On This Day – 24th March 2016

G’day guys, hope this week so far has been kind to you all, the weekend is close and so is the Easter bunny I’m told. Lets get started, quite a lot has happened on this throughout the years so without further ado….

Today we’re starting at 1945, when Billboard published the first US LP chart. Nat King Cole was at No.1 with ‘A Collection Of Favorites’.

On to 1956, and Les Baxter started a four-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Poor People Of Paris’ (a UK No.1 for Winifred Atwell). Baxter also had the UK No.10 hit in 1955 with ‘Unchained Melody’.

At 6.35 am in 1958, Elvis Presley reported to the Memphis draft board. From there Elvis and twelve other recruits were taken by bus to Kennedy Veterans Memorial Hospital, where the singer was assigned his army serial number 53310761.

In 1962, The Beatles appeared at The Barnston Women’s Institute, and admission was seven shillings and a six pence, which is $1.05. Now that’s a bargain! Now days your lucky if concert tickets are under $100.

We stay with The Beatles and in 1965, the continued filming ‘Help!’ at Twickenham Studios, England. The shot the interior temple scenes, including the one where they “drive through a hollow sacrificial altar and into water”. Then that scene was cut to the swimming pool scene filmed in the Bahamas on February 23.

Simon and Garfunkel made their UK singles chart debut with ‘Homeward Bound’ in 1966. Simon is said to have written the song at Farnworth railway station, Widnes, England, while stranded overnight waiting for a train. Did you know that an actual plaque is displayed in the station to commemorate this, however it has been stolen many time by memorabilia hunters. ‘Homeward Bound’ describes his longing to return home, both to his then girlfriend, Kathy Chitty in Brentwood, Essex, England, and to return to the Us. ‘Homewood Bound’ was a No.5 hit in the US.

The awesome geniuses that are Pink Floyd played the first of two nights at the Ricky Tick Club in Hounslow, England in 1967.

On this day in 1973 was quite busy, starting with Alice Cooper, who went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Billion Dollar Babies’. Which was all so was No.1 in the US. Also in 1973 During a Lou Reed show in Buffalo, New York, a fan jumped on stage and bit Lou on his rear end, the man was thrown out of the theater and Reed continued the show. That’s just all sorts of wrong!
The O’Jays went to No.1 in 1973, on the US singles chart with ‘Love Train’. The song’s lyrics of unity mention a number of countries, including England, Russia, China, Egypt and Israel, as well as the continent of Africa.

In 1976, Transvestite singer Wayne County appeared in court charged with assault after an incident at New York club CBGB’S. County had attacked Dictators singer Handsome Dick Manitoba with a mike stand which fractured his collarbone.

The Bee Gees started a two-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Tragedy’ in 1979, the group’s eighth Us No.1 and also No.1 in the UK.

In 1984, the former lead singer of the Commodore’s Lionel Richie, started a six-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hello”. Also a No.1 hit in the US.

‘Easy Lover’ by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins was at No.1 on the UK singles chart in 1985. Bailey a former vocalist with Earth Wind and Fire. Phil Collins produced, drummed and sang on the track. Don’t know about you guys, but I love me a bit of Phil Collins.

Canadian singer Alannah Myles started a two-week run at No.1 in 1990, on the US singles chart with ‘Black Velvet’, it was No.2 hit in the UK. Such a classic 90’s hit. Also in 1990, Sinead O’Connor went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘ I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got’ it featured the single ‘Nothing Compares To You’. Also No.1 in 13 other countries and six weeks at No.1 in the US.

In 1991, The Black Crowes were dropped as the support act on ZZ Top’s tour after repeatedly criticising the tour sponsor Miller Beer.

1992, A Chicago court settled the Milli Vanilli class action suit by approving cash rebates of up to $3 (£1.76) to anyone proving they brought the group’s music before November 27 1990, the date the lip synching scandal broke. Milli Vanilli won the 1989 best new artist Grammy after hits like ‘Blame it on the Rain’ and ‘Girl You Know It’s True’, selling 30 million singles and 14 million albums. But in late 1990, the performers were stripped of the award after it was revealed that neither actually sang on the Milli Vanilli album. It was such a big scandal back then.

UK singer Mark Morrison was Jailed for a year in 1998, after he trying to con his way out of community service. He sent his minder Gabriel Mafereka who wore sunglasses and hid his hair under a hat so he looked like the star.

A film company paid £635,000, ($1,079,500) in 2000, for over nine hours of film shot during the 70’s by Yoko Ono. The film contained shots of Lennon smoking hash and talking about his political beliefs. Also in 2000, Sir Elton John’s Aida opened on Broadway. It took Elton 21 days to write the music and five years to make the production.

In 2002, Gareth Gates became the youngest male solo artist to score a UK No.1 with his debut release ‘Unchained Melody’ Gates was 17 years and 255 days old and had won second place on TV’s ‘Pop Idol’ show. This was the fourth time that the song had been at No.1 in the UK.

