What is the best music app?

When I got my first ipod, I noticed that there were many music apps for free.  At first, I had Pandora. I really liked it at first. You could make a station by song, artist,album and genre. Eventually, Pandora got annoying an kept playing the same old songs over and over. Then I found another music App, 8 tracks. This app featured playlists created by people themselves, typically with a certain topic or theme. I found this to be very interesting. For example, some playlists featured movie soundtracks and tv soundtracks, feautued a certain decade, or had specific themes such as "love, rainy day, or dance party. I really liked these apps, then I got picky about what playlists I  liked. I still use this app but I haven't used it in a while.  My current music app that I an using is spotify. I really liked this app because you can choose playlists created by others, but you can create your own as well from a very broad music library. I feel like they should have more playlists because I see a lot of the same ones. I got a deal for $1.00 you can get 3 months of unlimited listening which I really enjoyed. I now just have the free one and it is very irritating. I almost tempted to pay the 10 dollars a month because the ads are so annoying. They play the same add over and over and they can be very awkward. What is your favorite music app? Any comments on the ones I mentioned?

Montage of Heck: New Nirvana/ Kurt Cobain Documentary featuring a chilling Beatles cover.

This new and exiting Nirvana documentary appeared at the Sundance Music Festival and had gotten great reviews! It appears in theaters on April  24th,( Probably no where in Michigan, of course.:( This documentary includes unreleased music, home videos, Nirvana concert footage and other material from the late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain who passed away from a tragic suicide in 1994.This movie features a chilling cover of "And I love her" by Kurt Cobain. I wasn't able to listen to it on the Rolling Stone website, but I found it on youtube. It is very distorted and you can hear a woman's voice in the background. I have a box set of some of Nirvanas "unreleased" songs and Demos and I will admit it's pretty eerie to hear. You can hear Kurt goofing around, talking to his band members or cursing in frustration in the middle of a song because he made a mistake, I recall in one demo that you could hear a baby crying and im assuming it was his only daughter.The box set I own features a few covers. One was originally by The Velvet Underground( Here She Comes Now"- which was very well done. This demos are really strange and im looking forward to the movie. Ive been a Nirvana fan for as long as I can remember and I hope to see this movie somehow since I don't have HBO the last time I checked.

PS. Don't worry though, if you have HBO this documentary will appear on May 4th.

Here is a link to the chilling cover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdcA_ozN17Q
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/hear-kurt-cobains-chilling-unreleased-beatles-cover-20150421

Summer Concert tours 2015!

I love going to concert in the summertime the most, I prefer to be at outside venues like ballpark. My friend Maddeigh called me last August before I started school and asked if I wanted to go to Fifth Third Ballpark to see the Goo Goo Dolls,Daughtry, and The plain White T's in concert, I was a fan of an album of two from each band and was happy to go. We just had general admission seats but it was a great concert and loved every moment. This Summer there are a lot of hot concerts. One of the top ones is the Rolling Stones at Comerica Park in Detroit. I personally checked the price for these tickets at the were far too much for decent seats at least (260 dollars per ticket) Fredrick Meijer Gardens just released there summer concert list which you can view from the bottom of this post) Artists Range from the Steve Miller Band to Christina Perri. Are you ready for all of this summer fun? I sure am. Spending time with friends, the energy of the music and the concert ts are something I really look forward to!(Im going to see Aerosmith with my friend Summer in August and I cannot wait!)


http://www.meijergardens.org/calendar/category/concerts/P10/

Record Store Day!:)

This Saturday is known as Record Store day. Studies show that this day actually draws a youmger crowed, its not just for the nostalgia of older people. Most people would think not any young adults would own not own records, just Ipods. A UK study confirmed that 14% of 18-24 year olds had purchased vinyl compared to 5% of 35 to 50 year olds.
The top consumer to buy records is 25 to 25 year olds at 26%..
I personally think vinyl records are great even though I own very few. I also think its cool how they put modern albums on vinyl. For example,I own Justin Timberlake 20/20 on a vinyl that I found at Target, of all places. Vinyl can last a long time, if you take good care of it. My uncle has a few shelves full at his house that still work.

The Who's last tour?

