30 Seconds Until Mars Explodes?
The band 30 Seconds To Mars (30STM) has a member that is also an actor, as well as, being into guerrilla marketing. Yesterday the band held a screening for his new project and it turned into something beyond real.
The FaceBook and Twitter crowd showed up in droves to see the band in response to their new album “This Is War”. Unfortunately, the marketing treat had a nut on top. A man evoked the LAPD bomb squad. Needless to say, it was if martians had landed into the crowd of fans. Guerrillas and martians… the King Kong of how not to advertise the War Of The Worlds?
“Jared Leto decided to hold an impromptu gathering of 30 Seconds to Mars fans at the Hive, the gallery/communal space he and his bandmates run on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. The plan was to treat them to a glimpse of “Artifact,” the 30STM documentary he’s been working on for more than a year now,” MTV news reported.
Jared Leto said, “We have wonderful fans and what I said was taken out of context online. After police let everyone back in to the area, a number of people gathered outside and there were media outlets and cameras there too,” Leto explained. “And during all this, someone says that a fan had put a sticker on a police car, a 30 Seconds to Mars sticker, and I joked that we definitely have the craziest fans in the world. That was in reaction to the sticker, not the guy. I mean, someone put a sticker on a cop car in the middle of a bomb scare.”
Who Owns American Idol?
Have you ever wondered who owns the TV show “American Idol”? The answer is CKx Inc. (NASDAQ: CKXE)
Simon Fuller is a manager and agent for stars like the Spice Girls. He developed the idea for Idol.
What does CKx stand for? “The “C” and “K” stand for “Content is King” which represents the core focus of the Company’s business strategy which is to acquire established content and to improve and enhance the development and marketing of such content. Other company’s previously founded by Robert F.X. Sillerman, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, also utilized three letter names including an “X” and the Company wanted to take advantage of that recognition.”
In 2005, CKx’s took over Simon Fuller’s company, 19 Entertainment.” Recently, CKX, Inc. announced that Robert Dodds has been appointed CEO of 19 Entertainment. Mr. Dodds, who will assume responsibility for the day-to-day operations of 19 Entertainment, has served as its President since the company acquired his brand content firm, Freedom Media, in August 2006.
In his CEO role, Mr. Dodds succeeds Simon Fuller, who recently signed a long-term deal with CKX to continue to executive produce and provide overall global executive direction to CKX’s hit television and online shows.
Commenting on the announcement, Robert F.X. Sillerman, CKX’s Chairman and CEO said, “Robert has been central to the success of 19 Entertainment over the past three years. He has helped drive the growth of the IDOLS and So You Think You Can Dance franchises, and was pivotal in the development of our recently announced new multimedia initiative, If I Can Dream. As 19 continues to exploit these three and other lucrative opportunities, it is only appropriate that Robert assume the CEO’s role. We’re thrilled that he will be able to continue his excellent work with 19, while maintaining the Company’s strong ties to Simon.”‘
CKx has a record label deal with SonyBMG:
“SonyBMG will continue as the designated record label for winning American Idol contestants and 19 Entertainment will receive from SonyBMG a larger percentage of the revenue from the sales of recorded music from future American Idol artists.”
Kudos To Author J.D. Salinger
J.D. Salinger, the legendary author of “The Catcher in the Rye” died. He was, and still is, a youth hero and fugitive from fame. He shocked and inspired the world that he attempted to keep at arms-length.
Books
The Catcher in the Rye (1951)
Nine Stories (1953)
“A Perfect Day for Bananafish” (1948)
“Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut” (1948)
“Just Before the War with the Eskimos” (1948)
“The Laughing Man” (1949)
“Down at the Dinghy” (1949)
“For Esmé – with Love and Squalor” (1950)
“Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes” (1951)
“De Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period” (1952)
“Teddy” (1953)
Franny and Zooey (1961)
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963)
“Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters” (1955)
“Seymour: An Introduction” (1959)
Published and anthologized stories
“Go See Eddie” (1940, republished in Fiction: Form & Experience, ed. William M. Jones, 1969)
“The Hang of It” (1941, republished in The Kit Book for Soldiers, Sailors and Marines, 1943)
“The Long Debut of Lois Taggett” (1942, republished in Stories: The Fiction of the Forties, ed. Whit Burnett, 1949)
“A Boy in France” (1945, republished in Post Stories 1942–45, ed. Ben Hibbs, 1946)
“This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise” (1945, republished in The Armchair Esquire, ed. L. Rust Hills, 1959)
“A Girl I Knew” (1948, republished in Best American Short Stories 1949, ed. Martha Foley, 1949)
“Slight Rebellion off Madison” (1946, republished in Wonderful Town: New York Stories from The New Yorker, ed. David Remnick, 2000)
Published and unanthologized stories
“The Young Folks” (1940)
“The Heart of a Broken Story” (1941)
“Personal Notes of an Infantryman” (1942)
“The Varioni Brothers” (1943)
“Both Parties Concerned” (1944)
“Soft Boiled Sergeant” (1944)
“Last Day of the Last Furlough” (1944)
“Once a Week Won’t Kill You” (1944)
“Elaine” (1945)
“The Stranger” (1945)
“I’m Crazy” (1945)
“A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist at All” (1947)
“The Inverted Forest” (1943)
“Blue Melody” (1948)
“Hapworth 16, 1924″ (1965)
Unpublished and unanthologized stories
“The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls” (date unknown)
“The Last and Best of the Peter Pans” (date unknown)
“Two Lonely Men” (1944)
“The Children’s Echelon” (1944)
“The Magic Foxhole” (1945)
Help! Someone Is Trying To Steal My Trademark
An entrepreneur wrote in about protecting his trademark from intellectual property theft:
“How do I trademark a name? Someone’s trying to steal my business’s name from me.”
