WalMart, who now holds somewhat of a monopoly over the sell of music, will not be selling Green Day’s new CD in its stores. Because the band refuses to self-censor the CD WalMart will not sell it in its stores.

“They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there. We just said no. We’ve never done it before. You feel like you’re in 1953 or something,” lead singer Billie Joe said.

The album is said to be both Green Day’s and 2009s best album.

For the full story you can check out the article in The Huffington Post.

A full list of US and Canada tour dates can be found on the band’s website.

♥, CT

I love Digg for a lot of reasons, my favorite being that it always has REALLY random things, people, events, ect. This video shows how much talent one person can have and how they can put that talent to use. Enjoy this, do it yourself. (:

This is just so talented and interesting. I had a friend in high school who attempted something similar, but didn’t have these kinds of results. (:

♥, CT

PS. Whoops… I accidentally deleted some new comments, for some reason they were put in the spam folder and as a creature of habit I just deleted them in bulk. Note to self: Do not delete in bulk.

After posting a few video’s from Fresno bands (because I will be in Fresno the majority of the summer, so my filming will take place here) I received a comment from a fellow YouTube user about another great, Fresno local band. Across Time has a great sound for the members being so young, all the members are 16 years old. Although I haven’t heard them live myself I am sure they sound great. I can’t wait to see one of their upcoming shows.

Here they are covering another local artist’s song. Trey Tosh, who I have written about before, wrote the song being covered, Heavy Rain.

♥,CT

Any reason to have a three day weekend makes me happy!! (:

In an interview with Evie Nagy Biz Stone gives Band’s tips how how to use Twitter successfully. Here are the tips, in an article from Billboard.com.

“5 Twitter Tips For Bands From Co-Founder Biz Stone

Twitter co-founder Biz Stone offers his advice on how bands and artists can best take advantage of the Twitter explosion:

Make Your @username Your Calling Card

Attracting followers is an important part of maintaining a high profile on Twitter. One of its biggest advantages is the simplicity of its username system and the ease of following and communicating with a user once you know how he or she identifies him- or herself. So promoting your @username in an e-mail signature, in fan correspondence and anywhere you’d normally mention a Web presence is helpful. (Sean Combs walks around wearing a black T-shirt with white text that says “@iamdiddy.”) Also, interacting with fans through Replies (where you reply directly to the tweets of fans and followers) displays a certain level of engagement that can be attractive to folks considering following your account.

Twitter Spontaneously

Unlike an artist’s blog or other online presence, where it makes some sense to share only the most important news or entertaining posts, on Twitter waiting for something really important isn’t necessary—if folks are following you, then they want to know anything and everything. Twitter is an easy, lightweight way for artists to get involved themselves, and most artists are in fact Twittering themselves—so these anytime tweets have a very immediate and authentic voice that can be a powerful tool from a promotional perspective.

Find Music’s Tweet Spot

There are ways that musicians can use Twitter that no other kind of user could take advantage of. Releasing exclusive tracks through Twitter is interesting. Twitter really shines during shared experiences like concerts because people are communicating in real time among a group. If an artist became similarly involved, that would be awesome. We’ve seen a few artists experiment with displaying live tweets from fans during a show, which is very cool because it makes the audience part of the show.

Establish Your Rules of Engagement

While direct back-and-forth contact with fans is easy with Twitter, the simple nature of it allows artists to invent their own boundaries. Although Replies are possible on Twitter, they’re not expected. This means artists can be as engaged as they want—some are very engaged and others are more reserved. Artists can connect with their fans on a personal, meaningful level but they can also use Twitter to promote a spontaneous concert or share a new track.

Use the Platform Commitment-Free

Fans don’t need to have a Twitter account to start following a band right away through mobile texting—Twitter can create new accounts over SMS on the fly. For example, anyone can text “follow biz” to 40404 in the United States and start receiving my updates. This means that a fan who wants to get an artist’s updates through text but isn’t using the service regularly can easily do so. Bands and musicians can simply tell this to folks during a concert or an interview.”

These are great tips for any band, especially those who need to get there name out there. You can find me on Twitter, I post updates to all of my blogs with links. Hope these tips gave any bands an idea of how to use twitter effectively. I hope everyone has a GREAT memorial day weekend. (:

♥, CT

On Thursday, May 21 No Halo played at the Babylon in Fresno’s Tower District. The band played second in a four band set list Fight the Night, Dislodic and Trenched were the other bands that preformed.

