Page 2724 – That Eric Alper

Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead is helping find the next Einstein

Music

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Apr 13, 2016

Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead is helping find the next Einstein

The Canadian Einstein Legacy Project, a series of initiatives that honour the greatest minds and innovators around the globe, is pleased to announce a partnership with Tribal Planet and the Citizen Science platform. Through the power of the Citizen Science platform, this collaboration launches the new home of Finding the Next Einstein, because they believe that the world needs not just one – but millions – of Einsteins.

Jeff Martin, Founder of Tribal Planet, will illuminate Citizen Science and how they have partnered with thought leaders from around the world to create an exciting platform that enables STEAM education outside the classroom, demonstrating the magic of science through experiments, games and play on a mobile device. The platform brings together leading partners in brands, entertainment, mobile technology and the foremost thinkers of today to realize their potential.

The Einstein Gala – a part of the larger Canadian Einstein Legacy Project – is also pleased to announce the participation of Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead. For Albert Einstein, insight did not come from logic or mathematics. Rather, it came from intuition and inspiration like it does for many artists. In fact, Einstein said that the theory of relativity occurred to him by intuition, and that music was the driving force behind that intuition. Linking physics and mathematics to the art of music was critical to Einstein – and to inspire the genius amongst our next Einsteins, Bob Weir will be providing a thought-provoking discussion followed by a performance.

For more information about the Einstein Gala, visit www.einsteingala.com

The Next #HALLer Interactive Event Is…Frank Warren, Founder, Curator, Author of PostSecret

Music

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Apr 13, 2016

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The Next #HALLer Interactive Event Is…Frank Warren, Founder, Curator, Author of PostSecret

In late 2015 my wife Candace and I launched #HALLer to bring an exclusive group of social media influencers and friends together with artists in a unique experience. #HALLer creates the opportunity to sit down with interesting artists in conversation that is broadcast live through social media. #HALLer is not an interview, but an authentic exchange of thoughts, ideas and questions. Our inaugural #HALLer featured the Indigo Girls and garnered more than one million impressions throughout the hour we were live and trended #2 on Twitter in Canada (even with the Blue Jays playing in the World Series rounds while we were in session).

The next #HALLer event is one that we’re really excited about and I hope that you can join us by watching online and participating, too!

Frank Warren, Founder, Curator, Author of PostSecret will be joining us on April 18 between 8:00pm-9:00pmET on my Twitter stream. Frank is the founder and curator of PostSecret; an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard. The works have been exhibits in galleries and museums around the world including; MoMA. There have been six New York Times bestselling PostSecret books and the PostSecret blog has garnered over 750,000,000 hits. Frank continues to share secrets at colleges and events, including TED. He recently received the Mental Health Advocacy Lifetime Achievement Award. Every Sunday he continues to post secrets at his site and believes that our secrets can cut or heal.

#HALLer in working in conjunction with Mirvish Productions, who are bringing PostSecret: The Show to Toronto. The performance is an immersive, poignant journey through the humor and humanity of the personal stories we keep to ourselves, and on rare occasions, share with others. Projected images, videos, three actors and a guitarist guide the audience through crowd-sourced narratives revealing the true stories behind the secrets. Frank Warren, Internet phenomenon and recipient of the Mental Health Advocacy Lifetime Achievement Award, collaborated with an award-winning team of theatre professionals to bring PostSecret to life, theatrically, for the first time. With the bravery of Rent and the surprising honesty of The Vagina Monologues, PostSecret: The Show is a breakthrough in audience sourced storytelling that reaches beyond the confines of the stage, reminding audiences that secrets can be both walls and bridges.

Michael Franti & Spearhead releasing SOULROCKER album on June 3

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Apr 13, 2016

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Michael Franti & Spearhead releasing SOULROCKER album on June 3

Michael Franti & Spearhead will release their ninth studio album, SOULROCKER, on Friday, June 3 via Fantasy Records, which is their first album on the label. SOULROCKER features the new song, Crazy For You – a joyously upbeat rhythmic pop song that highlights Franti’s soulful vocals and encompasses his socially conscious outlook. You can listen to it here, and pre-order the album via iTunes, and Amazon. With each order, fans receive an instant download of the songs Crazy For You and Once A Day. The band will hit the road on a national headlining tour with multiple festival performances (see full tour dates below).

