Carolina Liar VH1 Best Cruise Ever

Carolina Liar opened for Lifehouse on Sunday night of the Vh1 Best Cruise Ever

Photos by Stephanie Baldwin:

Daughtry at Jobing.com Arena 04.28.2010

Daughtry performed at Jobing.com Arena April 28, 2010

Photos by Stephanie Baldwin:

Lifehouse at Jobing.com Arena 04.28.2010

Lifehouse performed at Jobing.com Arena April 28, 2010

Photos by Stephanie Baldwin:

Vh1 Best Cruise Ever Pics and Reviews

We’re finally able to recover our files (04.28.10) Yippie! Since we have over 800 photos to go through, we should ahve them up by the weekend…. no really!

If you’d like to share your review email us at contribute@fromthecrowd.com

Photos:

Lifehouse Thursday Performance on the Lido Deck:

http://fromthecrowd.com/1348/vh1-best-cruise-ever-lifehouse-thursday-performance/

Carolina Liar Sunday Performance in the Paris Lounge:

http://fromthecrowd.com/1368/carolina-liar-vh1-best-cruise-ever/

Lifehouse Saturday Performance:
Coming Soon

Lifehouse Sunday performance:
Coming Soon

Finger Eleven:
Coming Soon.

Shinedown Saturday Night coming Soon

3 Doors Down: Friday Night Coming Soon!

VH1 Best Cruise Ever Lifehouse Thursday Performance

Lifehouse performed on the Lido Deck on Thursday on the Vh1 Best Cruise Ever.

Photos by Stephanie Baldwin:

Artists of the Month: Cavo

Cavo will be opening in support of Daughtry April 28th at Jobing.com Arena.

Get your tickets here: http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1E00442CD64A9CDB?brand=jobingarena

Cavo, after nearly nine years together, had a good shot of getting where they are today: releasing their major-label debut album, Bright Nights * Dark Days, last summer on Reprise Records. With songs like the propulsive first single “Champagne,” the uplifting power ballad “Let It Go,” the blistering “Cry Wolf,” and the strutting “Blame,” the album is a passionately played collection of hard-hitting rock and roll with keenly felt lyrics about life, love, and the acceptance that comes with realizing that all we can do is to try and be the best person we can for those we love. “I think it’s amazing when a songwriter can open up a piece of themselves and let the whole world see it,” says Walker, who writes Cavo’s lyrics. “It may not be beautiful, in fact it may be really ugly, but great art comes from an honest place. It has to. And that’s what we try to do with our songs.”
 
The current line-up of Cavo — which also features Chris Hobbs on guitar, Chad La Roy on drums, and Brian Smith on bass — solidified after Smith came on board in 2006, but the original nucleus formed when Walker hooked up with Hobbs and La Roy in March 2001. Walker had wanted to front a rock band ever since seeing Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder onstage for the first time. “I had sung since I was kid,” Walker says, “but seeing him made me realize that writing songs and singing with a rock band were what I had to do. And I knew immediately that Chris and Chad were doing something special. We all shared the same passion for it. Chris is someone I consider to be a musical soul-mate; he’s very artistic and has a great sense of how the end result should sound. Chad is just pure energy; his playing is like a shot of adrenaline. They’re the kind of guys who, even if they weren’t signed to a label, would still be playing music together, and that’s how I felt.”
 
That commitment to music got Walker, Hobbs, and La Roy through some rough times ahead — the group endured numerous production setbacks, a former member’s alcohol addiction, and the end of another member’s marriage, all of which is chronicled on Cavo’s aptly titled independent album, The Painful Art of Letting Go, which they self-released in 2006. “We’ve had some major losses and some major gains throughout this process, but it has only made us stronger as a band and as friends,” La Roy says. After Letting Go was released in September, Cavo were ready to hit the road. The only problem was they didn’t have a bass player. Walker knew Brian Smith from the St. Louis scene and asked him to join. “Brian coming onboard literally changed everything for Cavo,” Walker says. “When he started playing with us, everything was different. It was more intense. His technical ability gave Chris the opportunity to start indulging his creative side, which in turn shaped the sound on our new album.”
 
