Page 3001 – That Eric Alper

Robert Plant Announces North American Tour Dates With The Pixies

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Mar 17, 2015

Robert Plant Announces North American Tour Dates With The Pixies

Kicking off Sunday, May 24, at the Sasquatch! Festival in George, WA, Robert Plant and the Sensational Space Shifters are playing a string of North American summer dates. This includes his return to Bonnaroo the weekend of June 12, and finishing off the run in Philadelphia at The Mann Center. The complete itinerary is below.

Tickets will go on sale Friday 20 March at 10am ET via robertplant.com. Each ticket to the non-festival shows will include a CD of the band’s latest album, lullaby and…The Ceaseless Roar. The Pixies will be opening five of these shows; JD McPherson four of them.

Citi cardmembers will have access to presale tickets for the Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, CA performances from Wednesday, March 18 at 10am PT through Thursday, March 19 at 10pm PT. For more information, please visit citiprivatepass.com.

The tour is in support of Robert Plant’s lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar, which was named one of the top 50 albums of the year by NPR, which said, “At 66, the singer is still a majestic rock presence, at peace with the legacy of his hard-rock-defining band Led Zeppelin, while remaining relentlessly creative in his solo work. But on his 10th solo album, Plant does pause by those waters to consider the aesthetic, emotional and spiritual currents that have shaped his illustrious life. He finds himself, characteristically, not saddened but renewed… Not one of these songs sounds precisely like its source; that’s the genius of this album. It lovingly layers elements in ways that mirror memory, creating new constructs from floating shards of the musical past.”

Robert described lullaby and…The Ceaseless Roar as, “a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep.” He continued, “The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood. I am very lucky to work with The Sensational Space Shifters. They come from exciting areas of contemporary music…”

Full North American tour dates:

MAY
24 – George, WA – Sasquatch! Festival
25 – Bend, OR – Les Schwab Amphitheater
27 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Depot #
28 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl #
30 – Napa, CA – BottleRock Festival
31 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl #

JUNE
2 – Los, Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre #
5 – Hunter, NY – Mountain Jam Festival
7 – Toronto, ONT – Molson Amphitheatre %
9 – Rochester Hills, MI – Meadowbrook Music Festival %
10 – Chicago, IL – FirstMerit Bank Pavilion @ Northerly Island %
12 – Memphis, TN – Mud Island Amphitheatre
12 – 14 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo Festival
15 – Raleigh, NC – Koka Booth Amphitheater %
17 – Philadelphia, PA – Mann Center %

# JD McPherson support
% Pixies support

Starbucks is encouraging baristas to discuss race relations with customers

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Mar 17, 2015

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From Starbucks:

As racially-charged tragedies unfolded in communities across the country, the Chairman and CEO of Starbucks didn’t remain a silent bystander. Howard Schultz voiced his concerns with partners (employees) in the company’s Seattle headquarters and started a discussion about race in America.

Despite raw emotion around racial unrest from Ferguson, Missouri to New York City to Oakland, “we at Starbucks should be willing to talk about these issues in America,” Schultz said. “Not to point fingers or to place blame, and not because we have answers, but because staying silent is not who we are.”

Partners were not silent. For more than an hour, at an all-hands meeting at the Starbucks Support Center, partners representing various ages, races and ethnicities passed a microphone and shared personal stories.

“The current state of racism in our country is almost like humidity at times. You can’t see it, but you feel it,” said one partner.

Over the past three months, more than 2,000 Starbucks partners have discussed racial issues at open forums in Oakland, Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York and Chicago.

In the midst of a conversation with partners in St. Louis, a soft spoken young man shared that he was proud to have reached the age of 20.

“The magnitude of that statement might have been lost on many in the room, but for me, it brought to light a deeply troubling situation. For some young people in our country, just staying alive is their biggest and most important accomplishment,” said Kelly Sheppard, a Starbucks 15-year partner who attended two of the forums. “How could that be in 21st century America with all of the promise and opportunity our nation provides?”

