Richard Linklater’s monologue used in this video is taken from the commentary track Linklater recorded for his very first film “It’s Impossible to Learn to Plow By Reading Books” which can be found on the Criterion Collection’s set for “Slacker”. I hope the creators of this animated film, The Royal Ocean Film Society, continue this reflective series.
Make Music Day 2019 Returns On Friday, June 21
Make Music Day, the annual global celebration of music occurring on the summer solstice, returns this year on Friday, June 21 with over 5,000 free outdoor concerts, music lessons, jam sessions and other magnificent music-making events being held in more than 80 U.S. cities. A worldwide phenomenon observed by hundreds of millions of people in more than 1,000 cities in 120 countries, the daylong musical free-for-all on June 21 brings musicians of all ages, backgrounds and skill levels together to make, enjoy, perform, teach and learn music. Among the U.S. cities hosting major celebrations are New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Buffalo, Hartford, Madison, Miami, Nashville, Phoenix, Salem (OR) and San Jose – as well as the entire state of Vermont. Additionally, as part of the celebration, iconic buildings and landmarks in participating U.S. cities will glow orange for Make Music Day.
Completely different from a typical music festival, Make Music Day celebrates and promotes the natural music maker in all of us, regardless of ability. Reimagining their cities and towns as stages, every kind of musician – young and old, amateur and professional, of every musical persuasion – pours onto streets, parks, plazas, porches, rooftops, gardens and other public spaces to celebrate, create and share their music with friends, neighbors, and strangers.
Launched in France in 1982 as the Fête de la Musique, Make Music Day is presented in the U.S. by The NAMM Foundation and coordinated by the nonprofit Make Music Alliance. In addition to massive citywide celebrations, Make Music Day will also include smaller festivities in other communities nationwide.
Returning highlights of Make Music Day in the U.S. will include Street Studios in New York, Los Angeles and Stamford, where world-class DJs and producers set up their gear on sidewalks and engage passersby and musicians to join in an entirely improvised music creation session; Sousapaloozas in Chicago, Hartford and Fullerton will bring together hundreds of brass and wind musicians to play the music of “March King” John Philip Sousa; and over 250 Mass Appeals that gather large groups of musicians to participate in impromptu performances using single instruments such as guitars, harmonicas, accordions, ukuleles, bucket drumming, double basses, kazoos, choral singers, and pBuzzes.
New national Make Music Day highlights will include:
- Bands Undercover – Bands from dozens of U.S. cities, including New York, Long Beach (CA) and Montclair, will take to the streets to cover each other’s music, and live stream their performances to each other in a unique musical exchange. The program will connect musicians in distant places through the power of songwriting. All creators of original music are invited to register by April 15 at makemusicday.org/bu-register.
- Drum Set Duos – In Boston, Rochester (MI), St. Petersburg (FL), Salem (OR) and elsewhere, local drum shops will place two full drum sets on the sidewalk or parking lot in front of their store, and have a facilitator sit at one of the sets and invite passersby, students, and professional musicians to take a seat at the other set to join in a spontaneous drum set duo.
- Heart Chant – In Chattanooga (TN), Hartford (CT), New York, Philadelphia, Fullerton (CA) and Appleton (WI), people will come together to perform the Deep Listening® meditation, an offering of sonic healing for all beings through vocalization and listening. The Heart Chant was written by Pauline Oliveros in response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Other events around the U.S. will showcase the musical history and ingenuity of each city including:
- The Industrial Music Roadshow – In Hartford, participants will use artifacts from the New Britain Industrial Museum to create sounds and ultimately music with objects that tell the story of the state’s industrial past.
- Shower Singing – In Portland (ME), participants can embrace their powerful shower singing skills right in the middle of a busy downtown park, where a claw foot tub with a shower curtain will be set up. Inside the shower will be a microphone and amp for people to belt out the lyrics to their favorite songs.
- Macon Downtown Boogie – In Macon (GA), an outdoor showcase of live local talent on stage at 3rd Street Park – including an open mic hour and giveaways – will spotlight the city’s rich musical heritage.
- My San Jose Song – The San Jose Chamber Orchestra is soliciting the submission of original, one-minute musical works of all genres, written by community members and inspired by San Jose as part of the My San Jose Song project. Submissions will be curated by the Chamber Orchestra and performed by a variety of musical groups in the San Jose City Hall Rotunda throughout the day on June 21.
