Paul on Starbucks, Elton?????

Paul McCartney set to sign on with Starbucks Records. Could Elton be next? The answer should be YES! But what does Elton want to do. If Elton is looking to breakaway from the pack and get some much needed exposure of his music to a new audience than this sounds like the way to go to me!



So how about Elton? Follow Paul's lead!

LET IT BEAN

STARBUCKS TO START MUSIC LABEL, EYES MCCARTNEY

By PETER LAURIA

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March 11, 2007 -- Having already proven that it can sell other companies' music, coffee giant Starbucks is planning to launch its own record label and is close to a deal for the next album from former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney to be its first release, according to sources familiar with the plans.



The formation of Starbucks Records, as the unit is expected to be called, could be announced as soon as this week, according to these sources.



Launching a record label is something "that has been bandied about for quite a while," said one source. "They think they are empowered enough to do that."



Said another: "They have a very targeted, efficient distribution channel that allows them to be profitable in a limited way with music."



Starbusks could also take on a partner in the venture.



Unlike its Hear Music operation, which releases the Artists Choice compilation series that features musicians such as Sheryl Crow or The Rolling Stones selecting songs that influenced them, Starbucks Records is expected sign, record and produce its own artists rather than licensing songs from other labels.



That's where Sir Paul comes in. The wrinkly rocker not only fits with the Starbucks demographic, but also is a free agent not signed to any label, sources said.



A spokesman for McCartney could not be reached.



Up until now, Starbucks has only distributed music though its retail coffee shops. But it is believed that Starbucks Records will seek to secure distribution for its releases in other retail outlets.



Starbucks Hear Music had its greatest success with the release of Ray Charles' "Genius Loves Company," a co-production with Concord Records that went on to win eight Grammy awards including Album of the Year.



The caffeine pusher has enough licensing deals in place with major and independent record labels to build its own digital-music store a la Apple's iTunes, or it could bring in a partner to help build the digital infrastructure.



There have been talks about putting kiosks in its shops so that customers can shop for music and create their own compilations while waiting for their $5 cup of joe.



"We are constantly in discussions with potential partners to create innovative ways to help our customers discover quality entertainment offerings," Starbucks said in a statement issued to The Post. "We have no announcement regarding any new partnership at this time."

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Info on MyNetwork concert broadcast

MyNet to carry Elton concert
Network buys rights to 'Birthday' show

By JOHN DEMPSEY

MyNetworkTV, the poorly performing broadcast service operated by the Fox TV Stations, has bought exclusive U.S. rights to "Happy Birthday Elton," a two-hour taped version of an Elton John concert to be held March 25 at Madison Square Garden.

MyNet will carry an edited edition of the concert, part of a worldwide tour in celebration of John's 60th birthday, in primetime on April 5, supplemented with celebrity interviews.

Early this month, new MyNet prexy Greg Meidel announced a complete overhaul of the network's primetime schedule, which currently consists of back-to-back hourlong soap operas patterned after Latin American telenovelas and running each weeknight for 13 weeks.

The rejiggered lineup, beginning March 8, relegates the third set of telenovelas to Tuesday ("American Heiress") and Wednesday ("Saints & Sinners"), filling the rest of the week with "Intl. Fight League's Total Impact" (two hours on Monday, with a Saturday primetime repeat) and theatrical movies (Thursday and Friday). MyNetworkTV doesn't program Sunday.

What's unusual about the April 5 scheduling of the John concert is that there are still more dates on the tour following the broadcast, at the Colosseum in Las Vegas from April 6-10 and from May 9-13, with a date in Puerto Rico on April 28.

Most concert promoters don't permit the national telecast of a concert until the tour has completed its live dates as the availability of the concert over the air could hurt ticket sales for the remainder of the tour or anger people who already bought a ticket without knowing they could see it free on TV.

Producer of "Happy Birthday Elton" is HST Management and Whizz Kid Entertainment. Special is directed by David Mallet and produced by Malcolm Gerrie, Paul Morphos and Lisa Chapman.

Some 60th Birthday Concert setlist news...

From Adam Chester;

Welcome to AdamChester.com!

2007 is starting off with a bang, as on March 25th, I’ll be taking part in Elton’s birthday concert at Madison Square Garden! He’s planning on playing songs he hasn’t played in decades. “Ballad of a Well Known Gun”, “Where To Now St. Peter”, “Madman Across the Water”. Amazing songs! 34, to be exact, that I had to learn or re-learn to play with the band! On top of all that, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus will be joining Elton on stage for the concert for about 15 songs. I was hired to transcribe their choir charts! I had to get lots of help to put it all down on paper, but it’s finally ready to be sung! I may, (and I say may, cuz I really don’t know at this time), also be conducting the choir for the performance! Who knows. All I do know for certain right now, is that I’ll soon be in New York, eating cannolis, buying some cool clothes for me, my wife and my 2 sons (o.k., probably just me)…, and rehearsing with the Elton John Band and Youth Choir!

