Singer Chris Brown ordered back to court over community service

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - R&B singer Chris Brown must return to court in June after a Los Angeles judge said on Friday information was still being collected on allegations that the singer cut corners on his community service requirements.

Brown, 23, is still on probation for a 2009 assault on his girlfriend Rihanna for which he was also sentenced to 180 days of community service and domestic violence counseling.

Prosecutors said in February he had skimped on the community service requirements.

After meeting privately with Brown, his attorney and prosecutors on Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James Brandlin told the "Don't Wake Me Up" singer to return on June 10.

Brown and Rihanna rekindled their romance several months ago.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)


Source : http://news.yahoo.com/singer-chris-brown-ordered-back-court-over-community-225214699.html;_ylt=AsfYDefoYWd6nkEr.pGDhGMEHL8C;_ylu=X3oDMTRiNG9vajl2BG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBFbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50U0YgTXVzaWNTU0YEcGtnAzYyZmYxMDJhLWZjMjUtMzhmMC1iNTg4LTg0MzgzZDE2NWM0NwRwb3MDMQRzZWMDdG9wX3N0b3J5BHZlcgNiNjI4NTQ3MS05ZTQzLTExZTItYWU3Yi1mYjM2OTQxYzRhOGU-;_ylg=X3oDMTIxNTFpNTNuBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANlbnRlcnRhaW5tZW50fG11c2ljBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

Personalize Your Wedding Ceremony With Classical Music!

Many of our clients know that they want beautiful music at their wedding but feel nervous about what to expect during the ceremony. It is my hope that this article will put some of your anxieties to rest. Remember, itâEUR(TM)s your special day so you can pick and choose the musical selections and when they should be played!

Depending on your religious persuasion (or lack of), there will be variations to this explanation. Yet, one can still usually assume that there will be three main parts of the wedding ceremony: The Processional, the Interlude, and the Recessional. From a musical standpoint, however, I like to see the wedding in 5 sections.

1. As guests enter the house of worship or wedding venue
This is a great time to play calm, gentle music to soothe the wedding party and their guests who are full of energy and expectation. At this stage, they do not need further stimulation âEUR" enough said!

2a. The BrideâEUR(TM)s Processional
This is the part everyone has been waiting for. Are you a traditionalist? Perhaps youâEUR(TM)d like something more contemporary? Whatever your decision, all eyes will be on the bride and you want to have a piece played thatâEUR(TM)s equally beautiful. Traditionally, it was the Wagner Bridal Chorus that was played here. Today, there are many other options for those who wish (and, of course, for Jewish weddings). Pachelbel Canon is a big hit. Just make sure that someone from your wedding party can signal the musicians to start playing if the bride is coming from a far distance!
2b. Honored Guests
The information in the above paragraph still applies, but perhaps here you would like something lighter to balance out the brideâEUR(TM)s processional (and of course, to not overshadow her!)
3. The Interlude
This part is heavily dependent on your personal preference. Some ask for a religious piece to be played during the Unity Candle. Others like a short excerpt to be played during the Offertory. Non-religious individuals might just want a meaningful piece to be played to celebrate the ceremony.
4. The Recessional
The groom has immediately kissed the bride here, or in the case of Jewish weddings, stepped on the glass. The guests have erupted in applause and everyone is either joyfully smiling or crying. Now is the time for exciting music that captures the event! Traditionally, it was the Mendelssohn Wedding March that was played here. Today, there are many other options for those who wish.
5. As guests leave
By now, there is usually so much fuss going on that the musicians are playing background music. While no one is paying attention to the musicians, they certainly have a function! Much like in a cocktail-hour setting, the performers are feeding the atmosphere with the happy and excited energy that mirrors what everyone is feeling.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! If you found this article helpful, please explore our ceremony music website where you can find out more about hiring our Boston-based musicians. Click HERE to find out more!

