MusicMaster Blog

As a style of music, Dixie is a form of jazz that developed in New Orleans in the early 20th century and spread to Chicago and New York City in the 1910’s. The style featured brass bands marches, ragtime, blues, and polyphonic improvisation of horns over a rhythm section featuring piano, guitar, drums, banjo, bass or tuba. With one instrument, typically a horn, playing variations on a melody, a ‘front line’ of other instruments would improvise around that melody. Standards from the Dixieland collection include “Basin Street Blues” and “When the Saints Go Marching In” and the work of Louis Armstrong’s All-Stars.

However, Dixie is also a cultural region of the southern U.S, typically including the eleven southern states that seceded from the Union to form the Confederacy in the time of the Civil War (South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee). This area, in the minds of those living there, is the traditional “Old South.”

The unofficial anthem of the Confederacy during the Civil War was known as “Dixie” or “Dixie’s Land” and was written in 1859 by composer Daniel D. Emmett, who was actually from the North. Though this was the first official use of the name Dixie, the origin of the word is found elsewhere. There are, in fact, three popular theories:

1. The term refers to currency that was privately issued from banks in Louisiana. The ten dollar notes were labeled “Dix” from the French word for ten, and known as Dixie’s by the English speaking residents in and around New Orleans. The Cajun-speaking parts of Louisiana came to be known as “Dixieland” with the term later encompassing the entire South.

2. The word might also refer to Mr. Dixy, a perhaps mythical slave owner on Manhattan Island, where slavery was legal until 1827. As Dixy was so kind to his slaves, they longed to go back to “Dixy’s Land” upon being freed. This term, reflected in Emmett’s tune “Dixie’s Land” came to refer to a mythic place of happiness and material wealth. Whether or not Emmett brought the term to the south with his ballad or if it was already established is a matter of debate.

3.Some others believe that the term came from the Mason-Dixon line, a territorial boundary between Maryland and Pennsylvania that divided the United States into the northern and southern states. Though it was established in the 1760’s, it became the demarcation between free states and slave states in 1820.

Whether you live in the south or have simply passed through, and whether you collect Dixieland Jazz or simply can hum a few bars of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” you’ve been exposed to this historically rich cultural bouquet. Whichever of the above theories is correct, we find it interesting to reflect on the history of the term. Which do you think holds the most weight?

If the push for online radio content and next year’s introduction of digital radio has got you anticipating big change, you’re in company with Paul Thompson, founder and CEO of DMG Radio Australia. Feeling that these events have created a “natural watershed to retire” the 65-year old CEO of DMG Radio Australia plans to step down to a non-executive chairman role in October, leaving control of the business to managing director Cathy O’Conner. Mr. Thompson states, “As radio transforms itself into a multi-platform medium, Cathy will be a CEO who ensures DMG’s leadership role in this evolution.” In keeping with the evolution, DMG is currently investing in digital media properties and creating a team responsible for providing content through station websites, including interactive advertisements and online promotions. DMG is also looking forward to the January 1, 2009 introduction of digital radio, which will allow broadcasts in higher-quality supplemented by content such as scrolling images and text.

Mr. Thompson’s legacy includes building two national radio broadcasting networks, first as the founding CEO of the Austereo Group, which he managed for 15 years before it was sold to the Village Roadshow. In 1996, Mr. Thompson was approached by the British Daily Mail & General Trust Group (DMG) and asked to consolidate regional radio stations to form DMG Radio Australia, which was later sold for $193.5 million to the Macquarie Media Group (MMG). In 2002, Mr. Thompson was one of two inaugural inductees into the Commercial Radio Australia Hall of Fame.

DMG Radio Australia has established eight FM and one AM stations in Australia, including the Nova music stations in Syndney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth – top FM stations among the 18 to 39 crowd, Star 104.5 on the Central Coast, the Vega stations in Syndney and Melbourne – aimed at the 40+ baby boomer crowd, and Adelaide’s number one talk station FIVEaa – DMG’s first purchase. In the time since its inception, DMG has invested around $550 million in Metropolitan licenses and currently employs over 500 people. DMG’s impact on Australian radio includes innovative strategies, such as increasing the impact of advertising by never playing more than two ads in a row. In addition, Mr. Thompson has aimed to counter the “standard” feel of radio by directing his programmers to play untested music in a broader variety, placing wildly differing genres back to back and eliminating the kind of radio that DMG stated “unfairly pigeonholed” its listeners.

