http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com Discussion about this favorite band of mine Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:18:19 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2009/01/the-2006-mega-watt-a-list-hollywood-super-duper-stars/ http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2009/01/the-2006-mega-watt-a-list-hollywood-super-duper-stars/#comments Sat, 17 Jan 2009 07:01:21 +0000 admin http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2009/01/the-2006-mega-watt-a-list-hollywood-super-duper-stars/ The dogs barked out loudly in 2006, celebrating the coming of their year while at the same time yelling the spell of good luck fortune to numbers of celebrities, including Sacha Baron Cohen, Brandon Routh, and Daniel Craig who them all successfully worked their way up the industry ladder diligently yet quickly. Reviewing the past year, AceShowbiz hand-picks extraordinary actors, actresses, musicians, and even athletes considered to be worth of praise.

Having made a name for oneself proves costly instead of easy. Yet our selected Hollywood figures have all proven no challenges could let them down. Let’s take a look at Baron Cohen. Notable for his highly successful comedy character Ali G, an MC and gangsta wannabe from Staines, Baron Cohen earned an amount of exposure with Borat, a character he created of a naive television reporter from Kazakhstan with a fervent hatred of Jews, an extreme hatred of gypsies (Roma people) and a misogynistic attitude. It was this role that earned the actor his breakthrough shortly after he brought the character to the controversial comedy “Borat”.

It is another matter with Brandon Routh. This self-called “momma’s boy” and not “the most popular kid” during his school years began his ride to stardom when he was chosen to play the lead role in the box office hit “Superman Returns”, a success that ended his steady work in the industry. Formerly thought a full-time acting career as unrealistic, the hunk should start thinking of pursuing it as his professional one as it does help catapulted him into an instant fame.

Our next worth to be praised star is Daniel Craig who shot to the full-fledged superstardom quirky. Named in the media as one possible contender to replace Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, EON Productions finally signed him on to star in the highly anticipated flick “Casino Royale”. Be entitled to overflowing objections and protests from fans of the 007 film series over his becoming the first ever blonde Bond, this thespian ballsy gave it a go and successfully got into the shoes of his character, brought favorable global outcome to the film while also directed critical acclaim toward himself.

Not only the favorable result of the flick brought Craig to worldwide fame, but also it affected the acting career of the has-just-famous actress Eva Green. Previously gained fame for her portrayal in Ridley Scott’s “Kingdom of Heaven,” starring opposite Orlando Bloom, thanks God that she next was cast as “Bond girl” Vesper Lynd in “Casino Royale” that the screen darling was capitulated to her career peak, bringing herself some more notoriety.

The one happens to our next hero John Cena is atypical. The guy, widely popular as professional wrestler, arrived at his career breakthrough not in the smack down field but through acting. Thanks to his taking part in the 20th Century Fox’s action drama thriller “The Marine”, a good stepping stone for the reigning WWE Champion to land at 2nd spot on Yahoo’s annual list of Popular Search Terms of the year.

Acting aside, the year 2006 also witnessed the rapid popularity growth of numbers of musicians, like +44, Stacy Ferguson, Danity Kane, and Panic! At the Disco, just to name a few. Erected their own claim fame, the whole lot have been hard at work on their music effort to become the foremost in the business. Led the pack in busy period for new releases, +44 shot to the spotlight with their debut single “When Your Heart Stops Beating”. Comprised of such big names, as Mark Hoppus and Travis Barker, both were the former members of the big-but-already-break up-band Blink-182, the Pop-Punk/Alternative rock band soon became a strong favorite among music lovers.

The next Most Breakthrough Celebrity in Entertainment is Stacy Ferguson. Took over the lead female vocal duties for the band, The Black Eyed Peas, it was her who initiated a whirlwind of success for the band, which had been playing unnoticed for years. Subsequently turned her sights on a solo career, Fergie speedily became one of the hottest female music artists of the year, thanks to the two hit singles she had on her solo debut album, “The Dutchess,” namely “London Bridge” and “Fergalicious”. Just like Fergie, American R&B girl group Danity Kane, formed through rapper P. Diddy’s “Making the Band”, shot right away to the spotlight soon after their self-titled debut album touched the market on August 22 and was subsequently certified Platinum, such a record for a brand new girl group.

