Flaming Lips to perform tribute to Steve Jobs on O Music Awards, release 24-hour song in human skulls on Halloween
Wayne Coyne performs with the Flaming Lips at the Tabernacle in Atlanta in May. (Photo by Michelle Martin-Coyne)
Oklahoma City-based psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips will perform a cover of the Beatles’ “Revolution” in memory of Steve Jobs at MTV’s O Music Awards on Monday.
The performance will be recorded with an iPad and broadcast on www.OMusicAwards.com, reports the Associated Press. The Apple co-founder, whose technological innovations like the iPod and iPad drastically changed the way we consume music and other media, died Oct. 5 at the age of 56 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
The awards show, which will take place in Los Angeles, “celebrates the artists, innovators and fans impacting digital music culture.” Other performers and presenters include Robyn, Kelly Clarkson, Demi Lovato, Travie McCoy and Tyler, the Creator, according to the AP.
Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne will compete for The Digital Genius Award, along with Bjork, Girl Talk, Devo and music video director Chris Milk, at the second O Music Awards.
Since Monday happens to be Halloween, you can bet attending the awards show and playing “Revolution” aren’t the Lips’ only plans. And you’d be right.
According to the O Music Awards blog, the band plans to release a 24-hour-long song at midnight on Halloween – and it will be encased in an actual human skull.
“I would say nothing that we’re doing is bizarre or illegal,” Coyne says on the blog. “In parts of the world and even on eBay you can actually buy real human skulls. There’s a place in town (Oklahoma City) that’s called Skulls Unlimited that’s been here for almost as long as The Flaming Lips have been here, and it sells human skulls.”
“People heads come into this place and they have these flesh-eating beetles — I would have tweeted a picture of it, but they don’t allow it — literally eat every molecule of flesh off of these things and you’ll end up with a human skull,” he adds on the blog.
The skulls will come covered in chrome and packaged in elegant boxes, and inserted in each one will be hard drive containing the 24-hour-long song. According to the blog, he’s apparently sold all five of skulls already for $5,000 each, even though the song still isn’t done.
“It’s a song about death and it’s a song about f—ing and it’s a song about life… It’s another element of this Flaming Lips connection with death and beauty and all that,” Coyne says on the blog.
Coyne has certainly earned his Digital Genius Award nomination this year. Throughout 2011, the Lips have devoted themselves to artistic exploration and kept a vow to release new music every month. Some of the new songs have come on flash drives contained in gummy skulls or gummy fetuses, while others have been accompanied by trippy music videos.
The 24-hour song follows the band’s six-hour track “Found a Star on the Ground,” contained on a USB drive within a newly developed toy called “The Strobo Trip,” which provides a psychedelic visual display to enhance the music. The band made the creation of the six-hour opus a charitable event, offering fans the chance to make a $100 donation in exchange for having Sean Lennon speak their names somewhere in the song.
The project raised about $20,000 for the Central Oklahoma Humane Society and the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma, according to The Oklahoman Entertainment Editor Gene Triplett.
-BAM
Miranda Lambert continues “Four the Record” Scavenger Hunt with “Dear Diamond,” plans TV appearances for album release
Country music star Miranda Lambert, who lives in Tishomingo, is streaming the “Dear Diamond” today exclusively at Billboard.com as her “Four the Record” Scavenger Hunt and Sweepstakes nears its conclusion.
On Friday, she’s going to be streaming one more track from her forthcoming record, “Four the Record,” due out Nov. 1. Fans can collect badges at the various sites for a chance to win prizes, including a trip to see Lambert in concert. Go to www.MirandaLambert.com for more information.
Lambert started the hunt Monday with “Fastest Girl in Town” streaming at EW.com.
She co-wrote Tuesday’s featured song, the heartbreaking “Over You,” with her husband and fellow country star Blake Shelton. The ballad is about the death of Shelton’s older brother in a car accident. Lambert talked about the experience writing the achingly lovely ode in a recent interview with Ladies’ Home Journal; to read it, click here.
On Wednesday, she unveiled the breezy country-blues ditty “Easy Living.”
The ballad “Dear Diamond” is one of six songs on the 14-track album that Lambert wrote or co-wrote. “Safe” and “Dear Diamond” paint a portrait of both sides of the relationship spectrum. To stream “Dear Diamond,” click here.
