Tag: Alicia Keys

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Benefit Features News

Musicians & Media Get Involved In Haiti

By now you’ve heard about the devastation in Haiti and the aftermath of the earthquake. Many musicians and media outlets have been doing their part to raise money and I thought I’d fill you in on two music related ventures — Paste Magazine‘s “Songs For Haiti” and MTV’s “Hope For Haiti.”

Paste Magazine is offering those who donate money to the Haiti earthquake relief unreleased songs from diverse artists including Ludacris, Of Montreal, Andrew Bird, Hanson, Low Anthem, Umphrey’s McGee, Switchfoot, Derek Webb and over 200 others. If you’ve already donated you still can still participate (just say where you made your donation) as all will have access to “Songs For Haiti” MP3s. All the money raised through Paste will be spread equally among three charities active in Haiti relief: Doctors Without Borders, The Red Cross and Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund.

“We obviously don’t think people would need incentive to donate in this effort, but perhaps the campaign will inspire more music fans to get involved, or to encourage people who have already donated, to donate again,” said Josh Jackson, Paste Magazine Editor-In-Chief. “Music has always been a force that brings people together, and to have so many fantastic artists drop everything to contribute to this effort was very touching,” Jackson added.

I couldn’t agree more. For more information on “Songs For Haiti” and to donate click here.

Friday night, at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT, MTV along with many other networks will host a night of performances to raise money for Haiti relief. The lineup includes Madonna, Taylor Swift, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Keith Urban, Sheryl Crow, Kid Rock, Sting, Coldplay, Bono, the Edge, Jay-Z and Rihanna.

Additional appearances include former President Bill Clinton, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, Robert Pattinson, Will Smith, Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, Muhammad Ali, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Clint Eastwood, Denzel Washington, Halle Berry, Jon Stewart, Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman, Nicole Kidman, Samuel L. Jackson and more.

“Hope for Haiti Now” will begin accepting donations at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT on Friday, January 22 via the following methods:

Online: www.hopeforhaitinow.org
Phone: 877-99-HAITI
Text: Text “GIVE” to 50555
Mail: Hope For Haiti Now Fund, Entertainment Industry Foundation, 1201 West 5th Street, Suite T-700, Los Angeles, CA 90017

All musical performances will be available for purchase for 99 cents per song through iTunes beginning Saturday, January 23. iTunes customers will be able to exclusively pre-order both the “Hope for Haiti Now” full performance album ($7.99) and the full two-hour video telecast ($1.99). Pre-orders will be delivered in the days following the telethon. All proceeds will benefit relief funds managed by Hope for Haiti Now charities.

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Features News

A Night With Clive Davis

It is indisputable that Clive Davis is one of the most highly regarded music executives in the business. The man behind chart-topping artists including Alicia Keys, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis and Whitney Houston, not to mention rock legends Carlos Santana, Aerosmith, Janis Joplin, and Bruce Springsteen, Davis proves his passion for music with every artist he takes under his wing.

Davis spoke to a packed room at New York University last night. The talk, sponsored by SoundCtrl, was moderated by Billboard‘s Editorial Director, Bill Werde. Entering the room to a standing ovation, Davis thanked the audience for attending despite the World Series game, which he said he TiVoed.

Known as a versatile producer, Davis said when he started Arista he didn’t specialize and instead would frequent Broadway shows on a nightly basis and Carnegie Hall twice a week scoping for new talent and music trends. “To pour yourself into it, you learn and try to permeate yourself. You learn not to specialize.”

Before attending the Monterey Pop Festival, Davis didn’t know he had an ear for music. The festival was an epiphany, he said. “Monterey was a different culture than I had ever seen before. A different attitude, different music. I just knew from every fiber of myself that this was a cultural movement, a revolution and I was very fortunate [to be there].” Davis quietly bought Janis Joplin’s contract as well as Earth, Wind and Fire shortly after. “I felt this would be the new sound for music to be heard around the world.”

Highly regarded in the music industry as not trying to fit in and look like the artists he represents, Davis said, “Over the years you learn you have to be yourself. Once you try to purposely be trendy you lose respect.” He continued, “I’ve also found that artists want a manager who’s an expert. Artists want to be protected. They don’t want you to be one of them. I don’t try to talk in the jargon of Hip-Hop. It’s always best to be yourself.”

A firm believer in listening to his gut, the music industry veteran knows what a hit song is. In fact, he told the audience that Kelly Clarkson didn’t like many of her hits originally. “It’s not easy to come up with a hit. I work very hard at not going over the hill and making sure my ears stay current. You’ve got to be on top of your game.”

