Tag: Music

Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan Launching Resistance Pro

The word on the street is that Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan will be announcing a new indie-wrestling promotion at Chicago Comic Con. According to AV Club, Corgan will be the creative director of the upcoming Resistance Pro wrestling promotion. Corgan is a lifelong wrestling fan that has appeared at numerous ECW and WWE events.

In my head Resistance Pro sounds awesome. I envision the wrestlers using Smashing Pumpkins tracks as entrance music and being escorted to the ring by the numerous hot bass players that have performed with Corgan over the years. Of course that’s probably not going to happen, but I’ll keep dreaming about it.

Resistance Pro is slated to ring its first bell this fall. It will be based in the Mid-West and hopefully use some of the excellent talent from local Ring of Honor shows.

Source 1

Source 2

Three Awesome Game of Thrones Music Performances

Let’s celebrate the release of George R.R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons by listening to these three awesome performances of the intro to Game of Thrones. First up is a slick acoustic mix. Next is a classical performance using acoustic and electric violin sounds. Capping it off is a rock version featuring heavy drums and electric guitar.

If you have a chance to listen to all three tracks, please let me know which one is your favorite. Thanks to Joey and Parisi for sharing these on Google+!

Coffee Talk #372: My “Weird” Al Accordion Confession

I recently downloaded every polka by “Weird” Al Yankovic to serve as my soundtrack for my trip to Hawaii. And really, nothing says tropical island fun or celebrating your brother’s wedding like…

Welcome to Coffee Talk! Let’s start off the day by discussing whatever is on your (nerd chic) mind. Every morning I’ll kick off a discussion and I’m counting on you to participate in it. If you’re not feelin’ my topic, feel free to start a chat with your fellow readers and see where it takes you. Whether you’re talking about videogames, Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon victory, your favorite BBQ food, or looking forward to airplane movies, Coffee Talk is the place to do it.

I recently downloaded every polka medley by “Weird” Al Yankovic to serve as my soundtrack for my trip to Hawaii. And really, nothing says tropical island fun or celebrating your brother’s wedding like a “Weird” Al polka. I’ve always loved “Weird” Al. When I was a kid, I thought he was hilarious. As I grew older, I learned to appreciate his witty parodies and his clever polka arrangements. He’s just awesome.

“Weird” Al is so awesome that he inspired me to learn how to play the accordion in grade school. I defy you to think of three instruments lamer than the accordion. (You can’t.) That didn’t matter to me. The accordion was one of Al’s most potent weapons and I wanted to be more like him. Who doesn’t?!?

Today I have two questions for you. 1) Have you ever been inspired to do something silly or lame because of music, movies, or games? 2) Which “Weird” Al polka medley is best? Click on the links below for samples!

These polkas are fantastic. The arrangements are funny and expertly done. The song choices do a great job of reminding you of popular songs of a certain era. “Weird” Al 4 life!!!

Beats, Rhymes, and Life Trailer (A Tribe Called Quest)

I’m so psyched for Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest. The documentary will see a limited release on July 8, 2011 and I plan on catching it as soon as I can (I’ll be in Hawaii and I’m not sure where it’ll be playing or how I can get there.). I love A Tribe Called Quest. I love that era of hip-hop. Groups like Tribe and Diggable Planets made for a cool and stylish hip-hop period. It wasn’t about pimps, gangs, coastal warfare, etc. It was all about slick beats, sweet samples, and smooth lyrics. I’m looking forward to reliving those times and seeing today’s hip-hop stars pay tribute to A Tribe Called Quest (represent, represent!).

Check out the trailer when you have a chance and let me know what you think (please)!

Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston Get Hollywood Stars

The Hollywood Walk of Fame has announced the latest entertainers to get their very own stars on the world famous Hollywood sidewalk. The list is lead by hotties Scarlett Johansson and Jennifer Aniston (in my head anyway). Naturally I saw this announcement as an opportunity to post sexy photos! Other honorees include the late, great Richard Burton, D&D fan Vin Diesel, Matt Groening, and Adam West. Here’s the full list from E!:

Movies

  • Jennifer Aniston
  • Vin Diesel
  • Scarlett Johansson
  • John Lasseter
  • Malcolm McDowell
  • Sumner Redstone
  • Kate Winslet
  • Richard Burton (posthumous)

TV

  • Valerie Bertinelli
  • Matt Groening
  • Mariska Hargitay
  • Patricia Heaton
  • Marg Helgenberger
  • Walter Koenig
  • Adam West

Music

  • Pepe Aguilar
  • AMERICA
  • Boyz II Men
  • Hal David
  • David Foster
  • Vince Gill
  • Jennifer Lopez
  • Ann and Nancy Wilson (Heart)
  • Barry White (posthumous)

Radio

  • Ellen K.

Now onto the photos!

