Amazing video footage of John Lennon smoking pot, writing songs and discussing putting the hallucinogenic drug LSD in President Richard Nixon's tea will be at the
center of a dramatic court case to start next week reports reuters.
Video of the day is Paramore 'That's What You Get'
In a bid to keep the tape private Yoko is set to go against Lawrence, Massachusetts-based World Wide Video, which claims ownership of nine hours of raw footage of the former Beatle and Ono filmed only weeks before the legendry band parted in 1970.
World Wide, a consortium of Beatles collectors, are looking to release the historical footage as a 2 hour film "3 days in the life" detailing the break-up and mind set of Lennon at this crucial time.
Rolling Stone magazine dubs it "the most awesome John Lennon footage you might never see."
Having paid $1 million for the tapes after legal costs and other expenses, it was almost premiered last year but the showing was pulled after Yoko's lawyers asserted her copyright ownership of the videotapes.
The story looks to be a film in itself with legal parties get ready to fight.
The tapes in question were filmed between 8 to 11 February 1970, and show Lennon composing two hits, "Remember" and "Mind Games," whilst openly discussing his drug use in scenes that World Wide describe as "intimate and no-holds-barred."
Japanese diners can now order bento boxes featuring famous album covers from the above-mentioned artists as well as Jimi Hendrix (egg, paprika, nori, kamaboko, carrot, potato, ham, black
sesame, and rice) and Rage Against the Machine (nori, paprika, egg, and rice).
Color us impressed. (No matter what these prepackaged meals taste like, they're certainly a lot healthier than actual CDs.)
A new documentary, which is now available on DVD, tells the story of the five decade competition to decide the guitar sound that will dominate rock music. Starting with their conception and design in the early fifties, "Solidbodies, The 50 Year Guitar War" focuses on the competitive influences that have made the Fender Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul the guitars heard on more popular recordings than any others instruments during the rock era. The documentary features players, historians and collectors offering commentary accompanied by performance segments and a soundtrack featuring solos played on those two guitars.
Solidbodies, The 50 Year Guitar War
Among the players contributing commentary are Joe Bonamassa, named 2008's Best Blues Guitarist by Guitar Player Magazine's readership in their annual Reader's Choice Awards; Henry Garza, guitarist and singer with the Grammy Award winning Los Lonely Boys and Derek Trucks, famed slide guitar virtuoso who leads his own group and played in Eric Clapton's band during his 2006-2007 World Tour.
"'Solidbodies, The 50 Year Guitar War' repeatedly delivers guitar eye candy with historic and contemporary visuals of Strats and Les Pauls and an equal dose of ear candy as featured guitarists crank out riff after riff of crunchy Les Paul grinds and that glassy Strat tone, " says Modern Guitars Magazine.
Experts who offer their scholarly views on the history of the Stratocaster and Les Paul include George Gruhn, the owner of Gruhn Guitars who is considered to be one of the world's leading experts on vintage guitars and Richard R. Smith, the author of 'Fender: The Sound Heard 'Round The World' which is often viewed as the definitive book about Fender guitars.
While dedicated guitarists will certainly appreciate the storyline, rock music fans will discover while viewing the film that most of the memorable guitar sounds they have listened to over the years have been played on the Stratocaster and the Les Paul.
"Solidbodies, The 50 Year Guitar War" was written and directed by Guy Hornbuckle. The director is an award-winning broadcast journalist whose company Lightning Lab Productions, LLC produced the documentary.
We weren't sure what to make of the beamz Music Performance System until we laid our eyes on this video, which shows a number of cool dudes putting it through its paces:
The device was invented by Jerry Riopelle, a professional Hollywood musician who has recorded with Phil Spector and other heavy hitters. Breaking the path of any of the device's six laser beams triggers a note or sequence. As you can tell from the video, the songs are preprogrammed, but they're apparently based on algorithms so each performance comes out a bit differently. Beamz comes with 30 songs in a variety of styles and new songs will be available online.
Beamz devices are slated to appear in Sharper Image stores in two to three weeks. I called one in. When it gets here, I will don sunglasses and film myself playing it for a possible review on Gadget Lab.
Murderous psycho and wannabe musician Charles Manson has released a record under a Creative Commons license, according to the
LimeWire Music
Blog.
