Pitchfork Music Festival offers everything but the kitchen sink

BY THOMAS CONNER Pop Music Critic

July 16, 2011 9:32PM

• Reprints

.

Updated: July 17, 2011 2:24AM

The 2011 Pitchfork Music Festival opened Friday afternoon and quickly established a yin-yang balance to the weekend’s musical offerings.

The annual indie-rock-and-more event at Union Park in Chicago’s West Loop features nearly 50 bands over three days on three stages. More than 50,000 fans are expected to attend over the weekend, culminating in a sold-out lineup today featuring controversial rap group Odd Future.

Shortly after the gates opened Friday, the music began ­— light, blissful tunes on a side stage from electronic duo Gatekeeper vs. dark, enigmatic alt-rock on a main stage from South Dakota native EMA (Erika M. Anderson). The rest of Friday would swing between these extremes: inventive new electronic music and grinding, often classic rock and roll.

The knob twiddlers

Fey young Londoner James Blake not only proved himself, following his curious debut album released in February, he proved to be the night’s most transcendent performance. Influenced by American R&B — and vocally often a dead ringer for Aaron Neville — the 22-year-old Blake made cold beats and fragmented samples come alive Friday evening on the festival’s smallest stage. Seemingly shy behind his keyboard, Blake played a set both graceful and grandiose, reaching surprising heights often with just two or three ingredients.

The intrepid Merrill Garbus, the central figure of tUnE-yArDs, leapt to life with “Party Can (Do You Want to Live?)” on the strength of her insistent looped vocals, a lynchpin of the tUnE-yArDs’ engaging, exciting set. Singing, re-singing and playing her own abbreviated drum kit, Garbus, her face streaked with colorful war paint, wailed and cooed and hollered through a set bristling with punkish spirit and bracing compositions. Each song found dissonance and harmony tugging at war, never finding an easy truce but always a workable and tuneful solution.

Animal Collective closed out the night, making a god-awful racket of their unfocused, rambling electronic jams. Industrial clanking, monotonous rhythms and lengthy, noodling transitions between songs made for a noisy, messy performance. Only a few moments came close to gelling — a frenetic calypso waltz early in the show with wild static noises sliding up and down the scale, and an easygoing “A Long Time Ago” — but most of the music was scattered. I know the Guggenheim has bestowed some art-rock cred on them, but while their drifting, shiftless sounds may constitute art it doesn’t constitute a good time.

The rockers

Somewhere between the knob twiddlers and the hardcore rockers is Battles, a New York trio (down from a quartet) whose members are not averse to describing their music as “math rock.” Mixing loops and ferocious live drumming from former Helmet basher John Stanier, Battles ably re-crated the tunes from their new and acclaimed “Gloss Drop.” Former Chicago guitarists Ian Williams and Dave Konopka worked sometimes together, sometimes at cross-purposes on, under and around the beats. There were moments the music was both punishing and pretty, a strange but exciting experience.

Stubbornly prolific band Guided by Voices returned to Chicago for the fest, still going with its reunited “classic” ’93-’96 lineup. But the longer this rascally band trundles on, the more fun they get. Lead singer Robert Pollard is growing into his natural curmudgeoness, and Friday evening’s set was 45 minutes of pure kicky, catchy rock. Pollard took the stage joined by Neko Case singing harmony and shaking a tambourine on “Echos Myron.” Clutching a tequila bottle, Pollard and his jittery leg led the band — with the rip-roaring twin-guitar attack of Tobin Sprout and Charles Mitchell — careening through an oldies but very good set.

Alt-country queen Neko Case seemed in a relaxed, cozy mood, playing a set of mostly ballads and slow belters. You know, the stuff that best showcases That Voice — songs like “The Pharaohs” with its long, patient phrases about being “your blue, blue baby,” or her tiger empathy in “People Got a Lot of Nerve.”

With squeeze box, banjo and frequent brushes on the drums, Case commanded a steady set and reminded Chicagoans how much we miss her being a resident.

Pitchfork Music Festival draws smaller crowd than usual

By ARIEL CHEUNG  AND DARRYL HOLLIDAY Staff Reporters

July 16, 2011 12:40AM

• Reprints

.

Updated: July 16, 2011 1:37AM

Pitchfork, the three-day music festival expected to draw 50,000 people to Union Park this weekend, has become an annual rite of summer for many city residents.

But unlike previous years at the seven-year-old fest, Friday night’s crowd did not appear to be a sell-out, and tickets remained for Saturday. Sunday’s show was sold out.

Still, those who attended Friday were just as enthusiastic to be there and were happy they enjoyed mild weather before an expected heat wave wallops the Chicago area.

“The weather today is great,” said Adam Zielinski, 26, who attended the outdoor event with his girlfriend, sister and her boyfriend. “But I can’t say as much for the rest of the weekend.”

This is Zielinski’s sixth time at Pitchfork, who came to see Friday night’s headliner, Animal Collective.

“We’re all just having a great time,” he said. “It’s something that we do every year — get together, listen to some great music and just hang out.”

He added: “What’s great about this festival is that there are so many great types of music and so many different types of artists who are trying to express themselves.”

Many attendees were planning on spending the entire weekend at the festival (three-day passes are sold-out), including John Case, 29, who showed up Friday with some co-workers.

“It’s about being out in the city, meeting people, listening to some great music and just kind of enjoying life,” Case said. “It’s something else great to do on a weekend in Chicago.”

Kate Puckett, 24, broke out in an impromptu dance during Neko Case’s performance.

“This is amazing — there are really good beats,” Puckett said. “I like to feel the music.”

Along with headlining bands Fleet Foxes and TV on the Radio, a number of other popular and critically-acclaimed groups will perform Saturday and Sunday, including No Age, Destroyer, the now-notorious Odd Future Wolfgang Kill Them All and local favorite Chrissy Murderbot.

Lineups expected by Tuesday morning for Edmonton U2 concert

EDMONTON — No line is too daunting for U2 fan Joe Ahorro.

The University of Alberta graduate student will start queuing at least 30 hours before Wednesday’s 360° Tour extravaganza at Commonwealth Stadium.

He has GA — or general admission — tickets on the field, and wants to make sure he gets as close to the stage as possible for U2’s first Edmonton show in 14 years.

“I’ll get there about 8 a.m. (Tuesday),” he says. “And I won’t sleep much that night, but I have so much fun with it. My spiritual home is at the front (of the stage).”

This will be his 49th U2 concert in 10 years — and his 27th on the band’s tour for their latest album, No Line On The Horizon. He loves U2’s spiritual message, singer Bono’s political activism, and being “among 60,000 or 70,000 or 100,000 people, singing along, in a stadium.”

