MIKE NESMITH OF THE MONKEES TRIBUTE COMPILATION RELEASED
ON CHRISTMAS DAY
This Holiday Season, Lee Diamond (of the New York based rock band Shock Radar) has teamed up with other like minded "Nez-ficionados" to offer a gift to the world; a FREE musical tribute compilation to the songs of his (and maybe your) favorite Monkee, Michael Nesmith!
The compilation can be previewed here: http://thenez.bandcamp.com It's also up on several Monkees fan sites as well as at http://www.facebook.com/nesmithfanpage and will be available for FREE download on Christmas (Dec. 25) 2012!
Lee recently spoke to Rick Eberle from PopCore Entertainment about how (and why) he spawned the idea for the album, which includes tracks from his band Shock Radar (Roll with the Flow) and from Lee himself as a solo performer (Some of Shelly's Blues - LIVE), as well as Herb Stalk (Papa Gene's Blues), Calotype (Don't Call On Me), Casella (Sunny Girlfriend), Jo Elless (Grand Ennui), The Grip (Circle Sky - LIVE), Blake Ian (Different Drum), Jake Incao (Sweet Young Thing), Ringo Dolenz (The Crippled Lion), So L'il (Daily Nightly), Paul Bradford (Juliana), Amy Gaetano (Nine Times Blue), and of course the obligatory all star Nesmith Tribute Band (Listen To The Band).
RE - Why Mike Nesmith?
LD: Mike Nesmith is an incredibly prolific and accomplished singer, songwriter, inventor, entrepreneur best known for inventing MTV, his inheritance of millions from his mother's invention of liquid paper, a movie producer of cult classics such as Repo Man, and of course, The Monkees.
RE - Why the motivation for a tribute album?
LD: I feel he is THE most underrated songwriter. He is a lyrical, storytelling wordsmith cloaked under the veil of a bubblegum TV pop star (The Monkees). But his accomplishments are greater than that. He has a whole catalogue of solo albums as profound and poetic as anything Bob Dylan or Neil Young has done. This is a tribute focused on songs that he wrote, not just Monkees songs he sang. We got more submissions from his solo work than Monkees, which he'd probably find flattering. I also wanted to hear different artists' interpretations of his songs, like Calotype made an electro version of "Don't Call On Me" and So L’il performed a completely ambient take on “Daily Nightly”. No one's done that before.
RE - Why/How were the rest of the artists on the compilation chosen to participate?
LD: I posted all over the internet for submissions from up and coming musicians/bands to be a part of it, if they loved his music, specifically the songs he wrote. I tried to choose a broad variety of genres. I didn't want the songs to sound like his versions, but their own renditions. Blake Ian played a ukelele version of Nesmith's greatest hit- "Different Drum". Jo Elless made a magnificent cover of "Grand Ennui" with a horn section. This is a compilation Michael Nesmith would find interesting.
RE: - Where can they purchase copies - is it just streaming?
LD: It’ll be available for download free on Christmas.
RE - Did you produce this record? What have you done in the past in terms of production?
LD: I put the whole compilation together. I chose the artists. We got an overload of submissions, so there will be a second volume covering different songs under various genres. I'm a musician, have my own band that I produce everything in called- Shock Radar. I also play drums and guitar in other projects.
RE - What should people know about Nesmith that they probably don’t?
LD: His solo work is deeply profound. He deserves to be appreciated the way Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash, or Bob Dylan do. His body of work is enormous and still undiscovered by many. He's always been the man behind great movements in music history and culture in general to the point of a 'Renaissance Man'. But he's behind the scenes fame-wise.
Born and raised in NY where he worked at several record stores till attending Boston's Berklee College of Music on scholarship, and further studying art and journalism at New School University, Lee J Diamond has climbed his way to the top of the city's music scene, simply doing what he does best, mixing and playing all styles from around the world. The eccentric artistic styling of his latest band Shock Radar’s ‘Post-Pop’ songs is fresh and unique.
For more information on Shock Radar, please visit http://www.facebook.com/shockradarfanclub
Scholarship Program For Promising Entertainment Law Students Awards Cash Scholarships
Winners Present Papers At Annual ELI Luncheon During GRAMMY Week
WHAT:
The GRAMMY Foundation® has launched its 15th Annual Entertainment Law Initiative® Writing Competition, co-sponsored by the American Bar Association. The ELI Essay Competition invites law students to write a 3,000-word paper on a compelling legal topic facing the music industry today. To encourage applications, the GRAMMY Foundation hosts ELI Essay Competition workshops at prominent law schools around the country with the goal of helping students with their essays. Once again, ELI is partnering with Box.com to allow students to upload their submissions directly via the Internet. Box.com's mission is to provide the best tools to enable people around the world to share and exchange information and content. A substantial cash scholarship of $5,000 will be awarded to the author of the winning paper and $1,500 will be awarded to each of four runners-up. Additionally, each winner will receive airfare, hotel accommodations and a ticket to the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards®, which will be held at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, and broadcast live at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network. In addition, the winners receive invitations to other GRAMMY® Week activities, including the prestigious annual ELI Luncheon on Feb. 8. The winning student authors will present their essays at the luncheon. Past luncheon keynote speakers include Edgar Bronfman Jr., former chairman and CEO of Warner Music Group; Clive Davis, chief creative officer of BMG North America; Daniel Ek, co-founder and CEO of Spotify; Timothy J. Leiweke, president and CEO of AEG; and will.i.am, GRAMMY®-winning artist/producer and GRAMMY Foundation Board member among others.
RULES:
• Contest is open to law students
• Write a 3,000-word essay on a compelling legal issue facing the music industry
• For complete contest rules, send an email to eli@grammy.com or visit www.grammyfoundation.org
DEADLINES:
• Submissions must be postmarked by Jan. 3, 2013 (2 p.m. EST)
• Winners will be announced on Jan. 31, 2013
The GRAMMY Foundation was established in 1989 to cultivate the understanding, appreciation and advancement of the contribution of recorded music to American culture — from the artistic and technical legends of the past to the still unimagined musical breakthroughs of future generations of music professionals. The Foundation accomplishes this mission through programs and activities that engage the music industry and cultural community as well as the general public. The Foundation works in partnership year-round with its founder, The Recording Academy®, to bring national attention to important issues such as the value and impact of music and arts education and the urgency of preserving our rich cultural heritage. For more information, please visit www.grammyintheschools.com. For breaking news and exclusive content, please like "GRAMMY in the Schools" on Facebook at www.facebook.com/grammyintheschools and follow @GRAMMYFdn on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GRAMMYFdn.
Founded in 2005, Box provides a secure content sharing platform that both users and IT love and adopt. Content on Box can be shared internally and externally, accessed through iPad, iPhone, Android and Windows Phone applications, among others, and extended to partner applications such as Google Apps, NetSuite and Salesforce. Headquartered in Los Altos, CA, Box is a privately held company and is backed by venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Emergence Capital Partners, General Atlantic, Meritech Capital Partners, NEA, Scale Venture Partners, and U.S. Venture Partners, and strategic investors salesforce.com and SAP. To learn more about Box, visit www.box.com.
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