- The Youth Music Summit – In Miami, a daylong gathering of young musician ensembles combines educational workshops with an evening showcase concert.
- World’s Largest M – On the site of the world’s largest “M,” built out of limestone on a hillside in Platteville (WI), participants will play a variety of percussion instruments on each of the 266 steps leading to the top.
- Silent Disco – In Salem, participants will wrap up the local festivities with a silent disco in the city’s downtown alleys.
Many other countries around the world are deepening their Make Music Day involvement in 2019. On June 21, over 1,600 musical events are planned in the U.K., along with 3,000 concerts across 150 cities in China, events in over 1,000 cities and towns in Italy, and the first-ever celebration in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus. Also, famed buildings and landmarks in participating cities worldwide will join their U.S. counterparts in shining orange in honor of Make Music Day.
All Make Music Day events are free and open to the public. Participants who wish to perform, or to host musical events, may register at MakeMusicDay.org. A full schedule of events will be posted on the website in early June.
The Bob Dylan Center will present a new exhibition, Bob Dylan: Face Value and Beyond, beginning May 10 at the city’s acclaimed Gilcrease Museum
The Bob Dylan Center will present a new exhibition, Bob Dylan: Face Value and Beyond, beginning May 10 at the city’s acclaimed Gilcrease Museum. Curated by The Bob Dylan Archive, the exhibition will include the first regional showing of Dylan’s renowned Face Value portrait series, as well as drawings, filmed performances, writings, personal effects and ephemera exclusive to The Archive.
Face Value and Beyond offers an array of fresh avenues to explore the many facets of Bob Dylan’s artistry, enabling audiences to view them as “products of the same extraordinary, inventive imagination,” as art historian John Elderfield recently wrote. Part gallery exhibition, part exploration of the texture and nature of The Archive itself, the works on display will show how the public and private nature of Dylan’s art are often closely linked and part of the same furtive, exploratory mind.
One of the most important cultural figures of our time, Bob Dylan has been creating visual art since the 1960s, but only began exhibiting his work publicly in 2007. The 12 pastel portraits in Face Value represent Bob Dylan’s first public foray into portraiture, having debuted at London’s National Portrait Gallery in 2013 and shown in the U.S. only briefly in 2015. The exhibition will also premiere drawings and sketches from The Bob Dylan Archive, including two recently unearthed Dylan sketchbooks from 1970 and a series of never-before-seen artworks originally created by Dylan for his 1973 book Writings and Drawings, only a fraction of which appeared in that volume or have ever been reproduced in any form.
Bob Dylan: Face Value and Beyond will also feature archival manuscripts and objects exclusive to The Bob Dylan Archive, including hand-written lyrics to some of the artist’s best-known songs that reveal a glimpse into Dylan’s creative process through the artist’s many visible edits. The exhibition will include numerous elements spanning five decades, including two silent Andy Warhol-directed “Screen Tests,” of Dylan, the leather jacket worn by the artist at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 when he famously unveiled his new electric sound, and a wallet and address book from the mid-1960s that contain a number of personal references and effects.
Bob Dylan: Face Value and Beyond runs through Sept. 15. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. For more information, visit gilcrease.org.
Want Customers To Buy More Stuff In Your Store? Play Them Sounds for the Supermarket 1 – Grocery Store Music” from 1975
This is pleasant enough for people to stay in the store and buy more of your stuff.
How The YouTube Algorithm Propelled An Obscure Japanese Song From 1984 Back Into Popularity
Mariya Takeuchi’s sleeper hit Plastic Love and how Youtube’s algorithm (and memes) turned an obscure Japanese song into a modern classic.
Billie Ellish Breaks Apple Music Record With More Than 800,000 Pre-Adds
Today Billie Eilish releases her highly anticipated debut album, accompanied with a brand-new music video for her latest single, “bad guy”.
WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? is out now on all platforms worldwide and features global smashes “bury a friend”, “you should see me in a crown”, “when the party’s over”, and “wish you were gay”, plus 10 previously unheard tracks including Billie’s latest single, “bad guy”, which comes with an official video, directed by MTV VMA-winner (Kendrick Lamar’s “Humble”) Dave Meyers.
Yesterday, Billie Eilish made her Jimmy Kimmel Live! debut and performed “bury a friend” in-front of a live audience. On Monday, April 1 she will be a talking guest and will also be performing live on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (check your local listings).