Besides them all, good luck fortune also fell upon rock band Panic! At the Disco whose video for “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” single won the Video of the Year award at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards, beating out top artists such as Christina Aguilera, Shakira, Madonna and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Greater than that, the success of the single itself also helped catapulted the band’s profile as its popularity brought the band’s eponymous album to be certified Platinum. The last, though not least, on the list of AceShowbiz’s Most Breakthrough Celebrities in Entertainment is Vanessa Minnillo. Formerly known simply as the 1998 Miss Teen USA, the young lady soon thereafter established a career in television, hosting TRL on MTV since 2003 and has from that point on become a household name while also making the headlines with her romance with divorce Nick Lachey.





By: Peter Rooley ]]> http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2009/01/the-2006-mega-watt-a-list-hollywood-super-duper-stars/feed/ 0 http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2009/01/the-emerging-art-of-panic-at-the-disco/ http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2009/01/the-emerging-art-of-panic-at-the-disco/#comments Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:22:59 +0000 admin http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2009/01/the-emerging-art-of-panic-at-the-disco/ Right now Panic At The Disco is one of the most influential and original bands on the world music stage. The Panic At The Disco sound is unique and virtually unmistakable with everything from the winding rhythm to the fast and full lyrics blending together to create a sound you can’t help but get sucked into.

Their touring and recently released debut album has given this band a pretty decent fan base. The Panic At The Disco album is consistently full of fast paced and hard hitting music that sounds like no one else’s and is always true to their original selves. As any fan will tell you, these guys just won’t disappoint.

Besides the amazing instrumentations that forms their music there is something more that makes this alternative rock group standout. This something is their words. Panic At The Disco lyrics are easily distinguished from anyone else’s because of their rich descriptiveness and their hard hitting style. Panic At The Disco lyrics are written into a catchy and captivating meter that makes you want to absorb every word. And their lyrics are almost always sung out with a not so subtle hint of malice.

Completing their often imitated style are there collection of short films. Panic At The Disco videos are so highly stylized that they are almost impossible to put into words. Their music videos capture the essence of their songs better than most and the blatant and in-your-face imagery compliments their lyrical style quite well. Make no mistake, Panic At The Disco videos aren’t flashy commercials full of over-choreographed dancing and eye-candy. Their music videos are pieces of modern moving art, full of intriguing characters and situations.

Panic At The Disco was formed a few years back by a group of high school friends who shared an interest in all the same kinds of music. What began as imitation became evolution and creation until they had their own unmistakable sound. Panic At The Disco has based itself in Las Vegas and are finally on the road touring the country on their own.





By: Jon Waraas ]]> http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2009/01/the-emerging-art-of-panic-at-the-disco/feed/ 0 http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2008/12/classifying-music-and-musicians-what-genre-is-that/ http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2008/12/classifying-music-and-musicians-what-genre-is-that/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 20:38:35 +0000 admin http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2008/12/classifying-music-and-musicians-what-genre-is-that/ Bands come and go, but the classification and re-classification of their music is an exercise that never grows old. There are no hard and fast rules, no universally accepted methodology or definitions to fall back on. Music geeks are faced with bands that change their sound and/or appearance from release to release and a classification system that is completely open to interpretation.

As a starting point, how about nailing down some basic definitions and examples of musical genres? It sounds straightforward, but even that can be a challenge. There is no set number of agreed upon genres, names for the genres (or what is even considered to be a standalone genre) and the definitions themselves are frequently the subject of argument. But with the help of Canadian uber-music geek Allan Cross, along with far too many hours of trolling through music industry publications like Rolling Stone and Spin, here’s an attempt at some basic definitions. By the way, we’re sticking to the general rock world for this exercise, so for the purposes of this article only, country and/or western, jazz, adult contemporary and all sorts of other music do not exist; they’re off limits.

