From the monthly archives:

August 2010

Barren Earth Begins Its First US Tour As Part of “The Finnish Metal Tour 2″ This Winter

August 19, 2010

Finland’s emerging prog/death metal supergroup, Barren Earth, will join their countrymen Finntroll, Ensiferum and Rotten Sound on “The Finnish Metal Tour 2″ during January and February 2011. This marks the Barren Earth’s first United States tour.  The band features members of Moonsorrow, Swallow The Sun, and Kreator. 2010 was a successful year for Barren Earth, [...]

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Album review: Sting’s Symphonicities

August 18, 2010

Symphonicities is billed as 12 Sting songs which have not simply been rearranged but fully reimagined in orchestral terms. Some rock music turns into saccharine elevator music when arranged for an orchestra. However, that is not the case with this album. Sting’s songs and voice fit organically with the arrangement, and many of the songs [...]

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24 Albums We Love Hearing Over and Over Again

August 17, 2010

Co-written with Viola da Voce. The other night, we were driving on our way to go out to dinner. Viola had the album Damnation by Opeth playing in the car. The CD reached its last track and then restarted. Viola said that she didn’t mind listening to the album again, even though she had just [...]

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Smithsonian Channel Explores The Influence of the Electric Guitar

August 14, 2010

I was quite surprised when I received information about a Smithsonian Channel in my inbox.  That is because the channel isn’t available everywhere yet…ahem…Comcast.   With 19 museums, 9 international research centers and over a 168 million artifacts, it shouldn’t be a surprise.  The amount of information stored in the underbelly of each museum is unbelievable. [...]

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A Denver McDonald’s Uses Classical Music to Scare Away Teenagers? Really?

August 13, 2010

Classical music is yet again being used as a sonic weapon. I recently wrote a post about a Canadian library which was using classical music to prevent teens from loitering at its front entrance. Now, it looks like McDonald’s is jumping on the acoustic bandwagon. According to Alexis Madrigal’s post on The Atlantic, he came [...]

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Tickets Are Now on Sale for MusicNow, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Critically Acclaimed New-Music Series

August 12, 2010

Tickets are now available for MusicNOW, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s new-music series, which offers innovative works by some of today’s most prominent composers and young artists.  The concerts are programmed and hosted by Mead Composers-in-Residence Mason Bates (b. 1977) and Anna Clyne (b. 1980) with MusicNOW Principal Conductor Cliff Colnot. The music is performed by [...]

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Kenny Wayne Shepherd to release Live In Chicago on September 28

August 11, 2010

Kenny Wayne Shepherd has made quite a name for himself since releasing his first album, Ledbetter Heights, at the age of 16.  Now, a seasoned veteran and all-out guitar hero, Shepherd is preparing to release a live album, Live In Chicago, on September 28 on Roadrunner/Loud & Proud Records. Recorded in Chicago’s House of Blues [...]

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Rock Violin Duo The Dueling Fiddlers Teaches Violinists to Play Guns ‘n Roses’s “Sweet Child O’ Mine” in the Rockin’ Fiddle Challenge

August 10, 2010

The Dueling Fiddlers (Adam DeGraff, violin and Russell Fallstad, violin/viola) play many styles of music including classical, rock, pop, and blues. Their video of AC/DC’s “Back in Black” has received almost 30,000 views on YouTube. Now, The Dueling Fiddlers (TDF) is presenting The Rockin’ Fiddle Challenge, an educational contest which shows violinists how to rock [...]

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Don’t Miss the Last Two Concerts in Millennium Park’s Dusk Variations Series August 16 and 23rd

August 9, 2010

For the second season, Millennium Park is hosting the popular Dusk Variations Series in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion. These concerts explore the intersection of classical and pop genres and their coexistence with elements of classical music, electronic, folk, pop, and rock. The first two concerts included music by Portland Cello Project (August 2) and Victoire [...]

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Iron Maiden Launches New Online Game “The Final Frontier”

August 6, 2010

On August 3, Iron Maiden launched a brand-new online game, The Final Frontier, which uses the deep space concept of their upcoming album (to be released on August 16) of the same name. In a dodge-and-fight challenge set over five levels, space pirates destroy the band’s cargo ship, scattering equipment across the galaxy. Players must [...]

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