Before opening the floor to questions, Davis demonstrated his listening process to the audience with three early demos of Carlos Santana’s hit, “The Game of Love.” The first demo highlighted the instrumentals of the song with a male vocalist. It didn’t sound right, so Davis suggested adding a female singer — Macy Gray. Powerful, but not what he was looking for, Davis eventually chose Michelle Branch as lead vocals. However, there is an interesting back story to the song. The original choice was Tina Turner, who refused to do a music video for the song. Davis insisted that a video was necessary for mass appeal, but Turner declined, leading to the hit as we know it today featuring Branch.

While the future of today’s music industry is unclear, Davis remains optimistic. “I do believe that there will be new labels and companies formed today. There still is that hunger for music. There still is that role music plays in people’s lives. Music is as important, if not more today, than it has ever been.”

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News

Poll of the Week: What Fall Album Release Are You Looking Forward To?

This fall is jam packed with album releases from many established artists, as well as hot up-and-coming bands. The next few weeks I’ll be making multiple trips to the record store (Yes, I still buy albums — does anyone else?). My question for you in this week’s poll is:

What Fall Album Release Are You Looking Forward To?

Alicia Keys
John Mayer
Switchfoot
Other

Above are some albums I’m looking forward to, but I really want to know which release you’re most excited about. Leave your answers in the comments!
Categories
Features Videos

Saturday Song Addiction

Obviously, if you’ve read this blog even once you know I love music. And, when I really like a song I tend to listen to it continuously on repeat or make it my ringtone for months (sometimes years, to the chagrin of my close friends and family!)

This weekend I present to you four songs I cannot stop listening to. (Better four then just one, right?) Love to know your thoughts and what songs you can’t get out of your head!

“Hey, Soul Sister” by Train

http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/10172910001?isVid=1&publisherID=59121

“Fireflies” by Owl City

VH1 TV Shows | Music Videos | Celebrity Photos | News & Gossip

“Save You” by Matthew Perryman Jones

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnGNWFV6Rak]

“Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys

Jay-Z – New Music – More Music Videos
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Concert Reviews

Blast From the Past: John Mayer Concert Review on MTV.com

If you’re familiar with my music taste, you already know that I am a die-hard John Mayer fan. In fact, it’s one of those qualities that seems to be ingrained in my musical makeup and everyone knows about me. Even while interning at MTV News Online I’d get the occasional joke about my obsession with him. But, no matter what anyone thinks about Mayer as a person or his recent stints in all the gossip mags, his talent is undeniable. I wish I could play guitar even half as good as he can . . . but I probably should actually practice my guitar regularly to reach this goal. Below is my review of his Madison Square Garden concert from 2007. Feel free to read it below, or check it out on MTV here with a full photo archive of the show.

John Mayer Goes Out With Alicia Keys — At Sold-Out New York Show
Singer shows sold-out crowd there’s a lot more to him than pop.

By Annie Reuter

NEW YORK — With a guest appearance from Alicia Keys, sing-alongs galore and an intimate two-song acoustic performance on a small stage in the middle of the crowd, John Mayer’s sold-out performance Wednesday night delivered everything a headlining spot at Madison Square Garden should.

After a strong opening set from Mat Kearney, Mayer’s show began with the venue darkened before the sounds of Mayer’s guitar drowned out the screams from younger members of the audience. A blue spotlight revealed him as he began “Belief” solo before being joined by the rest of his band.

(See Mayer dazzle by checking out photos of the MSG show right here.)

As the 90-minute set (consisting primarily of songs from his latest LP, Continuum) progressed, he joked with the crowd often, introducing “I Don’t Trust Myself (With Loving You)” by saying, “In America, you’re allowed to be an a–hole.” While it seemed at first to be a political reference, he instead described a first date and surprised the crowd by saying, “This song is telling you I’m the type of person that will do you wrong.” With lyrics like “If my past is any sign of your future/ You should be warned before I let you inside,” Mayer got the point across.

The crowd went wild for songs like “Waiting on the World to Change” and “Stop This Train,” but longtime fans made their presence heard on older songs like “Bigger Than My Body,” “No Such Thing” and “Why Georgia.”

But even though Mayer, who won Best Male Pop Vocal Performance and Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammys last month (see “Timberlake Rocks; Blige Weeps; Chicks, Chilis Clean Up At Grammys”), has a pop audience many would envy (need we mention Jessica Simpson?), the crowd at the Garden showed that his efforts to diversify musically have worked.