In each forum, partners demonstrated vulnerability and courage as they shared personal stories. It was clear to those who attended, the gatherings highlighted the mission and values of Starbucks, and the partners’ desire to do more.

Baristas in cities where the forums were held said they wanted to do something tangible to encourage greater understanding, empathy and compassion toward one another. Given their willingness to discuss race relations, many partners wanted to begin conversations with their customers too. Partners in New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Oakland and Los Angeles have voluntarily begun writing “Race Together” on Starbucks cups. Partners in all Starbucks stores in the U.S. will join them today. Partners in Starbucks® stores may also engage customers in conversation through Race Together stickers available in select stores, and a special USA Today newspaper section arriving in stores later this week.

In addition, full-page ads in The New York Times and USA Today support the Race Together initiative, which will be further outlined during Starbucks 2015 Annual Meeting of Shareholders in Seattle on Wednesday.

Race Together is not a solution, Schultz acknowledged, “but it is an opportunity to begin to re-examine how we can create a more empathetic and inclusive society – one conversation at a time.”

The best movie dance sequences in the history of film in 3 minutes and 19 seconds

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Mar 17, 2015

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The best movie dance sequences in the history of film in 3 minutes and 19 seconds

Thanks to a supercut video, viewers can experience the joy of the best movie dance sequences in the history of film for 3 minutes and 19 seconds. “It’s all one song,” as Neil Young would say.

The video pairs Walk the Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” with iconic dance sequences from films, including Big and Little Miss Sunshine. Don’t be surprised if the song makes it back up to the charts due to the social media impact of this compilation.

James Brown on The Mike Douglas Show 1971

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Mar 17, 2015

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On May 11, 1971, Mike Douglas welcomed guests include Betsy Palmer, Enzo Stuarti, Clay Tyson, Honey & The Bees, Kim & Tom Pisut. AND JAMES BROWN! BROTHERS AND SISTERS! JAMES BROWN, EVERYBODY!

Lawrence Kasdan’s Handwritten Screenplay for “The Empire Strikes Back”

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Mar 17, 2015

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Yoda Training Luke

Han Resucing Luke on Hoth

Han and Leia Bickering/Flirting on Hoth

Han Getting Frozen in Carbonite

What Sneezing Into A Trombone Sounds Like

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Mar 17, 2015

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What Sneezing Into A Trombone Sounds Like

Things were going well until this trombonist was overcome with the sudden urge to sneeze.

Riff-Mania! The Stories Behind Iconic Guitar Riffs

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Mar 17, 2015

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From Gibson:

From Chuck Berry to The Beatles to the Stones and beyond, the guitar riff has served as the foundation for many of rock and roll’s most enduring classics. To tell the background behind every great riff would be a monumental task, but we thought it would be fun to present the stories behind some of the best, as told by the players themselves.

Led Zeppelin II

“Whole Lotta Love,” Led Zeppelin

Jimmy Page (as told to BBC News): “I wanted a riff that really moved, that people would really get, and would bring a smile to their faces, but when I played it with the band, it really went into overdrive. There was this intent to have this riff and the movement of it, so it was menacing as well as quite sort of caressing.”

“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” The Rolling Stones

Keith Richards (as told to NPR): “I go to bed as usual with my guitar, and I wake up the next morning, and I see that the tape is run to the very end. And I think, ‘Well, I didn’t do anything. Maybe I hit a button when I was asleep.’ So I put it back to the beginning, and pushed play, and there, in some sort of ghostly version, is [the opening lines to ‘Satisfaction’]. After that, there’s 40 minutes of me snoring.”

“Smoke on the Water,” Deep Purple

Ritchie Blackmore (as told to Guitar International): “I was trying to get an edge to what we were doing in Deep Purple, which is why I wanted something so powerful. But the thing is, I’ve seen people play it, and they always seem to strum it. I actually pick the notes with two fingers at the same time, the thumb and the first finger. Just the two notes. It’s a finger-style riff.