Daniel Broniatowski, D.M.A.
Wedding music contractor

Source : http://goarticles.com/article/Personalize-Your-Wedding-Ceremony-With-Classical-Music/6400076/

Brown wants to be 'bigger than ever'

Chris Brown wants to be 'bigger than ever' in the next ten years.

The 23-year-old singer is recognising nearly a decade in the music industry after releasing his debut album in 2005. He is also preparing for his latest record named X to go on sale in a few months.

Although Chris has already won a coveted Grammy Award for his work, the ambitious musician sees an even brighter future ahead.

"Hopefully in ten years, I'll be bigger than I've ever been - hopefully," he told MTV News.

Chris also spoke about being proud of elevating his loved ones to a higher standard of living.

The star explained he is now is determined to plan his own future to ensure happiness.

"I've accomplished so much of my goals, just from being from Virginia, being able to take my mom, and my parents and certain people out of poverty that I grew up with," he said. "That's one of my main goals that I focused on and now it's about shaping my life."

Chris is looking to move into other areas of music such as producing and songwriting.

He realises there is much more to explore with his job than he could have ever dreamed.

"I think being able to write for great artists - J.Lo [Jennifer Lopez], collaborating, working on her album - and doing stuff that I never thought possible," he confessed. 'Everything that I do creatively, whether it be skating, anything that I try to put my hands onto, hopefully [I'm] excelling in it and, you know, making people see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Source : http://www.music-news.com/shownews.asp?H=Brown-wants-to-be-bigger-than-ever&nItemID=64630

The Poplist with Generationals

By Tim Sendra
This week we shine the Poplist spotlight on the New Orleans duo Generationals. Ted Joyner and Grant Widmer craft warm, engaging music that is slightly experimental at times, but always comes back to a melodic hook that just sounds right. Sometimes rocking a little, sometimes a little funky, their third album Heza is out now on Polyvinyl and it's a laid back treat.

First, here's a track from the album:
Generationals - Spinoza

Grant's picks:
Guitar Geek
These people obsessively document the guitar rigs of famous guitar players at different points in their career. If you're into guitars and guitar sounds, it's really fun to poke around here.

Jeff Who Lives at Home
Written and directed by Mark and Jay Duplass, who we are big fans of. I think this movie is hitting on something that really resonates with me, which is the staleness of irony. The main character, Jeff, played by Jason Segel, is truly earnest in every sense. He is the anti-Rapping Granny. His actions and his tastes are very genuine, he is not winking at the audience when we find out that he is obsessed with the M. Night Shyamalan movie Signs. I think everyone is slowly starting to realize how weary we are of irony and sarcasm, and this movie, I feel, is at the forefront of pushing back at this kind of irony that we get so much of in pop culture now.

Rap Genius
Three Yale guys set up this site. It's a wiki that's designed to explain the lyrics in hip-hop songs. Once I read through a few songs that I thought I knew really well, I realized how much was going over my head, it blew my mind.

Ted's picks:
Burning Love (show on E!)
A great send-up of shows like The Bachelor. I've only seen like two episodes so far but it has a bunch of my favorite people in it, like Michael Ian Black, Ken Marino, and Kristen Bell.

POOLJUMPERS trailer by the Birthday Boys
I think I'm pretty late to the party on this, but a friend showed it to me the other day and it made me laugh so damn hard.

Source : http://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/the-poplist-with-generationals

Online And Offline Methods For Music Promotion

The competition in music industry is getting tougher day by day. Hundreds of young artists are trying to make their mark in the music world. Few are getting success, and few are failing to do so. Success or failure of a band does not always point to the band’s performance or quality of their music. One of the most important factors for getting success in the music industry is the promotion of the band. After this, few questions are likely to arise in people’s mind, like what is music promotion and how it helps to get success in the music world. Promotion is quite similar to marketing; unless people know about a band they will not listen to it. And since audience is the most important factor behind a band’s success, without notifying the audience no band can reach their goal in the vast field of music.