In addition to the four songs revealed so far through the scavenger hunt, Lambert has let fans get a listen to the album’s sassy first single “Baggage Claim,” currently ranked No. 4 on the Billboard country songs chart, and the smoking “Mama’s Broken Heart,” which accompanied her recent Hipstamatic print contest. So far, the variety of music on the album has impressed me, and there’s still more to come.
“Four the Record” also will include a duet with Shelton on “Better In The Long Run,” her cover of the Gillian Welch and David Rawlings song “Look At Miss Ohio,” and album closer “Oklahoma Sky,” written for Lambert by her singer-songwriter friend Allison Moorer.
Lambert will do a live Q&A at 3 p.m. Nov. 1 at Billboard.com, and she has several TV appearances planned to promote the album release.
On Nov. 1, she will kick off her album launch week with a performance of “Baggage Claim” on NBC’s “Today” show. On Nov. 2, she will appear on “Live With Regis & Kelly,” where she will be interviewed and perform the song. Lambert and Jeff Bridges will appear on a new episode of “Austin City Limits” premiering at 11 p.m. Nov. 5 on local PBS affiliate OETA-OKLA.
She also will perform on the 45th Annual CMA Awards airing Nov. 9 on ABC.
In addition to her upcoming television performances, Lambert is featured on the cover of the current issues of Billboard Magazine and Ladies Home Journal.
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Miranda Lambert’s “Four the Record” Scavenger Hunt continues with “Easy Living”
Country music star Miranda Lambert, who lives in Tishomingo, is streaming “Easy Living” today exclusively on TheBoot.com as her “Four the Record” Scavenger Hunt and Sweepstakes continues.
Over the next two days, she’s going to be streaming two more tracks from her forthcoming record, “Four the Record,” due out Nov. 1. Fans can collect badges at the various sites for a chance to win prizes, including a trip to see Lambert in concert. Go to www.MirandaLambert.com for more information.
Lambert started the hunt Monday with “Fastest Girl in Town” streaming at EW.com.
She co-wrote Tuesday’s featured song, the heartbreaking “Over You,” with her husband and fellow country star Blake Shelton. The ballad is about the death of Shelton’s older brother in a car accident. Lambert talked about the experience writing the achingly lovely ode in a recent interview with Ladies’ Home Journal; to read it, click here.
In contrast, today’s song, “Easy Living,” is a breezy country-blues ditty. Click here to stream it.
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Miranda Lambert’s “Four the Record” Scavenger Hunt continues with “Over You”
Country music star Miranda Lambert, who lives in Tishomingo, is streaming “Over You” today exclusively on the US Weekly website as her “Four the Record” Scavenger Hunt and Sweepstakes continues.
Over the next three days, she’s going to be streaming three more tracks from her forthcoming record, “Four the Record,” due out Nov. 1. Fans can collect badges at the various sites for a chance to win prizes, including a trip to see Lambert in concert. Go to www.MirandaLambert.com for more information.
Lambert started the hunt Monday with “Fastest Girl in Town” streaming at EW.com.
Today’s featured song, “Over You,” is the first true ballad that we’ve had the chance to hear from “Four the Record,” and it’s quite beautiful and heartbreaking. To stream the song, click here.
-BAM
Deadline is Tuesday for Miranda Lambert’s “Mama’s Broken Heart” Hipstamatic contest
Miranda Lambert (AP file)
Country music star Miranda Lambert, who lives in Tishomingo, is giving fans an exclusive listen to her new country-blues song “Mama’s Broken Heart” as part of a Hipstamatic photo contest.
At The Big Hipstamatic Show, fans can listen to “Mama’s Broken Heart” and then take and upload their best Hipstamatic pic inspired by the song. Lambert will pick the best in show winner, who will receive an autographed guitar. The top-voted print selected by the community also will win an a guitar autographed by Lambert.
All entries must be original works created and submitted using the Hipstamatic app. Entries are due Tuesday.
A dark toe-tapper, “Mama’s Broken Heart” will be featured on Lambert’s fourth album, “Four the Record,” due out Nov. 1.
To hear the song and/or enter the contest, click here.
