Recently in Music Category

Thinking of taking a road trip down to San Diego to check out your favorite characters at Comic-Con 2009? Check the searchable schedule their Web site to find out when Stan Lee, Ludacris, Freddy Kruger and the Wonder Pets will appear at the convention.

A digital archive containing more than 41,000 recordings of Spanish-language songs produced between the early 1900s and 1950s became available online this week though the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center.

The Arhoolie Foundation's Strachwitz Frontera Collection of Mexican and Mexican-American Recordings is the largest digital archive of its kind, according to the university.

"The Frontera Collection will be an invaluable resource for students, scholars and the public seeking to learn more about the Spanish-language musical heritage of North America," said Chon Noriega, director of the Chicano Studies Research Center.

Full-length versions of the songs may be accessed from computers on the UCLA campus or by students and faculty accessing the university's network through a proxy server.

Because of copyright restrictions, only the first 50 seconds of each song will be accessible from off-campus computers.

The online archive -- made possible by a $500,000 donation from the Los Tigres del Notre Foundation -- contains 30,000 recordings made between 1905 and 1955, and additional songs from 1955 to the 1990s continue to be digitized and added to the collection.

Joining UCLA in making the announcement was Los Tigres del Norte, a Grammy Award-winning norteño group and major funders of the digitization of the Frontera Collection's 78 rpm recordings.

"This collection will provide the next generation of Mexican and Mexican-American music artists with previously unimaginable access to our rich cultural history and, in doing so, will help them expand the appreciation of Spanish-language music even further in the future," said Los Tigres del Norte bandleader Jorge Hernandez.

So you fancy yourself a singer, eh? ... Alone, in your car, with the windows up, when no one's looking.

Well, now you can test your pipes against Martina McBride and Elvis Presley in private, and if you like what you hear, you can share them with your friends via email. As a promotion for the "Elvis Presley Christmas Duets" album, Sony BMG Music Entertainment has created a Web site that allows you to record "Blue Christmas" as a duet with Presley, singing McBride's part from the album.

The site, www.singwiththeking.com, provides a phone number and access code so you can belt out your lines over the phone. If you're pleased with the recording, you can send it in a Christmas e-card. Or, if you discover you sound more like Alvin and the Chipmunks than Presley and McBride, you can send the album version of the song instead.

The whole thing is free.

"Someone in our digital area came up with the concept," said JJ Rosen, executive vice president of Sony BMG Music Entertainment's Commercial Music Group. "It fits the duets concept of the album so well."

Because the campaign leans heavily on technology, Rosen said it brings Presley and his music to a younger generation. "We're always trying to keep the Elvis brand alive."

The site launched Dec. 5 and has already drawn 30,000 people from nine countries. It's scheduled to end sometime in January.

-- The Associated Press

The world's first collaborative online orchestra is finally a reality.

And you can thank YouTube.

Known officially as the "YouTube Symphony Orchestra Project," the groundbreaking project will allow musicians to join an online orchestra through video audition and selection.

The project will entail three stages: an online audition, musician selection, and a musical summit at Carnegie Hall in April.

From Dec. 1 through Jan. 28, musicians are invited to submit videos showcasing their personal style. A panel of musical experts from leading orchestras around the world will narrow the field of entries. Then, the YouTube community will be invited to vote on the semifinalists from Feb. 14 through Feb. 22.

The YouTube Symphony Orchestra Channel has more information, including official entry rules.

Dr Pepper is making good on its promise of free soda now that the release of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is a reality.

The soft-drink maker said in March that it would give a free soda to everyone in America if the album dropped in 2008. "Chinese Democracy," infamously delayed since recording began in 1994, goes on sale Sunday.

"We never thought this day would come," Tony Jacobs, Dr Pepper's vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

Beginning Sunday at 12:01 a.m., coupons for a free 20-ounce soda will be available for 24 hours. They'll be honored until Feb. 28.

It's summer concert season, which means more nonstop tours, festivals and basically more fun. But with artists leaving behind a massive carbon footprint at every site they visit, many are taking their fun more seriously, from running their tour buses on biodiesel to turning everything green, from cups to plates to food, and even their merchandise. And with over 80 percent of a concert's CO2 footprint coming from fans' commute, they're naturally calling on their fans to join in on the effort.