During a North American tour in 2008, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band played at the Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio.

Motown drummer Uriel Jones died age 74 in 2009, after suffering complications from a heart attack. Jones played on many Motown classics including ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’ by Marvin Gaye, ‘Cloud Nine’ by the Temptations, ‘I Second That Emotion’ by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles and ‘For Once In My Life’ by Stevie Wonder.
Also in 2009, The prosecutor in the Phil Spector murder retrial told the jury he was a “demonic maniac” when he drinks and “a very dangerous man” around women. Deputy District Attorney Truc Do urged jurors to find the music producer guilty of murdering Hollywood actress Lana Clarkson in 2003. During her closing argument, she also accused Mr Spector of demonstrating a “conscious disregard for human life”.

In 2013, Pictures of The Beatles 1965 Shea Stadium concert, taken by an amateur photographer who bluffed his way backstage, sold for £30,000 at auction. Marc Weinstein used a fake press pass to get next to the stage for the historic New York show. His 61 black and white im,ages with copyright fetched £30,680, the successful bidder was a South American gentleman currently living in Washington who is a huge collector of Beatles memorabilia.

Well that brings us to the end, hope you have enjoyed this weeks ‘On This Day’ check back same time next week, untill then take care and Happy Easter!

Presh.

Madonna’s Still A Rebel At Heart

In the last week Madonna has been getting a lot of news publicity here in Australia, but its not ‘good’ publicity. Madonna is down under for her ‘Rebel Heart Tour’ which kicked of in Melbourne on 12th March 2016, Madonna’s recent shows have been surrounded in controversy after the singer turned up to several of her shows late and even, reportedly, under the influence of alcohol. The latest controversy happened here in Brisbane on Thursday night (17th March 16) when a young fan Josephine Georgiou was invited on stage, Madonna then tells the crowd She’s the kind of girl you just want to slap… on the a*s.” The Material Girl then pulled Josephine’s top down – exposing her left breast to thousands of shocked fans. As Josephine quickly pulls up her strapless top, Madonna apologises, saying: “Oh s**t. I am so sorry, sexual harassment. You can do the same to me.”

Many have called it sexual harassment and have called for legal action, but Josephine insists she has no intention of launching legal action against the 57-year-old singer, telling the Australian Courier-Mail newspaper: “Seriously, why would I sue Madonna for the best moment of my life?” Josephine goes on to say “Only I get to decide if I’m humiliated or not. Why would people assume I am humiliated by my own breast, nipple or body?” she insisted. “It was the best night. She was calling me a Victoria’s Secret model the whole time I was on stage, which is so flattering.

There has been alot of mixed reviews from Madonna’s Australian fans some were disgusted that she kept them waiting for 3 hours, but others said they absolutely loved the concert and she was worth waiting for.

The Rebel Heart Tour is due to wrap up in Sydney on the 20th March 2016.
References. We have included the footage below. What do you think? Either way Madonna is a master to none and generating publicity.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/1275055.html

Wikipedia
Music-News.com

An Interview With American Actress Erin Stegeman

It’s time for another interview on http://www.skatronixx.com , this time we chat with ‘modern day triple threat’, Erin Stegeman. She can act, write and produce films and was previously a stand up comedienne.

Erin is one of our followers on our twitter account and I approached her for an interview after reading her bio. I thought her wide array of talents would be an interesting read for you. After a couple of emails and getting to know Erin an interview was agreed.

Let’s find out some more about another insanely talented and awesome member of our #SkatFamily Erin Stegeman !

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1) Wow you’re certainly a triple threat, can you tell us how you got into acting and film making?

A: Well thank you. I’m so honored to hear that! It’s a weird adjustment to really sink into this idea of multi-tasking because, for a long time, I felt like I was pretty crappy at most of those things. I never studied screenwriting or film directing formally, so most of my training has been on set literally doing it. I’d write and perform plays with the neighbors. I always wanted to do everything back then too, mostly because I was the oldest and I was a ten-year old with a vision! The kids all revolted one day and called me bossy. I believe they’re all in computer science jobs anyway…

So my mom put me in piano, dance, theater – anything to keep me from running around the house and dancing in the living room next to breakable objects. I’m from the Midwest, and I was a class clown for sure, but sort of nerdy and introverted, and I was also a bit of an athlete. I felt really unclear as to what I was – there was a lot of pressure back then (and still today) to be defined by what you do and like. I loved a lot of things – which can appear unfocused and indecisive, especially when it came time to pick a major in college and then pick an area in the entertainment industry to pursue. When I was strictly acting in NYC and LA, I was miserable. Even though I loved performing, there was something missing for me. Being happy was an uphill battle. Then, one day I just decided to start doing more things that I truly enjoyed, whether they were acting-related or not. I started experimenting with Twitter and writing. I quickly fell in love and opportunities began to come easily. I found a comedic voice, but also a reunited love of genre content. Instead of fighting the divide I started blending it all. Now I approach things project to project as opposed to this title of what I do. It’s much more from a place of “how can I best serve this idea?”, which feels more like who I am.

