James Corden heads to Northern California to spend time with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry, and the two play some mini golf and take a ride in the carpool lane with some Disney songs.
This Guy Won 15,000 Stuffed Animals From Claw Machines Last Year
Chen Zhitong has a unique talent: he’s a claw machine master. Yeah, those stuffed-animal-stuffed glass boxes at kid-friendly restaurants and amusement parks, THOSE rage-inducing claw machines. Last year alone, Chen won *15,000* toys from claw machines. He tells how – and why — he’s made claw machine mastery his vocation.
U2 producer now working for KFC
Steve Lillywhite knows a thing or two about making music that sells. That six-time Grammy winning producer has worked on multiplatinum recordings with artists including U2, the Killers and the Rolling Stones.
Now Mr. Lillywhite is proving he knows how to sell music, too, although in a very unexpected way. He is the chief executive of Jagonya Music & Sport Indonesia, a company in Jakarta, Indonesia, that bundles recorded CDs with fast food at Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants throughout that country.
“My job is basically like running a record label, except this record label also happens to sell chicken,” said Mr. Lillywhite, 62, who acts as a curator, choosing the music that goes into the Indonesian KFCs. (At the moment, the songs come exclusively from Indonesian artists, though he hopes to expand.) “Record companies pitch artists to me and I’ll say either ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ Or I’ll approach an unsigned artist and say, ‘I will guarantee you a slot in KFC if you sign directly with us,’” he said in an interview at Electric Lady Studios in Manhattan, while listening to a new U2 song he’s producing. The company orders CDs from a distributor and pays a percentage of the sales to KFC, as well as royalties to the artists.
Music in the gaming industry
Music and gaming are inseparable. Music helps video game brands reach a wider audience. On the other hand, those soundtracks become popular, thus promoting the voices behind them. It’s a mutual relationship which has taken the industry to new heights. It’s no longer about the graphics and sound that accompany games. But music also plays a critical role when it comes to determining how well a game will perform among its targeted audience.
It’s not a surprise that games and music walk hand in hand today. This is far from what used to happen decades ago when audio or sounds were only used to illustrate certain actions. Let’s take the example of the first, commercially-available computer game called Pong. This 1950s game featured 2 bats represented as rectangles and a ball. It was a tennis game where a bleep sound would be used every time the ball hit the bat. Even though this game was quite basic in form, it still managed to catch the attention of players across the globe.
Then in 1972, they released the first game console in the US which was known as the Magnavox Odyssey. But this machine was silent when playing games. This went on until Atari came up with their Atari Video Computer System 5 years later. This system proved that sound really mattered in gaming. However, these were still considered very basic sound effects in gaming.
The beginning of music in the gaming industry
What followed after the 1977 period was a sound revolution in the gaming industry. A basic arcade game known as Space Invaders was introduced, and it arrived with a menacing tune which would put fear in players. This music grew more frantic even as invaders came close to achieving their target while the player kept fighting them away.
This was the first time that music was being used in gaming to help players immerse themselves into the game which they were playing. And the reason why Space Invaders was so powerful was because it was the first arcade game where the concept of audiovisual was used to pump more adrenaline in players.
First-forward to several years later
Games became sophisticated because sound tracks were being added to accompany them officially. Throughout the period, games such as Donkey Kong, Tetris, and Pacman all featured unique sound tracks which were played through unique low-tech processors.
This was an important phase in the gaming industry since it was the first time that composers such as Shigeru Myamoto were being recognized for their sound track which graced the Zelda series of games.
Then in 1989, MJ recognized the potential that games had on music promotion. He released his popular title called Moonwalk which featured synthesized versions by Beat It and Belly Jean. This creation was to pave way for artists who had contributed in video game development at the time.
The use of music is still critical when it comes to marketing online games regardless of whether these games are being played for free or for real money. The gamification of casino games is further pushing this agenda forward, which is why some veteran land-based casino players from the US, Canada, and the UK now prefer to play online too. If you live in Canada, you will find that the best online casino games available for Canadian gamers are no different from those available for the US or global gamers in general. No doubt, music has managed to do a good job in promoting games of all genres.
CARAS and Bullfrog Power celebrate 10 years of sustainability with a Canadian first
For a record tenth straight year, Bullfrog Power, Canada’s leading green energy provider, and The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (CARAS) are partnering to bullfrogpower JUNO Week, which runs from March 27 to April 2, 2017 in Ottawa, with clean, renewable energy. In a first for the partnership, CARAS is choosing Bullfrog Power’s green fuel for the JUNO Express powered by VIA Rail Canada, a train that will transport fans and industry stakeholders from Toronto’s Union Station and Le Gare Centrale in Montreal to the 2017 JUNO Awards in Ottawa.
“To mark our decade long partnership, we’re proud to announce that CARAS is bullfrogpowering the JUNO Express with green fuel—the first time in Canada that our green fuel has been used to reduce emissions from train travel,” said Josephine Coombe, Senior VP, Sales and Marketing, Bullfrog Power.
By choosing green fuel for the JUNO Express, CARAS and The JUNO Awards are reducing the environmental impact of the train’s travel by displacing almost 50 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and helping to green the Canadian fuel system. Conventional transportation fuel—such as the diesel typically used for trains—is made from petroleum, which contributes to climate change and air pollution. Through the agreement, Bullfrog Power ensures that renewable fuel is injected into the Canadian fuel system on behalf of CARAS and The JUNO Awards. Bullfrog Power sources its green fuel from biodiesel producers that repurpose waste streams from food and feed manufacturing, and used cooking oils from restaurants and kitchen facilities.
