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Manchester Travel / UK Travel / Music / Music Travel / Arts / Arts Travel / Summer Travel / Festivals / Festival Travel / → All Tags

The Manchester International Festival: Where Industry and Art (and Bjork) Collide

Manchester is a city of industry, art, and, if you ask certain diehard ManU fans, football. However, it's the juxtaposition between the first two that most vividly colors its landscape. This is the city that birthed both a significant textile boom and Joy Division, each playing a significant role in the development of its social fabric.

Last weekend marked the final days of the Manchester International Festival, a nearly month-long celebration of performing, visual, and pop culture arts set against the city's hardened urban environs. Jaunted took a train northward from London to take in the last of MIF's programming, the highlight being Icelandic songstress Bjork's much-lauded Biophilia show on Saturday evening.

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Music Travel / Music / DJ AM / Drugs / → All Tags

DJ AM, Survivor of South Carolina Plane Crash, Dies at 36

Last September, DJ AM and former Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker barely escaped with their lives when the Learjet in which they were traveling crashed while taking off from the Columbia, South Carolina airport. Four others in the airplane were killed. Sadly, DJ AM (real name Adam Goldstein) won't be around to mark the one-year anniversary of his miraculous survival, as the 36-year-old celebrity disk jockey was found dead in a Manhattan apartment Friday night. According to an AP story, officials suspect a drug overdose killed Goldstein, though no determination has yet been made.

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San Francisco Travel / Music Festivals / California Travel / Music / → All Tags

SF's Outside Lands Festival Proves The '90s Are Alive And Well

Travel we know, but time travel? The lineup of this weekend's Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival looks like it could have been lifted from the grunge rock and jam band days of yesteryear. If you're nostalgic for the early '90s, buffalo plaid prints and all, then the festival is your musical dream come true—and you don't even have to rev up your DeLorean.

From August 28-30, Outside Lands returns to San Francisco's Golden Gate Park for the second year running, following 2008's Radiohead-headlined extravaganza. This year is ruled by some of Generation X's sonic heroes—namely Pearl Jam (Friday) and Dave Matthews Band (Saturday)—but there are also plenty of other of-the-moment artists on the bill that we're excited about: The National, TV on the Radio, The Duke Spirit, and Jack White's newest super-band, The Dead Weather.

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Music Travel / Juice Lee / Kutiman / Rap / Hip-Hop / Music / Airplane Lavatories / → All Tags

Freestyle at 30,000 Feet: Juice Lee Raps from the Lavatory

For Juice Lee, inspiration can happen just about anywhere, and when it does, he likes to capture it for posterity. YouTube is filled with clips of the rapper freestyling on the street, or while sitting on a flight of stairs, or even while driving a car (I believe he was using a hands-free recording device, in accordance with traffic laws). Now he's taking it to a whole new level and giving the rapping Southwest Airlines flight attendant a run for his money with an extemporaneous two-minute rhyme performed inside an airplane lavatory.

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Today Show / Summer Concerts / Music Travel / Music / Mariah Carey / → All Tags

How to Get Into the Today Show Summer Concert Series

If there’s one NYC tourist trap that’s hard for even sensible tourists to pass up, it’s the glorious cheesiness of saying hi to your friends from the set of The Today Show, and actually, getting on the set is surprisingly doable. Unlike late-night shows such as SNL and Letterman, you don’t have to send away in advance for tickets or queue up all night for standbys.

For Today, you can just show up and be on TV, provided you beat the crowds of course. Most days, you’ll want to be outside the Rockefeller Center studios by 7am for any hopes of getting near the cameras.

And what about the Today Show Summer Concert Series, which brings the music out on to the Rock Center plaza starting tomorrow? That’s a little more difficult, but also not so bad. You can email NBC for a chance to get randomly selected “fan passes” for a specific show, which put you right up front and center. If you don’t luck out with those, you can also just show up at the plaza, but you’ll usually need to be there by at least 6 a.m.

The concert series kicks off this Friday with Kings of Leon, then continues every Friday in August with live sets from Jason Mraz, Flo Rida, Natasha Beningfield and Mariah Carey.

Related Stories:
· TODAY concert series schedule [Official Site]
· Want fan passes for the TODAY concerts? [NBC]
· Is Peter Greenberg Through With 'The Today Show'? [Jaunted]

[Photo: Today Show]

Music / Music Travel / Kutiman / YouTube / → All Tags

Kutiman Travel: Tel Aviv Music Master Taps YouTube Talent from Around the World

Man, ever since I discovered Kutiman last Thursday, I can not stop watching his amazing collection of videos. Normally I try to curb my enthusiasm when the latest meme catches afire, but this guy is simply amazing and deserves all the viral fame he's getting. Kutiman is the pen name for Ophir Kutiel, a Tel Aviv-based musician and producer who recently spent three months deconstructing YouTube clips in his bedroom and creating a series of music videos that literally tap the best talent that can be found on the web. The resulting mash-up is nothing short of astounding, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the featured artists - and Kutiman himself - soon found themselves on the top of the musical game.

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Music / Blues Travel / Mississippi Delta / → All Tags

Blues Travel: B.B. King Museum Opens in Indianola, Mississippi

Blues fans from across the country found themselves deep in the Mississippi Delta this weekend to celebrate the opening of the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center. The humble guitar legend was on hand to christen the $15 million facility dedicated to preserving not only King's legacy, but the story of the Delta Blues itself. King turns 83 on Tuesday, and was moved to see his name on the front of the museum. As he told the Clarion-Ledger:

"I didn't go to school long enough to be able to tell you how I feel. But I have heard that heaven is beautiful. If heaven is more beautiful than the way I feel today, I'm ready to go tomorrow."