Countrypolitan, also known as the Nashville sound, is a genre of country music that came about in the late 50’s in America. The style was characterized by crooning vocals, smooth strings, layers of keyboards and guitars, and backing vocal choirs. Whether or not you’ve heard the term “countrypolitan” used before, the style was created to bring country music to the mainstream. When Chet Atkins was asked to define the style, he jingled the change in his pocket and said, “It’s the sound of money.” The genre accomplished it goals by bringing pop elements to country music, replacing honky tonk as a dominant theme and favoring a wider audience. The movement was led by Chet Atkins, who headed the country division of RCA records. Countrypolitan music, officially termed in the late 60’s, frequently crossed over to pop radio but also dominated the country charts through the 70s and 80s.

Early artists such as Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline paved the way for the Nashville sound, but as the style evolved to become even more pop-like to compete with the Bakersfield sound, artists such as Tammy Wynette, Glen Campbell, Charlie Rich and Charley Pride guided its course. A split in country music formed: country listeners supported the Bakersfield and outlaw country artists, while Countrypolitan artists introduced their version of country music to the pop crowd.

Recognizable country tracks such as “I Fall To Pieces” by Patsy Cline (1961), “The End of the World” by Skeeter Davis (1963) and “Make the World Go Away” by Eddy Arnold (1965) dominated during the days of the Nashville sound. Later music, officially termed Countrypolitan, included “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley (1969), “(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden” by Lynn Andrerson (1971), and “Rhinestone Cowboy” by Glen Campbell (1975) as well as tracks by Charley Pride, Charley Rich, Conway Twitty and Ronnie Milsap. A group of backing musicians known as the “Nashville A-Team” personified the versatility of the Countrypolitan style, incorporating pop and jazz into their recordings. With an assortment of talented members such as Hank Garland, Floyd Cramer, Bob Moore, and Boots Randolph, this group performed backing instrumentation for Elvis Presley, Eddy Arnold, Chet Atkins, and many others.

While few artists of today can call themselves classically Countrypolitan, the music itself is finding its way to live on. In 1999, a group of industry leaders met at South by Southwest (a behemoth of a music convention in Austin, Texas), and discussed the promotion of a style of country music called Americana. This genre would give country music a way to showcase traditional music on the airwaves, bypassing the increasing shift by most country stations towards the more contemporary style mainstream listeners demand. What was once the ‘new school’ style of country has been overtaken by its own philosophy. Today’s country music is becoming even more pop-oriented, with artists such as Jewel, Carrie Underwood, and Taylor Swift being featured on both pop and country stations. Today’s split between country pop and Americana has turned the tables on Countrypolitan fans, and those who once demanded modernization are now chanting “out with the new, and in with the old!”

This weekend, Disney’s original movie “Camp Rock” debuted to 8.9 million total viewers, becoming the network’s number 2 most-watched original movie debut, second only to High School Musical 2. The film, which features musical performances from the Jonas Brothers, drew 3.5 million kids age 6-11 and 3.4 tweens age 9-14, which, according to Disney, outnumbered the recent American Idol season premiere and finale on Fox. Starring Joe Jonas as astray rock god Shane Grey and Demi Lovato as the talented yet uncertain Mitchie, “Camp Rock” tells the story of talented teens fighting for stardom at a prestigious summer camp for wannabe rockers. Musical numbers include the cast performance of “We Rock,” as well as the Jonas Brothers’ “Play My Music.” Leads Joe Jonas and Lovato share the film’s musical motif “This Is Me” in a duo remniscent of High School Musical’s “Breaking Free” (performed by Zac Efron with Andrew Seeley and Vanessa Anne Hudgens). In February 2006, “Breaking Free” leapt from it’s #86 Billboard Top 100 debut to #4 and spent 54 weeks on the charts. After the immediate success of “Camp Rock,” we anticipate “This Is Me” becoming the next tweeniepop chart-stomper.