SOULROCKER was co-produced with Jamaican producers Stephen “Di Genius” McGregor (son of reggae luminary Freddie McGregor) and Dwayne “Supa Dups” Chin Quee (known for his work with artists like Bruno Mars and John Legend). Michael Franti & Spearhead have introduced a new sensibility to their potent hybrid of hip-hop, rock, folk, and reggae: a gracefully arranged take on electronic music that more than fulfills the band’s mission of making impassioned music you can dance to. Along with harnessing the Bay Area-based band’s dynamic energy for a more powerful impact than ever before, SOULROCKER shows Franti’s singular ability to channel frustration into music that’s both thought-provoking and triumphantly hopeful.

“Right now is a very challenging time for people, for our nation and the planet,” says Franti, a longtime activist and past recipient of Global Exchange’s Domestic Human Rights Award. “But I really believe that music can help fight war and violence and hatred. The world needs that more than ever now, so my intention with this album was to make music that could bring people together.”

While each selection on SOULROCKER began with Franti working out melodies on his acoustic guitar, many of the album’s songs ultimately evolved into beat-powered tracks that reveal a close and nuanced understanding of the electronic genre. “One of the first records I had as a kid was a Kraftwerk seven-inch that I got from the giveaway bin at the UC Davis radio station, KDVS,” recalls Franti, who grew up in Davis, California. “We always do a DJ set at the end of our shows, and I wanted to try bringing in those dance and electronic elements but still keep the organic instrumentation that I’ve always loved.”

Franti’s message of positivity and political consciousness, once an outlier in music, has found momentum in the mainstream in recent years – a phenomenon that compelled him to push his artistry even further on SOULROCKER. “I feel a deeper sense of purpose in music today than I ever have in my career,” he says. “The album’s really about me challenging myself and growing, and just trying to make the most inspiring music I possibly can for this intense, crazy and wonderful time we’re all living in.”

Be sure to catch Michael Franti & Spearshead on tour to experience SOULROCKER and other classics live.

SOULROCKER TRACK LISTING:

Crazy For You
My Lord
Get Myself To Saturday
Summertime Is In Our Hands
We Are All Earthlings
Still Standing
Good To Be Alive Today
My Favorite Wine Is Tequila
Once A Day
We Do This Every Day
I Got Love For Ya
Do You Feel The Way That I Do
Love Will Find A Way

TOUR DATES:
4/16 – Charleston, SC – Southern Ground Music & Food Festival
4/17 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Tortuga Festival
4/22 – New Orleans, LA – Nolafunk Jazzfest Series @ Republic
4/23 – Oxford, MS – Double Decker Arts Festival
4/24 – Atlanta, GA – Sweetwater 420 Festival
5/27 – Napa, CA – BottleRock Music Festival
5/29- Monterey, CA – California Roots Music and Arts Festival
6/2 – Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak
6/3 – Pittsburgh, PA – Three Rivers Festival
6/5 – Hunter, NY – Mountain Jam
6/12 – Russell Township, OH – LaurelLive
6/15 – Portland, ME – Thompson’s Point^
6/16 – Boston, MA – House of Blues^
6/17 – Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore^
6/18 – Stratton, VT – Wanderlust Festival
6/19 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore^
6/21 – Ann Arbor, MI – Ann Arbor Summer Festival^
6/22 – Grand Rapids, MI – Meijer Gardens^
6/24 – Des Moines, IA – Simon Estes Amphitheater
6/25 – St. Paul, MN – Twin Cities Jazz Fest
6/26 – Bayfield, WI – Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua^
6/28 – Chicago, IL – Concord Music Hall^
6/30 – Milwaukee, WI – Summerfest
7/2 – Ottawa, ON – Ottawa Jazz Festival
7/29 – Kaslo, BC – Kaslo Jazz Festival
8/3 – Costa Mesa, CA – Pacific Amphitheatre*
8/4 – Mammoth Lakes, CA – Mammoth Festival**
8/5 – Flagstaff, AZ – Pepsi Amphitheater**
8/6 – Durango, CO – Three Springs**
8/7 – Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre**
8/9 – Salt Lake City, UT – Red Butte Garden
8/11 – Bend, OR – Les Schwab Amphitheater**
8/12 – Troutdale, OR – Edgefield**
8/13 – Tamarack, ID – The Huckleberry Jam
8/16 – Missoula, MT – Big Sky Brewing Company**
8/17 – Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory Concert House**
8/19 – Lake Tahoe, NV – MontBleu Resort & Casino**
8/20 – Lincoln, CA – Thundervibes
8/25 – San Luis Obispo, CA – Avila Beach Resorts**
8/26 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl**
8/27 – Tucson, AZ – The Rialto Theatre**
8/28 – Santa Fe, NM – The Santa Fe Opera House**