Reverbrock.org is the place where artists and fans can converge on this front. The Web site connects with artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews, Andrew Bird, Norah Jones, Jose Gonzalez and many more to make their shows more eco-friendly. So far, they have "greened" 50 tours, with a total of 754 events. They've reduced 37,619 tons of CO2 and 264,453 gallons of biodiesel. They're involved with 1,396 enviro-groups and have reached more than 4.6 million fans.

So how can you hop on the biodiesel bandwagon? Say you're going to the Dave Matthews concert-- just visit PickupPal , and you can choose whether you'd like to drive or catch a ride with someone. You already know you have something in common, so you can argue about how Dave Matthew's first album was totally better than his third all the way to the show.

If you're really into it, you could go that extra mile and volunteer, giving you a chance to spread the word and catch your favorite show free of charge.

"Oh, so THAT'S what he said!"

Everyone has had the moment where, after hearing a song on the radio a million times, you finally realize what the real lyric is.

A word or phrase misheard in this way is called a mondegreen, and that word was recently added to the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. More than 100 words were added to the dictionary, including the ones listed on the front page of yesterday's Daily Breeze. Many of them are a mouthful, but this one is an earful. Merriam-Webster defines it as "a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung."

According to Merriam-Webster, the word traces its origin to the mishearing of the line "laid him on the green" in a Scottish ballad as "Lady Mondegreen."

You've likely never heard that song, but you can find a collection of more than 100,000 misheard lyrics on the Web at http://www.kissthisguy.com/.

If that phrase sounds familiar to you, you're one of people who have misheard the line "'Scuse me while I kiss the sky" in Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze," after which the site is named.

The site is searchable by both artist and song title. If that's not enough for you, there's even an RSS feed of the funniest additions of the week. Happy (mis)hearing!

With gasoline prices hitting $4 a gallon, it's probably a good year to plan short trips. Or just stay at home.

And if music is your thing, there are some free, inexpensive or moderately priced events within a two-hour drive.

Check out Redlands Bowl Summer Concert Series on Fridays and Saturdays. It's free and -- if traffic is with you -- just 90 minutes away. The concert has a small-town Americana feel to it although the music isn't just symphony pop. It's for the entire family and people stakeout sections of the park around the bowl for picnics before the concert begins.

Each week, there is different musical foray. Symphonies, string groups, Celtic and country bands, operas, dance groups and a performance of the Wizard of Oz.
The series starts June 29 with Lorna Luft -- Judy Garland's daughter will perform American music theater hits including some numbers from "Wicked." The season runs through Aug 22.

If Redlands is a little out of your gasoline budget, the South Bay as a host of concerts and fine art programs.

Get a taste of Torrance's Wild Wednesday concert series before the season starts on June 23. The noon concert series runs through Aug. 20, every other Wednesday, at the Torino Festival Plaza.

Redondo Beach's summer pier concerts begin July 4 with a performance by the Surfing Safari. After the Independence Day Friday concert there will be concerts on Thursdays and Saturdays through Aug. 30.

Manhattan Beach's Polliwog Park Concert series begins June 22. Starting with the Hyperion Outfall Serenaders and Thin Ice -- founded by former Manhattan Beach Mayor Russ Lender -- the summer line-up is a who's who of South Bay favorites. The season runs Sundays through Aug. 31. The schedule site also includes links to performers' Web sites.

It's a cocktail of pop culture, a one-two punch that provides a dose of one of the latest music videos and a primer on the greatest viral video characters of the last several years.

From the band that brought us the infamous "Sweater Song" and "Buddy Holly"in the 1990s comes "Pork and Beans," a catchy anthem to being true to thine own self, and a video filled with cameos of YouTube staples including the "dramatic chipmunk" and Miss South Carolina.

Watch the video and see how many you recognize. Then watch their videos.

Alas, the legendary composer Earle Hagen has died Monday at age 88. Surely you remember the folksy television theme song for "The Andy Griffith Show," which he co-wrote and whistled. The Emmy winner ("I Spy," 1968) and Oscar nominee ("Let's Make Love," 1961) also wrote memorable themes for the shows "The Mod Squad," "That Girl" and the "Dick Van Dyke Show."

Need to listen to the songs to jog your memory? Go to TelevisionTunes.com and enter the show name to listen to a clip of the theme song.

For more information about Hagen's life and accomplishments, you can check out the Hagen fan site, The Best of All Worlds.

In the meantime, let's whistle some bars of "The Andy Griffith Show" theme song as a salute to Hagen.