If you were 16 when this came out ..
it's your definition of ..
Spontaneous Combustion !!
JAFO's NEWS - the FUN in FunKo
POP! Exclusives for Entertainment Earth
Showing posts with label rock n roll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rock n roll. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
NEWS that ROCKS - BILLY JOEL IS “MOVING IN” TO THE GARDEN
“Since his first show in 1978, Billy has performed 46 shows at Madison Square Garden, including an unprecedented 12 consecutive sold-out shows that have earned Billy a spot among the Garden greats with a banner raised in his honor. Today, we take that relationship even further and are extremely honored to have Billy as The Garden’s first music franchise,” said James L. Dolan, executive chairman, The Madison Square Garden Company. “This new partnership will ensure that someone who has been such an important figure in our past, will also be a major part of our future. We welcome Billy home and look forward to many unforgettable nights of music at the Garden.”
“Today’s announcement that Billy Joel is joining the Madison Square Garden family as their first music franchise is truly a momentous occasion,” said Andrew M. Cuomo, Governor of New York. “It is particularly fitting that these two great icons are coming together to make entertainment history right here in New York. I offer my congratulations to Billy Joel and Madison Square Garden and the millions of fans worldwide who will benefit from this collaboration for years to come.”
“Performing at Madison Square Garden is a thrilling experience. I’ve played different venues all over the world, but there’s no place like coming home to The Garden. Since my first show in 1978, I’ve always looked forward to the energy of the crowd. I’m honored to be joining the Madison Square Garden family and look forward to taking the stage of the newly transformed Garden to create many more memorable nights.”
Over its 130-year history, Madison Square Garden has become known as the preeminent venue for legendary artists and athletes. Billy Joel’s first concert at The Garden was held on December 14, 1978 and, since then, he has performed an astounding 46 concerts at the Arena. In 2006, with 12-consecutive performances, Billy Joel broke the Garden’s record for “Longest Run of a Single Artist.” To commemorate this historical moment, a banner featuring “Joel – 12” was raised to The Garden rafters, and now hangs alongside other Garden legends such as Mark Messier, Rod Gilbert, Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Bill Bradley and Willis Reed.
Billy Joel is one of the highest grossing touring artists in the world. Having sold more than 150 million records over the past quarter century, Billy Joel ranks as one of most popular recording artists and respected entertainers in history. Throughout the years, Joel's songs have acted as personal and cultural touchstones for millions of people, mirroring his own goal of writing songs that "meant something during the time in which I lived ... and transcended that time.” The singer/songwriter/composer is the sixth best-selling recording artist of all time and the third best-selling solo artist.
In December, Billy Joel will receive The Kennedy Center Honor, one of the United States' top cultural awards. New York’s quintessential son performed at the historic 12.12.12 The Concert For Sandy Relief, joining other music greats to raise awareness and money to help those affected by Hurricane Sandy. Billy Joel was honored by Steinway & Sons with a painted portrait that hangs in Steinway Hall in Manhattan, making him the first non-classical pianist to be immortalized in the collection. He played to more than 110,000 fans when he performed the final concerts at Shea Stadium, featured in the 2010 documentary film "The Last Play At Shea.”
Billy Joel has received six GRAMMY® Awards, including the prestigious Grammy Legend Award. He has been inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has received numerous industry awards. His music has also served as the inspiration and score for the hit Tony Award-winning Broadway play “Movin’ Out.”
MSG now offers a rich visual history of Billy Joel and his many Garden performances through a scrollable timeline, featuring archival images, video insights from Billy, sharable images and lyrics, plus direct links for ticketing. Visit billyjoelmsg.com for more information. Join the conversation with #BillyJoelMSG.
Tickets for the May 9, 2014 Billy Joel performance at Madison Square Garden will be available to Citi cardmembers during an exclusive presale from Wednesday, December 4 at 10am through Friday, December 6 at 10pm. Tickets will then be available for purchase by the general public beginning at 10am on Saturday, December 7 via ticketmaster.com and by calling 800.745.3000. Prices range from $64.50 to $124.50. The remaining shows will be announced later this year. Tickets will also available at the Madison Square Garden Event box office on Sunday, December 8, 2014. The concerts are being promoted by MSG Entertainment in association with AEG and Q104.3 as a media partner.
