Well, this is pretty amazing. Welcome to the Sunday Night Party during the Jazz Roots Festival in Paris at the Bellevilloise, with the Hot Sugar Band.
Tea Making Tips (1941)
Welcome to the world of a national obsession and a place where people say ‘orf’ instead of ‘off’. Tea connoisseurs will benefit from the six golden tips for making the perfect cuppa, as well as countless other handy hints (never store your tea next to cheese, for example). There’s an assessment of the pros and cons of various teapots and words of wisdom about the tea bush itself. Slightly grotesque methods for producing tea en masse are demonstrated – it was wartime, after all – and tea had to be produced by the oceanful. As such, there are some top tips for cleaning that hard-to-reach tap in your tea urn. Remember: “a dirty tap means dirty tea”.
“What the World Needs Now is Love” by Walk off The Earth’s Sarah Blackwood Is Your New Favourite Song, And It’s All For Charity
President’s Choice are on a mission to get Canadians to eat together. Because so much good happens when we do. That’s why in 2017, for Canada’s 150th birthday, they want to know what you would bring when you #EatTogether. Just snap a picture of what dish you would serve and post it on Instagram, Twitter or on the PC Facebook Timeline using the hashtags #EatTogether and #PC150Contest.
You could win a 3-night VIP trip to Ottawa with 7 of your friends for Canada Day Weekend to celebrate Canada 150 with President’s Choice.
For full contest rules click here. Contest Closes April 30th, 2017.
Check out their wonderful ad, featuring a cover of “What the World Needs Now is Love” by Walk off The Earth’s Sarah Blackwood, now available for download on iTunes with all resulting proceeds being donated to President’s Choice Children’s Charity. Go here to get the single.
Alberta will allow all-ages entertainers to perform in bars, lounges
Young musicians are praising the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, which announced Friday that underage performers will now be allowed to play in bars and lounges throughout the province.
“I’ve been fighting for this since I was nine years old,” said Olivia Rose Leaf, a 17-year-old Alberta musician, adding that the change will mean a lot to the young performers she knows.
The previous policy, which prohibited underage performers from playing in bars and lounges had been in place since March 2007, when it was instituted out of a concern for public safety. But a consultation with musicians, venue owners, and promoters, led by MLA David Shepherd and Thom Bennett of the Edmonton Live Music Initiative, prompted the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission (ALGC) to reconsider.
According to Bill Robinson, president of the AGLC, the change is the result of changing attitudes in the industry. He also suggested that the training of staff has improved the overall safety in bars, making the policy shift possible.
The change is not a complete reversal. Bars and lounges will be required to request approval from the AGLC to permit minors to enter their premises as entertainers, and the approval process is expected to take up to a few days.
Government of Canada to provide $8.3 million in funding towards Massey Hall revitalization
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, was in Toronto Friday to announce The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall as a recipient of the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund. The Government of Canada will provide $8,330,00 to assist with the revitalization of the legendary Massey Hall, which will improve its accessibility, technical infrastructure and presentation environment.
“We are thrilled that the Government of Canada is investing in Massey Hall’s future through the Canada Cultural Spaces Fund,” said Deane Cameron, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Corporation of Massey Hall & Roy Thomson Hall. “This funding will help set the stage for the completion of the Massey Hall Revitalization Project to ensure that Massey Hall remains a home to showcase and cultivate our future leaders in arts, culture and beyond.”
The Canada Cultural Spaces Fund launched in 2001 and receives an average of 137 applications each year. As of March 31, 2016, the fund has invested approximately $410 million in 1,381 projects in every province and territory.
Lorde’s Isolated Vocals For “Royals”
Lorde’s “Royals” was first released on her debut extended play album, The Love Club EP in 2012, and later included on her debut studio album, Pure Heroine in 2013. Written by Lorde and Joel Little and produced by the latter, the song lyrically disapproves of the luxurious lifestyle of contemporary artists. Lorde wrote the lyrics to “Royals” in July 2012 at her house, taking half an hour, after seeing an image by photographer Ted Spiegel in the July 1976 edition of National Geographic showing Kansas City Royals baseball player George Brett signing baseballs, with his team’s name emblazoned across his shirt. Lorde recalled during a VH1 interview, “It was just that word. It’s really cool.”
https://youtu.be/-6RXD4gLzMQ
Femi Kuti on How He Approaches Protest Music
How do you approach protest music?
