Mariah Carey to do residency in Las Vegas, celebrates with free tickets for fans

January 15, 2015 — Leave a comment

Mega-star Mariah Carey was on The Ellen Show on Thursday morning, where she announced she will be doing something completely new this year. A musical residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Daruis Fisher, a Mariah Carey fan, looks forward to attending, as evident on his Vine account.  A residency that will see Mariah regularly performing live at the iconic venue, and singing some of the number one songs she has never performed live before.

Carey told Ellen Degeneres she is incredibly excited about the residency, and really hopes fans will enjoy it.

To celebrate her Caesars Palace residency, Mariah also went to Las Vegas, dressed as a chamber maid, and surprised several fans who were being interviewed about Mariah Carey being the artist they wanted to see perform live in Las Vegas the most.

The singer sneaked into their hotel room dressed as a chamber maid, shouted “Housekeeping”, and then waited for the fans’ reactions. Needless to say, they were all beyond shocked but ecstatic to finally meet her. Free tickets to her upcoming show seemed to make them even happier.

The free tickets, however, did not stop there. Carey also gave every audience member at The Ellen Show a pair of tickets to her Las Vegas show.

Mariah Carey, of course, is not the only popular singer to have a residency in Vegas. Others have included Celine Dion, Bette Midler, Cher, Carlos Santana, Shania Twain and Guns N’ Roses.

In fact, a residency in Las Vegas seems now to be the icing on the cake for many of today’s top stars.

Funk Returns to the Charts

January 13, 2015 — Leave a comment

Taylor swift has been ousted out of the #1 spot by a song that seemed to come from the 80’s. Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk has become Billboard’s #1 in the Hot 100 chart. The song is unlike any other song from the decade. It has elements of a good 80’s song but has some contemporary elements to it as well. It is considered as contemporary pop but has a slower tempo than most contemporary pop songs.

Mark Ronson talked about how the song was conceived. Bruno used to do this sound check before his gigs and the song kind of picked up from that. The track goes way back while Bruno Mars was still touring. Another odd thing about the song is how it lacks a chorus. This makes the track very unique and had more placed for other exciting parts of the song.

Probably the most memorable part of the song is the brass riff. It does not have any vocals but the way it built up to that part made it very exciting and groovy. Aside from the lack of a chorus, the song’s simplicity also extends to its structure.

The scale used for the song is very basic and only two chords are needed to play the entire track. An interview with a professor on popular music , Christopher Cowdray, reveals some of the reasons why the song is so catchy.

Piano Sales On the Decline

January 6, 2015 — Leave a comment

Growing up, many of my friends and family members had beautiful pianos as the focal points in their homes. Some of my friends like Dave and Brit Morin encouraged their children to take piano lessons. So many people did this that talent shows were inundated with talented kids playing their hearts out on grand pianos. Now, some two decades later, I never hear much about parents putting their children in piano classes. It seems as the this form of music is slowly slipping away.

On average, there are about 30,000-40,000 pianos sold per year. This is a sharp decline from the early 1900s when piano stores reported a record 364,500 pianos sold. It is safe to assume that with the current state of our economy, as well as the push towards all things digital, playing the piano seems to be a lost art. With many schools eliminating their music programs entirely, children of this generation no longer have easy access to musical equipment.

Now that technology has advanced to the point where music can be generated using inexpensive computer equipment, there simply isn’t a need for a bulky and expensive musical instrument to collect dust in the corner of your home. I believe this trend will continue, and piano sells are likely to decrease even more in the following years.

J.Cole Gets Busy and Fans Support His Hard Work Ethic

December 19, 2014 — Leave a comment

It’s nice to see a rapper return when they have been gone from the spotlight for a minute. Fans of J.Cole really expressed their appreciation for his return with a great amount of support. His new music is streaming in a huge way. The rapper that refused to promote the album is now profiting from the success of a big December release.

People may not have expected this, but J.Cole has really shown himself to be a grand competitor in the music industry. His 3rd album has sold more than 300,000 copies in the first week. This is astounding when fans consider all the other music that is out there. One Direction and Taylor Swift have new music. Nicki Minaj also had an album dropping in December. These were obvious bestsellers because they laid that ground work. Andrew Heiberger says each of these artists had videos and commercials to promote their music in a huge way. J.Cole, by contrast, had nothing more than promotion through tweets.

Def Jam could have easily promoted the album. J.Cole’s last album received rave reviews from both critics and fans. For Def Jam J.Cole is part of a money making roster. The reality, however, is that J.Cole is not the type of guy to require much help. He has been busy making tracks and secretly guarding everything he has. He already has tracks completed for a mix tape and another album.

