The 30 Richest Drummers in the World

14 Oct 2012 5 Comments

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags:

    

(Source: MSN Entertainment)

Celebrity Net Worth recently published a list of the 30 richest drummers in the world. And maybe it’s not surprising that Ringo Starr could buy and sell all of us several times over, or that many of the richest drummers are people who figured out ways to stop being drummers (Dave Grohl, Phil Collins). But how in the hell is Aerosmith’s Joey Kramer worth $100 million? Check out the full head-spinning list below.

1. Ringo Starr (The Beatles, $300 million)

2. Phil Collins (Solo/Genesis, $250 million)

3. Dave Grohl (Nirvana/Foo Fighters, $225 million)

4. Don Henley (The Eagles, $200 million)

5. Lars Ulrich (Metallica, $175 million)

6. Charlie Watts (The Rolling Stones, $160 million)

7. Larry Mullen Jr. (U2, $150 million)

8. Roger Taylor (Queen, $105 million)

9. Joey Kramer (Aerosmith, $100 million)

10. Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers, $90 million)

11. Travis Barker (blink-182, $85 million)

12. Stewart Copeland (The Police, $80 million)

13. Alex Van Halen (Van Halen, $75 million)

14. Nick Mason (Pink Floyd, $75 million)

15. Tommy Lee (Motley Crue, $70 million)

16. Bill Ward (Black Sabbath, $65 million)

17. Jon Fishman (Phish, $60 million)

18. Carter Beauford (Dave Matthews Band, $55 million)

19. Rick Allen (Def Leppard, $50 million)

20. Tre Cool (Green Day, $45 million)

21. Danny Carey (Tool, $40 million)

22. Tico Torres (Bon Jovi, $40 million)

23. Max Weinberg (Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band/”Conan O’Brien,” $35 million)

24. Mickey Hart (The Grateful Dead, $30 million)

25. Bill Kreutzmann (The Grateful Dead, $25 million)

26. Neil Peart (Rush, $22 million)

27. Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters, $20 million)

28. ?uestlove (The Roots, $16 million)

29. Steven Adler (Guns N’ Roses, $15 million)

30. Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood Mac, $8.5 million)

Let’s just take a minute for the fact that Steven Adler played on one and a half Guns N’ Roses albums, that he’s been generally unfamous and making the “Celebrity Rehab” rounds for the past two decades, and that he’s still worth $15 million.

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta are Releasing a Christmas Album

14 Oct 2012 1 Comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: ,

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta are releasing a Christmas album

(Reprinted from Salon)

This Christmas, “Grease” stars Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta are giving you the gift of the 1970s, whether you want the decade back or not. After nearly 35 years, the pair has reunited to record a Christmas album with guests Kenny G (yes) and Barbra Streisand among others.  All proceeds from “This Christmas” will go to charities selected by Travolta and Newton-John. “We want to make a lot of people smile and happy. It’s a project that we’re hoping turns into a perennial, one that can continue to raise money for these causes year after year, a gift that keeps on giving,” said Newton-John in a statement.

The album will be released Nov. 13.

Naming a Band? Think Googlability

14 Oct 2012 Leave a comment

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts

Naming a new band? When the Cars, the Police, Heart and the Eagles did so their lack of originality may have cost them a few style points but it probably didn’t hurt their record sales any.

Today an aspiring band can’t afford to make the same mistake. With so many artists breakthroughs coming as the result of social media sites, and with the power of the “like” click meaning as much as the major label ad campaign, a band must make themselves easy to find online. And that means having an original word or word combination as a band name.

Just as Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan are easier to Google today than the Police are, bands named Mumford & Sons and Flaming Lips and Freelance Whales are a little easier to spread word about than bands like The Shore, Youth Group, Roman Candle and Girls, if only because it’s easier to find their Facebook pages.

Don’t use a common word or phrase to name your band. There’s money in exposure, and exposure is easier to come by for a band who use a fresh word combination to name themselves.

 

Pete Townshend Discusses His New Bio, Performs Acoustic “Won’t Get Fooled Again”

14 Oct 2012 2 Comments

by Ed Cyphers in General Posts Tags: ,

Pete Townshend sits down with Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone to discuss his new biography, his relationship with Roger, the ghosts of Keith Moon and John Entwistle and his love for his iPod.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/videos/pete-townshend-goes-acoustic-on-wont-get-fooled-again-20121011?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter

Musicians With Doctorates

14 Oct 2012 Leave a comment

Musicians with Doctorates

Image by Ed Cyphers

Page and Plant Reunite in Exotic Marrakesh, 1994

12 Oct 2012 Leave a comment

(Reprinted from Open Culture)

In 1994 Jimmy Page and Robert Plant collaborated on a new musical project for the first time since the death 14 years earlier of Led Zeppelin’s drummer, John Bonham. The reunion resulted from an invitation to appear on MTV’s hit series Unplugged. But Page and Plant wanted to steer clear of nostalgia, so they excluded former Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones from the project and named it Unledded.

The resulting album and DVD feature an assortment of Zeppelin songs that were reinterpreted with the help of an Egyptian ensemble, an Indian vocalist and the London Metropolitan Orchestra, but perhaps the most interesting part of the project was a trio of new songs recorded with local musicians in Marrakesh, Morocco. Those performances, one of which is shown here, were the result of a collaboration with traditional musicians of the Gnawa minority, whose sub-Saharan ancestors were brought to Morocco many centuries ago as slaves.

“We’d never met the Gnawa when we went there,” said Plant in a 1994 interview, “but they were very patient, and smiling is a great currency.” Gnawa music is traditionally performed for prayer and healing, and differs from other North African music. “They play a kind of music which is much more akin to the music of the Mississippi Delta than it is to do with Arab music,” Plant said in another interview. “It’s haunting, seductive, and quite alluring.”

Video by Ed Cyphers

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