Day of Silence

BY DANIEL MCSWAIN
Webcasters are speaking with a powerful voice today, as nearly all U.S.-based Internet radio streams have “gone silent” in a reaction to new royalty rates that threaten to decimate the majority of the webcast industry within weeks.

Webcasters of all stripes, from public broadcasters like KCRW to major webcast-only services like Yahoo! LAUNCHcast and Pandora, in addition to some of the country’s major terrestrial simulcasters (including Greater Media, Saga Communications, and B-101/Philadelphia), are participating in today’s “Day of Silence” to underscore the urgent need for Congressional intervention to keep webcasters alive.

Running up to today’s event, national media outlets have been following webcasters’ struggle against the excessive rates with growing attention and coverage. Today, that coverage, most of it highly sympathetic to webcasters’ efforts, continues to pour out, including in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, the Associated Press, the BBC, and more.

Many webcasters have blocked access to their streams, while others are broadcasting loops of ambient sound interspersed with PSAs urging their audiences to take action today by contacting their representatives in Washington D.C.

The table below shows examples of how webcasters are presenting today’s silence to their audiences.

read more

Photo Credit: © columbia records

Photo Credit: © Motown records

NEW YORK, NY, June 1, 2007 – Soul music has been the soundtrack to some of the most extraordinary social, political and cultural shifts of the second half of the 20th Century. Together with the Civil Rights movement, it challenged white hegemony, helped break down segregation and encouraged the fight for racial equality. Soul music is now a billion dollar industry with R&B and hip-hop dominating the music charts. As part of their month-long celebration of Black Music Month in June, VH1 SOUL will premiere the BBC original documentary, “SOUL DEEP: The Story of Black Popular Music.” “SOUL DEEP” is the story of a musical genre that resonates all over the world because it has managed to strike that one chord that all of humanity shares . . . soul.

The six-part foot-stomping series, “SOUL DEEP” will make its U.S. premiere on Monday, June 4 through Friday, June 8 exclusively on VH1 SOUL at 9PM ET/PT, with episodes 5 and 6 premiering back-to-back on Friday, June 8. Through a combination of rare archival footage, over 100 contemporary and never-seen-before interviews, each episode of “SOUL DEEP” explores a different era of the evolution of “soul music” from the creation of R&B, via gospel, southern soul, Motown, funk and hip-hop soul through the words and performances of its greatest artists, producers, musicians and commentators.

The episode lineup for “SOUL DEEP” on VH1 SOUL is as follows (as you will see episodes five and six air back-to-back on Friday, June 8):

EPISODE 1: “The Birth of Soul” – In a never-seen-before BBC interview with Ray Charles, he reveals how his innovations first brought soul to a wider audience. The term “R&B,” which means “rhythm” and “blues,” was coined by Billboard Magazine journalist Jerry Wexler after he was asked by his editor to find an alternative for the label ‘race music.’ After many years touring on the ‘chitlin circuit’ (a network of black clubs and bars) with artists like Ruth Brown, Ray Charles finally created his own style by unifying the sexually-charged music of the dance floor with the spiritually-charged sounds of the church hall. Life was hard and sometimes dangerous for black musicians in a segregated society. This episode premieres on Monday, June 4 at 9PM*.

EPISODE 2: “The Gospel Highway” – Gospel singer Sam Cooke changed pop music forever and set the standard for every artist that followed him. This episode looks at the world of black music before and after that revolutionary moment in 1957 when Cooke went pop. Tragically, Cooke was killed in 1964 at the prime of his career. Gone, but not forgotten, Cooke bequeathed an extraordinary legacy, inspiring a myriad of black artists from Motown’s Berry Gordy to Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin. This episode premieres on Tuesday, June 5 at 9PM*.

EPISODE 3: “The Sound Of Young America” – Motown changed the landscape of music, rewrote the rule book and created the sound of young America, which appealed to whites as much as to blacks. Crossover soul was the vision of Motown’s founder – Svengali figure Berry Gordy. Reflecting the optimism of the early 60’s and the promise of integration, Gordy’s artists were coached, groomed and targeted at the lucrative white audience. This episode premieres on Wednesday, June 6 at 9PM*.

EPISODE 4: “Southern Soul” – In the summer of 1967, Otis Redding performed in front of a 200,000-strong, mainly white, crowd at the Monterey Pop Festival. Five years after walking into Stax Records studio in Memphis as an unknown singer, he was now breaking into the mass white market and seducing its counter culture without diluting his sound. This episode follows both Redding’s rise, as he became the embodiment of 60’s soul music, and that of Stax Records as it crossed the racial divide at a time of segregation. This episode premieres on Thursday, June 7 at 9PM*.

EPISODE 5: “Ain’t It Funky” – The tough, urban syncopated rhythms of funk were the soundtrack to the riots and revolutions of the late 60’s and early 70’s. This episode traces the roots of funk from James Brown’s seminal “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag” to the crazy psychedelia of George Clinton. This episode premieres on Friday, June 8 at 8PM*.

EPISODE 6: “From Ghetto To Fabulous” – In a never-seen before interview, Mary J. Blige, the queen of hip-hop soul, speaks candidly about her journey from ghetto to fabulous. Her music represents the fusion of R&B and hip-hop and completes the journey that started 50 years ago with the emergence of the early soul sounds of Ray Charles and ends with black R&B artists’ domination of the charts today. The extraordinary story of the unstoppable rise of urban R&B – with its diamond-dripping darlings of the media and high profile celebrity artists is traced back to the housing projects in Yonkers in the 80’s where Mary J. Blige began. R&B, with its roots in soul music which has been evolving over the last 50 years, has moved from ghetto to ghetto-fabulous to simply fabulous. This episode premieres on Friday, June 8 at 9PM*.

