Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Beatles and iTunes alliance, if true - no biggie...

Why this is a major story is beyond me. It's just business as usual. Although denied, rumors have it that the Beatles catalog would soon be available on iTunes. And who do the denials come from? For one, Michael Jackson, who in partnership with Sony/ATV, owns the publishing rights to the majority of the Beatles catalog. The EMI Group, owners of the recording rights to the Beatles catalog, also denies the rumors which started in England...

One of the British newspapers reported that Apple would pay the Beatles about $600 million for their catalog. Apple, which grosses about 33 cents for every song sale, would have to sell 1.8 billion Beatles songs to break even. That is certainly a reachable quota. There's more than money involved in this deal. Should the rumor become reality, the availability of the best-selling band of all-time on iTunes would be huge in making digital downloads an integral part of mainstream music. If the Beatles come aboard, then Madonna, Led Zeppelin and Metallica - acts that have not done download deals, would surely follow...

You might be interested to know who the top 10 best-selling music acts of all-time are. Based on millions of albums and single units sold, they are: 1) The Beatles (191), 2) Elvis Presley (168.5), 3) Garth Brooks (128.5), 4) Led Zeppelin (112), 5) The Eagles (101.6), 5) Elton John (91), 6) Billy Joel (83.5), 7) Barbra Streisand (78), 8) Madonna (78), 9) Mariah Carey (76.5) and 10) Pink Floyd (75.5)...

And now, let's look back:

10 Timeline Memories:
  1. 1888] The Blizzard of '88: Referred to as 'The Great White Hurricane", the blizzard shuts down communication and transportation along the Atlantic Seaboard and more than 400 will die. The blizzard, captured in a slideshow: http://youtube.com/watch?v=S6-zepm4cKw ...
  2. 1901] Man of Steel: U.S. Steel is forged when industrialist J.P. Morgan purchases the Carnegie Steel Corporation. The sale makes Andrew Carnegie the world's richest man...
  3. 1927] Debuted on this date: Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the world-famous Roxy Theatre in Manhattan...1930] President Howard Taft becomes our first president to be buried in Arlington's National Cemetery...1969] Levi-Strauss begins selling bell-bottom jeans...1989] The reality-based "Cops" debuts on Fox where it still resides on Saturday nights...
  4. 1942] Big Mac: With Japanese forces advancing in the Pacific during WWII, General Douglas MacArthur leaves the Philippines for Australia vowing "I Shall Return". He does...
  5. 1986] Stick it: Popsickle announces its plan to end the traditional twin-stick Popsickle for a one-stick model. How do you split one stick? We'll be back, after this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwlMHJE82Mk&NR=1 ...
  6. 1993] Confirmation day: Janet Reno is confirmed by the Senate to be the nation's first female attorney general...
  7. 1995] Picabo, I see you: Picabo Street becomes the first U.S. woman to win a gold medal in downhill at the world championships in Spain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOYpKz3Gia4&feature=related ...
  8. 1996] Cleveland sits Shiva: The city of Cleveland mourns the decision made by NFL owners to allow Art Modell to move the Browns to Baltimore where they become the Ravens. Cleveland gets revenge by keeping the Browns name, a new team to replace the original one and a lifetime supply of gift-certificates to Modell's...
  9. 2002] Lighting up the night: Two columns of light reach to the heavens from ground zero in Manhattan as a temporary memorial to the victims of 911. The search lights could be seen in all 5 boroughs. What a sight!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msDAi6stBHs ...
  10. 2004] Terror in Spain: Bombs explode in quick succession across the commuter rail system in Madrid killing 191 and wounding more than 2,000 as terrorists linked to al-Qaida strike...

Music Memories:

Commentary:

This has not been a good week for New York. First we find out we have drugs in our drinking water (we haven't touched the stuff for years, preferring bottled water) and then we find out that Governor Elliott Spitzer got caught with his pants down. The Daily News calls him, 'The Pay for Luv Guv". We needed a party in the worst way and we had one last night as new Rock & Roll Hall of Famers celebrated the night away at the Waldorf-Astoria. The 23rd annual induction ceremony anointed Madonna, John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, the Ventures and Dave Clark Five. Also gaining entrance were songwriters and producers Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and blues artist Little Walter and not a minute too soon...

"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":

Johnny Knoxville (37), Terrence Howard (39), Lisa Loeb (40), Cheryl Lynn (51): http://youtube.com/watch?v=EoXvDleWJ5U&feature=related , Joey Buttafuocco (52), Nina Hagen (53), Bobby McFerrin (58): http://youtube.com/watch?v=yjnvSQuv-H4 , Dock Ellis (63), Sam Donaldson (74) and Rupert Murdoch (77)...

Timeline Countdown: 9 days until the first day of spring, 12 days until Easter Sunday, 14 days until opening day and 39 days until Passover...