Femi Kuti: For me, I have to think of how to pass a bitter message to open people’s consciousness. It’s like having to take a bitter pill with a sweet drink. I use the music as a sweet drink, and the message is a bitter pill. Now, the people will not want to believe you are sick. No matter where you are, if you have to take a pill, you are disgusted: “No, I do not want it!” So, with a child, you have to be like, “I am going to give you Fanta or Coca-Cola, if you take this pill with it.” And then they are more likely to cooperate with you. So, it’s like using the music to hit on one’s subconscious, and then, eventually, “Oh, is this what this is about? Wow!” and then people get fascinated and they become part of things.
It’s also like awakening one’s consciousness. We are all involved, whether we like it or not, and it just takes something to open it. You cannot believe that, because you are having a good life and all is well with you. It’s like believing that, since you have nobody in your family that has died of cancer, to hell with people who have cancer. What kind of thinking is that? “Oh, I thought nobody in my family would ever die.” It’s an inevitability that one day we are all going to die, and if you pass through life believing that you are not going to die, then of course your consciousness is not awakened. I give you something to awaken your consciousness, so you do not take things for granted in your life.
Diana Krall Announces Upcoming 2017-2018 World Tour For “Turn Up The Quiet” Album
Multiple GRAMMY Award-winning jazz pianist and world-renowned singer, Diana Krall, announced the first round of dates for her upcoming 2017-2018 World Tour today in support of the highly anticipated new album “Turn Up The Quiet,” coming out on Verve Records May 5th with pre-order available now at Amazon. Krall’s new album celebrates a return to jazz and the Great American Songbook and reunites Diana with Grammy Award-winning producer Tommy LiPuma.
Krall’s world tour kicks off in North America on June 2 in Minneapolis, MN at The State Theater with more dates to be announced in the coming weeks. The European leg of the tour will begin Sept. 10 in Vejle, Denmark at the Musikteater and also features two nights at The Royal Albert Hall in London on September 27 and 28.
Diana Krall is the only jazz singer to have eight albums debut at the top of the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. To date, her albums have garnered five Grammy Awards, eight Juno Awards and have also earned nine gold, three platinum and seven multi-platinum albums. Krall’s unique artistry transcends any single musical style and has made her one of the most recognizable artists of our time.
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Diana Krall – World Tour 2017-2018 Dates |
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6/2 |
Minneapolis, MN |
State Theatre |
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6/3 |
Madison, WI |
Overture Center for the Arts – Overture Hall |
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6/4 |
Milwaukee, WI |
Riverside Theater |
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6/6 |
Ann Arbor, MI |
Hill Auditorium |
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6/9 |
Burlington, VT |
Flynn Center for the Performing Arts Center |
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6/10 |
Canandaigua, NY |
Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center |
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6/13 |
Hartford, CT |
The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts |
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6/14 |
Portsmouth, NH |
The Music Hall |
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6/16 |
Newark, NJ |
NJPAC – Prudential Hall |
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6/17 |
Boston, MA |
Shubert Theatre |
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6/18 |
Providence, RI |
Providence Performing Arts Center |
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6/21 |
New York, NY |
Beacon Theatre |
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6/23 |
Philadelphia, PA |
Academy of Music |
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6/24 |
Vienna, VA |
Wolf Trap |
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6/25 |
Kettering, OH |
Fraze Pavilion |
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6/27 |
Pittsburgh, PA |
Benedum Center for the Performing Arts |
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6/28 |
Highland Park, IL |
Ravinia Festival |
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7/18 |
Morrison, CO |
Red Rocks Amphitheatre |
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7/19 |
Beaver Creek, CO |
Vilar Performing Arts Center |
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7/21 |
Park City, UT |
Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater |
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7/22 |
Reno, NV |
Grand Sierra Resort & Casino – Grand Theatre |
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7/23 |
Jacksonville, OR |
Britt Pavilion |
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7/25 |
Bend, OR |
Les Schwab Amphitheater |
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7/26 |
Troutdale, OR |
McMenamins Edgefield |
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7/29 |
Boise, ID |
Outlaw Field at Idaho Botanical Garden |