"Blurred Lines" Lawsuit

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pharrell-talks-blurred-lines-lawsuit-for-first-time-20150319

Artist Pharrell Williams is being sued for his song "Blurred Lines" that he did with artist Robin Thicke. The amount Pharrell is being sued for is 7.3 Million dollars. The reason he is being sued is because it the hook of the song sounds a lot similar to Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give it up"  Even though Marvin Gaye had passed away many years ago, his family is suing pharrell. It sounds very similar but its not exact. Im not sure if Gayes family is worried about his legacy or if they just are money hungry. I was a huge fan of this song when it first came out because of the catchy hook, I will admit I hate the lyrics.( Way to promote rape as a positive thing!) The video is pretty awful too. I remember seeing something on the news about Robin Thicke's commentary about the lawsuit, he pretty much threw Pharrell under the bus and made excuses for himself. Claiming that "He didn't write much of the song and he was high on alcohol and Vicodin at the time." Wow... what a moron.
Pharrell is pretty upset about the lawsuit. He exclaims that "This applies to fashion, music, design… anything. If we lose our freedom to be inspired, we're going to look up one day and the entertainment industry as we know it will be frozen in litigation." 

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pharrell-talks-blurred-lines-lawsuit-for-first-time-20150319#ixzz3VAgvlv00

The Festival of the Arts

This weekend I got to perform at the Festival of the arts with my choir. It was at in our high school in the small gym. I am in Mrs. Millers's 6th hr concert choir. We performed with the honors choir for two songs. Our first song was " Dream a little Dream of Me." We did very well on this song. Our blend was perfect and we nailed our crescendo in a certain part of the song. The next piece was a compilation for the Phantom The Opera, lasting 11 minutes.(Much longer than our original songs) We started out with great intensity and went thought the song like it was nothing. Then the concert choir was off stage,
I stood outside to watch some of the Honors choir performance, they sounded beautiful as always. I then talked to some friends and went home.

Johnny Depp Plays Guest Guitar on album "Afraid of Ghost'

Musician Bush Walker is coming up with his New Album " Afraid of Ghosts'. His producer, Ryan Adams recruited some famous friends;guitarst Bob Mould and actor Johnny Depp.  Johnny Depp comes into 4:40 into the video. He is mainly known as a famous actor but he also plays guitar as a guest for a few bands. He even had played with the famous band Aerosmith; he is good friends with Steven Tyler. I am personally a huge fan of Johnny Depp, I love him in movie and on stage. He also did a song with famous beatle Paul McCartney and appears in his videos. Depp mainly plays slide guitar and does some back up electric guitar from what I can remember. There is another video of him not too long ago with Aerosmith on The David Letterman show for "The Train Kept a Rollin"

Music for cats?

Cats are out wonderful furry friends, but just like us  they would enjoy music. Scientists have developed a certain type of music just for cats. The like to hear sounds from a different decibel than of what we like to hear. When " Human music" was played to the cats, they rejected it. When the music was adjusted to their hearing level, they started brushing their faces on the headphones and purring, a sign of contentment in cats. This may be a nice invention for our pets!
http://www.salon.com/2015/03/03/scientists_designed_music_specifically_for_cats/

Music in my life

Growing up I listened to a lot of classic rock and whatever was on the radio at the time. When I was little it was a lot of boy bands like NSYNC and The Backstreet Boys. I loved them. I believe my preschool backpack had the backstreet boys on it. I wonder where it went........ I loved No Doubts album, tragic kingdom. When I was about 10 years old, Gwen Stefani went solo. I have the album that features Hollaback Girl." The meaning of this song is pretty much that she isn't a doormat to be walked on, which happens to me far too often. I like a lot of classic rock, I was so lucky to see Aerosmith and Slash in concert recently at the DTE energy center. I loved that concert. Slash had a new singer, I believe his name is Myles Kennedy and the did a bunch of old Guns N Roses songs. His voice seemed to be a lot my powerful than Axel Roses (.The band that slash used to be in.) I remember Aerosmiths opening. The opened with 'The Train Kept a Rollin' Which I believe was a cover which was done by The Yardbirds wayy back in the 60s. I seem to like Aerosmiths version the best. The put more enegry and more of their own sound into the song. On the yardbirds version, it annoyed me how the vocals were out of sync.

The evolution of "Seven Nation Army."

http://thequietus.com/articles/17294-seven-nation-army-white-stripes

The White Stripes Seven Nation army was released in 2003 and peaked Number 76 on the billboard 100 in the US. Italy is where this song peaked highest; at #3 in Italy. It is now 2015 and it is getting played everywhere and seems to be increasing in popularity. Its chanted at football games and the world cup, along with several other sporting events.
What made this song even more popular over time? Is it the catchy riff? The lyrics? I think this song has become popular over time because of the upbeat catchy riff.