Source

Amazon + Google + Zynga = Lady Gaga Superstardom

Do you remember when it was cool, modern, and edgy for recording artists to expand their reach using music videos? Compare that to what Lady Gaga is doing today. I’m impressed by how Gaga and her management team have used modern tech to make her an even bigger star. She’s promoting herself with Google Chrome and a version of Zynga’s FarmVille called GagaVille. Her new album, Born This Way, was the best thing that ever happened to Amazon’s Cloud Player service. It’s just progressive marketing and fan outreach.

Although I only like some of her music, I have a crazy amount of respect for Lady Gaga. I love the way she talks about her fans and supports the gay community. I love that she’s a fantastic role model for young people struggling with confidence and identity issues. And I love her modern multimedia onslaught! Paws up monsters!!!

Amazon Uses Lady Gaga to Extend Cloud Player Reach

In its war against Google Music Beta and Apple iCloud, Amazon has pulled out a secret weapon to give its Cloud Player an edge: Lady Gaga. It’s a move that’s even more aggressive than Amazon’s 69-cent MP3s; take one of the hottest artists in music and price her new album, Born This Way, at 99 cents. Millions of people will buy it and as an added bonus get their Amazon Cloud storage bumped to 20GB.

Certainly only a fraction of people that buy Born This Way for 99 cents will take advantage of Amazon Cloud Player. Still, the company will surely get some new customers out of the deal. Through this promotion, it will get more customers that regularly buy its MP3s, use Cloud Player, and buy other Amazon goods. Most importantly, it strikes a blow to Google’s recently launched Music Beta service and Apple’s upcoming iCloud service.

Did any of you buy Born This Way today? If you’re new to Amazon MP3s, what did you think of the buying experience? What do you think of the promotion in general? Brilliant or risky?

Comcast Blocking The Pirate Bay: A Sign of Things to Come?

Updated: According to TorrentFreak Internet service providers Comcast, Rogers, and Optus have started blocking The Pirate Bay. The site is used by millions of people to acquire pirated movies, television shows, and music tracks. Honestly, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner and that more ISPs haven’t blocked the site. Sure, people will cite free speech and net neutrality, but telecommunications companies tend to act first and deal with the consequences later.

Any of you use Comcast? Is your access to The Pirate Blocked? If so, are you going to change providers? For those of you not on Comcast, would you change ISPs if you didn’t have access to The Pirate Bay?

Update: Apparently this might be a problem with The Pirate Bay and not ISPs. Phew!

Source

GagaVille and Words with Gaga Coming to Facebook

Lady Gaga is teaming up with Zynga to expand her reach through the use of social gaming. Coming soon are GagaVille and Words with Gaga. I’m pretty sure you can figure out what those games are. In case you can’t, here are some wise words from VentureBeat’s “Dancing” Dean Takahashi:

On May 17, Zynga will launch GagaVille, a neighboring farm in Zynga’s FarmVille game. This will be a Gaga-inspired farm inside the game which will showcase Lady Gaga’s style and themes from her albums and videos. It will have things like crystals, unicorns and sheep on motorcycles. Users will get exclusive access in FarmVille to songs from Gaga’s Born This Way album before it is released on May 23.

In Zynga’s Words With Friends mobile game, there will be a Words With Gaga contest. If a player plays the special Gaga word of the day, they will be entered to win tickets to a concert on Lady Gaga’s next tour, plus a signed copy of Born This Way. Users will be picked randomly from May 17 to May 26 in the U.S.

Confession: I like Lady Gaga. Her music is catchy, she seems to genuinely love her fans, and I love the work she does with the gay community. I also think she’s hot in that “crazy girl” way. Most of you know that I love word games like Scrabble, WordFeud, and Words with Friends. With that in mind, I’m sure as hell going to play Words with Gaga. Who’s coming with me?!?

Source

Amazon’s 69-Cent MP3 Gambit — Pure Genius?

When Amazon first announced that it would start selling popular MP3 singles for 69 cents, I was mildly interested. A lot of the same songs cost $1.29 on iTunes and Amazon offers the benefit of streaming through its Cloud Player. I’ve returned to the 200+ list of 69-cent songs several times in the last week…and usually find something new to buy. It’s…just…so…cheap!

Selling cheap MP3 singles helps Amazon on multiple levels. Obviously it helps the company combat Apple’s dominance in the digital music space. It also encourages consumers to use Cloud Player, which will aid Amazon’s upcoming Android products. The move also gets people (like me) to check for new 69-cent songs on a regular basis and if someone is on Amazon’s site then there’s always a chance that they’ll buy something in addition to or other than a cheap MP3.

Have you checked out Amazon’s MP3 cheapies? If so, what do you think of the selection? What do you think of the move in general? Is it a stroke of genius? Or will it fail to take market share away from Apple and/or bolster the company’s Android plans?