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W♥M121: Soul Revival

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This is part two of Lara's epic W♥M Radio appearance.

I was originally going to include a review of Mitch Ryder's Devils & Blue Dresses: My Wild Ride as a Rock and Roll Legend book along with the podcast, but seeing as the book was just released last Tuesday (according to amazon.com) and my lack of time on my schedule this week, I've decided to just push this on the front page. I will put up a review for the book later. The audio recording is a first impression and thoughts on the book.

Details of the book:

DEVILS & BLUE DRESSES
My Wild Ride as a Rock and Roll Legend
By Mitch Ryder
Publisher: Cool Titles
Publication Date: December 2011
Price: $25.95/hardcover; CD included
ISBN: 978-1-935270-01-0

The second half of the show is Lara's music pick of The Alabama Shakes and why she loves them. Song of the show is "You Ain't Alone", which was taken from their youtube, so apologies for the poor audio. Generally I'm sent the audio source, but the internet gods were not with Lara.

UPDATE: Added Alabama Shakes tour dates.

Dec 13 The MOTR Pub Cincinnati, OH Dec 14 Radio Radio Indianapolis, IN Dec 15 The Hideout Chicago, IL Dec 17 S.P.A.C.E. Evanston, IL Dec 18 Old Rock House St Louis, MO Dec 29 Orange Peel Social Aid Asheville, NC Dec 31 9:30 Club Washington, DC Jan 13 40 Watt Athens, GA Jan 19 One Eyed Jacks New Orleans, LA Jan 20 Continental Club Houston, TX Jan 21 Continental Club Austin, TX

Jan 24 Belly Up Solana Beach, CA Jan 25 Troubadour w/ Dry The River Los Angeles, CA Jan 26 Independent w/ Dry The River San Francisco, CA Jan 28 Doug Fir Portland, OR Jan 29 Media Club Vancouver, Canada Jan 31 Crocodile Club Seattle, WA Feb 02 The State Room Salt Lake City, UT Feb 04 Fox Theater Boulder, CO Feb 22 Boston Arms London, United Kingdom Feb 23 Boston Arms London, United Kingdom Feb 24 Boston Arms London, United Kingdom

BONUS: Other 'modern' soul bands, Sharon Jones and Lady Dottie finish up the rest of the show. And to 'book end' the show is a rather off-topic discussion on Harry Potter.

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Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on podomatic.com

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

Harry Potter and the Phenomenon of Wizard Rock

Hedwig's Theme

Today, the latest installment in the Harry Potter film series was released. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth film based on the popular book series by J.K. Rowling. So, it's only fitting that I post some Harry Potter related music. To kick this post off is the theme song. Arranged by award-winning and legendary composer John Williams, "Hedwig's Theme" was originally featured on the soundtrack to The Sorcerer's Stone (otherwise known as The Philosopher's Stone). It's since been featured in every Harry Potter film to date including The Goblet of Fire by Patrick Doyle and The Order of the Phoenix by Nicholas Hooper. Two teenagers who go by the name of Advanced Potion-Making created a rock version paying homage to John Williams and the series.

Lumos (Hedwig's Theme)

Williams was supposed to compose the soundtrack to The Goblet of Fire, but due to scheduling conflicts, he was not able to. Why? Well, he was working on a couple of small films that you might have heard of called Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Memoirs of a Geisha, and War of the Worlds. He provided the soundtracks to the first three films in the series, but for the second, The Chamber of Secrets, fellow composer William Ross helped to finish it and received adaptation credits. The Goblet of Fire was done by Patrick Doyle who also scored Eragon while The Order of the Phoenix was by Nicholas Hooper who scored The Girl in the Café. He's also rumored to be the composer of The Half-Blood Prince.


Now for some Wizard Rock! What is Wizard Rock? Well, basically artists create music all based on the Harry Potter franchise. It could be anything from Harry himself to some reference to potions or magic, as long as it has to do with the series. It's all for the love of music and reading. Now, there are way too many bands to post on here so I chose the ones I enjoyed the most. Besides, many of the Wizard Rock musicians only have one song in their repertoire. The below musicians have created more than one song and have been around for quite some time.