Ahorro has almost completed his own 360 around the world to see the Irish rockers — in such locales as Perth, Australia; Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Mexico City, where he lined up for five days outside Azteca Stadium.

“I was still No. 300 in line, and there were three different lines, one for each U2 show in Mexico City. It was very intense, but it was a fun crowd. You get to know (the other fans in line) over the course of the week — you chat with them, I was able to do a little bit of sightseeing, get some really good Mexican food. I love the experience. It’s always different for me. I love to travel, so it’s a good excuse to see the world.”

Ahorro will likely be the first in the lineup at Commonwealth. (The line for fans with GA tickets, however, officially opens on Tuesday at 5 p.m. outside Gate 6, according to the tour’s promoter, Live Nation.)

Armed with a notebook, he’ll keep track of fans when they arrive by jotting down their names — and writing numbers on their hands.

“We self-organize,” he says. “It’s government, really, on its own. Everyone sort of adheres to it to keep order in the line.”

Ahorro was also the king of the queue at U2’s shows in Las Vegas and Vancouver during the second leg of the 360º tour in 2009. He says the rules differ from show to show — in some cases, fans are not allowed to leave the line for more than an hour without risking public shame. His unofficial guide to the GA line can be found on his U2 blog, onlineonthehorizon.blogspot.com.

“It depends on who’s running (the line). I’m much more flexible. I tell people that if you need to leave, just explain to the people around you why you’re leaving and who’s going to be coming later. Some people are very strict — you can only leave for an hour. I’m a little more easygoing, maybe because I’m Canadian.

“In Mexico, if they find people cutting the queue, everyone starts chanting ‘Fuera! Fuera!” which means ‘Get out!’ They’ll have none of that. They have a vested interest because these are people who have lined up for a week.

“What I love about (the line) is it does develop a sort of sense of community wherever you are in the world.”

Not just a casual community; Ahorro is friends with dozens of fans, including Cathal McCarron, a native of Derry, Northern Ireland. The two met before one of U2’s shows in London, England, two years ago, and now hang out when they’re at the same gigs.

“Joe’s the type of fan who will camp out. I’m personally too impatient to do that and I wouldn’t bother,” says McCarron.

“But I always go down to say hello to the fans in the queue and mingle. I think I met Joe through a mutual friend in the line at Wembley Stadium.”

The 38-year-old teacher and writer is a longtime fan — ever since he watched Bono, guitarist Edge, bassist Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. perform at Live Aid in 1985. McCarron went on to self-publish U2 & Me: Their Music, My Life, in 2009, and now refers to himself as “this Irish idiot who’s following the U2 tour.” (He’s not sure of his concert count, but he thinks Wednesday’s gig will put him close to 70.) He tries to sell copies of his autobiography as he tours the world, but he admits he ends up giving most away to kindred spirits.

“I thought it would be easier to sell books at concerts than it’s proved to be. I aimed to sell 3,000 books, but I’ve only sold 300, so I’m way under my ambitions,” says McCarron, who also writes a blog, me-and-U2.blogspot.com.

“But still, it’s more now for the experience and going to new cities and meeting new people. It’s nice to see friends you can go for drinks with before the show. To go to Brazil and Mexico and see someone you’ve met in Australia or France is pretty cool. We’re always sharing tales and photographs on Facebook and blogs.”

These online tools are integral to U2 fans, who use three main sites to follow the band’s tour and connect with each other — U2.com, Interference.com, and atu2.com. U2gigs.com is another essential repository, which features set lists from as far back as 1976, when the band was first known as Feedback, and lets fans know what songs to expect on the U2 360° Tour.

Heather Wallace, 38, also relies on sites such as en.1000mikes.com for live audio streams from U2 shows, broadcast by fans using their cellphones. She says the streams were a particular comfort after U2 was forced to postpone last year’s show at Commonwealth Stadium (and several other North American dates) due to Bono’s emergency back surgery. When the band resumed its tour last August, Wallace followed the streams as often as she could.

“Thank God for incredible U2 fans,” says the Edmonton native. “It’s so incredible to be a world away, listening to U2 in Helsinki and they debut (a new song), Every Breaking Wave.”

To repay her debt, Wallace will tweet updates and photos from Wednesday’s show to U2 fans around the world. (Her Twitter name is @hjwallace1.) Her friend, Lori-Jo Sherwin-Laing from Regina, will use her iPhone to broadcast a stream of the gig via twitcasting.tv, as she did from Sunday’s concert in Winnipeg.

Her love of U2 — and the band’s community of diehards — extends well past the concert experience. Every year, Wallace sends Christmas cards to fans in an annual exchange organized by atu2.com. Other online friends have sent her U2 paraphernalia or free tickets to one of the band’s post 9/11 shows in New York City. She also uses Interference.com to get the word out about her U2 parties, including Monday’s karaoke jam at O’Byrne’s on Whyte Avenue.

“It’s not just about the music and it’s not just about four guys,” she says.

“For me, it’s about that feeling, the goosebumps I get just talking about, the feeling about being part of something bigger than just me. That’s been always part of a U2 fan.”

ssperounes@edmontonjournal.com

The Eagles pre-sale password has just been added. While this special pre-sale opportunity exists, you can get tickets for Eagles before the general public. You don’t want to miss Eagles’s show in Las Vegas do you? Tickets will sell out when they go on sale: during the pre-sale you can order your tickets before they are all gone.
Here are the Eagles concert details:

Eagles
MGM Grand Hotel
Las Vegas, NV
Sat, Nov 5, 2011 08:00 PM and Sat, Nov 19, 2011 08:00 PM

Onsale to General Public
Starts: Sat, 05/28/11 10:00 AM PDT

American Express
Starts: Fri, 05/27/11 10:00 AM PDT
End: Fri, 05/27/11 10:00 PM PDT

M life Internet Presale
Starts: Fri, 05/27/11 10:00 AM PDT
End: Fri, 05/27/11 10:00 PM PDT

The Eagles – Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit – will perform hits from their more than 35-year career, such as “Hotel California,” “Desperado,” “Life In The Fast Lane,” “Lyina Eyes,” “Take It To The Limit,” “One Of These Nights,” “Heartache Tonight,” and more.

You can use the following presale passcodes and information to buy your tickets:

Elton John premieres Cameron Crowe-directed music doc starring himself and …

Surrounded by the after-hours glow of Lower Manhattan skyscrapers and buffeted by winds rolling in off of New York Harbor, Elton John wrapped up the opening night of the tenth annual Tribeca Film Festival with performances of such evergreen Elton classics as “Tiny Dancer,” “Rocket Man” and “Your Song.”

