Frequency
Lil Wayne, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Kenny Chesney, the Jonas Brothers and Coldplay are the first performers announced for the 51st annual Grammy Awards. The event is to be held Feb. 8 at Los Angeles' Staples Center and broadcast on CBS.
In a true homage to internet culture, Perry's performance will be interactive. Fans can currently upload short videos of themselves singing along to her hit "I Kissed a Girl" to CBS.com/Grammys through Feb. 6. User voting will ultimately determine which video will be shown during Perry's segment.
Each of the performers has received nods for awards; Lil Wayne leads the pack with nominations in eight categories.
As if the cast of the concert event, We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration, wasn’t star studded enough, enter Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and Bono. They will be joining a list of celebrities including John Mellencamp, James Taylor, Usher, Stevie Wonder, Will.I.Am, John Legend, Shakira and Garth Brooks on Sunday, January 18th at the Lincoln Memorial to usher in our new president. The concert itself kicks off a four day series of venues that promise to be as exciting as the event being celebrated. In addition to the mix of music industry giants, historical readings will also be made by some names you may recognize - Queen Latifah, Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx and Martin Luther King III.
For those of us who won’t be making it to the free live showing, HBO is broadcasting the gala via an open feed at 7pm, making it available to anyone with cable access.
Scissor Sisters
Genre: Glam Rock/Dance Pop
Website: www.scissorsisters.com
“Our music and shows are as much for hormonal teenagers and housewives with a dancing bug as it is for the downtown party scene.”
Jake Shears, Ana Matronic, Babydaddy and Del Marquis make up this New York City-formed quartet. Joining musical forces back in 2001, Scissor Sisters named themselves after a well known girl-on-girl sex position, a theme that would come to mirror some of the bands lyrical content. The group, whose sound is inspired by ABBA, the Bee Gees, Blondie, KC and the Sunshine Band, Duran Duran and even Elton John, ranges everywhere from Punk and Glam Rock to Dance and Electronic. They are noted for covering controversial topics with their songs like drug use within the gay community and deep personal issues of love and turmoil. They are a band that bares their souls with something you can dance to.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane…actually it’s just Asher Roth. If the name isn’t yet familiar, it will be soon: he was on MTV’s “MC’s to Watch” list of 2009. Roth dove right into tabloid stardom before even getting his sweet limelight glow yesterday.
He and his band mates were en route from Atlanta to Los Angeles onboard a Delta aircraft for their big premiere on the Carson Daily Show when a man allegedly lunged at an attendant claiming he had a bomb. Asher, alongside many other passengers on the plane, acted quickly and apprehended the man. The plane landed shortly thereafter in Los Angeles and the man was searched along with his luggage and no explosives were found.
Junior Boys
Genre: Electropop
Website: www.juniorboys.net
“We are definitely in support of downloading if it gets our music to more fans' ears. We certainly have no problem with that.”
All the way from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, the Junior Boys are starting to make a ruckus with their unique electropop sound. Delicate and precise, they demand a respectful and refined ear for complete appreciation. Originally formed in 1999, Jeremy Greenspan and Johnny Dark were the creative members of the group, but Dark dropped out after countless failed attempts to get signed. Soon after their musical divorce, Greenspan hooked up with engineer Matt Didemus and moved forward under the Junior Boys name, getting a deal with KIN Records.
So it seems that The Boss has now signed on with many other artists to celebrate the inaugural event on January 18th in support of our new President. The reports claim that Bruce Springsteen will be putting on a show at the National Mall in Washington D.C. The show is free and open to public, however, the time has not yet been disclosed.
Springsteen has been a long-time supporter of Barack Obama and has put on numerous live performances in different cities across the country to raise awareness and inspire people to vote. His participation will surely bring a crowd! [Billboard]
Crystal Castles
Genre: Indie, Electronic
Website: www.myspace.com/crystalcastles
"We both hate video games. We were just breaking apart electronics and toys to get annoying sounds." -Crystal Castles [NOW]
Ethan Kath and Alice Glass create spacey Atari sounds paired with screeching vocals that materialize in light-studded performances. Crystal Castles was initially an instrumental act headed by Kath that found its missing piece in 2005: Glass’s voice. The duo inadvertently snatched a record deal with Last Gang Records after an amateur recording titled "Alice Practice" found its way onto MySpace. In the spring of 2008, this Canadian band released their debut LP and shifted the music scene into a nebulous world where arcade games breed with the fuming chant of a breathless girl. Their innovative keyboard, enhanced by an Atari 5200 smart chip serves as a trance-inducing instrument that has drawn listeners to a countless number of music venues. The gigs have gained reputation as a showcase of awesomeness-- an extraordinary light show complemented with Alice’s ferocious energy that literally spills out over the crowd.
Discography
Crystal Castles (2008)
Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z has just announced a pre-inauguration concert that will be held in Washington D.C. the night before history is made. The rapper has been a Barack supporter since his pronouncement to run for office back before Bush nailed the proverbial nail in our economy’s coffin. Jay-Z alongside Diddy and Mary J. Blige wrote a letter to the hip-hop community just before Election Day asking people to get out and vote for change. With their encouragement, along with the support of many other artists in the entertainment industry, people did just that. Now they are ready to celebrate!
The concert is being called “Concert on the Eve of Change,” and will be held in the Warner Theater. The venue has a capacity of less than 2,000-- an intimate setting to ring in a new day in America. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am.