This Book Is So Awesome

The Wrath of Hermione

Harry and the Potters
The most popular of the Wizard Rock musicians and the guys that started it all are Harry and the Potters. They're two brothers named Paul and Joe DeGeorge who started the band in 2002. Joe planned a rock show in his backyard, but all the bands cancelled. So he grabbed his brother, wrote some songs, and played them for a couple of people. "This Book Is So Awesome" is only 30 seconds in length, so I also posted another song of theirs', "The Wrath of Hermione", which is unreleased.
Website | Virb | MySpace | DL "Book" | DL "Hermione"

In Which I Kick Harry Potter In the Face

Draco and the Malfoys
Draco and the Malfoys are two brothers, Brian Ross and Bradley Mehlenbacher who write songs from the perspective of Harry Potter's nemesis/adversary, Draco Malfoy. Not much info besides that, well except that they're from Rhode Island and they'll be touring the states and parts of Canada with Harry and the Potters until mid-August. But what else do you need to know?
Website | MySpace

I'm Ron Weasley

Ron and the Weasleys
Ron and the Weasleys, you can guess, are based on Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley. They're two brothers (yes, again) and each represent Ron at a different age. John represents "Ron" at year 3 and Mike represents "Ronald" at year 7. They started the band after booking a show for fellow Wizard Rockers, Harry and the Potters. After that show, other Wizard Rock bands started appearing and they felt the need to represent Ron Weasley.
MySpace

Not Your Messenger

The Hermione Crookshanks Experience
EDIT: Thanks to Lauren from The Moaning Myrtles for pointing out that there IS a band (well two, but only one has music online) called Hermione and the Grangers. Well, here's a "band" based on her name called The Hermione Crookshanks Experience from California. It's a one-girl band; she plays guitar, bass, drum machine, keyboards, sings vocals and records on a MacBook.
MySpace

And Then I Died

The Moaning Myrtles
This girl-due based their name on the ghostly girl in the bathroom that does the weird whiny moaning, which could get annoying, but their music isn't. Just like many other Wizard Rock bands, they too were inspired by Harry and the Potters to create a band based on the series. And since Harry Potter fans seem to have this whole comradership, Alex Carpenter from The Remus Lupins provided some acoustic guitar on The Moaning Myrtles album.

Website | MySpace

Looking For Trouble

The Remus Lupins
Although the name is plural, it's actually one guy, Alex Carpenter. Here's the description from his site: "The Remus Lupins began when Alex Carpenter looked at his bookshelf and held his guitar in his hand. A sudden lightning bolt of creativity jumped into his fingers and he began to play, and to write songs about Harry Potter. Since then, he hasn't been able to shake the habit and keeps writing them." He's touring this summer with two other guys, though they're more of a backing band.

Website | MySpace

Your Flying Car

The Whomping Willows
The Whomping Williows is plural, but once again is only one person, Matt Maggiacomo. He also runs a "record label" called Cheap Rent. A little description... "We form friendships with bands and we do our best to help them release and promote their music. We also encourage our bands to maintain DIY ethics so they never feel the need to sign with a corporate record label." Most of the bands on Cheap Rent are Wizard Rock bands.

MySpace | Cheap Rent

Concerning the Dementors...

The Mudbloods
The Mudbloods are five guys from Texas who took their name from the derogatory term that describes a muggle-born wizard. Draco uses the term as an insult to Hermione since she is one. Much like the other Wizard Rock bands, The Mudbloods tend to play in uniform, sporting the sweater over a buttoned-shirt with tie look. Sorry, they didn't provide much info on their site.
MySpace

If you're curious about this whole Wizard Rock phenomenon and want to delve deeper into the enchanted maze, there are a couple of websites that have much more information and lists bands that currently either have music already or are just starting out.

Wizard Rock - "Your source for the latest in Wizard Rock"
Real Wizard Rock - "Lyrics for your favorite Wizard Rock Bands"
Wizrocklopedia - They "aim to record the past, present, and future of all things related to wizard rock and hope to shed more light on the movement itself."
Wizard Rockumentary - "The Wizard Rockumentary is an independent feature length documentary exploring Harry Potter fandom, the Wizard Rock community, and the goals of these musicians to promote literacy."

So, check those sites out and watch the film when you can. The IMAX version supposedly has some crazy 3-D ending. And the last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, comes out July 21. 

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Jason // Warner Bros. | The Order of the Phoenix | Wikipedia