His solo piano performance followed the world premiere of Cameron Crowe’s The Union, a music documentary that followed Sir John and legendary rock pianist Leon Russell as the two Rock Hall of Famers recorded an album together last year.

The Union turned out to be a pleasantly affecting surprise. What could have merely been a music doc about two aging rockers recording a late-career album was instead a heartfelt, decades-belated love letter from Elton John to his early career idol and one of his greatest influences, Leon Russell. Plus, it was fun to watch the flick sitting behind a group that included the uncommonly talented actors Anna Kendrick (Twilight, Up in the Air), Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood), and Zoe Kazan (It’s Complicated). Kendrick’s eyes were glued to the screen while Dano and Kazan were smoochily glued to each other—that’s what the PortaPotties are there for, you crazy kids!)

Elton and Leon toured together in the early ’70s but apparently hadn’t seen each other since. So it was no surprise that without much more than a phone call to renew their association, the initial scenes of the film show a stoic, flattered but reticent Russell interacting with an excited, nervous and creatively deferential Elton John.

According to Captain Fantastic, Leon Russell influenced his piano playing and music writing more than any other artist—and this was after he astoundingly told the cameras he thought there were “50 or 60? pianists who influenced him over the years. But it makes sense: if you listen to Russell’s rollicking yet masterfully-arranged first few albums, it is hard to imagine Elton’s Tumbleweed Connection or Honky Chateau existing without Russell’s mash-up of country, blues and early rock ‘n’ roll.

Over the course of their collaborative recording sessions—which seemed to favor Russell’s sound while placing John in the role of creative coordinator—Leon began to thaw out and as Elton put it, “come to life again.” John was even more to tears at one point as he witnesses Russell’s effortless, emotionally honest composition process.

In spite of an emergency five-hour brain surgery that put their sessions on hold for ten days, the magnificently-bearded Russell seemed twice as lively and engaged in the world as the recording process and documentary came to a close.

Ultimately, Cameron Crow’s The Union is a lovely and simple thing: it’s about one of rock’s most respected icons using his enormous celebrity to orchestrate a long-overdue reappraisal of his musical icon and one of the pivotal, under-appreciated voices in rock songwriting.

In case you aren’t jetting to New York to catch an upcoming screening of The Union, here are some of the film’s highlights:

While explaining how he has accepted that his records will never sell like they used to, he opined that perhaps Michael Jackson’s consuming drive to top Thriller “was part of his problem.” This is paraphrasing, but he said something like, “It’s all well and good Michael, but you’re never going to outsell Thriller… to make a better record, that’s another matter.”

Stevie Nicks dropped in to tell Leon that after she and Lindsey Buckingham opened for him as part of the band Fritz in the early ’70s, “That’s when the two of us thought, ‘That’s it. We’re gonna go to LA. We’re gonna do it.”

Leon Russell cleared up some of the history around one of the Carpenters’ signature hit “Superstar,”which he initially co-wrote for his Mad Dogs and Englishman tour mate Rita Coolidge. According to Russell, he overhead Coolidge refer to Dionne Warwick as a “superstar.” The word, new to him, caught his attention and inspired him to write the song for Coolidge.

Elton John on arriving in the U.S. in 1970: “I imagined Los Angeles to be exactly like The Beverly Hillbillies. Which, of course, it was.”

Elton John on Leon Russell: “He never takes a bad picture. But when you look like God, I suppose you don’t.”

Although he’s said it before, it’s still astonishing to hear that in over 40 years, lyricist Bernie Taupin has never been in the room when Elton puts melodies to Taupin’s words.

When asked which of his early songs he wishes were given more attention today, Elton cited “Friends,” the title track to the soundtrack for a forgotten 1971 British film of the same name.

Read more on EW.com:
EW’s review of Elton John & Leon Russell’s ‘The Union’ album
Matthew Morrison unveils Elton John duet

Despite delays, this year’s Coachella Music Fest leaves music fans gushing

“They were sick,” said Max Huseby as he exited the tent. “I like the mix of styles. You’ve got the live drums and rapper.”

USC students Emily Nelson and Jessica Winterbauer were faced with an oh-so-common dilemma of which overlapping acts to watch at 7:45 p.m. Sunday, when Duran Duran was playing on the main Coachella Stage while The National, featuring baritone crooner Matt Berninger, was at the Outdoor Theatre, and the acclaimed electronic artist Duck Sauce was in the Sahara Tent. They walked into the Gobi Tent just before Foster the People performed its new youth anthem “Pumped Up Kicks” as the crowd danced, pumped their fists and sang along.

“I just got so excited,” said Nelson, who said she had memorized the words to that song.

The Strokes, who revitalized garage rock early in the last decade, revitalized their own act on the Coachella Stage after garnering a reputation for giving lackluster performances after their first appearance at Coachella in 2002. Fistful of Mercy, featuring the late George Harrison’s son Dhani, Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur, gave a harmonious soft rock performance in the Gobi Tent, and Nas and Damian Marley, and Wiz Khalifa proved hip-hop could entertain audiences in 95-degree heat on the Coachella Stage well before West got there.

Dana Mohammed of Vancouver, praised the entire festival.

“It’s dope,” she said. “The music, the people, everything. It’s amazing.”

Melissa Paul, attending her sixth Coachella with her sister, Kimberly, who was attending her fourth festival at the polo club, said she enjoyed the live acts and the dancing to DJs in the Sahara Tent and the Do Lab, a multi-media art installation that regularly sprayed people with water. Mostly, she enjoyed being able to walk around and choose her activities as she felt like it.

“Last year was so heinously crowded,” she said. “This year, there’s obviously less people, so it’s easier to navigate.”

Tyler Vickers of Corona, attending his third consecutive Coachella, said he enjoyed the headliners and the operation of the festival.

“It probably is a lot better this year,” he said. “It’s exciting. This was more efficient and fun overall.”

Indio Police spokesman Ben Guitron said that by 9 p.m. there were 13 arrests for drug or alcohol offenses, and 74 people were escorted off the premises for trespassing.

‘Fiddler’ veteran takes turn as Matchmaker in her 1st national tour

Birdie Neman Katz will always have a special place in her heart for the musical “Fiddler on the Roof.”

Katz has portrayed several different roles in “Fiddler on the Roof” throughout her acting career, including the mother and her daughters. And now, she’s performing the role of Yente the Matchmaker in the national tour, which stops Tuesday at Arizona State University’s Gammage Auditorium.

“It’s one of those shows that keeps coming back to me, kind of like putting on warm, fuzzy pajamas all of the time,” Katz said.

“Fiddler on the Roof” tells the story of Tevye, the father of five daughters, and their attempts to maintain his Jewish religious traditions while other influences encroach on their lives. The 1965 musical won nine Tony Awards and is the 14th longest-running show in Broadway history.

