It’s so sad to hear about the death of singer Whitney Houston. She had so much talent and unfortunately got hooked on drugs which lead to her slow and steady demise. What a tragic waste. I met Whitney in the 1990s when The Bodyguard was at the top of the charts. She was performing at a benefit in Los Angeles and I was lucky enough to see her rehearsing “I Will Always Love You.” She sang several takes and each version sounded more flawless than the one before it. It’s really sad to hear that she died at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, as that is a place that holds so many great memories for me. I’ve had so many wild celebrity encounters at the Hilton – I am just in shock. I’ve also had many good times dancing to Whitney’s music including the club version of “It’s Not Right, But It’s OK,” “If I Told You That” her duet with George Michael and of course the classic ”I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” It’s really sad that in the last few years of her life, the public chose to focus on her mess of a life instead of the tremendous talent she possessed. Now in death, the public will remember her as a goddess of music whose voice was silenced way too soon. RIP, Whitney!
Plan B is back! The British rapper and crooner has announced plans to release the movie “iLL Manors” on May 4, 2012 (details for the rest of the world are TBA as of press time). The premise of the film will be six inter-linking short stories, represented by a different rap song, coming together at the end. A soundtrack to accompany the film will be released at the same time. If you don’t know Plan B’s album “The Defamation of Strickland Banks,” you are missing out! It’s filled with soul, rap and is the perfect remedy to the mediocre superstars of 2011.
Singer/songwriter Jay Brannan has announced his latest album “Rob Me Blind,” which is set for release in March 2012. If you pre-order his album, you will also receive a free live digital EP called “Live from Eddie’s Attic.” There are also special deluxe packages available and one of them includes Jay Brannan lip balm as well as your chance to win a 15 minute Skype call from Jay! Jay will be announcing a tour tentatively scheduled to begin in April 2012, so stay tuned! Jay is great live – telling hilarious stories in between songs – so make sure you catch him when he comes to your city!
Opinions are opinions obviously, but based on some of the ignorant comments I’ve heard in regards to the singer Lana Del Rey since her weekend appearance on the TV show Saturday Night Live that I’ve heard, I thought I’d offer my two cents about Lana Del Rey. I’m only saying these words as someone who sees HUNDREDS of live acts a year. That might not qualify me as an expert in live music, but I’ll tell you one thing – for some of the shitty things I’ve heard about Lana, I certainly did not see YOU at her show and I’ve certainly not seen YOU going and checking out live music night after night to expand your musical horizons and trust me, I’d remember!
Lana Del Rey became a Youtube sensation in 2011 and based on the strength of two viral videos, many doors have opened for her. She’s gotten international exposure by appearing on many TV programs and up until now, her performances have been pretty solid. She performed two songs on Saturday Night Live, a TV show that everyone seems to say “has lost its thunder years ago,” and yet everyone seems to watch it and complain about how bad it is. So anyone that falls into that bucket, which I’ll conservatively estimate as A LOT of you, deserves to have their words discredited as ALL of the people in that bucket DO NOT STAND BEHIND THEIR WORDS! If you don’t like something, DO NOT SUPPORT IT! Please don’t support it and then complain about how bad it is (that goes for awards shows and reality TV also). It’s a double standard and anyone with half a brain (such as myself) can see right through it! Don’t “watch” train wrecks – GET OUT AND HELP because one day YOU might be on that train!
Yes, Lana Del Rey’s appearance on the TV show was nowhere near as good as her videos and was disappointing, but suddenly, the same people that watched Lana’s videos and made her an internet sensation are doing everything in their power to tear her down. If you believe what you hear on the internet, there has never been anyone ever in the history of music as bad as Lana Del Rey! That makes NO sense! Before you utter another bad word about Lana, PLEASE remember that the world has allowed someone as talentless and tone deaf as Katy Perry to break records set by someone truly talented like Michael Jackson. Please remember that the world has allowed pop auto-tune and lipsynching icons such as Britney Spears and Rihanna to be hugely successful and sell out stadiums across the world! Let’s see them perform acoustically!? It will never happen because it will expose their lack of singing talent. It will prove that they are frauds and that the world is filled with idiots who are incapable of making decisions for themselves!
It’s been avoidable to hear reports that she bought her way into stardom or slept her way to get where she is. SO BE IT if any of that is indeed true. It sure worked for Madonna and look where she is now. We’re not going to get into Madonna’s preaching to the masses about destroying your ego while she maintains one of the largest egos on the planet either, because that’s a diatribe for another day. I’m not on Lana Del Rey’s payroll, but UNLIKE YOU at this point in the game, I’ve seen her perform a full set and I found her songs to be great. Certainly she’s not the best singer in the world, but she’s certainly not the worst either. I found myself intrigued to hear more, and I think that her recent performance was an off night instead of a lack of talent as the armchair critics of the world are condemning her for. Her album will be released at the end of the month and time will tell if the old adage that all publicity is good publicity is still true in 2012.
So with that in mind, revist a live performance of “Video Games” that I recorded from a small club show in December 2011.
Dan Black is recording a new album! Better news yet, he wants you to sing on one of his new songs! All you have to do is visit his official site, download a part of his new song, make a video of you singing the vocals, upload it to youtube (or email directly to Dan) and voila! He’s planning on having an “internet chorus” sing on the track so there is no limit to the number of submissions!
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