There was this moment though in college – I was presenting a scene for my theater directing class, and I had selected one of the witch sequences from MACBETH. I added a dance routine, the Harry Potter theme song, special effects, modernized it, and made Macbeth a female…I just went all out. To this day one, it’s still of the best moments of my life. When that scene ended, I knew I wanted to direct. I still have the feedback sheet from my professor from that.

2) You are well known from ‘Once Upon A Time: The Rock Opera’, can you tell us how you got involved with the project and how the idea came about? Also are you a fan of the TV show?

Back when the show first aired, a few friends from Facebook started posting the show’s poster on my feed and asked if that was me. I had literally just dyed my hair back to blonde from red after being compared to Emma Stone at every single audition. Life is super ironic and you just have to go with it. I checked out the show and became addicted quickly…it was around season 2, I had just started writing and Youtube was booming. I wanted to do something, so I came up with this idea of these fairytale characters not yet seen on OUAT in a 12 step support group in Storybrooke, led by Emma. It was written, shot, and up in less than a week. We had an amazing response to the video which allowed us to make a few more episodes. I want to be clear – this wasn’t poof and now life is easy! It meant launching social media, networking in the once community, and taking daily actions to stay relevant. But, I loved it, so it was easy to stay motivated.

I started exploring making short films and wanted to go in a different direction with the series. I love films like ROCKY HORROR and DEVIL’S CARNIVAL, that are much more of an audience experience, sort of merging movies with convention culture. I wanted to mirror the same, so we decided to go with a rock opera. I had no clue how to write music and even hired another director because I’d never done a feature. As fate and scheduling would have it, I ended up doing both.

3) You even got to perform at Comic-Con what was that like and did you see many famous faces watching your performance?

COMIC-CON WAS AMAZING. Truly a bucket list experience. I don’t think it sunk in for us until we all went back to our rental house afterwards. My cast just sat in the living room together and we kept saying, “one milestone down”. You can’t really beat singing songs you wrote, on a pirate ship, with your best friends, in front of a shit ton of people in cosplay. I owe it all to my friend Brandon, who I met at another con. He invited us to perform and I will never be able thank him enough for that opportunity. I love when I go to other cons and people come up and say, “I saw you perform at Comic-Con!” That’s nerd gold.

4) Your first short film you wrote and directed was ‘Meet The Tweeds’ how did this come about?

Honestly, I was so jealous of my husband and his friends who were making all these horror films and having a lot of success with them, that I sort of invited myself to the party. We both have a lot of connections in the horror space, but I had never written anything. So I saw an opportunity to get a team together and possibly get some exposure. I love sickly dark comedies and satire, which is essentially what it was – this super conservative family who eats children.

The night we shot it, I thought I was going to die. It was so unbelievably difficult for me, and I was miserable. It’s very technical compared to directing theater, and when you have a lean mean team and you’re the weak link – it’s just awful. My husband sliced his arm open on set, we had 3 kid actors, we went way overtime…I thought for certain I would never direct again. Then it went up on Dread Central’s home page on Halloween, and I thought I just need to keep practicing. Maybe it will get better. Honestly it’s still awful, but enjoyable-awful.

5) You have a background in journalism, how did you find this prepared you for your very versatile career?

I was that kid that preferred to do essays instead of multiple choice growing up. Journalism was very natural for me. I had already been blogging on my personal site for about a year when I was offered a couple gigs with LA WEEKLY and THE HOLLYWOOD JOURNAL through friends of friends. The LA WEEKLY stuff was focused on reviewing web series, which absolutely trained me for everything. I interviewed successful creators, saw what they did versus others, started to cultivate relationships at YouTube and at Sundance, and really learned everything behind the scenes of content creating. I was unattached to the job, so networking became fun again. I highly recommend sinking your teeth, however you can, into the world you want to be a part of. I interviewed celebrities that I would NEVER have the courage to approach, but because I had this fancy PRESS badge on, it gave me courage…and contacts for future projects.

6) Is it true you have been in over 50 commercials? If so could you tell us what some of these were for?

I’ve not been in 50 commercials – just a handful, but I have been in over 50 films, shorts, and tv shows. I’m currently the customer in that musical commercial for Amazon Prime. That was one of those incredible coincidences because I filmed that just a couple days before shooting the rock opera. Such a learning experience – I don’t think I ever left the set.

7) What’s this I heard about you winning a ‘Pig Roast Pie Eating Championship’????