B.B. King is one of the good ones in our book (listen to this NPR interview and tell me you don't agree), and though 83 is a ripe old age, here's hoping he and Lucille (his guitar) hang around a few years longer. Sure, he's enjoyed tremendous success, but anybody who has picked and chopped as much cotton as this man did as a youth deserves some measure of comfort and joy in his golden years.

[Photo: B.B. King Museum]

Related Stories:
· B.B. King Museum [Official Site]
· Blues' King Likes Castle [Clarion-Ledger]
· Music Travel Coverage [Jaunted]

Eurovision / Music / Serbia Travel / Videos / → All Tags

Eurovision's Over: Couldn't the Pirates Have Won?

We're shattered that Eurovision is over for another year, and it's lucky we had an extra long weekend so we could get over the disappointment of geriatric rapper 75 Cents and his crew not winning.

We did predict, though, that good-looking Russian candidate Dima Bilan had a good chance, and now we wish we'd put some money on it: He and his nation raced away with a more than 40 point victory over Ukraine.

We're also a bit disappointed that the Latvian entry slipped under our radar until grand final night, because we would have liked to show them some support. For reasons surely known only to them, they entered a pirate song! And we loved it. Roll on Eurovision 2009. We'll see ya in Moscow.

Related Stories:
· The Eurovision Grand Finale [Jaunted]
· Turkeys (And Singers) to Watch at Eurovision [Jaunted]

Eurovision / Music / Serbia Travel / Videos / → All Tags

Eurovision 2008: Grand Finale on Saturday

The excitement of Eurovision, coming out of Belgrade this year, is coming to climax tomorrow: The semi-finals are all over and we know that quite a few of our favorites have bitten the dust.

We were keen on the invented-language magic of Belgium, but the band Ishtar got knocked out. We've also made no secret of our crush on Ireland's turkey; he didn't make it either.

Depending on who you listen to, the favorites might now be Sweden's Charlotte Perrelli who's singing a song called "Hero," or it might be a 75-year-old Croatian rapper. The French are probably hoping, though, that their electro-pop singer doesn't win because it's a national scandal that he's singing in English.

We're of course behind the geriatric rapper 75 Cents. (Real name!)

Related Stories:
· Favourites Through to Eurovision Final [AFP]
· We Heart Dustin the Turkey [Jaunted]
· Eurovision 2008: Bringing Belgium Together [Jaunted]

[Photo: Eurovision]

Eurovision / Music / Serbia Travel / Videos / → All Tags

Eurovision 2008: Bringing Belgium Together

The semi-finals for oddly captivating song contest Eurovision happen tonight in Belgrade, and Belgian group Ishtar will be doing their track "O Julissi." Written in a made up language, composer Michel Vangheluwe says it was inspired by the happiness of childhood. But we suspect the song might have more than a little something to do with the constant tension between his homeland's French- and Flemish-speaking halves.

On the eve of his group's performance, Vangheluwe told the BBC:

Language nowadays can be a political issue, but it shouldn't. Music is something that brings people together and whatever language you sing in, you get the message and that's the most important thing.

As it happens, "O Julissi" isn't the first contest song featuring invented language. In 2003, another Belgian act, Urban Trad, took second place with "Sanomi." Check out that video after the jump.

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Eurovision / Music / Serbia Travel / → All Tags

Turkeys (and Singers) to Watch at Eurovision

The weirdness that is the Eurovision Song Contest is almost upon us. On Tuesday, the first semi-final will run, and the second one follows on Thursday, when the list of the 25 finalist countries will be ready.

The big event itself is on Saturday May 24, and if it's not screening on a TV near you, don't panic because you can watch online. And if you're living or vacationing in Europe, you can take part in the voting, too.

Eurovision--the contest that brought us ABBA--is full of controversy this year. You can't vote for your own country, but many believe some neighboring countries vote for each other regardless of the quality of the song, so this year they've split these neighbors over the two semi-finals to help fix this problem.

There's also the question of whether some nations are taking the contest seriously or not. While Russia is sending its serious singing sweetheart Dima Bilan, pictured, Ireland is sending a turkey. For us viewers, it's simply serious fun, so don't forget to tune in and see the Bosnian singer who takes his chicken on stage.

Related Stories:
· Eurovision 2008 [Official Site]
· We Heart Dustin the Turkey [Jaunted]
· Eurovision coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Eurovision]

Eurovision / Serbia Travel / Music / → All Tags

Eurovision 2008: Belgrade Promises Incredible Surprises

With less than a month to go until the big weekend of the Eurovision Song Contest, we hope you've got your tickets booked to Belgrade for May 24. We've got a real soft spot for Ireland's Dustin the Turkey (who's made it to the semi-finals), but nearly any of the semi-serious, semi-novelty acts could be the champion--depending on how incestuous the votes from neighboring countries turn out to be.

No matter which song wins, Serbia's capital Belgrade will be the big winner, with a heap of people realizing it might be a nice place to visit. They're going all out to impress with a record 70 tons of lighting and sound equipment at Belgrade Arena, and to finish off the evening there'll be an "incredible pyrotechnic surprise." Dustin the Turkey exploding? We'll soon find out!

Related Stories:
· Eurovision Song Contest [Official Site]
· Eurovision 2008: Adoptions, Garbage and Metal [Jaunted]
· We Heart Dustin the Turkey [Jaunted]
· Is Eurovision a Big Neighbors Scam? [Jaunted]

[Photo: Yogurinha Borova]