| Europe’s hottest composer boosts new music festival
Michel van der Aa began music lessons to help get rid of nightmares. The Dutch composer was introduced to music by an enlightened psychologist who suggested music lessons to stop the nightmares. The eight-year-old was handed a guitar, the frightening dreams stopped and van der Aa has been composing ever since.
“It is definitely something I have a physical necessity to do," van der Aa says on the phone from his home city Amsterdam.
“I have to make things to perform or I become a serial killer," he laughs.
Van der Aa began composing the instant he was handed the guitar, making up pieces to perform to his parents who were also amateur musicians. Who knows if the musical expression was an outlet for the terrifying night-time pictures, but the visual aspect of composition has always been an important part of van der Aa's work.
Consumer Adoption of New Channels Driving Online Music and Video ...
New distribution channels for online music and video are beginning to have a significant impact on the music and video industries, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com). Online sales of digital music represented 6% of the total worldwide music market in 2006, up from 4% in 2005, the high-tech market research firm says. By 2011, online sales of digital music will represent 26% of all music purchased worldwide. The Internet is now an essential channel for online music distribution; and social networking sites, such as YouTube and MySpace, are beginning to show great potential as new and legitimate channels for digital content consumption, says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. As a result, consumers are demanding access to digital content in more ways than ever. Recent research by In-Stat found the following: -In-Stats latest primary research shows that 74% of respondents (primarily North Americans) downloaded music in 2006, up significantly from 48% in 2005.
Places to go people to see
For more upcoming events go online to www.thespectrum.com/entertainment or check out the weekly Where It's @ Entertainment Guide inside The Spectrum and Daily News on Fridays. Color Country Camera Club meeting 7 p.m. today in the Leisure Services Building, St. George. Event Description: Guest Bob Remer. Program country mailboxes, spectacular Tetons. Free. 627-9312. 656-2111. .
Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony sue Enquirer over drug claims
Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony are suing the National Enquirer over its claims they were involved in a drug scandal, their lawyer says. They are suing the tabloid through the European courts as it is easier for celebrities to sue successfully there than in America. Their Belfast lawyer, Paul Tweed, says the pair is suing the tabloid through the European courts seeking "a six-figure settlement" from the paper and its parent company American Media Inc. The suit also seeks an apology and retraction for an article which featured in different versions of the tabloid’s American and international editions. J.Lo and Anthony were said to be "caught up in a heroin scandal" in the version which appeared in the British and Irish editions on March 12. Alongside the article was a picture of Anthony standing next to photographer Michael Star, who is facing heroin possession and child pornography charges in America.
A Lesson From the Jazzmatician
Mark Twain may not be one of the great musicologists, but he is responsible for one of the most frequently quoted aphorisms in music criticism: "Wagner's music is better than it sounds." With a little tweaking, the line could also apply to the music of the avant-garde jazz composer and multi-instrumentalist Anthony Braxton, who is making a rare appearance in a mainstream Manhattan club this week, at the Iridium. (The music he played a year ago at the club is about to be released in "9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006" an ambitious 10-disc boxed set from Firehouse 12 Records.) The 61-year-old Mr. Braxton seems to do everything possible to present his music in a way that makes it sound serious and artsy, which is to say foreboding and inaccessible. Even his physical appearance bespectacled, sweater-wearing, pipesmoking is outwardly academic.
Menudo's Recipe Isn't Changing, Just the Faces
LOS ANGELES -- Guillermo Arriaga was a just a kid in Mexico when he was swept up in one of the biggest pop-music crazes of all time: Menudo mania. Menudo was the boy band, an early '80s Hispanic precursor to groups such as 'NSync and Backstreet Boys, and served as the farm team for Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin, an original member of the teen-pop sensation. The group sparked dreams of romance in girls and dreams of stardom in boys such as Arriaga, now 39. But the immigrant carpenter and amateur songwriter knew it was unlikely he would be discovered in his home state of Michoacan, not exactly a stop on the road to Hollywood. Last week, Hollywood came to Arriaga's Los Angeles County barrio looking for stars in his own back yard. Menudo is being revived by MTV, and the call went out for bilingual Hispanic teens to audition for the new band.
CBS to offer TV programs free online
CBS Corp. made a broad push further into online distribution yesterday with a series of deals with Internet companies to carry CBS shows such as The Late Show With David Letterman, shown at right, for free to viewers willing to watch commercials. CBS already distributes many of its shows online through Yahoo Inc., Apple Inc.'s iTunes online music and video store and its own website. The new deals represent the latest effort by traditional broadcasters and other media companies to harness the power of the Internet to show video and to combat the unauthorized viewing of television shows on video-sharing sites such as YouTube, which is owned by Google Inc. CBS said it would begin distributing current shows as well as other programs from its television library through online partners including Microsoft Corp.'s MSN; Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit; CNET Networks Inc.
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