Music Industry News

Ben Webster's Centenary

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
April 1, 2009

Since Rifftides began nearly four years ago, I have posted frequently about Ben Webster - but not frequently enough. That would be impossible. Few improvising artists have achieved Webster's level of supremacy at speaking their pieces with eloquence and brevity. I would not suggest that eloquence has fled; it is possible to be eloquent at length. But in the post-Coltrane age of solos as tests of endurance it may be unnecessary to point out that succinctness is not one of ...

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"The Death of the CD-Release Complex"

Source: HypeBot
April 1, 2009

Kyle Bylin, Associate Editor

Introduction

In his seminal release Purple Cow, marketer Seth Godin declared, “The Death of the TV-Industrial Complex." Explaining that, over the past fifty years ever-growing companies had built huge economic engines around the idea of a system that's going away, because the symbiotic relationship between consumer demand and TV advertising could no longer be relied upon to churn out seemingly endless profits. This process of spreading ideas through interrupting people with ads to ...

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Musicians Plead for Increased Arts Funding

Source: Michael Ricci
April 1, 2009

Musicians Linda Ronstadt, Josh Groban and Wynton Marsalis recall their experiences with music before a House panel in hopes of raising the budget for the National Endowment for the Arts to $200 million.

A woman held a BlackBerry over the crowd surrounding Linda Ronstadt to get a shot of the onetime queen of country rock. Someone else thrust an album insert and pen at Josh Groban. “Just one more photo, please," followed jazz musician Wynton Marsalis out of the room. ...

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How Song, Dance and Movies Bailed Us out of the Depression

Source: Michael Ricci
April 1, 2009

Popular culture provided the optimism and energy that helped the country get moving. We may need that again.

Many were surprised that the final stimulus legislation signed by President Obama preserved a $50-million increase in arts funding that had been the subject of a heated battle in Congress. Though it amounted to only a tiny fraction of the measure's total cost, it had become the target of conservatives, many of whom consider the arts frivolous, elitist and, frankly, left-wing. They ...

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Jimi Hendrix Childhood Home Torn Down

Source: All About Jazz
April 1, 2009

Despite an eight-year, $100,000-plus effort by a Seattle real-estate investor, the house where Jimi Hendrix lived as a child in Seattle is gone.

A home where Jimi Hendrix lived was moved to Hi-Land Mobile Manor in Renton by its owner, Pete Sikov. Sikov complied with an order to tear down the house. It's gone, by order of the city of Renton.

The demolition crew has been working at a fast pace, and the tiny, 900-square-foot house where Jimi Hendrix lived ...

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Jazz Planners Find Success in Change

Source: Michael Ricci
March 31, 2009

Marty Ashby is guiding MCG Jazz the way smart jazz club owners run their places. Give people good material, and they show up. There. It's easy. His work and that of Janis Burley Wilson at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust show that route to success is not hard to understand. Ashby, this year, gave the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild program some twists in its 22-year-old program. The executive producer of MCG Jazz provided some music that was a little edgy for some ...

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Liza Lee Singer and Songwriter Signs with Art of Life Records

Source: Michael Ricci
March 31, 2009

Art of Life Records is signing its newest artist, American vocalist and songwriter Liza Lee.

Lee has been described as “An important and inimitable voice of the 21st Century.” Art of Life will re-release her sophomore album Anima on the Art of Life Label in 2009. The album combines Lee’s vocals in duo and ensemble settings.

Liza has assembled a remarkable group of musicians for the album, some of which include Bruce Barth, David Cook, Art Hirahara, Michael Kanan (Piano), ...

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Eiffel Tower Gets a Makeover at 120

Source: Michael Ricci
March 31, 2009

120th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower

The iconic Eiffel Tower celebrated its 120th anniversary Tuesday. It was inaugurated at the World's Fair in Paris in 1889 and, until 1929, was the tallest building in the world. It remains the tallest building in the city.

World famous now, the Eiffel Tower was a breath-taking novelty in March 31, 1889, when it was the centerpiece of the World's Fair in Paris. Engineer Gustave Eiffel constructed the Eiffel Tower to be the entrance ...

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