Since the early years of his life, Cosmin Cioca had a special connection with music.
His parents signed him up for flute classes and even though at first it was more of a love-hate relationship, in time he kept getting better and better.
After successfully winning classical music competitions, he decided to let the world know of his gift by participating in the Romanians Have Talent 2015 competition, where he won the Originality Prize.
Connect your sound system and turn up that bass, because this flute beatboxing will leave you breathless. Cosmin, this otherwise shy young man, shows onstage a real talent in mixing his flute performance with his passion for beatboxing, resulting in a skillful, delightful combination.
Back in 2000, Lemmy was the guest on Channel 4’s stripped-down series All Back to Mine. The premise is to talk to musicians in their homes about their favourite records of all time, but this time, it was filmed at a bar table with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.
No less than an achivement of fun interviewing, host Sean Rowley asks Lemmy about his time working with Jimi Hendix.
Lemmy: I was Jimi Hendrix’s roadie, what’d you expect? I mean, he’d come back from America with a hundred thousand tabs of acid, right? Rowley: Who, Jimi had? Lemmy: Yeah, and it wasn’t even illegal then. He brought it back in his suitcase. And he gave half of it ‘round the crew. I mean, that’s a lot of acid, you know. Rowley: And you were part of the crew, at the time, then. Lemmy: There was only two of us.
Why do hip-hop producers gravitate toward jazz samples? For a mood, for sonic timbre, for a unique rhythmic component. Swing is a precursor to the boom-bap. “If you’re a hip-hop producer that wants a lot of melodic stuff happening,” pianist Robert Glasper says, “you’re probably going to go to jazz first.”
Glasper has lived in an area of overlap between jazz and hip-hop for more than two decades — and you can hear it in his piano playing, which often drifts into cyclical rhythms akin to a beat-maker’s loops. It’s all one and the same to Glasper: recasting the music of Miles Davis for an R&B audience or rocking live shows with Q-Tip; playing acoustic jazz with his trio or streamlined soul with his Grammy-winning Robert Glasper Experiment.
In this short doc, Glasper identifies three jazz samples, from tracks by Ahmad Jamal and Herbie Hancock, that have served as source material for famed hip-hop producers J Dilla and Pete Rock.
During a 2011 performance at Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver’s Bluegrass Festival, musician Josh Williams and his band were playing when a bird suddenly landed on Williams’ guitar. At the end of song, as if on cue, the bird flew away.
During this song, a small bird lands on Josh’s guitar while he’s singing. Watch his reaction as he keeps his cool and finishes the song.
In 1967 The Beatles released the hit album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Fifty years on and the LPs immense critical and cultural success ensures it remains a true classic with its influence still felt across genres and decades. Now, Sound Leisure introduces theirown tribute to this most iconic of albums with the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band Vinyl Jukebox. The jukebox is officially endorsed by Apple Corps Limited and designed and built by Sound Leisure Ltd under exclusive licence.
The jukebox cabinet features durable printed artwork from the iconic Sgt. Pepper’s album cover which is also referenced inside the cabinet, wrapping around the Vinyl Mechanism and standing atop it to create a visually enticing 3D effect. The custom speaker cloth features the famous drum skin design and the side glasses are screen printed with the Sgt. Pepper’s florets.
Sound Leisure’s unique Vinyl Mechanism is the only vinyl jukebox mechanism being manufactured anywhere in the world. It holds seventy 7” records giving the user the option to select the A or B side (140 selections.) Sit back and watch as the psychedelic swirls spin to life alongside The Beatles in all their Sgt. Peppers uniformed splendour. The revolving title rack allows easy access to your favourite records and Sound Leisure’s Label Magic software gives you a quick and easy way to create and print your own jukebox labels. Track selections can be made directly from the jukebox button bank or via the infra-red remote control which also offers control of the volume, reject, shuffle mode and lighting controls.
The Sgt. Pepper’s Jukebox also incorporates Sound Leisure’s Bluetooth receiver giving you the ability to stream digital music from any compatible device. A great sound is provided from needle to ear via the five way in built speaker system and D4 amplifier which also features an auxiliary input, outputs and connections for additional speakers.
This video shows just a little of the design process and how the jukeboxes are put together in their Leeds based factory. Interested? You can buy it here.
Guns N’ Roses love being on the road so much, they just extended their top-grossing Not in This Lifetime tour into 2018 with a series of summer dates. The group reformed last year for the first time since 1993 and, 100 shows later, have reinstated themselves as one of the world’s top live acts. Who would have thought this even 2 years ago?
Guns N’ Roses Summer 2018 Tour Dates
6/03 – Berlin, Germany – Olympiastadion
6/06 – Odense, Denmark – Dyreskuepladsen
6/09 – Donnington, UK – Download Festival
6/12 – Gelsenkirchen, Germany – Veltins Arena
6/15 – Firenze, Italy – Firenze Rocks
6/18 – Paris, France – Download Festival
6/21 – Dessel, Belgium – Graspop Metal Meeting
6/24 – Mannheim, Germany – Maimarktgelände
6/26 – Bordeaux, France – Matmut Stadium
6/29 – Madrid, Spain – Download Festival
7/01 – Barcelona, Spain – Estadio Olympico
7/04 – Nijmegen, Netherlands – Goffertpark
7/07 – Leipzig, Germany – Festwiese
7/09 – Chorzow, Poland – Stadion Slaski
7/13 – Moscow, Russia – Otkritie Arena
7/16 – Tallinn, Estonia – Tallinn Song Festival Ground
7/19 – Oslo, Norway – Valle Hovin
7/21 – Gothenburg, Sweden – Ullevi Stadium
Travel — and experiencing other cultures — opens your mind. Nobody knows this better than Bryan Cranston, who spent two consecutive years (at 19 and 20) on a motorcycle with his brother, exploring America and figuring out what it was that he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Needless to say he became a major figure in American acting. With pivotal roles in Breaking Bad and Trumbo that—no exaggeration here—have helped reshape not only American television but American masculinity, it shows just how meaningful being purposefully lost can be. That way, you can truly find yourself.
Funko, the pop culture collectibles company, has revealed the latest new musician figures to join their Pop! Rocks series. The new dolls include Kurt Cobain, Elton John and Jerry Garcia.
This series features Jerry Garcia, shown with his signature glasses and guitar!
Known for his fashionable taste and larger than life outfits Elton John is shown in two versions – a classic white suit, and patriotic red, white, and blue suit! Complete with his iconic glasses.
Rounding out the series comes front man, Kurt Cobain! Featured in his recognizable brown and green sweater.
You can find Kurt Cobain shown in tan sweater with guitar, and glitter version of Elton John – only at FYE!
Kurt Cobain featured in his black sweater, available only at Hot Topic!
VETS Canada’s Guitars for Vets program is based on a simple concept: veterans and currently serving members of the Canadian Armed Forces and RCMP who suffer with PTSD or other service-related injuries or disabilities will be provided with a new or gently used guitar. They will also be connected with free online lessons and – when and where available – students will have the option of working with a guitar instructor for 10 weeks of free lessons. These instructor-led lessons may be one-on-one or in small group settings. Our goal with Guitars for Vets is to get as many guitars as possible in the hands of wounded veterans to help the healing process.
If you are a veteran, soldier, or RCMP member with a service-related injury or disability and you want to learn to play the guitar, please fill out our application form.
Music is an essential part of most of our lives and for artists we like, watching the music videos that accompany our favorite songs can be doubly thrilling. Especially when the videos tell a story to go along with the music itself. Over the years, we’ve seen many actors and actresses star in music videos, as well as fellow musicians making cameos in videos of tracks they’re not associated with – for instance, on Duck Sauce’s Barbara Streisand. However, there seems to be a growing trend for sports personalities to appear in music videos too. This is no surprise given how influential both artists and athletes are in today’s society. Here are a few examples:
Michael Jackson and Magic Johnson
“Remember the Time” was a popular recording by the late American pop legend Michael Jackson. It was released in 1992 and featured on the Dangerous album reaching Number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts and number 1 on the Billboard R & B singles charts. The hit single “Remember the Time” features guest appearances by Iman, Eddie Murphy and Magic Johnson. Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr., born August 14, 1959, was at this time an American retired professional basketball player. The song was written by Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle and Michael Jackson, produced by Jackson and Riley. The nine-minute music video was set in ancient Egypt. Eddie Murphy plays the pharaoh, Iman Abdulmajid plays his wife, with whom Jackson flirts with in the video. Magic Johnson played the part of the Herald. The video used a sophisticated trick technique that dissolved the spinning Michael Jackson into grains of sand – CGI that was quite innovative for its time.
Beyoncé and Serena Williams
Two months after the release of Beyoncé’s album “Lemonade”, the music video for the song “Sorry” was released and available exclusively on Vevo. The creative black-and-white clip was created by director Dikayl Rimmasch. Serena is seen dancing and twerking as Beyoncé lounges in a throne, while various dancers in artsy body paint dance in the background. The fact that the two women made a collaboration is not a big surprise since they have been friends for years, which is fitting for two of the brightest stars in their industries. In fact, Lottoland Canada chose to include Serena Williams in their list of the top ten most inspirational athletes, pointing out that she has over 9 million followers on Twitter and won her first Grand Slam at age 17.
P. Diddy and Mike Tyson
American rapper P. Diddy, Mark Curry and Black Rob created a song “Bad Boy for Life”. It was produced by Megahertz and has been released as a single. The music video for “Bad Boy for Life” was staged by Chris Robinson, shot in June 2001 and released in early July. There are a number of guest appearances including drummer Travis Barker, guitarist Dave Navarro, boxer Mike Tyson, actor Ben Stiller, rapper Xzibit, actor Richard Dunn, Snoop Dogg, basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, television presenter Pat O’Brien, rap rock band Crazy Town and Baron Davis. The video was nominated for Best Rap Video and MTV Video Music Awards in 2002. Although Mike Tyson retired in 2005, he still holds quite a few records, including being the youngest boxer ever to win a heavyweight title, at age 20 and a few months.
Energetic music and athletics go hand in hand. Both things just take over the body and can lift up our spirits. Whether we are watching sports or even participating or working out, music is the perfect accompaniment.
