TOP 5 HIGHEST PAID MUSICIANS IN 2011

Forbes Magazine released its annual list of the world’s highest paid musicians in July. Here are the top five handsomely paid musicians of 2011:

1) U2 with $195 million

Led by Bono, U2 is currently touring key cities which will end in summer. U2 have sold more than $700 million worth of tickets in 2 years and played to more than 7 million people.

2) Bon Jovi with $125 million

Bon Jovi has three consecutive sold out concerts in May and July, grossing to $200 million. The band had a total of 74 shows in the past 12 months. Bon Jovi also released a greatest hits album this year.

3) Elton John with $100 million

Over the past 30 years, Sir Elton John had already sold 250 million records. In the past 12 months, nonetheless, 102 live shows which grossed to $204 million.

4) Lady Gaga with $90 million

Lady Gaga had 137 shows in 22 different countries in the last 12 months. Her shows grossed $170 million. While her production shows are mostly expensive, the songstress earned additional cash from heavy radio play and recorded music sales. 

5) Michael Bublé with $70 million

Michael Bublé has had lucrative tours as well as heavy radio play and strong albums sales.

BEST ONE-LINERS OF KURT COBAIN

A friend is nothing but a known enemy.

I bought a gun and chose drugs instead.

I started being really proud of the fact that I was gay even though I wasn't.

I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.

I'm so happy because today I found my friends - they're in my head.

If you ever need anything please don't hesitate to ask someone else first.

Rather be dead than cool.

The duty of youth is to challenge corruption.

The worst crime is faking it.

Thought the sun is gone, I have a light.

 

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are.

We have no right to express an opinion until we know all of the answers.

We're so trendy we can't even escape ourselves.

Don't expect me to cry for all the reasons you had to die.

It's better to burn out than fade away.

All in all is all we are.

I am not read well, but when I do read, I read well.

If there was a rock star 101 course, I'd really have like to take it.

I like to feel prejudice towards people who are prejudice.

'CHANGING AND GIVING WAYS'

For me, Changing and Giving Ways is one of most wonderful songs ever written. I love its narrative and the emotional intensity of it. Changing and Giving Ways was a Katha awardee (Best in Alternative Song) in 1998. The song made a known singer of Dawn Dineros. However, the Filipino people were not yet ready to accept alternative form of music, and Dineros’ singing career was cut short. She attempted to stage a comeback in 2002 through retrospective concerts but these didn’t do as much to revive her career. She had a duet with David Pomeranz, a revival of It Might Be You by Stephen Bishop.

Here is the video:

CHANGING AND GIVING WAYS
Singer: Dawn Dineros
Composer: Archie D'

Words simple as maybe
Yet honest passionate feelings can only come
From deep within a loving heart
And caring heart
Almost a decade, how long has it been

Refrain:
But time has failed to fade
Our love, the undying love
As it grows, fonder and stronger
I'm recollecting, awaking
Memories of the past

Chorus
Could I ever forget
Electrifying loving times
Shared in golden silence that only
Our hearts come throbbing and
As life slowly pass us by
While those childlike carefree youth
Are only bygones and love's greatness
Changing and giving ways

Coda
Changing and giving ways
Changing and giving ways
Ohh... ohh

When loving you from afar
How my heart desires your warm embrace
Burning kisses from your playful lips
Deep inside of me
All sweetness and tenderness
(repeat refrain)
(repeat chorus 2x)

Coda
Changing and giving ways
Changing and giving ways
Ohh... ohh
Lai lai lai
Changing and giving ways

'STARRY, STARRY NIGHT'

I was in 3^rd year high school when I first heard the song “Starry, Starry Night”. I looked for the complete lyrics of it, searching from piles and piles of songbooks/song hits, which I am fond of collecting. To no avail, I wasn’t able to locate it not even in one of the oldest songbooks that my father owned. One day, I heard a neighbor singing “Starry, Starry Night” but I am too shy to knock and ask him if I can copy the lyrics straight from the television. (He is singing using a videoke (video + karaoke). I was this desperate in obtaining a copy of the lyrics of “Starry, Starry Night” because I can’t find it anywhere. I stayed outside the house until my father noticed me and asked me what I was doing there. I told him that that was the song that I am looking for. He just said, “It’s Vincent”. I said, “No, it’s not Cousin Vincent singing, it’s our neighbor.” He just laughed at me and then explained to me who/what the Vincent he is talking about.

