Leslie Jordan’s Best Country Music Moments

Posted on


The country music community is mourning the loss of charismatic actor, singer, performer and pop culture personality Leslie Jordan, who died on Monday (Oct. 24) at the age of 67. 

According to TMZ, the larger-than-life talent was killed after a suspected medical emergency caused his career to veer off the road and crash into a building in Hollywood, Calif., early Monday morning.

The news of Jordan’s death spread quickly across the entertainment industry, spurring a range of celebrities, musicians and friends to share their own tributes on social media. Jason Isbell, Margo Price and Ty Herndon were among the first artists to share messages of shock and sadness over Jordan’s unexpected death. 

Although Leslie Jordan initially found fame as an actor in the mid ’90s, he had forged strong bonds with many country artists in recent years. His 2021 country gospel album Company’s Comin’ included collaborations with a range of major acts, including Dolly Parton, Chris and Morgane Stapleton, Brandi Carlile, Ashley McBryde, Tanya Tucker and T.J. Osborne of Brothers Osborne.

Jordan, an openly gay man and avid LGBTQ+ advocate, was known for his joyful, positive attitude and cutting sense of humor, which shined through his recordings and live performances.

Take a look back at some of the sweetest snapshots and most memorable moments from Leslie Jordan’s one-of-a-kind career.

PICS: Remembering Leslie Jordan’s Best Country Music Moments

Take a look back at the special moments and incredible collaborations from the life and career of beloved comedian, actor and personality Leslie Jordan, who died Oct. 24, 2022, at the age of 67.





Source link

ISU to host music festival Wednesday through Friday | Local News

Posted on


The Indiana State University School of Music will host the 56th Annual Contemporary Music Festival from Wednesday to Friday.

Featured festival guests include award-winning composer Stacy Garrop; guest artists Joe Lulloff, saxophone, and Yu-Lien The, piano; and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra as orchestra-in-residence. Guests will also include Kyle Rivera, winner of the Orchestra Composition Contest, and winners of the Music Now Chamber Music Contest. In addition, the festival will feature students and faculty of the School of Music in both chamber music and large ensemble settings.

The festival includes six concerts and seven discussion sessions. Showcase concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. each evening, beginning with the opening festival concert Wednesday evening in Tilson Auditorium, then continuing with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra on Thursday in Tilson Auditorium and a full recital by Lulloff and The on Friday evening in the Boyce Recital Hall of the Landini Center for Performing and Fine Arts.

All festival events are free and open to the public. For a full schedule of events, visit https://www.indstate.edu/cas/cmf.





Source link

Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest album is pop perfection

Posted on


Carly Rae Jepsen, “The Loneliest Time” (Interscope Records)

Dating in the 21st century might be a lonely time, but Carly Rae Jepsen has found a way to make an album around those experiences that’s as bright and hopeful as it is grounded. From the euphoric “Sideways” to the heartbreak of “Go Find Yourself or Whatever,” on her sixth studio album, “The Loneliest Time,” the 36-year-old makes one thing clear: It’s rough out there in the dating world.

While the themes of “The Loneliest Time” are timeless, there’s a specificity to the experiences that reflect the modern age. Jepsen’s second single from the album, “Beach House,” is the best example of this. The kitschy song mirrors the experience of endless scrolling on dating apps. After describing a myriad of bad dating experiences and pleading with men to not view dating as hunting season, male vocals join in with tongue-in-cheek promises that get more preposterous as they go, from “I’m probably gonna never call you” to “I’m probably gonna harvest your organs.” It’s a sure-to-be camp classic from the Canadian pop icon.




Carly Rae Jepsen performs on Day 1 of the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, in Austin, Texas.
– Associated Press

Despite what are certainly lows described on “Beach House,” Jepsen’s optimism on “Surrender My Heart” shows she hasn’t given up on love quite yet. A highlight of the album, the synth bop opener finds her embracing vulnerability.