The musical also has spawned many revivals and national tours.

Even though it‘s centered on Jewish culture, Katz said people have embraced “Fiddler on the Roof” because of the message.

“This is a story about community and family traditions and how folks deal with that on a regular basis, and that’s found in every culture,” Katz said.

Katz also said the music is uplifting and includes some songs “that are not only significant on Broadway but in pop culture.”

Tunes include “Matchmaker,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Sunrise, Sunset” and “Tradition.”

Working on this particular production of “Fiddler on the Roof” is surreal for Katz. It’s her first national tour, though she’s performed in professional regional productions.

“I’ve never done a 90-city tour, and it’s quite amazing to be out on the road for the first time at 54 seeing the country with this amazing cast,” Katz said. “I’m very grateful to have the support of my family, who did not mind me being out on the road.”

Katz has enjoyed watching younger actresses play the roles she’s previously performed.

“I’ve watched the girls playing those roles, and I can’t believe that I was once in that position,” she said.

For her first national tour, “Fiddler on the Roof” has been the perfect show for Katz.

“It’s a dream come true, and I couldn’t imagine this not being the first show that I tour the country with,” she said.

Young CEO Seeks to Reset Ticketmaster With Tech and Transparency

“I am incredibly disappointed in how they are approaching the paperless issue,” Hubbard said. “I think it’s fan-unfriendly, and I think it works against the interest of the fan. It’s just unfortunate that StubHub and some of the scalpers have decided to take the industry backwards with a propaganda campaign.”

In a lengthy statement emailed to Wired.com, StubHub spokesman Glenn Lehrman said the company “supports innovation and technology; we are simply opposed to anti-consumer uses of technology.”

“We welcome the use of paperless tickets that utilize bar codes and smart phones instead of paper,” Lehrman said. “But when new technology is used to solely benefit primary ticketing agencies, venues and owners and harm individual consumers, the public and our legislators should be wary.”

“Primary ticketing agencies like Ticketmaster utilize paperless ticketing under the guise that it gives real fans the opportunity to purchase premium, sought-after seats, but that’s just putting lipstick on the real problem, which is why aren’t those seats available in the first place,” Lehrman added. “Unlike StubHub, primary ticketing companies aren’t transparent with their inventory. There is no public manifest, and no way of knowing how much inventory is being made available to the public and how much is being held back for the artist, venue, promoter, label, fans clubs, etc.”

For his part, Hubbard was emphatic that there is “absolutely a role for a vibrant secondary market.” He even cited the example of his father, who is a Washington Redskins season ticket holder, but every year can’t go to some night games because they end too late.

Hubbard’s enthusiasm for secondary ticket markets shouldn’t be surprising, given that Ticketmaster operates its own secondary market, TicketsNow — a StubHub competitor — which Ticketmaster purchased for $265 million in 2008.

“These are not mutually exclusive concepts, the secondary market and paperless ticketing,” Hubbard said. “They should co-exist. They need to co-exist.”

Hubbard said that at least in the short term the company would pursue a multi-pronged strategy, in which dynamic pricing, paperless tickets, and secondary markets would all play a role.

Looking ahead, Hubbard predicted that eventually the primary and secondary ticket markets would merge, though he said: “I don’t think the industry is ready for that yet, but we’re building for the day when it will be.”

For the moment, Hubbard has more pressing concerns, like addressing widespread consumer confusion and frustration with Ticketmaster’s sometime baffling and inexplicable ticket fees.

“We get that fans don’t like fees,” Hubbard wrote in a follow-up email after the interview. “The reality is that as talent costs have gone up, fees have become an extension of the ticket price, and many parties in the value chain participate in them. While we always tell fans what they will pay, fans tell us that when we show them how much money we are asking them to pay right up front in the buying process, they are more likely to buy a ticket. So that’s what we want to do.”

“But we cannot do this alone,” Hubbard added. “We work for our clients and artists, and need them to buy into this. We have seen some real visionaries willing to take steps in this direction, and we are hopeful that the rest of the industry will follow. It’s not just good for us – it is critical for the industry as we try to improve the fan experience with live events across the board.”

Despite his emphasis on technology, Hubbard knows that fancy predictive models and paperless tickets alone won’t address a larger challenge that faces Ticketmaster: its reputation as one of the most loathed companies in America.

So he’s on a mission to re-orient the company’s focus to make music fans — and the development of what he calls “life-long” fans — an absolute priority at Ticketmaster. Hubbard says he wants to leverage the combined force of Live Nation’s three giant divisions to make that happen.

“You’ve got to walk the talk,” Hubbard said flatly. “Part of the point of the merger was that between our artist management division, our concert promotion division, and our e-commerce division, which is Ticketmaster; when you put those things together, you ought to be able to accelerate the rate of change.”

Hubbard talks a good game, and his background lends credibility to his comments. But make no mistake: Hubbard is no longer strumming down-home tunes in warm bars for college kids. His number one responsibility — and fiduciary duty — as the chief of a major division of a $2 billion public company is to the shareholders, who want a return on their investment.

And given Ticketmaster’s abysmal track record on fees, transparency, privacy and customer service, it’s going to take more than a sweet jam to change the public perception of the ticketing giant.

See Also:

• DOJ Approves Modified Ticketmaster, Live Nation Merger
• Ticketmaster Tweaks Ticket Fee Transparency Via Twitter …
• Everyone Hates Ticketmaster — But No One Can Take It Down
• Ticketmaster Chief: Billing Glitch Caused Springsteen Fiasco …
• Ticketmaster May Have Had Fake Facebook Friends Created (Updated …
• Ticketmaster Earns First Honest Dollar
• TicketMaster and Live Nation Face the Music in Congress …
• Ticketmaster Acquires Majority of Front Line Management …
• Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger Could Raise Ticket Prices …
• Ticketmaster Grabs TicketWeb
• Live Nation/Ticketmaster Merger Faces Obstacles Here and Abroad …
• Live Nation and Ticketmaster Prepare to Merge
• Live Nation, Ticketmaster Merger Risks Antitrust Scrutiny …
• Justice Department to Probe Live Nation/Ticketmaster Merger …
• Ticketmaster IPO Takes Off

Pages: 1 2 View All

Rihanna to get ‘loud’ in Live Nation-produced tour

Rihanna clearly has no plans on resting anytime soon.

After selling out a 45-date European tour — including six nights at London’s O2 Arena — the singer announced she is bringing her “Loud” act to the States this summer, a year after her last arena trek. 

The tour, in support of the singer’s album of the same name, follows last summer’s “Last Girl on Earth Tour,” which drew nearly 500,000 fans in 44 markets.

