Music Industry News

Gifter-in-Chief Michelle Obama Gives Carla Bruni a Guitar

Source: All About Jazz
April 5, 2009

Much has been said about the Obamas gift giving recently. The Queens Ipod, the DVDs given to Gordon Brown after his visit to the White House.

But Michelle Obama may have struck the right cord (((that's “chord"))) with her gift to her newest friend, Carla Bruni -Sarkozy.

After meeting the wife of French President Sarkozy, Mrs. Obama gave Carla Bruni an acoustic Gibson guitar. (((I wonder if it was strung and tuned. By a really hip, musical Secret Service guy.))) ...

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Carlos Santana Wants Obama to Legalize Pot

Source: All About Jazz
April 4, 2009

Guitar legend says money for teachers, education would transform country

President Barack Obama brushed off a question about legalizing marijuana in his online town hall last month, but guitar god Carlos Santana says he wishes he would seriously consider it.

“Legalize marijuana and take all that money and invest it in teachers and in education,” Santana said in an interview this week. “You will see a transformation in America.”

During his online town hall on March 26, Obama fielded a ...

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Ex-Beatle Harrison to Get Hollywood Star

Source: All About Jazz
April 4, 2009

Paul McCartney may have a knighthood, but it’s George Harrison who is receiving the royal treatment from the Hollywood Walk of Fame this month.

Harrison will receive a star on the fabled walk on April 14, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Friday. His widow, Olivia Harrison, and his son, Dhani, are expected to attend the unveiling.

Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001, already shares a Walk of Fame star with all four of the Beatles, but only he ...

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3 Get Life Terms in South African Singer's Killing

Source: All About Jazz
April 3, 2009

Three men convicted of murdering an internationally known South African reggae star in a botched carjacking were sentenced by a judge to life in prison.

Lucky Dube's 2007 killing drew worldwide attention to crime in South Africa, which has one of the world's highest murder rates. The 43-year-old singer was gunned down in his car in front of his children in suburban Johannesburg.

“The accused showed no mercy for the deceased," Judge Seun Moshidi said. “It is difficult for the ...

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1969: Quincy Jones Builds Studio

Source: All About Jazz
April 2, 2009

Feb. 10, 1969 GOOD MORNING: Quincy Jones and Ray Brown are building a music-recording studio. Jones explains it will not only be helpful in today's scene where “The film media and pop music are converging.

We also need a place to experiment" ... Jones requires his own studio, judging by the sked: He just completed “Mackenna's Gold" and “Italian Job" scores overseas, is here noting his fourth Sidney Poitier film, “Lost Man" ("Love of Ivy," “Heat of the ...

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Fans Inundate Natalie Cole with Kidney Offers

Source: All About Jazz
April 2, 2009

Natalie Cole's fans want to give her a kidney. Singer has hepatitis C, and could be on dialysis for rest of her life.

The 59-year-old singer told Larry King on Tuesday that she was diagnosed with kidney failure, and while she was still on his CNN show, dozens of viewers wrote in offering to be tested as possible donors.

Without a donor kidney, Cole says she will be on dialysis for the rest of her life.

The daughter ...

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Hendrix Home Tape for Sale, Shows Softer Side

Source: All About Jazz
April 2, 2009

Recording features 14 tracks, including cover of Dylan song Tears of Rage.

A home recording by Jimi Hendrix, which its owners said showed the 1960s rock icons softer side, will be auctioned next month and is expected to fetch between $70,000 and $140,000.

According to co-owner Mark Sutherland, the tape was recorded by Hendrix in New York in 1968 and then taken to Britain.

Carl Niekirk worked in a photography studio below Hendrixs central London residence where, because there was ...

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Why Music

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
April 1, 2009

The text of a remarkable address is making its way around the internet through the part of the world in which music matters, which is everywhere. Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of the Boston Conservatory's music division, greeted the parents of incoming freshman students. He made the speech in the fall of 2004, but it has taken on new life lately, because of passages like this: