Hammer launches dance video site

Hammer's latest venture is doomed to fail.

MC Hammer just launched a YouTube equivalent of "So you think you can dance".

Visitors are invited to "tape" their dance moves and upload the video to the website so that they can win a camera.

So if visitors need a camera to record their dance moves in the first place, why would they want to win a ... camera?

DanceJam.com requires visitors to have the very latest version of Flash.

In no time, the majors will sue the website since dancers will use popular songs to dance to, we assume the site hasn't made a deal with Universal Music unlike YouTube.

If it does indeed become successful, that'll restore Hammer's credit rating. Although Hammer's a cool guy and I wish him well, his venture should have been better planned. How about a 63 inch LCD screen instead of a cheap camera.

Did he abandoned his "career" as a reverend? Does he still dance?


Would have supplied a screen capture but made fun of an MC Hammer record instead.

Image source: Our mock-up of MC Hammer's Greatest Hits" at Amazon

MC Hammer's DanceJam.com

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Can Brooks save Disco Kandi ...

Jason Brooks, original illustrator of the famed Hed Kandi artwork cover sleeves returned "home" last August '07 after a brief stint at Mark Doyle's Fierce Angel label.

About welcoming Jason back to the Hed Kandi family, the label's Manager, Dan Baxter, says, "Hed Kandi has always been about the perfect combination of stylish music and stylish imagery. Jason Brooks is extraordinarily talented and his work is a key part of our iconography and heritage. Nobody represents Hed Kandi better than Jason so his return means so much to us."

Jason Brooks says, "I'm naturally thrilled to be back on the team at Hed Kandi and am looking forward ... to evolving the brand imagery beyond anything I've done before."

Now I have no clue if their compilations are selling well or not, but what I do know is that haven't purchased much of them lately and neither did some of my friends. Disco House is dead nowadays, the formula has been bled to death, quality releases are too few, it's time to move on. Although their Nu Cool series and Twisted Disco ones aren't bad at all.

The illustrator maybe back but the Disco Kandi/Heaven compilations are crappy. Same ol' Fedde LeGrand and Fish go Deep, given a choice between spending cash for a Jason Brooks Hed Kandi poster and a Disco Kandi cd. I'd go for the first.

Disco Kandi at Amazon.com
View exquisite imagery of Jason Brooks on his website
Hed Kandi posters at Hed Kandi

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Disco still dead according to US TV News

US news are not trustworthy as far as music trends are concerned.

Again and again every time July comes, they bring up Chicago's disco demolition night from 1979 and pass that as news.

Instead of researching the subject, whether disco is popular or reinterpreted in music, the influence of disco culture in today's apparel style and trends, all they do is rehash disco hatred and glorify Steve Dahl. They also fail to mention that disco has been played again at Comiskey Park ... (renamed Cellular Field) during a Chicago Sox game as we reported in the disco news section of our website 2 years ago.

Watch their excitement as Dahl announces there are plans for a movie based on this event.

Keith Olbermann is best remembered for airing his opinion about the White House recently.

Watch the fools on YouTube

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Sinclar hit by lightening too

Look at Bob's new promotional photo! What a coincidence! You must have read by now about the guy who was hit with a thunderbolt while listening to his portable MP3 player on a beautiful rainy day.

The current passed through his headphone, his eardrums were lacerated, it followed the wiring atop his chest, he was burned there too.

See the photo of the guy who got hit
and no, it doesn't look like Bob's photo

P.S. That's a stupid photo with the ketchup ... trick, but Bob's in shape, looks like the armpits have been given a trim.

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Nominee hosting a music award show = 1-2 trophies

I have not seen all award shows ever produced in the last 12 month, so wanna make this clear before you read further.

Is it me? or isn't it suspicious that everytime a nominee host an award show, they always leave with a trophy.

There should be a law that prohibits a nominee in hosting a show, cause in recent times I have never seen a nominee artist leave empty handed.

So until they implement this new rule, next time a nominee artist host a music award show, you can predict what's gonna happen before it happens.

Is it because some artist have big egos? or "the corporates" will never let artists from their stable, host a show if they don't win, simple! I assume it's more often the later.

Most blatant example was the Canadian Juno Awards 2007 on April 1st that was taped before broadcast.

So when is the next music award show and who will host it...

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Ford Fusion commercial, a record, a song or a car

It's all that!

Here's a cropped screen capture of a Ford commercial banner I clicked on last week while reading the news on a Canadian newspaper site. When you click on it, you end up on a Saturday Night Fever style dancefloor, 4 djs spinning turntables in unison and you have to figure out what you have to do next. It caught my attention, that's what effective advertising is all about.

So for those who think the only way to get attention is to show the female form, not that there is anything wrong with that, well, the reality is, that for some of us, cars are sexy, turntables, vinyl records, flat screens are sexy, you know material things. But not sexy in a reproductive sense, more like appealing.

No word on whether that vinyl record exist for real.

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Prince, blobs and interpretation

Freudian Psychodynamic theory, tell me what you see.

