And we’re just as excited as that little guy is!
And we’re as late as….aaaahhh we’ll just leave it as late. Belated even!
Belated. Happy belated birthday to us. This blog made it through its first year sometime at the end of October. The majority of my family is known for belated birthday wishes, well cards and gifts. We usually call [chat online?!] each other at least.
We’ll consider this our birthday present.
Its been fun - via online means at least, I’ve met plenty of great - music loving - people.
I’ve learned a hell of a lot about what’s happening in music.
Still picking away at changes too - part of not writing lately has been figuring out what the focus of this was again [local*], and working on appearances as well - added weekly updates of CDKU’s charts, a link to Zunior’s free weekly sampler, maybe a few other things coming.
To anyone who took the time to read [or comment, or send me emails/links]: Thank you.
* few other things too but…starts (t)here
Plenty of speculation over Amazon’s plans regarding this investment and how it may pertain to Amazon’s plans to enter the digital music sales market.
Amazon invests in social music site Amie Street - Ars Technica
Small online music retailer Amie Street announced today that it has received a round of Series A financing led by a somewhat unexpected source: Amazon. The companies declined to disclose the amount of the investment, which included several private investors, but the move could hint at what customers can expect to see from Amazon’s own music store when it launches later this year.
…
Amazon could also be interested in bringing Amie Street under the Amazon umbrella. Offering Amie Street as a cobranded or entirely Amazon-branded venture would give the site much more exposure and save Amazon from having to develop its own solution from the ground up.
AmieStreet’s Music Community Funded by Amazon - Mashable
The unique approach of a combined digital music store largely influenced by its own social network is probably very appealing to the executives at Amazon, considering the somewhat passive approach it has to the inclusion of user-submitted content.
Music at Market Prices - Springwise
Here’s how the site currently works:
Prices at Amiestreet are determined by demand, increasing to a maximum of USD 0.98 per song depending on how many people download it. The more popular a song, the faster its price will increase to 98 cents. Besides giving early buyers a better deal, the market price system gives consumers the added pleasure of seeing they’ve discovered a song or artist before everyone else has.
Amie Street Closes Series A Financing Led By Amazon.com - TechCrunch
No doubt, Amazon’s recent payments system seems an ideal fit for the site as well.
Amazon Invests in Music Site AmieStreet - Digital Media Wire
Will Amazon’s Music Service Embrace Variable Pricing? - Hypebot
We can’t imagine that labels - major or indie - are anywhere near being ready to adopt such a radical pricing plan or that current recording contracts would allow it.
An a partner in a new indie label I have to say Amie St. has been one of the few music services I have been interested in. Not only do they provide an easy means of selling your music online, the start price of zero provides incentive for people to take a chance on you and should the price rise I see that as a marketing tool in that someone obviously likes you.
So the White Stripes have landed in Halifax, local message boards are rampant with queries as to where Halifax’s secret show will be taking place [front runner location at the moment seems to be Citadel Hill at 2:30].
After posting this I am off to [hopefully catch them where ever] while picking up a rental car and some other stuff in order to go home for the weekend - to amazingly enough see the White Stripes in Cape Breton [and my family…!].
I expect it will be a great show based on the intimate venue alone. 10th anniversary show [whatever that entails] and a certain to be responsive crowd and it is all looking good. I’ll try and get pics and will post about the show on Monday - Have a good weekend all!
Here is a pic of Jack at the bowling alley last night with a number of Halifax musicians and other folk. Michael Catano is hooking up with everyone this month.
1) Sign up at http://www.whitestripes.net
2) Join the message board called The Little Room.
3) Look for “subpopfan1″ and click on the username and bring up the most recent posts. By looking at the boards and posts from people who went to the show, appears to be legit.
4) It will appear in the General Discussion part of the site very close to show time within an hour or so. The shows usually start around 3pm so I’d say start checking around noon on show day.
Summary from Montreal:
Blink and you missed it. As they have done on other stops on their current Canadian tour, the White Stripes gave a surprise 20-minute performance in an unusual venue Friday afternoon before their show at the Bell Centre.
The Black Watch armoury on Bleury Street was the place. Word spread quickly and quietly just before 3 p.m., apparently through the band’s web site or fan club mailing list. By 3:10, a small crowd had gathered in the parking lot, along the side of the building.
Last-minute cell phone calls were being made in attempts to notify friends.
At 3:25, a black-suit, red-tie and black-top-hat-clad man came out and announced the rules - no cell phones, no pictures, and please respect the premises.
Two kilt-clad bagpipers and one drummer played a traditional reel. Moments later, the doors were opened and all were led, single file, through a gymnasium to an upstairs room. Pictures, paintings, flags and trophies lined the walls.
At 3:40, Jack and Meg sauntered in, offering furtive nods to the crowd of not more than 50 people - a mix of media types and in-the-know fans - and began to play a half-dozen-song set.