My agent made me take that off my resume lol. At my college (Stephens College in Columbia, MO) the theater majors spend one summer in Okoboji, IA, performing at a local theater. It’s a crazy experience – I even wrote a screenplay about it. To break up all the stress, the theater puts on this festival called the OKOBOJI PIG ROAST. You can enter with a team and compete in these ridiculous obstacles. One of my events was pie-eating contest. I’m like a really fast eater. Impressively fast. It’s been a concern to my parents on numerous occasions. I freakin nailed this. You compete with a teammate and mine started to vomit – it was a whole cherry pie, which is the worst kind of pie. So I picked up the slack and won by a landslide. My husband (although not at the time) was on another team and he and his partner didn’t even make it through. I bring that up from time to time. My team won the entire event and I got MVP – also one of my favorite life moments.

8) What can we expect to see from you in the 2016?

The Rock Opera will be doing a screening and convention tour in the spring and early summer (indietix.net). Depending how that goes we may extend into early fall. I’ve partnered with another production company and we’re rebranding my YouTube channel (erinstegeman), so you can expect more sketches and content that expand past OUAT at a higher production value. My company is slated to direct a Sci-fi pilot this year as well, and I’m in pre production on two features – a psychological thriller and a horror fairytale musical. Aiming to start shooting the first in the late fall/winter. I have seriously never been this busy, but I honestly love every second of it. It’s been over ten years in the making to have a year like this, so I’m just gonna drink a lot of green tea and enjoy the ride.

9) Tell our readers one fun fact about yourself that they may not already know?

I love these questions and can never think of anything remotely cool enough. I climbed into the chamber of a volcano on my honeymoon. I’m a certified personal trainer. My aunt dated Brad Pitt. I didn’t get cast in any musicals in college. I see ghosts (seriously).

10) Finally what advice would you have for an upcoming actress?

I think the biggest hiccup for me was trying to be like everyone else. Be a Kate Winslet type, be a funny girl, lose 20 pounds, be younger….but YOU are a brand new thing, it’s evolutionary. Spend time really getting to know yourself. There’s no rush – I’ve had more success in my 30s than in my 20s. Have a ton of fun. Give up the diet. Self-improvement is a total myth. There’s only self-discovery – which is presenting to the world who you’ve always been. And it is so, so powerful. When you can really tap into that, there’s no stopping you.

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Wow what an interview! I for one wish Erin all the best and am sure the musical will be a huge success. If they are lucky enough to tour the UK I for one will be there supporting them!

Check out Erin’s personal webpage on erinstegeman.com and find out more about the ‘Once Upon A Time: Rock Opera’ including where to buy tickets and tour dates on  on onceuponatimespoof.com

Don’t be shy go say hi and follow ‘Once Upon A Time: Rock Opera’ on Twitter @ouatspoof and Erin’s personal account on Twitter at @erinstegeman and tell her ‘Skatronixxx sent me!’

Boybands Meet Zombies In ‘Dead 7’

Who remember boy band’s Backstreet Boys and NSync? For those of you that dont remember here is a little reminder.
The Backstreet Boys formed in 1993 and consisted of 5 members, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough, and A.J. McLean. Their hits include, ‘I Want It That Way’, ‘Everybody’ and ‘As Long As You Love Me’.
NSYNC formed in 1995 and the band consisted of Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and pased member Chris Kirkpatrick. Their hits inclued, ‘Bye Bye Bye’, ‘This I Promise You’ and ‘Tearing Up My Heart’.

Now the two bands have come together for a project this year but it has nothing to do with an album collaboration, I’ll give you a little hint it involves zombies and the guns….. The boys have come together to make a movie!  The movie is ‘Dead 7’ and is directed by Danny Roew and written by Nick Carter (Backstreet Boys) and produced by David Michael Latt and David Rimawi, who produced the original Sharknado and Syfy’s Z Nation . Members from 98 Degrees, O-Town, All-4-One, Everclear and No Authority will also feature in the film.

The cast include Nick Carter (BB), A.J. McLean (BB), Joey Fatone (NSYNC), Howie Dorough (BB), Jeff Timmons (98Degrees), Jon Secada (Singer Songwriter), Art Alexakis (Everclear), Delious (All-4-One), Tommy McCarthy ( No Authority) and rounding out the cast is Carrie Keagan, Debra Wilson, Dylan Vox, Gerardo Mejia and Chloe Lattanzi.

Dead 7 an American post-apocalyptic Western that follows a group of gunslingers as they look to rid a small town of a zombie plague. Carter revealed the he is going to be “a good guy that helps save the day” while hinting it will be “musically based.”
Dead 7 is an original movie for Syfy and is set to air on April 1st 2016 on the Syfy channel.

I wont be turning in, but if you’re into zombies and boy bands then this might just be up your ally.

Watch the trailer below

Source : Buzzfeed

References:

Wikipedia, IMDB.

On This Day 17th March St Patrick’s Day

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Have a great and safe day all!