I’ll put up pix as they happen.

According to Elton's website, "in the USA, the full concert will be broadcast digitally by MSN!" This will be his record-breaking 60th appearance at the Garden!

If Elton does "The Ballad of a Well-Known Gun" I will be astonished and stunned!

"Entire" Elton back catalog available for download starting March 26

The entire catalog?

If "Ego" is not available then its not the entire catalog. If "Tortured" and "Can't Get Over Getting Over Losing You" (or whatever it was called) is not available its not the entire catalog! If "Take Me Down To The Ocean" is not available...well you get the point!

Renamed: Rocket Man - Number Ones

It's been renamed "Rocket Man: Number Ones" even if all of them were not number on on the charts. The Beatles did the same thing saying that they were number one somewhere so I guess Elton can do it to.

"Rocket Man - The Definitive Hits" due March 26

CD
1. Bennie And The Jets Live
2. Philadelphia Freedom Album Version
3. Daniel Album Version
4. Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be A Long Long Time)
5. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues Album Version
6. Tiny Dancer Album Version
7. Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
8. I Want Love
9. Candle In The Wind Album Version
10. The Bitch Is Back
11. I'm Still Standing Album Version
12. Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)
13. Your Song 1996 Album Version
14. Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word Album Version
15. Can You Feel The Love Tonight 1996 LP
16. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
17. Tinderbox
18. Are You Ready For Love '79 version radio edit
DVD
1. Bennie And The Jets Live
2. Rocket Man Live
3. Candle In The Wind Live
4. Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting) Live
5. Your Song Live
6. Your Song Elton In Four Decades - Promo - Stereo
7. I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues Elton In Four Decades - Promo - Stereo
8. I'm Still Standing Elton In Four Decades - Promo - Stereo
9. I Want Love Elton In Four Decades - Promo
10. Tinderbox Video

Two more US dates for Elton...

From ej.com:

Two more US concerts for Elton and the band have just been announced. The dates are:
Wednesday, March 21, Civic Center, Hartford, Connecticut, and Thursday, March 22, Dunkin' Donuts Center, Providence, Rhode Island.

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MSG Birthday Concert Tickets

Elton John's concert on March 25 at New York's Madison Square Garden go on sale at Ticketmaster on Monday January 22, 2007 @ 9AM for American Express Card holders and Monday January 29, 2007 @9AM to the general public.

EltonJohn.com also has an allocation of tickets for Rocket members. The ticket price for the Rocket tickets are approximately $300 after fees are added in.

Some updates

EJ.com is back. I am sure you know that by now

Tickets for the Elton's 60th Birthday concert in New York City on March 25 will be going for an incredible $300 for the top seats. YIKES!

Tinderbox, not yet a single in the US, although the video has made some appearances.

EJ.com has announced some changes are coming, already we have seen some evidence of this. A new and improved shop has opened up with some nice merchandise to choose from. Lets hope the Elton has a bigger presence on his official site than he has had lately.

EltonJohn.com expired?

EltonJohn.com has said that they are making some big changes over the next several weeks...

Is this one of them?

Click here

UK Pop Chart to now include download purchase.

Very interesting...

U.K. pop charts set for radical overhaul
Fri Jan 5, 2007 9:20am ET29

By Michael Holden

LONDON (Reuters) - The British pop chart will undergo one of the biggest shake-ups since its inception 54 years ago on Sunday when any song downloaded from the Internet will be able to compete for the number one single spot.

Up to now, only songs which were physically available for purchase in shops counted toward the weekly chart.

Downloads could be included, but only a week before an actual CD single went on sale and for two weeks after it stopped appearing in stores.

However, with downloads now far outstripping over-the-counter sales, the Official UK Charts Company (OCC) has changed the rules meaning this Sunday's number one could be any track whether it has been sold in stores or online.

It said the "dramatic development" would be more reflective of what music Britons were buying, and could mean that old tunes, tracks by unknown artists or unreleased songs on albums hitting the top of the charts.

"This new ruling changes the nature of a single and puts the consumer in the driving seat," said OCC director Steve Redmond.

Merry Christmas!

...and a safe and Happy New Year!

Elton's favorite record store closes it doors

The favorite stop of Elton while in NY has closed it doors for good!

