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You left us too soon RIP & GOD BLESS YOU we will miss you
- British rockers Oasis's 1994's Definitely, beat out their heroes
The Beatles to attain the #1 title of the 50 Best British Albums by Q
magazine. Second in line is the Beatles' Revolver. Oasis also beat out such
legends as the Rolling Stones, Bowie and Pink Floyd.
Psycho shower scene wins award
13:52 AEST Fri May 21 2004
AP - In the gore stakes, Janet Leigh's shower scene in Psycho is the "best movie death" of all time, according to a critics' poll published.
The 44-year-old Hitchcock thriller beat other iconic movies such as The Godfather (22nd) and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (23rd) in the non-scientific poll by Total Film magazine.
Charles Hardin Holley, 7 September 1936, Lubbock, Texas, USA,
d. 3 February 1959. Holly was one of the first major rock 'n' roll groundbreakers, and one of its most influential artists. He wrote his own songs, recorded with a self-contained guitar-bass-drums combo, experimented in the studio and even changed the image of what a rock singer could look like: until he came along, the idea of a bespectacled rock idol was unthinkable. Holly's hiccuping vocal style and mature, melodic compositions inspired many of the rockers who would emerge in the 60s and 70s, from the Beatles and Bob Dylan to the Hollies. Later, British singer-songwriter Elvis Costello would emerge with an unabashed Holly-inspired physical appearance. Like many other early rock 'n' rollers, Holly's musical influences included both C&W music and "race" music, or R&B.
Richard Steve Valenzuela, born on 13 May 1941, Pacoima, Los Angeles, California, USA, d. 3 February 1959, Iowa, USA.
Valens was the first major Hispanic-American rock star, the artist who popularized the classic 50s hit "La Bamba". He grew up in the city of Pacoima, California, and was raised in poverty. His parents separated when he was a child and Valens lived with his father until the latter's death in 1951. Afterwards he lived with his mother and brothers and sisters, but occasionally they stayed with other relatives who introduced him to traditional Mexican music. He also enjoyed cowboy songs by Roy Rogers and Gene Autry and began playing in junior high school. It was while attending school that Valens was first exposed to R&B music and rock 'n' roll. In 1956 he joined the Silhouettes (not the group that recorded "Get A Job"), who performed at record hops in the San Fernando Valley area. Valens also performed solo and was heard by Bob Keane of Del-Fi Records, who took him into Gold Star Studios to record several songs. (Keane also shortened the singer's name from Valenzuela to Valens and added the "t" to Richie.)
Jiles Perry Richardson, born on 24 October 1930, Sabine Pass, Texas, USA d. 3 February 1959, USA. After working as a disc jockey in Beaumont, Richardson won a recording contract with Mercury Records, releasing two unsuccessful singles in 1957. The following year, under his radio moniker "The Big Bopper", he recorded the ebullient "Chantilly Lace", a rock 'n' roll classic, complete with blaring saxophone and an insistent guitar run. However, it was scheduled to be the b-side, backed with the satirical "The Purple People Eater Meets The Witch Doctor"; the disc was a transatlantic hit. The follow-up, "Big Bopper's Wedding", underlined the singer's love of novelty and proved popular enough to win him a place on a tour with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens. On 3 February 1959, a plane carrying the three stars crashed, leaving no survivors. Few of Richardson's recordings were left for posterity, though there was enough for a posthumous album, Chantilly Lace, which included the rocking "White Lightning". In 1960, Johnny Preston offered the ultimate valediction by taking the Big Bopper's composition "Running Bear" to number 1 on both sides of the Atlantic.
August 16, 1977 - The King is dead. Elvis Presley dies in
his Memphis mansion, Graceland.
According to Presley's girlfriend, Ginger Alden,
she awoke in the afternoon and noticed he was not in bed.
She found in lying on the floor of the bathroom. Efforts to
resuscitate him were unsuccessful and at 3:30 p.m. he was
pronounced dead. According to reports, the death resulted from
coronary arrhythmia. Within the next couple of days, the death
becomes one of the biggest media events in the past twenty years.
It also sparks debates on whether or not the death was staged and
if he was still alive and well. Within a few hours after the
announcement, thousands of fans are enroute to Memphis to pay
their respects. BR>
Elvis Presley was 42.