About The Madison Square Garden Company
The Madison Square Garden Company is a fully integrated sports, media and entertainment business. The Company is comprised of three business segments: MSG Sports, MSG Media and MSG Entertainment, which are strategically aligned to work together to drive the Company's overall business, which is built on a foundation of iconic venues and compelling content that the Company creates, produces, presents and/or distributes through its programming networks and other media assets. MSG Sports owns and operates the following sports franchises: the New York Knicks (NBA), the New York Rangers (NHL), the New York Liberty (WNBA), and the Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL). MSG Sports also features the presentation of a wide variety of live sporting events including professional boxing, college basketball, bull riding and tennis. MSG Media is a leader in production and content development for multiple distribution platforms, including content originating from the Company’s venues. MSG Media’s television networks consist of regional sports networks, MSG Network and MSG+, collectively referred to as MSG Networks; and Fuse, a national television network dedicated to music. MSG Networks also include high-definition channels, MSG HD and MSG+ HD, and Fuse includes its high-definition channel, Fuse HD. MSG Entertainment is one of the country's leaders in live entertainment. MSG Entertainment creates, produces and/or presents a variety of live productions, including the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Radio City Rockettes. MSG Entertainment also presents or hosts other live entertainment events such as concerts, family shows and special events in the Company’s diverse collection of venues. These venues consist of Madison Square Garden, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre, the Forum in Inglewood, CA, The Chicago Theatre, and the Wang Theatre in Boston, MA. More information is available at www.themadisonsquaregardencompany.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Rock NEWS - I Wanna (still) Rock n Roll All Night .. & Party Everyday !!
THIS DAY IN KISSTORY 1973
www.KISSONLINE.com
On this day in KISStory - Forty years ago today, on January 30, 1973, KISS performed their very first concert at Popcorn (The Coventry) in Queens, NY. The band performed 2 sets at the club that night for a crowd of under 10 people.
Gene recalls how that show came about:
1973 was the beginning.
Wicked Lester had just finished its album for EPIC RECORDS. There were five members in the band, including Paul and myself. Though we had a real recording contract with a major label, and though we had finished an entire album, we were depressed. It just wasn't what we had envisioned.
So, we started again. We tried firing the other three guys in Wicked Lester, but some wouldn't leave. So, we quit.
We started again with a vision. 'Let's put together the band we never saw on stage.'
We got a manager named LOU LINET, who managed JF MURPHY AND FREE FLOWING SALT and DIANA MARCOVITZ (or something like that)...and when he heard the newborn baby -- KISS. He thought it was the worst crap he had ever heard. Needless to say, he was gone immediately. So, we were managerless.
I put together a bio kit, while I worked at the Puerto Rican Interagency Council, as assistant to the Director. Peter's friend owned a printing press and printed up our invites.
But, where to play? We didn't have a manager. We didn't have an agent. We never had.
I made a phone call cold to a place called Popcorn in Queens, NY and on the phone convinced the guy to hire a band, who would soon be changing their name from WICKED LESTER to KISS.
We got the gig -- three nights -- Wed, Thurs and Fri for the sum total of $150.
That was the beginning.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Rest In Peace - Donna Summer : Your Voice Won't Be Forgotten
Into her 60s, the girl still worked hard for the money.
In fact, in 2008, just before turning 60, Donna Summer had a No. 1 dance hit with “I’m a Fire.” That meant she, along with Cher, had scored a No. 1 song in each of the last four decades. Only Madonna has charted more dance hits than Summer.
But the record stops there: She died Thursday morning at age 63 after a battle with cancer.
Her family released a statement, saying that they “are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy.” Ms. Summer had been living in Englewood, Fla., with her husband, Bruce Sudano.
The five-time Grammy winner sold more than 130 million albums and contributed, as much as the success of the Bee Gees, to making disco wildly popular in the 1970s with hits such as “Could It Be Magic,” “Love to Love You Baby,” “I Feel Love,” “Bad Girls,” “Last Dance” and the No. 1 hit “Hot Stuff.”
