retroBlog

Scottish rockers Simple Minds have been busy recording in the studio for an upcoming 2009 release. As a matter of fact, the sessions have been so successful, lead singer Jim Kerr recently stated that they have enough material for two full albums at this point. But before releasing any new material, the group will head out on tour in the UK to celebrate their 30th anniversary. It’ll be a special series of dates since they’ll be performing their landmark 1982 album “New Gold Dream” in its entirety.

Simple Minds 30th Anniversary Tour:
November 27th - Manchester MEN Arena
November 28th - Birmingham NEC
November 29th - London Wembley Arena
December 1st - Sheffield Arena
December 2nd - Cardiff International Arena
December 3rd - Newcastle Metro Arena
December 4th - Glasgow SECC
December 6th - Belfast Odyssey Arena

The band’s lineup will include founding members Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill along with Mel Gaynor on drums, Eddy Duffy on bass and Andy Gillespie on keyboards.

Check out NoblePR for more information on the 2008 UK tour.
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Tags: Simple Minds

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Well it’s just about that time of the year again. Kids and teens are all desperately trying to get the most out of their summer break before it’s time to head back to school. And while the kids are out having their last hurrahs of the summer, parents are taking this time to stock up on school supplies and clothes so that the kids will have all that they need before school starts. Besides the usual school supplies, one thing that sometimes gets overlooked is software. As you may already know, school assignments requiring the use of certain types of software on home computers are becoming more and more frequent. we’re seeing more and more student projects being done on Microsoft Office or Publisher 2007 than ever before. Thankfully online retailer Cost Captain is currently having a Back to school with Microsoft Office 2007 sale. Over at Cost Captain, students can purchase genuine Microsoft products at low academic discount prices. As a Microsoft Authorized Education reseller, Cost Captain specializes in providing Microsoft products for students, faculty members, teachers, libraries and universities. The prices are great and definitely worth checking out before the start of school.


Tags: cost captain, costcaptain, www.costcaptain.com, Microsoft Office 2007, Microsoft Vista, Publisher 2007

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Todd Rundgren is currently on tour in the states, wow-ing his fans with a blistering guitar-oriented live set that includes all 13 songs from his yet-to-be released album titled Arena. It’s certainly a treat for concert goers to be able to experience a whole new set of songs BEFORE they’re even officially released. It’s simply a testament to how much faith Todd has for his concert-going fans. Most live acts touring the country usually stick to the tried and true in terms of setlists and won’t dare play more than a handful of unfamiliar tunes in their shows. But Todd-fans are a different breed and expect a little more from their Hero. And on this tour, Todd simply delivers! The new songs off of Arena translate well on stage with soaring guitar leads and heart-pounding rhythms. Highlights include “Strike” with its fist-pumping chorus, the bluesy slow rocker “Weakness” and “Afraid” which features a tasty David Gilmour-like guitar solo.

listen to an excerpt of a live version of “Afraid”

after finishing the U.S. leg, Rundgren will take a two month break which will give his record label, HiFi Records, a chance to catch up and get the Arena CD out into the stores. and then in November, Rundgren will head back out on the road and unleash his “guitar-rock extravaganza” onto his European fans.

here are the dates for Rundgren’s European leg of the tour:

Thu 11/06/08 Manchester, UK Academy 2
Fri 11/07/08 Edinburgh, UK The Picture House
Sat 11/15/08 Eindhoven, Netherlands TROMP International Music Festival
Sun 11/16/08 Harmonie Bonn, Germany
Tue 11/18/08 Rolling Stone Milan, Italy
Thu 11/20/08 Trabendo Paris, France
Sat 11/22/08 Waterfront Norwich, UK
Sun 11/23/08 London, UK The Forum Tickets Ticketmaster UK

for detailed information on Rundgren’s UK dates, be sure to check out Noble PR’s Todd Rundgren page.

and for the latest info on Todd Rundgren, head on over to Todd’s official myspace page.