Never-Heard Elvis Song Set for Release Oct. 7
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -
More than a quarter-century after his death, Elvis Presley
has something new to get his fans all shook up.
A never-before-released song recorded by Presley nearly 40 years
ago was recently unearthed and will be issued this fall by RCA Records
as part of a new collection of favorites from the King of Rock 'n' Roll,
the label said on Friday.
The announcement comes on the eve of the 26th anniversary of Presley's death,
on Aug. 16, 1977, at age 42.
It was on Aug 14th, back in '65 that Pop duo Sonny and
Cher began a three week run at the TOP of the Pop singles chart
with 'I Got You Babe'.
Sonny Bono had also written 'Needles and Pins', a tune which made it
to the TOP of the charts in the UK the previous year for "The
Searchers". Cher has covered the song on many occasions.
Sonny Bono served in Congress as a Representative from California
for much of the '90s but died tragically in a skiing accident in
Colorado in May of 1998.
Cher, of course, continues to release Hits 38 years from when she
and Sonny first burst onto the Pop music scene in the sixties!
If you'd like a little "walk down memory lane", here's a site with a
lot of good stuff about the old "Sonny and Cher Show" on TV:
Here's their bio feature on the VH-1 site, it's a fine and brief
summary of their career as a musical act:
Bio's at VH1
By: Bulldog Ben - in soggy Florida...
The Rolling Stones played to a crowd
estimated at half a million in Toronto
July 30, 2003
Fate of Dylan film is blowin' in the wind
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
Reviews of Masked and Anonymous are mixed and unanimous. Bob Dylan fans draw parallels to Shakespeare, Godard and Brecht. Film critics declare it pompous, indecipherable and aimless.
The opposing camps bring to mind another film: Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, in which witnesses reconstruct a crime from strikingly different recollections.
Sting Pleased With Commander Of The British Empire Honor
Tue Jul 8, 5:00 AM ET
LAUNCH Radio Networks
Sting has had plenty of awards during his career, from Grammys (news - web sites) to his induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with the Police. However, Sting said that his most recent prize--a Commander Of The British Empire designation from Queen Elizabeth--is particularly special.
"There are no military powers or duties attached to it, so I'm pretty relaxed about it, Sting says. It was pretty amazing. I mean, you don't set off from Newcastle with a bag of songs and a guitar case, and expect to be Commander Of The British Empire one day. (chuckles)"
Sting has set a September 23 release date for his next album, Sacred Love. The first single, which is called "Send Your Love," will be released later this month.
In conjunction with the album release, Sting and his band recorded a DVD featuring the new music at the Mayan Theatre in downtown Los Angeles. The DVD is due out in October.
Also in October, the A&E cable network will air a program on the making of the album.
Sting (b. Gordon Sumner, Oct. 2, 1951, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England)
once a part of the enormously popular British rock trio the Police,
one of the most famous bands of the '80s.
Beside writing a memorable string of hit singles and albums between 1979-83, (with the No. 1 song "Every Breath You Take") and the 1983's hugely successful Synchronicity, the one-time schoolteacher turned pop star regularly appeared in such films such as Quadrophenia (1979), Brimstone And Treacle (1982), Dune (1984), The Bride and Plenty (both 1985). It surprised few then when, as the band's primary singer-songwriter, he finally opted to record his own solo album, 1985's platinum-selling The Dream Of The Blue Turtles.
By Dave DiMartino
http://launch.yahoo.com/artist/artistFocus.asp?artistID=1025801
SOUTH AFRICA: Rock legend pledges HIV/AIDS funds
JOHANNESBURG, 6 June (IRIN) - US rock legend Carlos Santana has joined the battle in South Africa against HIV/AIDS, the South African Press Association (SAPA) reported on Friday.
Santana pledged more than US $3 million from his upcoming US "Shaman" concert tour to help tackle the country's HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Some 600 South Africans per day die from AIDS-related illnesses, while another 1,600 contract HIV.
Santana said the money would be donated to the "Amandla AIDS Fund" of Artists for a New South Africa (ANSA).
ANSA confirmed it would use the money to purchase antiretroviral drugs and prevent new infections through education.
Zeppelin: How the Charts Were Won
By David Jenison - June 4, 2003
It's been a long time, but Zeppelin still knows how to rock 'n' roll...at least at the cash registers.
