The 411 on Gym Class Heroes

Source: Hartford Courant ()

I imagine the people most excited about Christmas won’t be the ones watching TV this morning.

Nevertheless, that’s what you’ll get if you tune in to, say, “Good Morning America” (ABC, 7 a.m.), when Barry Manilow, Olivia Newton-John and Josh Groban all visit in what we can only hope are taped appearances. Also, Santa will be on, perhaps providing a morning-after post mortem in the manner of reality show winners. Immediately after, Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa are magically whisked to Walt Disney World to host the “Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade” (ABC, 10 a.m.), creating some Santaland synergy with the Disney-owned network, theme park and syndicated show.

Ryan Seacrest hosts a similar parade in Disneyland, and amid the floats will be performances from an ABC show, “Dancing With the Stars,” as well as a Disney Channel star, Miley Cyrus (who plays the ubiquitous Hannah Montana); her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus; and the Jonas Brothers. Groban will also appear one more time, if only because he has the No. 1 Christmas album this season. How can he do both shows? The parade was taped weeks, maybe months, ago.

Remote PatrolReruns litter prime time like balled-up wrapping paper around the tree.

But there is, however, a two-hour, holiday-themed “Deal or No Deal” (NBC, 8 p.m.), where coal and fruitcake are hidden in some of the suitcases.

More unconventional are the antics in British import “Shameless: Christmas Special” (Sundance,11 p.m.).

Marco Tullio Giordana’s ambitious series “The Best of Youth” (Sundance, 9 p.m.), begins its weeklong run tonight, following the progress of an Italian family from 1966 to 2000 in feature-length episodes.

The 2003 “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl” (ABC, 8 p.m.) plays opposite the 2006 “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” (Starz, 9 p.m.).

A double of “Control Room Presents” (MyNetworkTV, 8 and 9 p.m.) offers concerts by Rihanna at the Montreal …

Source: Youngstown Vindicator ()

The blue-eyed soul duo have a whole new generation of fans.

By JOHN BENSON

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

In case you haven’t noticed or have been in severe denial, it’s time to give Daryl Hall and John Oates their proper due.

Not only is there a Hall & Oates lovefest going on among established artists and rising rock acts, but this ’70s and ’80s Philly soul pop outfit — known for such hits as “Rich Girl,” “Kiss on My List,” “Private Eyes,” “Maneater” and more — is seemingly as popular as ever.

“It would seem so,” said Hall, calling from his upstate New York home. “We seem to have a cross-generational thing, which is amazing. To me it just adds to our abilities to do more interesting work. When you have a new audience, it gives you new impetus.”

What’s even stranger is the source of the admiration. The love is coming from Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas, John Mayer, The Killers, Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Gym Class Heroes. In fact, the latter alternative rap group called its most recent concert outing the “Daryl Hall for President Tour 2007.”

The thing that is amazing about the Hall & Oates shout-outs is the fact they’re all done with love and respect.

“Yeah, we’re not a cartoon,” Hall said. “It’s not ironic. I’ve had personal contact with a lot of these people like Gym Class Heroes and Rob Thomas, and these guys are serious. They want to work with me. In fact, I have plans to do various things with a lot of people. I think it comes from that whole idea if you like timeless music.

“There are people that I respect and were influenced by. I’m influenced mostly by classicism, by the timeless aspect of any kind of artistic endeavor. And I think that’s what I’ve always tried to do and luckily, it’s being perceived that way. I’m not just of a time. I’m sort of out of time.”
of the challenge of being a classic artist means releasing a timeless Christmas album. Though Hall …

Source: Detroit Free Press ()

FIVE QUESTIONS

November 29, 2007

Pop quiz: Quick, who’s the biggest-selling duo in the history of recorded music? It’s not Simon & Garfunkel or the Everly Brothers. No, it’s not Peaches & Herb. The correct answer, as the heading of this article might lead you to guess, is Daryl Hall and John Oates. The duo’s 1974 classic “She’s Gone” launched a string of records that redefined rock ‘n’ soul and established Hall as one of pop’s so-called big voices. They were also one of the first successful acts to forsake the major labels in favor of independent distribution. Long a favored source of hip-hop samples, the H&O catalog has recently been plundered for a mash-up album tribute by Gym Class Heroes. And with Hall having filmed an appearance for HBO’s cult musical comedy “Flight of the Conchords,” it appears that a new generation is discovering the substantial pleasures of Hall & Oates. We spoke to Daryl Hall as he and Oates were about to embark on a tour supporting the retail release of the duo’s “Home for Christmas” CD, and days after the Web broadcast of the first installment of his “Live from Daryl’s House” concert series.