Throughout the LP are disco and ’80s influences, heard most strongly on the title track and “Far Away.” The pop anthems for which Jepsen is known are not in short supply, with softer tracks like “Bends” and “Go Find Yourself or Whatever” sprinkled in between. “Go Find Yourself or Whatever” is endearing in its empathy, opening with an acoustic guitar and building to include an electric guitar, mandolin and sitar.

“The Loneliest Time” is a collection of songs that encompass the highs and lows of searching for love, a journey full of second chances, mistakes and elation. It can be lonely at times, but as she articulates on the opener, her past experiences haven’t stopped her from opening her heart: “I wanna be brave enough for everything.”

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        





Source link

YouTube gets a new look across platforms: Darker “dark theme”, tweaks in ambient mode and more

Posted on


YouTube has been working on refreshing the user interface (UI) for quite some time and now the company is releasing a fresher design which, it says, will give “an updated look and feel for YouTube.” These new features include a darker “Dark Theme“, a subtle effect in the ambient mode, tweaks in watch page and pinch to zoom, among others.
When will you get refreshed YouTube UI
YouTube says that it is rolling out “a new look and several features that offer a more modern and immersive viewing experience while also improving how users watch videos.” Since, these changes will gradually roll out to all users, you can expect the full rollout to complete over the next few weeks. Google also wants you to give feedback on the new design.
“Feedback from our creators and viewers has always played an integral role at YouTube as our teams continue to think of ways to improve for our users; today’s updates were no exception. We gathered input from thousands of viewers around the world and heard there was a desire for a cleaner, more lively design that better represents what we’re all about,” the company said in a statement.
Refreshed Ambient Mode
YouTube says that it used dynamic colour sampling to introduce a subtle effect so the app background colour adapts to match the video. The design is inspired “by the light that screens cast out in a darkened room” and YouTube wanted to recreate that effect in order to draw users’ focus into the content.
The ambient mode with subtle effect on YouTube will be available for users on the web and mobile in the dark theme.
Darker Dark Theme
Now that we are talking about the dark theme, YouTube is rolling out a tweak in the dark theme that makes it even darker. This is apparently done so that the colours “truly pop on your screen” and the grey elements on the watch page are now all back. It means that the darker dark theme will be seen not only around the video player but also video playlists and will show more details about each playlist.
This feature will roll out for users on web, mobile and Smart TVs.
Changes in watch page
YouTube says that it is bringing improvements in the watch page interface so that the users’ focus is on the video player. The first change is regarding video links. YouTube links in video descriptions will change to buttons and frequent actions, including like, share and download, will be formatted to minimise distraction. The subscribe button is also getting a new shape, high contrast and “it is no longer red.”

Pinch to Zoom and precise seeking
YouTube is now getting pinch to zoom along with precise seeking and it will be rolled out to all users. The feature was also available for some users as a part of experimental features.
An experimental feature in YouTube is a feature that is rolled out to a small group of premium subscribers to test. YouTube then measures how its users react to it and on the basis of the feedback, improvements are done to the feature. The pinch to zoom feature will be available on iOS and Android.
“Have you ever followed along to a tutorial on your phone, but needed to keep rewinding so you could master that one small step? Precise seeking helps solve this problem,” YouTube says about the new precise seeking feature. So whether you’re working on a desktop or a smartphone, you can now simply drag or swipe up while seeking to display a row of thumbnails in the video player. This will enable you to make fine-tuned adjustments to get to the exact part in each video.
YouTube says that the precise seeking feature builds on the already available video navigation tools that help users quickly find the parts that they are most interested in.





Source link

Top court rules music students not subject to copyright fees

Posted on


Japan’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision on Monday not to allow music copyright management body the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers to collect copyright fees from students at music schools.

The top court rejected an appeal by JASRAC thereby finalizing the decision made by the Intellectual Property High Court last year to collect such royalties only from teachers at music schools.

Unable to view this article?

This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.

Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.

If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see this support page.

We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.