In January 2007, Cavo wrote their first song as a four-piece — the ringing, tribal-sounding “Useless,” which Walker feels encapsulates everything about their musical direction. “It was clearly different than anything on our previous album. It was more aggressive, probably because of Brian. He plays parts, not just notes, and that made the music more aggressive. So I had to step up my game and become a more aggressive singer to match where the music was headed.” Soon they had two more songs, “Champagne” and “Cry Wolf,” both of which made it onto an EP that got the attention of the program director at St. Louis radio station The Point, which put “Champagne” into rotation. A few live showcases in the summer of 2008 later and Cavo signed on the dotted line with Reprise Records last October. “Signing with Reprise meant everything to us,” La Roy says. “It’s a chance for the world to hear and feel our music, and an opportunity that many people can only dream about.”
 
Record producer David Bendeth, who has worked with Breaking Benjamin, Paramore, and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, among others, caught Cavo at their showcase in New York City and told the band he wanted to help them make a great album that could stand the test of time. “He basically said that he wanted to record with us whether we signed a deal or not, and his passion for our music was really inspiring,” Walker says. “In the studio, he spent the time to make the songs the best they could be. He cared about the final product and it shows.”  Adds La Roy: “I had a feeling this record was going to be something unbelievable and epic, but when I heard the final tracks, I was speechless.”
 
In addition to Cavo’s own songs, Bright Nights * Dark Days features an additional track, the powerfully emotional “Ghost,” co-written by Nixons singer/guitarist Zac Maloy, who has also worked with David Cook and Chris Daughtry, and the Norwegian songwriting team Espionage. “I was a Nixons fanatic,” Walker says, “so I had to get my geek moment out of the way when I first met Zac.”
 
“One of great things about being signed to a major label is that it allows our band so many amazing opportunities,” Walker continues. “It was also validation — like somebody telling you that what you’ve been focusing on your whole life wasn’t a waste of time. People would ask me, ‘How long are you going to keep playing in this band; when are you going to quit this hobby?’ Being in a band isn’t a hobby, it’s really hard work. But when it works, and you’re out there playing music with your best friends, it’s the best job ever.”

Learn more: http://www.cavomusic.com/

Album Review: Eardrum Talib Kweli

If you know good hip-hop then you know the name, Talib Kweli. Coined as a conscious rapper, his name means seeker of truth and knowledge.   Talib Kweli  is an educated rapper, raps with a purpose and has been described as the last of a dying a breed.

 

To provide you a bit of history, Talib Kweli started out in a group called Black star formed with another hip hop star Mos Def. Talib Kweli and Mos def spilt to pursue there solo careers both making a name for themselves in hip-hop.

 

Talib completed his latest album, Eardrum in 2007; this is his third solo album. Eardrum featured big name artists like Kanye West, UGK, Lyfe Jenning, Will.I.AM, Musiq Soulchild, and Justin Timberlake plus many more. The whole album flows together with Talib rapping over the melodic beats. His rhymes are thought provoking and delve you in issues like religion, world poverty, and of course hip-hop. The song they released as the single was ‘Hot Thing’ produced and featuring Will.I.AM. ‘Hot Thing’ was probably more on the commercial side compare to the rest of the album. Some songs you may find repeat worthy are; ‘In the Mood’ featuring Kanye West and Roy Ayers, ‘Soon the New Day’ featuring Norah Jones, ‘Oh my Stars’ featuring Musiq Soulchild.  Talib Kweli makes you remember what real hip-hop is.

 

Talib Kweli will be releasing a part two of reflection eternal with Hi-Tek Reflection eternal back again. The single for the album ‘Back Again’ is now on Itunes and the official video has already been released. There is no set release date for Reflection Eternal Back Again but will be coming out soon. Until then keep listening to Eardrum there’s plenty to enjoy!

 

I give 4 stars

 

For More Talib Kweli

Talib Kwelis Website

Talib Kweli’s  Myspace

Talib Kweli’s Last.fm

Album Review: V.I.C

Disappointing, Disgusted, and I Disapprove and a bunch of other “diss”es I have to discuss with this V.I.C Beast album.

 

What does V.I.C. even stand for you ask? It’s an acronym with a meaning no where to be found, except that it may be short for his name Victor Owusu. Born in New York and raised in Atlanta, this 22 year old says his music is a hybrid between witty battle rhymes and southern party music. V.I.C is signed with Warner Brother Records and has worked with big name artists Soulja Boy Tell ’Em, Hurricane Chris, E-40 and few others that jumped on the hit ‘Get Silly Remix’. ‘Beast’ is the first album for V.I.C. and Get Silly, his first single, was a dance craze hit. Many confused him with Soulja Boy Tell ’Em, a featured artist on the remix, as the main artist of ‘Get Silly’. With an album like ‘Beast’, V.I.C. sounds like a one hit wonder.

