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‘Springsteen On Broadway’ Pop-Up Store Set For December 14 + 15

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Bruce Springsteen is opening a ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ pop-up retail store on December 14 and 15, commemorating the final two performances of Tony Award winner Bruce Springsteen’s historic 236-show run at Jujamcyn’s Walter Kerr Theatre.Located at the Crowne Plaza Times Square Hotel adjacent to the Walter Kerr, the pop-up store will mark the first opportunity to purchase the official 2 CD ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ soundtrack album, out December 14, and will feature all of the merchandise sold in-theater during the show’s run. The soundtrack album consists of the complete audio from the ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ Netflix release, launching globally on December 16 at 12:01 AM PT / 3:01 AM ET.

‘SPRINGSTEEN ON BROADWAY’ POP-UP STORE:
Friday, December 14, 4PM – 11PM
Saturday, December 15, 12PM – 11PM
LOCATION: Crowne Plaza Times Square Hotel, 1601 Broadway (at 48th Street), 5th Floor, Suite 502

Based on his worldwide best-selling autobiography ‘Born to Run,’ ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ is a unique evening with Bruce, his guitar, a piano, and his very personal stories. ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ began previews on October 3, 2017 and the completely sold-out series of performances officially opened October 12. The show was extended three times after its initial eight-week run, and will close on Broadway on December 15.

The ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ soundtrack album will be available December 14 on 2 CDs as well as a digital download and on streaming services. The album will feature each of the songs and stories from the show, with the stories labelled as “introductions” to the song they precede. The audio for ‘Springsteen on Broadway’ was mixed by the legendary Bob Clearmountain and mastered by the acclaimed Bob Ludwig.

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings announces eclectic 2019 schedule

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Smithsonian Folkways Recordings 2019 release schedule features voices both new and familiar, including a pair of collaborative albums conceived by prominent musicians, one co-produced by Rhiannon Giddens, and the other helmed by Laurie Anderson. Other highlights of the revitalized label’s releases for the first six months of the year include: insurgent folk trio Lula Wiles’ Folkways debut, vinyl re-issues of recordings from three singular female musicians Lucinda Williams, Elizabeth Cotten and Mary Lou Williams and monumental box sets dedicated to Pete Seeger and ‘The Social Power of Music.’

January 25 – Lula Wiles – ‘What Will We Do’ 

On ‘What Will We Do,’ Lula Wiles channel infectious energy and bold insight into music that strikes with purpose. The band fosters contradiction, embracing the spirit of traditional American music, yet unflinchingly calling into question the virtues of the culture that produces it— country songs that shine a light on a country’s crimes; love songs about being alone; murder ballads that challenge the standards of morality. Lula Wiles exist in the tense space where tradition and revolution meet, from which their harmonies rise into the air to create new American music.

February 22 – Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell – ‘Songs of Our Native Daughters’

‘Songs of Our Native Daughters’ gathers together kindred musicians Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, and Allison Russell in song and sisterhood to communicate with their forebears. Drawing on and reclaiming early minstrelsy and banjo music, the Native Daughters collaborators reclaim, recast, and spotlight the often unheard and untold history of their ancestors, whose stories remain vital and alive today. The material on Songs of Our Native Daughters – written and sung in various combinations — is inspired by New World slave narratives, discrimination and how it has shaped our American experience, as well as musicians such as Haitian troubadour Althiery Dorval and Mississippi Hill Country string player Sid Hemphill, and more.

February 22 – ‘The Social Power of Music’

From parties to protests to prayer, music is a powerful catalyst for celebration, for change, and for a sense of community. Through making music together, we become bigger than ourselves. Whether singing with our families and friends or with thousands of strangers in an arena, music transforms lives, engages individuals, and connects local and global communities.  ‘The Social Power of Music’ chronicles the vivid, impassioned, and myriad ways in which music binds, incites, memorializes, and moves groups of people. This richly illustrated 124-page book, with 80+ tracks on 4 CDs, invites listeners into musical practices, episodes, and movements throughout the U.S. and beyond. These songs of struggle, devotion, celebration, and migration remind us that music has the potential to change our world.