Emo: A style of music that’s part punk in its sound, but leaning heavily toward the emotional, melodramatic and angst-ridden end of that spectrum. In other words, melodic and moody punks. Jimmy Eat World is often lumped under the Emo banner and many people would consider Panic! At The Disco and AFI to be current occupants as well. The Smiths are another possible Emo contender.

Goth: An offshoot of the punk movement, Goth appealed to the gloomier music fan. Proper attire was built almost entirely around black and frequently extended to black-dyed hair, black lipstick, heavy use of mascara and black nail polish. In general, the look was spooky; the music could range from moody to sinister. Classic examples: Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus and Sisters of Mercy.

New Romantics: Appearing as part of the post-punk music scene in the early 1980’s, New Romantics favoured frilly shirts, skinny ties and make-up. Classic bands in this vein included Duran Duran, Visage, Japan and Roxy Music.

Synthpop: A sound that became popular in the late 1970’s and early 80’s, Synthpop was, as the name suggests, pop-oriented music that relied heavily on the use of keyboards, drum machines and synthesisers, and tended to avoid guitars or at least relegate them to supporting instruments. Classic examples: Depeche Mode, Human League and OMD.

Heavy Metal: Gaining prominence in the late 60’s and 70’s, Heavy Metal was a “heavy” blend of rock and blues with an emphasis on guitar and drums. Bands tended to adopt a look that included long hair, T-shirts, tight jeans and leather – you’d never mistake them for New Romantics. Classic Heavy Metal bands include Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Metallica. Spinal Tap is the definitive Heavy Metal spoof band.

Heavy Metal spawned all sorts of offspring genres, of which some were, or are, popular enough to deserve their own definitions.

Hair Metal: Heavy Metal with more of a Pop or Rock flair; nothing too deep but trying to appeal to a wider audience. Hair Metal is all about appearance; a variation on the 70’s glam look featuring lipstick, tight leather, frills, bandanas, and long, spiked, teased, or tinted hair. The look tended to undermine their credibility among their more serious metal peers. Poison, Ratt and Cinderella all went for this niche. Hair Metal bands tend to suffer on the reunion circuit because, although they can maybe still play, all too often their hair has failed over the years and without that…

Nu Metal: An attempt to update Heavy Metal for the 90’s. Elements of other genres were blended in, sometimes with Rap, sometimes Grunge, perhaps a bit of Industrial or even Goth. It still relies heavily on guitar and drums, but bands veered from the classic Heavy Metal look and fancied themselves up a bit. Classic examples: Korn, Orgy and Linkin Park.

Speed Metal: Think Heavy Metal, but faster. Because Heavy Metal became too ponderous and lumbering for some, Speed Metal developed. The Heavy Metal guitar solo became more dominant within the songs and the tempos were greatly increased. Early practitioners of the style included Judas Priest and more contemporary bands such as Primal Fear have kept the tradition alive.

Progressive Rock (also known as Prog-Rock): This is what happens when a Rock band decides to get intellectual and explore concepts and musical virtuosity rather than aiming for the classic three minute pop single. Synthesizers and string instruments were often employed to fill out the sound and make things more elaborate. Drummers abandoned their drum kits for complex percussion stands. Rush, Pink Floyd and Genesis (at least early Genesis) are among the better known Prog-Rock bands.

Industrial: Just as the name suggests, Industrial music sounds big, noisy and mechanical. Not known for being particularly radio-friendly because of the unusual sounds, aggressiveness and frequent use of uncomfortable or socially-risqué subject material. Classic examples include: Nine Inch Nails, Skinny Puppy and Ministry.

Hip Hop: Employing elements of a strong beat, sampling, rap and often the use of a turntable, Hip Hop rose from the inner cities to commercial success through the 80’s. Run DMC, Beastie Boys and OutKast are just a few examples of the vast catalogue of successful Hip Hop groups.

