Actor-producer John Cusack is set to release a new movie later this month entitled "War, Inc." in which he stars and also co-wrote. The political satire represents his outrage at the war in Iraq, and hopes it will get a reaction out of viewers.Cusack said, "I think the movie should be kind of offensive. I'm shocked at how much good reaction we're getting." The film will include a chorus line consisting of female Iraq War vets showing lots of skin who are also amputees.Hilary Duff, also in the film, said: "We're trying to raise awareness with it. It is funny and it is bizarre and a little disturbing. But really at the end of the day it's looking at what (our country is) doing, and it's not right." Source: news.yahoo.com
A music teacher at a public school in New York City put a video of his chorus class on YouTube singing the song Flying Dutchman. Wouldn’t it be great for the kids if Tori herself showed up to sing the song with them?
I’m not sure I ever got a true velvet soft sound from any of the 100’s of cassettes I bought in the mid to late 80’s. Hiss was king you see and even if you could overlook that reptile type tendency you were forever at the behest of the dreaded chew gods. Thank the lord for slowly turning pencils is all I’ll say. Funny then that whenever I ever played ‘Dream Kitchen’ by Frazier Chorus I forgot about all the annoyances inherent in spooled tape. It may have only reached 57 in the UK charts but in the late eighties ‘Dream Kitchen’ sounded like the future. The Brighton based act were led by Tim Freeman (brother of actor Martin Freeman from the Office) and managed ever so well without ever resorting to a guitar or drums. They were signed to 4AD in what would have seemed a logical
The New York City Gay Men's Chorus (NYCGMC) today announced their 2008 benefit gala, "With a Song in Our Heart," to be held on Monday, April 14 from 6-9:30PM at the elegant Warwick Hotel. The award-winning Host, TV/Radio Personality, Comedian and Interviewer Scott Nevins will lead the evening with his signature humor and flare. With entertainment by Broadway notables including Ann Hampton Callaway (Broadway: Swing!; composed and sang theme to "The Nanny"), Liz McCartney (Broadway: Mamma Mia!, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Taboo, Dance of the Vampires, The Phantom of the Opera, and Les Miserables) and the Tony-nominated Sharon McNight, the gala will be a night celebrating music, diversity and support for the LGBT community. The honorary host committee includes
Up just before dawn as usual to join in with the dawn chorus, the humans still haven't realise that once we'vewoken them up with all our squawking we all go back to bed for four hours. Had another feed of grapes, the Purple Pooper strikes again! One of my daily chores is going around to all the fallen apples and making peckmarks in them so the humans can't eat them. Not much on the bird-table today, stale bread that was so hard I nearly bent my beak, and some coffeee cake that gave me the shakes. I kicked the rock-hard bit of bread off the bird-table and it almost took out the cat that was sitting underneath. I think the cat's name must be gerrroutofit, that's what the gardener calls out everytime he sees it. I wonder where Ratty is today?
In what I believe should be considered a rather unique publicity stunt, UK indie/alternative rock quartet The Crimea are now releasing the single Loop A Loop taken from the album Secrets Of The Witching Hour, which was released in March last year as a free digital download. So the single being available for free obviously isn't what is so unique about it, but instead that 16 new AND free remixes of the track, have one by one been distributed to 16 different MP3 blogs, with each blog having the exclusive right to post one particular remix.I’ve been asked to host the remix created by The Brute Chorus, which has a real cozy and laid back/lazy feeling to it that made me feel all relaxed and comfortable last night, when it was streaming from the headphones, while the rest of the house was sle
Greek tragedy is said to develop itself from the group of dancers and singers who used to partake in the worship of various gods. According to Aristotle the Chorus should be like one of the characters. Gradually the role of the Chorus became less and less important in classical tragedy, until in Roman tragedy the speeches of the Chorus were supposed to be made in between the acts.Chorus discharges some broad functions in all classical tragedies. The structure of a Greek tragedy is determined by the Chorus. After the prologue, it is with the entry of the Chorus that a Greek tragedy begins. Various episodes are also marked off by choric odes. The conclusion of a Greek tragedy occurs with the exode or the exit song of the Chorus. It is the function of the Chorus to comment on actions and events. It also sometimes questions the characters. Its standard role is that of the moderator. At times it represents the view-point of the common spectator and in some cases it represents the view-point
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The A-side of this luminous pink slab of plastic finds Worcester's And What Will Be Left Of Them? in typically lairy clatterpop mood. 'Come With Me' actually appears to be pogo-ing itself into a frenzy until it finally explodes with drunken dizziness in between your ears. If this gives a hint to the raucous nature of their live performances then 'Look In Your Eye' finally sees them translating their raw live energy onto record. They constantly teeter on the edge of collapse, but manage to hold everything together in a rasping shambles and refuse to touch that three-minute mark, which can only make them more loveable.
