W♥M

News: Summer, Parton, Prince Tunes Named to National Recording Registry

The National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress is in their 10th anniversary. Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today (May 23rd), selected 25 sound recordings that will be preserved as cultural, artistic and/or historical treasures for generations to come.

Previous inductions included Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin'", and R.E.M.'s "Radio Free Europe".

The song selections for 2011 contains the usual significant recordings, such as the "first" recording by Thomas Edison in 1888 and the various voices of slaves in 1932-1941.

Of course, fans of modern pop culture and music should note the induction of Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors", Donna Summer's "I Feel Love"*, and Minneapolis' own Prince and the Revolution's "Purple Rain".

You can access the Library's resources at www.loc.gov, where you can also find out how to submit nominations for the 2012 registry.

Below is a list of all 25 song selections for 2011, you can read about each song's significance here.

1. Edison Talking Doll cylinder (1888) 2. “Come Down Ma Evenin’ Star,” Lillian Russell (1912) 3. “Ten Cents a Dance,” Ruth Etting (1930) 4. “Voices from the Days of Slavery,” Various (1932-1941) 5. “I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart,” Patsy Montana (1935) 6. “Fascinating Rhythm,” Sol Hoopii & his Novelty Five (1938) 7. “Artistry in Rhythm,” Stan Kenton & and his Orchestra (1943) 8. Debut performance with NY Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein (11/14/43) 9. Int'l Sweethearts of Rhythm… (1944-1946) 10. “The Indians for Indians Hour” (March 25, 1947) 11. “Hula Medley,” Gabby Pahinui (1947) 12. “I Can Hear It Now,” Fred W. Friendly & Edward R. Murrow (1948)

13. “Let’s Go Out to the Programs,” The Dixie Hummingbirds (1953) 14. “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” Fritz Reiner & Chicago Symphony… (1954, 1958) 15. “Bo Diddley” and “I’m a Man,” Bo Diddley (1955) 16. “Green Onions,” Booker T. & the M.G.’s (1962) 17. “Forever Changes,” Love (1967) 18. “Continental Harmony: Music of William Billings,” Gregg Smith Singers ('69) 19. “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Vince Guaraldi Trio (1970) 20. “Coat of Many Colors,” Dolly Parton (1971) 21. “Mothership Connection,” Parliament (1975) 22. Barton Hall concert the Grateful Dead (05/08/77) 23. “I Feel Love,” Donna Summer (1977) 24. “Rapper's Delight,” Sugarhill Gang (1979) 25. “Purple Rain,” Prince and the Revolution (1984)

* I wonder if this was added because of her recent death?

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

Dick Clark: America's oldest teenager

If you have not heard, Dick Clark passed away yesterday due to a heart attack at the age of 82. Clark was the host of the longest-running variety show, "American Bandstand" (from 1957-1987). In his later years, he was known for being the annual host for ABC's "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve".

Like many of you, I grew up watching Clark on "American Bandstand" and just took for granted that he will be there to welcome in the new year (although since 2009, Ryan Seacrest took over as host).

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

News: The Monkees' Davy Jones dead at 66

Theme from the Monkees Read More The Monkees Trivia: Rodney Bingenheimer , in the 60s, was best known as the stand-in for Davy Jones of the Monkees.

Not much to add, other than what started out as simply a Beatles knock-off band, The Monkees have certainly stood on their own, and not on the shoulders of the giant. What people liked about The Monkees was that they weren't going to take themselves too seriously, and you felt like you could hang out with these guys.

There are numerous breaking news reporting on Davy Jones' death, but everyone seem to point to TMZ as the source. They also broke Michael Jackson's death, which, at the time, I had never heard of TMZ.

I leave you with US Magazine's coverage:

Update: The Monkees' Davy Jones Dead at 66

February 29, 2012 AT 1:05PM By Justin Ravitz

He was a daydream believer.

