For You Nikki Sixx Fans...

New Festival Concept: You Name It, You Brand It

While I was looking around at festival websites last night, I came across a spinoff of Milwaukee's Summerfest: Your Music Fest. Yep. This is a new festival set for June 4 and 5, 2010 and will feature all modern and alternative rock bands. The cool thing is that promoters are asking you - the fans - to name the fest and create its logo, too!

Here are the official rules right from  the Your Music Fest website:

This year, the Summerfest grounds will host a brand new Modern Rock and Alternative Festival on Friday, June 4 and Saturday, June 5, 2010.  This new festival will feature Alternative and Modern Rock bands and will include a nonstop lineup of national and regional headliners.  And since it’s a brand new fest, we’re leaving the name and branding up to YOU!

Here’s how it works:

• Fans will have the opportunity to brand this festival by creating both a name and logo (submissions MUST include both)
• If interested, you may submit it here
• Submissions will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. CST, Sunday, February 21 , 2010
• Staff of Milwaukee World Festival, Inc. will determine the Top 3 submissions
• Public may vote from Monday, March 1, 2010 until Monday, March 8, 2010, to determine the winner
• The winner will be announced on Wednesday, March 10, 2010, on www.yourmusicfest.com and www.summerfest.com

Top 3 Finalists receive a “Music Lovers” prize package comprised of the following:

• Two (2) complimentary 2-day admission passes to the Festival, June 4 – 5. Transportation and accommodations are the sole responsibility of the Finalists.
• Six (6) complimentary three-day admission passes and four (4) complimentary single day admission tickets to Summerfest, June 24 – July 4, 2010, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  3-Day passes are valid for one admission per day and are non-transferable. Transportation and accommodations are the sole responsibility of the Finalists.
• Eleven (11) complimentary single-day parking passes for Summerfest.
• One (1) complimentary $100 Summerfest Gift Card.

The Grand Prize Winner will receive a VIP experience at the festival in June, including:

• Complimentary roundtrip airfare for two (originating in the Continental U.S.).
• Complimentary hotel accommodations in Milwaukee, June 4 -5, 2010 (one room; double or King).
• Tickets to the festival for them and a guest
• An assigned parking space for the festival
• VIP hospitality passes for them and a guest
• Backstage passes and Meet & Greets for select shows with Artists’ approval
• A themed profile on Summerfest.com and the festival’s web site
• Signed merchandise from the bands playing at the event

So, what do you think? Is this cool or lame? I tend to think this is a brilliant, recession-proof idea. After all, promoters are getting a dirt cheap name and brand identity and the person that wins will get ultimate bragging rights. As of right now, I have zero information of who could possibly be playing this new fest. Summerfest is the world's largest music festival and inks big time headliners. I will assume this means "Your Music Fest" will also ink top talent. Time will tell.

So Who Remembers Victory?

It's hard for me to find 80s metal bands I've not mentioned at least once on this site...but today I've got a new one for you: Victory. Remember these guys? The German band formed around 1984 and featured a slew of members that seemed to change a lot. In fact, the former member list could rival my high school graduating class. So anyway the band started to gain a following and played live all around the world.

I bring up Victory because I found myself listening to some of their tunes on YouTube last night. I remember "Don't Tell No Lies" from the hey day of MTV. Hearing it again all these years later just made me think of getting out of school at 3:30 and planting myself in front of the day's top video countdown. Listening to Victory as an adult, I don't quite understand why they never got huge in America. In all fairness, the songs are quite good and certainly commercial by metal standards.

"Don't Tell No Lies"

Here's "Never Satisfied." This song gets played during VH1 Metal Mania on rare occasion.

So back in 2002 or so, Victory reunited and recorded new music - seriously. The band released Instinct in 2003 - and they played at Wacken Open Air! A couple years later, the band played some more fests. I swear in the news section of the band's official website the top posting says a new album is done and will be called Don't Talk Science. That note was posted on October 7, 2009. I can't find any confirmation of this anywhere else - but hey - I believe it could happen. So...do you remember Victory?

Is Being in a Rock Band a Bad Career Choice?

Sometimes I come across pretty funny things online. Last night, I stumbled upon a forum where someone was asking if it was a wise move to choose "rock star" as a career path, much like doctor or ditch digger. I'm not sure you pick "rock band" or "rock star" as a career. Both are sort of the antithesis of a career. After all, most musicians say they joined bands to avoid working lame jobs in the first place! Still, to say success is less than guaranteed in the rock world is probably overstating expectations. Fact is, not very many people make enough money off music to live comfortably. Also, I think if you have to ask if it's a smart career move, music for the long haul probably isn't for you.

Let me be clear: I'm not mocking the poor 18 year old who started the thread. He even mentioned dressing up like an 80s rocker which sort of made my heart soar. Most people gave the kid some great advice: stay passionate about music, but stay in school and get a job, too. Quite frankly, I don't know what I would tell someone that came to me specifically for advice regarding a full time career in music. I'd probably tell them to go to dental school. I have said as much when people have told me they want a career in print/online/television journalism. After all, dental school is just a few years above regular college, the hours are decent and the pay is good enough to allow for multiple rock n' roll vacations.

I don't meant to sound negative here. The fact of it is, the people who make it in music break all the rules. They live on stale bread and cigarettes, put endless miles on an already worn out car and travel across the country, playing for anyone who will listen. I certainly don't have the cojones to make it as a rock star. Then again, I don't have the talent either. I guess that's why I admire my favorite musicians so much: they never asked how. They just did.

