From NME:
Liam Maher the frontman of Flowered Up has died.Little is known at this point about the singers death, but reports from the band's record label have emerged to confirm the news.
Maher fronted the baggy band Flowered Up in the early 90's who for most, were London's equivalent to bands like Happy Mondays and Inspiral Carpets.
Most notably known for their number 20 single ‘Weekender’, the 12 minute 55 second track was Flowered Up's highest charting single.
Google to Launch Music Service as Early as Next Week, The Details of Which are Left to Our Imaginations
Once upon a time, creativity could be packaged, marketed, and distributed to loving music fans across the world. CDs were a new technology, and a successful source of revenue. Record Executives and musicians alike became prosperous and all was peaceful in the land. Until the fallow years came. Plucky college students began a quest to not only be music's consumers, but to become its distributors, too. Using the immortal powers of the internet, music could now be shared between internet users and CDs quickly became all but irrelevant.
In a terminally ill industry, music execs felt the burn of their losses. "Help us, oh Lord!!" they cried. And the Lord heard their prayers. The clouds parted and God said… "let there be streaming music services sponsored by select media outlets." Google heard the command and said "how far we have come from being but a lonely search engine! We have satellites and iPhone apps, calendars and Gchat, but let us expand once more! We will create a streaming music service!"
That's right, kids. Google wants a piece of the streaming music pie. They're keeping mum regarding the details of their service, which is rumored to be called either "Google Music," "Google Audio," or "OneBox," but we do know that the service has the cooperation of major labels. A simple Google Music search will supposedly give you a streaming link taken directly from LaLa or iLike. Plenty more details will leak out over the next few days, but it's also reported that the service is launching as soon as next Wednesday.
…And God saw that it was good, etc.
Mika Miko Decide to Break Up
After playing together for six years, Los Angeles’ Mika Miko have decided to call it quits, due to new projects, jobs, relationships, and school. In an interview with The Los Angeles Times, guitarist Michelle Suarez spoke at length about the breakup: “There's no bad blood at all, we're all still really good friends,” said Suarez. “We've just been a band since high school and all of us are ready to move onto different things. We started the band for fun and wanted to end on a positive note.” Mika Miko’s 2009 album, We Be Xuxa (TMT Review), will be their final release.
If you’re still hoping to catch Mika Miko live before they say goodbye forever, they are playing Austin’s Fun Fun Fun Fest November 8, and a final farewell show at The Smell is being planned as well. Suarez also revealed that the group plans on releasing one more 7-inch before they call it a day.
RIP: Vic Mizzy, TV and film composer
From the NY Daily News:
Brooklyn-born songwriter Vic Mizzy, who had a string of No. 1 pop hits and penned the memorable theme songs for the 1960s sitcoms "Green Acres" and "The Addams Family," died Saturday. He was 93.Mizzy's popular hits included "Pretty Kitty Blue Eyes" and "The Whole World Is Singing My Song," as well as novelty hits like "With a Hey and a Hi and a Ho-Ho-Ho."
Mizzy said he didn't mind if people remember him only for the finger snaps at the start of the "The Addams Family" theme song, according to a statement from his publicist. After all, he said, "Two snaps got me a mansion in Bel Air."
"To be on the side of people who are struggling for something doesn’t necessarily mean you’re being political." -Bob Dylan