Its that time again friends, so lets take a stroll down memory lane and see what happed inmusic industry today.

Our first stop on memory lane is at

1957 and it was the year The King of Rock’n’Roll Elvis Presley brought the Graceland mansion from Mrs Ruth Brown-Moore for $102,500 USD. (For my English friends out there it’s £60,295) That was so much money back then but compared to now he picked it up cheap! The 23 room, 10,000 square foot home, on 13.8 acres would be expanded to 17,552 square feet of living space before the king moved in a few weeks later.

Our second stop is at 1967 where The Beatles were working at Abby Road studios in London, they finished the recording of ‘She’s Leaving Home’ after adding backing vocals to the track. Harpest Shelia Bromberg who was part of the string section on the track thus making her the first women to play on a Beatles recording.

Our third stop is in 1968 and is just a quick stop. The Bee Gees made their US television debut when they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.

We’re entering our forth stop on memory lane tour, 1973 Dr Hooks’s single ‘On The Cover Of Rolling Stone’ peaked at No.6 on the US charts. Did you know the single was banned in the UK by BBC due to the reference of the magazine.

Ok off to another quick stop number five which is 1978, U2 won £500 ($850)and a chance to audition for CBS Ireland in a talent contest held in Dublin.

1979 is our sixth stop, Gloria Gaynor started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘I Will Survive’. The song was originally released as the B-side to a song first recorded by The Righteous Brothers called ‘Substitute’. Also in 1979, The Bee Gees went to No.1 on the UK album after their fifteenth studio album release ‘Spirits Have Flown’. It was the group’s first album after their collaboration on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The albums first three tracks were released as singles and impressively they all reached No.1 in the US, giving the Bee Gees an unbroken run of six US chart-toppers and tying a record set by The Beatles.

Please make sure your seat belts are fastened, were headed to 1984, stop number seven on this tour. Van Halen’s ‘Jump’ peaked at No.1 in the US and its definitely on my all time favorite list. David Lee Roth has given various accounts of the meaning behind the lyrics over the years, but most often says they are about a TV news story he saw where a man was about to kill himself by jumping off a building.

1997 brings us to the eighth stop. US singer Jermaine Stewart died of cancer, in 1986 her single ‘We Don’t Have To …. Take Our Clothes Off’ reached No.2 in the UK. Jermaine worked with Shalamar, The Temptations and Boy George.

Sit down shut up and hold on, we are entering the 2000’s, stop nine. In 2004 The Kinks singer Ray Davies received his CBE medal from the Queen at Buckingham Palace for services to the music industry.

We are almost at the end of this weeks tour just 3 stops left. Stop ten brings us to 2006, The Smiths turned down a $5m (£2.8m) offer to reform for a music festival. The band who split acrimoniously in 1987, rejected the bid to get back together for the Coachella US festival.

Stop eleven is 2008, The former drummer with ABBA Ola Brunkert, was found dead with his throat cut at his home in Majorca, Spain. Brunkert died after he hit his head against a glass door in the dining room at his home. He was found dead in his garden after trying to seek help. The 62 year old musician had played on every Abba album and toured with the group, its it just me or dose this sound a little suspicious?

Ok the second last stop number twelve, in 2010 Alex Chilton singer and guitarist with Big Star died in hospital of heart problems in New Orleans he was 59, as a teenager Chilton had been a member of The Box Tops, who had the 1967 hit ‘The Letter’.

Last but not least stop thirteen, lucky for some not so lucky for others. In 2013 John Lennon and George Harrison were honored with a blue plaque at the site of the former Apple Boutique in a ceremony in London held at 94 Baker Street. The new plaque reads “John Lennon, M.B.E., 1940-1980, and George Harrison, M.B.E., 1943-2001, worked here”.

Well kids that concludes this weeks magical memory lane tour. Be sure to check back next week for more adventures down memory lane.

On This Day In Music 10th March 2016

The Music Industry has a huge history and goes way back before I was even thought of by my parents, so every Thursday (unless you need this fix daily),  I will share with you the interesting history that went down on that day through the years so with out further ado

Here is what happend on this day March 10th

In 1956 RCA Records placed a half page advert in Billboard Magazine claiming that Elvis Presley was ‘the new singing rage’. Well they weren’t wrong! I’m a huge Elvis fan, I named my cats Elvis & Priscilla and have quite the book, dvd and memorabilia collection.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel recorded ‘Sound of Silence’ in 1964 as an acoustic duo. It wasn’t until record company produces added electric guitar, bass and drums, without the knowledge of Paul and Art, that the song would become a hit in late 1965.

Davie Jones (David Bowie) and the Manish Boys in 1965 appeared at the Bromel Club, Bromley Hill, England.  Its seems 65 was a quite year for music.