QUESTION: What caused you to walk away from the major label system?

Advertisement

ANSWER: When we started, the music business was still artist-driven. Then I saw that all change. I saw the artist edged out of the process, their rights and freedoms taken away. By the late ’80s, I’d had enough and decided we were going to do it ourselves. In those days, the major labels were still king. To walk away from that was a stubborn, courageous and maybe stupid thing to do. But I did it for survival. I’d rather sell fewer records and be free.

Q: There was no template for the indie move at that time. What did you do?

A: Well, we faked it for the first couple of years. As time went by, learned more and more about how to reach our audience directly. When I’m asked, my advice …

Source: The Elements ()

So says the band’s guitarist Joe Trohman, who didn’t take kindly to a New York Daily News gossip item about a source telling OK! that the younger Simpson sis was "poison" to the pop-punk rockers, and could possibly be part of the reason why 2007’s Infinity on High didn’t score any Grammy nods.

The group’s "pal" reportedly told the magazine that Grammy voters have been put off by Simpson since she was caught lip-synching on Saturday Night Live in 2004.

"This is what we like to call tabloid bulls–t," Trohman wrote in a posting to his blog on friendsorenemies.com.

"We don’t have any ‘pals’ that gossip to the tabloids over our business. Those kind of folk are called douchebags, and we don’t fraternize with douchebags. We also don’t blame a certain someone for our lack of a Grammy nod. That’s absolutely f—ing absurd. We might be irrational, chemically imbalanced babies, but our discontent is only directed at those who we feel slighted us to a degree.

"And at the same time, we’re just over it. We don’t need to be validated by a piece of metal. Don’t believe the gossip columns out there. This ‘poisonous’ person that was mentioned is nothing short of awesome, and we fully back her. Everything in Camp FOB is all good."

The only hardware Fall Out Boy has picked up for its multiplatinum efforts has been of the MTV Video Music Award and Teen Choice variety. But, then again, the Chicago quartet has sold millions of records.

Infinity on High debuted at number one on the Billboard charts after selling 260,000 copies its first week out. The band-Wentz, Trohman, lead vocalist Patrick Stump and drummer Andy Hurley-spent the fall headlining the Young Wild Things Tour alongside Plain White T’s, Gym Class Heroes and Cute Is What We Aim For, and they rang in the holiday season on Friday NYC radio station Z100’s annual Jingle Ball concert at Madison Square Garden.

So while Simpson may …

Source: Akron Beacon Journal ()

It has been 40 years since singers/songwriters Daryl Hall and John Oates met each other as students and working musicians at Temple University in Philadelphia.

The eventual hit-making duo wouldn’t actually begin working together as Hall & Oates until 1972, when the debut album Whole Oates was released to little fanfare. Though the two had a few soulful soft rock hits in the 1970s, including Sara Smile, She’s Gone and the up-tempo bouncy pop song Rich Girl, they didn’t become pop music giants until the early 1980s, when their mix of Philadelphia soul, pop and rock produced a string of hits.

For a Cleveland concert Wednesday night, they will be whipping out many of their hit tunes, but the primary purpose of the tour is to celebrate the season and promote their holiday album, Home for Christmas, released in 2006.

John Oates said the duo waited a year to tour behind the record because Christmas comes every year and, well, . . . they could afford to wait to do it right. But longtime fans who have caught the duo at recent concerts in the area will get a rare treat: The show has a 12-piece band that includes a four-piece string section to duplicate some of the
lusher arrangements heard on the album.

Oates said the show will consist of the album played in its 11-track entirety, followed by a second set featuring many Hall & Oates pop hits. The album features a mix of several of the usual holiday suspects, including Oates’ delicate fingerpicking behind Hall’s tender reading of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, a reverent arrangement of Bobby Helm’s classic Jingle Bell Rock and a laid-back and jazzy The Christmas Song sung by Oates. Oates also takes lead vocal duties on his soulful and self-written No Child Should Ever Cry on Christmas. Hall, along with bassist/co-producer T-Bone Wolk (he’s the bass player in all videos from the ’80s), wrote the nostalgic, soft rock song Home for Christmas.