^ w/Chali 2na & The Funk Hunters
*w/ G. Love & Special Sauce
**w/ Zella Day

Cool Book Alert: Heavy Metalloid Music – The Story of Simply Saucer

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Apr 13, 2016

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Cool Book Alert: Heavy Metalloid Music – The Story of Simply Saucer

Written by Toronto-based music journalist Jesse Locke (AUX, Weird Canada) Heavy Metalloid Music is the official biography of Hamilton’s legendary psych/proto-punk band Simply Saucer, who first launched into orbit in 1973. They were so far outside of the curve during their original ’70s lifespan that they wouldn’t be recognized until their recordings were finally released in 1989 as the posthumous collection, Cyborgs Revisited. An expanded 40th anniversary edition of Cyborgs Revisited will be soon be re-released on celebrated garage label In The Red.

When punk hit Canada in the late 1970s Simply Saucer became quasi-rivals of Teenage Head (even stealing guitarist Steve “Sparky” Park) and existed on the fringes of the Toronto scene. Their live shows blew minds and their work ethic was unmatched, rehearsing nearly every night (including Christmas) in the basement of the infamous Saucer House. After a decade of obscurity, the band was finally swallowed up by a black hole of drugs, crime, supernatural rituals, and suicide. After 40 years, Simply Saucer have slowly found their way back to earth.

Part oral history and part zine-style chronicle, Heavy Metalloid Music includes interviews with current and former members of Simply Saucer, plus their musical contemporaries, writers, fans, label heads, and others sucked into the Saucer’s tractor beam. Alongside a collection of rarely seen photos and other vintage materials, it also shares the story of Thee Gnostics, The Battleship, Ethel, and Zacht Automaat. These Hamilton psychedelic survivors have carried on the spirit of Simply Saucer, proving there has always been something in Steeltown causing expanding heads to create their own fantasies.

Heavy Metalloid Music will be available at select independent bookstores across Canada, online retailers as well as the Eternal Cavalier Press website in November 2016. An exclusive excerpt and interview with Jesse Locke is now available at Open Book.

Jesse Locke has become Simply Saucer’s official biographer and contributed the liner notes to Saucerland, a new collection of Simply Saucer archival recordings released on Logan Hardware/Galactic Zoo Archive.

“The idea of a group of record collectors creating their own version of the Velvet Underground, Hawkwind, and Soft Machine in complete isolation and with limited means (in the early 1970s no less!) is completely awe-inspiring,” says Locke. “Of course their versions turned out way weirder than their heroes, with dystopian lyrical themes of cyborgs, Nazis, and comic book super-villains.”

Simply Saucer’s sole studio recordings of this era took place in the basement bunker of brothers Bob and Daniel Lanois, who would famously go on to work with the likes of Brian Eno, U2, and other musical bigwigs. The sessions were a raw, off-the-floor shamble, with several songs captured in a single take. The lyrics, influenced by sci-fi, comic books, and first-hand experiences with crime-infested street life, were written in a Beat-style stream of consciousness.

“After getting to know the band members throughout hours of interviews, I also discovered that they’re a lot like me and my friends,” says Locke. “Their story should be relatable to anyone in a hometown band that never made it big, but it’s also completely unique.”

Little Steven’s Underground Garage & SiriusXM Presents The Sonics, The Woggles, and Barrence Whitfield & The Savages

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Apr 13, 2016

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Little Steven’s Underground Garage & SiriusXM presents The Sonics, The Woggles, and Barrence Whitfield & The Savages for a 21-city North American tour kicking off on May 5, 2016 at Union Transfer (Philadelphia, PA) and continuing through June 4 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg (Brooklyn, NY). Renowned for single-handedly defining the genre of garage rock, The Sonics are set to release a new live album, Live at Easy Street (April 16, 2016), for Record Store Day in advance of the tour. The Sonics will also be joining Robert Plant and The Sensational Space Shifters in March 2016 for shows throughout the South. Interviews and hi-res photos for all three bands are available upon request.

