Run For Cover: A Compilation of a Few Great Cover Songs

It’s always interesting to hear a fresh perspective on a popular song and sometimes it may even appeal to you more than the original version.

Simply put, when famous musicians cover other people’s songs, it’s cool.

With this in mind, I thought I’d put together some of my favorite cover songs in no particular order:

• “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” – written by Sir Elton John and covered by Sara Bareilles
• “Royals” – recorded by Lorde and covered by Bruce Springsteen
• “Dancing In The Dark” – written by Bruce Springsteen and covered by Taylor Swift
• “Hold On, We’re Going Home” – recorded by Drake and covered by Arctic Monkeys
• “Wagon Wheel” – written by Bob Dylan and covered by Darius Rucker
• “A Natural Woman” – written by Carole King and covered by Aretha Franklin (Fun fact: Carole King wrote countless songs for other artists that became massive hits and people often don’t realize that she wrote them)
• “Can’t Help Falling In Love” – made famous by Elvis Presley and covered by Ingrid Michaelson
• “Be My Baby” – performed by the Ronettes and covered by Christina Perri
• “Mr. Tambourine Man” – written by Bob Dylan and covered by Andrew McMahon (of Jack’s Mannequin)
• “All Night Long” – made famous by Lionel Richie and covered by Jason Mraz

 

Record Stores Celebrate 7th Annual Record Store Day

Music is timeless and national Record Store Day is proof of that!

According to the Record Store Day website, the idea for Record Store Day came about in 2007 when independent record store owners came together and decided that this would be an excellent way to celebrate the unique culture surrounding record stores.

On the third Saturday every April, staff, customers and artists come together to appreciate records and record stores.

The Record Store Day website says that special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists in the United States and in various countries across the globe make special appearances and performances.

Mashable reported that even though music-streaming services like Spotify and Pandora are becoming more and more popular, vinyl sales increased 32% last year, up from 4.5 million (2012) to 6 million (2013), according to Nielson SoundScan.

According to the NY Times, Record Store Day featured some 450 items, mostly vinyl records, that were created to be sold only on Saturday, April 19th. These rare items include releases from Nirvana, Regina Spektor, Haim, Bruce Springsteen and one noteworthy piece from Jack White that was a disc recorded, manufactured and sold, all in one day.

Metallica officially kicked off Record Store Day at Rasputin Music in San Francisco on April 19, 2008.

There are Record Store Day participating stores on every continent except Antarctica.

Be on the look out next year to see what some of your favorite artists will come out with!

Photo: Diana Colapietro

TriBeCa Film Festival

The Tribeca Film Festival will be going on between Wednesday, April 16 and Sunday, April 27.

According to the Tribeca Film Festival website, films will be screened at Tribeca Cinemas on Varick Street, Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas and AMC Loews Village.

To buy single tickets online, you should create a wish list of the films you’d like to see and purchase tickets from the schedule on the website.

Matinee and Late Night tickets cost $9. This includes screenings beginning prior to 6 p.m. Monday-Friday or beginning at 11:00 p.m. or later everyday.

Evening and Weekend tickets are $17. This includes screenings beginning at or after 6:00 p.m. Monday-Friday and all screenings on Saturday and Sunday (except those that begin at 11:00 p.m. or after).

Side note: There is a service charge of $3.50 per ticket for tickets purchased online or by phone. I’ll never understand why service charges like this exist.

There are also a variety of passes and packages available ranging from $30-$1,200 if you’re really into this kind of stuff.

One of the featured movies, Begin Again stars Keira Knightley and Adam Levine and looks really good. Unfortunately, tickets are currently unavailable on the Tribeca Film Festival website. But, I am hoping that the movie will be successful enough so that it will eventually make it to regular movie theaters.

 

Single tickets go on sale April 14 for the general public.

 

Sara Bareilles Joins VH1 Save the Music to Launch Keys + Kids

“A piano symbolizes the centerpiece of all of that for me, and I’m so happy to join with VH1 Save the Music to launch the Keys + Kids Program to bring 10 piano packages into deserving classrooms. I believe arts education to be vital to the health and balance of our students and it is my privilege and my honor to lend my voice in support of this mission.”-

Sara Bareilles

 

As a huge fan of Sara Bareilles, I was delighted to hear about how she is joining forces with VH1 Save The Music to create the Keys + Kids Program.

Between March 10th and April 30th, public schools (K-12) can submit an application to receive one of ten piano packages.

Each package includes a Yamaha NU1 Upright Hybrid piano, a Yamaha StagePass 600i Portable PA system, and a Shure MicrophoneSM58® Legendary Vocal Microphone valued at $10,000.

Side note: As a true obsessive fan, I can confirm that Sara Bareilles uses both a Yamaha piano and Shure microphones on stage.