In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

SUBSCRIBE NOW



Source link

Akon Announces He is Composing Music for FIFA World Cup 2022

Posted on


FIFA World Cup 2022 is just around the corner, and the excitement for the event is building up with each passing day. To add to the thrill, FIFA has been launching a number of songs as a part of their official World Cup Soundtrack this year. 

The soundtrack, which features songs by Trinidad Cardona, Davido, Lil Baby and Balqees, now has added another star singer to its list. Akon has revealed that he is creating music for the upcoming world cup, leaving fans excited.

Akon is Creating Music for FIFA World Cup 2022 Soundtrack

The singer made the revelation with an Instagram post. He posted a video of his interview from the Big Boy Neighborhood show, where he was heard saying, “I am composing the music for the world cup right now.” The host, surprised by the news, says, “No….Are you too?” and then jokingly says, “Same here!”

Akon then, laughs, and Big Boy states, “Because we have talking about the world cup and just some of the things that are going on over there…you know…you can’t take your shirt off, you can’t do this, but it’s a whole different thing.”

To which Akon replies, “You remember RedOne? That producer, the one we did the Hayya Hayya with, he’s actually producing the anthem for the world cup, the theme song.” Fans seemed ready for the track, with one commenting, “Can’t wait to hear the masterpiece this man has ready for the WC,” and another writing, “It’s gox to be best King ”

The Singer Previously Worked on FIFA World Cup Album in 2010

For the world cup in South Africa in 2010, FIFA launched an album, Listen Up! The Official 2010 FIFA World Cup Album, which featured collaborations between different international artists. At the time, Akon performed one of the songs titled Oh Africa, featuring Keri Hilson.

The track was a charity single and helped raise funds for Akon’s charity ‘Konfidence’ which is aimed at supporting underprivileged children in Africa. The music video featured several footballers, including Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba, Kaká, Fernando Torres, Lionel Messi, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and Andrei Arshavin.

FIFA is Releasing a Multi-Song Collection as Soundtrack this year

FIFA world Cup theme songs and anthems have always been the talk of the town. From the 2010 smash hit Waka Waka by Shakira to the 2014 edition’s La La La, the tracks have become a part of playlists across the globe.

This year, FIFA has thought of a new creative approach to launch the World Cup anthem. For the tournament set to take place in November in Qatar, the federation is releasing a multi-song collection as a soundtrack featuring international artists.

Talking about the new strategy, Kay Madati, Commercial Officer at FIFA said, “As part of FIFA’s revamped music strategy, the multi-song soundtrack will bring passionate fans closer to the spirit of the FIFA World Cup like never before.”

The tracks from the soundtrack that have already been released include Hayya Hayya (Better Together) by Trinidad Cardona, Davido and Aisha; The World Is Yours To Take by Lil Baby and Light the Sky by Nora Fatehi, Balqees, Rahma Riad and Manal.

Are you excited to listen to Akon’s track from the FIFA World Cup soundtrack? Tell us in the comments section.



Source link

Europe’s Largest Country Music Festival to return in March 2023

Posted on


Get your ten gallon hat, check shirt and denim ready because Country to Country (C2C) has revealed that it’s coming back in full swing next year in 2023 after being stopped in its tracks by the Covid pandemic.

It will be the tenth edition of the festival which will take place over a three-day weekend (March 10-12) between the O2 in London, the 3Arena in Dublin, and the Ovo Hydro in Glasgow.

Some of the most eagerly anticipated artists will be headlining Lady A, Thomas Rhett, and the Zac Brown Band. Lainey Wilson, who’s never seen without wearing bell bottoms will be performing, as well as Midland and Matt Stell. 

Gearing up for Greenwich

“I’m so excited to get back across the pond. It’s been way too long. But when we’ve been in the past, we’ve only played in England, so I’m looking forward to playing in Dublin and Glasgow. The bigger the stage, the better! I already know this is going to the best run of international shows we’ve done yet,” says Lainey Wilson.

The 30-year-old is one of the most nominated artists for the CMA Awards (Country Music Association) with six nominations. She’s the fourth artist to ever receive this many. 