London's Brontosaurus Chorus are purveyors of Technicolor dream pop. They come off not unlike a less mental Los Campesinos jumping around with Arcade Fire's bubblegum pop playing cousins in a parallel universe. The Myth of Love's boy-meets-girl-then-girl-doesn't-like-boy theme drips with aural sweetness. Yet, these recordings don't do them full justice.
DEVI SRI PRASAD joins the chorus demanding one crore rupees as remuneration after Ileana and Trisha stunned the film industry... with their demands... These demands by Devi are said to have startled many producers like M S Raju... So, what is the next logical thing that they do? It is being rumoured that they are temporarily keeping away from him... so that hopefully, Devi would change his mind.
What critics are saying about “Speaks” “Ahmadinejad scored many points in his speech at Columbia on Monday” "the victim of an ambush" From “Mr. Abe Madinejad Speaks,” a one man play; with chorus: (narrator) Ostinato Polytonality Editorial: “(W)e are dismayed by the behavior of some of New York’s democratically elected representatives who denounced and threatened Columbia University for inviting the Iranian leader to speak there yesterday. (slowly begin raise lights) (continue, gains timbre): “We can imagine no better way to give hope to opponents of Iran’s repressive state than by showcasing America’s democracy and commitment to free speech. And we can imagine no better way to lay bare the bankruptcy of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s views than to have him speak, and be questioned, at a university forum.” Recapitulation CUE: etude legato evening meadow melody CUE – fog machine – talent on riser (raise lights Max. upst
The Last Town Chorus play the Hawthorne Theatre October 4th. Although not exactly a band The Last Town Chorus is the revolving ensemble led by singer/writer/lap-steel-guitarist Megan Hickey. I’m not sure if it’s her voice or how she wrangles the lap steel but she is very beguiling. And others have been beguiled too - “She sings like an Angel and plays lap steel guitar like the Devil.” - Village Voice, “The Last Town Chorus’ aching lap-steel sound moves men to tears” - Chicago Tribune, “Strange, dark magic…” - Sunday Times (UK). Here’s a video of her take on Bowie’s Modern Love and Tickets to the show.
Wintering in Brooklyn - [MP3]
I am a musician. You may not have known that about me. As a musician, I enjoy an eclectic array of music. You will find me, at anyone one time, enjoying Rock, Trip Hop, Metal, Classical, Dance, Folk, Irish, World, and recently Chill. I realize Chill is a relatively new category, but I find it is a category that is deserving of its own place in the lexicon of music.
That brings me the point of my post. I have recently discovered “The Last Town Chorus“. You may have heard this song? It comes attached to her video on Youtube. She is Megan Hickey. The Village Voice said it best; “She sings like an Angel and plays lap steel guitar like the Devil.”
I love the remake of this David Bowie song. After listening to several other original tracks on her album, I found I really liked most of them as well. She is friends with “The Innocence Mission” A band I have followed for well over a decade. The Innocence Mission may not even remember it, but my band once
A bloke called Farouk Shami (a Palestinian American) wrote a piece in The Houston Chronicle entitled "Let's show that we mean business with Palestine" which has prompted a few responses from it's readership.
Here is one of the responses from someone who calls themselves "Preptile"...