Led Zeppelin's new three-CD live set, How the West Was Won just became the group's sixth album to top the charts, a feat nearly a quarter-century in the making. Zeppelin, which broke up 23 years ago following the death of drummer John last topped the charts in 1979 with In Through the Out Door and previously issued just one official live album, 1976's The Song Remains the Same. Zep's hugely anticipated new live offering cobbles together material from 1972 shows at the Los Angeles Forum and Long Beach Arena in anticipation of Houses of the Holy.
How the West Was Won moved 154,000 copies for the week ended Sunday, according to SoundScan numbers. The related two-disc Led Zeppelin DVD likewise topped the video sales chart with almost 120,000 copies sold. This sets a new record for music video sales, nearly doubling the previous record owned by Paul McCartney's Back in the U.S.
Van Morrison, Patti LaBelle, Little Richard To Be Honored By Songwriters Hall Of Fame
Wed May 21,10:00 AM ET
LAUNCH Radio Networks
Van Morrison, Patti LaBelle and Little Richard
will be honored by the Songwriters Hall Of Fame at their 34th Annual induction and awards dinner on June 12 in New York City. Morrison and Little Richard are among this year's inductees while LaBelle will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the organization.
"I love rock and roll," Little Richard said. "When I play my dates in person, I sing 'Tutti Frutti' the same as I did when I recorded it years ago. I sing 'Long Tall Sally,' 'Slippin' And Slidin'' it, 'Rip It Up,' 'Ready Teddy,' the same as I did many years back. And I don't sing it like it's something old--I sing it like it's a hit now."
Other special honors include the presentation of the first "Towering Performance Award" to Tony Bennett
for his 1962 classic, "I Left My Heart In San Francisco."
Songwriter Jimmy Webb
will receive the Johnny Mercer
Award for his body of work, which includes Glen Campbell's "By The Time I Get To Phoenix"
and "Wichita Lineman," the 5th Dimension's
"Up, Up And Away," and "MacArthur Park" by the late Richard Harris
The National Academy Of Popular Music/Songwriters Hall Of Fame is the organization dedicated to recognizing the work and lives of those composers and lyricists who create popular music around the world. We are kings & queens !
Rock, Older Buyers Rule in Depressed Music Market
Thu May 15, 6:08 PM ET
By Sue Zeidler
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) Rock and roll never dies, but it's getting older.
According to a survey by the Recording
Industry Association of America (news -
web sites), rock held steady as the most
popular genre in 2002 while those over
age 45 emerged as the steadiest music buyers
in a depressed market.
The survey, released on Thursday,
also found that 2002 was the first year
that more CDs were sold at discount
department stores and consumer electronics
outlets than specialty record stores.
Earlier this year, the RIAA reported that
year-end shipments of CDs, DVDs and tapes
totaled $12.6 billion in 2002, down 8 percent
from $13.7 billion in 2001.
The RIAA survey found that consumers
aged 10 to 14 years old represented 8.9
percent of the market, compared with 8.5
percent in 2001.
Purchases by fans 45 and up rose to 25.5 percent
from 23.7 percent a year earlier, the survey said.
Rock reigned as the music purchased most,
representing 24.7 percent of the market,
the survey said, followed by rap or hip-hop and
urban/R&B recordings.
Purchases at outlets other than specialty
music stores grew from 42.4 percent in 2001
to 50.7 percent in 2002, the survey said.
The RIAA represents the world's major record
labels, including AOL Time Warner, EMI Group
Plc (news - web sites), Bertelsmann AG,
Vivendi Universal Universal Music and Sony Corp.
Peter D. Hart Research Associates conducted
the survey of more than 3,000 music consumers
in the United States.
DR TYLER!
Rock and Roll legend Steven Tyler, center,
receives an honorary Doctor of Music degree
from Provost Harry Chalmiers, left, and college
President Lee Eliot Berk, during Berklee College of Music's
2003 commencement, Saturday, May 10, 2003,
in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
FACTS OR FICTIONS?
(You tell me!)
Expensive .... or Great Investment?
Jimi Hendrik's Fender Stratocaster that he played on at Woodstock
went on auction and sold at $325,000 in 1990
Now it is on view at the Experience Music Project in Sealte after being bought privatelyu for $2.2 million.
