5 percent in the first nine months of 2008 on a constant currency basis to 3.14 billion euros. Though this is a 3.8 percent decline in actual currency.

The company was boosted by growth in music publishing and merchandising following the acquisitions of BMG Music Publishing and Sanctuary in 2007. The company also highlighted a 33 percent increase at constant currency in digital sales and higher license income.  These all helped offset tumbling CD sales, says Universal.

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In light of this performance thesis, the album-by-album discography feels like padding, page space that could have been put to better use cracking other facets of the Dylan enigma, especially since Negus takes a grist-for-the-mill stance on Dylan’s albums, praising and excusing even his weakest discs.

 What could be refreshing revisionism on some albums becomes, taken as a whole, a fawningly worshipful synopsis. And while Negus focuses on Dylan’s influences, specifically his highly allusive music and lyrics, much of this analysis seems to be second-hand, trails tread by the many authors Negus cites with few new footprints added by Negus himself.

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Child prodigy-turned-young virtuoso cellist Chang Han-na is returning to local fans with a new album that carries the works of Venetian Baroque music composer Vivaldi and also a tour with the London Chamber Orchestra.

``Vivaldi was the first artist to make cello concertos during a time when the instrument was still considered only as an accompaniment instrument. In that I thank him and it made me want to go back to the start of cello music. There are actually about 30 cello concertos done by Vivaldi, but they are rarely put on stage,'' Chang said during an interview session Monday.

The 25-year-old seemed pleased to be back home, and was giggling as she talked about her new album and upcoming concert. ``I wanted to understand how he expressed his feelings through his music, instead of working on already well-known classics like `The Four Seasons,''' she added.

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Chris Martin reportedly punched the editor of Q magazine after he made a joke about his wife Gwyneth Paltrow.The Coldplay frontman allegedly lashed out at editor Paul Rees at the magazine's annual awards show earlier this month when Rees made a quip about Gwyneth's ex-fiance Brad Pitt. 

During an acceptance speech at the Q Awards - where Coldplay won the Best Album prize for Viva La Vida, Or Death And All His Friends and were named the Best Act in the World Today - Chris declared his admiration for pop group Girls Aloud.Later in the evening, Paul complimented the singer on his taste in women.

Chris revealed he has such a big crush on Girls Aloud his wife had said he was only allowed to leave her if it was for one of the group.In return, Gwyneth - who dated a string of Hollywood hunks before she married Chris, including Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck and Luke Wilson - had chosen boy band Westlife as her fantasy group.

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