Tag: Music
Ticketmaster and Live Nation: In Cahoots?
by Eva Holland | 02.17.09 | 12:26 PM ET
If you were planning to add a major concert to your next trip itinerary, you may want to think again. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating after word of a possible merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation—the world’s largest ticket seller and the world’s largest concert promoter, respectively—raised fears of a monopoly on concert tickets. The department is “committed to vigorous enforcement of the merger antitrust laws and will conduct a thorough investigation of the proposed Ticketmaster/Live Nation transaction,” a spokeswoman told the AP.
Several politicians have already spoken out against the potential deal—and now even Bruce Springsteen (who’s already had one dust-up with the ticket giant this month) has joined in, too. Wrote the Boss on his website: “The one thing that would make the current ticket situation even worse for the fan than it is now would be Ticketmaster and Live Nation coming up with a single system, thereby returning us to a near-monopoly situation in music ticketing.”
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Yahoo! Buzz‘American Idol’ and Disney World, Together at Last
by Eva Holland | 02.16.09 | 12:29 PM ET
We’ve had movies inspired by theme park rides, and roller coasters inspired by rock anthems, so isn’t it about time we had a theme park attraction inspired by the “reality” television craze? (I’m a little far removed from my college philosophy classes to say for sure, but I suspect there’s a meta-something at work here.) Yes, the American Idol Experience opened at DisneyWorld this weekend. Here’s how it works: visitors can choose to perform on a re-created “Idol” stage, or to sit in the audience and vote. At the end of each day, the lucky hopeful who receives the most audience votes lands a Dream Ticket to an actual “American Idol” audition.
There is no option for visitors to sit at the judging table and hurl abuse at the contestants; still, I suspect the new attraction will be a hit. The Traveling Mamas have posted a (snark-free) review, and there’s a clip previewing the American Idol Experience after the jump:
What We Loved This Week: London, New Jersey, ‘Heima’ and More
by World Hum | 02.13.09 | 4:11 PM ET
Photo by Rob Verger. World Hum contributors share a favorite travel-related experience from the past seven days.
Rob Verger
I love my new Canon G10 camera. Hello, 14.7 megapixels. It gave me an excuse to roam around my neighborhood over the weekend, taking pictures. Here’s the 125th Street subway stop in New York City:
R.I.P. Muzak?
by Eva Holland | 02.11.09 | 1:00 PM ET
The company that brought elevator music into the world has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the AP reports. Muzak Holdings LLC could be as much as $500 million in debt, but—so says a company statement—it is expected to survive the bankruptcy reorganization and continue to operate “as is.” Let’s hope so—otherwise, a future of uncomfortably silent elevator rides could be in the cards for hotel-goers everywhere.
Come Back to Chengdu
by Julia Ross | 02.10.09 | 4:42 PM ET
I’ve never been much for Mandarin pop music—the word saccharine immediately leaps to mind—but if it succeeds in bringing tourism back to China’s earthquake-riven Sichuan Province, it can’t be all bad. Chinese pop star Jane Zhang, who gained fame as a contestant on China’s version of American Idol, recently lent her talents to a theme song and music video (below) to promote local tourism in provincial capital Chengdu. The lyrics aren’t exactly imaginative—“I Love This City,” goes the English chorus—but in my experience, this kind of pop ballad has a bottomless fan base in China, so it just might work.
National Public Radio recently reported on the rise of “earthquake tourism” in Sichuan, among those who want to gape at the devastation wrought by the May 2008 temblor, but the video is clearly designed to remind people why they loved the laid-back Southwestern city in the first place: tea drinking, pandas and hot pot.
In related news, a film titled “Chengdu, I Love You,” is scheduled for production this year, based on a storyline similar to that of “Paris, Je T’aime.” (via Cfensi)
Iz, Gabby Pahinui and the Sounds of Hawaii
by Pam Mandel | 02.10.09 | 11:36 AM ET
Big Iz’s “Over the Rainbow” is an iconic ukulele track—it’s often the first thing folks ask me to play when they learn I have a uke. If you’ve heard the full track—it slid into U.S. consciousness a few years back via a toy store advertisement—then you’ve heard the bit at the beginning where Iz says, in his perfect, soft voice, “K, this one’s for Gabby.”
Iz is referring to Gabby Pahinui. Even though Gabby died in 1980, he’s credited with being the master of slack key. You can take his title as the father of Hawaiian music more literally, too: three of his sons, Cyril, Martin, and Bla are recording artists. For me, Cyril’s sweet falsetto and the sound of slack key guitar evoke the islands like nothing else. I’ve had the good fortune to see Cyril Pahinui on the mainland and in the islands—he’s often on tour with Led Kaapana, another slack key super genius.