Tags: Todd Rundgren

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The online world has definitely changed over the last few years. with the popularity of youtube, iTunes and myspace, a high speed internet connection is truly a MUST nowadays. There is NO WAY you can do much of anything without a fast connection. Thankfully prices have come down so that broadband is now within reach for just about anybody. Take Charter internet for instance. They’re currently offering a 5 Mbps internet connection for only $14.99 a month. And that’s not all. Charter will also provide a security suite that’ll help protect your computer from viruses, intruding hackers and spam. Plus, you get 10 email accounts and 20MB of personal web space. And if you sign up online before the end of July, Charter will also throw in a $25 Shell gas card. Now that’s what I call a great deal. Head on over to Charter Communications to view all the details.

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Lindsey Buckingham surprisingly changes it up and doesn’t end up taking a decade to release his next solo album!! Buckingham usually labors for years and years tweaking his songs in the studio but after his recent success with the 2006 release of Under the Skin (and subsequent solo tour), he has decided that follow things up relatively quickly with the September release of Gift Of Screws.

Tracklist:
1. Great Day
2. Time Precious Time
3. Did You Miss Me
4. Wanna Wait For You
5. Love Runs Deeper
6. Bel Air Rain
7. The Right Place To Fade
8. Gift Of Screws
9. Underground
10. Treason

I still enjoy listening to the bootleg of Buckingham’s original unreleased version of Gift of Screws so it’s great to see some of the songs from that original version get the “official” treatment. Interesting to note that two of the songs that were originally titled “Twist of Fate” and “Shuffle Riff” have now been changed to “The Right Place to Fade” and “Wanna Wait for You”. I wonder if those two particular songs have been revamped.

be sure to catch Lindsey on tour in the fall:
September 7 - Saratoga, CA - The Mountain Winery
September 9 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre
September 10 - Portland, OR - Newmark Theatre
September 12 - Stateline, NV - Harrah’s Lake Tahoe
September 13 - San Francisco, CA - TBA
September 14 - Los Angeles, CA - Royce Hall Auditorium
September 16 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey’s Concerts By The Bay
September 18 - Phoenix, AZ - Orpheum Theatre
September 19 - Anaheim, CA - Grove Of Anaheim
September 20 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint
September 22 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
September 24 - Denver, CO - Ellie Caulkins Opera House
September 26 - Tulsa, OK - The Brady Theater
September 28 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater
September 29 - Saint Louis, MO - The Pageant
October 1 - Cleveland, OH - House Of Blues
October 2 - Chicago, IL - House Of Blues
October 4 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
October 5 - Indianapolis, IN - Murat Egyptian Room
October 8 - Toronto, ONT - Music Hall Theatre
October 10 - Reading, PA - Sovereign Performing Arts Center
October 11 - Atlantic City, NJ - Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort
October 14 - Northampton, MA - Calvin Theater
October 15 - Ridgefield, CT - Ridgefield Playhouse
October 17 - Boston, MA - Berklee Performance Center
October 18 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theatre
October 19 - New York, NY - Nokia Theatre Times Square

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Tags: Lindsey Buckingham

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We’ve all been there before at one point or another. With a deadline looming over your pounding head, you try desperately to stay focused and get your work done on time. But with so many of life’s distractions pulling at your from all directions, it’s tough to stay calm in the midst of all the stress. That’s where AbsoluteCalm can help. AbsoluteCalm is an all natural stress reliever made from magnolia extracts. And magnolia extracts contain honokiol which has been shown in studies to alleviate stress and calm nerves without any negative side effects. so AbsoluteCalm is just perfect for those times when you need to calm down and de-stress but still be able to focus and finish your work on time. I had to take some the other day while behind the recording console trying to get through some initial drum tracks at a local studio. The band’s drummer simply could not keep time to save his life and it was driving me up the wall. Normally I’d throw a fit and go in the drum booth to do it myself but after taking some AbsoluteCalm, I hung in there and spent the rest of the evening working with the idiot drummer until we finally got a good take. Thank you, AbsoluteCalm for keeping me from doing harm to the idiot drummer!! To find out more about AbsoluteCalm be sure to head on over to their website - getAbsoluteCalm.com.