Answer:
There are 3 different pieces:
1) establish a common law trademark. This you have already done:
“Proprietary rights in relation to a trademark may be established through actual use in the marketplace.”
2) register a trademark. A trademark can be registered through the U.S. trademarks office. You do not have to do this; however, it may help in legal proceedings.
3) defend your trademark. You should document your attempts to defend the trademark. This can be done through a lawyer or you can start on your own. Normally, we start by issuing a Cease And Desist letter.
Live Music: Best Entertainment Value
Phoenixville, PA — If you want to see a wide variety of live musical acts, bands, singers, songwriters and artists, the Steel City Coffee House in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania is the place to go. On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, musicians from the area perform two song sets. The cover to get in is either free or three dollars (depending on the day.)
Sometimes you will get to see musicians from “famous” bands playing solo. Other times, you will get to see musicians from various bands playing together. Quite often, there are artists trying out new material. No matter what is happening on any given night, you are bound to get your money’s worth.
Last evening the band The End performed the first two songs from their concept album The End Of The End. The band looked like they were having a great time on stage. The audience couldn’t get enough. After the show, curator Fern told the band, “You guys were great tonight.”
The End
Eric Visnov — guitars and vocals
Anthony Zinno — vocals and percussion
Joe Mancini — vocals
Alex Phucas — electric guitar
Daniel Brouse — keyboards
Top Money Making Tours
The biggest grossing concert tours of 2009 were:
U2 — $123 million
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band — $95 million
Elton John and Billy Joel — $88 million
Britney Spears’ Circus tour — $83 million
AC/DC — $78 million
Top Earning Musicians
Forbes lists the top money makers for the past year:
1. Madonna $110 million
2. Celine Dion $100 million
3. Beyonce $87 million
4. Bruce Springsteen $70 million
5. Kenny Chesney $65 million
6. Rascal Flatts $60 million
7. Coldplay $60 million
8. AC/DC $60 million
9. Eagles $55 million
10. Toby Keith $52 million
11. Bon Jovi $50 million
12. Dave Matthews Band $45 million
New Band News
Alexandra Palombit asks, “Wait. The End? Is that Steal The Breeze‘s new name? I was just on FameDomain.com and saw that? (Also, I like that im artist of the year!)
We answered, “Go, girl, go! We’re going to need your award winning talents. Steal The Breeze, The End, and a few other bands will likely be part of a new experimental record label.
Steal The Breeze will be the same as before… a Grateful Dead / Pink Floyd coverband… The End is an original quasi-acoustic band… and there is the yet to be named original electric band (for now being called Band X)… plus the other famedomain.com artists that want to play… Drew, Jayar, etal.
As far as utilizing your award winning talents, the bands are up for a photo shoot with you asap, as well as, turning your poetry into music ”
Alexandra Palombit replied, “Right on. Who’s part of The End, though? I’m very confused. Can you get the rest of his band together for a photo shoot on Friday?”
We replied, “The End… is more of a concept band… where we are writing music with lots of musicians. Eric Visnov, myself and Anthony Zinno started working on it… Sean Develin, Joe Mancini, Dom Gambone and others joined in on sessions. The first goal is to put together a concept album that can be played as a live show.
Have you ever hear of Bang Camero? The End is sort-of like how they are “composed of members of various indie rock bands from around the area.”
Feliz Navidad Outrage
Jose Feliciano, Grammy winner made famous by his song “Feliz Navidad”, is outraged the song is being used in an undocumented immigrants parody. “The Illegal Alien Christmas Song” was produced by the radio show hosts of “The Fox and Rice Experience” and posted to the conservative HumanEvents.com website.
Jose, born in Puerto Rico, originally composed the song in both English and Spanish. About the spoof of his song he said he was revolted beyond words” and that the song was created to be a bridge between cultures and “never as a vehicle for a political platform of racism and hate.”
2009: Year In Review
Click here for the 2009 Year In Review
Computers And Internet Security, Entertainment, Music, Environmental Issues, Games, News, Songs and Sustainability.