All along, I thought that the title of the song was “Starry, Starry Night”. I was intrigued who Vincent is and so I searched for it. It was Vincent van Gogh, a Dutch post-Impressionist painter. Van Gogh’s 2,000 artworks mostly tackled self-portraits and landscapes as well as cypresses, sunflowers and wheat fields. Don McLean, the songwriter of Vincent, directly refers to van Gogh’s paintings most notably the Starry Night. Other references to van Gog’s work are: flaming flowers (The Sunflower Series), field of amber grain (Wheat Field with Crows) and weathered faces (The Potato Eaters). McLean also referred to the painter’s bout for sanity and tragic death. Van Gogh suffered mental illnesses throughout his life, shooting himself dead with a revolver because of depression.  

Here is the video:

Here is the lyrics with explanation:

Expressing Van Gogh's inspiration for the painting. However, one line says : "Look out on a summer's day" which is a false statement as Van Gogh was in an asylum at Saint-Remy, and was not able to paint picture from an actual view point, it is strictly from his mind.	Starry, starry night. Paint your palette blue and grey, Look out on a summer's day, With eyes that know the darkness in my soul. Shadows on the hills, Sketch the trees and the daffodils, Catch the breeze and the winter chills, In colors on the snowy linen land.
These are references to other Van Gogh paintings. Flaming Flowers: The Sunflower Series Swirling Clouds: Starry Night Field of Amber Grain: Wheat Field with Crows Weathered Faces: The Potato Eaters	Starry, starry night. Flaming flowers that brightly blaze, Swirling clouds in violet haze, Reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue. Colors changing hue, morning field of amber grain, Weathered faces lined in pain, Are soothed beneath the artist's loving hand.
This is Van Gogh's tragic Death. Even though he loved painting, his paintings could never love him back. Van Gogh attempted suicide by shooting himself in the chest, which ultimately led to his death two days later.	For they could not love you, But still your love was true. And when no hope was left in sight On that starry, starry night, You took your life, as lovers often do. But I could have told you, Vincent, This world was never meant for one As beautiful as you.
Van Gogh's artistic legacy is contained within his paintings, drawings and writings. They are everlasting and will never "forget" the style that created them. They are Van Gogh's eyes that watch the world. This is all metaphorically speaking though.	Starry, starry night. Portraits hung in empty halls, Frameless head on nameless walls, With eyes that watch the world and can't forget. Like the strangers that you've met, The ragged men in the ragged clothes, The silver thorn of bloody rose, Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.
Finally we come to the conclusion of realizing Van Gogh's eternal struggle with insanity.	Now I think I know what you tried to say to me, How you suffered for your sanity, How you tried to set them free. They would not listen, they're not listening still. Perhaps they never will...

Source: http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starrynightlyrics.html

WHY LIP SYNCING IS BAD

As controversial as it is, lip syncing is often use as a ‘shortcut’ or an ‘excuse’. Television shows mainly use lip syncing as it simplifies sound mixing processes. Also, an artist lip sync to enable him or her to perform live dance numbers efficiently. Lip syncing is also used to cover for illness or other deficiencies at the time of the live performance. When lip syncing is used to protect the health of an artist, it would be forgivable and as long as the artist would not abuse it.

