Erykah Badu’s How to Make it in Music as a Female is a tongue-in-cheek but what I’ve heard, of course, quite accurate depiction of what women have to go through in the music business. I’d be crying if I wasn’t laughing.
I think.
1. Get breast implants.
2. Get butt implants.
3. Buy a new scalp. Hair extensions are so early 2000s.
4. Get calf implants.
5. Wear stilettos. This is apparently a must. The taller the better.
6. Do some “ho sh*t.”
7. Kiss another woman.
8. Just be naked.
9. Sell super deluxe tampons.
10. After all of that, try to squeeze in some actual music…
…wherever and however you can.
Kudos to guitar great Zakk Wylde, who further cemented his musical legacy by being voted by Loudwire’s readers as the 2014 Guitarist of the Year in the 4th Annual Loudwire Music Awards.
It turned out to be one of the tightest and most competitive races of the 4th Annual Loudwire Music Awards as less than 1 percent of the vote separated Wylde from his closest competitor, Slash. Meanwhile, Sixx: A.M / Guns N’ Roses guitar slinger DJ Ashba and Linkin Park’s Brad Delson finished third and fourth respectively.
Wylde enjoyed a stellar year, as Black Label Society returned to the music scene with one of the year’s better albums, ‘Catacombs of the Black Vatican.’ The disc offered the frontman a chance to show off his guitar mastery, bringing the heavy, bluesy, swampy and moody in equal parts on the disc. Wylde also stepped outside the group for a handful of solo performances as well, including an appearance on Motorhead’s Motorboat Cruise.
Congrats to Black Label Society’s Zakk Wylde on being voted as Loudwire’s 2014 Guitarist of the Year in the 4th Annual Loudwire Music Awards. Fans in Europe will be able to catch Wylde riffing and rocking throughout the spring and during a portion of summer at these stops.
Have you ever wondered how your favorite books were written? The writers must have spent endless hours conceptualizing the characters and events that leave you sleepless on rainy nights.
Everybody loves reading books (or watching the movies based on them), but we rarely dig deeper into the work of the writers we admire. What is the first scene that comes to your mind when you imagine a contemporary author working on their novels? A powerful laptop and a peaceful coffee shop, perhaps? Wrong!
You would be surprised that most writers don’t appreciate high-tech devices as much as we do. Some of their writing methods are traditional, whereas others are a proof that a person with such extraordinary imagination cannot work in a usual way.
When you think of it this way, maybe we should all reach out to a piece of paper and a pen from times to times? You wouldn’t mind doing that if your pen was as cool as Neil Gaiman’s exceptional writing gadget. And if you have an old typewriter lying around somewhere in your home, do not get rid of it by any means! Someone could still use it.
From Mark Twain to everyone’s favorite George R.R. Martin, here is what some of the most famous writers used to produce their works!
In 1961, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, the jazz saxophonist best known for his work on Miles Davis’ epic album Kind of Blue, narrated a children’s introduction to jazz music.
Part of a larger series of educational albums for children, this 12-inch LP offered an “easy-going, conversational discussion of the highlights of the jazz story,” highlighting the “major styles and great performers” that began in New Orleans and spread beyond. Included on the album are some legendary jazz figures — Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Sidney Bechet, Thelonious Monk, and, of course, Cannonball himself. The album, A Child’s Introduction to Jazz, has long been out of circulation.
The team behind this record, Bill Grauer Productions, writes, “This is one of a series of 12-inch long-play records designed to take children into a delightful and exciting world of entertainment. They can learn wonderful things from these albums, but it never has to seem like learning. That’s part of the magic – for on these recorded tours into our “Wonderland” your children’s guides are celebrated performers, including some of the most famous and most sparkling names in the entertainment world: actors, singers and musicians whose skill and charm are well known to both children and grownups.
The story of jazz is the story of an exciting and truly American art form – a music bursting with the vitality of American life. Characterized by a regular beat and a direct emotional appeal, jazz can-if properly presented-have deep fascination and rich meaning for young children from the time they first begin to show an interest in music.
To insure such proper presentation, we have enlisted the aid of one of today’s most famous jazz musicians – Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, who is also noted as a highly articulate and well-informed writer in this field. His commentary is neither an over-formal history nor a technical ‘music lesson.’ Instead, it is an easy-going, conversational discussion of the highlights of the jazz story in terms of the major styles and great performers from New Orleans Up to the present-illustrated at every step of the way by excerpts from the celebrated Riverside catalogue.”
Included are such notable jazz names as Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Fats Waller, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Sidney Bechet, Thelonious Monk, and Cannonball himself.
Adderley wrote in the liner notes, “This record is concerned with telling you, and letting you hear, something about what jazz is. Not in a ‘music lesson’ way, but something about what jazz sounds like, and why it sounds that way, and about some of the many people who have played it and are playing it…
One thing that you should remember in listening to this album, and to any jazz you hear anywhere, is that jazz is very much a matter of people expressing their feelings, their thoughts, their ideas about life, and doing it of course through their music.