From Album of the Year, to Music Video of the Year, New Artist of the Year, and three others she’s bound to win a few if not all.

She’s also going to be on season five of Yellowstone, a TV show that streams on Paramount channels in Hungary, the Nordics, Poland, UK, Spain, and Italy. She will portray Abby, a character that Oscar-winning nominee and show creator Taylor Sheridan created for her. 

Living the dream

Wilson’s Southern drawl catches the attention and like most artists, she had to work hard and fight to get noticed, but persistence has paid off: “I’m learning you don’t get much sleep when you’re living the dream,” she laughs. 

“It’s a pretty wild ride right now. It feels like I’ve been working hard just to work harder. But it’s working, and it’s so worth it. I’ve made a commitment to myself to run (not walk) through the doors that open for me. And when I’m not walking through those doors, I’m probably still trying to find a way to get them open. It definitely gets overwhelming sometimes…well pretty much all the time right now. But I kind of see it like, I’ve worked this hard to get to this point, why would I take my foot off the gas now? 

“It’s amazing how each phase of this journey makes you feel like you’re just getting started. That’s why it’s important to enjoy the process and not get too wrapped up in the outcome. I have to remind myself of this all the time. But I’ve found if you just keep your head down, do your thing, surround yourself with the right people and stick with it, you just might look up and see your dreams coming true.”

Opening the Friday night in London will be Breland. 

The 27-year-old artist from New Jersey has garnered a major following in the past couple of years with his Hip Hop, Soul, and Country hybrid. He’s nominated for the CMA Award’s Musical Event of the Year category. Known for collaborations with Nelly, Thomas Rhett, and Mickey Guyton, he will co-host the festival during the weekend with the legendary British radio presenter Bob Harris. 

“I’ll be joined in the spotlight by my friend Breland, whose career has literally gone stratospheric since the release of his first music only three years ago,” shares Harris in notes.

Country in a cost-of-living crisis

In the midst of economic turmoil in Britain and across Europe Milly Olykan, VP of International Relations and Development for the CMA echoes his sentiments. 

“The fans in UK and EU are some of the most engaged Country fans in the world, and festivals like C2C also promote multiple opportunities to discover new artists. CMA has also partnered with C2C since it began in order to introduce new artists and songwriters to the UK. I think any fans who budgets for live Country events and festivals know that they can count on them to deliver a great experience, in a terrific atmosphere with fans of all ages and backgrounds and artists of incredible caliber who really appreciate their international audiences,” she says.

Presale tickets for the 3-day weekend start at €180 and go up to €560. The Insider Weekend Package, which is VIP level offers premium reserved seating, a C2C commemorative gift, the VIP lanyard, and the 2023 collectable pin badge, costs a little over €800. If fans, however, just want to go on Friday night, presale tickets range between €63 and €154. Saturday’s presale tickets start at €98 and go up to €155, while Sunday’s presale tickets range from €98 to €218.

Country Club favourites

Country Music has been resonating with Europeans since the days of Johnny Cash and even Dolly Parton’s early career. Both performed widely across Europe. Since C2C’s inaugural festival in 2013 headlined by Tim McGraw and Carrie Underwood, the festival has grown, turning into a three-day event. 

Germans, Italians, French, and Belgians, and a wide array of domestic fans make the festival an enormous successful event as the 20,000-seater 02 Arena is packed. Even the Middle East has taken to the genre. It’s the songful stories of life, love, heartache, and joy seem to unite all nationalities. 

Matt Stell will also be performing. His songs like ‘Prayed For You’ and ‘Boyfriend Season’, has garnered over a billion streams. The giant two-metre plus Harvard pre-med student turned country music singer is proud to be on the official artist line up.

“Man, I’m so excited to get back over here and get to play the main stage at C2C. Last year when we were there, I got to watch a lot of my favorite acts play the main stage and see how the crowd reacted to them, and it’s a special thing. Because we don’t get to make it here that much, that makes the dates all the more special, so I’m excited to be playing the big stage and not only get to play music for the fans, but also get to be a fan myself,” says Stell from Manchester, England.