This weekend, in partnership with Spotify, and curated entirely by the 17-year-old artist, The Billie Eilish Experience boasts a fully immersive, highly visceral “enhanced album experience.” The labyrinth of rooms hosted at The Stalls at Skylight Row in Downtown Los Angeles will converge art, technology and the unexpected, creating a cerebral storytelling experience that is authentically Billie Eilish.
In other news, Billie Eilish shattered Apple Music’s record, amassing more than 800,000 Pre-Adds on the album.
WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? comprises of fourteen tracks that materialize as ghostly genre-less pop projections of life’s firsts for the multi-platinum songstress as she ruminates on her first brushes with loss and love amidst the monsters under her bed and the triumphs at her feet.
“Nobody knows what the fuck dreams are, dude,” she exclaims. “You can’t give me a good enough answer as to what dreams are. Nobody can. Dreams are a big thing in my life though. They’ve always really occupied me. It’s all in the music.” One daydream manifested to set the stage for such provocation. Within three years since her 2015 debut, Billie quietly, yet unapologetically infiltrated the forefront of pop. Along the way, she and her chief collaborator, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and big brother Finneas O’Connell crafted what would become WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?. Keeping the creativity in-house, literally, they retreated back to their childhood home. Once again, they worked in Finneas’s bedroom—two feet from Billie’s room—where the songs not only came to life, but also all of the dreams. “There were a lot of opportunities and things I said no to,” she grins. “We had to do this album our way. I realized how lucky I am to have my brother in this. If I didn’t have him, I would have to figure out what the hell I was doing without someone else there with me!”
“I want people to listen,” she leaves off. “I want to be heard, and I want people to feel heard. Nothing on this album sounds the same, but it all adds up to a whole. Since I first started doing music, my life has changed a lot. One thing that hasn’t changed in my music is that I still just do me.”
Billie Eilish – WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?:
1. !!!!!!!
2. bad guy
3. xanny
4. you should see me in a crown
5. all the good girls go to hell
6. wish you were gay
7. when the party’s over
8. 8
9. my strange addiction
10. bury a friend
11. ilomilo
12. listen before i go
13. i love you
14. goodbye
Photo Gallery: Shaggy at Niagara Falls’ Fallsview Casino
All photos by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her at minismemories@hotmail.com
Streetheart Announce Compilation Album And Release New Single “Nature’s Way” – The Last Song Ever Recorded With Lead Singer Kenny Shields
Fresh off the first leg of their 2019 Canadian tour, Platinum-selling Canadian band Streetheart announce a special compilation album and are releasing their new single today. “Nature’s Way” is the last Streetheart recording featuring lead singer Kenny Shields before his passing in 2017 of heart failure. The performance from Shields carries a poignant weight: “It’s Nature’s Way of receiving you / It’s Nature’s Way of retrieving you / It’s Nature’s Way of telling you / something’s wrong.”
Kenny Shields, along with Daryl Gutheil and Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve, were among the founding members of Streetheart in 1977. The band’s song writing style evolved and with the addition of guitarist Jeff Neill in 1981, Streetheart achieved landmark successes, earning multiple Platinum and Double-Platinum Certifications, induction into the Western Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and a JUNO Award in 1980.
Streetheart’s new compilation album, Life. Legacy. Music., is a celebration of the band’s career that has now spanned over 40 years. In addition to the never-before-released track “Nature’s Way”, the album includes fan favourites such as “Action” (the lead track from their 1978 debut album Meanwhile Back in Paris…), “What Kind Of Love Is This” (the highest-charting single written by the band), “Look In Your Eyes” (from their Double-Platinum self-titled album), “Under My Thumb” (a live show highlight that morphed into the band’s first Gold single), and more.
Life. Legacy. Music. will be released digitally and on CD April 12 . The CD booklet features notes from the band about each track all with collages of memorabilia and personal photos.
This month saw the return of Streetheart to playing live shows after a two-year hiatus to mark and honour the passing of Kenny Shields. Daryl Gutheil, Ken “Spider” Sinnaeve and Jeff Neill have been joined by Paul McNair (Harlequin) on lead vocals and David Langguth (Kim Mitchell/Nelly Furtado) on drums. Kicking off the first leg of their 2019 dates with a hometown show in Winnipeg earlier this month, Streetheart will continue their Life. Legacy. Music. tour throughout Canada this summer.
