AC/DC AT RIVER

AC/DC is an Australian rock band, considered as one the most famous groups ever. In 2009 they did an enormous tour called the “Ice Black Tour” that delivered them to twenty-eight countries around the world, playing their hits for millions of fans. The most amazing concerts of the entire tour were at River Plate stadium, Argentina, on 2, 4 and 6 December of 2009, in front of 200.000 people. These concerts were filmed by 34 super HD video cameras around the stadium. In my opinion, and based on the videos views on Internet, these were outstanding performances; also the Argentinian crowd was really amazing in these concerts. Perhaps the Argentinian crowd is the most exciting in the world. In an interview the main members of the band, Brian Johnson and Angus Young, expressed their admiration toward the Argentina people. A very special moment occurred when AC DC played the song "Thunderstruck" from the Set List number 7. It literally caused an earthquake in the stadium. The main character was, obviously, the legendary Angus Young, who is the lead guitar since 1974. He played astonishing and furious guitar solos while the vocal leader Brian Johnson was singing truly rock and roll hymns. This concert was filmed as the official video of the Ice Black Tour. It was released on DVD and Blue Ray in May of 2012.

THE CARPENTERS

The Carpenters were perhaps one of the best duets of all time, and their vocal lead, Karen Carpenter, had one of the most beautiful voices ever. She formed this duet with her older brother Richard. They lived in Connecticut when they were younger, but soon moved to California in order to develop their musical talents and become renowned. During the 70's, The Carpenters recorded several number one hits on the Billboard charts. They also recorded thirteen albums and performed many concerts in many countries of the world for millions of fans. In the beginning of their musical career, they had the very important support of Herb Alpert, who gave them a contract in 1969 to be part of A&M Records. Their most famous song, and first number one hit was "Close To You". Burt Bacharach composed this song, which was enormously successful in 1970. In the peak of their careers, they came to have five number one songs in the U.S., and accordingly, The Carpenters are considered one the most successful melodic bands of all time. Also, in 1976 they got a contract with ABC, and in this way, they were able to present the famous show “The Carpenters First Television Special” in a primetime slot over five years. This show helped to increase their popularity again, after a brief time when their fame declined. Karen was a gorgeous singer, but she also had a great talent with drums, which was an underrated skill. She possessed a beautiful and crystalline voice, but her talent distracted others from focusing on her health problems with anorexia. She died in 1982 of a heart attack, which was a consequence of her serious problems with this disorder.

“THE BIRD”, CHARLIE PARKER

Charlie Parker, best known as "The Bird," was one of the most famous saxophonists ever. He developed his career over almost 2 decades and during this time, he couldn't overcome his addiction to drugs and alcohol. Especially hard was his fight against heroin. A great jazz musician, Parker made records and had legendary collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie. In fact, both musicians traveled throughout the U.S., and performed in Carnegie Hall in 1947. Around this time, they made a band with five members, among them a young Miles Davis. After that, Charlie Parker went to Europe, and did recordings with saxophone and strings. His best years were from 1947 to 1951, but in 1951,he couldn't play in cabarets anymore because of his addiction to heroin. Moreover, his daughter died of pneumonia because Parker didn't have enough money to give her adequate medical treatment. These two events caused in him a deep depression. After two suicide attempts, Parker died of a heart attack in 1954.

ONE HIT WONDER

One Hit Wonder What is a One Hit Wonder? They are musicians and singers that had just only one successful song and were very famous after a short time. Most of these songs were good, but sometimes a "One Hit Wonder" was a disposable product, only created for a season, especially in Summer. One Hit Wonder's Musicians sold millions of discs of this unique successful hit. Some of them had other great songs, but they were underrated because people didn't appreciate their other records. A famous occurrence was the Norwegian band A-Ha. They were only known for their most famous hit "Take On Me", although they performed around the entire world and recorded many songs, including the main theme in a film, James Bond 007. Most of these songs were recorded in the 80's Because people forgot easily, many of these artists fell down in the forgetfulness and chose other different careers. But in other cases, some of them fell in depression and chose to take drugs, perhaps thinking of past and glorious times.

RIFF

Vamos a la definición de la palabra “Riff”: Un riff es una frase musical, una figura musical o melodía que se repite durante el transcurso de una canción, especialmente en el rock. Es equivalente al ostinato de la música clásica. Sin embargo se puede encontrar en diferentes estilos.

Alrededor de 1988 pude escuchar a través de un comercial de radio un riff extraordinario, era de los Guns N' Roses y el tema “Sweet Child o' Mine”, en el que Slash le daba el sentido a toda la canción.
Aunque ya mucho tiempo antes había escuchado otros riffs de Keith Richards o Tony Iommi, fue el del grupo norteamericano el que me atrapó.

Por último, el término riff surgió en la jerga musical estadounidense de los años 20, y es usado principalmente por músicos de rock, jazz y derivados.

He seleccionado unos cuantos, espero que lo disfruten tanto o más que yo

MUSIC ON TELEVISION

El retiro de la famosa presentadora de televisión Oprah Winfrey, el 25 de mayo pasado, demostró hasta que punto la televisión es uno de los medios de comunicación más influyentes de la historia.
25 años diciéndole a la gente, de manera directa o subrepticia, lo que debían leer o vestir, la diva de la televisión estadounidense se despidió con un "No digo adiós, solo digo hasta que nos encontremos de nuevo". Imagen e ícono del “American Way of Life”, excepto porque no se casó ni tuvo hijos.
Así como ella, el mundo televisivo tiene otros íconos y personalidades cuya opinión puede influir inclusive en elecciones presidenciales.

Quizás Philo Taylor Farnsworth, el inventor de la televisión electrónica nunca imaginó el nivel de influencia de su invento, tampoco habían razones para ello, toda vez que murió olvidado y sin hacer fortuna.

La música por supuesto ha tenido y tiene una relación muy grande con el universo mágico que rodea este mundo y desde siempre la televisión ha servido como vitrina para el lucimiento de artistas de diverso calibre, desde Frank Sinatra hasta Beyonce.
Las series de TV. al igual que el cine se han servido de compositores y músicos para crear algunos de los momentos más memorables que hemos podido vivir, alimentando nuestros recuerdos y la vida actual.
A disfrutar un poco de la “caja boba” y de algunos inolvidables temas.