Sure, there were plenty of teeny-boppers in attendance, but there were also parents with their children, couples young and old, businesspeople coming from work, and high-school and college students. And Mayer made sure that his show contained something for everyone: His solos and improvisations with the two guitarists in his band pleased the guitar geeks, and he dipped into bluesy John Mayer Trio mode for “I Don’t Need No Doctor” and “I’m Gonna Find Another You.”

And throughout the show, Mayer constantly let those fans know just how much he appreciates them. “I’m not mature enough to be the kind of person to thank you for how much this means to me,” he said after “Waiting on the World to Change.” And then later, “This [success] doesn’t exist without you. I’m not sure I deserve it, but I’m going to keep writing and playing and doing whatever I have to do.”

Perhaps taking a tip from the Rolling Stones, for his encore Mayer performed two acoustic songs on a small stage set up in the middle of the venue, singing “Your Body Is a Wonderland” and “Stop This Train” just feet away from surprised fans, bringing the intimacy of a small club to the nearly 20,000-capacity venue.

Mayer left the small stage at around 10:30, but had one more trick up his sleeve. Returning to the main stage, he played “Vultures” — saying at the end, “This is the best night I’ve ever had” — before beginning his last song of the evening, “Gravity.”

As the song seemed to be ending, female vocals were heard — and just as cries of “Who is it?” became nearly as loud as the music, out came Alicia Keys, who took over the song’s vocals while Mayer accompanied her on his guitar. “Keep me where the light is,” she crooned, as the song ended with the spotlights shining brightly all over her and Mayer.

Categories
Benefit Features

November Recap/December Picks

While I’m still getting adjusted to the whole blogging thing I’m trying to start a few topics to follow through with each month, such as a monthly “recap” that I’ll hopefully post at the end or beginning of each month as well as monthly “picks”or suggestions for an upcoming month. Here’s a recap of some cool things that went on in the month of November:

Pandora Radio
Sometimes I feel like I’ve been living under a rock. To pass the time at work I’ve been listening to music. Anything from various YouTube videos to listening to random HD radio stations that stream online. However, there are only so many radio stations you can listen to throughout the day and I haven’t figured out how to play continuous music on YouTube yet. A bunch of the people I work with kept talking about Pandora radio and I had no clue what they were talking about, so I decided to check it out. And let me tell you – it’s the coolest thing ever! I mean, iPods are great and everything, but how many times have you listened to the same songs? With Pandora you just type in an artist and it comes up with all this music that is similar to that artist and continuously plays it for you and you can skip to the next song if you don’t like it. However, if you do like the song just click the thumbs up sign so the player knows to play it again at a later point. I tried a bunch of different artists and got a pretty interesting combination of songs to listen to throughout the day. Music really makes the day go by so much quicker, I think it helps with the stress too. Pandora just added classical music to their collection as well as a variety of holiday tunes to listen to. Just go to pandora.com to check it out and see for yourself.

Paste Magazine
For two weeks this month, Paste Magazine let readers decide how much they wanted to pay for a one-year subscription. This idea is unheard of in the magazine world, but thanks to Radiohead’s recent success with letting fans pay whatever they decided for their recent album, Paste thought, why not give it a try? I’m sure they’ll be seeing an increase in subscriptions. I just subscribed. Check out the article here.

New York Women in Communications
I went to a talk this month at the Hearst Tower with Cathie Black, president of Hearst Magazines, hosted by New York Women in Communications. I’ve attended one other event which featured Jancee Dunn, former Rolling Stone writer and MTV 2 veejay who discussed her book, “But Enough About Me, A Jersey Girl’s Unlikely Adventures Among the Absurdly Famous.” Attending these events really inspires me to keep writing and do what I love. Jancee, especially, was so great because I admire her and aspire to become a writer like her one day. Cathie was so great to listen to because it seems like she really is able to handle such a major responsibility – overseeing so many magazines as well as have a healthy family and social life. She talked about her book, “Basic Black,” described as the essential guide for getting ahead at work and in life.

Music
It seems as if every month the albums released get better and better. Two of my favorites just released are Alicia Keys’ As I Am and Jon Foreman of Switchfoot’s Fall. They both fall more into the easy listening, which I think everyone needs to listen to just to unwind and forget about all the stressful things in life.

Bands Making a Difference
I don’t know if this section will be in every month’s post but I really hope it is. This month I was blown away by Switchfoot, Relient K and Ruth’s efforts in giving back to their communities. Not only did these three bands donate $1 from every ticket sold on their fall “Appetite for Construction” tour to Habitat for Humanity – raising well over $67,000 – but they also went out on Habitat builds throughout various tour stops, building alongside homeowners and fans that decided to join Habitat and help out. I was lucky enough to chat with Chad and Jon from Switchfoot and they are definitely some of the nicest and most down to earth guys in the music industry today. Their entire crew and fan base are just something special that bands should look up to and epitomize.