Where the Grass is Green
by Bronwen Dickey | 02.09.09 | 10:20 AM ET
Bronwen Dickey sings a personal anthem to an unlikely travel song: "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses
Morning Links: God and Jerry Springer in Italy, a Tourist in Falluja and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.09.09 | 8:33 AM ET
- Tom Miller examines how the way of life on the U.S.-Mexico border is “under siege.”
- An Italian man went to Falluja and declared, “I am a tourist.”
- The fires in Australia continue to rage. Here’s a map.
- Joe Leahy looks at Mumbai’s “experimental” music scene.
- Rick Moody looks at why Sonoran Arizona has produced its share of interesting and rather strange bands. (Via The Morning News)
- Here’s a list of the world’s most stylish hotel design details.
- Expat workers in Dubai have been abandoning their luxury cars at the airport and heading home.
- Lost your job? Tim Leffel suggests going abroad and teaching English.
- God and Jerry Springer vacation in Italy.
- Two Americans have been charged with barbecuing iguana in the Bahamas. They were busted after posting photos of their ‘cue on Facebook.
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The Year’s Six Best Global Pop Albums
by Ben Keene | 02.06.09 | 10:49 AM ET
REUTERS/Ints Kalnins Ben Keene wants a new category added at the Grammys: Global Pop for the Traveling Mind. Herewith, his nominees.
The Music Lives on in Lubbock (Sort Of)
by Sophia Dembling | 02.03.09 | 1:51 PM ET
Photo by Sophia Dembling Eva has gotten the conversation rolling about today’s big anniversary—it was 50 years ago today that a plane carrying Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens crashed. This is particularly poignant here in Texas, where we feel possessive of our homegrown icon.
Holly’s death was, arguably, the most tragic in rock history. His sound is unique, he was a pioneer in recording technique—that’s a cardboard box providing percussion in “Not Fade Away” and he plays his knees in “Every Day.” Holly influenced our greatest rock legends and his legacy continues. (Marginally related, Mac Davis, who also grew up in Lubbock, Texas, once told me that he would see Holly driving through town with a car full of girls and decided he wanted some of that. And then he went on to write, “Happiness Was Lubbock Texas in My Rear View Mirror.”)
We are much poorer for never hearing what Holly might have produced as he matured.
Rock fans should be required to make a pilgrimage to the excellent Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas, which takes his music and legacy as seriously as he did. (Those are the glasses he wore the night he died—they’re on display at the center. They sat forgotten in the desk drawer of a sheriff until the 1980s.)
I’d post a video for you, but Holly also was a pioneer in protecting his intellectual rights and his estate continues to maintain tight control. I respect that. We’ll settle for this right now:
The Day the Music Died
by Eva Holland | 02.03.09 | 9:13 AM ET
It’s been 50 years today since the plane carrying Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper and Buddy Holly went down over Iowa, killing all three musicians along with their pilot. Sadly, the music world has seen no shortage of fatal crashes, but as Chart Watch’s Paul Grein points out, the 1959 tragedy—immortalized in Don McLean’s American Pie—remains “the most famous plane crash in rock ‘n’ roll history.” Grein also notes that Holly, who was just 22 when he died, has the sad distinction of being the shortest-lived artist ever to garner a Grammy for lifetime achievement.
Check out a vintage clip of Buddy Holly, in a 1958 episode of “American Bandstand,” after the jump:
Morning Links: Weird Hotels, Flight 1549: The Game and More
by Michael Yessis | 02.03.09 | 8:24 AM ET
- Marketplace looks at U.S. efforts to lure Chinese travelers.
- More than one million people have already played Flight 1549: The online game.
- Flight 1549 pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger III won’t have to pay fees on the library book that’s still in the plane’s cargo hold.
- At the Window Seat, World Hum contributor Rolf Potts recommends five travel experiences in his home state, Kansas.
- AP Travel Editor Beth Harpaz has a new book out about parenting teenagers, 13 Is the New 18.
- Now we know what the penalty is for smoking on a no smoking flight in Saudi Arabia: 30 lashes.
- Rome’s traditional delis are facing extinction.
- More and more, Mexican singers of narco corridos are becoming victims of the drug-related violence that’s the subject of their songs.
- The Telegraph’s slideshow of the world’s weirdest hotels includes Idaho’s Dog Bark Park Inn.
- It’s the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, and fans are paying tribute in Holly’s hometown of Lubbock, Texas and elsewhere. Eva
will havehas more in her blog. - Video: Overzealous Amtrak police arrested a man for taking pictures of trains for an Amtrak photography contest. Stephen Colbert has the hilarious story.