Oh Dear: Live Nation/Ticketmaster Merger Approved

Here's a detailed article on the merger via Reuters with additional reporting from Dan Margolies. The bolding is mine.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Ticketmaster Entertainment and the world's largest concert promoter, Live Nation, completed their merger on Monday after agreeing with U.S. antitrust officials to divest some assets.

The new Live Nation Entertainment will own more than 140 concert venues globally, sell around 140 million tickets a year and promote 22,000 concerts annually. The U.S. Justice Department required Ticketmaster to license its primary ticketing software to a competitor, sell off one ticketing unit, and agree to be barred from retaliating against venue owners who use a competing ticket service.The combination had attracted opposition from artists, fans, competitors and some lawmakers, concerned the new company could dictate the terms for major events. Some antitrust experts had predicted the government might go to court to try to block the deal.

"I was prepared to litigate at any and all points, until a settlement was achieved that efficiently dealt with all our anti-competitive concerns," Christine Varney, head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, told reporters on Monday. Varney said she expected to see ticket prices decline as a result of the settlement. Investors welcomed the settlement, sending shares of Live Nation up 14.7 percent to close at $10.51 on the New York Stock Exchange. Ticketmaster shares rose 15.8 percent to finish at 15.40 in regular trading on Nasdaq.

At those prices the all-stock deal would be worth $835 million. The new company will trade under the "LYV" symbol on the NYSE. "The conditions seem to be relatively benign," said Tuna Amobi, equity analyst at Standard & Poor's. "There are no major divestitures required. I don't know that is going to create the kind of even, competitive field that was intended."

Live Nation and Ticketmaster had made some forays into each other's turf, giving the combination elements of both a vertical and horizontal merger.Ticketmaster also owns Front Line Management, the leading artist management firm founded by Ticketmaster Chief Executive Officer Irving Azoff. Its roster of 200-plus artists includes The Eagles and Miley Cyrus.

Live Nation owns major venues like the Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and the House of Blues chain, and has long-term contracts with top artists like Madonna, U2, Jay-Z and Nickelback.

Although a relatively small combination in U.S. business terms, some had come to view the deal as a test case for the Obama administration's pledge to get tough on mergers.

"I will be keeping a very close eye on this settlement as we go forward," Varney said. "You can probably expect to see three competitors and generally when you see robust competition you see prices coming down."

The agreement will last for ten years. Seventeen states joined in the settlement and Canada has a parallel pact imposing similar conditions on the deal. TicketDisaster.org, a coalition of competitors and others that had opposed the merger, said monitoring of the new company would be crucial.

"It all comes down to whether (the Justice Department) will indeed be the watchdog they claim they will be," said Seth Hurwitz, chairman of I.M.P., which owns the 9:30 Club, and operates the Merriweather Post Pavilion, both in the Washington D.C. area. Ticketmaster will be required to license its primary ticketing software to Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), the second-largest concert promoter and operator of major venues. Within five years, AEG can either buy the software, create its own or partner with another competitor.

Additionally, Ticketmaster will also have to sell its Paciolan Inc ticketing unit. It already has a letter of intent from Comcast Corp's Comcast Spectacor, a sports and entertainment company. Paciolan could be sold to another buyer that the Justice Department finds suitable, the agency said. Under the merger terms, Ticketmaster shareholders would receive 1.384 shares of Live Nation common stock for each share of Ticketmaster. Live Nation would own 49.99 percent of the combined company, while Ticketmaster would hold the remaining 50.01 percent.

So, what do you think this means for us, the lowly ticket buyers? I'm hopeful prices won't go much higher. Then again, I wasn't born yesterday and I didn't just fall off a turnip truck...

Download Announcing 9 Bands Today

If I had money, I'd totally travel to Europe for Download. That and Sweden Rock are two fests I've obsessed over for years...and it seems like I'm never going to get there. By the time I get it together, I'll be geriatric and not able to handle a pit. I digress. Later today, Download officials will announce their first batch of confirmed bands. The fest takes place June 11-13 and is the 30th anniversary of rock events at Donnington Park (Leicestershire, UK).

Who will headline? Well, I'm not sure but most people seem to think AC/DC sure is logical and that would be huge! Other guesses are Steel Panther, Scorpions, Them Crooked Vultures, Bullet for My Valentine and Soundgarden. I'm sure the nine bands announced later today will rule and I'm so jealous of my UK based-readers that are already planning on attending this year's event. As always, when the lineup is announced, I'll post it here and also in the message board area for easy reference.

****First confirmed bands:****

AC/DC
STONE TEMPLE PILOTS
THEM CROOKED VULTURES
DEFTONES
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
MEGADETH
MOTÖRHEAD
WOLFMOTHER
VOLBEAT

Motley Crue at Download 2009

Cinderella to Tour in 2010

I knew for awhile Cinderella was inked to play the M3 festival near Baltimore in June but was always skeptical the band would go out on a full fledged tour. I figured Cinderella would try to do a series of fly-in festival dates to protect Tom Keifer's voice. Well, I guess I was wrong. In fact, a lot of my friends asked me if Cinderella would tour and I always said "I doubt it." Well, Cinderella's manager posted a bulletin on the band's website just a few hours ago announcing a tour. Here's the statement:

It is with great excitement that Cinderella announces the band's return to the concert road in 2010!!! The band has been in heavy rehearsal the past two months and has never sounded better...or Tom Keifer's voice stronger! Look for dates, and a tour, to be announced very, very shortly! Tim Heyne, Cinderella Management

I actually contacted Cinderella's management about an interview before this tour announcement, so it's great timing. I'll be sure to get the scoop on all this. I have no idea when dates will be announced or who the band will hit the road with, but I think this is going to be a great summer!

"Night Songs" live from 1991

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