Punk: A style of music that became prominent in the mid to late 70’s, punk was built around the premise that anyone could and should make music, regardless of their musical skill. Punk became a sounding board for a generation of angry youth whose songs were about social statements with musical accompaniment tending toward the loud, fast and simple. Classic examples: Sex Pistols, The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers and The Ramones.

Electronic: A distinctive sound that developed in the mid to late 70’s as synthesiser technology became more widely available. Unlike Synthpop, Electronic artists seemed more interested in exploring soundscapes and stringing together interesting noises than producing singles. Kraftwerk was one of the pioneers of the Electronic movement.

Grunge: A sound that grew out of, and became synonymous with, the Seattle music scene in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s; a heavy punk meets metal kind of affair. The typical grunge uniform consisted of jeans and a short-sleeve T-shirt worn over top of a long-sleeved T-Shirt, sometimes with an ubiquitous goatee beard on the chin of male practitioners. Bonus points were awarded for wearing a red and black check lumber jacket. Examples: Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Alice in Chains.

Psychedelic Rock: For those who liked Rock and Heavy Metal, but found them too restrictive, Psychedelic Rock added all sorts of guitar fuzz, distortion and occasionally disjointed lyrics to create a distinct sound. Classic examples include The Jesus and Mary Chain and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, with its roots going back to the 1960’s with the Strawberry Alarm Clock and even The Beatles.

Rockabilly: When rock got just too damned complicated, some bands apparently had a hankering for the old-school, 50’s style roots rock pioneered by Elvis Presley and others. They donned rolled up jeans, white T-shirts and black leather motorcycle jackets, slicked back their hair, and pumped out the rockabilly. You won’t find a better example than The Stray Cats.

Ska: A combination of Jamaican music and rock that reached the height of its popularity in the late 70’s and early 80’s with British bands like Madness, The English Beat and The Specials. Ska was danceable, and the bands tended to be larger than typical rock outfits, employing the standard guitar/drum/bass combo but usually augmenting this with horns, an organ and keyboards, and sometimes a designated stage dancer.

Next up in the classification of music is a series of more general terms used to encompass a wider swath of music, frequently for the purpose of describing a radio station’s music format.

Alt-Rock: Starting off simply enough as an alternative to the rock music being played on mainstream radio, this used to be a somewhat rare classification, dominated by bands that could be heard on alternative or college radio stations: R.E.M., for example. But by the 1990’s, “rock” as it had been known was being left behind on radio and what was known as Alt-Rock actually began to dominate the play lists.

Rock: Once upon a time this used to be straightforward. The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and other bands like them, were considered Rock bands. As time passed though, these bands tended to be lumped under Classic Rock. Today there are Rock bands – Foo Fighters being a good example – but they are frequently referred to as Alt-Rock. In other words, Alt-Rock has, for a large part, usurped Rock as “rock” these days. Confused? You and me both…

Indie: Bands that are not directly affiliated with any of the major record labels, typically giving the artists greater artistic control over their music, at the cost of personally shouldering a greater percentage of the production, promotion and distribution costs of their music. College radio stations are big proponents of Indie bands, but some, like Arcade Fire, have made the jump to mainstream.

Pop: The least frightening (at least on the surface), most melodic and radio-friendly of them all, Pop artists aim to sell vast quantities of records and do so by appealing to the widest audience possible. Pop music itself changes over time, but pop stations are where you’ll hear the likes of Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Spice Girls and Girls Aloud.

Classic Rock: Now that Alt-Rock is known as Rock, and former Rock bands are sounding a little quaint to many listeners, where does that leave the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s Rock bands? They are now conveniently packed under the term Classic Rock, a massive category that can include anything from The Beatles to Van Halen.

New Wave: A marketing-derived term originally used by record companies to describe many of the Synthpop and New Romantic post-punk British bands of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. This is a very broad label and was eventually used to describe anything from Depeche Mode to A-Ha.

So it turns out that genres and classifications are constantly evolving, bands are moving between genres and even the definitions themselves are subject to interpretation.

An artist like Neil Young is a good example of the way in which musicians vex the music geeks. At the beginning of his career, Young played with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Still, Nash and Young. He would have been typically classified as a Rock musician, with a leaning toward Folk.