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Wayne Coyne, Blake Shelton, Shiny Toy Guns nominated for MTV’s O Music Awards 2
Wayne Coyne (Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman Archive)
Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne, country music star Blake Shelton and electronica/indie band Shiny Toy Guns – who all have Oklahoma ties – are nominated for O Music Awards 2, MTV’s second fan-friendly celebration of digital music.
Fan voting continues online at www.omusicawards.com/vote through Oct. 15. The awards will be handed out Oct. 31, with the event streaming at OMusicAwards.com, MTV.com, VH1.com, CMT.com, LogoTV.com and MTVHive.com.
Coyne, leader of Oklahoma City-based psychedelic rockers The Flaming Lips, is nominated for The Digital Genius Award, along with Bjork, Girl Talk, Devo and music video director Chris Milk.
An Ada native who lives in Tishomingo, Shelton is nominated for Must-Follow Artist on Twitter, and he is competing against Lady Gaga, Blink 182′s Mark Hoppus, Snoop Dogg and Cher.
Shiny Toy Guns, which includes Shawnee native Jeremy Dawson and Chad Petree, are up for Best Artist With A Cameraphone. Other nominees in the category are Demi Lovato, Justin Bieber, The Deftones, Portugal. The Man, Young The Giant, The National, Katy Perry, Amanda Palmer and Ben Folds.
MTV premiered the OMAs in late April, pledging to offer a celebration of digital music that would vary greatly from standard industry award shows. It featured interactive, fan-voted awards that culminated in a live, multiplatform webcast on MTV Music Group websites.
In the spirit of the fast-changing nature of digital music, an MTV official recently told the Associated Press that the OMAs may crop up two or three times a year instead of annually, and the categories will remain in flux and have changed from the spring edition.
For the second OMAs, Lady Gaga and Odd Future’s Tyler the Creator are among the leading nominees, with two nominations each. Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Demi Lovato and Sinead O’Connor also received two nominations.
The first OMAs generated 3 million votes cast online and resulted in MTV’s second-largest streaming audience ever, according to the AP.
“The audience is there,” Shannon Connolly, vice president of digital music strategy for MTV, told the AP. “We know we can give them something they love even more.”
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Cut “Footloose” to Blake Shelton’s cover to win a trip to the “Footloose” movie premiere
Movie fans are invited to kick off their Sunday shoes and show off their best dance moves with the “Show Us How You Cut Loose Contest.”
In honor of the upcoming release of the “Footloose” remake, fans are invited to create videos of them dancing to Oklahoma country music star Blake Shelton’s new rendition of the iconic theme song. They can post the video on www.FootlooseMovie.com and vie for online votes; the grand prize in the contest is a trip for two to the “Footloose” movie premiere.
The deadline to submit a video is Monday, Sept. 26, and participants are encouraged to post their videos as soon as possible so they can start accumulating votes.
Due in theaters Oct. 14, “Footloose” follows closely to the dance steps of the 1984 original film, which made Kevin Bacon a star. The remake stars newcomer Kenny Wormald, country singer/dancing TV personality Julianne Hough and Dennis Quaid and is written and directed by Craig Brewer, who made the music-driven movies “Hustle & Flow” and “Black Snake Moan.”
The original film was loosely based on real-life events that happened in 1980 in Elmore City, where students convinced the school board to let them organize the school’s first prom, despite an 80-year-old city ordinance banning public dancing. The Oklahoma farming community marked the 30th anniversary of the first prom last year.
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Video: “The Pioneer Woman” premiering this morning on Food Network
Check out the trailer for the new Food Network series “The Pioneer Woman,” premiering at 10:30 a.m. today and featuring award-winning Oklahoma blogger and best-selling cookbook author Ree Drummond.
Shot on location at her family’s picturesque Oklahoma ranch, “The Pioneer Woman” will serve up a slice of frontier life along with the “accidental country girl’s” step-by-step recipes for creating wholesome, hearty family meals and elegant menus for entertaining.
“Ree’s easy-going humor and down-to-earth approach to food and life have won her millions of devoted fans online,” said Bob Tuschman, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Programming and Production for Food Network, in a news release. “In her new series, she’ll welcome us onto the ranch and into her home to share her secrets for turning simple variations on traditional American fare into memorable mealtimes for family and friends.”
