Bob Dylan has been busy in the studio and will be releasing his 37th album titled “Fallen Angels.” Dylan will follow up the album with a 27-stop tour this summer. Let’s take a look back at one of music’s greatest songwriters with photos that you might have seen before in black and white, but not in colour.
Tegan and Sara have announced their forthcoming album Love You to Death today. Recorded in Los Angeles, Love You to Death is the band’s 8th studio album and once again finds the group working with producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Sia, Beck, Ellie Goulding). It is slated for release on June 3rd while the first taste of music from the album is due April 8th, the same day that preorders begin.
Love You to Death is the follow up to Tegan and Sara’s pop breakthrough album Heartthrob, which featured the singles “Closer” and “I Was a Fool” which were double platinum and platinum certified in Canada, respectively. In addition to this, the band were featured on the LEGO Movie single “Everything is Awesome” with The Lonely Island, and were invited to perform that song as part of the 2015 Oscar telecast.
Tegan and Sara will be performing in Toronto during Canadian Music Week at the iHEARTRADIO Fest on Friday, May 6th. Click here for tickets to this performance. Further Canadian dates will be announced in the near future.
Born in Calgary, Alberta and now residing in Vancouver, BC, Tegan and Sara’s career numbers are impressive. They have sold over 1 million albums and collected 7 Gold certifications, 1 Double Platinum certification, 3 Juno Awards, 2 Polaris Prize nominations, and a Grammy nomination.
An auctioneer based in Los Angeles is currently holding an online sale of 95 items related to Prince. The sale, which is taking place without Prince’s endorsement or participation, includes items owned by his ex-wife Mayte Garcia and his first manager, Owen Husney.
Among the most significant items are a cassette including previously unreleased recordings, a guitar played by Prince on early demos, a pair of handcuffs used for a stage performance, and sets of china used at the wedding of Prince and Mayte — featuring Prince’s unmistakable “love symbol.” Mayte and Prince were married from 1996 to 2000. Husney was Prince’s first manager, the artist’s representative when he signed his first Warner Bros. contract in 1977.
Several of the items being auctioned are of undeniable interest to fans of Prince’s music. A 1959 Gibson L-series guitar, played by Prince on early demos, is selling for a minimum bid of $60,000. A 1978 cassette tape ($20,000) from the collection of Prince collaborator Dez Dickerson features “unique” versions of “So Blue,” “Gotta Broken Heart Again,” and “Sometimes It Snows In April,” along with recordings of three previously unreleased songs. The auction also includes mastering reference tapes from Prince’s debut album For You($1,000) and handwritten lyrics to the song “In Love” ($7,500).
Other items are strictly of extramusical interest. A 50-piece set of china from Mayte’s 1996 wedding to Prince is going for a minimum bid of $50,000; and a pair of rhinestone-studded handcuffs used during a Soul Train performance of “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” are going for $10,000 (key included). There’s also a large selection of clothing, no item selling for less than $1,000 (for each of a few scarves, one of which Prince wore when he met the Muppets).
Even Mayte’s diamond engagement ring is on the auction block — selling for a minimum bid of $100,000, that price including the handwritten heart-shaped notes “which Prince used to lead her on a romantic journey to the ring,” according to the auction house. For Husney’s part, he’s offering a 1977 check he wrote to Prince — endorsed with a very Prince-like flourish.
Via The Current
Entertainment One (eOne) has entered into an overall first-look deal with veteran reality television producer Chris Deaux and his newly-minted Two Fifteen West Entertainment. The deal further bolsters eOne’s Alternative Programming division’s slate of successful programming and strong development pipeline. Under the pact, Deaux will develop and produce unscripted programming with eOne through his Two Fifteen West shingle. The announcement was made today by Tara Long, Executive Vice President of U.S. Alternative Programming, eOne Television.
“When it comes to creating exciting, compelling unscripted content, Chris is a true force to be reckoned with. He has an established track record for identifying striking stories and concepts, and producing successful projects with unique perspectives, and we are eager to join forces with him to bring a slate of innovative, talent-driven projects to audiences,” said Long.
“This is an extremely exciting time to be a content creator and I am thrilled to be launching Two Fifteen West in association with a company as well regarded and successful as Entertainment One,” said Deaux.
Deaux is the established reality producer behind numerous successful television series. Prior to founding Two Fifteen West Entertainment, Deaux served as SVP of Development at Intuitive Entertainment where he developed and Executive Produced Atlanta Plastic and The Rap Game, now both in their second seasons on Lifetime; King of Cones for Food Network and Rods N’ Wheels for Discovery. Before Intuitive, Deaux was SVP of Development at Film Garden Entertainment where he created and Executive Produced Hogs Gone Wild on Discovery as well as Rock Bottom on Fuse and Extra Yardage on DIY. Previously he was head of development for Banyan Productions where he developed a number of additions to the Trading Spaces franchise as well as created the syndicated series Ambush Makeover and Design Invasion. Deaux is repped by CAA.