In addition, for the 2017 JUNO Awards, Bullfrog Power is ensuring that its generators put 504 MWh of green power onto the grid to match the amount of electricity used by JUNO Week events, hotel stays, and the CARAS head office in Toronto—enough clean energy to power more than 2,200 Canadian households for one week. Across Canada, Bullfrog’s green electricity comes from a blend of wind and low-impact hydro power sourced from new Canadian renewable energy facilities.
Choosing Bullfrog Power’s green electricity and green fuel is one of many steps that CARAS is taking to enhance the sustainability of the 2017 JUNO Awards. CARAS works closely with partners and suppliers to reduce resource consumption, manage waste and opt for socially and environmentally responsible goods and services.
Musicians across Canada are also choosing to support renewable energy with Bullfrog Power. 2017 JUNO-nominated musicians that have made a long-standing green energy commitment include Gord Downie and Sam Roberts Band. Over the past decade, major Canadian musicians including Anne Murray, Billy Talent, Blue Rodeo, Dave Carroll, Dave Gunning, k-os, Tara MacLean, The Sheepdogs and The Tragically Hip have also demonstrated their support for green energy by bullfrogpowering their homes, tours, concerts or companies. Through their partnerships with Bullfrog Power, these Canadian icons reduce their carbon emissions footprints and help create awareness about the actions we can all take to reduce climate change.
Bullfrog Power, Canada’s leading green energy provider, offers renewable energy solutions that enable individuals and businesses to reduce their environmental impact, support the development of green energy projects in Canada and help create a cleaner, healthier world. As a Certified B Corporation, Bullfrog Power meets higher standards of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. Thousands of individuals and businesses in Canada are doing their part to address climate change and air pollution by choosing green energy with Bullfrog Power. Sign up easily, quickly and affordably at bullfrogpower.com.
Join the bullfrogpowered community online on Facebook (facebook.com/BullfrogPower), Instagram (@bullfrogpower) and Twitter (@bullfrogpower).
The JUNO Awards Celebrate Art is Art Exhibition Featuring Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jann Arden, Leonard Cohen, and more
Highlighting the synergy between visual art and music, Art is Art will showcase the visual art practices of prominent Canadian recording artists. Commissioned by The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), JUNO Award artists will create works of visual art that celebrate the creative connection between these two disciplinary fields. In conjunction with the JUNO Awards which will be hosted in Ottawa in 2017, these works will be unveiled for the first time at the Ottawa Art Gallery Annex. Featuring a diversity of national talent, the works will also be a part of the building blocks of the JUNO Awards’ permanent collection and will appear as a part of the JUNO Awards each year further travelling to other galleries and cultural institutions within Canada. Whether crafting a song or painting a portrait, the creative core is similar. Art is art and that’s what this exhibition celebrates.
Art is Art will run from March 10 to April 16, 2017 at OAG Annex, City Hall 110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, ON.
Participating Artists: Buffy Sainte-Marie, Chantal Kreviazuk, Devon Portielje (Half Moon Run), Dylan Phillips (Half Moon Run), Hugh Dillon (Headstones), Jann Arden, Jay Malinowski (Bedouin Soundclash), Josh Winstead (Metric), Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene), Leonard Cohen, Lights, Marc Jordan, Murray McLauchlan, Royal Wood, Sarah McLachlan, Serena Ryder, Tom Wilson (Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and LeE HARVeY OsMOND).
Grandmaster Flash Talks “The Theory” Of Being A HipHop DJ and The Beginnings Of Hip-Hop
Emerging from the South Bronx in the early 1970s, Grandmaster Flash is inarguably one of Hip Hop’s original innovators. In the earliest days of the genre, he manipulated music by placing his fingers on the vinyl, perfected beat looping, and discovered many of the most iconic beats still commonly sampled today. It’s no surprise that The New York Times calls him Hip Hop’s first virtuoso.
Today, he’s the voice of an entire generation of 1970s hip hop pioneers. From his electric live shows, to his production role on Netflix’ The Get Down, Grandmaster Flash is at once a historian, a storyteller, and a cultural force.
Tennis Player Jack Sock’s Brilliant Bit Of Sportsmanship
Jack Sock tells Lleyton Hewitt to challenge a point in a great display of sportsmanship. The crowd absolutely loved it.
René Marie left her day job and her marriage to go pro. Watch her NPR Tiny Desk Concert here!
The Colorado River — better known for running through majestic National Parks and powering hydroelectric dams — forms an unlikely backdrop for the creation of a jazz song. But René Marie was answering phones at Denver’s jazz radio station KUVO when she sat down across from a fellow volunteer fundraiser. He would soon invite her on a canoeing trip and, without yet having seen the eponymous river, she wrote the giddy “Colorado River Song” on the way there.
René Marie’s is the sort of voice which first comes to mind when someone asks for a jazz singer — big and expressive, at home in classic swinging settings and comfortable in crowds. There’s plenty to set her apart, though. She made her first recording in her early 40s, so she’s a late bloomer by any standard. Her tastes admit many influences, and she’s got a penchant for original songwriting, especially where social justice intersects with personal biography. Her folky story-song “This Is (Not) A Protest Song” addresses homelessness and mental illness even in her own family.
Joined by her Experiment In Truth band (John Chin on piano, Elias Bailey on bass, Quentin Baxter on drums), Marie visited NPR headquarters to play songs from her new album Sound Of Red. She never specified the exact nature of that synesthetic idea, though the title track would seem to indicate that it’s about the addictive and lusty blood-rush of performing — of seeing red while singing the blues. In the audience was the bold KUVO volunteer from that day 10 years ago. His name is Jesse, and they’re now married and live in her home state of Virginia; they drove up together for this Tiny Desk concert.