Also in the outlook for upcoming hits is the Jonas Brothers’ new single, “Burnin’ Up” from their soon-to-be-released CD “A Little Bit Longer.” At the end of the film, the ‘Jobros’ premiered the music video for “Burnin’ Up,” which also features David Carradine and Disney star Selena Gomez. The album, to be released on August 12, 2008, will be the third for Nick, Kevin and Joe Jonas. “Burnin’ Up” was officially released to radio stations on June 20.

Pop, rock, country, classical, R&B and more: familiar genres, all with a defined set of characteristics and an undefined number of individual styles. Each of the forty songs on the Top 40 list might have been inspired from one of hundreds of different siblings in the same family, some original to the artist. With a veritable Baskin Robbins of musical genres to choose from, we thought you might like to try a few sample spoons. The first “offbeat genre” we’d like to bring you the history of Swamp Pop.

Swamp pop, created by young Cajuns and Creoles in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, is indigenous to the Acadiana region of southern Louisiana and part of nearby southeast Texas. It’s birth was influenced by New Orleans style R&B, country and western and traditional French Louisiana musical styles. The teens behind the style had grown up listening to and performing Cajun music and Creole (zydeco) as well as enjoying popular country and western hillbilly songs such as those by Hank Williams Sr. However, after discovering rock and roll and R&B artists like Elvis Presley and Fats Domino, the teens began to alter the traditional style. Rather than playing traditional folk instruments and singing in French, they began to sing in English (while later taking on Anglo-American stage names) and learned to play instruments such as the electric guitar and bass, saxophone and drum set. While many others in South Louisiana had emulated the New Orleans sound of Fats Domino and Earl King, the swampers were unique in integrating their own Cajun style into the music.

As the style grew, swamp pop artists gained a following by performing in local clubs and recording on local labels. Some swamp pop tunes also made it to larger national labels, including Nashville’s Excello. The music was then known as the Southern Louisiana Sound; the term swamp pop originated in the early ‘70’s, first used by British songwriters John Broven and Bill Millar after it’s gritty sound and the swamps surrounding Southern Louisiana. To this day, swamp pop has maintained an audience in southern Louisiana and southeast Texas, as well as a cult-like following in the UK, Northern Europe and Japan.

The swamp pop sound features a strong R&B backbeat, honky-tonk piano lines doubled by guitar and bluesy-bass progressions, and long-held whole notes on the horns. Many of the songs, with their emotional “scorned by love” lyrics are slow ballads, such as Cookie and the Cupcakes ‘Mathilda’ (1958), a song that is considered to be the anthem of swamp pop. Other songs are more upbeat, such Bobby Charles’ ‘See You Later Alligator’ (1955), which was covered by Bill Haley& His Comets. Despite the regionalized fan-base, some swamp pop songs did see the light of the U.S. national record charts, including Jimmy Clanton’s ‘Just A Dream’ (1958), Ron Bernard’s ‘This Should Go On Forever’ (1959), Joe Barry’s ‘I’m A Fool To Care’ (1960), and Dale and Grace’s ‘I’m Leaving It Up To You’ (1963). In fact, to date over 20 swap pop songs have appeared in the Billboard Hot 100, several of them reaching number 1, including Johnny Preston’s ‘Running Bear,’ (1959), Phil Phillips ‘Sea of Love, ’(1959).

Meanwhile, swamp pop’s influence can be heard in many other popular songs, including the Rolling Stones’ cover of Barbara Lynn’s ‘You’ll Lose A Good Thing,’ Elvis Presley’s remake of Johnny Ace’s ‘Pledging My Love’ the Beatles ‘Oh! Darling’ as well as the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Moreover, swamp pop influenced the musical styles of swamp blues and Tex-Mex, particularly the music of Freddy Fender, who is considered by those in southern Louisiana and Texas to be in the swamp pop fraternity.