Produced by Live Nation, the North American summer tour will begin June 4 in Baltimore and stops in Los Angeles on June 28 with a date at Staples Center.

The flame-haired vixen is currently making headlines after her steamy video “S&M” was restricted by YouTube for being too racy, and banned in 11 countries. The sex-fueled song, in which she sings about her fondness of the smell of “sex in the air” and how “chains and whips excite” her while withering in hot pink latex, prompted an airplay ban before 7 p.m. on BBC 1 Radio, unless it’s the severely cleaned up version, “Come On.”

Rihanna is slated to perform at the Grammys on Sunday, where she is up for four trophies, including record of the year for her smash collaboration with Eminem, “Love the Way You Lie.”

Tickets for the tour go on sale to the public on Monday.

Check out the first announced dates after the jump –  more to be announced soon:

Charlie Louvin dies at 83

Click to see a gallery of Charlie Louvin photos (this image: Alan Messer).

Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Louvin, a star of the Grand Ole Opry for more than a half century, died early Wednesday morning at his home in Wartrace, Tenn. He was 83 and suffered from pancreatic cancer.

From the late 1940s through the early ’60s, Mr. Louvin and his brother Ira, performing as The Louvin Brothers, revived country music’s emotional, full-throated harmony tradition. They notched 10 top-20 Billboard country hits with classics such as “When I Stop Dreaming,” “I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby” and “My Baby’s Gone,” part of a body of work that would later inspire artists including Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss and Dolly Parton. After the brothers disbanded, Mr. Louvin forged a solo career that included 16 Billboard Top 40 country hits in the ’60s. And in the new century, he rose yet again, receiving two Grammy nominations, playing the Bonnaroo festival and collaborating with the rock-ready likes of Cake, Cheap Trick and Elvis Costello.

“I didn’t know what to expect, going on the road with Cake and Cheap Trick,” Mr. Louvin said in 2007. “I imagined I might start singing and people would say, ‘Get that redneck (stuff) off the stage, we came to hear rock.’ But it came out beautiful. It’s ironic that a man that’ll be 80 this coming July would start his career over, but that’s kindly what I’ve done. The Good Lord has blessed me with good health, and I love to sing. If I don’t get out and do it, it just means I’m lazy. And God knows I’m not lazy.”

Mr. Louvin kept singing, kept recording and kept touring. Charlie Louvin was nominated for a traditional folk Grammy, and Tompkins Square released a succession of Louvin records, including a gospel set, an album of “murder ballads and disaster songs” and a live effort recorded at a Parsons-inspired music festival. The live album was released while Mr. Louvin was undergoing cancer treatment. He continued to play shows, and November 2010 brought The Battle Rages On, an album of songs about war.

In December of 2010, Mr. Louvin made his final onstage appearances, taping Marty Stuart’s television show on Dec. 2 and working East Nashville’s FooBar on Dec. 3. He collapsed during the Stuart taping, but righted himself and carried on.

“In my world, you are worthless if you can’t continue,” he said. “Show business is all I really know how to do. I would like for that to be the last thing I do.”

Reach Peter Cooper at 615–259?8220 or pcooper@tennessean.com.

Don Kirshner, Music Impresario and ‘Rock Concert’ Host, Dies

January 18, 2011, 12:37 PM EST

By David Wilson

Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) — Don Kirshner, the impresario behind Brill Building pop, the Monkees, the Archies and his own music- television show, has died of heart failure.

Kirshner was 77 and died in Boca Raton, Florida, according to a statement from his publicist cited by Billboard.com. He was born on April 17, 1934, according to Ancestry.com, which would have made him 76.

Called “the man with the golden ear” by Time magazine in 1966, he wrote songs with Bobby Darin as a college student. In the late 1950s he co-founded Aldon Music, a publishing company whose songwriters included the hit-making teams of Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, and Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield.

“Kirshner was like a father figure to us all,” Mann was quoted as saying in “The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll” (1980). “Everyone’s first thought, as we sweated over our battered old pianos, was whether Donny would be pleased.”

After selling Aldon to Columbia Pictures, Kirshner moved into TV. He supervised the music for “The Monkees” and “The Archies” series and produced “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert,” a live-performance television show.

Record labels were also part of his empire. The Beatles recorded “Chains,” a song originally released by his Dimension Records. Another of his labels, Kirshner Records, signed the band Kansas in the 1970s and had hit singles with “Carry On Wayward Son” and “Dust in the Wind.”

Early Collaborators

When “Rock Concert” ended in 1982, Kirshner retired. He made a comeback attempt two decades later with a publicly traded company, Kirshner International Inc., whose efforts to create an Internet TV channel and a media player were unsuccessful. He was in bankruptcy proceedings for six years, ending in 2008.

Kirshner was born to Gilbert and Belle Jaffe Kirshner in New York City’s Bronx borough. His father was a tailor. He attended Bronx High School of Science and Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey.

Darin, another Bronx Science graduate, met him through a mutual friend. They teamed up to write radio commercials as well as songs. Connie Francis, who later had hit singles with Aldon, sang on some of the advertisements.

The duo pitched a song to Francis’s manager, George Scheck, and the attempt led to Darin’s signing with Decca Records. Decca dropped the singer after releasing four singles, and he moved to Atlantic Records’ Atco label with Kirshner’s help.

Five of their songs were included on Darin’s debut album, released in 1958. The partnership ended as the singer became more successful, although he married actress Sandra Dee in Kirshner’s apartment in 1960.

Talented Teams

Kirshner also enabled Allen Klein, a fellow Upsala student, to get into the music business. Klein was hired as an accountant and later moved into management. He was the Beatles’ manager at the time of the band’s split.

To start Aldon, Kirshner joined forces with Al Nevins, a songwriter and musician. The company set up offices at 1650 Broadway in Manhattan, across the street from the Brill Building, a pop-music center since the 1930s.

“Donny would play one songwriter against another,” King was quoted as saying in “The Sociology of Rock,” a 1978 book by Simon Frith. “He’d say, ‘We need a new smash hit,’ and we’d all go back and write a song.”

Works by Goffin and King included the Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” a No. 1 pop hit. Mann and Weil wrote another No. 1 single, the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” with Phil Spector. Sedaka’s “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” was written with Greenfield.

Pre-Fab Four

Columbia Pictures bought Aldon in 1963 for $3 million. Screen Gems, its film and TV production unit, named Kirshner as an executive vice president in charge of publishing and the Colpix label.

The Monkees, called the Pre-Fab Four because Columbia created the group for the TV series, made their debut in 1965. Kirshner served as musical director and received 15 percent of record-sale royalties, triple the total payout to its members.