1973 was the year Pink Floyd released their eighth studio album The Dark Side of The Moon in the US. It remained in the US charts for 741 discontinuous weeks from 1973 to 1988, longer then any other album in history, and after moving to the Billboard Top Pop Catalogs Chart, the album notched up a further 759 weeks, and had reached a total of over 1,500 weeks on the combined charts by May 2006. With an estimated 45 million copies sold, this is Pink Floyd’s most commercially successful album and one of the best-selling albums worldwide! In my opinion Pink Floyd are pure geniuses and their music is pure awesomeness to ones ears.

In 1977, At 7am in the morning on a trestle table set up out-side Buckingham Palace, London, the Sex Pistols signed to A&M Records, (the real signing had taken place the day before). The contract lasted just for 6 days.

Younger brother of The Bee Gees, Andy Gibb died in hospital on this day in 1988, His death from myocarditis (inflammation of the heart) followed a long battle with cocaine addiction, which had weakened his heart.

1996 seen, Alanis Morissette  win Best Album for Jagged Little Pill, Best Female singer, Best Rock Album, Best songwriter and best single at the 25th Juno Awards that was held in Hamilton, Canada.

1997 American rhythm and blues singer Lavern Baker died from coronary complications he was 57. Baker had the 1958 US No.1 single ‘I Cried A Tear’.

Pretenders singer Chrissy Hynde was arrested in 2000, for leading an animal rights protest against the clothing firm Gap, who were accused  of using leather from cows slaughtered ‘illegally and crurlly’. The protest took place in Manhattan. Also in 2000 The daily Mail published pictures of Paul McCartney dancing with a cowgirl on the bar of a New York club. McCartney sang along to ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ through a megaphone and mimicked a strip tease in front of 100 onlookers, geez that would of been a site to see.

2003, During a concert in London, England, Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines said that the band was “ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas” (referring to Maines’ hometown of Lubbock and President Bush hailing from the same state). This was during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, the comment sparked intense controversy and outrage among Americans, including a large share of country music fans.

A survey carried out by Music Choice in 2005 concluded that ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams was the song Britons would most like played at their funeral. Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ was second and Monty Python’s ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ was voted into third place.

In 2005, Michael Jackson arrived in a Santa Barbara court an hour late dressed in his pjs after being treated for a back injury. Jackson was attending the Santa Moria court for his child abuse trial.

2009, Tickets for a one-off gig by Sir Paul McCartney in Las Vegas sold out seven seconds after going on sale. The former Beatle was booked to perform at the opening of the New Joint at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino on 19th April 2009 in-front of 4,000 fans. Tickets cost $750 each! 

And lastly on this day in 2010, Pink Floyd won a court battle with EMI that prevented the record company from selling  single downloads and ringtones on the internet from the group’s albums. Pink Floyd’s back catalogue was second  only in sales to The Beatles.

Well friends, I hope you enjoyed these tasty tidbits as much as I enjoyed them, look forward to next weeks TBT (Throw Back Thursday) Unless you cannot live without my music history tidbits in which case I could be swayed to doing a daily ‘On This Day’ (OTD). Leave me some love and let me know ☺

Reference;

This Day In Music: http://www.thisdayinmusic.com

Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org

 

 

 

 

South By Southwest Festival

Last week I sent off my interview questions for Demi Louise a singer/ songwriter from Oz, whilst doing a bit of research about her I came across a festival that she has played at and was headed back to play at the festival again for the second year in a row this month.

So what is South by Southwest festival you ask? Well South by Southwest  (SXSW) is an annual set of film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences that take place in mid March in Austin, Texas, USA. SXSW  began in 1987 and has continually grown in size every year.

SXSW Music Component;

SXWS Music is the largest music festival of its kind in the world, as of 2014 the festival had more the 2,000 acts. SXWS Music offers artist- provided music and video samples of featured artists at each festival via their official YouTube channel, the event has grown from 700 registrants in 1987 to over 28,000 registrants.

The Music Festival has help launched the careers of many artists including that of singer-songwriter John Mayer who preformed at SXSW Music festival 2000, which led to signing with Aware Records, his first record label. James Blunt was discovered by producer Lind Perry in 2004 and shortly after was signed to her Custard Records, where he went on to release all three of his subsequent albums, other big nanes of the Music Festival attendees include; Talib Kweli, Lil’ Wayne, Big Sean, Kanye West, Indi bands MENEW, The Shins, Bruce Springsteen and Lady Gaga.

SXSW Film Component;

The Film Conference consists of keynote speakers, panels, workshops, mentor sessions with expert filmmakers and industry leaders. There are some big name that were past notable speakers including, Ryan Gosling, Nicolas Cage, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Seth MacFarlane, Henry Rollins, Amy Schumacher, Robert Rodriguez  and many more. The SXSW Film Festival and The SXSW Film Conference run simultaneously and celebrates raw innovation and emerging telent both behind and in front of the camera. Some past notable premieres include Furious 7, Neighbors, Bridesmaid, 21 Jump Street and Insidious. TV series Girls, Silicon Valley and Penny Dreadful also premiered at SXSW Film Festival.

