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That Eric Alper

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The Best Merch from American daredevil Evel Knievel

Nov 22, 2014

From his humble roots in the unlikely town of Butte, MT, Evel Knievel rode his motorcycle and guts to an unparalleled level of worldwide glory and fame, much of which he still carries with him today: King of the Daredevils, The Last of the Gladiators, The Godfather of Extreme Sports, Guinness Book of Records holder for the most bones broken, an unwavering optimist, a doer, a go-getter, self-promoter extraordinaire, media genius, an enigmatic folk hero — an American legend. Knievel’s nationally televised motorcycle jumps, including his 1974 attempt to jump Snake River Canyon at Twin Falls, Idaho, represent four of the twenty most-watched, including the number 1 spot, ABC’s Wide World of Sports events in history. His achievements and failures, including his record 35 broken bones, earned him several entries in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Ideal Toy Company released Evel Knievel merchandise from 1972 through 1977, ultimately selling more than $125 million worth of Knievel toys including action figures and accessories, the Stunt Cycle the Scamble Van, a Dragster, a Stunt Car, a Chopper Motorcycle, a Trail Bike, the Strato-Cycle and the Evel Knievel The Stunt World. Ideal also released additional figures including a female counterpart, Derry Daring and his son, Robbie Knievel.

Via Forces Of Geek

High Fidelity’s Deleted Scene: Records for Sale

Nov 21, 2014

It’s hard to watch John Cusack’s portrayal of a record shop owner in “High Fidelity” without feeling at least a little uncomfortable because some parts are so real. The otherwise breezy romantic-comedy is quite a sweet film about loneliness, records and how much we all wish John Cusack characters are in our lives so we can all hang out with him. Or maybe it’s just me.

In this deleted scene, DJ Rob Gordon arrives at the home of a woman (Beverly D’Angelo) whose estranged husband has an amazing collection of singles. And then go watch the full movie tonight.

http://youtu.be/z5ziBCarxEk

Vinyl Sales Keep Going Up, Up, Up

Nov 21, 2014

hile the whole world is talking about Spotify, Pandora, iTunes and other digital music services, a long-forgotten medium has come back from near-extinction: the LP. In 2013, 6.1 million vinyl albums were sold in the United States, up from less than a million in 2005 and 2006. The same trend can be observed in the UK and in Germany, where LP sales have climbed to the highest levels since the early 1990s. Global vinyl sales amounted to $218 million in the past year and it’s all but certain that the vinyl comeback will continue in 2014.

There are several possible reasons for the sudden resurgence of the LP. Music aficionados have always valued the warm, organic sound of vinyl recordings but it may actually be the rise of digital music that contributed most to the uptick in vinyl sales: as great as services such as Spotify are in making music accessible, they also commoditized music to a certain degree and took away the pleasure of owning a physical album. To those who still prefer to own a tangible product, an LP may just add a little more value than a CD does (CD sales have been crushed lately). Plus, as many labels ship vinyl records with download codes, buyers get the best of both worlds when they purchase a vinyl album – they get the convenience of an MP3 download alongside the physical and acoustic pleasures of an LP.

It should probably be noted that vinyl sales still account for a small fraction of overall music revenues, but it’s nice to see that there’s still some life left in a medium that has been around for so many decades.

You will find more statistics at Statista

’68 Debut Visually Stunning Second Video

Nov 21, 2014

After teasing the news over the weekend, sound maestros ’68 have debuted another brand new music video today for the song “Track 5,” exclusively via Alternative Press Magazine.

Few bands can tout the kind of touring history ’68 can over the course of their year long tenure. Adding to that, the band just announced an all new set of tour dates supporting STICK TO YOUR GUNS.

02/13 – Sacramento, CA at Ace of Spades
02/14 – Salt Lake City, UT at In the Venue
02/15 – Denver, CO at Marquis Theatre
02/17 – Chicago, IL at The Bottom Lounge
02/18 – Detroit, MI at Magic Stick
02/19 – Toronto, ON at Mod Club
02/20 – Montreal, QC at Paradox Theatre
02/21 – Worcester, MA at The Palladium
02/22 – New York, NY at Gramercy Theatre
02/23 – Albany, NY at Bogie’s
02/24 – Philadelphia, PA at TLA
02/25 – Greensboro, NC at Cone Denim Center
02/26 – Atlanta, GA at The Masquerade
02/27 – Tampa, FL at The Orpheum
02/28 – Jacksonville, FL at Underbelly
03/02 – San Antonio, TX at Korova
03/03 – Houston, TX at Walter’s
03/04 – Dallas, TX at The Door
03/05 – Albuquerque, NM at Launchpad
03/06 – Phoenix, AZ at Nile Theatre
03/08 – San Diego, CA at Soma

’68 debuted at #1 on the Billboard New Artist Chart with the release of In Humor and Sadness last month selling more than 3,000 copies in its first week of release. Puregrain Audio offers, “If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like if The Black Keys and Every Time I Die made a love child in the washroom of a Wax Fang concert, ’68 is your answer.” in their 8/10 review. Alternative Press states “What’s ironic about Humor is that despite Scogin’s infatuation with 21st century rock ’n’ roots music, the album is closer in style, decibels and straight-up attitude to Nirvana’s legendary Bleach.”

1. Track One
2. Track Two
3. Track Three
4. Track Four
5. Track Five
6. Track Six
7. Track Seven
8. Track Eight
9. Track Nine
10. Track Ten

Mark Gardener on the Ride reunion and Beady Eye and The Stone Roses

Nov 21, 2014

DiS: Has the recent announcement about Beady Eye splitting up accelerated the reunion?