Davy Jones, the lead singer of beloved TV singing group The Monkees, died Wednesday at age 66, his rep confirms to Us Weekly.  "He passed away in his home in Indiantown, Florida this morning, of a heart attack," the rep said in a statement. (TMZ first broke the story.)

The British 1960s pop idol passed away at Martin Memorial Hospital in Stuart, Florida, an official confirmed to the site. The circumstances of his death are not yet known.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

News: Sleigh Bells to premiere new songs on Saturday Night Live

I don’t know when, but a few years ago, this boy-girl duo made it big time - maybe it was a famous artist covered one of their songs. Anyway, they are going to be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live on February 18th (airing on NBC at 11:30pm EST).

The two songs they will debut are “Comeback Kid” and “End of the Line”, both off their soon-to-be-released album, Reign of Terror (out on February 21st on Mom+Pop Music).

If that wasn’t enough, Sleigh Bells will be the cover star to Spin Magazine March/April edition - hits newsstands on February 28th.

They are currently on tour:

2/9/12 Jacksonville, FL @ Freebird Live *
2/10/12 Orlando, FL @ Firestone *
2/11/12 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
2/14/12 Miami, FL @ Grand Central *
2/17/12 New York, NY @ Terminal 5 +
2/21/12 Los Angeles, CA @ Music Box +
2/23/12 San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom +
2/24/12 Seattle, WA @ Showbox at Market +
3/26/12 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix
3/27/12 Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club

* With Diplo and Liturgy
+ With Black Bananas (Jennifer Herrema from RTX)

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

News: Metallica destroys the internet on February 7th, 2012

Your guess is as good as mine, apparently it's a live concert event-thing. Could this possibly have anything to do with their recent BFF Lou Reed as Lou Reed and Metallica?

I guess you just have to come back on Tuesday on metallica.com to find out. 11am? Everyone knows rockstars don't get up until noon....

(Click on above image to see the video)

UPDATE: Apparently it's some sort of Metallica Music Festival. More details at their press release on news.weheartmusic.com. Excerpt below:

Metallica, in conjunction with friends C3 Presents, today announced the creation of Orion Music + More, a new annual music, arts, and lifestyle festival founded and headlined by the band, a natural progression for a band that has headlined legendary festivals around the world for years. Orion Music + More will take place June 23-24 at Bader Field in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

"We've had the idea of doing our own lifestyle festival with lots of diverse music and fun and games for years," said Lars Ulrich. "Finally this year all the practical ducks lined up in a row, and we are beyond psyched to bring Orion to our fans, friends and the curious. After the most incredible of weeks ever in December 2011 celebrating our 30th anniversary at the Fillmore in San Francisco, CA, bringing the spirit of that week, the looseness of that week, the possibilities of that week, the fan interactive elements of that week, and the (fill in your own blank here) of that week to a festival setting is so exciting we can hardly contain ourselves."

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

Currents vs Flipboard vs Pulse. FIGHT!

Looking for an RSS reader for the iPad? Perhaps one of these will work for you. While all of these are functional, personally, the winner for me is Currents because I need to access the latest feeds offline. But if you have unlimited 3G access, then go crazy! Please add our RSS or Atom RSS.

>>>

Free Category: News Released: Dec 08, 2011 Version: 1.0.0.938 Size: 9.3 MB Seller: Google Mobile © 2011 Google, Inc

GOOGLE CURRENTS
google.com/producer/currents

I've been playing around with Google's Currents iPad app. This just came out a few days ago and is their answer to Flipboard (see my thoughts on Flipboard for the iPad below).

So my thoughts on Currents is that I believe that Google just is NOT GOOD at design. The 'newspaper' layout is alright, but I wish I had more control over its setting - for instance, set the font to a different size.

Links to youtube videos will automatically show up in the article, the article is a folded in the middle layout (wish maybe there was a light line to separate to the two side, because as a creature of habit, I will read left to right, despite the break).