Kirshner followed the Brill Building model by having the Monkees record songs written by others. Neil Diamond wrote “I’m a Believer,” one of three singles that climbed to No. 1 on the Billboard charts. “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” by Goffin and King, reached No. 3. Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, another songwriting team, put together many of their other hits.

As the show became more popular, the Monkees took greater control of the music. Kirshner was fired in 1967 after putting out a single without the band’s consent. The dismissal led to a $35 million lawsuit, settled out of court, against Screen Gems.

Animated Band

Kirshner rebounded later that year with “The Archies,” an animated series portraying comic-book characters as a pop group. He supervised the music and put together a studio band.

“Sugar Sugar,” a No. 1 single for the Archies in 1969, was a song he pitched to the Monkees before his ouster. In the same year, he spent about $3 million to buy the rights to half a dozen Broadway musicals from producer Alan Jay Lerner.

Kirshner’s next foray into music television was the ABC network’s “In Concert,” showcasing rock artists. He was the executive producer of the series, which premiered in 1972.

The next year, he started his own production company and brought out “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert,” where he appeared so uncomfortable on camera that musician Paul Shaffer parodied him on the “Saturday Night Live” comedy show.

“He raised the curtain for dozens of bands, all in a nasal drone, his gaze just off to the right of the camera as he read from a teleprompter,” the Washington Post recalled in a 2004 story. “Kirshner looked startled and stiff.”

Move to Florida

Kirshner’s son, Ricky, and daughter, Daryn, hosted “Rock Concert” in its final season. Ricky later produced Super Bowl halftime shows and the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Kirshner had both children with the former Sheila Grod, whom he married in 1959. The couple lived in New Jersey before moving to Boca Raton in 2002.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him with the first Abe Olman Publisher Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Music Industry in 2007.

–Editors: Steven Gittelson, Charles W. Stevens.

To contact the reporter on this story: in New York at dwilson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Greiff at jgreiff@bloomberg.net

Now it’s time to predict the winners in the best picture and best TV show races. His career is loaded with top awards and nominations, some of the most notable being for major roles in “Chocolat,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Finding Neverland,” and “Public Enemies.” Moreover, his career has grossed over $2.6 billion at U.S. box offices and over $6 billion worldwide for films that he has been featured in. Let the educated guessing begin. But it’s anybody’s guess which film will triumph at night’s end in the Best Motion Picture – Drama category; even ear-to-the-ground prognosticators are split on the outcome. They will never invite me back again. … The Globes air live on Sunday at 8 p.m. I wouldn’t completely rule out “Big Bang Theory” or “Glee” either … did I mention this is a hard one to call? While there is no record of selling the 7,430 square foot home, Depp reportedly moved out of the castle-like house in 2004. Best Television Series Drama Your nominees are: “Boardwalk Empire” “Dexter” “The Good Wife” “Mad Men” “Walking Dead” And your winner will be: ” Boardwalk Empire .” “Mad Men” has won in this category for the past three years. His most recent real estate ventures include renting an amazing Hawaiian mansion during summer 2010, reportedly for $5,000 a night. Also keep an eye out for our interviews with the night’s winners and losers.

It’s time for something edgy and new to take over, which means the victor could be ” Walking Dead ” or “Boardwalk Empire.” I say “Empire,” purely because it’s cinematic and Martin Scorsese is involved. “It’s not like a career. Goofball acceptance speeches ( Meryl Streep’s “I want to change my name to T-Bone” crack, Kate Winslet’s “Oh God, who’s the other one?” lapse when she couldn’t remember fellow nominee Anne Hathaway’s name). It’s like I’ve won a competition,” Gervais says.

On this year’s menu is an appetizer of grilled eggplant and marinated artichoke, topped with a blend of edamame and red pepper hummus. Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical Your nominees are: “Alice in Wonderland” “Burlesque” “The Kids Are All Right” “Red” “The Tourist” And your winner will be: “The Kids Are All Right.” Because what else is going to win, “Burlesque”? And just the spectacle of hundreds of Us magazine coverfolk milling around the same room, running from table to table hugging and air-kissing and trying to catch producer Scott Rudin’s attention. Best Motion Picture Drama Your nominees are: “Black Swan” “The Fighter” “Inception” “The King’s Speech” “The Social Network” And your winner will be: ” The Social Network .” This will undoubtedly be the most interesting category of the night, not only because it’s (arguably) the “most important” and most likely to be analyzed to death ahead of the Academy Awards, but because it’s conceivable to imagine any one of these excellent films winning.

Zipping around Los Angeles in Black Beauty, the Hornet’s indestructible ride, Chou’s character, Kato, undermines the city’s gritty underworld as the brains and brawn of the operation. In real life, the 31-year-old ditches Kato’s weapons and wields a microphone instead, selling out stadiums as one of Asia’s brightest music superstars (his song “Nun-chuks” can be heard in the film). More than that, “The Green Hornet” is good. He also happens to be a newspaper heir who inherits his father’s (Tom Wilkinson) publishing conglomerate when the patriarch is accidentally killed after supposedly being stung by a bee. To say that Britt has daddy issues would be an understatement. “I wanted to prove them wrong, so I needed an outlet. Even with occasional flops, “this is a very durable genre,” he notes, adding, “one that is often review-proof.” When a franchise succeeds, he says, it can make up for many duds.

The Tone Many comic book and superhero movies have adopted a darker, grittier tone in recent years. First, he thinks, he needs to find the person who made the amazing cup of coffee he used to enjoy. Inane and unnecessary, much of what Rogen has to say in the film has very little to do with the plot and serves to drag the film down, sucking the life out of it. They should become crimefighters – but they should pose as bad guys so they can get close to the real bad guys! But is “Green Hornet,” which finally, after all that drama, arrives in theaters today, really as bad as everyone thought? On the other hand, a minor character allows writers and directors more license for creativity. “ Superman is such an icon that his narrative actions tend to be somewhat limited (Truth, Justice, American Way),” emails Brad Ricca, SAGES Fellow at Case Western Reserve University and author of the upcoming book, “Super Boys.” But the truly obscure figures often cover more interesting ground, he observes, such as drug addiction, homelessness, and race. It’s exactly what it looks like on paper: Gondry’s frenetic and forward-thinking style married with Rogen’s specific brand of comedy. At the same time, Mr. Ricca notes, filmmakers can only reach so far down the action-figure food chain, and it comes down to just how good the character is. If you’re not a fan of either of those guys, don’t see this movie. Even if there are multiple websites and fan clubs for some obscure ’70s Marvel character like ROM Spaceknight, he says, “there’s a reason those characters don’t have comic books anymore.” Still, never say never in Hollywood, says Ricca. Cameron Diaz looks like she just tripped and fell into frame without any sense of her character’s motivations, which, in her defense, don’t seem to have been carefully considered much beyond “be hot.” And the 3-D is superfluous at best, and massively distracting at worst. (Lesson learned from “The Green Hornet”: No one needs to see the newsroom of a daily metropolitan newspaper in multiple dimensions.) In short, it’s kind of a mess. The two form a bizarre bond, borne out of disdain for their boss and the father’s seeming indifference towards them. You can almost imagine Rogen and Gondry’s stage directions to Olmos: “Just play Adama, dude.” It works exceedingly well.