He’s on his fall tour in the UK and he’s finding the energy of his European fans different to his American ones.

“I don’t know if it’s because of how few times we get to come over here in a year’s time, but there’s always great energy. People know the music surprising well, not just the singles, but also the album cuts. It just seems like fans are excited for us to be here,” says Stell.



Source link

Chad Lawson trailblazes a new paradigm for classical music

Posted on


On Friday, Stanford Live welcomed pianist and composer Chad Lawson to the Bay Area. Alongside Lawson were cellist Seth Parker Woods and violinist Judy King. The serene ambiance of Bing Studio, dimly lit by hues of magenta and blue, coupled with Lawson’s intimate yet inclusive commentary, created an atmosphere of trust that made for a raw and touching performance.

Lawson has become known as the contemporary artist creating “classical music for the Spotify generation.” Today’s youth have been less exposed to classical music compared to past generations, and Lawson is one of several artists striving to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of the genre by making it as approachable as possible.

His performance on Friday was reflective of this role, as he frequently separated his pieces with dialogue that dissected the musical and emotional undertones of each one. In his own rendition of a piece by Chopin, a composer that even a person with little exposure to classical music would recognize, he slowly scaled the six most memorable pitches from the melody down to two notes, creating a minimal yet recognizable tune.

Between pieces, the room filled with laughter and warmth as Lawson conversed with his audience about his musical background and the evening’s repertoire. Yet the instant he began to play, the pulsating rhythm of his signature gentle sound enveloped the studio in a blanket of calm. Just as he warmed audience members up to each piece with witty banter, Lawson subtly introduced layers of sound into the acoustics of the studio like drops of water rushing into a waterfall.

Lawson is a streaming star on Spotify whose 1 million monthly listener count trumps that of famous concert musicians like violin virtuoso Hilary Hahn and pianist Yuja Wang. His concert primarily featured pieces from his newest album, “breathe,” which is meant to be an invitation for us all to “exhale.” This sentiment extends to not only the past two years of the pandemic, but also any struggles from our past.

Throughout his career, Lawson has exhibited his talent as a composer to twist and stretch popular classical melodies or pop songs; his cover of “when the party’s over” by Billie Eilish has been streamed over 13 million times on Spotify. His interpretation of hardship, and how he entwines it into his music, has proved to be just as versatile. His message was that hardship can take many forms; moreover, his observation that it took us all an entire pandemic to “let go” and question all that we choose to carry every day was both relevant and validating.

Past these reckonings, Lawson ended his performance by inviting us all to stop and ask ourselves if we want to leave the pandemic with everything we took into it.

His final two pieces of the night, “Irreplaceable” and “To Hold the Stars in the Palm of your Hand,” used charming major chords to recognize the “people, places and experiences that we only were able to acknowledge and cherish” after the world was put on pause.

Through the selection of new pieces from his latest album, Lawson foreshadowed continued breakthroughs in a new field of classical music. Youth today with low exposure to the genre no longer have to settle for generic, empty playlists to act as background noise for them while they do their homework. With transparent communication about its stories and all their complexities, classical music does not have to be overshadowed by other genres like pop and hip-hop. Instead, as portrayed through Friday’s performance, this field can become the new face of contemporary music, where we can all ask ourselves the difficult questions about life and love that words can’t articulate.

Editor’s Note: This article is a review and includes subjective thoughts, opinions and critiques.



Source link

Hungry Bowls fundraiser to help combat food insecurity | News, Sports, Jobs

Posted on



EAST LIVERPOOL – Heritage Thermal Services is sponsoring the inaugural Hungry Bowls to benefit the United Way and help hungry neighbors.

The Hungry Bowls is a joint effort between one business, Heritage Thermal Services, and two agencies, the United Way and the Salvation, to raise funds to combat local food insecurity issues.

The event will be held on Nov. 17 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at the Salvation Army, 413 E. Fourth St., East Liverpool.

According to Raymond Wayne, public affairs specialist at Heritage, Hungry Bowls is the result of wanting to do something different to help with the hunger issues faced by local residents.