SXSW Interactive Component;

SXWS Interactive focuses on emerging technology, that focus has earned the festival a reputation as a breeding ground for new ideas and creative technologies. In  2006 a video game component “Screenburn at SXSW” was added to SXSW Interactive but in 2013 was remamed to SXSW Gaming & SXSW Gaming Expo. The Interactive Festival has help app’s such as Twitter which gained a good deal of early traction and buzz at SXSW Interactive, the Foursquare was launched at the Festival along with legend Mike Tyson’s iPhone game.

This years SXSW Festival features

Music Festival: Four On The Floor UK Rock Band, NAS, DJ Khaled, Indie label showcase and heaps more

Film Festival: Secrets of the force awakens; a cinematic journey to world premiere, Documentary Theme Going home, Key & Peel, Meet short filmmakes and heaps more going on

Inteactive/Gaming Festival: Samsungs Galaxy Life, Virtual Reality with New York Times, The Five Gods of Smash, Sonic the Hedgehog: 25 Year anniversary, BATMAN: Telltale Unmasked with Greg Miller, LINE Webtoon – Women in Digital Comics just to name a few.

Without festivals like SXSW our creative geniuses wouldn’t have a platform to be heard or be able to showcase, nor would new talent be discovered or inspired so we have these festivals to thank for that and for new films, new TV shows, new music and new apps.

SXWS Festival 2016 Dates

Interactive: March 11-15th

Film: March 11-19th

Music: March 15- 20th

Held in Austin, Texas

http://www.sxsw.com

References: Wikipedia, SXSW

 

An Interview with Severed Illusions

So for my latest music interview I managed to grab some time with a local band I’m friends with called Severed Illusions. They have recently finished recording a 4 track EP so seemed like the perfect time to catch up with the band to see what they have planned next. So that’s enough from me lets get to hearing what the band have to say.

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1) How did the band form?

Kyle – We were writing some heavy rap metal at Carlos’s house with myself and Hopper (former vocalist) we liked what we were coming up with and decided to get some more musicians involved. We were doing a cover of a Slayer song and decided to get Ant in on Drum duties. The first line up consisted of Carlos, Hopper and myself splitting vocal duties, I also played guitar while Ant was on drums.

Carlos – We then added Andy and Ollie who were brothers as guitarists and Kyle then moved to bass and Vocals as Hopper eventually left the band. Eventually Andy and Ollie left the band and Kyle asked Dan if he would interested in joining the band on guitar and he agreed straight away.

2) How would you describe your musical style?

Hardcore thrash metal

3) You have just finished recording you EP what is the title of the EP and when will it be released?

The EP will be called Agree to disagree, which is also the title of one of the songs from the EP. It will be released on the 22^nd of April and we will be having a launch party at the White Swan in Trowbridge on the same date.

4) Who would you say is the biggest influence for the sound of the band?

Soulfly, Hatbreed, Lamb of God, Slipknot, Suicide silence, Avenged sevenfold and Whitechapel

5) If a film was made of your lives who would you want to play you and what would it be called?

Carlos – Tom Hardy

Ant – Gary Oldman

Kyle – Brandon Lee (If he was alive)

Dan – Taylor Swift (This was a band decision)

It would be called Illusions Severed.

6) If there was a cover band created of your band who would you have in the line up dead or alive?

Carlos – Jamie Jaster (Hatebreed)

Kyle – Ryan Martinie (Mudvayne)

Dan – Andy James (Sacred Mothertounge)

Ant – Joey Jordinson (Ex-Slipknot Scar the Martyr)

7) What gigs do you have lined up?

March 11^th White Swan with vice squad and the blunders

19^th at the 12 bells on a 5 band line up

16^th of April at the old bell Warminster with Black forge

EP launch on the 22^nd April at the white swan

Rock diabetes gig in October 11^th at the civic hall.

8) What can we expect to see from you in 2016?

A music video trying to get some more gigs further a field to go along with the EP launch.

9) Tell are readers one fun fact about yourselves that we may not know?

We have no secrets we like to have fun and drink beers and make some noise.

10) Finally what advice would you have for upcoming musicians?

As long as you enjoy what your doing don’t worry about what everyone else thinks as long as you have a few people enjoying what your doing who cares.

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You can check out Severed Illusions at the following sites.

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/SeveredIllusions

Instagram

@Severedillusionsofficial

Twitter

@Severedofficial

An Interview With T.ELI-$HA

Howdy! Today I interviewed a young up an coming rapper from Perth, Western Australia. T.ELI-$HA a 16 year old Zimbabwean/Australian who is focused on telling stories about life and spreading a positive message through his music, as well as expressing himself as an artis and is produced by Fugitive Beats. His song “Being Real” is on the Australian digital radio station Tripplej Unearthed and can also be found on Soundcloud.