Tower tumbles

Closing time for the city stores that 'loved music'

BY DAVID HINCKLEY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Shopper sees if there is any meat left to pick off the bones of Tower Records at Lincoln Center. The chain closes for good tonight.
Ramsey Jones says it was no big secret how Tower Records became a New York institution in its 23 years here.

"This store knew and loved music," said Jones, who has worked in the Greenwich Village Tower for 16 years. "If you came in for something, we didn't just point. We knew what it was."

He remembers the woman who would fly in from California to ask what was new and good; the deejay from Spain who would drop a grand or two on jazz records that Jones recommended.

"He spent so much, we gave him a discount," Jones said. "But that's how it was here. People trusted us."

Whatever the bond, it ends tonight when the chain that opened in California in 1960 and came to New York in 1983 locks all its doors for good and takes a good-sized chunk of an era with it.

Jones, a musician who has played on records by artists including Wu-Tang Clan, looked over the carcass that remained - a jumble of empty racks and a handful of movies and CDs that are quickly running out of time.

A DVD of "Hot Rod Top 10" is marked $3.99. A Lee Greenwood "God Bless the USA" CD is 80% off. A DMX poster is $10. Cassettes are a penny.

Peppy dance hits play in the background over WNEW-FM, which 15 years ago was sending listeners to Tower to buy rock 'n' roll.

Tower Records stores - the Lincoln Center outlet as well as the one at Broadway and E.Fourth St. - were a crossroads and a New York destination.

They weren't stores people wandered into because they were in the neighborhood. They rode subways to get there, and the yellow Tower bag with the bright-red block letters was as distinctive in this world as a baby-blue Tiffany's box on Fifth Ave.

Friday night at 11:30 in Tower Records was like Macy's at noon on a sale day, and it was rarely a crowd that wanted to grab the new Elton John album and bolt. These were folks who worked their way down a rack of records.

"You didn't just get what you heard on the radio here," said Jones. "You could find things the radio never played. People would say they liked something and ask what else I thought they might like. They were adventurous. I see less of that now."

Tower had its detractors, people who saw it bashing down the gates for megastores that have put so many independents and specialty stores out of business.

But artists liked it, especially the kind of emerging and nonmainstream artists who used to play the Bottom Line, a wonderful club a block west of the downtown store.

"Tower would carry their music," said Bottom Line co-owner Allan Pepper. "Tower would take the chance."

The Bottom Line is gone now, too, and Jones thinks the loss of Tower reflects erosion in our broader culture.

"Record companies don't care about music any more," he says. "It's all marketing. 'Get me somebody who looks like this.' It doesn't matter if they have nothing to say. They just have to look right in the video.

"Music means so much more than that. And now we're losing another place where it did."

Elton to host Diana Concert

20 DECEMBER 2006

Music legend Elton John may be doing more than belting out the hits at the Diana Memorial Concert in July next year. According to reports, the singer has been asked by Prince William and Prince Harry to compere the event, introducing the acts and hosting the show.

Speaking at Monday night's premiere of partner David Furnish's film It's A Girl Boy Thing, Elton explained: "They said there could be a role for me doing the MC bit by linking it all together, and asked whether I would mind doing it - which of course I don't! William and Harry are going to be choosing all the acts, but I will help out in any which way."

Sir Elton also revealed that - if the Princes requested it - he would perform the song he wrote for Diana's funeral, Candle In The Wind.

"I am absolutely thrilled to be performing at this great event. Diana was a personal friend and someone I greatly admired for her tireless and enthusiastic work for charity."

"Tinderbox" next US Single?

At MLB.com there is a "Exclusive World Premiere Video" for Elton's "Tinderbox" which may indicate it will be released as the 2nd single off of "The Captain & The Kid". Here is a screen capture of the page. You may have to hit refresh a few times if it doesn't show up upon initially visiting the site.

MSG show in March confirmed?

According to this NY Post article it is...

ELTON'S BET GOT LENNON THROUGH THE NIGHT

By DAN AQUILANTE
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December 11, 2006 -- ONE of Madison Square Garden's most famous gigs started as a simple bet.

In early 1974, John Lennon agreed to sit in on guitar for his pal Elton John's covers of "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and Lennon's solo song "One Day at a Time."

In return, Elton John and his band were featured on Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," a song in which Lennon had little confidence. In the biography "Lennon," he is quoted as saying, "It would be nice, but it's not a No. 1."

Elton knew better and bet Lennon that if his song made it to the No. 1 Billboard slot, Lennon would have to end his seclusion and join him onstage at his Thanksgiving gig at the Garden.

Lennon lost the bet but won anyway - scoring his first solo No. 1 song since The Beatles' breakup. And then he made good on the wager.