The Sonics are officially back as a garage rock tour-de-force with their first studio album in almost 50 years, This Is the Sonics (2015), receiving critical acclaim from Rolling Stone, MOJO, and The New Yorker, just to name a few. With what might be the longest interval between recordings in rock history — The Sonics released the legendary Here Are the Sonics in 1965 and Boom in 1966 — the band’s 2015 follow-up album is an unflinching testament to why The Sonics have influenced countless generations of garage bands the world over. This Is the Sonics is a hard-hitting record of 12 new savage songs, produced by Jim Diamond (The White Stripes, Dirtbombs, Electric Six). As famed rock critic David Fricke of Rolling Stone notes, “The Sonics were cult heroes who influenced Nirvana — now they’ve finally made another LP.”

Though the band broke up in 1967 (and then reformed in 2007), The Sonics have inspired some of rock’s greatest stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Kurt Cobain, Jack White, Eddie Vedder, and many others. Their song “Have Love, Will Travel” was not only covered by The Black Keys, but it was featured in a Modelo Especial beer commercial, a Land Rover TV ad, and was used as promo for the 2014 season of Anthony Bourdain’s CNN Series, “Parts Unknown.” An interview between the Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl and The Sonics’ Larry Parypa was recently included in the Seattle episode of the HBO Series, “Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways.”

With the release of This Is the Sonics, The Sonics’ original members Jerry Roslie (keyboards and vocals), Larry Parypa (guitar and vocals), and Rob Lind (sax, harmonica and vocals) reunited and enlisted bassist Freddie Dennis (The Kingsmen, The Liverpool Five) and drummer Dusty Watson (Dick Dale, Agent Orange) to round-out the powerhouse group. Recorded for KEXP, their upcoming record Live at Easy Street is nothing short of a masterpiece with special guests Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam), Chris Ballew (The Presidents of the United States of America), Matt Lukin (Mudhoney), Van Conner (Screaming Trees), Ben Shepherd (Soundgarden), and others. Live at Easy Street will be released on vinyl on April 16, and subsequently digitally available via iTunes.

On their excitement for the spring 2016 tour, The Sonics comment, “We have a long relationship with Little Steven. He has joined us on stage to perform, and we spent an entire day with him prior to our last show at SXSW. Now things have come full circle. The Sonics are thrilled and honored to have been chosen to represent Little Steven and his amazing Underground Garage radio network as we set out on this tour. We’re excited to bring Sonics rock and roll to many new cities and revisit some of our favorite places and people. And as The Sonics have been known to say, ‘The road goes on forever and the party never ends.'”

“In the early ’60s, The Sonics coupled the frenetic energy of Little Richard with their own hormone fueled adrenaline to create a sound that 50 years on remains timeless and exhilarating,” says The Mighty Manfred (DJ in Little Steven’s Underground Garage, lead singer for The Woggles). “For The Woggles to share a stage with them is to be in the presence of masters, to feel the glow of gods, and to gaze into the Hall Of The Immortals.”

The Woggles, a four-man delivery system for 200-proof nitro-fueled rock’n’roll share a vision and blaze a trail with the same insanity as the true Wildman originators of three-chord mayhem. Their sound is a combination of ’60s rock’n’roll with a fist-full of soul, a hip flask of rhythm & blues and a splash of surf. The Woggles’ 2009 release, Tempo Tantrum, was ranked by Spin Magazine among the “Best of the Year” and touted the album as the “soundtrack for the best biker flick you’ve never seen.” Their song “It’s Not About What I Want (It’s What You Got),” was voted the first ever “Coolest Song of the Year” by listeners of SiriusXM’s Underground Garage Channel.

Barrence Whitfled and the Savages have built a strong reputation for their explosive stage performances, described as “raucous and rough, in high gear from the moment they hit the stage.” Similar to Joe Louis, Howlin’ Wolf, and Wilson Picket, Whitfield has what these greats all possessed, the one thing a trainer cannot teach a fighter: a lust for mayhem. The wilder, louder more insane the Savages bring it, the more Whitfield is ready to attack the mic. Upon the release of the band’s third album, Call of the Wild, they’ve toured with many artists including Bo Diddley, Tina Turner, George Thorogood, Robert Cray and Solomon Burke.