Get on it… 2 thumbs up

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T.ELI- $HA’s Interview 

1) Where are you from?

I was born in Harare Zimbabwe, where I lived till I was 8. I know live in Perth, Western Australia.

2) When did you start rapping? 

Started rapping around the age of 8 but it was just to my favourite rappers back then nothing serious, around 9-10 is when i started writing music and expressing myself.

3) What made you decide to go into the music industry?

Music I feel is just my natural calling ever since a young age, I knew it would be my destiny to speak to the masses using music and rap. From wanting to be President to being a rock-star and at the age of 10 I finally decided that rap was my calling after being inspired by a couple of artists.

4) If you could compare yourself to an already established artists, who would that be and why?

I think its hard to compare me because I don’t like placing myself into just one sub genre of hip-hop music, I like to focus on telling stories so I guess you could compare me to J.Cole and Kendrick in that way. I also want my music to make people feel good so I’ll leave the comparing to my fans and or haters.

5) What message do you hope you’re listeners will take away from your songs?

I just try spread positivity in all my music, I just really want people to feel good about being themselves. Using music I hope to tell stories about my past, things I have seen and been through and hopefully make the world aware that life isn’t just about ourselves.

6) Who are your Influences?

I have so many! Lil Wayne  is probably the person that inspired me to rap back in the days of Cater IV and such projects, but Drake is the rapper I wanted to resemble when it came to flow etc…. Now having grown up my biggest influences are J. Cole, Kendrick, 2Pac, Asap Rocky, 50 cent, Jay-Z , Hopsin etc….

7) What do you hope to accomplish throughout your career?

I just hope to be able to inspire at least one person. That would mean the world to me, obviously I would like to be able to continue making music till my time on this earth is out…. So yeah hopefully  I can impact people in this world who need it in a positive way, Make people aware of problems and show them the world is a much bigger then them and I, also that I have a long and fruitful career.

8) Do you have any projects in the works ie up coming gigs? 

I’ve got a lot of really deep and personal music that I am working on too so keep a look out for that, I will try to release new music every month so follow my Soundcloud and my twitter.

9) Is there any advice you’d like to give to young aspring rappers like yourself? 

I wish you all successful and bright futures, just keep working hard and make music that is imporant to you and is real to you and I guarantee someone out there will be listening. Don’t be afraid to reach out especially Australian singers, producers and other rappers.

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Links:

Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/t_eli-sha_c

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/T_ELISHA _C

Shortcut to Fame? Just bypass Character Building

Hello and welcome to my first blog entry.  For my ramblings this month I’ve decided to reflect on the music industry and the recent dominance of televised talent shows. I’ll resist the urge to simply write them off as glorified karaoke: after all, they entertain millions of people each week. However, what concerns me is the effect on the next generation of budding musicians and how, for many, their aspirations have changed from ‘(long term) success’ to ‘(short lived) fame’.

“When the blue pill of instant fame is offered, it’s hard to decline in favour of the red pill of reality.”

When I first picked up a guitar twenty years ago, TV shows like the X Factor didn’t exist. My first interest was to learn my instrument and join a band. After that, I worked hard to develop my craft and work with other people to write songs. I learned to perform by playing gigs – tons of them – many of which were to practically empty rooms. Days spent in practice rooms. Hours crammed into a van travelling the length of the country. Ninety-five percent of the time it led to disappointment or an anticlimax, leaving me to question whether it was all worth it. But for those five percent of amazing gigs, it really was.

I achieved some success with my female-fronted rock band, Signed In Crimson: we signed with a label, released an album, made several music videos and toured the UK. We never quite made it to the top, but if we did I am certain we would have been ready. As a band, we were a battle-hardy, gig ready group of workhorses.

“You come out of the other end as someone with something to say, and knowing exactly how to say it.”

I doubt the majority of young, aspiring musicians (particularly singers) see the above route as an ideal one. Why go through all that hard work and pain when you can take one audition and play your first gig on live TV in front of millions? When the blue pill of instant fame is offered, it’s hard to decline in favour of the red pill of reality. Let’s forget about the hundreds of thousands who never make it through the audition process. We can even disregard those lucky enough to make it onto the live shows. Just focus on the ‘winners’ and see if you can name more than a few who go on to have repeated success with multiple album sales, tours, etc.

By taking a shortcut to fame, these young musicians are bypassing the most important aspect of the ‘journey’ we hear quoted so often in their VTs. The weeks/months/years spent working the local and national circuit is crucial to building character: it enables you to develop your craft and personality. You come out of the other end as someone with something to say, and knowing exactly how to say it.

If you’re interested in music, immerse yourself in it. If it leads to fame and fortune, that should only ever be seen as an unexpected bonus, never the ultimate goal.