A young Barack Obama, known to his friends as “Barry,” arrives in New York City in the fall of 1981 to begin his junior year at Columbia University. In a crime-ridden and racially charged environment, Barry finds himself pulled between various social spheres and struggles to maintain a series of increasingly strained relationships with his Kansas-born mother, his estranged Kenyan father, and his classmates.Barry is the story of a young man grappling with those same issues that his country, and arguably the world, are still coming to terms with 35 years later. The series premieres on December 16, 2016.
This whole island is solar-powered thanks to Tesla, and it only took a year
The island of Ta’u in American Samoa, located more than 4,000 miles from the West Coast of the United States, now hosts a solar power and battery storage-enabled microgrid that can supply nearly 100 percent of the island’s power needs from renewable energy, thanks to Tesla and SolarCity. This provides a cost-saving alternative to diesel, removing the hazards of power intermittency and making outages a thing of the past.
Bruce Cockburn to host 2017 JUNO Songwriters’ Circle in Ottawa
The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) announced today that Ottawa native, 12-time JUNO Award winner, Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee, and music legend Bruce Cockburn will host and perform at the 2017 JUNO Songwriters’ Circle, to be held in the NAC Theatre at the National Arts Centre on Sunday, April 2, 2017 from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. EST.
JUNO Songwriters’ Circle is an intimate and interactive concert benefiting MusiCounts, Canada’s music education charity associated with CARAS that works to keep music alive in schools and communities across Canada. Co-presented by SOCAN (The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers) and Yamaha Canada Music, in association with the Canadian Music Publishers Association, this event is considered the “jewel of JUNO Week,” and will feature some of Canada’s most talented songwriters, performing their songs and sharing the stories behind them.
Tickets to the 2017 JUNO Songwriters’ Circle go on sale on November 24 at 10 a.m. EST at www.ticketmaster.ca, the National Arts Centre Box Office or by phone at 1-888-991-2787. Tickets are available for $49.50 and $59.50 (plus taxes and service fees), with proceeds supporting MusiCounts.
“I’m honoured to have been asked to host the Songwriters’ Circle during JUNO Week 2017 in Ottawa. This one-of-a-kind showcase will offer people a unique look into the raw emotions and art of storytelling that come with songwriting,” said Cockburn. “I’m also pleased to participate in an event that supports MusiCounts and the work they do for school music programs across the country. These programs have a huge impact on fostering our future artists and developing a creative youth within Canada.”
JUNO Songwriters’ Circle will be available for streaming through CBCMusic.ca and will also be broadcast on CBC Radio One and CBC Radio 2. Dates to be announced in the new year.
British guitar buyers could be paying more for their instruments, thanks to Brexit
British guitar buyers could soon be playing the Brexit blues as price rises caused by the slump in the value of the pound feed through to music stores.
Prices are increasing by double digits as top US brands such as Gibson and Fender increase list prices to make up for the weaker purchasing power of sterling.
Anthony Macari, co-owner of Macari’s on London’s Denmark Street, said: “We are seeing increases of 10-15%, not just on American guitars but on guitars coming in from Europe and China. Everyone is catching up.”
He said increases were noticeable because guitar prices have barely risen in recent years. The full effect will be felt after Christmas, he said.
Ed Sheeran has made a young fan’s dreams come true by surprising her in hospital
Singer Ed Sheeran has made a young fan’s dreams come true by surprising her in hospital. He visited nine-year-old Melody Driscoll and performed his hit songs Photograph and Thinking Out Loud.
Death Metal Cover of John Cage’s 4′ 33” Will Crush You
Death-metal band Dead Territory covers John Cage’s 4′ 33”better than most. It won’t be the last cover of the song attemtped, but the spirit is perfect.
Just Another Bizarre Iggy Pop Interview From 1979!
On July 8, 1979, ABC-TV music program Countdown invited Iggy Pop to appear on the show to perform ‘I’m Bored’. Iggy also appeared on the segment Humdrum, interrupting host Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum in the middle of an album review.
Long live Iggy!
Song Exploder: Rivers Cuomo’s Secret Songwriting Weapon? Spreadsheets
Weezer’s 10th album, the self-titled “White” album, came out April 1, 2016. In this episode, Rivers Cuomo breaks down the meticulous process of making the song “Summer Elaine and Drunk Dori,” through the different demo versions that the track went through, and the array of spreadsheets that he uses collect, analyze, and harvest his ideas.
Herbie Hancock On Miles Davis: “He Didn’t Hear Mistakes, Only Something That Happened”
Herbie Hancock talks Miles Davis and “mistakes.”
“It taught me a very big lesson not only about music,” says Hancock, “but about life.”
Life is improvised. Be prepared.
David Mancuso: “People just want to have a good time”
David Paul Mancuso created the popular “by invitation only” parties in New York City, which later became known as “The Loft”. The first party, called ‘Love Saves The Day’, was in 1970. Mancuso also helped start the record pool system for facilitating the distribution of promotional records to the qualified disc jockey. Elements of Mancuso’s influence can also be seen in the famous nightly scene outside of New York City’s Studio 54, where legendary owner Steve Rubell understood the appeal of selectivity and took Mancuso’s “invitation only” idea and expanded it to ridiculous, and ridiculously effective, extremes. Some nights Rubell would famously keep almost everyone standing outside and only admit 100 patrons or so. The effect was to make admittance to 54 even more sought after, increasing the club’s popularity exponentially over the course of the mid and late 1970s.
From the beginning, your parties were designed to bring people together.
I was very frustrated. A lot of times I wouldn’t enjoy things about going to certain places, from the soundsystem to the door policy. I was able to prevent that, and by having a certain way of doing things, we promoted social progress.
To this day, there’s no dress code. There’s no age control. You don’t have a liquor license. Once you have the different economical groups mixed together, the social progress starts to kick in. You have people from all walks of life coming together.
The music also had a lot of crossover. We had all kinds of music being played, from one end of spectrum to the other, and people found out that, “Hey, I like Led Zeppelin and I like James Brown.”
People just want to have a good time. They want to feel safe and have a good time. That’s always rule number one for a place, to be safe. But it’s more than not just doing things like overcrowding, it extends all the way down to protecting the ears.