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8/1 |
Livermore, CA |
Wente Vineyards |
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8/2 |
Saratoga, CA |
The Mountain Winery |
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8/4 |
Rohnert Park, CA |
Green Music Center – Joan and Sanford Weill Hall |
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8/5 |
San Francisco, CA |
Davies Symphony Hall |
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8/6 |
Santa Barbara, CA |
Santa Barbara Bowl |
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8/8 |
San Diego, CA |
Humphreys Concerts by the Bay |
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8/9 |
Phoenix, AZ |
Symphony Hall |
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9/10 |
Vejle, DK |
Musikteater |
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9/11 |
Amsterdam, NL |
Royal Theatre Carré |
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9/14 |
Frankfurt, DE |
Alte Oper |
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9/15 |
Berlin, DE |
Tempodrom |
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9/16 |
Munich, DE |
Philharmonie |
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9/18 |
Vienna, AT |
Konzerthaus |
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9/19 |
Vienna, AT |
Konzerthaus |
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9/20 |
Brno, CZ |
DRFG Arena |
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9/22 |
Duisburg, DE |
Mercatorhalle |
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9/24 |
Antwerp, BE |
Queen Elisabeth Hall |
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9/25 |
Brussels, BE |
Palais des Beaux Arts |
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9/27 |
London, UK |
The Royal Albert Hall |
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9/28 |
London, UK |
The Royal Albert Hall |
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9/30 |
Copenhagen, DK |
Royal Opera |
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10/1 |
Oslo, NO |
Spektrum |
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10/2 |
Stockholm, SE |
Cirkus |
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10/4 |
Stuttgart, DE |
Liederhalle |
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10/5 |
Zurich, CH |
Samsung Hall |
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10/7 |
Paris, FR |
l’Olympia |
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10/8 |
Paris, FR |
l’Olympia |
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10/11 |
Monaco, MC |
Le Sporting Club |
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10/12 |
Milan, IT |
Teatro degli Arcimboldi |
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10/13 |
Rome, IT |
Auditorium S. Cecilia |
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10/15 |
Geneva, CH |
Leman Theatre |
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10/16 |
Marseille, FR |
Silo |
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10/17 |
Barcelona, SP |
Auditori del Forum |
Barry Manilow Releases New Studio Album, This Is My Town: Songs of New York A Love Letter to The Big Apple, Out April 21
This Is My Town: Songs of New York is the album Barry Manilow was born to make. A native New Yorker, Barry’s been in love with the rhythms, melodies and music of the Big Apple since childhood. Now, with the release of his new album, out on April 21 on Verve Label Group, he’s “saying thanks to the city for giving me my ambition, my sense of humor and my decency” with a thematic song-cycle celebrating his home town.
“I’m grateful for having been raised there because I’ve always felt grounded,” he says. “One of the things I’m most proud of is that having gone through the hurricane of success, I feel I’m still the same guy that took the subway every day to work in Manhattan. And I attribute that grounding to being raised in New York.”
More than a year in creation, This Is My Town: Songs of New York premieres ten new Barry Manilow studio recordings with the songs evenly divided between new original Manilow compositions and standards evoking the spirit and energy of New York City. While writing his own songs for the album, Barry made demos of the classic New York-inspired songs he loved to sing.
“I didn’t want to do a full original album,” he says. “It felt like it would be cheating the public to not give them the old songs that they knew. I must have done 50 demos of standards as I was writing the original songs. That’s what took the longest: to choose the standards. And, of course, to write the originals.”
The title song, “This Is My Town” sets up the album’s musical journey through New York’s five boroughs. The track was co-written by Barry Manilow “with my brilliant, long-time collaborator, Bruce Sussman. I’m very proud of the production, arrangement, orchestration and melody. And listen to Bruce’s brilliant lyric. Only a New Yorker could have written that lyric.”
According to Barry, “the album is like a melting pot – just like New York is. We take you from Brooklyn to Broadway to Birdland. We even wind up in Coney Island. Take a look at the titles and it really does look like you’re going from place to place to place. There are different styles. There’s pop, there’s a little rock and roll, there’s jazz, there’s a little R&B, and Broadway. That’s what I think of when I think of my home town and of New York.”