Though swamp pop has declined since the British Invasion, the style has persisted in the hands of musicians such as Don Rich, Kenny Fife, Grace Broussard (formerly of Dale and Grace), and the “Ambassador to Swamp Pop,” Johnnie Allan. Recordings are available on both vintage albums and new compact discs, many of which can be found here, and the swamp pop festival is still a big to-do in parts of Southern Louisiana, particularly when put on in conjunction with a car show and the annual Swap Pop Beauty Queen pageant!

Cookie and The Cupcakes – ‘Matilda/Mathilda’

Bobby Charles – ‘See You Later Alligator’

If Amy Winehouse doesn’t get out of rehab soon, she may find that her niche has been dominated by the up-and-coming artist known as Duffy. The Welsh born Aimee Ann Duffy has already taken the UK by storm, and like Winehouse, Leona Lewis, Joss Stone, and Natasha Beddingfield has become part of British Invasion 2.0, an influx of female artists with unique styles who are beginning to dominate American charts. Her debut album, Rockberry (Polydor), debuted in March of ’08 in the UK after her single, ‘Mercy’, shot straight to the leading position in downloaded music sales. By April, ‘Rockferry’ was at the top of the Pan-European Album chart and in May, the single ‘Mercy’ became a staple song on VH1 and a hit on Adult Contemporary radio. It was also featured in television show and movie soundtracks, including ER, Smallville, the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy and Sex and the City: The Movie. On May 10, Duffy released a remix of ‘Mercy’ featuring rap artist The Game. Just three days later, ‘Rockferry’ was released in the US and debuted at number 4. By the end of the week, ‘Mercy’ was at the number 27 position on the Billboard Top 100 and Duffy was on a billboard in Times Square.

Though her success in the US was an inevitable follow to her domination of the UK, Duffy’s past has been anything but predicable. She was raised in Nefyn, on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales, but moved to Pembrokeshire with her mother and sisters after her parents divorced. Duffy, however, felt closest to her father John; her interest in singing was inspired by his videotape of the 1960’s television rock show “Ready Steady Go!” Duffy began singing at the age of six and carried a notebook with her constantly, in which she scribbled lyrics. Due to the enormity of her voice, she was unable to blend in with her primary school choir and was asked to leave.

In 1998, Duffy was put in a safe house after police uncovered a plot by her stepfather’s ex-wife to hire a hitman to kill her stepfather. After having seen the way alcohol and drugs had influenced her stepfather’s ex-wife, Duffy made a decision to abstain from them. Throughout her teen years, Duffy sang in various local bands and competitions, coming in second on Wawffactor, a Welsh television show similar to American or Pop Idol. Duffy had expected that as a pop star, others would use her talent “as a vehicle for their vision” and not hers, but after she began to lose her passion for singing, she decided at the age 18 to make music for her own personal fulfillment. After graduating from high school and starting college at the University of Chester in England, she took a professor’s advice to “go on the dole, love, and become a singer.” She dropped out of school and took on odd jobs while recording a three song EP in 2004, and playing at various clubs. After being introduced to Rough Trade Records co-owner Jeanette Lee, Duffy moved to London and worked with Suede’s ex-guitarist Bernard Butler, who downloaded tracks by artists like Al Green, Beyonce, Phil Spector and Burt Bacharach onto her iPod to give her an “education in soul.” Together, they co-wrote music and helped create Duffy’s unique retro sound. In 2007, she was contracted to A&M Records.

Duffy soon gained immense popularity in Britain and Wales, performing on BBC2 television and coming in second in the annual BBC News poll known as Sound of 2008, a preview of up-and-coming hit-makers. She embarked on her first major tour, performing in the revered King Tuts venue in Glasgow. Wherever she has gone, she has met rave reviews, including remarks on her “unaffected personality and natural charm.”

With Bernard Butler and his musical partner David McAlmont forming the backbone of her band, Duffy released ‘Rockferry’ in March 3, 2008 on Polydor records. The record earned 2008 MOJO Awards nominations in the categories of Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Breakthrough Act. Her newest single, ‘Warwick Avenue’, hit the charts on June 2, 2008 and debuted at number 3.