Over the past five years, the Bartlesville native has chronicled her life as a city-gal-turned-rancher’s-wife on her phenomenally popular food and lifestyle blog, also called “The Pioneer Woman,” With her new Food Network series, Drummond will invite viewers home to her family’s ranch near Pawhuska, and they can watch and learn as she flips Lemon Blueberry Pancakes for son Todd’s birthday breakfast, achieves a Perfect Pot Roast for Sunday family dinner, and serves up Fig, Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza and Sangria for ladies night in. In between culinary conquests, Ree takes time to wrangle horses, compete in a shooting contest with her husband Ladd (AKA “The Marlboro Man”), have fun with her four adorable kids and try to keep Charlie the basset hound out of trouble.
Drummond is a writer, photographer, ranch wife and mother of four. Her blog, ThePioneerWoman.com, attracts more than 20 million page views per month and was named Weblog of the Year at the 2011, 2010, and 2009 Bloggie Awards. Drummond is also the author of the No. 1 best-selling cookbook “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl” and the 2011 memoir “Black Heels to Tractor Wheels—A Love Story,” which debuted at No. 2 on The New York Times Best Seller list for nonfiction hardcover. Ree’s children’s picture book, “Charlie the Ranch Dog,” which chronicles the adventures of her much-beloved basset hound, also premiered at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Drummond has appeared on numerous national talk shows including “GMA,” “Today,” “The View” and “Fox & Friends.”
For more information, videos and recipes go to www.foodnetwork.com/pioneerwoman and checkout Ree’s blog at http://thepioneerwoman.com.
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Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond to appear Friday on “Good Morning America,” debut show Saturday on Food Network
Ree Drummond and her basset hound Charlie are shown in a seen from the Oklahoma blogger/chef's new Food Network series "The Pioneer Woman," which debuts Saturday.
Oklahoma celebrity Ree Drummond, AKA The Pioneer Woman, is scheduled to appear Friday on “Good Morning America” Friday and cook a special recipe, reports my lovely colleague Melissa Hayer on the NewsOK TV blog. “Good Morning America” airs from 7 to 9 a.m. on ABC (KOCO-5 here in Oklahoma City).
An award-winning blogger and best-selling cookbook author, Drummond is bringing her signature wit and down-home recipes to an all-new Food Network series, “The Pioneer Woman,” premiering at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Shot on location at her family’s picturesque Oklahoma ranch, “The Pioneer Woman” will serve up a slice of frontier life along with the “accidental country girl’s” step-by-step recipes for creating wholesome, hearty family meals and elegant menus for entertaining.
“Ree’s easy-going humor and down-to-earth approach to food and life have won her millions of devoted fans online,” said Bob Tuschman, General Manager and Senior Vice President, Programming and Production for Food Network, in a news release. “In her new series, she’ll welcome us onto the ranch and into her home to share her secrets for turning simple variations on traditional American fare into memorable mealtimes for family and friends.”
Over the past five years, the Bartlesville native has chronicled her life as a city-gal-turned-rancher’s-wife on her phenomenally popular food and lifestyle blog, also called “The Pioneer Woman,” With her new Food Network series, Drummond will invite viewers home to her family’s ranch near Pawhuska, and they can watch and learn as she flips Lemon Blueberry Pancakes for son Todd’s birthday breakfast, achieves a Perfect Pot Roast for Sunday family dinner, and serves up Fig, Prosciutto and Arugula Pizza and Sangria for ladies night in. In between culinary conquests, Ree takes time to wrangle horses, compete in a shooting contest with her husband Ladd (AKA “The Marlboro Man”), have fun with her four adorable kids and try to keep Charlie the basset hound out of trouble.
Drummond is a writer, photographer, ranch wife and mother of four. Her blog, ThePioneerWoman.com, attracts more than 20 million page views per month and was named Weblog of the Year at the 2011, 2010, and 2009 Bloggie Awards. Drummond is also the author of the No. 1 best-selling cookbook “The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl” and the 2011 memoir “Black Heels to Tractor Wheels—A Love Story,” which debuted at No. 2 on The New York Times Best Seller list for nonfiction hardcover. Ree’s children’s picture book, “Charlie the Ranch Dog,” which chronicles the adventures of her much-beloved basset hound, also premiered at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list. Drummond has appeared on numerous national talk shows including “GMA,” “Today,” “The View” and “Fox & Friends.”
