Sponsorship!
Print This Post
Rawkstars is incredibly pleased to announce that we are being sponsored by US Music Corp, Jay Turser Guitars and Mr. Music in Allston, MA.
These 3 amazing companies are collectively donating 35 guitars for our recently announced pilot music program in conjunction with Passim School of Music and Prospect Hill Academy.
“Working with brands of this caliber ensures that our students will receive high quality instruments to begin their musical training.” says Jonathan Jacobs, founder and Executive Director of Rawkstars, Inc. “It helps us direct additional support to other aspects of this program, since a majority of our equipment costs are being covered by this in-kind donation.”
“We are proud to be working with such generous and recognizable businesses to bring opportunity through music education to 60+ local youth, right here in our own backyard.”
For more information on Rawkstars, Inc. contact us directly at info@rawkstars.org/617.750.0775 or visit our website, http://rawkstars.org.
New Rawkstars Partnership!
Print This Post
Rawkstars, Inc. is partnering with The Passim Center and The Passim School of Music on a 9-month pilot music program serving 60+ music students in conjunction with Prospect Hill Academy in Cambridge.
Club Passim is one of the nation’s legendary cultural icons and epicenter of great folk and acoustic music. The venue’s 50+ year role in America’s musical and cultural history is still being assessed in books, recordings, documentaries, articles, and music biographies.
Prospect Hill is a 14 year old Charter School based in Cambridge and Somerville, serving 900 students grades K-12 across three campuses.
Rawkstars will be providing 40 instruments and musical accessories to the pilot as well as working on operational, analytic and marketing efforts to support the students, instructors and its partners.
“We are extremely excited to be working with such luminary partners”, says Jonathan Jacobs, founder and Executive Director of Rawkstars. “This collaboration represents a major step in Rawkstars’ growth and in its mission to provide opportunity to Boston area kids through music programs.”
The pilot program begins in September 2010 and will run throughout the 2010-11 school year. It will include 4 groups of students encompassing kindergarten through 8th grade. Younger kids will work towards learing basic musical rhythms and hand drumming while older students will begin learning guitar through a highly supervised curriculum.
For more information, contact us at 617.750.0775 or via email, jjacobs@rawkstars.org.
RUSH setlist for the upcoming …
Print This Post
RUSH setlist for the upcoming shows: http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/rush/setlists.php#TMT_2010
Rawk legend Bill Aucoin passed…
Print This Post
Rawk legend Bill Aucoin passed away last night. RIP to the man who brought KISS to prominence and music marketing to new heights.
New Rawkstars Student
Print This Post
Please join me in welcoming the newest Rawkstars student, Frank Powers! Frank is a 14 year old guitar student who has no formal musical training but has developed a strong passion for the instrument over the past year. He will be starting weekly, private lessons through our Rawk Starts program and we look forward to helping Frank achieve his goals in music and in life.
Unmasked!
Print This Post
On this day in KISStory, May 20th 1980 “Unmasked” was released. Kiss’ 8th studio album featured Anton Fig on drums, despite the fact that he was never credited and Peter Criss appeared on the album artwork.
On this day in KISStory – May 20, 1980, KISS released Unmasked, their eighth studio album. The artwork featured Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss, although Criss actually had no involvement with the recording of the album. Anton Fig (uncredited) played all drums on the album. The albu…m was certified Gold by the RIAA on July 30, 1980.
A Light in the Black
Print This Post
I’ve argued this point with my music brothers many times, “If there were a Mount Rushmore of rawk singers, who would be depicted there?” Inevitably we get bogged down with opinions about Bruce Dickinson vs. Rob Halford, Bon Scott vs. Ozzy – trying to agree on exactly what constitutes a great vocalist. Is their vocal range the most important factor, or do lyric writing and stage presence count for more? Is it better to have sung with one band for an entire career or do you score points for having success with more than one band? Of course, it’s a circular argument with no real answer. One item that has never been debated is that one of those 4 spots belongs to Ronnie James Dio.
The diminutive slayer of dragons is without question one of the most revered, influential, successful and talented singers to ever grace a stage.
For me it started in 1982 when Holy Diver was released. By that time, Dio had already secured his musical legacy by playing with two of the biggest names in music; Black Sabbath and Rainbow, but for a 12 year old suburban, middle class kid, those were unknown quantities to me as of yet.
I walked to the local record store and thumbed through the tiny *heavy metal* section. Before the internet, file sharing and global socialization, that’s the main way I found new music. I either had a friend give me a homemade cassette of the latest cool band from Europe, read about them in Kerrang or bought albums randomly by deciding who had the coolest looking cover. Holy Diver featured a chained priest being thrown into the ocean by a towering, muscle-bound demon. Sold. It was a non-scientific method of finding new music and sometimes yielded sketchy results. This wasn’t to be one of those times.
I got the record home and dropped the needle. After the first few revolutions of static that always built anticipation for what was coming, it started. The title track kicked in and I was hooked. I can picture myself instinctively banging my head to that riff and raising the devil horns Dio also popularized, in classic Beavis and Butthead-style. I probably listened to the record 5 consecutive times that day, and 500+ times over the coming year. Not because of that album cover, but because of the music inside.
That’s the thing about Dio; he meticulously crafted an image of himself to appeal to young fans and to deliver the style of lyrics and imagery he so clearly loved. But his music had SUBSTANCE. He knew how to put a band together and how to be a front man. He knew how to write timeless melodies and could sing like the angels and devils portrayed in his songwriting. He affected me not only with those first songs, but sent me on a journey that took me into the teeth of the music I was just starting to discover fall in love with.
I immediately went out and bought Heaven and Hell and Mob Rules. Then Rainbow Rising, Long Live Rock N’ Roll and Rainbow’s first album. Over the ensuing months and years, those grew to be some of the most influential albums on me, even eclipsing his solo work in the pantheon of my musical catalog. It led me directly into the incestuous family tree that was Rainbow, Deep Purple, Sabbath, Whitesnake and Ozzy; which each in turn sprouted branches of their own. Like a great history lesson, music can send you on a journey of discovery, in search of the essence of what you have learned to see how it came to be. Dio sent many of us on that path and left us hungry for more at every turn.
Dio was a connector. More than just a link; he was a guide who took me on a pilgrimage back through the history of rock and metal music that defined a large part of who I am as a human being.
“Something’s calling me back. There’s a light in the black.
Am I ready to go? …I’m coming home!”
Happy 65th Ritchie Blackmore! …
Print This Post
Happy 65th Ritchie Blackmore! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritchie_Blackmore
RT @MikeHsuAAF: Discovering se…
Print This Post
RT @MikeHsuAAF: Discovering sex through cartoons and killer music. The “Heavy Metal” Soundtrack on the latest Vinyl Dump:…
Marvin Gaye, shot and killed o…
Print This Post
Marvin Gaye, shot and killed on this date in 1984 by his own father.
