XXXI The Review of song writing - Tenco 2006 will take place as usual at the Teatro Ariston Sanremo 9-10-11 November 2006.

Tenco Awards were awarded to Willy De Ville and Bruno Lauzi, two artists profoundly different stylistic approach as well as in experience, to confirm the broad spectrum of choices Club Tenco who have long considered the author in his song broadest sense. Figures De Ville Lauzi and may be associated with perhaps only one characteristic: that of being not only singers but also valuable interpreters of other people’s songs.
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The Association A World of Music and TEAMITALIA, in collaboration with the Tourism Department of the Municipality of San Pellegrino Terme, organize the Fourth Edition of Italian Song - National Festival of Songwriters for young talent.

The Association A World of Music and TEAMITALIA, in collaboration with the Tourism Department of the Municipality of San Pellegrino Terme, organize the Fourth Edition of Italian Song - National Festival of Songwriters for young talents with the intent to promote young emerging artists, protecting, while the Italian musical heritage.

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Warp Records has set a release date of November 25th for its freshly re-release of Boards of Canada’s mind-bending 1995 debut Twoism, which was originally available on the Boards’ own label, Music70, in a ridiculously limited run of only 100 copies. Described by Warp as a “subtle precursor” to 1998’s full-length Music Has the Right to Children, the nine-cut mini-album tentatively explores sounds and themes that would later be forever identified with the Scottish duo– “Bittersweet evocations of childhood, haunted pastoral spaces, contriving a detached perspective, or [drifting] through their grainyorganic electronics.”

The Boards’ gritty, melancholy brand of electronica first caught the attention of record labels when a copy of Twoism somehow found its way to the offices Manchester-based Skam. Within a day Autechre’s Sean Booth was on the duo’s trail, and Boards of Canada inaugurated their visually unique live show on a 1996 tour with Autechre, Panasonic, and Cylob. An EP, Hi Scores, followed on Skam that year.

Though Twoism has been widely available on MP3 for net-savvy file-traders,
original copies have passed hands for over $1,200 on eBay, according to Warp. Perhaps in deference to this fact, not only will Twoism be making its CD debut this November, but Warp will be repressing the vinyl.

Holly, first impressions would suggest, is your average student. She is nineteen years old, pretty, and casually dressed. I interviewed her in the cluttered, messy central room of her small flat, which she shares with three friends. Holly seems every inch the ordinary young woman, and yet there is a side to her which her appearance and lifestyle would never suggest. Holly is a member of what is supposedly one of the most high-profile militant animal rights groups in Britain. She agreed to talk to me for this article because, she says, she wants to set right some of the common misconceptions about this much-maligned movement.

Animal welfare has always been a traditional youth issue. Countless charities are devoted to protecting the habitats of wildlife and ensuring pets are treated with care; each has a considerable membership. Yet it seems little is known about the more extreme end of the spectrum; the animal liberationists, activists who have become associated with hardliner views and violent action. Their organizations are shrouded in mystery, a hindrance made to seem all the more sinister by the fact that they continue to attract increasing media attention. Read the rest of this entry »

Ahhh, the joys of Facebook.  You know, you get all those friends from High School and college wanting to reconnect.  You message back and forth a few times and then get busy with life again.  Well, I got reconnected with Tim Schigel last fall.  He and I were fraternity brothers at Case Western.  We used to play in a band we founded called Skydiver because we actually went skydiving during out first couple weeks of college and couldn’t really think of a better name. Read the rest of this entry »

Ever had someone see something great in you and you laughed it off, fearful of being too prideful?  Or some destructive habit you enjoy and are too stubborn to let anyone stop you from continuing (it’s your life after all)?  It’s so hard to get outside of who we think we are to see us as we were meant to be.  It’s like the difference in how you view a cornfield maze depending on whether you are walking amidst the stalks or seeing it from a view high above after getting dropped out an airplane in a tandem skydive.  Read the rest of this entry »

I subscribe to Dan Miller’s 48 Days newsletter.  It’s published weekly and provides encouragement to those working through career transition or improving on an existing path.  He’s written several great books on finding the job you love either for new employment or for those embarking on the challenging task of beginning a new business. Read the rest of this entry »

Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame, and an incredible songwriter, owes much of his fame unfortunately to the death of his dad in World War II.   On a previously unreleased track from The Final Cut, Waters laments: Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Evans book, The Final Move Beyond Iraq: The Final Solution While the World Sleeps, is a very well detailed and historically accurate review of key points in the past 50 years that have led to the current struggle with Islamic Terrorism and the dangers we as Americans face here at home. It has some obvious political leanings, Read the rest of this entry »

This morning, a 7-alarm fire consumed an abandoned warehouse in our Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia. The Simple Way Community Center at 3200 Potter Street was destroyed as well as at least eight of our neighbors’ homes. Over 100 people were evacuated from their homes, and 400 families are currently without power. Despite this developing tragedy, we are incredibly thankful to share that all of our community members and every one of our neighbors is safely out of harm’s way. Read the rest of this entry »