Manson, ringleader of the "Manson family" cult that killed actress Sharon Tate and committed other ghastly crimes during the late '60s, always fancied himself a musician. His record One Mind -- which was originally released in 2005, according to CharlieManson.com -- gives everybody a glimpse of his musical artistry (as well as his whack-job theories) -- and the Creative Commons license means you're free to share and remix Manson's mad tracks.
According to a blurb on the website of Manson's label, Family Jams, "One Mind is pure Charlie, no additions, no corrections, no added opinions, filters or editing. This is all new material, the most recent as far as we know, consisting of songs, trance-poetry, conversations, raps, ramblings, musings and more."
With his out-of-tune acoustic guitar, warbling vocals and nutty intros ("This is a song about something that I'm not even thinkin' about," Manson says before "Angels Fear to Tread"), the jammin' jailbird sounds like a demented hobo on One Mind's 16 tracks. Can't wait for the killer remixes.
In opting for the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license, Manson follows in the footsteps of Radiohead, Trent Reznor and others who are paving a new path through the music biz. While old-school record execs probably think you have to be nuts to release a record under a Creative Commons license, Manson's move proves you can be crazy and go that route.
You can download One Mind (69-MB .zip file) or head to the
Family Jams website and order a hard copy for $15. (Also available: A DVD of Manson's 2007 parole hearing, a bargain at just $35.) Or you can forget that this monstrous music even exists.
The Rolling Stones guitarist - who was treated for heroin addiction in the late 70s - admits he still loves getting high on cannabis, but no longer dabbles in hard drugs.
He said: "I smoke my head off. I smoke weed all the time. There, you've got it.
"But that's all I take, all I do. I do smoke and I've got some really good hash."
Referring to his heavy drug use in the 60s and 70s, he added: "People thought I was going to die. I never did - as you can see. The drugs? Oh yeah, they were great.
"Now I'm on medication. Drugs now? It's a dodgy subject."
Keith's substance abuse earned him a notorious reputation as a hellraiser.
The 64-year-old rocker was arrested on five separate occasions for drug-related offences, and at one point was believed to have regular full-body blood transfusions to clean out his system.
Last year, Keith claimed to have snorted his late father's ashes.
Ronnie Wood wants to take a break from The Rolling Stones and reform his old band.
The 60-year-old guitarist has revealed all the members of his former group the Faces - which also included Rod Stewart - will get back together if they can find time in their busy schedules.
He said: "Yeah, I have heard rumors about us reuniting. There just aren't enough hours in the day are there? We'd love to do it if we could, yeah. It could happen."
His comments follow drummer Kenney Jones' claim last year that a reunion had "every chance of happening" after he met Stewart for dinner.
After their band The Jeff Beck Group disbanded in 1969, Wood and Stewart joined Small Faces members - bassist Ronnie Lane, keyboard player Ian McLagan and drummer Jones - to form the Faces.
They released four studio albums before Wood left to join The Rolling Stones in 1975.
Lane had already quit the band in 1973 to pursue a solo career. The last time the whole band played together was during the encore at
Stewart's Wembley concert in 1986.
However, the ailing Lane was forced to take to the stage in a wheelchair, with then Rolling Stones member Bill Wyman filling in for him on bass. Lane died of pneumonia in 1997 aged just 51.
LONDON (Reuters) - Procol Harum founder Gary Brooker on Friday
April 4th, won his court battle over royalty rights to the band's most famous hit, the 1967 song "A Whiter Shade of Pale."
In 2006 London's High Court awarded former keyboard player Matthew Fisher 40 percent of the copyright of the track, which has sold an estimated 10 million copies worldwide, after he successfully argued that he wrote the organ music to the song.
Brooker appealed, and on Friday judge John Mummery said that, while Fisher should be credited with co-authorship of the seminal track, the fact that it took him 38 years to take the case to court meant he should not benefit financially.
"Matthew Fisher is guilty of excessive and inexcusable delay in his claim to assert joint title to a joint interest in the work," Mummery said in his judgment.
"He silently stood by and acquiesced in the defendant's commercial exploitation of the work for 38 years."
Fisher described the appeal court's ruling as "peculiar."
"Having demolished every single argument advanced by Gary Brooker's legal team ... Mummery suddenly produced an argument of his own, like a magician producing a rabbit out of a hat," the musician said on his Web site www.matthewfisher.com.
"This argument is so obscure and oblique as to defy comprehension."
He added that for him the case was never about money but getting due credit for what he called "the most commercial and essential feature" of the haunting ballad, namely the famous organ introduction.
