Category: music

New services to store your digital music are coming online. “Today the computer remains the de facto content locker. But things may get more interesting as more and higher-speed Internet-enabled devices hit the market, from PDAs and car stereos to home entertainment systems and mobile phones. Suddenly, the computer and the MP3 player no longer are the keystones of the mobile-music experience, and there is less need to worry about transferring compatible files from device to device. Each connects directly to the content locker to play or download music.”

“At thousands of bars and restaurants, patrons can now listen to songs stored on hard drives or downloaded from remote servers. Some find the change a refreshing departure from the limited selection of records or CDs of old jukeboxes. Others lament the transformation of an American icon. They say the smaller collections of compact discs or 45s in traditional jukeboxes gave barrooms a distinct feel that gets washed away by the new technology’s nearly unlimited choice and flashy screens reminiscent of video poker machines.”

A popular French rapper has been hauled into court, charged with offending public decency for insultinjg France. “Monsieur R, whose real name is Richard Makela, could face three years in prison or a €75,000 (£51,000) fine after an MP from the ruling UMP party launched legal action against him over his album Politikment Incorrekt.”

“Moaning about the state of classical music has itself become an industry. But as pervasive as the conventional wisdom is, much of it is based on sketchy data incorrectly interpreted. Were things better in the old days? Has American culture given up on classical music? The numbers tell a very different story: for all the hand-wringing, there is immensely more classical music on offer now, both in concerts and on recordings than there was in what nostalgists think of as the golden era of classics in America.”

Oakland Opera Theatre exists as a vehicle for modern opera. Since it took on the Oakland Opera name in 1999 (the former Oakland Opera having shut down a few years earlier), the company’s offerings have ranged from Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson’s “Four Saints in Three Acts” to a disco-era staging of Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress” to a circus fantasia of Glass’ “La Belle et la Bête.” Seeing what inventive stagings the small company concocts with limited resources is half the fun…”

For the first time in its 20 year history, Los Angeles Opera is postponing a premiere – the hotly-anticipated “Grendel” – because of of computer problems with the set. “The $2.8-million show, a co-production with New York’s Lincoln Center and an undertaking that L.A. Opera general director Plácido Domingo has called the company’s most ambitious to date, will still go on. But the official premiere has been pushed back until June 8, at a cost to the company of more than $300,000.”

In the past few years, Brooklyn has emerged as a hot scene for jazz. “The rise of that scene — which, like its borough, is an assemblage of enclaves — has been one of the most significant developments for jazz in New York in recent years.”

“Last year, the music magazine fRoots polled what it considered to be the 200 most influential movers and shakers in the music industry (promoters, record companies and journalists) on the best global and folk records of 2005. Four out of the top five records came from West Africa.” So why does African music still have a tough time getting into the global mainstream?

“The number of organ students nationwide has fallen sharply since the 1950s, and many churches say they can’t find competent musicians to play the hymns, choral accompaniments and solo works that have been a staple of worship services for centuries.”

“DreamMusician.com hopes to entice musicians who want to play along to hits by artists like Smash Mouth, Tears For Fears, Rick James and others while pretending they’re actually filling in on a given part. The site, which launched earlier this month, sells song downloads for about $2 each and compilations of the same song with different instrumental parts removed starting at about $18.”