Here’s a trophy!” But here’s what I’d like to add: If you truly want to do an awards show for “the people,” don’t spend two hours selling us projects and products (that I refuse to mention) in thinly-veiled embedded promotions, and don’t keep referring to us as “the people.” You are people, too, the last time I checked. Also, if Taylor Swift isn’t even trying to pretend she didn’t know she was a winner, then I promise you everyone realizes the stars are told who won ahead of time. But just showing up to say “thanks” isn’t enough when it’s a two-hour televised show (unless your Favorite Movie Actor Johnny Depp and, in a voice that sounds oddly like Robert Shaw, you tell your award presenter, Taylor Swift, “My daughter said that if I didn’t say ‘hi’ to you, I’d be in big trouble, so, ‘hi’ from my daughter”). Prepare something. At least that’s what the folks behind the 2011 People’s Choice Awards thought, so they tricked out this year’s trophy handout with a super starry lineup of celebs and a few fun performances. Country princess Taylor Swift appeared genuinely awestruck when Sir Elton handed over the trophy, but remembered to congratulate the music luminary on becoming a new dad. Let’s list the evening’s most awkward moments, then the full list of winners . Again, just because it’s for “the people,” doesn’t mean you can half-ass it on writers.

The day before, the 23-year-old pop phenom was spotted leaving her hotel en route to rehearsals. Performing her hit song, “Tik Tok,” she literally rode Santa Clause, whacked what appeared to be an Easter Bunny pinata, and urged the crowd to “make 2011 our bitch!” Later, on the ABC stage with Seacrest and the boy-band headliners, Ke$ha responded to Seacrest’s question about resolutions with a quick, “Not become a d—–bag.” Nice. (I think that’s actually in the third verse of “ Auld Lang Syne .”) Ke$ha’s irreverence was refreshing. And there are some viewers that probably hope she doesn’t get her clothes.” As for getting that New Year’s smooch, Seacrest teased, “I hope I get a kiss from someone special on New Year’s Eve. The TV show host also shared some “Idol” news. “The talent is exceptional, actually,” Seacrest said. Dick was born on November 30, 1929, and just turned 81.

What did you think of the show? “The intensity of Hollywood week, which we recently shot, was incredible. There were tears and a lot of drama.” Seacrest also praised the new judges, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler , who are fitting right in. At first, the plan was for “Jersey Shore’s” Snooki to somehow be inside a ball that would drop in Times Square; sadly, that fell apart, so MTV issued a statement Thursday saying that the so-called “Snooki ball drop” will take place instead in Seaside Heights, N.J.

Performing her hit song, “Tik Tok,” she literally rode Santa Clause, whacked what appeared to be an Easter Bunny pinata, and urged the crowd to “make 2011 our bitch!” Later, on the ABC stage with Seacrest and the boy-band headliners, Ke$ha responded to Seacrest’s question about resolutions with a quick, “Not become a d—–bag.” Nice. (I think that’s actually in the third verse of “ Auld Lang Syne .”) Ke$ha’s irreverence was refreshing. Poor Jenny McCarthy was saddled with crowd-duty, and it was actually impressive hearing her sell lines like, “I am so excited to be down here,” and “I wish I could wake up every morning to this.” Sure you do, Jenny. The day before, the 23-year-old pop phenom was spotted leaving her hotel en route to rehearsals. ” More than 1 million people were expected in Times Square to celebrate the turn of the New Year.

As an entertainment writer for almost four years now, I have learned to predict what people will search for, especially on big days such as New Years. What did you think of the show? And what year do we have to wait for until cheap-glasses manufacturers will finally give up trying to shoehorn the new year’s digits on to a set of novelty frames?

Bad year for concert sales could mean cheaper tickets in 2011

Jon Bon Jovi’s band offered discount tickets in 2010 but ended the year as the world’s highest selling, highest grossing live act.

ANDREA COMAS/REUTERS FILE PHOTO

It’s official. The concert business had a lousy 2010.

Pollstar, a trade magazine that tracks the vital signs of the concert industry, has released its annual ranking of the top 50 concert tours for the 2010 calendar year, and it’s ugly.

The top tours in North America grossed 15 per cent less than in 2009, dropping from $1.99 billion (U.S.) to $1.69 billion. Ticket sales fell 12 per cent. And the total number of concerts was down about 3 per cent. Oof, ouch and bummer.

But heading into the new year, the industry’s pain could turn into the fans’ gain. “Hopefully, there will be some more reasonable ticket prices (in 2011),” says Pollstar editor-in-chief Gary Bongiovanni. “I would expect that we’ll see lower-priced seats on the low end.”

That could mean cheaper nosebleed and lawn seats for many concert tours, but probably not for big-name acts such as Justin Bieber, Michael Bublé or Lady Gaga — each of whom enjoyed a very lucrative 2010 and are expected to continue filling venues at ballooning ticket prices.

But Biebers and Gagas notwithstanding, the concert biz still took a bruising last year. Ignoring that pesky economic recession, artists often refused to drop prices, opting instead to cancel underselling shows, or even entire tours. Rihanna, Maxwell, Christina Aguilera and the Jonas Brothers were among the numerous acts that nixed dates across North America over the summer.

In 2011, promoters will likely have to be more choosy about who they invite to the stage. And artists might have to reconsider what they’d like to charge.

“I think everyone is going to be more conservative in their booking,” says Bongiovanni. “And I think the artists themselves have gotten the message that this isn’t the time to push the envelope and try to make as much money as possible. It’s better to be more conservative in your goals.”

They got a head start last summer at Jiffy Lube Live, the 25,000-seat venue in Bristow, Va., that Live Nation owns and operates. As the season trudged along, employees began strolling the grounds wearing sandwich boards, peddling tickets to upcoming concerts for a mere $10. Such “fire sale” pricing helped fill the venue in the season’s waning months, but some say the practice may have consequences.

“Fire sales are a major concern around the industry,” says Glenn Peoples, senior editorial analyst at Billboard Magazine. “A lot of people are concerned that the consumer will be conditioned to wait for lower prices.”

“If they sell $10 tickets, (I hope) they do it from the very beginning,” says Bongiovanni at Pollstar. “The core fan buys them at full price only to find that the casual fan can buy it for 10 bucks later.”

