Levi Dixon Jr. may have been mistaken for someone else: family
St. Petersburg Times (Russia) Jul 28, 08 1:49 PM CDT
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A promising 17-year-old gospel singer was shot to death early yesterday morning in West Tampa while staying at a friend’s house, the St. Petersburg Times reports. An unknown assailant burst through the door at 4 am and shot Levi Dixon Jr., whom relatives speculate he mistook for someone else. “By all accounts, he was a good kid,” a police spokesperson said.
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'Forever' is pop-song take on Doublemint jingle
Wall Street Journal Jul 28, 08 11:12 AM CDT
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Singer Chris Brown’s hit “Forever” has a trick up its sleeve: It’s actually part of a marketing campaign for Wrigley’s Doublemint gum. The top-10 song contains the lyric "Double your pleasure/double your fun" for good reason, which Wrigley will reveal tomorow. The company paid Brown to update its 48-year-old jingle and to record an extended pop-song version around it, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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Baltimore to unveil work based on various Dead classics
NPR Jul 27, 08 2:00 PM CDT
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The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will debut this week an opera derived from the music of the Grateful Dead, on what would have been Jerry Garcia’s 66th birthday. Titled Dead Symphony No. 6, each movement goes truckin' on a different Dead song. The Grateful Dead is “long overdue to be taken as a phenomenon beyond the music itself,” composer Lee Johnson told NPR.
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Fearing for teens, Duma debates legislation to outlaw fashion, monitor websites
Guardian (UK) Jul 24, 08 3:55 PM CDT
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Fearing a threat to the wellbeing of its youth, the Russian Duma is going after what it sees as Public Enemy No. 1—emo. Lawmakers are debating legislation to ban all signs of emo culture—an offshoot of punk music—from schools and government buildings, the Guardian reports. Lawmakers see the trademark skinny jeans, black lipstick, and outré hairdos as “dangerous teen trends” that could lead to antisocial behavior and suicide.
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Telephono helps musicians send tunes around the world
NPR Jul 21, 08 2:18 PM CDT
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Telephono works like a musical chain letter: One musician e-mails a tune to another, who adds to it and passes it on. The next musician does the same. Eventually, a song is created. The idea is "inspired by the classic children’s game 'Telephone,'" says creator David Matysiak. People can change "anything or everything. Or nothing at all."
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music review
One Day As A Lion's new track doesn't fall far from the tree
Mother Jones Jul 20, 08 6:05 PM CDT
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Rage Against the Machine fans probably won’t be disappointed with One Day As A Lion , the new project from frontman Zach de la Rocha: It sounds, well, "pretty much kinda-sorta exactly like Rage Against the Machine," writes Gary Moskowitz in Mother Jones . The first song, online this week, “could easily be mistaken for a middle-of-the-set song performed by Rage at Lollapalooza in the early 90s.”
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On expert advice, he tries everything from Baroque to 12-tone
Boston Globe Jul 14, 08 8:20 PM CDT
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A father brings home his newborn and ponders the CD rack: How best to develop the baby's brain? Mozart? Bach? Toddler tunes? With the stakes so high, Jeremy Eichler takes his dilemma to the experts, he writes in the Boston Globe . One tells him that infants benefit from tricky rhythms, so Eichler tosses on Bulgarian wedding music at home. The boy's face lights up. Is he onto something?
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Taped video segment for Madge's tour yesterday
People Jul 10, 08 11:57 AM CDT
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Britney Spears "is excited, but in a grownup way" about collaborating with Madonna for her Sticky & Sweet tour, a pal tells People . The recovering pop tart, who filmed the taped segment yesterday, “has come a long way in the last year. She has settled down and is full of life but not childish," says the friend.
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Established names drawn to new, lucrative branch of composition
BusinessWeek Jul 9, 08 3:30 PM CDT
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Far from the shrill beeps of a decade ago, video-game music has come into its own with compositions approaching the maturity of film scores, BusinessWeek reports. A new wave of composers is putting time and effort into sophisticated soundtracks that mark the continuing expansion of video games as a form of entertainment.
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Wired listens up so you don't have to
Wired Jul 9, 08 12:22 PM CDT
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The Wired Listening Post blog names its favorite digital music websites based on how they benefit music fans, as well as their impact on the industry. Imeem: for music embedding IVideoSongs: for guitar lessons Omnifone: unlimited access on the go Mog: for music blogs Muxtape: create MP3 mix "tapes" in minutes
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music review
Modern Guilt is a far cry from the artist's early days
Entertainment Weekly Jul 8, 08 5:57 PM CDT
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Beck’s new 34-minute-long record is a “simmering cauldron of postmillennial tension,” writes Leah Greenblatt in Entertainment Weekly , its paranoid lyrics “way past Bummerville” and nearing “Apocalypse Heights.” But producer Danger Mouse still manages to find “thoughtfulness and texture…if not exactly levity” that temper Modern Guilt 's drama. J. Freedom du Lac concurs in the Post , concluding that Beck's "funny bone remains broken.”
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Alleges Gwyneth smooch, pill-popping, fighting dirty with Guy
Sun (UK) Jul 6, 08 1:00 PM CDT
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Amid rumors of a crumbling marriage and an A-Rod affair, Madonna’s juicy past is now bubbling to the surface in a new biography written by her brother. At a boozy Hollywood party, the mega-star was dancing on a table when she pulled a surprised Gwyneth Paltrow up onto the table and kissed her full on the mouth, writes estranged bro Christopher Ciconne in Life With My Sister Madonna.
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New York magazine projects the big hits of 2008
New York Jul 6, 08 11:49 AM CDT
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Roll down the windows and crank up the stereo. Using a “Summerability” scale that measures things like airplay, iTunes sales, and potential similarity to Rhianna’s 2007 hit "Umbrella," New York magazine picks the Top Five Songs of the Summer. "American Boy" by Estelle featuring Kanye West: Hummable, uncritical of US foreign policy, everything a summer anthem needs.
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Interview
As his record contract ends, the musician's not sure what's next
New York Times Jul 5, 08 2:17 PM CDT
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This week Beck will release Modern Guilt , his last record under a 14-year-old studio contract—an event that prompted the New York Times to ask him what's next. No idea, Beck said. “I haven’t bothered to plan anything. I don’t know where the record business is going to be in six months. Or three months.”
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