Number of number one hits recorded by
Elvis 18
The Beatles 25
Big Crosby 38
Sources: Playboy
The Women stars took center stage and lead a benefit at the singer-songwriter tradition.
The all-female performers represented rock, pop, country, blues, and R&B, performed Wednesday evening on November 13, at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles for Stormy Weather. This is a secon year fund-raiser benefit concert for Don Henley's Walden Woods Project. The beautiful and brilliant performers includes Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, Reba McEntire, Trisha Yearwood, Sheryl Crow, Norah Jones, Paula Cole, Deborah Cox, Susan Tedeschi and Michelle Branch.
The 10 women singer-songwriter, true to their tradition, each given time for a couple of songs with a 60-piece orchestra
Each woman performed two songs, except for Mitchell, who closed the show with three numbers. Many of the participants also saluted one of their favorite songwriters.
The Walden Woods Project works to preserve and protect from development the forests around Concord, Massachusetts
You can find out more about the Walden Woods project at http://www.walden.org
Since 1973 debute of his album Greetings From Asbury Park, New Jersey , Springsteen's music has shifted from prose, wordy, pop rock, to hard-driving rock 'n' roll, and to its current, deliberately threadbare lyrical style.
On July 30th Springsteen released his latest album, The Rising. It is his first "studio" rock release since 1992's "Human Touch" and "Luckytown" and his first effort with the full E Street Band since 1984's.
The 52-year-old singer and his longtime sidekicks, the E Street Band, released his new album with a song "The Rising" which dedicated to the September 11 victims. He also appeared on the Today's Show in Ashbury Park on Tuesday, July 30th, 2002. He will appear on the David Lettersman's show on Friday, August 2, 2002.
-A sad news for The Boss's fan: The 116-year-old Palace Amusements complex, a Jersey seashore
landmark popularized in the Boss' hit "Born To Run."
Despite numerous attempts by Springsteen to stop it,
the landmark will get the wrecking ball in a few months.
The Stone Pony rock venue, where Bruce and his E-Street
band used to play surprise shows, will also be demolished
along with the rest of the palace, all to be replaced
by waterfront condos.
Bruce Springsteen's Lyrics
On August 5, 1957, "American Bandstand," hosted by Dick Clark, made it's network debut on "ABC". American Bandstand Anniversary
Elizabeth Taylor, Sir Paul McCartney, Chita Rivera, actor James Earl Jones and James Levine, the former artistic director of New York's Metropolitan Opera House--have been selected to come together to receive the 2002 Kennedy Center Honors.
Hall Of Fame The Monkees What are they up to?
"In the beginning I was scared, but over the years .
I've come to peace with it, and I think Ronnie's proud of what we're doing today." Johnny Van Zant
In The Beginning . . .
The core of the band, Ronnie Van Zant (Vocals),.
Allen Collins (Guitar) and Gary Rossington (Guitar) .
formed their first union in the late 60s,
in a project called "My Backyard." After just a short time, Leon Wilkeson showed up and assumed bass duties and Billy Powell sat in on keys. The band's famous, perplexing name was actually a back-handed salute to
a tormenting gym teacher named Leonard Skinner,
who wasn't always kind to long-hair types. The name was morphed into Lynyrd Skynyrd, they added drummer Bob Burns and set off to rock the south!
Although they had played together for several years, the band received its first record deal in 1972, and set about making their debut .
album "Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd" with their third guitarist, Ed King
Robert Plant The former Zeppelin frontman is back on tour.
He kicked off a series of solo gigs July 20,.
and Friday
he performs the first of a month's worth of dates with The Who..
The twofold tour (solo dates resume in early September).
is tied to last week's release of Dreamland,.
Plant's first solo album in nine years, .
which entered the album chart at No. 40 this week.
Paul and Heather's Wedding Who is Heather Mills?
Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney's U.S. tour has been the most lucrative of the year so far, with his 27 concerts in 20 cities raking in US$52.8 million in ticket sales.
Playing his first American tour in a decade, Sir Paul received good reviews and ovations for shows featuring a string of hits.
The Rolling Stones perform at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore, India, Friday,
April 4, 2003. The band is scheduled to perform in Bombay on April 7.