For more information, videos and recipes go to www.foodnetwork.com/pioneerwoman and checkout Ree’s blog at http://thepioneerwoman.com.
-BAM
CMA Songwriters Series, featuring Kenny Chesney, Brett James and more, to live stream tonight
Kenny Chesney (AP file)
Country superstar Kenny Chesney will appear for the first time in the perennially popular CMA Songwriters Series, which will make its Boston debut at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central today. Chesney will play to a sold-out house at the Royale Nightclub.
For the first time in CMA Songwriters Series history, audio from the show will be streamed live. Fans can visit CMASongwritersSeries.com or NoShoesRadio.com to hear the live performance as it happens.
Chesney, whose songwriting credits include such instant classics as “Beer In Mexico,” “You Had Me From Hello,” “Out Last Night,” “I Go Back,” and “I’m Alive” (a duet with Dave Matthews), has won four Country Music Association Entertainer of the Year Awards, scored 22 No. 1 singles, and sold more than 30 million albums. In addition, his current Corona Presents “Kenny Chesney’s Goin’ Coastal Tour” has sold more than 1.1 million tickets, and his most recent album, “Hemingway’s Whiskey,” has spawned three No. 1 singles.
“I came to town as a songwriter and always consider myself a songwriter first,” said Chesney in a news release. “I’m looking forward to playing alongside my friends and heroes who create and write amazing songs for a living. I’m really proud to help the CMA show the fans what great music comes out of Nashville from our awesome writers. I couldn’t think of a better place to showcase this than in the city of Boston. The fans have been amazing to us and I am thrilled to be ending our tour with over 100,000 sold tickets in one of the greatest markets in the world.”
Brett James
Joining Chesney will be Oklahoma-bred songwriter Brett James, whose credits include “Jesus Take the Wheel” recorded by Carrie Underwood, “The Truth” recorded by Jason Aldean, and “When the Sun Goes Down” and “Out Last Night,” both recorded by Chesney.
Other songwriters performing on the series tonight include Matraca Berg (“You and Tequila” recorded by Chesney, “Strawberry Wine” recorded by Deana Carter, “If I Fall You’re Going Down With Me” recorded by The Dixie Chicks, and “XXXs and OOOs [An American Girl]” recorded by Trisha Yearwood), Wendell Mobley (“I Melt” and “Fast Cars and Freedom,” both recorded by Rascal Flatts, “Strange” recorded by Reba, and “There Goes My Life” recorded by Chesney); and Craig Wiseman (“Live Like You Were Dying” and “Where the Green Grass Grows,” both recorded by Tim McGraw, and “The Good Stuff” and “Summertime,” both recorded by Chesney). The evening’s host will be Bob DiPiero (“Southern Voice” recorded by Tim McGraw, “Blue Clear Sky” recorded by George Strait, and “You Can’t Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl” recorded by Brooks & Dunn).
The CMA Songwriters Series began in New York City in 2005. Since then, it has continued to play in front of sold out crowds at New York’s Joe’s Pub. In 2009, CMA took this popular series to other markets including Chicago and Los Angeles. The Aug. 25 show will be the debut of this series in Boston. For more information on the CMA Songwriters Series, visit www.cmasongwritersseries.com
No Shoes Radio is Kenny Chesney’s online radio station, now available to fans all over the world. Programmed by Kenny himself, No Shoes Radio features music from Chesney’s audio catalog, including never-before-heard recordings, live concert broadcast, and random drop-ins from fans, tour staff, and Kenny’s superstar friends. Plus, fans hear all of Kenny’s favorite songs — everything from the rocking sounds of Bruce Springsteen and Dave Matthews to the Caribbean grooves of Bob Marley & The Wailers — plenty of music that brings to life the “no shoes” attitude that permeates Kenny Chesney’s world. No Shoes Radio also takes listeners backstage at Kenny’s concerts for exclusive access to the “Vibe Room” and Kenny’s tour bus, including conversations and jam sessions with artists like Steve Miller, Sammy Hagar, and Keith Urban. And in the winter months, l isteners travel with Kenny to the Caribbean and get first-hand insight into his life in the islands! From the studio to the stage to the sand, No Shoes Radio is available at http://www.noshoesradio.com and via the free Kenny Chesney iPhone app.
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