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here are some of my all time favorite mashups. when NOT done quite right, mashups can sound terribly grating but every once in a while you do encounter some that are fun, inventive and tuneful. check ‘em out! yeah, I know most of these are a few years old but that was when I was heavily “into” mashups. Now, not so much. anyway, enjoy.

Beach Boys/Depeche Mode - I Feel Loved Be Still Mix
It’s the dark night of my soul and temptation’s taking hold
But through the pain and the suffering, through the heartache and trembling

Huey Lewis/Snoop Dogg - Drop It Like It’s Huey by CompactRisk
When the pimp’s in the crib ma, Drop it like it’s hot
When the pigs try to get at ya, Park it like it’s hot
And if a — get a attitude, Pop it like it’s hot
I got the rolly on my arm and I’m pouring CHANDON
And I roll the best — cause I got it going on

Annie Lennox/Rush - Annie Rush by Go Home Productions
I look up to the little bird that glides across the sky
He sings the clearest melody it makes me want to cry
It makes me want to sit right down and cry, cry, cry

GWen Stefani/Cameo - Hollaback Girl (ZAX Word Up Radio Edit) by DJ ZAX
A few times I’ve been around that track
So it’s not just gonna happen like that
‘Cause I ain’t no hollaback girl, I ain’t no hollaback girl

Spice Girls/Usher - Who? Yeah! by DJ Matt Hamer
She’s all up in my head now
got me thinking that it might be a good idea to take her with me
cause she’s ready to leave now I gotta keep it real now
Cause on a 1-to-10, she’s a certified twenty and that just ain’t me

Kanye West/Cake - Kanye Mahna by Lenlow
Cutie the bomb, met her at a beauty salon
With a baby Louis Vuitton under her underarm
She said, I can tell you rock, I can tell by your charm
Far as girls you got a flock, I can tell by your charm

*note: all files hosted on savefile.com

Tags: mashups, mixtape

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It seems the media has been over-hyping the negative aspects of Windows Vista lately. I recently purchased a laptop with the new Microsoft operating system on it and I’ve been pretty impressed with the whole experience. I suppose some of those problems that have been reported in the past involved inadequate systems that didn’t have enough power to handle the slick new Aero interface. But as long as you get a nicely configured desktop or laptop, Vista will run just fine. and in any case, Microsoft’s Windows Vista Small Business Assurance Team is available to assist with any sort of upgrade issue or compatibility problem that one may encounter. The biggest benefit that I see in going from XP to Vista is the improved security features. You can now run as a “standard user” with limited permissions instead of as an “administrator” so that dangerous malware can no longer come in and execute commands in this mode. I also love the new look of the graphical interface with the translucent glass window frames, cool animations and loads of helpful “gadgets” that can be place right on the desktop. Another thing Microsoft got right this time around compared to the old XP OS is the integrated search capabilities which lets you simply type in a filename or program name quickly and easily without having to click for windows explorer. There’s a lot to like about Windows Vista. There’s no need to be afraid of change, my friends. Step up to the “new” and see the difference yourself.

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I’m grateful for all the rain this week especially since we’re all still recovering from a long drought. but man, the mushrooms are having a field day on parts of my lawn. there seems to be an endless supply of these things. I can’t seem to pull them out fast enough!

hhmmm, don’t some of these look a bit phallic to you? ..or is that just my mind in the gutter again?

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ever feel like your trusty old car is in need of an upgrade? I sure do whenever I get on the on-ramp for the interstate. my car doesn’t seem to have enough “zing” to get me up to highway speeds by the time I have to merge with the speeding traffic. So, I’ve been reading up on turbocharging cars on Turbochargerpros.com. The website features all that one would need to turbocharge just about any make and model including audi turbo chargers and even volkswagons. Man, if I added a turbocharger to my vehicle, getting on the interstate would finally be a piece of cake for me. I’m seriously considering it.

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