Having sold more than 85 million albums worldwide, Barry Manilow is one of the world’s all-time bestselling recording artists. He’s had an astonishing 50 Top 40 singles including 12 #1s and 27 Top 10 hits and is ranked at the #1 Adult Contemporary Artist of all-time, according to Billboard and R&R magazines.
He has been nominated for a Grammy Award in every decade since the 1970s and, in addition to winning the Best Pop Male Vocal Performance Grammy in 1979 (for “Copacabana”), is an Emmy, Tony and American Music Award winner three years in a row.
Barry Manilow was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and has his own Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1978, five of his albums were on the best-seller charts simultaneously.
This Is My Town: Songs of New York is co-produced by Barry Manilow with David Benson. Except for “Coney Island” was co-produced with Michael Lloyd.
This Is My Town: Songs of New York Track listing:
1 This Is My Town
2 New York City Rhythm / On Broadway
3 Coney Island
4 Lonely Town
5 Lovin’ At Birdland
6 Downtown / Uptown
7 On The Roof
8 I Dig New York
9 The Brooklyn Bridge (Virtual Duet with Mel Tormé)
10 NYC Medley
THIRTEEN’s American Masters Presents the World Premiere of Patsy Cline Documentary Beginning March 4 on PBS During Women’s History Month
Born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Virginia, Patsy Cline defined modern country music by using her singular talent and heart‐wrenching emotional depth to break down barriers of gender, class and genre. In her music and her life, she set a standard of authenticity towards which artists still strive. After years of hard work to overcome industry gender biases and her own personal hardships and professional missteps, she achieved success, only to have it punctured by uncanny premonitions and her untimely death at age 30 (March 5, 1963).
The new documentary Patsy Cline: American Masters premieres nationwide beginning March 4 on PBS (check local listings, see below for confirmed airdates) during Women’s History Month as part of the 31st season of THIRTEEN’s American Masters series. 2017 marks the 85th anniversary of Cline’s birth (September 8, 1932).
Narrated by Rosanne Cash, Patsy Cline: American Masters examines the roots of Cline’s impact in both personal and cultural terms to illuminate how she arrived at a pivotal moment in the evolution of American culture and, with Decca Records producer Owen Bradley, synthesized country, pop and rock in a new way to create the Nashville Sound. With exclusive access to the Cline estate, the film features rare performances of such Cline classics as “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray,” “Come On In,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Crazy,” “You Made Me Love You” and more. The documentary also features exclusive archival interviews with Cline’s contemporaries and new interviews with a wide range of artists who have been influenced by Cline: LeAnn Rimes, Kacey Musgraves, Rhiannon Giddens, Wanda Jackson, Bill Anderson, Beverly D’Angelo, Callie Khouri, Reba McEntire, Mickey Guyton, Terri Clark, and more.
Cline boldly bucked female conventions of the 1950s with her fashion sense, her decision to divorce, her support of fellow female artists, and her assertive ambition to get opportunities equal to those of her male Nashville peers, such as the same kind of headliner billing and radio airplay, particularly after breaking free of her unfavorable contract with Four Star Records. Six years after her national breakthrough on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts (CBS, 1957), she died in a plane crash returning home from a benefit performance. Her many posthumous honors include being the first solo female performer to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a U.S. postage stamp. She was also portrayed in the Oscar-winning feature film Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) by D’Angelo and in Sweet Dreams (1985) by Jessica Lange.
“It’s been such a privilege to tell the story of Patsy Cline. For me, her story exceeds her musical accomplishments. She is in a rare class of women who simply set out to achieve their dreams and through those efforts left an indelible mark,” said Emmy-nominated director and producer Barbara J. Hall (Song by Song, Titanic: Band of Courage).
“This film goes beyond the jukebox classics to show how Patsy Cline was really a gutsy pioneer,” said Michael Kantor, American Masters series executive producer.
Patsy Cline: American Masters is a production of TH Entertainment LLC. Barbara J. Hall is director and producer. Gregory Hall and Suzanne Kessler are executive producers. Rosanne Cash is narrator. Kris Slava is writer. Jason Lyons is editor. Tom Zaleski is director of photography. Kate Ripley is associate producer. Michael Kantor is American Masters series executive producer.