At the age of 24, Duffy has already become an international sensation, combining throwbacks to 1960’s soul and jazz with a contemporary edge to appeal to the masses. Her music will resonate with young and old alike, as her voice has been compareded to both Dusty Springfield and Amy Winehouse. Indeed, Duffy’s voice may have been too big for the primary school choir, but the world wants more.

Official Music Video – ‘Mercy’ by Duffy

Bo Diddley, distinctive rock ‘n roller and creator of the well-known “shave and a haircut, two bits” rhythm died Monday at the age of 79. He had struggled with poor health for months, having suffered both a stroke and a heart attack within the last year. Diddley will be remembered for his square guitar, dark glasses, black hat with eagle badge and, of course, his great contribution in the early days of rock ‘n roll. As Rolling Stone magazine writes: “History belongs to the victors and in the annals of rock & roll, three men have emerged as winners: Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley, a holy trinity who were there at the start.” In fact, Diddley claims that Alan Freed was talking about him when he introduced the term “rock and roll” into the culture, saying, “Here is a man with an original sound, who is going to rock and roll you right out of your seat.” Prior to this, disc jockey’s referred to Diddley’s style as “Jungle Music.”

Diddley was born as Ellas Bates on December 30, 1928 in McComb, Mississippi, but after being adopted by his mother’s cousin he took on the name Ellis McDaniel. He told reporters that the moniker “Bo Diddley” was bestowed upon him by fellow children who grew up with him in Chicago, but others cite the name as having origins in the traditional blues instrument called a diddley bow. At the age of five, Diddley began to play the violin at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, an instrument he studied for twelve years and wrote two concertos on. For Christmas in 1940, his sister Lucille bought him his first guitar, a Harmony Acoustic. At the age of 10, he was entertaining passersby on street corners and by his teens, he was playing Chicago’s Maxwell Street and developing his unique style Diddley had always been fascinated with the rhythms he heard in church music, but as he became frustrated with attempting to match them on the drums, he translated them for the guitar.

He formed his first band just before leaving school, a trio a named The Hipsters, later known as The Langley Avenue Jive Cats, after the Chicago street where he lived. After playing various Chicago clubs and streetcorners and joining with Jerome Green and Billy Boy Arnold, Diddley was able to cut two demos, “I’m A Man” and “Uncle John.” At first, he was turned down by the labels, notably Vee-Jay. It was Leonard and Phil Chess of Chess Records who gave him his break, offering a recording session and suggesting that he change “Uncle John” to make it more personal. His first single, the much more personalized “Bo Diddley,” was released in 1955; the B side “I’m A Man” was a humorous take on stereotypical male machismo.

Diddley’s influence was vast. Buddy Holly borrowed the “bomp ba-bomp bomp bomp…” rhythm in his song, “Not Fade Away,” which in 1964 became the first charting single in the US for the Rolling Stones. In the following year, the British band ‘The Yardbirds’ had a Top 20 hit in the U.S. with Diddley’s “I’m A Man.” Other artists, such as the Who, Bruce Springsteen and Elvis Costello took lessons from Diddley’s style. Diddley, however, was displeased that others had copied his style, saying, “I don’t have any idols I copied after, [but] they copied everything I did, upgraded it, messed it up.”

Diddley’s innovation’s went beyond music composition, as he helped pioneer the electric guitar and rigged it for effects such as reverb and tremelo. E. Michael Harrington, professor of music theory and composition at Belmont University, said: “He treats it like a drum, very rhythmic.” Furthermore, he pre-dates most artists on his use of psychedelic guitar sounds, wild stage shows complete with strut and bizarre guitar tricks, female musicians such as Lady Bo, and even rapping.

Despite being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, earning a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame and receiving a lifetime achievement award at the 1999 Grammy’s, Diddley said, “it didn’t put no figures in my checkbook.” He was paid a flat rate rather than a royalty, and reported receiving very little of the money he made during his career, and as a result continued to tour and record music up until his recent stroke. Even in his later years, he continued to innovate, saying, “I ain’t quit yet.”