Waaaay way back in 1966, Topps put out a series of trading cards called Frankenstein Valentine Stickers, 44 sticker cards in total that featured the likenesses of iconic movie monsters, along with messages of love that ranged from clever to downright creepy. The stickers were painted by artist Norman Saunders (he also did art for the Mars Attacks and Wacky Packages cards), and the individual 5 cent packs of five cards each came with a stick of gum, as was the norm for Topps back in the day.
Though the box the packs were housed in labeled the cards as ‘Frankenstein Valentine Stickers’, the packs for whatever reason were emblazoned with a graphic that simply read ‘Frankenstein Stickers’. Just in case you were wondering why the pack above doesn’t have the word ‘Valentine’ in it.
No matter what ya want to call them, they’re pretty awesome. Check out the whole series below, which comes courtesy of the late Norman Saunders’ website!
Vancouver artist Douglas Coupland has been holding a fun-house mirror up to society for decades — but a major survey of his work has only recently been mounted. The sprawling exhibit, Everywhere is Anywhere is Anything is Everything, opened this past weekend in galleries at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum and theMuseum of Contemporary Canadian Art.
The colourful collection — featuring everything from painting and posters to plastic lids — explores, in the words of one reviewer, “the 21st-century condition, Canadian cultural identity, the power of language and the pervasive presence of technology in modern life”.
Coupland joined CBC’s Q guest host Daniel Richler to discuss his fading “pre-internet” brain, the acceleration of our accelerating world, and why — despite the non-stop parade of terrifying headlines — we may be living in a golden age.
Click here or on the listen button above to hear the full segment (audio runs 0:21:50). Plus see some highlights from the exhibit below.
Jah Cure, the Jamaican singer who has long been recognized as one of reggae’s greatest voices, inks a new deal with VP Records to release multiple albums, including The Cure slated for Spring 2015.
Jah Cure expresses his enthusiasm about signing to the label. “It is time for me to sign with an official company. VP is the largest distributor of reggae music and that is a fact, so I am happy to say I am in the best place right now for me. I look forward to build together and feel and sense good things to come,” he says.
The artist has a history with VP Records. He released two albums – Freedom Blues (2005) and True Reflections…A New Beginning (2007) – with the label, but was not officially signed as an artist.
VP Records is thrilled to finally have the reggae icon on their roster. The company’s A&R, Neil Edwards, mentions that he has “worked with Cure for over 13 years now, so this has been in the making for some time.” He continues, “Cure’s sound is so unique. It resonates with roots reggae listeners and r&b lovers alike.”
The highly anticipated LP The Cure will be a return to roots reggae and lover’s rock with pop fused elements. Consisting of production from the island’s legendary Clive Hunt and Llmar “Riff Raff” Brown (amongst many others), the collection will feature Cure’s brand new singles as well as current hits like “Rasta,” his John Legend cover “All of Me,” That Girl” and “Life We Live.”
What if you had an idea that you believed could change the world? How would you convince people that your idea could become a reality? A Canadian inventor named Louis Michaud has spent decades building a machine—a tornado machine—that he thinks could solve the world’s energy problems. According to Michaud, his “Atmospheric Vortex Engine” may someday generate mile-high columns of warm air, heated by the sun or waste heat from power plants, which could turn turbines and produce power. Lots of power, he believes. All he has to do is prove it.
The Agency Group, the world’s leading live music booking agency, is proud to announce that Rob Zifarelli has recently been promoted to Senior Vice President.
Fostered in 1996 by Neil Warnock (Founder & Worldwide President), Ralph James (CEO, The Agency Group Canada), and Jack Ross (President, The Agency Group Canada), The Agency Group Canada office represents some of the most recognizable, influential and successful names in the entertainment industry across all music genres.
“After many successful years at The Agency Group, Rob has shown himself to be a man of integrity, professionalism and flair, always putting his artists first,” says Gavin O’Reilly, Group CEO. “I am delighted to recognize his ongoing and vital contribution to The Agency Group and look forward to working with him in further expanding Canada’s largest and most innovative live music agency.”
Ralph James says, “Zif is incredibly focused, with an astute eye for talent. He has developed an extraordinary roster of artists – and I think he’s just getting started! We welcome Zif to the role of Senior Vice President and look forward to his continued success.”
A music industry executive veteran for more than 20 years, Zifarelli has been with The Agency Group for over a decade. During that time he has helped to develop and build the domestic and international touring careers for acclaimed artists such as City and Colour, Feist, Broken Social Scene, Bahamas, Stars, K-OS, Dan Mangan, Dinosaur Jr, Bombay Bicycle Club, Hawksley Workman, James Vincent McMorrow, and many more.
In addition to his work in Canada, Zifarelli is one of the country’s leading international booking agents representing an extensive roster and sharing his clients with colleagues in London, New York, Nashville, Los Angeles and Malmo. He personally books North and South America, Japan, Southeast Asia and Australia, where he proudly represents some of that countries most acclaimed artists including Vance Joy, Xavier Rudd, 360, The Cat Empire, The Jezabels, Boy & Bear, The Paper Kites, Airbourne, Holy Holy, Glass Towers, Violent Soho, and Washington.