“Walk This Way,” Aerosmith

Joe Perry (as told to Gibson.com, 2007): “I stumbled onto that riff at a sound check. I can remember sitting there thinking how much I like James Brown, and the Meters, and I wanted to write a song that had that sort of R&B feel. That was the motivation, and that’s what started the riff. As far as the lyrics go, I didn’t know it was going to go that way, and I don’t think Steven did either. He just knew that the piece of music was in line with the type of music we liked, and that’s why it kind of stuck around. It just kept shouting, ‘Sing over me!’ But I didn’t know how it was going to go. He just kind of let it fly.”

“Layla,” Derek and the Dominos

Eric Clapton (as told to Uncut, 2006): “We spent a lot of time working together on the guitars and Duane was very instrumental in the development of the song. He came up with this riff that was pretty much a direct lift from an Albert King song, ‘As The Years Go Passing By,’ from the Stax album Born Under A Bad Sign. It’s a slow blues and there’s a line that goes, ‘There is nothing I can do, if you leave me here to cry’, and we used that.”

Sony unveils cassette tape that can hold 64,750,000 songs

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Mar 17, 2015

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Sony unveils cassette tape that can hold 64,750,000 songs

From Consequence of Sound:

For a time, the cassette tape absolutely dominated the sales market. In 1990 alone, a staggering 442 million tapes were sold. However, with the rise of the CD, the birth of the mp3, and the eventual resurrection of vinyl, sales dwindled, and by 2007 only a mere 274,000 individual cassettes were sold. Sure, cassette-centric labels like Kissability and Mirror Universe Tapes have offered the cassette a new and niche following, but it’s a clear sign of the times when the cassette’s accompanying Walkman is regarded like some alien artifact.

Now, though, Sony has brought the cassette back from the dead by unveiling a tape that can hold a whopping 148 gigabytes per square inch. If you can’t do the math, that’s 185 terabytes of total data. We’ll wait as you toss your iPod into the trash.

The tape, which was unveiled this weekend at the International Magnetics Conference in Dresden, holds approximately 74 times the amount of data of standard tapes. (For comparison, by 2010, most standard tapes could only store about 29.5 GB per square inch.)

Divine influence or magic aside, how exactly did Sony manage to boost the potential of the 50-plus-year-old magnetic tape technology? According to Gizmodo:

“The tape uses a vacuum-forming technique called sputter deposition to create a layer of magnetic crystals by shooting argon ions at a polymer film substrate. The crystals, measuring just 7.7 nanometers on average, pack together more densely than any other previous method.”

Ringo Starr Announces North American Tour Dates + Wide Release Publication of His book: ‘PHOTOGRAPH’

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Mar 17, 2015

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Ringo Starr Announces North American Tour Dates + Wide Release Publication of His book: ‘PHOTOGRAPH’

Fresh off a February/March 2015 All Starr Tour, Ringo announces another string of tour dates with his current All-Starr Band, bringing the band he doesn’t want to stop playing with coast-to-coast across North America from October 1 to October 31. Prior to the tour on September 21, Ringo and Genesis Publications will publish his photography book, PHOTOGRAPH, in wide release. This Spring will see the March 31 release of Ringo’s new album, POSTCARDS FROM PARADISE, by Universal Music Enterprises, and on April 18, he will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he will be honored with the Award for Musical Excellence.

In PHOTOGRAPH, Ringo Starr reveals never-before-seen photographs and mementos from his archives, sharing memories of his childhood, The Beatles and beyond. Ringo’s lens captures his Beatles bandmates in pensive and playful moments, portraying them from the point of view of an insider, friend and skilled photographer. In an original manuscript of over 15,000 words, join Ringo growing up amidst the excitement of the emerging Merseybeat scene, as he remembers his first car, drum-kits, girls and bands on his ‘road of happy drumming’. From Pwllheli to Delhi, obscurity to superstardom, his travels are recounted with honesty and hilarity.