December Picks
There are a bunch of great concerts coming up this December – 3 of which are happening just next week that I think everyone should consider going to.

Sharsheret Breast Cancer Benefit Concert
Sunday, December 2
Multipurpose Room, Rutgers Student Center
College Ave. Campus, New Brunswick, NJ
7:30-10:30 p.m.

My friend Monica is putting on a benefit concert and helping raise money for Sharsheret, a national breast cancer organization. It will be a night of live music by female performers including Rutgers’ very own all-female acappella group Shockwave, Hip Hop/Alternative performer Shira, and headlining the show, Ladino artist Sarah Aroeste. Ticket prices are $5 for students and $12 for the public, and are a minimum donation to Sharsheret.

New York Musicians Release Benefit Holiday Album
Wednesday, December 5
The Delancey
168 Delancey St, NY
8 p.m. -12 a.m.

Just in time for the holidays, The Delancey will be hosting a holiday album release party next Wednesday. All proceeds from album, A Family Holiday, will be donated to 826NYC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and helping teachers inspire their students to write.

The night will include performances from some of the artists showcased on the album as well as feature DJ sets from Hot Rocks’ Jenny Piston and Underrated Magazine’s Rachael Darmanin.

Singer/songwriter Benjamin Wagner began the project with the help of Family Records. Albums can be purchased the night of the release party or on the MySpace site, http://www.myspace.com/afamilyholidaybenefit. There is no cover charge.

Army of Me with Liam and Me
Thursday, December 6
Union Hall
702 Union St., Brooklyn, NY
Doors open: 8 p.m. Show: 9 p.m.
Tickets $10

D.C. rockers Army of Me will be hitting up New York Thursday night playing some of their old fan favorites as well as songs from their debut album, Citizen. You may recognize their single, “Going Through Changes,” from being featured on various MTV shows. Check out their MySpace page for more of their sound. http://myspace.com/armyofme

Categories
CD Reviews

New Music Tuesday

So I realize I’ve been slacking on the album reviews lately. I’m going to try my best to get at least one up every few weeks. We’ll see how that goes. Just released today was singer/songwriter Jon Foreman of Switchfoot’s first of four solo acoustic EP’s, entitled Fall. I’m about to download it now and will hopefully get that review up by next week. There’s actually a pretty cool offer on his website, jonforeman.com, where you can purchase all 4 EP’s for $20 and receive a signed poster by him in the mail. I’ve read a lot of good reviews about his first EP so I can’t wait to listen!

In the mean time, another great album released recently was Alicia Keys’ fourth album, As I Am. My advice – go buy it! But if money is tight, (which I totally can relate to) I’m going to write up a review below so you can read it and decide for yourself.

Alicia Keys
As I Am
Release Date: Tuesday, November 13, 2007

As I Am marks the fourth consecutive No. 1 album debut release on the Billboard chart for Alicia Keys. Being her third studio album, As I Am encompasses a complete and thorough artistic work. First single off the album, “No One,” is already a hit on the airwaves and is only an example of the success this album will surely bring Keys. As I Am is filled with the classic R&B; and soulful sound Keys is known for. Her vocals and keyboarding talents are showcased through the entirety of her album. From her slow, piano-playing instrumental intro track to her last song, “Sure Looks Good To Me,” Keys’ album comes full circle, a feat that not many artists can pull off.

While her album includes some slower ballads, it also offers many up-tempo songs such as “Wreckless Love,” which has a faster beat to it and is reminiscent of older, classic Diana Ross songs. Another track, “Teenage Love Affair” is a moving, relatable story-book song of teenage love, telling tales in her lyrics that include secret meetings on fifth-floor staircases and writing love letters. Keys’ second track on As I Am, “Go Ahead” showcases a very refreshing sound. The strong background beats accentuate her voice extremely well on this number.

While the album has its share of slower ballads, each has a varied style, keeping the listener tuned into the entire album from the first track to the very last. “Like You’ll Never See Me Again” showcases Keys’ soothing voice and has a classic, older R&B; sound to it. “Lesson Learned” is a slower track, which features John Mayer. Mayer’s background vocals accentuate the chorus well throughout the song. On the surface it’s a very simple song, but when listening more intently to the lyrics and beats, this track has so much depth to it.

Best Songs:
“No One”
“Like You’ll Never See Me Again”
“Lesson Learned”
“Teenage Love Affair”