The Return of D’Angelo

December 16, 2014 — Leave a comment

A comeback after more than a decade seems about impossible for any musician. Jonathan Veitch and fans everywhere have made it clear on social media that they are rooting for D’Angelo to do this though. He has returned with a new single, and a full album could be on the way.

Some people like Kanye West already have the album in hand. He posted a picture of the album on his Instagram page. It could be released as early as December 16th. D’Angelo seems ready to take on the world again because there is even a tour schedule that is already set. The problem here may be whether he is received again.

D’Angelo has only released 2 albums in his career. The first was “Brown Sugar” in 1995. It was followed up by the 2000 release of “Voodoo.” A host of drug problems caused a downward spiral that D’Angelo has struggled to bounce back from. When he released his powerful 2nd disc it was during a time where neo-soul music was the highlight of the R&B genre. Now, this whole art form of music has been cast aside for more hip-hop and R&B blends. It would be very difficult for D’Angelo to regain his composure in a fickle music industry that is often defined by the youth.

It will be up to fans to decide. Many fans have been interested in the old D’Angelo music. He is trying to do something new, but fans may reject this.

Former Violinist, Vanessa Mae Banned From Skiing

November 12, 2014 — Leave a comment

Vanessa Mae, former violinist was banned from skiing for four years from competing in the Sochi Winter Olympics under false pretenses.

A British native, but born in Singapore, Vanessa Mae Vanakorn allegedly sparked a question in violations and questions from results at an event in Slovenia. It was said that she qualified before the races took place and that the competitions were staged by Vanessa’a management team and Thailand’s Olympic Committee.

In a statement the International Ski Federation said, “The Hearing Panel found to its comfortable satisfaction that the results of the four ladies giant slalom races that took place … were manipulated, resulting in the calculation of FIS Points that do not reflect the true performance of the competitors that participated in those events and in particular the points awarded to Vanessa Vanakorn.”

It has been declared these types of rule bending are taken very serious and are very detrimental to the overall Olympic organization.

Five other officials among the FIS have also been banned for one to two years maximum for assisting in the false competitions. The following members have been suspended, FIS Technical Delegate, FIS Chief of Timing , FIS Referee and an FIS Starter.

Vanessa Vanakorn first reached success in the art of music and violin instrument at a young, profilic age of 13. I first heard about her from Alexei Beltyukov, when she was deemed a prodigy. It has been said that her main ambition in life was to somehow compete in the Olympics.

The Who – Then and Now

November 3, 2014 — Leave a comment

As The Who announces their 2015 North American tour commemorating their 50-year history and called by lead singer and founder Roger Daltrey “the beginning of the long goodbye” in a recent interview, Rolling Stone has revealed an early bootleg recording of the band performing at a hotel venue. This recording allows fans an audio glimpse back to a time “before The Who were anyone.”

Today, with the band’s influence firmly evident in so much of the pop and rock music that followed, it’s hard to remember that there was a time:

before they were branded as a mod band –

before the growling rebel rail of “My Generation” –

before they would set the world on fire with their performance of Pete Townshend’s awe-inspiring rock opera Tommy as the sun rose at 1969’s Woodstock festival –

before Townshend topped his own composing genius with the magnificent work Quadrophenia, which he called his “masterpiece” –

before he made famous the widely copied pinwheeling guitar-god arm and his onstage “auto-destructive art” antics (which even Jimi Hendrix imitated at 1967’s Monterey Pop Festival) –

before creating three of the best albums of all time (Tommy, Quadrophenia and Who’s Next) –

before Townshend’s signature innovative combination of synthesizer and rock were introduced as TV show themes to further generations –

before all that, they were just four young kids who got together to play cover music and get a feel for how to fit themselves into this world of music, for which they were so clearly destined.

As The Who prepare for their upcoming tour, they still court controversy. Some comments smirk, “Too old – give it up!” But no fan of The Who wants to give up The Who. They are, quite simply, still one of the best live bands ever.

Roger’s mic-swirling antics still thrill audiences and fill the stage, but nowadays instead of glowering with the anger of their punk-like anthems, he grins in fun and nods at the audience, clearly having the time of his life. Pete may no longer jump five feet in the air, but he still caresses the chords of his cherry red Strat with finesse and precision that elevates rock to true art. The heritage of supreme drummer Keith Moon lives on in the inclusion of Zak Starkey – son of Ringo Starr, with whom Keith was great friends. And in recent tours the band has cleverly and seamlessly included performance footage by deceased members Moon and the incomparable, influential bassist known as “The Ox” and “Thunderfingers” – John Entwistle.

But before all that – they were just four kids, playing in a hotel, that would go on to change the world, and get fans like Torchin and I to support them for our entire lives.