Wayne noted that for the past few years, Heritage has submitted food donations collected from their employees to be donated to United Way for distribution to local food pantries.

Wayne said that since a lot of other businesses were doing the same thing, he wanted to try something different and started kicking around the idea of a soup kitchen, because folks with food insecurities and those that are homeless go to soup kitchens for their meals.

Wayne did some research and looked at the Columbiana County Health Assessment Report to find facts relating to the hunger issues in East Liverpool.

Citing the report, Wayne said that in 2019, 16% of the county’s population experienced at least one issue related to food insecurity.

The question asking if residents ever cut, size or skip meals because of not enough money or food indicated that on a county wide level 7.9% of the respondents had an issue. In East Liverpool it was 10%.

The report noted that East Liverpool residents said the two or three most important issues that need to be addressed to improve health and the quality of life in East Liverpool were housing security as number one, food insecurity as number two and drugs and substance abuse was the third issue.

Based off of this, Wayne decided that Heritage would sponsor the Hungry Bowl Soup Kitchen, where for a $10 ticket, attendees will have the opportunity to select from approximately a dozen different soups, and get bread, crackers, a cookie and a bottle of water. Wayne noted this is basically a menu at a soup kitchen.

The soups will all be homemade and prepared by the board members at United Way.

In addition to the $10 ticket purchase, attendees are being asked to bring a non-perishable food item.

The event will also feature a Chinese Auction to help raise additional funds. All proceeds will go to benefit the three local food pantries in the United Way portfolio.

The Fiesta Ware Company will be donating 200 fiesta bowls to the event. So, the first 200 people to attend will go home with a fiesta bowl.

Save-a-Lot of Wellsville donated crackers, cookies and water for the event, and East Liverpool high school teacher Greg Harding will be providing ambient music for the event.

Tickets are on sale at the United Way office. Tickets can be purchased and donated to the Salvation Army who can designate somebody in need to go as well.

Candy Faloon, director of United Way of Southern Columbiana County, noted that she is in her office every day and has been heartbroken in the past few months by the number of people who call her or come by her office to say they need food.

Faloon said that probably 60% of the calls she receives or from people in need of food.

“I just want to let you know this economy and the inflation, how it really truly is affecting the people that just don’t have as much as everybody else,” Faloon said. “You think everybody is ok but they are really not.”




Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox












Source link

Carly Rae Jepsen opens up about her musical journey after ditching pop stardom

Posted on


Carly Rae Jepsen opens up about her musical journey after ditching pop stardom

A decade after the success of Call Me Maybe, Carly Rae Jepsen is opening up about why she decided to step away from pop stardom.

In an interview with PEOPLE, the Canadian singer-songwriter said that she was always inspired by women who looked towards “maturity of pop music”.

“When you think about a pop artist back in the day when I started, those are 17-year-olds, and then they peak. But my dream’s always been inspired by the Tina Turners and women who’ve found a way to move into the maturity of pop music,” she told the outlet. “I’m beyond mind-boggled and can’t believe I’m still on this little journey. It’s my passion, and I’m so excited to see this thing grow.”

Following the success of her popular song, Call Me Maybe, and 2012’s Kiss album, Jepsen made a pointed decision to step back from mega pop stardom.

“I really got a jolt into some kind of fame and stardom. There were fun things about it, and there was a lot that scared the s— out of me,” she said. “I was like, ‘I know I love music, and I know I love performing. There’s some high I get from this, but there’s parts of Hollywood I don’t totally jive with. How do I figure this out?’”

Jepsen also tried her hand at acting as she played Cinderella on Broadway and took a few years to work on her album Emotion, released in 2015. She went on to release 2019’s Dedicated, and recently came out with her album, The Loneliest Time.

Talking about her fanbase, she shared, “It’s been a really slow, step-by-step evolution to kind of rebuild back some confidence about the music that I’m excited about sharing.”

The Loneliest Time just released on October 21st, 2022.



Source link