The advent of online communities has given people all over the world a new way to communicate. Combine this with reality television, and suddenly there’s a whole new media market. No longer are publishing companies and record moguls deciding what forms of entertainment people will enjoy, and this is opening up the art world to vast new forms of expression.

The publishing industry has recently been challenged by the website WeBook (www.webook.com) which operates American Idol style. Weekend writers and serious novelists alike post their work for review online, hoping to gain enough readers, editors and fans to be invited into a “voting cycle” where they will step up onto the big stage. There, the selected list of highly rated books will be read and voted on by the cyber world and the book with the most votes will be published and marketed by WeBook.

For many years in the music industry, bands have been able to share their music. Facebook and Garageband.com for instance co-created “iLike” where bands who share their music on Garageband can also share it on Facebook. Other sites, like Purevolume and Fuzz offer free band pages, music hosting, and mp3 downloads. However, the same brilliant framework that has made Idol and WeBook a success, has been embraced by the German-born website “SellaBand” (www.sellaband.com). Here’s how it works: Artists can join for free and and after creating a profile, can post up to 3 demo songs for the listeners to browse. When a listener finds a band he likes, he can pay $10 to purchase one or more shares (know as Parts) and thus become a “Believer.” When 5,000 Parts have been contributed to the band by the Believers, Sellaband hooks the band up with an experienced A&R person and a top producer to record a studio album and release it to the world, whether through iTunes, Amazon, or a stack on a table at the band’s next gig. Even if the band only has a few thousand die hard fans, together they can raise the remaining cash needed to reach the $50,000 dollar mark. Once the record is produced, all of the Believers receive a limited edition CD and the right to sell additional copies of the artist’s CD and related merchandise on Sellaband, all in spirit of promoting the music. The investment depends on the band’s success, but the payoff is incredible. Both the artist and the believers receive royalty on album sales and website advertisement, putting the artist and fans in business together to get the word about about the music.

At first, this all seems like a brilliant avenue for web inventors to make money, but Sellaband is not operated by your everyday dot.com debutante. Pim Betist, creator of Sellaband, has brough together Johan Vosmeijer and Dagmar Heijmans, two leading industry figures. Vosmeijer, an experienced music professional in Europe, has run the Epic label and Columbia for Sony Music in the Benelux, and recently launched Red Ink, a boutique label for SONY BMG. Heijmans has worked at EMI, Sony Music and Sony BMG as an industry expert. These individuals have the know-how to get bands in front of producers and managers that will launch them straight out of obscurity.

Radio does a service to bring us the artists we know and love. But with expanding platforms made possible by satellite and HD, there’s a channel out there for every kind of music. As sites like Sellaband work towards removing the barriers between garage band and Top 40, one can only imagine the multitude of new styles and brands of music that can be heard on the ‘airwaves’. Some people like “pop” and “jazz.” Others like “deep cut classic rock,” “vintage punk,” “J-pop,” and “merseybeat.” What if we all had a little piece of the airwaves?

YouTube recently featured the music video to the song”Wood,” a testament to the Sellaband process. The artist, “Second Person,” recently released their album, “The Elements,” after raising the necessary fanbase and funds through the site.

MusicMaster is dedicated to more than just the business side of radio! We are also musicians, ‘radio people’ and avid music listeners in all genres. As music has recently become accessible directly from bands via the internet (on Purevolume.com, Garageband.com and Myspace to name a few) it’s getting harder for radio stations to keep up with what’s on their listener’s iPods. Part of what we’d like to share with you each week is our take on some of greatest ‘unknown’ artists that your listeners love, but who are not yet gracing the airwaves. For our entry, we’ll start with the music of Andrew McMahon (bands Something Corporate & Jack’s Mannequin).

Andrew McMahon began his life in music as the lead vocalist and pianist for the Orange County, California based piano-rock band Something Corporate. Andrew, however, had been playing piano since 1990, when he was just eight years old. The band’s name was a testament to their disdain for packaged industry driven artists, yet Something Corporate enjoyed enormous success among the pop-punk crowds. Their 2002 debut album on Drive-Thru Records (Leaving Through the Window) hit number 1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart and number 1 on the Billboard Alternative New Artists chart. Just one year later, their second full-length record, North, debuted at #24 on the Billboard 200.

