Happy 28th Birthday to the late Amy Winehouse. Columbia released her final studio recording today--a duet with Tony Bennett on "Body and Soul."
"My dad ... was like, 'Oh, it's only my favorite song in the world
you're going to sing. Oh my God! Do you even know it?' and I was like,
'Of course I know it, Mitchell. I'm your daughter, of course I know
it,'" Winehouse said. "It was really exciting that he chose that song because I
do love it. It's such a beautifully written song."
Mitch Winehouse recently stated he thinks a seizure due to alcoholic detoxification caused his daughter's death.
"Everything Amy did, she did to excess," Mitch Winehouse said in an interview with Anderson Cooper. "She drank to excess and did detox to excess."
Amy Winehouse passed unexpectedly in London on July 23. All proceeds from the recording will be contributed to the Amy Winehouse Foundation, which also launched today.
Emily's Army (L to R: Max Becker, Joey Armstrong, Travis Neumann, Cole Becker)
Fortunately for Green Day fans and beyond, singer Billie Joe Armstrong reproduced and passed along his wonderful musical genes.
Drummer Joey Armstrong, 16, followed in the footsteps of his old man by starting teen pop-punk band Emily's Army with brothers Cole (vocals/guitar) and Max Becker (bass), and Travis Neumann (guitar). Their debut album, Don't Be A Dick, was produced by Billie Joe and recorded in only four days at Jingletown Recordings in Oakland, CA.
New York City got a small taste of Emily's Army last year at the Bowery Electric when they opened for Green Day's side project, The Foxboro Hot Tubs. Since then, they've mainly performed locally on the west coast, but recently returned back east on their very first tour
Photo credit: Jessica Le
On August 9th, Emily's Army played a show at The Stolen Sleeves Collective, which is actually a fan's basement located in Brooklyn. As happy as I was not getting mugged during my seven-block walk from the subway, I was even happier to check out a full Emily's Army set once and for all. Before the show, the band sat at their merch booth, more than willing to meet the fans that came out to see them. It turns out the Becker brothers are quite the flirts, as they immediately informed me that the purchase of their CD comes with a "free kiss" and later wrote "You're beautiful" on my CD. As adorable as they are, my adult self traded in the free kiss for a free hug instead.
During their half hour set, I was extremely impressed by how they already have grown as a band. Since Emily's Army is comprised of teenagers, they most definitely have the time to get progressively better. The band also writes their own music, an admirable trait at such a young age.
In the past year they were featured in huge music publications such as Rolling Stone, Spin, and on MTV.com. Many have wondered if this is only because of their relation to Green Day or they really can hold their own. Well, maybe it is a little of both...but does it really matter?
The lyrics from their first single "Broadcast This" clearly state: "I don't wanna listen to what's on the radio. Boring music...Depressing talk shows. It would be nice to hear something that I musically enjoy..."
After listening to this album, it did bring me back to '94--The era of Green Day's Dookie. And that's always something I "musically enjoy."
Evanescence announced they will be embarking on a tour this fall in support of their new self-titled album to be released on October 11. This will be their first album since 2006's The Open Door.
MTV luckily took a break from airing Jersey Shore marathons to debut Evanescence's new single "What You Want" this week. Perfectly-pitched singer Amy Lee still continues to belt out those notes that many rock singers would fail to do.
The tour begins on October 2 with a stop in Brazil at Rock In Rio and will continue through the United States and Europe with support act Rival Sons.
Evanescence Tour Dates:
10/2/11 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Olympic Park
10/6/11 San Juan, PR - Coliseo de Puerto Rico
10/10/11 Oakland, CA - Fox Theater
10/11/11 Hollywood, CA - Hollywood Paladium
10/14/11 Phoenix, AZ - Comerica Theatre
10/18/11 San Antonio, TX - Sunken Garden Amphitheatre
10/19/11 Dallas, TX - Palladium Ballroom
10/21/11 Milwaukee, WI - The Rave Eagles Club
10/22/11 Chicago, IL - Congress Theater
10/24/11 Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre
10/25/11 Toronto, ON - Sound Academy
10/27/11 Montreal, QC - Metropolis
10/28/11 Worcester, MA - The Palladium
10/30/11 Atlantic City, NJ - House of Blues
11/1/11 New York, NY - Terminal 5
11/4/11 London, UK - HMV Hammersmith Apollo
11/5/11 London, UK - HMV Hammersmith Apollo
11/7/11 Manchester, UK - O2 Apollo Manchester
11/8/11 Glassgow, UK - O2 Academy Glasgow
11/10/11 Plymouth, UK - Plymouth Pavilions
Green Day performing at the St. James Theater
April 24, 2011
Green Day announced on their official website they will be performing a secret benefit show tomorrow at The Tiki Bar in Costa Mesa, CA.
This came as a pleasant surprise to fans, as it is known Green Day has been busy writing and recording for their new album to be released next year. The band's last concert took place in April when they surprised fans with an hour long set at New York City's St. James Theater following the final curtain call of Green Day's Broadway play, American Idiot.
Rumors are surfacing that this show will preview some of the band's upcoming material since the venue will not be allowing cameras or cell phones into the building. We can only hope this is true!
Tickets are first come, first serve at the door and all proceeds will be donated to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Earlier this year, the Foo Fighters performed in the garages of eight lucky fans to promote their latest album, Wasting Light. The band recently released a 40-minute documentary showing footage from one of these intimate performances.
Anyone else predict the band would pick some big man-cave?
Amy Winehouse's 2007 album Back to Black re-entered the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart today at No. 9. The album sold 37,000 since her death just three days ago, according to Nielson SoundScan. "Rehab" re-entered the Digital Songs chart at No. 46, with 38,000 sold.
It's expected that even more of Winehouse's albums and songs are to be sold next week.
Lady Gaga stopped by The Howard Stern Show recently and performed "The Edge of Glory" and "Hair" from her latest album, Born This Way.
"I really was moved," Stern said of "The Edge of Glory" performance. "That's one of the best live performances I've ever had on my show in all the years I've been here."
Talent at its best. Can Gaga record an acoustic album...please?
Bruno Mars and his songwriting partner, Philip Lawrence, were recently featured in a YouTube video called "Love Gone Sour," serenading their true love, a bag of sour cream and onion Popchips. This is the latest of several recent Popchips online ads. If only that bag of Popchips had ears!
No Doubt announced on their Twitter last night they are working with Diplo and Switch of Major Lazerto release their first album since 2001's Rock Steady.
This makes me believe it will be more of a dance album like Rock Steady. Maybe one day they will go back to their original sound of the Tragic Kingdom days.
At least the Gwen Stefani solo era is over... or so we can hope.
The nominees for the 2011 MTV VMAs were announced last night. Katy Perry, Adele, Kanye West and Bruno Mars received the highest amount of nominations -- a whopping nine for Katy Perry. Eminem, Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj are all tied with 3 nominations.
MTV, which formerly stands for Music Television, still continues its tradition of giving out awards for the best music videos when the station devotes an hour or so at most in the middle of the night to actually playing these videos. It's a shame Snooki didn't come out with a music video this year.
Vote for your favorite video in each category here.