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An Invitation Aboard the Magic Bus
by Rory MacLean | 02.02.09 | 8:42 AM ET
REUTERS/Ahmad Masood In an excerpt from his new book on the hippie trail, Rory MacLean hops a ride in Afghanistan
How to Get Your Uke On in Hawaii
by Pam Mandel | 01.29.09 | 9:22 AM ET
Photo by Pam Mandel Pam Mandel introduces you to your new four-stringed friend. Just don't call it a "you-koo-lele."
From ‘A Case of You’ to ‘The Hockey Song’: Canada’s National Playlist Unveiled
by Eva Holland | 01.27.09 | 9:37 AM ET
Despite my earlier reservations, I was curious to see the results of the CBC’s search for a Canadian national playlist. Now, more than 100,000 votes later, 49 Songs from North of the 49th Parallel has been unveiled—and, presumably, presented to an unsuspecting President Obama. It’s a mixed bag of vintage rock, classical, jazz and folkier stuff—pop music is strikingly absent, while hip-hop received only a token mention—and probably says as much about CBC Radio’s demographics as it does about Canada. Still, it makes for an interesting read (spot any artists on there that you never realized were Canucks?) and I was tickled to see a couple of my favorites—the Tragically Hip, and the aforementioned hip-hopper, Shad—included.
One final quibble: sure, they’re all by Canadian artists, but I’m not sure how many of the tracks listed here achieve that ever-elusive goal of saying something meaningful about place. The list’s most powerful song in that respect, for my money, is Neil Young’s “Helpless.” Check out video of a live, unplugged performance of the song after the jump:
Unstoppable ‘Slumdog’: From Slum Tours to the Billboard Chart
by Eva Holland | 01.26.09 | 9:57 AM ET
Fresh off its slew of Oscar nominations, “Slumdog Millionaire” continues to rack up the headlines. In the Telegraph, Nigel Richardson reports on the surge in business that the film’s success has—predictably—brought for Mumbai’s controversial slum tour operators. Slum tours anywhere are a tricky business to begin with; something tells me that those Indians who are already less-than-thrilled about the film’s success—calling it, among other things, “a white man’s imagined India” and “a poverty tour”—will be even less happy to hear that it’s now inspiring tourists to flock to the real-life slums.
The Grateful Dead: Looking Back at ‘a New World’
by Eva Holland | 01.23.09 | 11:15 AM ET
In the wake of the news about a new Grateful Dead tour, the good folks at Rock’s Backpages have dug up a thoughtful look back at the band’s early impact on one suburban teenager. Originally written to coincide with the 2001 release of The Golden Road, the Dead’s box set, Michael Goldberg’s essay recalls his first encounters with the band as a 14-year-old in Marin County.
Morning Links: Glum Gladiators, ‘Nutters and Nudies’ and More
by Valerie Conners | 01.16.09 | 8:39 AM ET
- Yesterday’s incredible US Airways rescue in the Hudson River has yielded a medley of media coverage including eye-popping slideshows, surprising facts about bird strikes on planes and even a sprinkling of gallows humor.
- One New York City diner is taking the ultimate road trip to Alabama.
- Boston.com is featuring a series of stunning photos taken from NASA’s Earth Observatory website.
- Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn announced plans for the band’s third album, dubbed the “Syria Sessions” and inspired by Arabic orchestral music. The band will head to Syria to record in March.
- The backlash against Slumdog Millionaire has begun, including harsh words from one critic describing the film as “poverty porn.”
- With the number of foreign tourists to Rome down more than 12 percent from last year, the dolce vita is no more for the city’s “glum” gladiators, carriage drivers and other tourism operators.
- Vegas’s iconic topless showgirl review, “Les Folies Bergere,” is closing after entertaining oglers for 49 years.
- We previously noted Australia’s call for applicants for the “best job in the world.” Now, the video applications are rolling in, and there’s no shortage of “nutters and nudies.”
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R.I.P. London’s Astoria
by Eva Holland | 01.14.09 | 10:14 AM ET
The legendary London venue is closing down this week to make way for a new rail line. The Astoria and its annex, Astoria 2, have hosted everyone from Nirvana and David Bowie to Iggy Pop and Eminem over the years.
“People tend to get misty-eyed about the demise of historic dives, and in this sense the Astoria does not disappoint,” Ian Winwood writes in the Guardian. “The security people can be difficult, the beer is always too warm and if it weren’t for the musicians on stage the loudest sound in the room would be people’s feet un-sticking themselves from the floor. ... The Astoria is inconvenient and exciting, just like London itself.”
The Songlines of Key West: The Conch Republic, Unscripted
by Bill Belleville | 01.09.09 | 9:35 AM ET
Photo by Michelle Thatcher. In a three-part series, Bill Belleville burrows deep into the spirit of the mythic island. Part three: Into the mystery of the twilight.