Streetheart – Life. Legacy. Music.:
Action
Under My Thumb
Here Comes The Night
What Kind Of Love Is This
Teenage Rage
Tin Soldier
Miss Plaza Suite
Snow White
Look In Your Eyes
One More Time
Hollywood (Live)
Nature’s Way
Frank Zappa Hologram To World Premiere New Music With Former Bandmates On “The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa” Hologram Tour
Live music’s premier hologram production company Eyellusion has announced that a who’s who of ZAPPA fan favorite musicians will support “The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa” hologram tour which will make its debut Friday, April 19 at the Capitol Theatrein Port Chester, NY. The nine U.S. shows will be followed with seven European shows and additional dates will be announced in the coming months.
Frank Zappa’s son, Ahmet Zappa and Eyellusion CEO Jeff Pezzuti are co-creators of this lifelike hologram of the late musician.
In 1974, FRANK ZAPPA transformed his Los Angeles rehearsal space into a sound stage and cranked out some unbelievable performances seen and heard only by the camera operators in the room. The audio from these performances–locked away in the ZAPPAvaults for 44 years–will serve as the basis for what will be the world’s most ambitious hologram tour to date. The “can’t miss” concert spectacle is being produced in close cooperation with the ZAPPA FAMILY TRUST.
The “Bizarre World of Frank Zappa” hologram tour band is comprised of former ZAPPAbandmates for this monumental series of shows. The touring unit boasts guitarists Ray White and Mike Keneally, bassist Scott Thunes, multi-instrumentalist Robert Martin, percussionist Ed Mann, and drummer and ZAPPA archivist Joe “Vaultmeister” Travers.
“As a futurist, and hologram enthusiast, Frank fearlessly broke through boundary after boundary as an artist and in honouring his indomitable spirit, we’re about to do it again, 25 years after his passing,” said Ahmet Zappa, EVP of business development for Eyellusionand co-trustee of the ZAPPA FAMILY TRUST.
“We’re excited to world premiere a handful of Frank Zappa compositions; these mind-melting concerts we’re putting together celebrate the music, often surreal imagery and humour synonymous with Frank. We will be pushing the limits of what anyone has seen holographically on stage before in a live venue. Circumstances, objects, places and subject matter from Frank’s songs and imagination will be brought to life for the first time on stage. We are anthropomorphizing Frank’s music utilizing various visual techniques, art styles, classic imagery from his album artwork and characters from his songs, culminating in one extremely bizarre, live music experience.
“My father and I actively discussed 3D and ‘holography’ and it was a concept he actively engaged in. He actually devoted half a chapter of his The Real Frank Zappa Book to this subject. This is a love letter and a journey celebrating the genius artistry of Frank Zappa. On a personal note, I feel like I am finishing something my father started years ago. And let’s not forget, Frank himself will be rocking his fans, alongside his bandmates like nobody’s business.”
The Bizarre World Of Frank Zappa dates:
Fri 4/19 Port Chester, NY Capitol Theater
Sat 4/20 Rochester, NY Kodak Center Theater
Mon 4/22 Red Bank, NJ Count Basie
Wed 4/24 Long Island, NY Paramount Theatre
Fri 4/26 Boston, MA Shubert
Sun 4/28 Albany, NY The Palace Theatre
Wed 05/1 Wilkes Barre, PA Kirby Center
Thu 05/2 Collingswood, NJ Scottish Rite Auditorium
Fri 05/3 Baltimore, MD The Lyric
Thu 5/9 Edinburgh, UK Playhouse
Sat 5/11 Gateshead, UK Sage
Sun 5/12 Manchester, UK Bridgewater Hall
Mon 5/13 Birmingham, UK Symphony Hall
Tue 5/14 London, UK The Palladium
Thu 5/16 Ostend, BEL Kurssal
Fri 5/17 Amsterdam, NLD Rai Theater
Soul Star Maxwell Releases Rare Urban Hang Suite EPs
Soul star Maxwell is releasing a rare set of EPs from his enduring and influential 1996 debut album Urban Hang Suite, comprising multiple versions of the hits that launched his career and re-shaped R&B music in the 1990’s. Beginning March 29th, the five long out of print EPs, will be released every Friday digitally for the first time. On the same day, the singer, songwriter and producer will release a five-song remix EP (+ video and instrumental version) of his latest single “Shame” — his 14th R&B top 10 hit. Maxwell has also confirmed summer performance plans, which include a series of headlining and festival dates.