March 1 – Smithsonian Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series – Lucinda Williams ‘Happy Woman Blues,’ Elizabeth Cotten ‘Folksongs and Instrumentals with Guitar,’ and Mary Lou Williams ‘Mary Lou Williams’

April 5 – Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Choegyal, and Jesse Paris Smith – ‘Songs of the Bardo from the Tibetan Book of the Dead’ 

An understanding of death is essential to Tibetan culture and Buddhist practice, but mortality is universal. Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead, an ancient text used to usher practitioners through the interval between death and rebirth, ‘Songs of the Bardo’ is a spiritual collaboration and sonic experience by visionary artists Laurie Anderson, Tenzin Choegyal, and Jesse Paris Smith. The words have continued to offer a guiding hand through life’s most feared transformation, and on this album, the musicians create an utterly mesmerizing soundscape to allow the listener the wide-open space and flexibility to contemplate and meditate on their own path through this life.

May 3 – Pete Seeger – ‘The Smithsonian Folkways Collection’

He was a singer, a rebel, and a voice of the people. With a banjo and a selfless dedication to justice and the transformative power of music, he inspired all of humanity to question the status quo, to sing out and speak up against oppression wherever they witnessed it. His body of work reflects a deep reverence for the earth and all of those who walk on it; you can hear it in his voice and in the voices of the thousands of people who sang and continue to sing with him every day.

‘Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection’ is a career-spanning anthology of one of America’s most quintessential, celebrated, and influential musicians. Featuring classic recordings, 20 previously unreleased tracks, historic live performances, and special collaborations, this set encompasses over 60 years of Pete’s Folkways catalog, released on the occasion of his 100th birthday. 6 CDs and a 200-page extensively annotated and illustrated book.

Alec Benjamin Announces 2019 North American Headline Tour

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Atlantic recording artist Alec Benjamin has officially announced his second North American headline tour. Dubbed “The Outrunning Karma Tour,” dates get underway March 29th in San Francisco, CA and will continue through early May with a finale show at Los Angeles, CA’s historic El Rey Theatre. Tickets go on sale Friday, December 14th at 10am local time. There will be a special presale for fans on Wednesday, December 12th at 1pm EST.

The “Outrunning Karma Tour” announce comes on the heels of the final show in Benjamin’s first-ever U.S. headline tour, which just ended Saturday night in Alec’s hometown of Phoenix, AZ and sold out every date well in advance, a huge feat for the rising singer-songwriter. Benjamin will also appear at a number of upcoming radio-sponsored holiday concerts across the country, including NEW 102.7’s Holiday in NEW York Featuring Charlie Puth, set for NYC’s historic Bacon Theatre on December 13th. 2019 will kick Alec’s nearly sold-out debut headline tour of Europe and the United Kingdom, set to begin in January. See full routing below.

Only a few weeks ago, Benjamin released his highly-anticipated mixtape NARRATED FOR YOU. The 12-track collection has received praise from fans and critics alike, with both THE NEW YORK TIMES and TIME applauding fan favorite “The Water Fountain” on release day.  NARRATED FOR YOU includes the chart-climbing single lead single, “Let Me Down Slowly,” which has accumulated over 110 million global streams to date. The single has drawn critical applause akin to its popular reception, with Blackbook hailing it as “a stunningly visceral new single,” and praising Benjamin’s “youthful but compelling vocal delivery” and “gift for lyrical complexity.” “‘Let Me Down Slowly’ condenses (Benjamin’s) obvious songwriting talent into something potent and gut-wrenching,” raved Idolator. Alec’s visually compelling companion visuals for mixtape tracks “Let Me Down Slowly,” “If We Have Each Other,” and “Boy In The Bubble” have amassed nearly 20 million collective views on YouTube

In addition to love from fans and critics, Benjamin has begun to garner support from other musicians, including Billie Eilish, Meghan Trainor and one of his biggest inspirations, John Mayer. After declaring Alec a “young Jedi” for his songwriting craft, Mayer invited him onto his Instagram Live TV show called “Current Mood,” this past Sunday. The two performed Alec’s songs “Death Of A Hero” and “Annabelle’s Homework” live on Mayer’s Instagram to his over 3.7 million followers.

