Recently in Music Category

Eastern Conference Champions are returning with their first album of new material in four years. Speak-ahh will be released on April 26th on RockHampton Records.

The trio, which consists of Josh Ostrander, Greg Lyons and Melissa Dougherty, has kept quite busy since the release of their debut album (Ameritown) in 2007, releasing two critically acclaimed EP's (Santa Fe & Akustiks).

Lead singer Josh Ostrander explains why it took four years to finish their second album: "We knew this was going be a very important record for us when we started demoing and collecting songs. Every record and EP we released up until this point was truly a stepping-stone to this record. We wanted Speak-ahh to hit on every level. For the most part the band has adapted itself to getting things on their first or second takes whilst recording. I cant for the life of me tell you why this is our darkest record to date, it's not something we planned, we didn't even realize it until we looked at what we had finished."

Recorded in downtown Los Angeles, The ten-track album is a departure from the sound of their debut album. "After we recorded Ameritown with Owen Morris, we had a hell of a time pulling off some of the songs live, it just got away from us in the studio," Josh reflected. "Since we began recording on our own, we always go into recording a song with a 'are we gonna be able to pull this off live' mentality. We never put two guitars down when one will do the job. We prefer the bones of it to an orchestra. We love the rawness."

Eastern Conference Champions made waves last year when they were tapped to contribute an exclusive song "for the third installment of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. The unsigned act was chosen from more than 400 bands competing for the coveted soundtrack slot, and the resulting song, "A Million Miles An Hour," received rave reviews and raised the band's profile considerably.

"Twilight was ridiculously good for us," Josh commented. "If anything it showed a million kids out there that you don't need a label or even proper representation to get a foot in the door. We had two songs in the running for the movie, but they just weren't right. The band was taking me to Vegas for my birthday when we got the call that wanted something else. It was the night before we were leaving, nobody wanted to go in, but we did, we powered through, wrote, recorded, and mixed the song in about six hours, then left for Vegas. We would find out a week later that we got it."

Eastern Conference Champions are planning to tour around the release of Speak-ahh. Dates will be announced shortly.

The Grammy Museum downtown will host 'S'Talking Zappa' the special event honoring the life and legacy of musician Frank Zappa.

The presentation will be a musical examination and discussion of the details of Zappa's statement 'Music is the Best!" which will include audio and visual elements, electronica and live music presented by Gail Zappa with Todd Yvega and Joe Travers (drummer with Dweezil Zappa for over 18 years and archivist of the Zappa Family and Frank Zappa material).

The Grammy Museum's Scott Goldman will be the moderator of the event that starts at 7:30

The museum is located at 800 W Olympic Boulevard, downtown in the LA Live complex.

You can view more about Zappa here and more about the Grammy Museum here.

Dweezil Zappa - one of Frank's sons - is currently touring with the band Zappa Plays Zappa, which plays re-arranged Zappa tunes with a bigger band. For more on ZPZ, go here.

R&B songstress Teena Marie has died at the age of 54. Details of the singer's death are scarce but she reportedly passed away in her sleep. The confirmation came from a publicist, Jasmine Vega, who worked with Teena Marie on her last album. Her manager, Mike Gardner, also confirmed her death to CNN.

Born Marie Christine Brockert, Teena Marie -- famously known as Rick James' protegee as well as her nickname 'The Ivory Queen of Soul' -- rose to fame in the late 70s and 80s. The Grammy nominated singer-songwriter released her debut 'Wild and Peaceful' via Motown Records in 1979. The album featured 'I'm a Sucker for Your Love,' Marie's first Top Ten hit, but Marie would go on to have many more hits, including 'Square Biz,' 'Lovergirl' and 'Ooo La La La.'

Fresh off his second stint on the REO Speedwagon/Pat Benetar tour, blues singer/songwriter/guitarist Keaton Simons plays The Hotel Cafe Saturday night. He goes on at 11pm.