Kid Rock Lowers ticket Prices to $20 for upcoming tour

For Kids Rocks upcoming tour with the band Foreigner he sets his ticket prices to only $20 dollars for his "Best night Ever.' tour. This is shocking considering how much concert prices have skyrocketed dramatically over the years. I remember when I was looking at tickets for The Rolling Stones, since im a pretty huge fan of classic rock. They were $600 each! I about fell off my chair! There is no way they need to be that expensive and this was for average seats, no VIP or anything. When I went to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers it was $60 which was far more reasonable than the Stones. Musicians who charge a rediculous amount for tickets obviously don't care about their fans in my opinion. A lot of fans would love to see their favorite band and it would make them so greatful to see them. I know a lot of people don't have $600 per ticket. I believe concert tickets need to be affordable and everyone deserves to have a good time.

Grammy Awards: More Than Just about Music.

While watching the Grammy awards this past Sunday, I was pleased we took a moment to focus on some of our issues in our country. When Beyonces performance came on, I noticed her backup dancers had black hoodies on with their hands in the air while dancing. At first I was confused, but then I realized it was a " Hands up Don't shoot." protest. In reference, to the Ferguson shooting.
Then president Barack Obama came on with a PSA about Domestic Violence against women. 1-3 women are victims of domestic violence sometime in their life, yet many keep silent about it. By addressing this issue it will help victims come forward and have a voice. Our Country doesn't do nearly enough to help women who are victims, having this PSA was a big step!

Kanye causes Controversy at Grammys again- Disrupting musician Beck

Kanye West is at it again.... After disrupting Taylor Swift while accepting her first award at the Grammy's a few years ago. Claiming that "Beyonce had one of the greatest albums of all time and that she needed to give up her award to her."-Right in the middle of her speech.

This time for the 2015 Grammy awards, Kanye disrupts Beck; album of the year winner. He walked on stage just before Beck gave his speech then walked off, leaving Beck with a perplexed look on his face. Kanye was later confronted at the Grammy after-party about why he walked on stage and why he didn't say anything. He replied "Beck needs to respect artistry."
 "He should have given his award to Beyonce.

Kanye West is getting really annoying to me. He has some issues with narcissism and he always have to put the spotlight on himself. Beck reportedly plays 14 different instruments and has a longer music career than Kanye West. Also, what is with his obsession with Beyonce? She is a great artist and all but why does she think she is entitled to every Grammy award? I wonder what his wife thinks about his obsession with Beyonce. Another part of irony, is that Kanye doesn't typically write his own songs and yet he tells Beck to "respect Artistry" when he really isn't one himself. His behavior was uncalled for.

Hoziers Rise to fame.

I remember that a few months ago, I was in the car with my cousin when Hozier's song "Take me to Church came on the radio. I sat there and listened to this song and tried to absorb every bit of it. I loved it! Very soulful,acoustic and has a good message. "Take me to Church" is a real gem, it's one of the greatest songs that I had heard in the past few years. It sure beats auto-tuned recycled pop. While browsing Rolling Stone website, I just recently came across the story of Hozier's rise to fame.
He is an Irish musician who grew up on the countryside.

 His exposure to music was from old mixture of vinyl and cassettes. Before hitting it big with "Take me to Church." Andrew Hozier was a struggling musician who was often seen at open Mics at nightclubs. He finally put together this song in the attic, writing about the frustration of Hypocrisy within the Catholic church, Ireland's main religion. The hypocrisy Hozier mainly points out is the hatred of gays and how the church covers up child sexual abuse. I think its great that we are starting to have more artists that come out with songs that have actual meaning. Not to mention, it is a beautiful song that I hardly ever get sick of.


http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/behind-hoziers-unlikely-rise-20150129?page=2

Superbowl Half- Time show(music)

This past Sunday, I was at home watching the Superbowl, like many other Americans. I always look forward to the half time show and what it has in store. I'm not a huge fan of Katy Perry, this years main music performer for the Superbowl. Although, I do like some of her songs.  The setup of the performance was over the top. She first appeared on the stage riding a robot tiger to sing her hit song "Roar" Then her next song was" Dark Horse" .. She moved on to the floor with many back up dancers and put on a rather energetic performance.

The second performer, Lenny Kravitz appears after the second song is over. He starts singing the opening line of "I kissed a girl" by Katy Perry. This was the only part of his performance, which made me feel disappointed. He didn't even have a chance to do any of his own music and they should have given him a chance to do so.

After Katy was finished with her songs, a surprise appearance from rapper Missy Elliott, which seemed to steal the whole half time show! She performed a melody of her old hits with Katy Perry. This was my favorite part of the performance, I forgot how much I loved those songs. They were first released when I was a lot younger. Missy was a pleasant surprise at this years Superbowl, I wasn't expecting it.

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