Psychologists sometimes uses images, show them to their patients and ask: "What do you see?". Those images most often are like globs and blobs of various shapes.

Prince? Some have complained that during the Superbowl, Prince's guitar looked way too phallic, during the behind the huge winded drape episode. A veiled attempt to cause another scandal like the Janet Jackson nipple incident? Nope, didn't happen, thanks Prince, that was hilarious.

See the image that shocked a few here along with the story

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Musicovery: Jukebox or radio ...

Musicovery is an interactive jukebox. Some will call it a radio but there's no point in calling an apple a pear. None the less Musicovery lives up to its name, making you discover songs by selecting a mood, a preference, an era or more precisely a genre.

There are 2 interfaces; the first one shown looks sort of like a TV remote. Make your selection and enjoy or not, at that point another graphical interface will materialize like a threaded amoeba on the right hand side. Hover your mouse, titles and artists names will be displayed alongside the thread that now looks like a stretched DNA strand -the graphic designer might have a biochemistry background -. Occasionally, the relations don't make sense and that's exactly when the wow surprise factor enters. You're tired of interacting? No problem, it'll play the tunes along the thread like some recite their prayers one bead at a time on a rosary.

Musicovery is fun and a great way to find out about new songs even if it don't match the sophistication of Last FM. Its visual appeal and instant accessibility makes it worth a visit, or two.

There are US, UK and France versions, all can be accessed from the main URL at:


Musicovery.com

No signing up or registration required, no commercial pop up ads annoyances either.

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Isn't she lovely; Amy the powerhouse

Once in a while comes an incredible performer that blows your mind.

It was another average evening where I was working on the computer and the TV was on in the background. The Brit Awards were being broadcasted that night. The Scissor Sisters performed and surely caught my attention. Thinking nothing could top them off, afterwards, went back to the keyboard, then later, that big female voice echoed in the room, I looked at the TV and saw an incredibly stunning singer looking strangely like Eva Mendes with a huge beehive, dressed retro, backed up with what looked like a blues band all dressed in black, she had tatoos on her arms, who is she? Amy Winehouse. She later grabbed an award that night and I've been hooked on her ever since.

People have said all sort of things about her, some true some not, that she's a transgender, a junkie, an alcoholic, a lesbian. Artists have the right to be freaks or outside the norm, they don't have to be role models. At least Amy is being herself, not molded by her manager or a record company like most artists in the US right now.

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The wall ain't standing tall

Everybody has heard Eric Pryd's Proper Education, the dance floor friendly remix of Pink Floyd's The Wall. There's also a website mimicking the wall on the web that has yet to gather serious attention. So what's the point of the music wall? If you're into music and have at least 200 dollars to spare for a virtual brick, make the website owner richer like it did for the instigator of the Million Dollar homepage and cross your fingers someone will click on your banner. See for yourself...

www.greatmusicwall.com

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Freddie Mercury, Borat and Miami Project

Separated at birth

Freddie Mercury and Sacha Baron "Borat" Cohen's resemblance isn't coincidental. Sacha is half Iranian (his mother) and Freddie Mercury is of Persian descent.

By the way, Queen's "Another one bites the dust" got the remix treatment thanks to our European friends at Positiva Records UK (legal and approved by Queen's remaining members). Get the 12 inch while you can here and there, The MP3 is available at the record label and other places.

View the videos at YouTube:

Queen vs Miami Project "Another one bites the dust"
Don't expect a spoof of the original, only kids breakdancing, yawn... zzzzz.

Queen "Another one bites the dust" Live at Wembley 1986
Funkier and with more kick ass basslines than the recorded version, Freddie is king

Queen "Another one bites the dust" original 1980 video
Where Borat's resemblance to Freddie is way obvious.

Pharrell Williams (Neptunes, N.E.R.D.) said "Another one bites the dust" was really big in the hood back in the days in this interview on ABC's Nightline last year (at around 1:20 in the video).

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Girl deejaying and Borat, find the link!

My first impulse to an all girl dj mixing seminar:

It's not good! They have to get used to working in a boys environement, it's not helping them.

After much reflexion, it's actually an excellent idea. Girls are empowered in an all female environment, they can stumble all they want and be ready for the real thing when the time comes. Networking is essential in the dj world and networking with men ain't easy for female djs. Club owners expect female djs to do more than mix, they either have to dress provocatively, show skin and look like models. In turn, getting no credibility from their male counterparts. In America, ironically, the gay male club circuit always has been (and still is) more receptive of female djs, this is fact.

Lucky girls in the UK may get info at Point Blank Music School in London, where it was first offered last month.

Borat's brother Erran Baron Cohen who wrote music for the soundtrack to "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" also teaches songwriting at Point Blank.

We don't know if Erran borrows Sasha's good looks. That's for the lucky UK girls to find out.

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Lionel Richie at the AMA failed to show he was a legend

You've heard that one numerous times from judges on those "I wanna be an idol" shows; "That's the wrong song for you!"

Lionel Richie sang "All Night long" in its entirety at the AMA (American Music Award) last week and failed to get the audience dancing (they did but forcibly, like almost at the end), you might have noticed how hard he worked to get the audience to respond, saying "Come on! Come on everybody! All night loooong!!! Come on!", with arms waving to get up, Jay-Z didn't have to 20 minutes or so earlier.

No one can sing it better than Richie himself but old school fans and those who look at Richie as the master of cool, (remember how he played the sax and was the essence of the Commodores), he could have tored the house down with a potpourri starting with Machine Gun followed by Brick House, Truly, Lady you bring me up, Three times a lady and do a sax solo to top it off, Kenny Rogers could have showed up to give an accolade, remember when Kenny and Lionel worked well together for a few years in the late 70s period.

I'm sorry Lionel, I have tremendous respect for you, but if I would have been your advisor that night, that's exactly what I would have orchestrated and the promotion of your new CD ("I call it love" wasn't a good choice either) should have been relegated to another award show. This was an achievement award and you missed a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the three times a legend that you truullllllyyyyyyy are.

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Thank you Robbie, Fergie, Justin, Gwen, Gnarls... You made 2006 the most exciting year in dance pop in this decade

Alright I'm an underground soul and vinyl collector and never cared for pop music except in the 80s when I thought Madonna, The Fixx, Boy George, Robert Palmer, David Lee Roth and Phil Collins were real cool, never had much pop music in my collection.

Lately purchased the latest Gnarls Barkley, Nelly Furtado's Maneater on 12 inch, Fergie's the Dutchess vinyl EP and Gwen Stefani are on my want list now. What's wrong with me? Let me see what I had in my want list 12 months ago? Fred Everything, Wonderland Avenue, Copyright, Fudge... I'm not supposed to like pop stars even less buy their records?

How come I have Robbie Williams' latest in my 12 inch collection? Why would I care about Fergie going solo? They must be doing something right! Of course, they are bringing back the fun in dance pop. Thank you Robbie, Fergie, Justin, Gwen, Gnarls... You made 2006 the most exciting year in dance pop in the new millennium.

This brings me back in the 80s while still a teen living at my parents house, shopping for music involved a trip to the record store for the pop stuff and another one to the dj shop for underground imports. History repeats itself.

Now Fergie listen to me, now that you're solo, get rid of the stupid bum rappers, you don't need 'em, I hate it when they start their sh*t after you, they don't respect you anyway. J-Lo ain't down with Jah-Rule any more, Christina Aguilera don't strip no more, The "Pussy-Dolls" will follow in a few years.

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Sade, Zhane, Poussez and Wii: pronunciation instructions needed

You might remember those artists (coincidentally all females) whose names were provided with an explanation to pronounce correctly, i.e.:

Sade (pronounced Shar-day)
but in my head I pronounce it like Marquis de Sade

Poussez (say Poo-say!)
that's accurate!

Zhane (pronounced Jah-Ney)
Try Jah love! Billy Zane


Now the Wii wasn't provided with pronunciation instructions nor as to what does the W and the ii stands for?

If you've watched TV lately, you've seen commentators pronouncing Wii as Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

How annoying!

If someone ask you to buy a Wii as a Holiday gift, you could reply ...

You want a Why-eye this year? It's sold out already! How about an Eye-pod instead?

and that someone to reply:

An I-Pod? Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

According to Wikipedia, it should be pronounced "we"

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Rock trippin' to funky house

One misconception about disco heads like us is that we don't dig rock.

Don't dig trance and techno, but 70s classic rock, yes, baby!

70s classic rock is groovy and contrary to most of today's rock, it has rhythm and soul.

The point I'm coming to is those remixed bootlegs available on vinyl at the dj shops.

Some of them are by Dirty Funker, Dirty Funker has remixed The Knack's "My Sharona", Led Zeppelin's Immigrant song and lately, "Back in Black" by AC/DC among others.

So if you love rock classics AND funky house, check Dirty Funker at MySpace or your dj shop.

I have purchased Immigrant song and Back in Black is in my next purchase list.

Dirty Funker did a brilliant and amazing job remixing Back in Black, it's so good, it makes me laugh every time I listen to it.

Other rock classics getting the remix treatment lately (not necessarily by Dirty Funker) are...

Jimi Hendrix Purple Haze and Foxy Lady, some Jim Morrison.

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House music on its way out

Have you heard the latest Hed Kandi compilation, the "disco" one...

What they did is remixing last year's hits electro style.

I almost fell for it, I'm digging electro a lot lately.

Hed Kandi are recycling last year's "categorized as house" records and repackaging them with an electro sound, whether we like that or not proves one thing. House will be dead soon.

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Don't believe the charts

One man I know in the music industry confirmed me something I long suspected. Charts are and can be manipulated by the record labels.

It goes like this, a new record comes out, the record label (or the artists crew) goes out and buy thousands of copies then sell them.

I often wondered how come a brand new cd (and a good one) would land on Amazon's Marketplace as used in such short amount of time like 3 days after it was released.

So next time you see a headline that says such and such artists has sold 50 000 copies in the first week, take some and leave some.

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