They also take …

Source: Chicago Daily Herald ()

Kiara Landin is resting comfortably at home for the first time since collapsing earlier this month during a high school gym class.

The 16-year-old Fenton High School sophomore was released Tuesday afternoon from Advocate Hope Children’s Hospital in Oak Lawn, days after having a pacemaker installed to help regulate her heartbeat.

Jovita Landin, Kiara’s mom, said a combination of the physical stress from gym class activities and medicine Kiara takes to control her diabetes led to her heart failing on Dec. 7.

Kiara and her classmates were running a mile during gym class when she collapsed.

When teachers reached Kiara, she didn’t have a pulse and had stopped breathing.

By the time paramedics arrived, several school officials and students had performed basic life support, including using an automated external defibrillator that restored her heartbeat.

“I don’t remember any of that, but I think I finished the mile,” Kiara said Tuesday. “I won’t be running those again for a while, but I’ll eventually get back to doing other things, like being on the speech team.”

Kiara said she came home with several instruments and devices to help monitor the pacemaker.

She’s said she is sore from the surgery but expects that to go away soon. Otherwise, she said, she’s feeling “much better.”

“She understands there’s a lot to learn and a lot she’s going to have to keep track of now,” Jovita Landin said of her daughter. “She’s a young girl with a lot of responsibilities now.”

Doctors will decide at the end of the month when Kiara can return to school. She said she’s disappointed to be missing final exams.

In the meantime, she’ll be taking it easy with limited activity and no heavy lifting.

“After everything is healed, the doctors say she’ll live a healthy, normal life, but she’ll just have to careful,” her mother said.

“That’s our family’s Christmas present this year,” she said. “We’re so happy to …

Source: Canada NewsWire (press release) ()

>

TORONTO, Dec. 19 /CNW/ - Good Charlotte, Mary J. Blige, Kid Rock, Perez
Hilton, Wyclef, Fabolous, Paramore, Boys Like Girls and Flo Rida kick off 2008
in style on MTV New Year’s Eve Masquerade. Direct from Times Square in New
York City, the party shakes down on December 31 at 11 p.m. ET on MuchMusic.
Viewers can expect super hot performances from the all-star lineup of
artists and special appearances by Perez Hilton, Cobra Starship and A Shot At
Love cast members. The famous folk will party with an audience disguised in
masquerade attire who will rock out to house DJ Travis of Gym Class Heroes.
Professional gossipmonger Perez Hilton, adds his scandalous tongue to the
purple carpet, amping up the anticipation with celebrity interviews,
outrageous Tinseltown scoops and Hollywood scandal predictions for 2008.
Acting as host will be A Shot At Love star Tila Tequila, along with MTV
VJs Damien Fahey and Lyndsey Rodrigues. MTV New Year’s Eve Masquerade is also
the exclusive place to see fan favourites from A Shot At Love, including
tighty-whitey wearing

— CONTINUED: To see the full announcement, visit
www.muchmusic.com/media

For further information: Amy Doary, MuchMusic, (416) 591-7400 x2593,
amy.doary@muchmusic.com

Source: PR-Inside.com (Pressemitteilung) ()

www.verizonwireless.com - Verizon Wireless Ken Muche, 949-286-8193 Ken.Muche@verizonwireless.com or Tribal Brands for Verizon Wireless Candice J. Yusim, 323-935-3483 Candice@tribalbrands.com Verizon Wireless: -0- Who/What: Acoustic performance and autograph signing with V CAST Music artists the Gym Class Heroes at the Verizon Wireless Communications Store in San Diego. The band members - Travis McCoy, Disashi

Lumumba-Kasongo, Eric Roberts and Matt McGinley - are appearing in support of “The Young Wild Things Tour” which stops on Dec. 1 at the San Diego Sports Arena. Having just wrapped the Verizon Wireless Campus Tour, Gym Class Heroes is hitting the road again with the bands Fall Out Boy, Plain White T’s and Cute Is What We Aim For. The group’s Decaydance/Fueled By Ramen release, “As Cruel as Schoolchildren,” has been certified gold and they were recently named Best New Artist at MTV’s Video Music Awards. When: December 1, 2007 1:30 p.m. - acoustic performance, meet and greet and autograph signing Media interviews - arranged in advance All day - fans can dance with Travis on the green screen All day - demos of the newest, exclusive music phones from Verizon Wireless: the Venus(TM) by LG, The Voyager(TM) by LG and the Juke by Samsung Where: Verizon Wireless Communications Store 11134 Rancho Carmel Drive San Diego, California