The five Urban Hang Suite EPs (released via Sony Music’s Certified Classics – Legacy Recordings’ division for the celebration of Sony Music’s Hip-Hop and R&B catalog) comprise a combination of remixes, alternate versions, MTV Unplugged Live tracks, B-sides, dubs, radio edits, and instrumentals and will launch with the star’s first single ”…Til the Cops Come Knockin,” followed by other hits that defined his early career — “Sumthin’ Sumthin,'” “Whenever Wherever Whatever” and “Suitelady (The Proposal Jam).”
Maxwell will also release the SHAME 508 remix EP (via Columbia Records) on March 29 to coincide with his other new material. The EP will have five remixes (Cyril Hahn, Cassady, Wes1), along with a video and an instrumental version.
Release Schedule:
EP 1 – Til the Cops Come Knockin’ plus Shame – 3/29
EP 2 – Ascension No One’s Gonna Love You, So Don’t Ever Wonder/ Seguranca – 4/5
EP 3 – Sumthin’ Sumthin’ – 4/12
EP 4 – Suitelady (The Proposal Jam) – 4/19
EP 5 – Whenever Wherever Whatever – 4/26
Track Listing for Shame 508 RMX EP:
1 – Shame (S508 Cassady Remix)
2 – Shame (W508 Cassady Remix)
3 – Shame (H508 Cyril Hahn Remix)
4 – Shame (H508 Cyril Hahn Remix)
5 – Shame (F508 Wes1 Got It Remix)
6 – Shame (Visual)
7 – Shame (Unsung)
Track Listing for Urban Hang Suite EPs:
EP 1/Til The Cops Come Knockin’/The Urban Theme
1 – Til the Cops Come Knockin’ (Cut)
2 – Til the Cops Come Knockin’ (Unsung)
3 – Til the Cops Come Knockin’ (PT.01) (The Opus)
4 – Til the Cops Come Knockin’ (PT.02) (The Opus)
5 – Til the Cops Come Knockin’ (PT.03) (Uncut) (The Opus)
6 – Lock You Up N’ Love Fa Days (PT.04) (The Opus)
7 – Lock You Up N’ Love Fa Days (PT.05) (Unsung)
8 – Til The Cops Come Knockin’ (Encore Live)
9 – The Urban Theme (Unfaded) (B-Side)
EP 2/Ascension No One’s Gonna Love You, So Don’t Ever Wonder/ Seguranca
1 – Ascension (No One’s Gonna Love You, So Don’t Ever Wonder) [The Tribute] (Cut)
2 – Ascension (No One’s Gonna Love You, So Don’t Ever Wonder) (Uncut)
3 – Ascension (No One’s Gonna Love You, So Don’t Ever Wonder) (Unsung)
4 – Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder) (Cut)
5 – Ascension (Dub Ever Wonder)
6 – Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder) (Unsung)
7 – Ascension (Don’t Ever Wonder) (Encore Live)
8 – Seguranca (B-Side)
EP 3/Sumthin’ Sumthin
1 – Sumthin’ Sumthin’ (Cut)
2 – Sumthin’ Sumthin’ (Unsung)
3 – Sumthin’ Sumthin’ (Mantra) [Uncut]
4 – Sumthin’ Sumthin’ (Mantra) [Unsung]
5 – Sumthin’ Sumthin’ (Mellosmoothe) [Cut]
6 – Sumthin’ Sumthin’ (Mellosmoothe) [Uncut]
EP 4/Suitelady (The Proposal Jam)
1 – Suitelady (The Proposal Jam) (Cut)
2 – Suitelady (The Proposal Jam) (Unsung)
EP 5/Whenever Wherever Whatever
1 – Whenever Wherever Whatever (MTV Unplugged Live)
2 – Whenever Wherever Whatever (Unsung)
3 – Whenever Wherever Whatever (Espanol)
Tour Dates:
March 30 – Atlanta, GA – V103 Live with Kem
April 10 – San Juan, PR – Tom Joyner Fantastic Voyages
May 24 – Indio, CA – Fantasy Springs Resort Casino Event Center
May 25 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion
June 28 – Hampton, VA – Hampton Jazz
July 9 – Chicago, IL – The Ravinia Festival
July 26 – Cincinnati, OH – Cincinnati Music Festival