Jordan Rudess, keyboardist for progressive metal band Dream Theater, has joined forces with his daughter Kayla in writing a song to raise money for the Central Asia Institute:Proceeds go to the non-profit Central Asia Institute, to promote and support community-based education, especially for girls, in remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan.Greg Mortenson, co-author of the [...]
In the online world of digital music, there are ton of different players competing for your ears. It often feels likes an ever-expanding world with more sites entering the fray. In case you missed the news, Imeem was purchased by MySpace. This comes a couple of weeks after the former social networking giant decided to [...]
At the end of October, I heard a fascinating segment on NPR about the revival of the musical Finian’s Rainbow. The revival has been 60 years in coming, and a big part of the reason why is because of what many consider to be an outdated view of racism. This got me thinking about the [...]
The last time I saw these two powerhouse acts together was in the spring of 1991 during the “Clash of the Titans” tour, which included Anthrax as triple co-headliner and a very young Alice in Chains as the opening act. Eighteen years later, this still ranks as one of the most memorably intense concerts I’ve [...]
Like many of Michael Jackson’s fans around the world, I was saddened by his sudden passing. I wrote about his death on that tragic day. Since then, I have deliberately kept from writing about Jackson after his death because the last thing I wanted to do was to add to the ridiculous amount of “news” [...]
What would you call a guy who sings about sex and vampires, serves as a UNICEF ambassador, and holds a degree in analytical chemistry? You’d call him Jyrki 69, lead singer of Gothic metal band The 69 Eyes. Contrapuntist and I recently got our first taste of the Eyes when we went to their concert [...]
It is always nice to see rockers coming together to support those in need, especially at-risk youth.Slash is joining forces with Ozzy Osbourne, Perry Ferrel, Chester Bennington, Dave Navarro and several others to help raise money for the Las Angeles Youth Network (LAYN). The concert will be take place at the Avalon in Hollywood on [...]
Here is some info from blabbermouth.net about a couple of cool upcoming rock/metal Christmas concerts:Rock 4 XmasFor the 13th year, Rock 4 Xmas will bring together an incredible line up of rockers to hit the stage to raise money to benefit the less fortunate.This year’s slate of shows is once again headlined by the legendary [...]
Ladies, do you think you have what it takes to perform on the upcoming Lilith Tour in 2010? If you aren’t on OurStage.com, thenyou may want to join. Here’s why:Today, the Lilith 2010 tour is pleased to announce a new partnership with OurStage.com, the music discovery destination dedicated to new artist and new music discovery. [...]
I first learned about Katatonia when their vocalist, Jonas Renkse, appeared on Ayreon’s 01011001. The great aspect of Ayreon projects is Arjen Lucassen, arranger, producer, performer and mastermind, brings together amazing performers from around the world for each of his rock operas. On 01011001, I found Renkse’s vocals mesmerizing and haunting, which led me to [...]
Wolfgang’s Vault (WV) is the world’s largest collection of live concert recordings spanning the ‘60’s – present day and rock memorabilia. Last week, the website released cracked their vault open by making available hundreds of previously unreleased live concerts. Concerts from music legends Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Deep Purple, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Cheap Trick, to [...]
I recently read a couple of interesting posts about two sides of the same coin – musical injuries, and musical healing. It’s ironic how something that can bring so much pleasure can also bring so much pain.On Noisecreep.com, there’s a post about heavy metal band Slayer’s announcement that they will be postponing their upcoming Canadian [...]
Dancing with the Stars has used some hard rock songs in the past. This season, the show has gone one step further by using two classic heavy metal anthems – “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne and “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister. As a Dancing with the Stars fan and a metalhead, I’ve [...]
In this day and age, there are a lot of artists that fit squarely within one musical category. Dommin is not one of them. Although promoted as gothic metal, their music is so much more. Each of Dommin’s songs has a distinct musical character, with influences including The Doors, Depeche Mode, Metallica and Danzig.Viola and [...]
In the spirit of Halloween (pun intended), I thought I would write about some haunted opera houses and theaters across the country. I first started thinking about this a couple weeks ago, when I was watching Ghost Hunters on SyFy. They did an investigation of the Congress Theater, here in Chicago. I went to a [...]
I was excited to find out that progressive/goth metal band Stream of Passion is releasing a new video, “In the End”. The song comes from the band’s second album, The Flame Within. From blabbermouth.com:According to a press release, “The Flame Within” “leaves its predecessor in the dust, thanks to more mature songwriting. Carried by Marcela [...]
Earlier this year, Terry McBride announced via his Twitter account that Lilith Fair was returning after a 10+ year hiatus. It is still unclear who will be part of the lineup. I heard a few rumors today, if true, could offer a more diverse Lilith Fair than before. Lineup announcements should be “coming soon.” Yesterday, [...]
The Swell Season, the Oscar-winning duo of The Frames frontman Glen Hansard and Czech musician Marketa Irglova released their second album, Strict Joy, on October 27. The album consists of 12 new, original songs that were recorded last year and document a time of great change and tumult in the artists’ lives. Strict Joy [...]
This past Saturday, Roadrunner Records was generous enough to give Contrapuntist and I the opportunity to attend the Dommin concert at Reggie’s Rock Club in Chicago and interview lead singer Kristopher Dommin. Along with The Becoming, Dommin opened for fellow goth rockers, The 69 Eyes. Unfortunately, this concert almost got canceled because the previous night, [...]
Today, blinkx, one of the world’s largest video search engines, announced blinkx Music, a new tool for finding and watching music videos online. I was given a sneak peak to the site. It has a broad catalog of videos from variety of genres. However, the database does seem a little rock and pop centric at [...]
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