No Halo is a personal Fresno favorite for several reasons, the main reason being that they have a female singer. Hillary’s voice gives the band an edgy feel. I was excited that when I asked for a set list they gave me my own copy on a napkin from the bar, haha.

My favorite songs were Btween the Lines, Take U Down and Just a Breathe Away. Sadly I messed up the video during Btween the lines. Take U Down can be found on my YouTube page. (:

Babylon is a great venue for music, it was the first time that I had been and I will definitely go back. The sound engineers from the bar worked to make sure that all the bands sounded great.

Here is Just a Breathe Away by No Halo:

I definitely recommend checking out all of the bands MySpace pages and checking them out live ASAP. (:

♥,CT

Blink 182 had their first TV performance last night since announcing their reunion at the Grammy Awards last year. They took the stage on The Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno to perform their 2001 Take Off Your Pants and Jacket hit “The Rock Show.”

The band didn’t sit down for an interview, but they will be back on Leno tonight for a second performance, playing another song off their Greatest Hits.

I hoped that they would have had a new song, or at least a glimpse of a new song, maybe tonight. I wonder if their new CD will have a different sound… Hummm… I still can’t believe that they haven’t been around in soo long. Excited to see what they come up with. (:

In other news: No Doubt summer tour 2009 third stop May 19, 2009 Fresno, Calif. (: Too bad I wont be there.

♥, CT

This song will always start off my summer. Reminds me of be a carefree 12 year old. (: It’s summer time in California, and that means its time for the lake.

Enjoy my summer kick off song. Haha (:

♥, CT

OK, so I swore to myself that I wouldn’t do an American Idol post, but in reality American Idol is a big hit in the music world. So here is my ONE Idol post for the year. (:

I use to love Idol just for the out takes of the horrid singers, but they have done away with showing as many of those, and quickly lost my attention. But there are some really good things going on in Idol news right now. Idol has more than 25 million viewers per episode. (WOW!)

Daughtry, who had a fourth-place finish on Idol, debuted in the top 20 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart this week. Daughtry debuted at No. 15 with his single “No Surprise.” On May 6 Daughtry performed on American Idol, the show that helped him get his start.

Yesterday Idol narrowed down to two finalist, cutting Danny Gokey, 29, from his chance at winning American’s most-watched television show. The Idol season finale is May 19 and 20, the 19 the final two perform and the 20th (a two hour show) the votes are calculated.

It may be the only Idol show I watch all year, and maybe not even all of it, but I will be paying attention to who is this seasons winner of American Idol.

♥, CT

Sumthing Else Music Works is a premier label that is dedicated to licensing and distributing video game soundtracks. Started in 1998 by Nile Rodgers, Sumthing Distributing began as a “nationwide record distributor and creative outlet for independent artist and record labels,” it website states.

Yesterday, May 11, Sumthing announced that it has entered into multiple-title licensing partnership with Capcom. Capcom is a worldwide leading developer and publisher of video games. The deal with Capcom expands Sumthing’s “growing list of partnerships with the world’s top video game developers and publishers and continues its tradition as a distributor of high quality entertainment products for the gaming consumer,” the Music4Games website explains.

The deal between the two includes the following titles: Blonic Commando, Resident Evil 5, Street Fighter IV, Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, Dark Void, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, Spybords. There are no release dates yet for each album.

This summer Pinnacle College is set to launch a new Audio for Games and Interactive Media (GAIM) program. Students will be able to complete this program in under 18 months.

Stay tuned for updates about the new GAIM program and new updates at Pinnacle College. (:

♥, CT

Evans, 48, bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd, dies after a long battle with cancer. Evans death is the second for the band this year, Billy Powell, former keyboardist, also passed away in January of this year. In 1977 three of the band members died in a plane crash.

Evans died Wednesday in his Columbus, Mississippi, home after a long battle with cancer. “It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of longtime Lynyrd Skynyrd bassist Ean Evans,” the band’s website announced Wednesday. “Ean put up a valiant battle with an aggressive form of cancer and he will be sorely missed by family, friends and fans.”

Up until his cancer diagnosis in 2008, Evans toured heavily with Skynyrd. Skynyrd will be hitting the road again this summer with Kid Rock.

Evans will be missed by friends, family and those who loved his music.

RIP Donald “Ean” Evans.

♥, CT