In 2004, however, the band split up and its members went on to solo projects. McMahon’s project became Jack’s Mannequin, for which he wrote songs therapeutically. His songs, he stated, dealt with “coming home, and having home be way different than I had remembered it.” As the music took shape, McMahon paid out-of-pocket for production and eventually was offered a record deal with Maverick Records.

Shortly after, however, McMahon’s life took a tragic turn as he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 22. Many of his lyrics seemed, at that time, to have been almost prophetic. “Ben Franklin’s Kite,” written in 2000, begins, “Give me an answer, while this cancer eats me away.” The UK release of the Something Corporate album North featured a track called “Watch The Sky,” in which McMahon sang, “I will crawl. There’s things that are worth giving up I know, but I won’t let this get me, I will fight.” Incidentally, music website AbsolutePunk.net had orange wristbands made up reading “I will fight” which were sold to fans, raising over $20,000 to be donated to the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation.

On August 23, 2005, McMahon’s album “Everything In Transit” was released, debuting at #37 on the Billboard 200, with over 22,000 copies scanned within the first week. The occasion was memorable for McMahon in another way, however, as it was also the day that he received a stem cell transplant from his sister, Katie. As the treatment took hold, McMahon recovered and eventually reached remission, going on to play his first concert some 100 days after the transplant. He continued his involvement with cancer research, playing special concerts and tours to raise money and awareness. In July 2006, McMahon founded a non-profit charity, The Dear Jack Foundation, to raise funds for cancer research. McMahon’s struggle was recorded from the day of his diagnosis to his recovery for a documentary titled “Dear Jack” to be released in early 2008. The film was directed by Corey Moss and Josh Morrisroe, two former MTV News producers, but features personal footage shot by McMahon himself during his hospital stays. It is narrated by McMahon’s close friend and collaborator Tommy Lee.

Jack’s Mannequin began recording their second album, tentatively titled “The Glass Passenger” in summer 2007, under the label of Sire Records. In keeping with his tradition of making his music available for free via the internet, McMahon kept fans up to date in his blog with links to live performances of his new songs, including Caves and Suicide Blonde. As more and more information about the album was released, fan’s eagerly awaited the release. In fact, McMahon was recently featured on the cover of Alternative Press’s ‘Most Anticipated Albums’ issue. Though the album was originally set to debut in April of 2008, McMahon has pushed the date to the end of August, as he is still finalizing the tracks. As with ‘Everything In Transit,’ many of the songs will be autobiographical. In an interview with AbsolutePunk.net, McMahon stated that he had been afraid of writing ‘the cancer record,’ though he did admit that he used the music as a means to get through his struggle. One of the prominent pieces of the new album is a song called ‘Caves,’ a seven minute three-movement symphonic song that McMahon describes was first heard in his head when he woke up in the middle of the night. He says, “I went to my piano and started writing it. It was kind of the first time that the words, as they related to what I had gone through, started emerging.” In the first verse, McMahon sings:

‘I’m caught,
somewhere in between,
alive,
and living a dream.
No peace,
just clicking machines,
In the quiet of calm, pazine.
The walls caved in on me.’

*Pazine is a drug used to treat nausea in chemotherapy patients

Caves-Live Performance

Throughout his career, McMahon has been steadfast in making music in his own terms. His fan base is monstrous, but largely unknown by those in the industry responsible for manufacturing the next big hit. One needs only to visit McMahon’s various web pages, including Facebook and MySpace, to see the massive support behind the piano-based Ben Folds-like sound of Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate. McMahon has played in Bamboozle, the Warped Tour and SXSW and will be heading out on tour with Paramore at the end of this summer (no dates official as of yet).