However, some artists who are not confident of their singing abilities resort to lip syncing although they know that they might criticize for doing so. This could be also the reason why the process is controversial as it makes artists look like they have superb musical abilities when in fact they don’t. Actually, lip syncing is used by artists of lesser talents since it requires no skill. Lip syncing is considered fake, and people don’t pay concert tickets to watch their idols pretend to sing on stage.

While there are many singers who are caught lip syncing such as Milli Vanilli, there is one singer who claims to never have lip synched ever. And I believed her. I am not really a fan but Pink has true talent that even if you hoisted her high in the air she will still and can sing – live! For me, this is more respectable than performers who fake singing all the time and who makes lip syncing an excuse in exchange for dancing. 

Milli Vanilli was caught lip syncing in 1989. The duo then admitted that they were not even singing their records.

FACT: Lip syncing is now considered illegal at least in Turkmenistan. President Saparmurat Niyazov has banned lip syncing in all forms. For him, lip syncing hurts the development of the country’s artistic culture.

Agree or disagree? Debate.      

DIANE WARREN

Who is Diane Warren? We are familiar with her songs but nope she is no singer. She is a songwriter, and is considered the ‘most prolific’ songwriter today. Born in 1956 in Los Angeles, Warren was exposed to music at the early age of nine. She began writing songs when she was only 14 years old. As she puts it, “music saved me”. Although her mother discouraged her of songwriting, her father continued to believe in her talent. Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me” was a tribute to her father for his undying support. Although Warren wrote songs of power ballad nature, she was never married. 

   

Warren’s first hit was “Solitaire” by Laura Branigan in 1983. From then, Warren had written approximately 374 songs, more than 70 of which were featured in films or television shows. Her songs have received nominations from different award giving bodies such as six nominations for Academy Awards, five for Golden Globe and seven for Grammy Award. Warren had already won an Academy and Grammy Awards. In 2001, Warren was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. She now owns a publishing company named Realsongs, allowing her to have full control of her compositions.

Here is my Top 10 list of Diane Warren songs:

1) Have You Ever?

2) Can’t Fight the Moonlight

3) Need to be Next to You

4) Because You Loved Me

5) Can’t Take that Away

6) I Don’t Want to be Your Friend

7) From the Heart

8) I’ll Never Get Over You Getting Over Me

9) Tell Me Where It Hurts

10) If You Asked Me To

What about you? What is your favorite Diane Warren song?

MOST COMMON MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

In principle, any object that produces sound can be called a musical instrument including any part of the body that can produce sound. While everyone can make a sound by clapping the hands and snapping the fingers, it takes more than a hand or a finger to make a beautiful song. The process of making music is accompanied by a specific musical instrument; these instruments are created for the purpose of creating of musical sounds.

There are musical instruments that can be easily learned. This could be also the reason why some musical instruments are more popularly used than the others which require more complicated techniques of using. In no particular order, here are some of the most commonly used musical instruments.

1) Guitar

Guitar is the one of the most played musical instruments of all time. Guitar dreams represent joyous gatherings, harmony and passion in love. The fundamental form of a guitar is that of a woman’s body. Thereby, dreaming of a guitar has sexual connotation as well and may signal an erotic or sensual dream. To see a broken guitar symbolizes disappointments in love. 

2) Piano 
Piano has one of the most beautiful sounds, producing the sweetest melodies that can evoke different emotions including serenity and blissfulness. When you dreamt that you are playing a piano, this means that you are looking for harmony in your life. When you hear the sound of it, this means personal satisfaction with the way things are doing. But when you dream that a piano needs to be tuned, some aspect of your life is in discord and needs tweaking.

3) Drums

Drums are used in almost every genre of music. Drums produce music by tapping the hand(s) on the surface or by using drumsticks. In the past, drums are not only used musically since it produces sounds that qualify as signals. Drums can be also used for communications between great distances. When you dreamt of playing a drum, it is indicative of progressing through life in your own terms. When you hear a drum playing, you need to keep a steady pace in the pursuit of your own goals.