Lost’s “You All, Everybody” on Rock Band 2
Drive Shaft’s “You All, Everybody” is available on Rock Band 2. The guys who uploaded this video played the song with “Lost” characters as the performers. You can get the track here. This is totally fantastic.
From Dogmatic2120, who uploaded the vid:
Haha, so this song is from the show LOST, for those who don’t know or are just unaware. It’s by the fictional band Drive Shaft whose bass player, Charlie (a major character for 3 seasons) ended up on the plane that crashed on the island. It reminds me a lot of Oasis and I thought the chart was alright. Really cool to see it show up in Rock Band.
- Matt Price
MC Frontalot coming to Oklahoma City
MC Frontalot
On tour to support his new album, “Zero Day,” MC Frontalot, the godfather of nerdcore rap and hip-hop, will play his first Oklahoma City show Monday at The Conservatory, 8911 N Western.
MC Frontalot bassist Brandon Patton and Oklahoma City-based rap-comedy duo The Doppelgangstas (aka Twinprov) will open, according to a news release.
Doug Fieger of the Knack dead at 57
Doug Fieger, lead singer of the Knack, has died at age 57 after a battle with cancer, the Associated Press reports. The Knack were best-known for the chart-topping hit “My Sharona,” which was inspired by a former girlfriend of Fieger’s.
Singer Weird Al Yankovic said about Fieger on twitter:
“RIP my dear friend Doug Fieger (lead singer of The Knack, and the first artist ever to approve one of my parodies).”
Read more at NewsOK.
Full Q&A: Chance Thomas of “Avatar” game
Composer Chance Thomas provided a lot more information about working on the music for the “Avatar” game than what I was able to work into the recent Oklahoman article. Of local interest, Thomas grew up here in Oklahoma City, and formerly played in a band with Edgar Cruz. But his composing skills, especially in the video game industry, are nationally renowned.
Chance Thomas conducts an orchestral recording session.
Here at Nerdage, I’m providing the entire Q&A, which is an interesting look into working on a game of truly massive scale. For more information about the award winning composer Chance Thomas, see www.hugesound.com.
Matt Price: What are some of the technical innovations of this game?
Chance Thomas: James Cameron’s Avatar is the world’s first stereoscopic 3D videogame. That means it has the potential to deliver the same degree of depth of field immersion as the best 3D theatrical films. Being able to pull this off was a crucial factor in Cameron’s decision to hire Ubisoft’s Montreal studio to create his game. Apparently the guys in Montreal were the first engineers in the world to figure out how to do this for a game in a commercially manageable way. Pretty big deal.
Chance Thomas scores ‘Avatar’ game
Chance Thomas took a step into director James Cameron’s world with the game based on the “Avatar” film. Thomas, who grew up in Oklahoma City, composed the music for the game, available now for multiple game systems.
Thomas has had a long, thriving career in music, composing for the Oscar-winning short “The ChubbChubbs” and many successful video game scores.
With “Avatar,” Thomas wanted to make sure his music shared a resonance with the score of the film.
“I met the film’s producer John Landau in Montreal at the very beginning of my contract,” Thomas said in an interview. “I expressed to him my strong feelings about the importance of aligning the aesthetic of the game score with that of the film. … So I asked John if he would arrange a meeting between myself and the film’s composer James Horner (‘Titanic,’ ‘Braveheart,’ ‘Star Trek’).”
While it took some time for the two composers to align their schedules, the pair did eventually meet.
“It was an important meeting for me because, while in some cases we were on the same frequency, in other cases, he had a different take,” Thomas said. “So it was useful for me to understand those differences in order to bring those colors and flavors into the game score as well.”
To create the music, Thomas created themes for the two races that are at the heart of the “Avatar” conflict.
“The Na’vi are the alien planet’s indigenous humanoid species. They are a native people, spiritually connected with the natural world around them,” Thomas said. “The music for the Na’vi is a blend of tribal elements (rough-hewn drums, organic percussive instruments, flutes, chanting, etc.) and orchestra.”
Meanwhile, the Resources Development Administration (RDA) represents a military industrial complex.
“These are scientists and soldiers, with all their assorted tech, machinery and weaponry,” Thomas said. “The music for the RDA is represented with Western film orchestra and massive percussion mixed with tech and synth elements.”