Alec Benjamin simply refers to himself as a “narrator.” Inspired by Eminem, Paul Simon, and Citizen Cope, the Phoenix-born, Los Angeles-based songwriter fashioned a cinematic, lo-fi sound that stirred up a buzz online right out of the gate, landing him a major label deal by the age of 18. A day after he turned in his first album, he was dropped by the label he thought would take his artist project to the moon. However, it was going to take a lot more to stop him. Alec immediately hit the road for a self-booked European tour in May 2016. He performed “parking lot shows” for fans outside of Shawn Mendes and Troye Sivan concerts, handing out business cards to leave a tangible keepsake for those listening and building his brand from the ground up.

Shortly after the tour, he jumped in the studio with Jon Bellion and ended up earning a co-write on the pop star’s debut album, “New York Soul (Part II). This session would also open the door for Alec to join Bellion on tour directly after. With an insatiable urge to rise to the top, the tenacious prodigy found himself back performing in parking when he wasn’t on-stage opening for Bellion. Knowing that some of those fans would search for him after the performances, Alec made it his mission to consistently uploaded one new song every two weeks to his YouTube channel and build a catalog his fans could listen to. Within the span of six months, he logged over 165 shows and amassed 150K YouTube subscribers simply through perseverance and a D.I.Y. attitude. Alec managed to hit even bigger strides in 2017 when his viral hit “I Built A Friend” ignited online, clocking nearly four million Spotify streams in under a year and earning airplay for millions of Americans on the national TV show, America’s Got Talent. While his story is certainly one of a kind, Alec’s narrative is only just beginning.

 

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ALEC BENJAMIN – LIVE DATES
EUROPEAN & UK HEADLINE TOUR – WINTER 2019
JANUARY
31           Oslo, Norway                                     Parkeatret
FEBRUARY
1              Stockholm, Sweden                        Grona Lund Tivoli
3              Copenhagen, Denmark                 Ideal Bar *SOLD OUT*
4              Hamburg, Germany                        Nochtspeicher *SOLD OUT*
5             Berlin, Germany                               Frannz Club *SOLD OUT*
7              Cologne, Germany                          Blue Shell *SOLD OUT*
9             Warsaw, Poland                                Hydrozagadka
11           Amsterdam, Netherlands             Paradiso Noord *SOLD OUT*
12           Paris, France                                     Les Etoiles Theatre
13           London, UK                                         O2 Academy Islington *SOLD OUT*

NORTH AMERICAN HEADLINE TOUR – SPRING 2019

MARCH
29           San Francisco, CA             August Hall
31           Phoenix, AZ                        Crescent Ballroom

APRIL
2              Austin, TX                            The Parish
3              Houston, TX                        White Oak Downstairs
4              Dallas, TX                             HOB Cambridge Room
6              Orlando, FL                         The Social
7              Atlanta, GA                         Terminal West
9              Washington, D.C.             U Hall
11           New York, NY                     Irving Plaza
12           Philadelphia, PA                                Union Transfer
14           Toronto, ON                       Mod Club
16           Boston, MA                        Sinclair
18           Montreal, QC                     Ministere
20           Detroit, MI                          Shelter
23           Chicago, IL                           Lincoln Hall
22           Minneapolis, MN             Varsity Theater
25           Omaha, NE                          Slowdown Front Room
27           Denver, CO                         Bluebird
30           Salt Lake City, UT              Complex

MAY
2              Vancouver, BC                   St. James
3              Portland, OR                       Hawthorne Theater
4              Seattle, WA                        Neumos
8              San Diego, CA                    Voodoo Room @ HOB
9              Los Angeles, CA                El Rey Theatre

High School, Tegan And Sara’s First Memoir, To Be Published In The Fall Of 2019

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High School, a memoir by Warner Bros. Records recording artists Tegan and Sara, will be published in the fall of 2019 by MCD, a division of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, alongside Simon & Schuster Canada and Virago in the United Kingdom.

