New Journey "After All These Years"

Since there is no new Elton music in the near future here is a new track from Journey called "After All These Years" with new lead vocalist Arnel Pineda. It really is quite good and very Journey sounding;

My new HDTV

I just bought this TV last week and I am STUNNED by the brilliant picture it produces. So here is my shameless plug for anyone looking for a new HDTV. This is the Samsung LN-T4671F and it has just been discontinued because it is the 2007 model. The price has come down $800 from last week and it probably will continue down until they exhaust their inventory. So check it out, buy it and also get "Elton 60: Live at Madison Square Garden" to be the first DVD or Blu-Ray you watch. You will be amazed!

Elton John to executive produce Elvis Costello show

Elton John, Elvis Costello Launch Television Series

April 3, 2008 02:04 PM
By Suzanne Kayian
LiveDaily Contributor

Elvis Costello [ tickets ] and Elton John [ tickets ] are collaborating on a new television series "Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...," that will feature performances and in-depth conversations with an eclectic mix of artists ranging from newcomers to legendary performers. John and Costello both are executive producers of the show, which will begin airing later this year on the Sundance Channel in the US, CTV in Canada and Channel 4 in the UK, according to a press release.

"Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..." will feature a variety of talk formats including intimate one-on-ones and thematic panel discussions, punctuated with live performances relating to the topics at hand. The musical side of the television series will be equally eclectic, with host and guests doing acoustic performances, unique collaborations and some interpretations of others' songs by Costello.

In a statement, John said, "Elvis Costello is the foremost expert on popular music. I thought it would be sensational to use his knowledge and intelligence to explore the artistry of musicians and other fascinating people involved in making great music, as well as true music aficionados."

Costello explained in a statement that he is not interested in extracting some dark secret from the show's guests. "I'd rather hear about a bright secret, a deep love or a curiosity that might be otherwise obscured by fame," he said. "This is a wonderful opportunity to talk in complete thoughts about music, movies, art or even vaudeville, then frame it with unique and illustrative performances."

"Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..." will keep with John's commitment to philanthropy; the series producers have struck an association with the (Product) RED campaign, which was created to raise awareness and money for the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. Select excerpts and performances from the 13 one-hour shows will be distributed in a variety of new media and conventional platforms, with a portion of the profits going to the Global Fun

How about "Keyboard Hero: Elton John"

Well...they are about to release a Guitar Hero for Aerosmith so how long before a piano version is released?

New Guitar Hero gives sweet emotion to Aerosmith fans

By Scott Hillis 30 minutes ago

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Activision Inc on Friday unveiled a new "Guitar Hero" video game focusing on the rock band Aerosmith, taking the billion-dollar franchise in a new direction.
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Called "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith," the new game will arrive in stores this summer, a surprise to many analysts and fans who had expected the next title to come out closer to the year-end holiday shopping season.

Aerosmith, known for hits such as "Dream On" and "Sweet Emotion," is the top-selling American rock band of all time, with sales of 66.5 million albums in the United States alone.

The game will feature about 30 Aerosmith songs as well as others from various acts that have opened for the band. The price has not yet been set.

"The premise is that it's going to cover the 30-plus years of the band, from high school all the way through the rock superstardom of today," Kai Huang, head of Activision's RedOctane unit, which guides development of the franchise, told Reuters in an interview.

In the "Guitar Hero" games, players try to press colored buttons on a guitar-shaped controller in time with notes cascading down the screen. If the notes are hit, the song plays properly, and the player earns points.

Since the original "Guitar Hero" was released in late 2005, the series has gone on to sell more than $1 billion. Depending on the version, a bundle including the game and a controller costs from $80-$100, while the stand-alone game costs $40-$60.

When Activision reported quarterly earnings last week, analysts grilled the company on its plans for the franchise, expressing concern that sales would slow this year because many players who bought earlier versions with guitars would opt to buy the lower-price stand-alone game disks.

Huang said Activision had not yet decided whether it would offer a special controller with the Aerosmith game.

NEW DIRECTION

The focus on a single band marks a new twist for the franchise, whose three main titles featured dozens of artists spanning classic rock, grunge, metal, punk and other rock subgenres. Last year, Activision also released "Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s" with songs from that decade.

"It's just a completely new way to interact with this music and with Aerosmith, and we think there's more opportunity to do that in the future," Huang said.

By spotlighting a single band, the company has also come up with a way to counter rival music game "Rock Band" from Viacom Inc unit MTV and Electronic Arts Inc, Activision's top competitor.

"Rock Band," which includes drums and a microphone as well as a guitar, each week has offered new songs that can be downloaded to consoles like Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360 and Sony Corp's PlayStation 3.

The music industry is eyeing "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" as a way to revive flagging sales. "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero 3," both launched last fall, have together sold millions of songs at about $2 each via download.

Speaking of Aerosmith's willingness to work on the project, Huang said: "They recognize that it can deliver their music in an innovative and new way. It's a new distribution platform for them."

To recreate the sense of attending an Aerosmith concert, developers held motion-capture sessions with band members, including energetic frontman Steven Tyler and lead guitarist Joe Perry.

"As you play," Huang said, "you're going to be seeing Joe and Steven doing their moves onstage."

(Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

OT: Writer Strike Finally Almost Over

Thanks goodness....now get those Lost writers back to working on the best show on TV!

Hollywood on verge of deal to end writers strike

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Negotiators for Hollywood studios and striking writers have agreed to terms of a new contract that could be presented to union leaders in days and, if approved, end their three-month-old labor clash later this week, two sources told Reuters on Monday.

While the outlines of an accord were reached over the weekend, the two sides still need to hammer out contract language before a deal is submitted for approval to the governing boards the East and West Coast branches of the Writers Guild of America, they said.

Those sources, who were briefed on the status of talks but were not authorized to speak publicly about them under a media blackout, said negotiators hoped action by the WGA boards on a deal could come as early as Friday.

An endorsement by WGA leaders presumably would be accompanied by a decision to call off the strike, but if the WGA boards were divided, the walkout might continue pending a ratification vote by rank-and-file members.

One source said the big breakthrough in the latest round of talks, which began Jan. 23, came on the key sticking point of how much writers should be paid for advertising-supported Internet "streaming" of television shows.

Merry Christmas !