Thomas said creating the score for the “Avatar” game required a massive amount of music.
“If you took all the music files I delivered and played them back to back from start to finish, it would take you more than 4½ hours to hear them all,” Thomas said.
- By Matthew Price
From the Dec. 18 The Oklahoman
DVD review – Anvil: The Story of Anvil
Heavy metal band Anvil, which played at Rocklahoma this year, has undergone something of a revival since appearing in “Anvil: The Story of Anvil,” a film that presents the hard-rocking group as a real-life Spinal Tap. Director Rob Reiner’s parody film “This Is Spinal Tap,” about a heavy metal band, is brought to mind several times in “Anvil.” Coincidentally, Anvil’s drummer is named Robb Reiner.
Robb Reiner and high school pal Steve “Lips” Kudlow formed Anvil in the late 1970s and by the early 1980s seemed on the cusp of stardom. The band’s 1982 release “Metal on Metal” influenced bands including Anthrax and Metallica. But Anvil never reached the top of the charts. The film, by Sacha Gervasi, explores the now 50-something founders of Anvil as they still struggle to find fame as rock stars.
Gervasi follows the band on a comedy-of-errors European tour and chronicles the band’s efforts to get a new album together. The passion and humanity shown by Kudlow and Reiner as they struggle to keep this enterprise together makes “Anvil” one of the best rock documentaries of all time.
It’s funny in places but also heartbreaking as it reminds viewers about the tenacity and sacrifices required to go for one’s dreams.
— Matthew Price
This Is It appears to be a hit with Jackson fans
U.S. singer Lionel Richie arrives at Japan premiere of "Michael Jackson's This Is It" in Tokyo, Japan, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. (AP)
Movie-ticket site Fandango reports that “Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” hitting theaters last night, represents 77% of Fandango’s daily ticket sales. Fans ranking the film on Fandango are ranking the film a “must go.”
Here’s more information from Fandango on “This Is It.”
* 45% say they plan to see the movie in the theater more than once.
* 48% claim that since Michael Jackson’s untimely passing they are more interested in his past works.
* 76% had never seen Michael Jackson perform live in concert.
* 84% plan to buy the DVD when it comes out; 77% will buy the soundtrack album.
- Matt Price
Michael Jackson’s This Is It tops Dreamgirls
Michael Jackson fans arrive to buy tickets for the " Michael Jackson's This Is It" film, at L.A. Live in Los Angeles, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009. Tickets for the advance screening will go on sale Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009. The film was produced from hundreds of hours of backstage footage of rehearsals last June. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
“Michael Jackson’s This Is It,” which releases on Oct. 28, has moved past “Dreamgirls” in MovieTickets.com’s list of the Top-25 Advance Ticket Sellers of All-Time. “This Is It” now ranks No. 22.
According to Movietickets.com, as of 3:30 PM EST “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” leads all ticket sales at MovieTickets.com. The behind-the-scenes concert film accounts for 33 percent of all tickets sold.
Tickets remain available for the film’s limited, two-week run.
- Matt Price
Adam Lambert’s Time for Miracles video to debut online
The music video for Adam Lambert’s “Time for Miracles” will debut on MySpace Music on Wednesday, it was announced today. “Time for Miracles” is from the Roland Emmerich film 2012, which comes to theaters on Nov. 13.
The song is available for purchase on iTunes and will be included on Lambert’s upcoming album.
The video will include images from the film and will be viewable at www.myspace.com/music starting midnight Wednesday.
Adam Lambert was the runner up to Kris Allen in the eighth season of “American Idol.” In the “Idol” finale, Lambert won raves for his performance of “We Are the Champions” with Queen.
- Matt Price
Lambert is currently recording his first album on 19 Recordings/RCA Records for a November 2009 release.
603 sellouts for Michael Jackson’s This Is It
With two weeks to go before release, MovieTickets.com reports 603 performances of “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” have sold out. It’s now No. 23 on MovieTickets.com’s all-time pre-seales list, passing “Quantum of Solace.”
Tickets are still available for “This Is It,” which is planned to have a limited, two-week run in theaters.
- Matt Price
