Using only basketballs, sneakers, a ladder, and their mouths, the Harlem Globetrotters teamed up with singer/producer Mike Tompkins of London, Ontario, to create an Acapella version of their famous theme song “Sweet Georgia Brown.”
The Globetrotters are in the midst of their 90th year celebration, which includes playing seven Canadian provinces through April. The full schedule of games in Canada can be found at www.harlemglobetrotters.com/Canada.
The Globetrotters continue to grow their musical profile. The team also collaborated with STOMP for a 1-take video that went viral in October.
Grammy Award winner, Ray LaMontagne, is set to release his sixth studio album, Ouroboros, on March 4th via RCA Records. Ouroboros was produced by Ray and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. The album was written by Ray and will feature first single, Hey, No Pressure.
Yesterday the single premiered on NPR’s All Songs Considered in the U.S. where they called the track an “inspired new song,” stamped the album “incredible,” and that Ray “has continued to push himself in different directions.” The Canadian premiere was hosted on CBC Music.
Earlier this week, Ray sent a postcard to a small group of fans with a preview of the album:
Ladies and Gentleman,
I would like to extend to you this humble invitation: to be among a select few of my listening audience to hear a passage from my latest composition titled ‘Ouroboros’.
‘Ouroboros’ is an album musically unlike any I have recorded previously. It did not make itself known to me in sections, sessions, or moments carved out of the clutter of every day life. It presented itself as the simple question: “Will you follow me?”
Of course I couldn’t say no. I had to follow. What else could I do?
I had nothing with which to record the journey that was taken. The album is merely an attempt to recreate, from memory, the landscapes, the colors, the sights and sounds that were experienced. I only thank God for the vividness of those experiences, and for the ease of their recollection.
I realize that in my invitation for you to listen, I am in fact asking something of you as well; for listening is not a purely passive act. Listening takes effort. To listen is to participate.
There can be no conversation without one who is first willing to listen.
And so I both invite you to, and ask if you might, sit, quiet your surroundings, quiet your mind, and listen as I present to you the question that was first presented to me: Will you follow me?
Yrs,
Ray LaMontagne
Ray LaMontagne has released 5 studio albums (Trouble, Till The Sun Turns Black, Gossip in the Grain, God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise and Supernova) and sold out numerous tours across the US. Ray’s 2010 album, God Willin’ & the Creek Don’t Rise, won the Grammy for Best Folk Album and was nominated in the coveted Song of The Year category for Beg Steal or Borrow. Ray’s last single, Supernova, off the album of the same name, became one of Ray’s fastest growing singles at AAA radio, with the song rocketing into the top 5 within two weeks of impact.
Producer Mark Saunders has shared audio from a 1985 session where David Bowie sings an outtake in voices imitating Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Neil Young, Tom Waits, and more.
Mark writes:
I was lucky enough to work with Bowie in 1985 at Westside Studios in London. My bosses, Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley (Madness, Dexys Midnight Runners, Elvis Costello, Bush) were producing the soundtrack for the movie Absolute Beginners, for which Bowie was acting and writing songs (it was a better soundtrack than it was a movie!) and I was graduating from assistant engineer to engineer at that time.
The day Bowie was first due to show up at Westside, we were all a bit nervous — Bowie was the biggest star client for Clive and Alan at that point in time. We kept looking out the windows, waiting for a stretch limo to show up and an entire entourage to walk in, but then a black cab showed up and out popped the unaccompanied Bowie. He walked in, announced in what seemed a more cockney voice than I remembered, “Hi, I’m David Bowie,” and shook our hands. He seemed smaller than I imagined he would be in person. A bit later I noticed that the cockney had dissipated somewhat and he also seemed to have grown more upright and taller, too. I thought, “Wow, he really is a chameleon,” and wondered if the earlier exaggerated cockney was his way of reducing his superstar status temporarily to put people at ease on first meeting him.
The impersonations on this YouTube posting were recorded in August ’85, when Bowie came in to do the lead vocal. At the end of the session, he broke into the impersonations and I realized that these might get erased at some point, so I quickly put a cassette in and hit “record.” I wish we could hear the other side of the dialogue between Bowie and Clive and Alan, but unfortunately that wasn’t being recorded.
The first round of performers for the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards telecast has been announced and includes two-time GRAMMY winner and current 11-time nominee Kendrick Lamar, GRAMMY winners and current two-time nominees Little Big Town, current seven-time nominee The Weeknd, and 10-time GRAMMY winner Adele. A special tribute to 2016 MusiCares Person of the Year Lionel Richie will highlight the GRAMMY winner’s wide-ranging career. Entertainment icon and two-time GRAMMY winner LL COOL J is set to host Music’s Biggest Night for the fifth consecutive year. Taking place at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, the 58th Annual GRAMMY Awards will be broadcast live in HDTV and 5.1 surround sound on the CBS Television Network, Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Additional performers will be announced shortly.
This year’s top GRAMMY nominee, Lamar is up for Album Of The Year (To Pimp A Butterfly), Song Of The Year (“Alright”), Best Rap Performance (“Alright”), Best Rap Song (“All Day” and “Alright”), Best Rap Album (To Pimp A Butterfly), Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (with Taylor Swift for “Bad Blood”), Best Music Video (“Alright” and “Bad Blood”), Best Dance Recording (with Flying Lotus for “Never Catch Me”), and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration (“These Walls”).
Nominated for two awards, Little Big Town will take the GRAMMY stage for the first time. The band is nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance (“Girl Crush”) and Best Country Album (Pain Killer).
This year’s GRAMMY telecast will also mark The Weeknd’s debut GRAMMY performance. One of this year’s most nominated artists, The Weeknd received seven nominations: Record Of The Year (“Can’t Feel My Face”), Album Of The Year (Beauty Behind The Madness), Best Pop Solo Performance (“Can’t Feel My Face”), Best R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, Best Song Written For Visual Media (“Earned It [Fifty Shades of Grey]”), and Best Urban Contemporary Album (Beauty Behind The Madness).
Returning to the GRAMMY stage after four years, GRAMMY winner Adele will perform a track from her current blockbuster album, 25.
It comes as no surprise that Derek Zoolander’s apartment is much larger than a center for ants. The international male supermodel gives us a tour of his luxe pad, all while revealing his favorite fashion trend of all time, the truth about his relationship with Hansel, the superpower he wishes he had, and the secret to becoming a model.
From David Bowie’s 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mar, here’s the isolated Vocal, Acoustic Guitar and Bass for Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide. It’s the closing track on the album, detailing Ziggy’s final collapse as an old, washed-up rock star and, as such, was also the closing number of the Ziggy Stardust live show. In April 1974, RCA issued it as a single.