Brooker welcomed the court's decision, which he said had "gone some way to putting this right.
"For nearly three years this claim has been a great strain upon myself and my family," he said in a statement. "I believe the original trial was unfair and the results wrong."
Brooker, who still fronts Procol Harum, is arguing with Fisher over who should pay the legal costs in the case, which are believed to run to several hundred thousand pounds (dollars).
Fisher may also take the case to the House of Lords, the highest court in the country.
Although Fisher won the 2006 case, a judge rejected his claim to half of the copyright of the hit and back royalties estimated to be worth around one million pounds ($2 million).
Fisher sued Brooker and Onward Music Ltd, and during the original trial the High Court reverberated to the sound of "A Whiter Shade of Pale," whose accompaniment is based on Johann Sebastian Bach's works including "Air on a G String."
The legendary singer-songwriter was given the Special Citation In Music honour in recognition of his "profound impact on popular music and American culture".
Prize administrator Sig Gissler said: "This award reflects the efforts of the Pulitzer board to broaden the scope of the music prize, and encompass the full range of excellence in American music. It also
recognizes Mr. Dylan's lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power."
This is the first time the Pulitzer panel have recognized a rock musician for the $10,000 prize. Previous recipients of the music award include legendary composer George Gershwin and innovative jazz musician John Coltrane.
Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, has been a huge force in music for more than five decades. His life and career were recently portrayed by Cate Blanchett, Heath Ledger and Richard Gere in Todd Haynes' hit film 'I'm Not There'.
His iconic songs include 'Blowin' In The Wind', 'Positively 4th Street' and 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door'.
Tom Petty, who worked with Dylan in the Traveling Wilburys band, said: "To even begin to name the songs in Bob Dylan's amazing catalogue would take too long and would be like reading from the
encyclopedia."
Bowie to reissue Ziggy Stardust gig
by: Undercover.com.au
David Bowie will release a concert recorded in Santa Monica in 1972, on the Ziggy Stardust tour.
Video of the day is iForward Russia! 'Breaking Standing'.
The show is often regarded as being one of the greatest Bowie shows of all time. It has been heavily bootlegged, but is only going to be available officially for the first time now.
Bowie himself said of the performance, "I can tell that I'm totally into being Ziggy by this stage of our touring. It's no longer an act; I am him."
It was also the first concert to be broadcast on FM radio in the United States.
It will be released on CD and double vinyl on June 30.
The track listing for 'Live in Santa Monica, 1972' is:
Introduction
Hang On To Yourself
Ziggy Stardust
Changes
The Supermen
Life On Mars?
Five Years
Space Oddity
Andy Warhol
My Death
The Width Of A Circle
Queen Bitch
Moonage Daydream
John, I'm Only Dancing
I'm Waiting For The Man
The Jean Genie
Suffragette City
Rock 'N' Roll Suicide
If you've ever sweated over a single project for months on end, this video could prove harmful to your mental health. It depicts David Ford playing every single part from the debut single from his latest album, "Go To Hell," in one take.
As the video progresses, Ford casually lays down a a rhythm track with some household instruments and a full set of vocal harmonies, then layers in verses and instrument loops as he goes.
Catchy videos like this can generate lots of publicity, as we all know by now. But this one goes farther, by proving how talented its subject is. I may not have immediately liked the song, but it's grown on me now that I've watched this fascinating video twice.
Ford's publicist says it is "very exemplary of [Ford's] live show, how he loops the sound of many instruments so it's as if he's backed by an imaginary band." If that's the case, Ford could see his shows start to fill up quickly.
Comic Con 2008 features lots of action figures on display, but none is more potentially cringe-inducing than the Kurt Cobain action figures from National Entertainment Collectibles Association.
The 7-inch figurines depict electric Kurt, standing up and rocking out, and acoustic Kurt, caught in the act of repackaging his raucous tunes for Starbucks customers' palates.
With About a Son out on DVD (recommended), Cobain has been on peoples' minds lately. Granted, the lionization of his anticommercial stance sometimes can go too far, but these action figures are jarring in the way they plasticize and package the dead star.
The next model should come with a wind-up motor for making Cobain spin in his grave; maybe the one after that can show Courtney Love swimming in a river of money.
Color us impressed. (No matter what these prepackaged meals taste like, they're certainly a lot healthier than actual CDs.)