High School is the revelatory and unique coming-of-age story of the identical twins from Calgary, Alberta. It follows Tegan and Sara as they grew amid grunge and rave culture in the 90s, well before they became the celebrated musicians and global LGBTQ icons we know today. While grappling with their identity and sexuality, often alone, they also faced academic meltdown, their parents’ divorce, and the looming pressure of what might come after high school. Written in alternating chapters from both Tegan’s point of view and Sara’s, the book is a raw account of the music, drugs, alcohol, love and friendship they explored in their formative years. A transcendent story of first loves and first songs, it captures the tangle of discordant and parallel memories of two sisters who grew up in distinct ways even as they lived just down the hall from one another. This is the origin story of Tegan and Sara.

“How did you start your band? When did you know that you were gay? What were you like before Tegan and Sara? We have spent twenty years answering those complicated questions with simple answers,” said Tegan and Sara. “Writing High School gives us the opportunity to tell the intricate stories that shaped our relationship as sisters, musicians, and queer girls.”

During the course of their 20-year career, Tegan and Sara have sold well over one million records and released eight studio albums, earning seven Gold certifications and one Double Platinum certification in the process. They have received three Juno Awards, a GRAMMY® nomination, a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, and the 2018 New York Civil Liberties Union Award. They have performed on some of the world’s biggest stages, from Coachella to the Academy Awards.

In 2016, they created the Tegan and Sara Foundation, which fights for health, economic justice, and representation for LGBTQ girls and women. Learn more about the Tegan and Sara Foundation HERE

Tegan and Sara will go into the studio next year to record their ninth studio album.

Get Ready To Feel GOOD With Choir!Choir!Choir!

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Disclosure: This blog post was sponsored by Ronald McDonald House Charities.

You know attending a music festival sparks a light inside anyone attending. The electric energy pulsating through the crowd is an addicting rush that unites every single concertgoer in perfect harmony. Toronto-based Choir!Choir!Choir! consists of meeting people you never normally would, singing to the sweet melodies of music you’ve never heard before and making golden memories you can keep with you for the rest of your life. It doesn’t matter how great – or out of key – your voice is. Believe me, I fit in the latter category.

Now happening twice weekly in Toronto and touring internationally, C!C!C! boasts a dedicated and passionate membership of inspired singers from in-and-around Toronto, Canada. They have performed in holes, on hills, and on big stages at the Polaris Music Prize Gala, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Massey Hall, The Juno Awards, Art Gallery of Ontario, Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Luminato Festival and at TEDx Toronto. And they’ve included guest singers such as Rufus Wainwright, Tegan and Sara, Patti Smith, Bruce Cockburn, Kathleen Edwards, Colin Hay (Men At Work), Joel Plaskett, Sarah Harmer, and Chris Murphy (Sloan).

In 2016, the Choir!Choir!Choir! Foundation was launched (in association with the Toronto Foundation) to formalize their deep commitment to fundraising activities. Their 2015 “C!C!C! Sings for Syria” campaign raised $70,000 and sponsored two families to Toronto. Their 2016 “25 days of Charity! Charity! Charity!” campaign raised $50,000 for 25 local, national and international organizations.

Last month, Choir! Choir! Choir!’s Daveed and Nobu (AKA DaBu) got together with Ronald McDonald House Charities to perform a special tune – Beatles’ With A Little Help From My Friends. You know the song. So perfect, right? In watching the participants that night during the filming of the video, each person became, simply, us. Singing and being a music fan has been shown to be more generous, more ethical, and more helpful towards others. When we join with others to create an experience of great importance like being part of a community – especially a choir – the happiness spread throughout the venue.

Examined Existence reports on a number of studies that show music has an effect on the mind and overall health of listeners. Research from the University of Groningen shows that study participants who listened to more upbeat music experienced happier perceptions of life.