Promotion of a band consists of letting people know about your music. Promotion of music is mainly of two types- online promotion and offline promotion. You can adopt both ways to promote your music. Both these ways are effective for the band’s promotion. Online methods for promotion of a band consists of joining social networking websites to interact with thousands of other users and music lovers and notifying about your band, uploading some of your top guitar riffs, keyboard riffs or the bass guitar riffs in your account for others to listen. If the audience likes your music, it will open the door for your success. Another great way of online music promotion is creating the band’s website. Here also you can upload some of your cool guitar riffs, along with photos and biography of your band members. The simplest and most effective of all ways of online promotions is the use of RiffRaters. This iphone app helps people to record and share their riffs with other iphone users, who listen to the music and rate them accordingly. The most rated tracks get higher up the rank.

Besides promoting your band online, you can also adopt the offline methods. Offline ways for promoting a band is very effective, but they are much costlier than the online methods. Offline methods of promoting a band consist of signing up with music production companies and releasing CDs of your music. But, the music production companies seldom permit any amateur band or musician for recording their music. You can also distribute your home made music CDs among the music lovers you know. This helps a lot, but it is definitely very expensive. Another great way of promotion of a band is printing T-shirts with the band’s name or photos on them and distributing them among the local people.

If you are willing to promote your band, you must follow the above steps. The offline methods for promoting a band may be a little costlier than the online promotion, but they are much more effective. The introduction of the iphone music app, RiffRaters has proved to be very effective in the promotion of a band.

Source : http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/online-and-offline-methods-for-music-promotion-1873537.html

Miley Cyrus Goes Reggae On Snoop Lion’s ‘Ashtrays And Heartbreaks’

A couple weeks ago, Miley Cyrus started a viral storm with her twerking dance video. We should expect to see her doing the dutty wine shortly. She just released her reggae collab with Snoop Lion.

The song, “Ashtrays & Heartbreaks,” appears on the rap vet’s Reincarnated album out April 23. The pop star helps sing the chorus.

So how does the fearless 20-year-old sound on a reggae track? She sounds OK. The vocal production is straightforward. I appreciate that she didn’t try to adopt a fake Jamaican accent for the track, but she doesn’t offer anything distinct to the song. Her voice actually gets a bit lost in the music. Fans likely wouldn’t recognize her voice without first reading the credits.

But the song about losing a loved one is good. Snoop appears to be making the transition to reggae naturally.

In an interview with Ryan Seacrest last week, Miley discussed the song. “I want this record to be just something that’s like different and a bunch of like passion projects,” she said. “The first thing I wouldn’t have calculated like oh, ‘The first song I want to come out would be me and Snoop Dogg.’ That’s never what I thought it was gonna be. I thought it would be my single kinda first. But I just been able to do these things where I’ve just been in the studio at the right time and these projects have just magically kinda come, just happened.”

Source URL : http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/hip-hop-media-training/miley-cyrus-goes-reggae-snoop-dogg-ashtrays-heartbreaks-205528544.html

Carla Bruni Shows Artistic Range With Acoustic Premiere Of New Video

Few women have had as varied and interesting a life as Carla Bruni, who's held posts as a model, actress, musician...oh, and yes, the First Lady of France.

Bruni's legacy as a singer-songwriter may just be the strongest--if not as publicized as her political standing--position, however. She's been working as a musician since 1997, and it seems to be the area in which she is most at home.

Bruni has released three albums in that period--which includes the timespan in which she was officially and formally obligated to the French Republic--with a fourth to follow on April 16. It's no small feat to note that she's written a considerable share of her own material (and a respectable amount for other artists as well). Additionally, her newest album, Little French Songs, contains songs in three languages.

We at Yahoo! Music are excited to premiere the acoustic version of her single "Mon Raymond," a beautiful original composition that's sure to prove Bruni's considerable and continuing facility as an artist. Enjoy, and please don't forget to let us know what you think!

Source : http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/video-gaga/carla-bruni-shows-artistic-range-acoustic-premiere-video-032607726.html