I think eventually, Currents will become "good enough" for me to ditch paying for a subscription to the Daily. At the moment, paying $60 a year for a daily newspaper/magazine is worth it for what I need it to do for me (keeping me updated on the events of the day on my breaks).

As for the Currents, I will say that it's easy to setup and add my own RSS. I added W♥M right away and that worked out just fine.

Good: Offline is automatic and downloads are done in the background. Syncing up images takes longer to download, but it's worth it when you're in an offline area.

Bad: Requires a Google login. Sure, we all have a google account, so the sting isn't that painful (plus your library will sync across platform, so if you're using Currents on Android, it will remember what you're reading). Also, it crashes a lot. Also, it's UGLY.

Free Category: News Released: Dec 08, 2011 Version: 1.7.1 Size: 8.6 MB Seller: Flipboard, Inc. © 2010-2011 Flipboard Inc.

FLIPBOARD
flipboard.com

People are calling this the "social magazine" and it finally came out on the iPhone and iPod Touch this month. Also rolled out is an updated version to their iPad edition.

What I immediately like is that it looks good. Their "partners" have custom RSS and setup, making it look even better and prettier on the iPad.

Adding W♥M's RSS is a bit of a hassle, it found our twitter account right away, but finding the typepad website was a no-go. I had to manually type in the full address.

Offline access can be done via instapaper or Read it Later, but this requires you to open up the article and flagging it to read later. This is cumbersome, why isn't there a "download all" option?

Good: It looks pretty, oh so pretty. It's fast. They have an eye for design, unlike Google.

Bad: Offline reading is annoying, it requires an external additional login and you have to manually find articles to flag for offline.

Free Category: News Updated: Oct 21, 2011 Version: 2.6 Size: 5.2 MB Seller: Alphonso Labs Inc © 2011 Alphonso Labs Inc.

PULSE
pulse.me

Pulse kind of disappeared in the background, despite having won the Apple Design Award for 2011.

Their goal is to make news reading "fun and engaging", which, unfortunately means "social", which equals: you need a Facebook account. Sure, most of us have a FB account, but I'm not looking to share what I have read, I have spent too much time deleting social news in my timeline. So, yeah, I don't trust and I don't use any FB plugin whenever it's offered.

While they want you to create a login for a ".me" account, I found that I can still click on 'save' without having to register.

Good: Gridlike design, good use of images. Retains original RSS format, which is a plus for me (as it does not randomly remove tables and CSS).

Bad: Relies too much on images, feeds without images looks AWFUL. Does not offer a "newspaper" layout. Like Flipboard, you need to open a page individual for offline saving, no "download all" option.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

News: Mazzy Star announces new single

Discography [1990] She Hangs Brightly [1993] So Tonight That I Might See [1996] Among My Swan Read More Mazzy Star Mazzy Star is a Dreampop band from California. Their biggest hit song is called "Fade into You" from 1993, which is when I first heard of them.

It's hard to believe, but Mazzy Star is back.

Their new single, "Common Burn" and "Lay Myself Down" is available from digital retailer as a pre-order, it officially comes out October 31^st via their own record label, Rhymes Of An Hour Records.

If you can't wait to pick up the limited 7" vinyl (to be released soon), you can pick up the two songs as singles via Amazon.com. You can also preview the b-side on Pitchfork.

Expect a brand new album in 2012. Their last official album was in 1996 with the release of Among My Swan.

Hope Sandoval: She never smiles

vu () ♥ www.hopesandoval.com

News: Today in Death

Sorry for the bleak title, but today's theme is about death.

SONIC DEATH:

Thanks to Cristina who passed this along, but the big shocker comes from Huff Po reporting that Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon have separated after being married for twenty-seven years.

The news is a bit of a shock to me, I first came to Sonic Youth with Goo and Dirty and continued to follow the band (even though they were a wee bit too experimental and weird sometime for my music taste).

Just out of pure speculation, I am assuming this also spells the death of Sonic Youth, because, at least to me, Sonic Youth would not be the same without both Gordon and Moore.