One way to avoid angering those core fans, says Peoples, is to offer discounted tickets through a third party. Bon Jovi utilized this approach last summer, offering last-minute discounted seats through Groupon. By the end of the year, the band was the highest selling, highest grossing live act of 2010.

But next year, they’ll have more competition. “The one thing about 2011 that’ll be a lot different than 2010 is greater supply,” says Peoples. “There are going to be a lot of acts out on the road who didn’t tour in 2010.”

Among them are country crooner Kenny Chesney, who took last summer off, and Sade, the resurgent R&B goddess who waited a year to hit the road in support of her 2010 comeback album Soldier of Love.

Natalie Portman reports transforming her already petite body into that of a bulimic prima ballerina for “Black Swan” was so horrific, she thought she was “going to die.” In the new issue of Entertainment Weekly , the Harvard grad details the year-long training she underwent for the role, which included dancing for up to eight hours a day. “There were some nights that I thought I literally was going to die,” she said. “It was the first time I understood how you could get so wrapped up in a role that it could sort of take you down.” Eventually, the heavy dieting and constant exercise transformed Natalie’s body so severely that director Darren Aronofsky encouraged her to eat. I was like, ‘Natalie, start eating.’ ” Despite portraying an emotionally troubled dancer in the psycho thriller, Natalie’s story has a happy ending. Natalie Portman has revealed her training to play a ballerina in Black Swan got so tough she ‘thought she would die’. But that’s hardly the only excitement she’s got coming in the new year.

“I remember them being like, ‘How do you get guys to a ballet movie? A hundred years later another young performer, actress Natalie Portman, is gaining accolades for her role as the lead in another famous swan ballet, Swan Lake.

In a moviescape full of 3-D eye-candy and ridiculous plot twists, “Black Swan” thrills the old-fashioned way: with deep-seated psychological drama. How do you get girls to a thriller?’ And the answer is a lesbian scene. Yes, it’s sexy, but it’s no “Wild Things.” Instead, expect an intense story of ambition and manipulation, masterfully performed and beautifully staged, with just a hint of the bizarre and a heaping dose of the disturbing. “Black Swan” is all about a good girl gone bad. Everyone wants to see that.” For more on Portman and Franco, plus Oscar picks from EW’s Dave Karger , check out this week’s issue, on stands Friday, December 31st. Nina’s led a relatively sheltered life, struggling and training under the omnipresent eye of her controlling mommy dearest, Erica (Barbara Hershey), who lives vicariously through her daughter’s success. The film isn’t meant as documentary, but it does provide the audience what seems an authentic look into the life of a ballet company. Aronofsky told MTV earlier this year that he had trouble getting access to the machinations of the ballet scene: “Ballet is a very insular world.

Three decades later Disney has gone back to the electronic drawing board and returned with “Tron: Legacy,” a sequel with far less color and cinematic imagination, and many more bells and whistles, including a freakishly special-effected Mr. Bridges going mano a mano in cyberspace with the grizzled real deal. But it does offer the sight of the actor returning to the same kind of paycheck-padding gig that landed him in the first “Tron,” if without a young man’s embarrassment. The new movie takes off in 1989 with Kevin (Mr. Bridges, kind of) seen tucking his young son, Sam (Owen Best), into bed, the child’s room adorned with the kind of “Tron” merchandise that is the sequel’s primary reason for being.

As if to emphasize the network connectivity of it all, the buildings, vehicles and costumes are outlined, usually in whitish-blue, an electronic piping that also emphasizes the geometry of the forms. In the action scenes these light ribbons turn into lovely streaks, but at other times, all the dark and the Daft Punk throbbing bring to mind a rave filled with revelers waving glow sticks.

Pop music’s utility man: Flo Rida’s singles, going steady

Now that Billboard has officially released the EKG meter for pop music in 2010 (pretty much, if you’re not Doin’ It Real Big Up in the Club or a Mr. Lukasz Gottwald, you’re not selling records), one man’s career in that field is like a rare hothouse orchid of massive late-aughts single sales: Flo Rida.

Since his world-beating T-Pain collaboration “Low,” the Miami-based rapper has had one of pop’s best ears for absolutely inescapable club jams, a streak compounded by his download-record smashing “Right Round” (which introduced Ke$ha to the world) and recently with the David Guetta-produced “Club Can’t Handle Me.”

But he’s also a unique creature of singles success –  a multiple-hit wonder and radio-festival staple who everyone knows of but who few seem to know as a personality. He’s a finely oiled machine of rapid, melodic rhymes that own your stereo every summer, but who’s still something of a mystery as  a person.

“I want people to get to know me but not get overexposed,” he said in a panoramic suite atop the W in Hollywood. He’s trying to finally capitalize with the two-part “Only One Flo” double album. One half, released last month, is straight for the club, the other is a nod to more orthodox hip-hop. “I never want to let too many secrets out.”

Here’s one thing that’s a lost cause for keeping secret — “Club Can’t Handle Me” is one of the most era-encapsulating tracks of 2010. Guetta is behind scads of the year’s archetypal and successful singles, and “Club” is another hit of Europhile rave sugar. But instead of being about boozing, strippers or other perennial modern rap topics, it’s an oddly empowering and surprisingly little tune that “People are really taking as their own,” he said. “I’d seen (Guetta’s) following and really wanted to work in his universe, in the European club scene. Tight, melodic raps really fit with that style.” It’s one that “Turn Around (5,4,3,2,1)” and “Who Dat Girl” reprise ably.

That’s the secret that makes Mr. Rida so easy to love on radio and yet so hard to figure out as an artist. His ear for double-time, sing-songy hooks is unerring and can sit atop all sorts of productions, from four-on-the-floors to trunk-rattlers. But it also rarely leaves room for the kind of lyricism that fans have always responded to in a rapper, the kind of thing that makes you hang on the next line.

The relatively ominous and lonely “Respirator” and “Why You Up in Here,” the record’s closer with Ludacris and Gucci Mane, come closest to amending that, but the second installment (due in spring) should lean even heavier on the rap end of his pop-rap equation, as he explored in more depths on his second album, “R.O.O.T.S.” It might be validating; it passed his singles fans by. But the feeling one takes from the first edition of “Flo” is that of something interesting and particular to the last few years of pop — a well-known voice that’s outlapped its bearer in public personality.

Fortunately for Flo, he doesn’t object to being a “song” guy rather than a Kanye-esque bloodletter of a pop star.

“People want ear candy, and I appreciate that,” he said about the writing process. “I’m just blowing up a balloon and it’s always amazing to see it go off.”

– August Brown

Photo by Los Angeles Times