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving 63.7 million customers. The largest U.S. wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues, Verizon Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 68,000 employees nationwide. The company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com. To preview request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon …

Source: SOHH ()

Former Destiny’s Child member Kelly Rowland will sound off against her mentor Patti LaBelle this week, as the two battle it out as choirmasters on the new reality show "Clash of the Choirs."

Tonight (Dec. 17) NBC will debut the program featuring Labelle and Rowland as well as singer Michael Bolton, pop star Nick Lachey and country crooner Blake Shelton. Each celebrity traveled to their hometown to audition hundreds of singers in the same fashion as shows like "American Idol," for a spot in a 20-member choir.

Over the past few weeks the hit musicians have been rehearsing their choirs to compete live against the other four choruses, performing everything from pop hits to holiday jingles.

LaBelle told USA Today she was initially hesitant to sign on for the competition because she disliked having to reject so many hopeful singers. Eventually she was compelled to join the competition and picked a diverse group of singers from her hometown of Philadelphia to round out what she calls "the rainbow boom boom choir."

"I ended up choosing people of all color who can sing rock, gospel and R&B," Labelle told USA Today.

A weeklong series, "Clash of the Choirs," will air nightly, Monday - Thursday, with viewers voting in to crown the best of the bunches. A $250,000 grand prize will be awarded to the hometown charity or non-profit organization of the celebrity choirmaster’s choice.

In related news, Rowland is currently gearing up for the re-release of her album Ms. Kelly, which is scheduled to be reissued in March 2008. SOHH has confirmed with Sony that the re-release will feature several new videos and tracks including, "Work" her collaboration with rock/rap group Gym Class Heroes, "Daylight."

[For more on the R&B scene peep SOHH Soulful]

Source: PR Newswire (press release) ()

New Year’s Eve Special Airs Live At 11:00pm ET/PT With Live Performances
And Appearances By Mary J. Blige, Kid Rock, Perez Hilton, Fabolous,
Paramore, Good Charlotte, Wyclef, Boys Like Girls, Flo Rida and Cobra
Starship
‘Shot At Love’ Star Tila Tequila To Host, Travis of Gym Class Heroes To
Spin As House DJ And Special MTV.com Countdown Coverage Available Online
December 21st

NEW YORK, Dec. 12 /PRNewswire/ — It will be a costume countdown unlike
any other as MTV: Music Television announced plans today to ring in 2008
with the ultimate New Year’s Eve masquerade party. “Tila Tequila’s New
Years Eve Masquerade 2008″ will air live Monday, December 31st from 11:00pm
ET to 12:30am ET in the network’s Times Square studio in the heart of New
York City, the world’s most popular party playground. MTV “Shot At Love”
star Tila Tequila will host the event alongside MTV VJs Damien Fahey and
Lyndsey Rodrigues. As Tila hosts the ultimate New Year’s Eve party, viewers
can expect some of the “Shot At Love” cast to stop by to help her
celebrate, including the Season One winner of Tila’s heart and a special
appearance by series favorite Domenico. Treated to the ultimate year-end
bash, an audience masked in masquerade attire will rock out to house DJ
Travis of Gym Class Heroes who will spin the year’s most popular tunes
amidst hot performances by Mary J. Blige, Kid Rock, Fabolous, Paramore,
Good Charlotte, Wyclef, Boys Like Girls and Flo Rida.

Adding to the excitement of the star-studded special, will be guest
appearances by some of Hollywood’s biggest names including premier
entertainment blogger Perez Hilton. Not one to miss the biggest party of
the year, Perez will be on-hand to host his own purple carpet with
celebrity interviews and will provide MTV viewers with commentary on
celebrity rehab, 2007 breakups, plus some outrageous predictions for 2008.

Beginning December 21st, interested in getting the party started
before New Year’s Eve can log onto MTV.com to check …