He sat in with Elton and his band for a three-song set on Nov. 28, 1974 - a concert that, tragically, turned out to be Lennon's final public performance before his death six years later at the hands of a deranged assassin.

The concert is honored as one of Madison Square Garden's 50 Greatest Moments on the MSG Network tomorrow night at 9.

At that special Garden party, Lennon was an emotional wreck: harassed by the Nixon administration that wanted to deport him for a past drug charge, estranged from Yoko Ono and waffling as a solo artist.

Elton wanted him to perform "Imagine," but Lennon turned him down, saying, "I don't want to come on like Dean Martin, doing my classic hits."

Instead, Lennon said, "I wanted to have some fun and play some rock 'n' roll." He and Elton settled on "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" and The Beatles classic "I Saw Her Standing There."

In fact, Lennon did see her standing there. Yoko Ono was in the 11th row watching. Hearing those songs and seeing Lennon in his glory again helped rekindle their relationship.

While Lennon wouldn't return to the Garden, Elton did - many, many times. He holds the record for having played the most sold-out concerts by an individual artist: 59.

And come this March, when he turns 60, Elton is scheduled to celebrate his 60th gig in rock's cathedral.

"Tinderbox" video on YouTube

The video for "Tinderbox" Elton's next UK (and hopefully US) single is now up on YouTube, a great video of archival footage of Elton and Bernie, somewhat reminiscent of the "Free As A Bird" video done for the Beatles;

Another reason why "The Bridge" was a poor choice for lead single...

If the rumors are true and Elton is planning to release a piano & vocal only album to coincide with his 60th birthday celebrations in March 2007, then that makes "The Bridge" even bigger blunder on Universal's part than I originally thought it was.

With all of the fantastic songs on "The Captain & The Kid" Universal chose to release an Elton ballad, no surprise, and the worst track on the album. A good song, just not a great song. They could have gone the uptempo route, they had a few to choose from. They could have chose a power ballad like "Tinderbox" or country tinged track like the title cut, which would have been good promotion for the album too.

But no, we get a typical Elton ballad that happens to be a piano and vocal only track. It does moderately well on the charts barely reaching the Top 20. And it also happens to be the same style music that Elton is rumored to be working for his next album. So when and if a single is released from the next album it will have a very familiar sound. It will also be ignored by radio and listeners as "another Elton ballad." So Universal has killed "The Captain & The Kid" with no promotion and are now working on destroying the next album before its even out. Way to go!

It's been suggested in Elton discussion forums that he needs to leave Universal and start his own label. I agree 100% Universal is doing nothing for him. He couldn't do any worse himself. So how about it Elton?

UPDATE: It appears that Mercury (Universal) has not given up yet, Tinderbox is slated to be the second single in the UK with a released date of 12/12. Is the US next? Hello, Universal!!!! ????

Come on, it was a joke!

Elton's agent has responded to questions about his profanity laced tirade against Universal that it was just a big joke. Of course it was, we all knew that already, didn't we?
Gary Farrow says;

“I think you’ll find it [the fifteen reported uses of the word ‘fuck’] was tongue-in-cheek about the record company,”

Yeah, right, sure it was.

Joke or not, Universal's marketing and promotion of "The Captain & The Kid" has been atrocious from the beginning with appearances on all of the usual boring suspects (Ellen, Leno and such) to absolutely no creative placement of the album such as in Starbucks where Elton's Christmas album performed so well, to the terrible choice for the lead single. And who knows if they will even bother with a second single since the "The Bridge" has been floundering in the lower half of the Top 20.

Universal could actually try something new and different with the next single release. Why don't they take 3-4 songs from the album and push all of them to radio and say "here ya go, have at it, play whatever you want". At least that way programmers have a choice and perhaps radio listeners will be exposed to more than just one song TC&TK. It's worth a try. That's if Universal even cares anymore.

Elton to Universal: "Please drop me."

Elton took out his frustration on Universal Records and the lack of promotion for his new album "The Captain & The Kid" during his two shows at Long Island's Nassau Coliseum;

"This new album has gotten some of the best reviews of my career, and my record company has done absolutely nothing," John complained midway through the show. "They're useless. Here's a message to Universal Records: Please drop me. Just let me go somewhere else."

Another quote;

"Nobody would know (the album has been out since September). My record label isn't doing anything to help. F**k Universal. Please drop me. I'm 58 and I don't care anymore."

And another;

"I'm going to play a song, but I'm sure you haven't heard it because the f**kers haven't promoted it," Elton said to the crowd about his new tune, "Postcards From Richard Nixon."