At 4:01 p.m. the Highland drummer joined in for the tail end of Ball and Biscuit, and they were done, filing out as quietly as they came.
The White Stripes move on to the Maritimes today, and perform in Halifax on Friday night.
- Daily News
They played a children’s hospital in Ottawa. Decent of them.
Previously: White Stripes Surprise Appearances Tour
“I would like to apologize for any misconceptions concerning Avril Lavigne, which may have resulted from statements I made in my interview with Performing Songwriter Magazine,” said Kreviazuk in a statement released today (July 10) “It was not my intention to call Avril’s songwriting ability or ethics into question.
- Billboard
Both Kreviazuk and Avril are managed by Nettwerk Management in Vancouver.
First off you missed a great set last Saturday when the guys opened for Pride Tiger. Not only did they clearly win over some new fans they also managed to keep the attention of some of the guys from Pride Tiger most of their set.
In regards to their album Beware! The Fuzz [I am now half thinking the title is also a warning to bands lacking in the live show department] we have the album mastered - although there may be one correction being made*, a rough up of the cover art [below] and are just waiting to have the album sent off - we have to figure out of the vinyl and CDs will be pressed at the same place.
We hope to have the CDs and records back by the end of July, watch for some early chances to preview the album and get a copy in August before a September release and supporting tour to Ontario and back at least in late September/October.
*Once that is figured out we’ll be posting the tracks on FHTT’s site
Apparently some people out there would think From Here To There was screwed before we got started [mind you we don’t expect to sell 150,000 albums per year, but still c’mon] [ASIDE: C’mon has a new site as well - go see that - even though they have nothing to do with this post]:
Fortune’s Dennis Hau on the economics behind Burgendy Records’ contracts with older artists…Because it [Sony BMG’s Burgandy classic imprint] has a full-time staff of only about two dozen employees, it expects to put out no more than two or three albums a year.”
[From Fortune via Coolfer]
As noted on Hypebot as well:
They don’t seem to have learned anything about indie frugality. Sony BMG’s Burgandy classic imprint has 24 employees to work 2-3 new releases a year. Next idea…
I don’t even want to think about what I could accomplish with the help of 23 other people [or why I would need that many to put out the same number of albums Joi and I will this year]. Fuck.
From their MySpace blog [I haven’t included the cute intro Andrew wrote, nor a short additional update from Brian]:
Their Majesties are officially up in the air-ish. (Ish is the key “word”)
Lots of interesting and important things have happened since getting home from Toronto. Lots of things that could take pages and pages to explain; COULD take, but for the convenience that is Chronological Point Form.
-Niall leaves the band; the band has no drummer.
-Daniel decides to go back to school in the fall, in pursuit of Academic Excellence. As a result, immediate (and future) tour plans are ditched.
-Management (courtesy of Rob and Joi) part ways as a result of point #2.
-The Van is put up for sale. (A combined result of #s 2 and 3)
-Hockey playoffs are watched.
-Soul searching commences.
This brings us pretty much up to date.
Nonetheless, there ARE a few things on tap. Dave Ewenson is filling the drum stool as a ringer. He officially becomes the strongest member of Their Majesties, past and present and future, EVER.
Some local shows should be worked out soon, and the website will let you know. No one actually updates it; it just Knows.
i predict 5 pages, 10+ 300 word rants and a whole lot of people talking completely out of their ass!
- Pop Explosion’s own [former?] BennieP
He was way off on the number of pages [10 now] - but it seems from the back and forth he was pretty much right on otherwise.
chromewaves wrote today about a number of the raw interviews that went into a piece this week in eye about the independent concert promoters in Toronto.
That article lead to the development of a thread on Stillepost. If you frequent HalifaxLocals, or any message board, you can imagine how things went.
As Frank of chromewaves noted it was “a giant mess of name-calling and complaining” BUT, as he also noted, “there’s a some really good ancillary information amidst it all, as well”.
So if you find yourself bored on your local message board head over and lurk amidst their bitching and learn something at the same time.
As it turns out, Jack White is a fourth cousin to Natalie MacMaster, a third cousin once removed to Buddy MacMaster, Natalie’s father and “the dean of Atlantic fiddlers,” and a double fourth cousin to Ashley MacIsaac. According to Daniel MacIsaac, Jack White’s grandmother (and Daniel MacIsaac’s aunt), Florence MacIsaac, was born in Nova Scotia in 1896 and later married a man named Frank Gillis with whom she established a home in Sydney Mines to raise a family that eventually included two girls and four sons. Times were tough in Nova Scotia, however, and in 1924 the Gillises moved to Detroit. Three years later, Florence Gillis gave birth to a boy, Gorman, who 48 years later fathered Jack White.
From the Globe and Mail
On sixeyes:
For a refreshing taste of the band in their earlier days here are six tracks from their two Peel Sessions recorded in July and November of 2001.
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