That same honesty and hilarity continues on the road now with the All-Starrs, with whom he has forged a bond that is evident in every show they play. Ringo’s playful spirit also comes across through his Twitter, where he shares his candid and of-the-moment photographs and trademark humor.

“I love pictures put together, showing different times of your life, “Ringo said about the book, “At the time, I never thought that there would be a whole book of my photographs.”

PHOTOGRAPH was originally conceived as a limited edition book of only 2,500 copies, which sold out within weeks. Two years later, Ringo Starr and Genesis Publications announce the ‘Open Edition’ – a more accessible and affordable printing of his book to be released in bookstores this September 2015. The author is donating all royalties to the Lotus Foundation.

Ringo Starr’s 18^th studio release, POSTCARDS FROM PARADISE, features 11 original tracks and is his first album to include a song written and recorded by Ringo and his current All-Starr Band – Steve Lukather, Todd Rundgren, Gregg Rolie, Richard Page, Warren Ham and Gregg Bissonette. POSTCARDS FROM PARADISE was produced by Ringo and recorded at his home studio in Los Angeles and, as always, features friends and family. The album’s guest artists include: Joe Walsh, Benmont Tench, Dave Stewart, Ann Marie Simpson, Richard Marx, Amy Keys, Peter Frampton, Nathan East, and Glen Ballard.

Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band on Tour:

Oct 1 The Masonic, San Francisco, CA
Oct 2 Vina Robles Ampitheater, Paso Robles, CA
Oct 3 Field of Dreams, Sonoma, CA
Oct 6 Century Link Arena, Boise, ID
Oct 8 Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre Victoria, BC
Oct 9 Queen Elizabeth Theatre Vancouver, BC
Oct 10 South Okanagan Event Ctr, Penticton, BC
Oct 12 Jubilee Auditorium, Edmonton, AL
Oct 13 Jubilee Auditorium, Calgary, AL
Oct 14 Brandt Centre, Regina, SA
Oct 16 State Theater, Minneapolis, MN
Oct 17 Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI
Oct 18 Fox Theater, Detroit, MI
Oct 20 Massey Hall Toronto, ON
Oct 21 St Denis Theatre Montreal, QU
Oct 23 Wang Theater, Boston, MA
Oct 24 Foxwood Theater, Mashantucket, CT
Oct 25 State Theater, New Brunswick, NJ
Oct 27 Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh, PA
Oct 28 Lyric Opera House, Baltimore, MD
Oct 30 Tower Theater, Philadelphia, PA
Oct 31 Kings Theater, Brooklyn, NY

Sinead O’Connor Isn’t Singing “Nothing Compares 2 U” Anymore

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Mar 17, 2015

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Sinead O’Connor Isn’t Singing “Nothing Compares 2 U” Anymore

Sinead O’Connor has removed her hit song Nothing Compares 2 U from her live show, saying she has stopped singing the Prince-composed classic for good.

In a statement at her Facebook page Sinead said:

OK, the time has come for me to cease singing Nothing Compares 2U. The first principle of the manner in which I’m trained as a singer (Bel Canto) is we never sing a song we don’t emotionally identify with. After twenty-five years of singing it, nine months or so ago I finally ran out of anything I could use in order to bring some emotion to it. I don’t want audiences to be disappointed coming along to a show and then not hearing it, so am letting you know here that you won’t. If I were to sing it just to please people, I wouldn’t be doing my job right, because my job is to be emotionally available. I’d be lying. You’d be getting a lie. My job is to give you honesty. I’m trained in honesty. I can’t act. It just isn’t in my training. I have ceased singing other songs over the years for the same reason.

O’Connor recorded the song as a tribute to her mother who had passed away in 1985 as well. Her version was released on her second album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, released in 1990. The album was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, winning the award for Best Alternative Music Performance. O’Connor refused to accept the nominations and the award. In 2003, the album was ranked number 406 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album sold 7 million copies worldwide.