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to see The Sonics, The Woggles, and Barrence Whitfield and The Savages in a city near you this spring. The Sonics set the precedence, pace and the sound that ultimately gave every musician that followed the right to take rock to the edge of the universe!

THURSDAY, MAY 5 – UNION TRANSFER – PHILADELPHIA, PA
FRIDAY, MAY 6 – HAW RIVER BALLROOM – SAXAPAHAW, NC
SATURDAY, MAY 7 – 9:30 CLUB – WASHINGTON, DC
MONDAY, MAY 9 – ORANGE PEEL – ASHEVILLE, NC
TUESDAY, MAY 10 – TERMINAL WEST – ATLANTA, GA
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11 – EXIT / IN – NASHVILLE, TN
FRIDAY, MAY 13 – TREES – DALLAS, TX
SATURDAY, MAY 14 – MOHAWK AUSTIN – AUSTIN, TX
TUESDAY, MAY 17 – CRESCENT BALLROOM – PHOENIX, AZ
THURSDAY, MAY 19 – REGENT THEATRE – LOS ANGELES, CA
FRIDAY, MAY 20 – THE FILLMORE – SAN FRANCISCO, CA
SUNDAY, MAY 22 – THE NEPTUNE – SEATTLE, WA
MONDAY, MAY 23 – DANTE’S – PORTLAND, OR
THURSDAY, MAY 26 – KNUCKLEHEADS SALOON – KANSAS CITY, MO
FRIDAY, MAY 27 – TURF CLUB – ST. PAUL, MN
SATURDAY, MAY 28 – THE PROMONTORY – CHICAGO, IL
SUNDAY, MAY 29 – GREEN BAY DISTILLERY – GREEN BAY, WI
TUESDAY, MAY 31 – PHOENIX CONCERT THEATER – TORONTO, ON
THURDSAY, JUNE 2 – COLLEGE STREET MUSIC HALL – NEW HAVEN, CT
FRIDAY, JUNE 3 – BRIGHTON MUSIC HALL – BOSTON, MA
SATURDAY, JUNE 4 – MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG – BROOKLYN, NY

The 1990 Pixar Marketing Video Told The Story…So Far

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Apr 10, 2016

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The 1990 Pixar Marketing Video Told The Story…So Far

Pixar began in 1979 as the Graphics Group, part of the computer division of Lucasfilm before its spin-out as a corporation in 1986 with funding by Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs, who became its majority shareholder. Before The Walt Disney Company bought Pixar in 2006 at a valuation of $7.4 billion, the company put together a marketing film in 1990 to promote their success. That year, Pixar gradually developed the “Pixar Braintrust,” the studio’s primary creative development process, in which all directors, writers, and lead storyboard artists at the studio look at each other’s projects on a regular basis and give each other very candid “notes” (the industry term for constructive criticism).

This car alarm needed it’s battery changed, but it could be the next EDM hit

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Apr 10, 2016

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This car alarm needed it’s battery changed, but it could be the next EDM hit

This car alarm drops a beat before fading out, like a DJ at 3am.

Outtakes From Cookie Monster’s Commercial With Hands-Free Siri

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Apr 10, 2016

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Go behind the scenes of the Apple commercial, with Cookie Monster and everyone’s favorite personal assistant, Siri.

https://youtu.be/Wk5qT_814xM

Here’s the original ad featuring iPhone 6s with Hands-free Siri. Just say, “Hey Siri,” and Siri’s there to help you with pretty much everything.

https://youtu.be/Wk5qT_814xM

Saul Williams On His Parents Teaching Him About Music And Politics

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Apr 10, 2016

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Saul Williams On His Parents Teaching Him About Music And Politics

How did your parents inform your understanding of politics and social change?

Saul Williams: When I was in the third grade, I thought I either wanted to be an actor or a lawyer when I grew up. My mom told me to do my next school report on Paul Robeson, and it was that; it was the fact that my parents threw around names like Paul Robeson, invited guests to the house like Odetta, and someone like Pete Seeger was a regular member of my dad’s church where he was a pastor. I grew up around these people who always aligned their artistry with protest and so I just thought it was normal. The connection between protest and art always made sense to me; it was always about these visionaries who gave their lives in service to humanity. The freshest artists were always that — Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Joni Mitchell — they all knew the world is bigger than just them. I couldn’t understand why anyone would waste their time singing about anything else when this is really where the iconic shit is.

Via