Anyone who is fortunate enough to see McMahon perform live will see that what sets him apart from many other alternative artists is the ostensible passion he pours in his music. McMahon plays keyboard while switching between two vocal mics, but often will end up pacing, standing on equipment, or lying flat on the stage. Even when playing to thousands of screaming fans, McMahon seems lost in the music, playing each phrase as if he were just discovering it. The ‘Glass Passenger’ is, indeed, one of the most anticipated albums of 2008, particularly on high school and college campuses. Fans, who have been with McMahon since his first Something Corporate demos to the awaited second Jack’s Mannequin release have proven to be nothing less than die hard. On July 9, 2006, Jack’s Mannequin fans at the ‘Summerfest’ music festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin waited for a performance outdoors through one of the most torrential storms of the year. As the afternoon and early evening acts on the U.S. Cellular stage had been cancelled, these fans stuck it out with the mere hope that the rain and hail would stop by the time McMahon was scheduled to play. In the end, after having crowded for hours under picnic tables and tarps torn down from the walls of nearby booths, the fans were rewarded as McMahon took the stage for a memorable night – both for them, and for him. As he announced, just moments before heading onstage, he had just taken the very last dose of his cancer treatment medication.

For more information, visit Jack’s Mannequin.com or the MySpace page

The Mixed Tape video – From ‘Everything In Transit’

Dark Blue video – From ‘Everything In Transit’

By now you must have heard the news: it’s known as the “Localism Report” and it’s an attempt by the FCC to bring back old regulations, which broadcasters believe will heavily tax their time and resources. One of the major changes is the reinstitution of the ascertainment policy, requiring stations to maintain demographic profiles of communities and consult neighborhood watch groups for input on playlist choices, ads, hosts and general content. In addition, the FCC is considering re-crafting procedural guidelines for processing license renewal applications similar to those in the 70’s, and reenacting the main studio rule to eliminate remote studios and stop voicetracking. The push to re-instate these policies fails to recognize the fact that the media marketplace has changed over the past few decades, and that these regulations would burden local broadcast radio with rules and associated costs that would not affect their competitors in cable, satellite and internet broadcasting. Furthermore, the regulations are wholly unnecessary. Local broadcasters have a natural interest in the important issues within their communities due to the obvious marketplace incentives, not formal ascertainment requirements.

Yesterday, House Energy and Commerce Ranking Member Joe Barton and committee member Cliff Stearns sent a letter to the FCC Chairman Kevin Martin. The letter cited the 1984 Television Deregulation Order, wherein the FCC itself noted that formal ascertainment requirements were “neither necessary nor, in view of significant costs, appropriate.” Regarding the change to the “main studio rule” they cited the 1987 Radio and Television Main Studio Rule Order, in which the FCC first relaxed the ‘main studio rule,’ noting that advances in telecommunications and transportation deemed that it was no longer necessary for a studio to be located within the community in order to still be accessible to it’s listeners. This change, which was further reinforced in 1998, allowed broadcasters with multiple licenses in an area to co-locate main studios and combine resources. Changes to the ‘main studio rule’ at this point in time would be costly to those stations that have since relied on it, and would provide them no corresponding benefit. As for the push to reinstate the rule against ‘voicetracking,’ the protestors cite the 1995 FCC report that deemed the regulation superfluous on the basis of new technology. The FCC’s intent may be to increase the ‘personal’ nature of each station, but this is a decision that is best left in the hands of the licensees. Those who would choose to staff the studio 24-7 would do so only if the market incentives outweighed the associated costs.

The proposed rule changes not only ignore precedents set by the FCC itself and violate the First Amendment, but are ostensibly backwards. If the rules were originally eliminated due to modernization and expansion of the industry, then why reinstate them when radio has only moved forward since then? Apart from Barton and Stearns’ letter, 28 senators and 123 members of the House to date have sent similar letters to the FCC. The members of the House agreed that while the FCC was correct to aim for more and better local programming, they felt that federal mandates should not be the means of achieving that goal. Forcing broadcasters to air specific programming creates “clear constitutional concerns.” Furthermore, requiring licensees to form advisory boards to interact with their communities would weigh down the marketplace with more layers of bureaucracy and cost the broadcast industry millions of dollars, which would actually hurt their ability to serve local interests. What do you think?