Mark Gardener: I can’t really answer any questions about Beady Eye but I can say that these shows have been in the planning for quite some time. It certainly made life easier for Andy Bell because he was looking at continuing whatever Beady Eye were going to be doing. But at the same time, Beady Eye being together or not had no bearing on us doing this.

DiS: So it was always going to happen regardless?

Mark Gardener: Yes. It was always going to happen. When The Stone Roses got back together I remember thinking maybe we should do it. For a good few years after we split in 1996 I thought that was it for Ride. I pretty much disbanded my entire live rig. I sold a couple of guitars to Andy actually. At that point I was solely concentrating on studio work such as production and mixing. I also love doing soundtrack work which I’ve gone on to do. But at the same time I’ve also missed that feeling of playing live. I’ve missed the guys. We’ve got on great for years. It feels like completely the right time to do this now. We’re really buzzing about it. We want to do it but I also think a lot of people have demanded it in a way too. We are aware of that. Especially in this day and age with social media and stuff. I think you’d have to be living in a hole to not be aware of it! I really like the fact I’ll never have to answer that question again because I have known for years. I also like the fact loads of people that were too young to see us first time round will get a chance to see us properly. I didn’t really think about that before and I do now. Also, loads of people who are older but may have missed out will get that chance. We’re not coming back to play new material although I can’t imagine us getting together and new material not happening. It’s just a natural process that when we get in a room that will probably happen. We know what people want to hear and we’ll be giving it our all. We’ve all grown as people. I understand a lot more about sound because I’ve been in the studio for all this time and Andy’s been on the cutting edge of massive shows for over a decade, so we can bring that kind of knowledge to make these performances louder and even better than it was back in the day. That’s another necessity for it to happen and us to feel good about it. We’ve got to feel it’s going to go up another notch. We’re all in good shape. In a lot of ways I feel in much better shape now than I did in my twenties. For various reasons I have to say. There are escape reasons I was using then because it was pretty full-on existence wise. The Creation Records era and all the partying that went with it is quite well documented. I’ve come to realise you can’t buy that kind of relaxation zone. Getting stoned out of your mind isn’t so great really.

Via Drowned In Sound

Patti Smith on Singing For The Pope

Nov 21, 2014

“I like Pope Francis and I’m happy to sing for him. Anyone who would confine me to a line from 20 years ago is a fool!” (Much applause.) “I had a strong religious upbringing, and the first word on my first LP is Jesus. I did a lot of thinking. I’m not against Jesus, but I was 20 and I wanted to make my own mistakes and I didn’t want anyone dying for me. I stand behind that 20-year-old girl, but I have evolved. I’ll sing to my enemy! I don’t like being pinned down and I’ll do what the fuck I want, especially at my age … oh, I hope there’s no small children here!”

Via The Guardian

Billboard & Soundscan Add Streams To Album Chart

Nov 21, 2014

From FYI Music News:

Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan will start adding streams and track downloads to the formula behind the Billboard 200, starting 11/30. A new chart incorporating sales and listening data will be published on Billboard’s website on 12/04 and in the print edition available on 12/13.

The so-called consumption chart will count 1.5K song streams from services such as Spotify as an album sale equivalent and “track equivalent albums” — the industry yardstick of 10 downloads of individual tracks — as part of the formula for album rankings on the Billboard 200.

The addition of streams and track equivalent albums is intended to stabilize new chart entries as first week sales taper off and online listening increases.

The new chart is restricted to the US for now, says Paul Tuch, Nielsen Ent.’s Director of Canadian Operations. He doesn’t count out a similar methodoly coming to Canada sometime in the future.

In September, Nielsen Canada added streaming data from YouTube, Slacker and five other firms in with digital track sales and BDS airplay data in its formulations used to rank the Canadian Hot 100 and Emerging Artist charts.

Rock stars ditch Jack Daniels for quinoa

Nov 21, 2014

From Bloomberg:

The chef with the job of keeping everyone well fed this time is Sam Letteri, who has previously worked with Take That, Elton John, Depeche Mode, Jamiroquai, and Rihanna.

He studied at Westminster College in London and got into the music business working at Ibiza Rocks with Popcorn Catering in 2005-2006. He says things have changed considerably since then, both in terms of food and drink.

“Some artists don’t mind — you can drink over dinner — but five years ago it was a lot more acceptable,” he says. “It was your old roadies, your tattoos-and-Jack Daniels roadies. Now, it’s young professionals. Everyone’s been to university.

“Dishes I do now, if we’d put on the menu five years ago — quinoa! — I’d be left at the side of the road if I’d done that.

You’ll Never Love Snow As Much As This Toronto Zoo Panda Loves Snow

Nov 21, 2014

During today’s snowfall, the Toronto Zoo’s cameras caught giant panda Da Mao ‘bear-bogganing’ in his outdoor exhibit. Perhaps he’s discovered a new winter sport?

You Can Now Have Your DNA Buried On The Moon

Nov 21, 2014

From CNBC:

A British company has launched a £600,000 ($1 million) Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to get to moon and drill into its surface, with punters able to buy memory on a digital time capsule – and even send their hair into space.

The Lunar Mission One project will use the initial funds to set up the plans for the moon landing and drilling and has signed up RAL Space – which has been involved in developing more than 200 space missions – as its technical advisers.

Enthusiasts can spend £60 to buy some space on a “digital time capsule” – a memory stick-like device– to upload photos or videos. This will then be buried in the hole drilled by the capsule launched to the moon’s South Pole. For a higher – yet to be determined – cost, punters would be able to pay to have strands of their hair taken on the trip.