NEEDLE OF DEATH:

Speaking of death, influential folk music, Bert Jansch, passed away earlier this week (October 5th). He was 67. It is not made clear what he had died of, but since he had both heart and lung surgeries (2005 and 2009 respectively), I would hazard a guess that he was in poor health.

Johnny Marr, of the legendary The Smiths, is quoted as saying how Jansch was "one of the most influential and intriguing musicians to have come out of the British music scene".

Jansch influenced a ton of musicians, including Paul Simon, Donovan, Neil Young, Bernard Butler (Suede), Graham Coxon (Blur), and recently Fleet Foxes and Marco Mahler.

RE-ISSUE, RE-PACKAGE, RE-PACKAGE:

Speaking of Johnny Marr, one of the best Smiths song is called "Paint a Vulgar Picture", which is about a death of a singer and the "sycophantic slags" executives are celebrating and scheming to release a best-of, most-of release.

The good news is that I just read that Marr remastered the entire Smiths catalog called Smiths Complete at a reasonable price ($55), that's less than if you bought each Smiths album individually. However, for the true collectors, you may want to splash out for the vinyl release (which is about $190).

Even though I already own all the albums (in both 12" and CD), I will actually buy this new release, just because I want to hear the new remastered sound. I've always thought that their first album's audio production was completely terrible, so I'm hoping to fall in love with it on the new re-release.

Read the two-page article:

DEAD LEAF ECHO:

As with previous articles this week, we're spotlighting a CMJ band. And this one fits the bill: Dead Leaf Echo.

The band just finished their debut album, scheduled for early 2012. Look for their lead-single "Kingmaker" on 7" vinyl this fall on Custom Made Music.

More details on www.deadleafechonyc.com. Here is their CMJ shows, plus other dates:

CMJ- Saturday Oct. 22nd Vaudeville Park 7PM
Perfect Prescription- Shea Stadium/Brooklyn Thursday Oct. 27th w/The Morning After Girls
Washington DC. Gold Leaf Studios- Saturday Nov. 5th

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ? twitter.com/weheartmusic

Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

Jonathan Coulton and his Artificial Heart

Good Morning Tucson

Jonathan Coulton is back! Well, technically, he was never gone. The computer programmer Code Monkey will be showing off his Artificial Heart, to be release November 8^th. We know him as the "Thing A Week" guy, but everyone else seem to know him as the "Still Alive" guy (Portals). We love him. Anyway, however you've come across this guy, you'll be glad to know that he's currently on tour with the two John's in their band, They Might Be Giants.

I do have an advance Artificial Heart, which I've been listening to ... it sounds very pop, with a hint of TMBG pop-influence (this is probably because John F is the producer).

Tour dates:

09/17: Detroit, MI @ Majestic Theatre #
09/18: Grand Rapids, MI @ Intersection #
09/20: Cincinnati, OH @ Southgate House #
09/22: Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue #
09/23: Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre #
09/24: St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant #
09/25: Tulsa, OK @ Cain's Ballroom #
09/27: Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom #
09/28: Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel #
09/29: Richmond, VA @ The National #
09/30: Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts #
10/1: Boston, MA @ Berklee Performance Center, (2 shows, 6:30pm & 9pm)#
10/28: Milwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theatre#
10/29: Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue#
10/30: Iowa City, IA @ Englert Theatre#
11/1: Omaha, NE @ Slowdown#
11/2: Kansas City, MO @ Beaumont Club#
11/3: Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theatre#
11/04: Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot #
11/05: Boise, ID @ Knitting Factory #
11/06: Spokane, WA @ Knitting Factory #
11/08: Vancouver, BC @ Venue #
11/09: Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo #
11/10: Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom #
11/11: Arcata, CA @ Van Duzer Theatre #
11/12: San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore #
11/13: San Francisco, CA @ Fillmore #
11/16: Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues #
11/17: Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up Tavern #

# = w/ They Might Be Giants

vu () ♥ jonathancoulton.com