If you get a chance, check out Simons. He's not in town too often these days and he's something to hear and see. The last time he played the Hotel, it was a packed house, so get tickets as far ahead as you can.

The same night also features performances by Jakob Martin (midnight), Raining Jane (10pm) and Connie Lim (9), among others.

This is Simon's site to follow his tour schedule and get onto the mailing list.

Here is an example of what he does.

After completely blowing away the audience at the Roxy on Thursday night, reggae singer Cas Haley is playing again in the LA area at St. Rocke in Hermosa Beach tonight. The evening starts at 7pm and Haley is the headliner - so he goes on last.

In case you missed it the first time, go see him and his band Woodbelly play. Really fun and a great live show. He plays many tunes from his new album called Connection (available on iTunes here), as well as some reggae versions of other songs, including 'Easy' by the Commodores and 'No One' by Alicia Keys. Three of his standout originals include "Release Me (The Fear)," "Better" and "Take a Chance," which are the first three songs on the album.

Go check them out tonight or get the CD.

The Easy Star All-Stars play tomorrow at The Roxy Theatre as does Texas-based, reggae artist Cas Haley, who, up until now, has rarely ventured this far west for a show. This is first time Haley's played in Los Angeles since finishing second in the second season of the NBC talent show America's Got Talent in 2007. He starts the evening's festivities at 9pm.

Haley, who hails from the small town of Paris, Texas, has a brilliant new record called "Connection" - his first major label release, which is on Easy Star Records (hence the tour with the Easy Star All Stars). Connection - which was released on Sept. 14 (look for a CD review in The Daily News in the coming week or so.) starts with three consecutive fantastically catchy tunes: '"Release Me (The Fear)," "Better" and "Take a Chance" and continues the good vibes throughout, showcasing Haley's pure joy in singing and performing.

The new album follows his self-titled debut (on another label), released in 2008, which featured a few tunes that he covered on the television show, including reggae versions of 'Message in a Bottle' by The Police and 'Easy' by The Commodores.

Haley's music is a happy, Caribbean-sounding reggae that evokes joy and positivity. His voice lands in the medium-to-high register, but is flawless in its movement within the ranges and gives the listener chills when he harmonizes with himself - sometimes four and five layers on top of each other. The singer himself is an infectious, likable entertainer with a bright smile and personality, who obviously enjoys what he does - and it rubs off on the audience.

After finishing second in America's Got Talent, Haley returned to Texas and instead of immediately capitalizing on his new found fame and perhaps rushing into something, he resumed his extensive touring with his band in Texas called Woodbelly. For several years thereafter, he played solo shows and with Woodbelly in and around the south.

After taking his time, he finally signed with Easy Star and recorded and released Connection - which is now available on his site and on iTunes. You can also see some of his performances on youtube.

For more on Haley, you can go to his website, his myspace or his facebook page and he has a twitter account, where he blogs about his tour and talks to his fans.

For more on the Easy Star All Stars, check out their website here.

To see what introduced Haley to the country, here is his first audition on America's Got Talent.

Jorge Garcia is going back to the island called ABC.

The Lost alum will guest-star on Matthew Perry's midseason comedy, Mr. Sunshine, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Garcia will play a staffer at the Sunshine Center, a second-rate San Diego sports arena managed by Perry's self-involved character, Ben. Garcia's character will also be added to the retooled pilot.

Perry -- a self-professed Lost fanatic -- also serves as executive producer on Mr. Sunshine, which stars Allison Janney, Andrea Anders and James Lesure as well.

Garcia recently crossed over into music when Rivers Cuomo of the band Weezer selected a photo of the actor as the cover of his new album - called 'Hurley' (nickname of Garcia's character Hugo Reyes) - which was released Sept 14th. Garcia also recently appeared onstage with Weezer at a show - and here is some of the video of it.

This is the album cover. Pretty cool. Like the episode says; Everybody Loves Hugo.