Then Neil went through a phase where he moved toward a Country sound, again with a touch of Folk. Harvest is pretty representative of this period, but then came Rock again with songs such as Like A Hurricane. From out of nowhere, he veered into Electronic with an album that was so unexpected, he ended up in a fight with his record label over whether the release satisfied his contractual obligation – they basically argued that Re-Ac-Tor was so out there, it “shouldn’t count as a Neil Young record.”

Young went through a bit of a Rockabilly phase, then eventually sashayed into Grunge, with his Rockin’ In The Free World single being adopted by Grunge converts as an anthem. From there, Harvest Moon swayed dangerously close to Adult Contemporary, and now he appears to be back to his Folk roots.

So how on earth do you classify Neil Young? Well, you could choose to break his career into phases and classify each of those individually, or do the safe thing and file him under Classic Rock. There’s a good weekend worth of arguing over this one, and don’t think it won’t happen.

And of course, you can combine any of the categories and classifications in an attempt to define a band. The Police, for example, defy a straightforward definition and so become a compound categorization: reggae-influenced, new wave, post-punk, power-pop trio.

Simple, isn’t it?





By: Brad Moon ]]> http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2008/12/classifying-music-and-musicians-what-genre-is-that/feed/ 0 http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2008/12/concert-ticket-broker-%e2%80%93-procuring-your-tickets/ http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2008/12/concert-ticket-broker-%e2%80%93-procuring-your-tickets/#comments Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:48:37 +0000 admin http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2008/12/concert-ticket-broker-%e2%80%93-procuring-your-tickets/ A concert ticket broker is a great help if you want to see a concert, especially at the last moment. New York, a city full of entertainment, has a number of concerts going on at the same time, but still the tickets are not easy to get. Concert tickets for popular live concerts are always difficult to procure, unless you use the services of a concert ticket broker. Most concert ticket brokers can be accessed online, and you can obtain all information vis-à-vis schedules, ticket purchases, etc. All concert ticket brokers can offer you a wide selection of live concert tickets, and you need to ensure that the ticket broker you contact is a legitimate one.

Tickets to a Pop, Rock Pop, or Country Pop concert, or tickets for live concerts of your favorite stars, or for your favorite events – a legitimate concert ticket broker will never disappoint you. At any given time, concerts or events such as:

American Idols Live

Dixie Chicks

Jimmy Buffett

Madonna

Panic! At the Disco

Pearl Jam

Shakira

V Festival

The Who

. . . are always on, with tickets difficult to come by. This is where a concert ticket broker comes in handy.

A concert ticket broker, who has been in the business of providing live concert tickets to his patrons, has a reputation to protect, and will always ensure that his patrons are always satisfied.

The services of a concert ticket broker is to attend to all the ticketing needs of his patrons, including going that extra length to provide the premium seats for the concert of your choice. Most legitimate and licensed concert ticket brokers are courteous and professional in their dealings with their patrons.

The Mantra – You Ask, We Get

You just need to tell the concert ticket broker the concert of your choice, and he provides the tickets. A good concert ticket broker is usually a one-stop shop as far as you should be concerned. The broker has the contacts in the industry to find the tickets for the live concerts – which are usually hard to find. For that elusive ticket to your favorite concert, you need to pay a bit more than the face value of the ticket. Whether it is a single ticket you are looking for, or group tickets, you will need to pay extra to cover the cost of procuring these tickets for you. As you know – there are no free lunches!

You, of course, have an option of trying to get your tickets directly from the venue.

A legitimate concert ticket broker will charge a reasonably higher amount , but will ensure you the tickets of your choice. The extra charge over the face value reflects the difficulty in procuring tickets for you through his contacts. At times, the more popular a concert, and more popular the star, the higher you will have to pay for your tickets.





By: Al Terry ]]> http://www.panicatthediscoblog.com/2008/12/concert-ticket-broker-%e2%80%93-procuring-your-tickets/feed/ 0