(AP Photo/Punit Modhgil)
War Horses
The Rolling Stones 2002-2003 World Tour
The Rolling Stones will hit the road on their new World Tour beginning in the U.S. The World Tour 2002/2003 will launch September 3 in Boston at the Fleet Center. As of today, their ticket sales SKYROCKET PAST 500,000. The Rolling Stones hold the all-time record for the three most attended tours of all time, "Bridges to Babylon," "Steel Wheels" and "Voodoo Lounge".
2002-2003 Concert Tour dates
July 1: Stones documentary on German TV
The Dolezal-Rossacher Production Let It Bleed - 40 Jahre Rolling Stones was broadcasted by German TV channel ARTE on Sunday July 14th at 20:40 - 23:15.
In memory of the late Beatle, surviving moptops Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr reunited for a benefit concert set for London's Royal Albert Hall on November 29, the first anniversary of his death.
The all-star tribute was organized by Harrison's wife, Olivia, son Dhani, and longtime friend and fellow guitarist Eric Clapton and will feature performances from good pals over the years, including Traveling Wilbury members Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, Indian sitar legend Ravi Shankar, guitarist Joe Brown, former Squeeze keyboardist Jools Holland, and drummer Jim Keltner. Eonline News
Elizabeth Taylor, Sir Paul McCartney, Chita Rivera, actor James Earl Jones and James Levine, the former artistic director of New York's Metropolitan Opera House--have been selected to come together to receive the 2002 Kennedy Center Honors.
Hall Of Fame
Troy
Shondell, Glen Glenn, Ray Peterson, - Three great Rock
and Rollers from our past .
"Tell Laura That I Love Her" - "Corina,
Corina"
We just received 2 books (to review) from Random House and
we are very excited and anxious to review them. Thumbed
through one of the books, "Ready Steady Go! The Smashing
Rise and Giddy Fall Of Swinging London" by Shawn Levy.
It is about Swinging London in the 60's, the place,
as the author stated, where the modern world began.
The other book that we received is "Long Strange Trip,
The Inside History of The Grateful Dead", by Dennis McNally.
Good timing as well as the Deadheads and band are in
East Troy, Wis. today and Sunday for a two-day weekend
Family Reunion concert. This is The Grateful Dead's
first major reunion since Jerry Garcia died in 1995.
Graceland expects thousands of Elvis Presley fans who will be sporting wigs, jewels trimmed white suits and blue suede shoes, to rock, rattle and roll their way to Presley's famed mansion this week on the 25th anniversary of his death. The also expected fans with candles and tributes, will file past his grave in the garden of his white-columned home on the outskirts of Memphis. The throngs of crowds started filling in from Thursday-Friday, August, 8th -9th and will probably stretch into the early morning hours of Aug. 16th, the date in 1977 Presley died of a drug-induced heart attack at age 42. (Reuters Graphic)
In observance of the 25th anniversary of Presley's death, the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, Maine, will present a two-hour musical tribute, ``The Concert That Never Happened,'' on Aug. 17, 2002, featuring Elvis impersonator Jack Smink. Presley, who died Aug. 16, 1977, was scheduled to perform at the Civic Center Aug. 17 and Aug. 18, 1977. (AP Photo/File)
Elvis and Priscilla Presley cut their wedding cake after exchanging nuptials in the Aladdin Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas in this 1967 photo. (AP Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau)
Esquire Men's magazine said on Friday that it will run a page of quotes in an upcoming issue that were culled from a handful of previously unseen interviews the entertainer gave from 1954 to 1972. (REUTERS) October 2, 2002
Elvis Top the the charts of 17 different countries.
Elvis Beats the Beatles Nearly twenty-five years after his death, Elvis Presley is Number One again in the U.K. A remix of his "A Little Less Conversation" by Dutch DJ JXL claimed the top spot on the British singles charts, bringing the King's total of chart-topping hits to eighteen, one more than the Beatles' current tally.
The song, which Elvis recorded for the 1968 film Live a Little, Love a Little was remixed with the original vocals intact for a Nike World Cup soccer-themed commercial. The song was also featured in last year's Ocean's 11. When the new single, retitled "Elvis vs. JXL -- A Little Less Conversation," was released last week, it sold nearly 70,000 copies on the first day.
The track will be released in the U.S. on June 25th.
AUGUSTIN SEDGEWICK
(June 18, 2002) Elvis Beats The Beatles