As much fun as it was to be a part of Choir! Choir! Choir! performing The Beatles’ With A Little Help From My Friends in support of Ronald McDonald House Charities, it’s a extraordinary feeling to stream the video and know you’re doing something good for the community, too.

The RMHC network of programs in Canada helps to keep more than 25,000 families close to their sick child and the care they need each year. The 15 Ronald McDonald Houses provide families with a place to stay at while their child is being treated at a nearby hospital, while the 16 Ronald McDonald Family Rooms provide a comfortable place for families to rest and recharge right inside hospitals.

For some parents who wait patiently at their child’s bedside far from home and hope for good outcomes on surgeries, tests and treatments. Their dream of being home for the holidays won’t come true this year. Ronald McDonald House provides families with a warm bed to sleep in at night, a home-cooked meal at the end of the day, and therapeutic activities to help cope with their daily stresses.

Now that you’re ready to feel good, watch the amazing video below.

Judas Priest Announces North American “Firepower” Tour Dates For 2019

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With Judas Priest’s latest studio album, Firepower, confirmed as one of the most successful of the band’s entire career – landing in the “top 5” of 17 countries, including their highest chart placement ever in the U.S., at #5, demand to see the legendary metal band in concert is higher than ever.

And North American headbangers will get their chance to experience the legendary band on a nearby concert stage this coming spring/summer, when Priest will tour throughout the continent – with the classic metal band Uriah Heep as support.

Kicking off on May 3rd at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida and wrapping up on June 29th at The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, fans will get an opportunity to catch Priest at the height of their concert powers on any one of the tour’s 32 dates.

There are few heavy metal bands that have managed to scale the heights that Judas Priest have during their nearly 50-year career – responsible for issuing such all-time classic albums as British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, and Painkiller, as well as the anthems “Breaking the Law,” “Living After Midnight,” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.”

And Priest’s presence and influence remains strong, as evidenced by the chart performance of ‘Firepower’ and its glowing reviews, a Grammy Award win for ‘Best Metal Performance’, plus being a VH1 Rock Honors recipient and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination. Also, Priest can be credited as being one of the first metal bands to pioneer wearing leather and studs – a look that would eventually be embraced by metalheads throughout the world.

Undoubtedly, Judas Priest’s upcoming North American tour will only add to their ever-growing status of heavy metal legends.

North American Firepower tour dates 2019
May 3 – Hollywood, Fla. @ Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
May 6 – Nashville, Tenn. @ Nashville Municipal Auditorium
May 8 – Atlanta, Ga. @ Fox Theatre
May 9 – Biloxi, Miss. @ Beau Rivage Resort & Casino
May 12 – Washington, D.C. @ The Anthem
May 14 – Huntington, N.Y. @ The Paramount
May 15 – Huntington, N.Y. @ The Paramount
May 16 – Uncasville, Conn. @ Mohegan Sun Arena
May 18 – Albany, N.Y. @ Palace Theatre
May 19 – Albany, N.Y. @ Palace Theatre
May 22 – Milwaukee, Wis. @ Riverside Theater
May 23 – Milwaukee, Wis. @ Riverside Theater
May 25 – Rosemont, Ill. @ Rosemont Theatre
May 28 – Austin, Tex. @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater
May 29 – Austin, Tex. @ ACL Live at The Moody Theater
May 31 – Dallas, Tex. @ The Bomb Factory
June 1 – Little Rock, Ark. @ First Security Amphitheater
June 3 – St. Louis, Mo. @ Stifel Theatre
June 5 – Colorado Springs, Colo. @ Broadmoor World Arena
June 8 – Saskatoon, Sask. @ SaskTel Centre
June 10 – Lethbridge, Alta. @ ENMAX Centre
June 11 – Edmonton, Alta. @ Rogers Place
June 13 – Dawson Creek, B.C. @ Encana Events Centre
June 14 – Prince George, B.C. @ CN Centre
June 16 – Kelowna, B.C. @ Prospera Place
June 17 – Abbotsford, B.C. @ Abbotsford Centre
June 19 – Airway Heights, Wash. @ Northern Quest Resort and Casino
June 21 – Kent, Wash. @ Accesso Showare Center
June 22 – Portland, Ore. @ Moda Theatre of the Clouds
June 24 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Warfield Theatre
June 25 – San Francisco, Calif. @ Warfield Theatre
June 27 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ Microsoft Theater
June 29 – Las Vegas, Nev. @ The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel

Congratulations to Toronto’s York University Professor of Music Rob Bowman, nominated for a Grammy Award

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On Friday December 7th York University Professor of Music, Rob Bowman, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Historical Reissue category as co-producer for the Numero Group’s 2017 two disc compilation Jackie Shane: Any Other Way.

This is Bowman’s sixth Grammy nomination and second as a producer. In 1996, Bowman won a Grammy in the Album Notes category for the 47,000 word essay he wrote to accompany The Complete Stax/Volt Soul Singles Vol. 3: 1972-75.

In addition to co-producing Jackie Shane: Any Other Way, Bowman penned the 20,000 word album notes that are included in the package which tell the incredible story of the enigmatic soul singer. Jackie Shane was born in Nashville as a boy in 1940. At the age of 13, Jackie told her mother that she was a woman in a man’s body and began wearing makeup to school in the segregated Jim Crow south. Six years later she came to Canada as part of a travelling carnival, becoming a star first in Montreal and then in her adopted home of Toronto. In 1963, Shane had a number 3 hit on Toronto radio with her brilliant cover of William Bell’s “Any Other Way.”

While never dressing as a transvestite onstage, Shane wore makeup and effeminate clothing and, given that the word transgender was virtually unknown in the 1960s, was understood by her audience as a gay man. Her impact on many people in the then largely underground Toronto gay scene was immense. In December 1971, Shane mysteriously left Toronto and never recorded or performed again. Revered for decades among soul music collectors around the world, copies of her original recordings regularly sold for substantial sums of money. For years, her fans thought that she had died but instead she had deliberately vanished from public view and was living a quiet, private life, at first in Los Angeles and then in Nashville.

In addition to a her extraordinary work as a lead singer, Shane played sessions as a drummer for a number of R&B and gospel records for a range of artists including Sister Edna Gallmon Cooke and Joe Cocker. Friends with Jimi Hendrix and Little Richard, Shane’s story takes a number of wild and unpredictable turns. Prior to Bowman’s work for the Any Other Way reissue, Shane had never done a serious interview. Over a series of three months, Bowman recorded thirty-three hours of interviews with Shane and spoke to her more informally for dozens of additional hours. The resulting essay tells a story that Hollywood script writers would find impossible to conceive.

Rob Bowman has been writing professionally about rhythm and blues, rock, country, jazz and gospel for over forty-five years interviewing extensively several hundred artists ranging from Bob Marley to Mick Jagger. He is the author of Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records (Schirmer Books), winner of the 1998 ASCAP-Deems Taylor and ARSC Awards for Excellence in Music Research. In 2013 Soulsville U.S.A. was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in Memphis.

In the past year Bowman has worked on box sets for Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and Rush and has just finished working on a three CD set documenting the work of cutting-edge Canadian synthesizer composer John Mills-Cockell. A tenured professor at York University in Toronto, Bowman pioneered the study of popular music at Canadian universities and regularly lectures on popular music around the world.

A Cappella Of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ … Hanukkah-Style!

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Is this just fantasy? No, it’s Six13’s Hanukkah tribute to one of the greatest and most epic songs of all time. Ready, Freddie? Kindle the lights, remember the Maccabees, and rock on. CHAG SAMEACH!

David Lynch’s teaser trailer for Michael Jackson’s ‘Dangerous’ album, 1991

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This is the trailer for Michael Jackson’s 1991 album Dangerous, directed by David Lynch. Jackson had personally called Lynch on the phone to ask him for the role.