When singer/songwriter Maya Azucena released her solid, soulfully funky, debut CD, aptly titled Maya Who?!, it was meant to playfully address how many responded to hearing her exotic surname for the first time. However, after hearing her music or seeing her perform that question was quickly spun to echo those keenly wanting to know, who this strikingly talented new artist on the scene was. They were no doubt quick to discover what has been described as her passion, sass and been there authenticity and a voice that’s diva strong and compelling. “I sing what I mean and what I feel from the bottom of my heart,” says Maya with an undeniable tone of sincerity and it undoubtedly comes through in all she does as it has earned her streams of love, admiration, respect and opportunity. CDBaby.com, the well-regarded online music store where Maya’s internationally acclaimed and popular CD remains in the Urban/R&B Top Sellers list, was encouraged to say This soul/R&B/hip hop album is a fantastic launching point for a young woman with a bright and long career ahead of her.

“Junkyard Jewel is album that I can identify with for many reasons, says Maya, one of them being that it is my second-born and I was able to convey my experiences from the first album, traveling around the world and to where I am now”, expresses Maya. The album is fueled by the guitar work of Ver Halen and a solid band consisting of percussionist Ivan Katz, bassist Jason DiMatteo, violinist Tarrah Reynolds and cellist David Gotay. Maya’s expressive voice shines in the midtempo “Set You Free”, “Runaway Blues” and “Like No Other”. “Ballads such as “Wash Over” and the title cut “Junkyard Jewel,” put Maya’s soulful voice above the rest. Her rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” has been a fan favorite at shows and now, finally recorded, is notable, inspiring and hair-raising.

The attractive Brooklyn , NY native fueled by an obsession for crafting riveting tracks and stirring up faithful audiences with spirited live sets has since taken on “hardest-working” status. Not only has a burgeoning résumé of impressive accomplishments been the result, but also a resounding buzz often reserved for those touted as a star in the making. The range of those accomplishments is a reflection of the truly creative artist she is and the enormous ability she possesses proving the buzz is certainly warranted. AllHipHop.com recently named the one time aspiring actress “Best Alternative Artist of the Year, while Soultracks.com has touted her as a “Best Female Vocalist of the Year” nominee.

Maya Azucena has shared stages or been on bills with legendary artists, vets and newcomers from the worlds of R&B, Soul, Hip Hop, Jazz, Rock and more. Artists such as Roberta Flack, Bilal, Martin Luther, Jaguar Wright, Joss Stone, Leon Ware, Richard Bona, Lupe Fiasco, Big Daddy Kane, the Isley Brothers, Gladys Knight, Anthony Hamilton, Platinum Pied Pipers, and John Legend. In addition to crisscrossing the US with riveting performances she’s toured cities in Canada, Italy, England as well as Stockholm, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Croatia where Croatian superstar, Gibonni enlisted Maya’s vocal talents for a track on his latest CD named, “Andejo U Tebia” (”Angel In You”). As a result their collaboration garnered 2 Croatian Grammy awards and a stellar performance at the televised ceremony.

Maya is also featured on Grammy-winning producer/songwriter and son of the legendary Bob Marley, Stephen Marley’s track, “Let Her Dance”, from his latest Universal/Tuff Gong release Mind Control. Maya currently has the #3 spot on BILLBOARD’S Hot Dance chart with the single, “Make It Happen” on Kult Records. And there is still a long list of collaborations with notable producers such as Devo Springsteen, Rich Medina, DJ Bob Sinclair and Jonathan Peters, among others. In addition to her voice grabbing your attention through national NAIR commercials in “The Less You Wear” campaign and others for Icy Hot, Macya’s INC, Mike’s Hard Lemonade and Longhorn Steakhouse, Maya is an activist in her own right. She has sung on Washington DC ‘s historic Mall at the Save Darfur rally against genocide in the Sudan , in solidarity with national activists and celebrities such as Barack Obama, Al Sharpton, and George Clooney.

All that Maya Azucena has done thus far is indeed impressive. Not merely by the amount of things there are, but because of the realization of something taking place that means far more to her. That something is growth. On the back cover of her debut CD she then wrote, “I am a work in progress.” This was both a refreshing and revealing statement. For one, she was being incredibly modest for even then she displayed great ability, poise and professionalism that immediately hoisted her among the premiere artists to watch on the soul scene. But is was also a declaration from the start that she is a sincere, creative artist first, driven by the desire to move an audience emotionally and physically “ challenging herself each time to explore ways to do it differently- do it better.

ARE YOU READY TO EXPLORE THE “JEWEL” THAT IS HIDDEN INSIDE?

* Song collaboration with Croatian Superstar, Gibonni, just won 2 Porin (Croatian Grammys), (April 23, 2007) in the category of Best Song Collaboration and Song of The Year for “Angel In You” (Andeo U Tebi).
* “Make It Happen” holds the #3 spot w/ a bullet on Billboard Hot Dance Chart.

* Maya Azucena’s cameo appearance on NBC’s comedy 30 Rock, featuring Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan and Special Guest LL Cool J. Maya’s indie music video, TOO MUCH, directed by Jason Fisher, was posted on a large flat screen TV in a scene that takes place backstage at the SOURCE Awards with the captions: BEST MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR “ MAYA AZUCENA.

* Maya’s vocals were chosen for the recent JOHNSON & JOHNSON and NAIR National TV/Radio campaign (currently airing now).

* Song collaboration with Stephen Marley, “Let Her Dance”, is generating huge buzz at radio.

* Best Female Vocalist of the Year nominee “ Soul Tracks Readers Choice Awards

* Best Alternative Artist of the Year WINNER“ AllHipHop.com

See Maya here:read more

Check out Vesta on the web:

Could It Be I’m Falling In Love:

read more
Free:
read more