 

The album starts out with heavy breathing and then drops the beat hard with chants of “I’m a Beast”. He continues this animal theme in the next track, with a person trying and failing to impersonate an Australian accent talking about mating rituals. There are also two other skits that carry out this same theme. The skits were not entertaining or funny, and could have been left out. The songs that were put on the album just didn’t flow together. Songs “Get Silly, “We Ridin” a song sampling the batman theme song, “Wobble” and “Duck Off”. These were more dance party songs for teens.  Then there were songs on the album that were decidedly more adult, with lyrics like, “Beat that” with the hook that rings, “I don’t let the p***y beat me up I beat that p***y”, and “Blow my mind” all about sexually pleasing a woman. Dance songs for teens and overtly sexual songs just don’t seem to go together on one album.

 

Overall he had some really great beats on the album. Too bad his nasally rap tone and odd emphasis on words ruined the majority of the songs on the album. “Get Silly” was the only hit on the album and that’s because superstar Soulja boy hopped on the Remix. This is definitely not an album I would listen to twice. I give 1 star : ( 

Concert Review: Kelly Clarkson Arizona State Fair

The Kelly Clarkson concert at the Arizona State Fair was packed on Saturday November 7^th.  It was a mission to get to the concert, which included the daunting challenge to find parking at the Arizona State Fair and a hike through the packed fair to get to the stadium.  

 

Kelly Clarkson began the night with her album titled song “All I Ever Wanted” the crowd was pumped and ready to go. Keeping the energy going she sang “Miss Independent”. The stage production of the show was blinking fun colorful arrays of violet-blue, red, yellow, blue, and pink lights. The lights were slightly blinding but simple enough to just focus on Kelly’s pure talent.

 

Clarkson dazzled the crowd, when she performed an acoustic cover song called “Lies by the Black Keys” followed up by a country song by Patsy Cline “After Midnight.” Clarkson’s vocals were amazing as the filled the venue! The crowd loved the country vibe and went wild for the trumpet solo in the song and had the whole crowd clapping to the beat. After the song ended they cut all stage production and did an acoustic version of “Hazel Eyes” with the audience, where Clarkson had the crowd singing parts of the chorus as the lights switched from the stage to the crowd, cuing them to belt it out.

 

To close out the end of her set, Clarkson sang her hits “Because of You”, “Walk away”, and “Since You Been Gone”. By this point in the show the majority of the crowd was on their feet jumping up and down, hands high in the air, and belting out Clarkson’s lyrics with her. Clarkson rejoiced at how great the crowd was and thanked them for being so great. The last song of the set was “My Life Would Suck” and the crowd was still dancing by the end of the concert. The show ended around an hour and half long and the crowd seem to love Kelly Clarkson by the end.

 

The show was mode chic and focused on the music. Audience members from little kids to mid-twenties men and old ladies seemed to walk away from the concert satisfied if not wanting more. Clarkson didn’t need dramatic effects or a theme behind her tour because her talent in itself will blow you away! 

 

The mission was well worth it and after seeing her performance you have a complete understanding of why she was the American Idol winner. 

Artist of the Month: We the Kings

We the Kings American pop-punk band is making a big splash in the music scene! These Kings are the new teenage heartthrobs serenading us with lyrics like “Heaven can wait up high in the sky it’s you and I.” Talented and under 25 they have already released a self-titled album back in 2007. Their new single Heaven Can wait is now out with a new video premiering on MTV. Their second highly anticipated album Smile, Kid is to be released on December 8^th.  If you haven’t heard about them by now, you will soon!

 

We the Kings grew up in Bradenton, Florida and got there name from their middle school they attended King Middle school. We the Kings have four band members ranging in ages 19-22; Travis Clark standing out not only because of his red hair, but for his awesome vocals. Hunter Thomsen guitar and backing vocals and Drew Thomson bass player are brothers. While Danny Duncan bangs out the drums. The band attributes their musical performance blend to Jimmy Eat world and Third Eye Blind. Determined to make music that you will still sing, long from now, and I think that We the Kings is on the right track with the catchy melodies that are easy to sing along to.

 

Five Crown Points that make them the Kings of the Month

• They are young and upcoming Artist
• New single and video for heaven can wait is Awesome
• New album Smile, Kid comes out in December
• They are on tour Glamour Kills Tour with All time low, Hey Monday, and Friday Night boys.
• In Phoenix 11.05.09 at the Marquee theater
• You won’t be able to stop singing their songs!

 

Check We the Kings out for yourself at: http://www.myspace.com/wethekings

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