"Let's show we mean businesss w Palestine".
Now there is an inspirational headline.
Unfortunately it didn't mean what I had hoped.
Silly me,I thought we might finally actually support punishing Hamas and Fatah
for their murderous indiscretions.
But alas, the chronicle only sings w the kumbya chorus and again I am
left disappointed.
I wonder how the middle east would react if Bush declared Israel a defacto American state? Attack Israel,and your attacking the USA.
Sufficient backbone to actually win every skirmish ,decidedly, would also help.Insufficient aggression over there has already cost too many lives.
If every katusha rocket inspired return fire from a tomahawk missle,
the neighbors firing them of
Heavy Metal Kids - Anvil Chorus (1975)256kbps Even before it hit the streets, nobody expected that the Heavy Metal Kids' sophomore album would ever be able to match the magnificence of its predecessor -- how, after all, can anyone top perfection? The warning signs had already started flashing; the moment they truncated their name to the more headline-friendly the Kids was the moment they bowed to a conformity that their debut album had kicked out of the window. But the reality was even worse than that. In fairness, Anvil Chorus did pack a couple of highs, but the Heavy Metal Kids had always promised far more than that -- more, too, than the warmed-up Mott the Hoople-isms that the opening "Hard at the Top" ushered in. "You Got Me Rollin'" continues the disorientation, as frontman Gary Holton steps aside for the more rent-a-rocker tones of keyboard player Danny Peyronel, while "On the Street" and "Old Time Boogie both sound uncannily like something Humble Pie might have left behind the
Some more great new music from the UK that speaks for itself, almost!The Acid FascistsGenre: Psychedelic / Garage / PunkFrom: Edinburgh (with a hint of Birkenhead), Scotland, United KingdomFirst up a band that I've featured on the blog before, The Acid Fascists, who are even brilliant when rehearsing. If this cover of The Fugs' 'Couldn't Get High' , which sounds like Mark E Smith fronting the 13th Floor Elevators, is anything to go by then make space for the Acid Fascists in your record collection because they're about to explode.The Acid FascistsCouldn't Get High (Rehearsal Footage)and next up for tonight...The Brute ChorusGenre: Alternative / IndieFrom: United KingdomThe Brute Chorus (finest band name this year!) serve up spindly, sparky, abrasive, songs that are choc a bloc with serrated rhythms that bend and twist and turn like a worm with Parkinsons disease. The Young Knives style intelligent Strokes influenced art pop that hitches a ride on British Sea Power's ferry, shar
Tony Bennett was recently on the Tavis Smiley Show, and this quote in particular has been floating around the internet as of late (I picked it up from my friend Mark):
"If you just sing like they do and imitate their voices, you're going to sound like one of the chorus because everybody's doing that. To be an individual, listen to musicians and listen to what they're doing and imitate musicians rather than the singers"
I think this says a lot for looking at the context as a source of inspiration. This is why so many "singers" end up getting sent home from the American Idol audition in tears. They don't get that everybody and their brother can carry a tune. It's about more than talent - it's about the complete package. The key is finding something that sets you apart, and that's where context comes in. I think the idea of getting inspiration from the musicians is an interesting one. A singer knows melody. A musician knows songs. A singer uses the right brain o
We have moved across three countries in six days. And at each border while we struggle with customs, immigration and conversion rates from lira to lari to manat, we are greeted with one constant refrain: “Jimmy, jimmy.”
We are travelling through the Caucasus region. Whether it is Georgia or Azerbaijan, as soon as our hosts get [...]
Saturday April 14th - Hold the Date!!
In a complete departure from the ethereal beauty of the classical choral music that we sing at our usual Forbidden City Concert Hall appearances, such as the Rachmaninov Vespers or Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, as well as a good 90 degrees away from dramatic ...
Words can’t describe the feelings of elation after exiting the stage to thunderous applause after our Saturday performance of Off Off Offenbach at the Forbidden City Concert Hall. Percussions Claviers de Lyon were simply amazing. I had such a good time performing this piece that I’m flying down ...