She has a place in Chicago radio history. When the radio station then known as WDAI-FM (94.7) ended its all-disco format in the wake of the late 1970s anti-disco backlash, it did so by playing her “Last Dance” over and over and over — nonstop, without commercials or any announcers to interrupt it through an all-”Last Dance” on the air weekend.
Her title as “Queen of Disco” wasn’t mere marketing. Her success continued well past disco and into the ’80s, with more Top 10 hits — “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger),” “She Works Hard for the Money,” “This Time I Know It’s for Real” — that expanded on her cooing, sultry sexiness.
But the singer wasn’t always comfortable with her sexy image, cemented by the hit “Love to Love You Baby,” which she cooed orgasmically.
Ms. Summer came up with the idea of the song and first recorded it as a demo in 1975, on the condition that another singer perform it commercially. But Casablanca Records president Neil Bogart liked the track so much that he suggested to producer Giorgio Morodor they re-record it, and make it longer — what would come to be known as a “disco disc.”
She had reservations about the lyrics — “do it to me again and again” — but imagined herself as a movie star playing a part. So she agreed to sing, lying down on the studio floor, in darkness, and letting her imagination take over. Solo and multitracked, she whispered, she groaned, she crooned. Drums, bass, strings and keyboards answered her cries. She simulated climax so many times that the BBC kept count: 23, in 17 minutes.
In 2009, she told the Sun-Times she relished the more ballad-focused music she was making because “there’s no longer such an emphasis on the sex part.”
“It wasn’t ever really me,” she said. “I was led down that path because that’s what was working in the recording industry at the time. If I had to do it all again, I would probably insist ‘Last Dance’ should be my first song. Instead, I have ‘Love to Love You Baby.’ While that song has been very good to me, the way people approached my career initially, the image people had of me, it was all a bit of a challenge to overcome. It’s almost like I had to prove I was a singer all over again.”
She had released her last album, “Crayons,” in 2008, her first full studio album in 17 years. She also performed on “American Idol” that year with its top female contestants.
The new music managed to regain some of her former glitter — but without going the standards-and-songbook route of peers.
“When my record company Burgundy/Sony BMG came to me about two years ago, they wanted me to do oldies, what Rod Stewart was doing,” Ms. Summer said in 2008. “They said, ‘Well, we don’t know what market you’d be in at this point, and we don’t know if we could get you into the mainstream market anymore.’ That was a valid point, but I didn’t feel it was necessarily the truth.”
Still, her disco tracks from the ‘70s, particularly under the guidance of famed producer Moroder, gave electronic music its first significant foothold on the pop charts. After years of disco hits full of slashing string sections, her “I Feel Love” was the first major hit song featuring a backing track that was entirely synthesized. In its swirling drone, one can hear the fountainhead of a lot of contemporary dance music. Likewise, the fluid hum of “Love to Love You Baby” was later sampled by Beyonce (“Naughty Girls”) and others.
In a sign of her continued relevance, the Broadway musical “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the Musical,” features two versions of Summer songs with “Hot Stuff” and “MacArthur Park.” “It’s a tragedy to lose an icon at such a young age,” said actor and singer Nick Adams, who plays Adam in the show.
Born LaDonna Adrian Gaines, Ms. Summer was raised in Boston by devout parents, she returned to those roots later in the ‘80s, announcing she had become a born-again Christian and winning a gospel Grammy for “Forgive Me.”
She is survived by her husband and their daughters Brooklyn and Amanda, as well as her daughter Mimi from her first marriage. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
R.I.P. Dick Clark - the Eternal Teenager
Wikipedia - Dick Clark
It's hard to find the words to express the loss of this legend. On Saturday's I wouldn't go out until I watched American Bandstand. Not only did we get the coolest music .. but Dick Clark would interview the acts in between songs. These interviews were so awesome, obviously unrehearsed, we got to meet these bands/people for the first time on Bandstand.
Rest In Peace Dick, and Thank You For Everything !!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)