Two Fifteen West Entertainment joins a revered group of producers focused on alternative programming who hold first-look deals with eOne Television, including Kevin Healey (Scare Tactics, Fameless), Riaz Patel (How Do I Look?), and Mark Ford and Kevin Lopez’s Creature Films (Behind the Music). eOne also recently entered into a multi-year deal with esteemed producers Matt Anderson and Nate Green’s Purveyors of Pop (Married to Medicine, Real Housewives of Miami) to develop and co-produce premium unscripted content across multiple platforms.
Since eOne Television’s U.S. Alternative Programming division launched in 2012, Long and her team have rapidly expanded its business, having developed and produced an impressive and successful slate of programs including Nellyville, It’s A Mann’s World and The Sheards for BET; Mary Mary for WE tv; David Spade’s comedy prank show Fameless for truTV, which received an extended season order; SWV: Sisters With Voices for WE tv which was the highest rated freshman premiere in the network’s history; sports competition show Ball Up: Search For The Next for Fox Sports Net; psychological game show Race to Escape for Science Channel; documentary Born Without Limbs for TLC; and a series of specials of Big Surprise for E! featuring stars such as Nick Cannon and Macklemore.
New series this season include Growing Up Hip Hop, the docu-series following next generation of hip-hop royalty for WE tv; Nicole & Jionni’s Shore Flip on FYI; and About the Business, the docu-series following a tight-knit group of friends in the elite world of urban Hollywood for BET.
“Shine On You Crazy Diamond” appeared on Pink Floyd’s 1975 album Wish You Were Here, and was conceived and written as a tribute and remembrance to their former band member Syd Barrett.This audio-only video contains BBC commentators and drummer Nick Mason discussing and playing back segments of the multitrack.
The song was first performed on their 1974 French tour, and recorded for their 1975 concept album Wish You Were Here. It was intended to be a side-long composition (like “Atom Heart Mother” and “Echoes”), but was ultimately split into two sections and used to bookend the album, with new material composed that was more relevant to the album, and to the situation in which the band found themselves.
One day during recording, Barrett (now heavyset, with a completely shaved head and eyebrows) wandered into the studio (although Mason has since stated that he is not entirely certain whether “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” was the particular work being recorded when Barrett was there). Because of his drastically changed appearance, the band did not recognize him for some time. When they eventually determined the withdrawn man in the corner was Barrett, Roger Waters allegedly became so distressed about his appearance he was reduced to tears. Someone asked to play the suite again for Barrett and he said a second playback was not needed when they had just heard it. When asked what he thought of the song, Barrett said it sounded a “bit old”. He subsequently slipped away during celebrations for Gilmour’s wedding to Ginger Hasenbein, which took place later that day.
Keyboardist Richard Wright says, Roger was there, and he was sitting at the desk, and I came in and I saw this guy sitting behind him–huge, bald, fat guy. I thought, “He looks a bit…strange…” Anyway, so I sat down with Roger at the desk and we worked for about ten minutes, and this guy kept on getting up and brushing his teeth and then sitting–doing really weird things, but keeping quiet. And I said to Roger, “Who is he?” and Roger said “I don’t know.” and I said “Well, I assumed he was a friend of yours,” and he said “No, I don’t know who he is.” Anyway, it took me a long time, and then suddenly I realised it was Syd, after maybe 45 minutes. He came in as we were doing the vocals for Shine On You Crazy Diamond, which was basically about Syd. He just, for some incredible reason picked the very day that we were doing a song which was about him. And we hadn’t seen him, I don’t think, for two years before. That’s what’s so incredibly…weird about this guy. And a bit disturbing, as well, I mean, particularly when you see a guy, that you don’t, you couldn’t recognise him. And then, for him to pick the very day we want to start putting vocals on, which is a song about him. Very strange.
The Doors’ The Crystal Ship is from their 1967 debut album The Doors. It was also the B-side of the number-one hit single “Light My Fire”. According to Doors drummer John Densmore it was a love song to Jim Morrison’s former girlfriend, Mary Werbelow.
Bonus fact: The TV show Breaking Bad references the song in the second episode of season 5, “Madrigal”, when Jesse Pinkman refers to his and Walter White’s Crystal Methamphetamine Lab Recreational Vehicle as “The Crystal Ship”, a name that Pinkman christened himself.
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Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.
Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com
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