Web Pro News revealed that in order to apply for this grant, schools must have a full-time certified music teacher on staff and teach music classes during the school day.

The applications will be judged by members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, Sara Bareilles, VH1 senior staff and patrons of the Keys + Kids Leadership Circle.

When reviewing the applications, the judges will take into consideration school curriculum, quality of music instructor/s, and potential student impact.

Grant winners will be announced on the VH1 Save The Music Foundation’s website on May 30, 2014.
Hearing about this makes me so proud to be a fan of Sara Bareilles not only as a musician, but also more importantly as a philanthropist.

Here is an awesome video of her playing her new single “I Choose You” acoustically. It’s worth it.

Sara Bareilles performing for a captivated audience at Radio City Music Hall on October 9, 2013.
Photo: Diana Colapietro

 

 

 

 

 

TED Talk: Evelyn Glennie on the importance of listening

 

I recently had to watch this TED talk for my music class and I was really inspired by it. It’s about 30 minutes, but I promise it’s very interesting.

According to her website, Evelyn Glennie is the first person in musical history to successfully create and sustain a full-time career as a solo percussionist.

As a drummer myself, I was very fascinated by her talk and her entire career. Her emphasis on the importance of listening inspired me to be a better listener, not only with music but also with the people around me.

She is a truly unique musician who challenges and inspires her audience.

Glennie has won 3 Grammy awards for her solo percussion recordings (among countless other awards).

She is very fascinated by instruments and her own personal collection is now estimated at over 1800 instruments.

One of the most interesting facts about her, however, is that she is deaf.

Glennie’s sentiments on how her deafness influences people’s impression of her taken from her Hearing Essay (1993):

“I hope that the audience will be stimulated by what I have to say (through the language of music) and will therefore leave the concert hall feeling entertained. If the audience is instead only wondering how a deaf musician can play percussion then I have failed as a musician. For this reason my deafness is not mentioned in any of the information supplied by my office to the press or concert promoters.”

Fun fact: Her favorite movie is Dirty Dancing! (one of my personal favorites, too!)

 

 

 

What’s Going On In The Music World Right Now?

Based on the information I gathered from RollingStone, here’s what is going on in the music industry this week:

• The Strokes are scheduled to return to stage at the Governor’s Ball in New York in June. The band hasn’t performed live together since their Angels tour ended in November 2011. They released their 5th album (Comedown Machine) in March 2013 but they did not promote it with interviews or appearances.
• The Black Keys announced that their 8th studio album, Turn Blue, will be released on May 13th.
• A collection of John Lennon’s writings and drawings are coming up for auction this summer in New York City. These writings and drawings highlight Lennon’s comic literary talents.
• Someone who attended the Arcade Fire concert in Bridgeport, Connecticut last week stole one of the band’s bobblehead masks, a significant stage prop on the Reflektor tour. The band released a statement of theft regarding the stolen model of Richard Parry’s head and indicated that they have evidence against the culprit. Instead of going to the law, they would rather just have the bobblehead back in tact.
• The Sasquatch! Music Festival is canceling the second weekend of the festival. The festival takes place during Memorial Day weekend every year. Last June, they announced that they would expand into Fourth of July weekend this year, but the second weekend failed to generate enough support from fans. Ticketmaster will issue refunds for the canceled weekend and the Memorial Day lineup from May 23rd through May 25th will remain the same.
• Coldplay performed some of their hit songs as well as their new album Ghost Stories (that is set to be released on May 16th) on a movie soundstage at Sony Studios in Culver City, California on Friday, March 21st. The performance was recorded for a future DVD connected to the new album release.
  

  Coldplay. Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images (rollingstone.com)

  

  Sasquatch! Music Festival. Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images (rollingstone.com)

  

  John Lennon. Photo: Harry Benson/Hulton Archive (rollingstone.com)

  

  The Black Keys. Photo: Scott Legato/Getty Images (rollingstone.com)

Be Happy and Embrace Spring!

It’s no coincidence that International Happiness Day falls on the same day as the first day of spring. With warmer weather comes an increase in positive attitudes. By simply walking around campus today, I noticed that more people hold the door open for each other and more students are smiling.

Here’s some info about one of my new favorite days of the year:

• According to the website dedicated to the International Day of Happiness, the United Nations General Assembly developed the idea for this delightful day in July of 2011 when they recognized that happiness is a universal human goal.
• The following year in April 2012, the first UN conference on Happiness was held in New York and it was decided that the International Day of Happiness was going to be observed every year on March 20th.
• Last year, 2013, was the first year it was officially observed.

The UN celebrated the first year with a theme that honored “Happy Heroes” — people who create happiness for others.

The day was widely acknowledged on social media to help raise awareness throughout the world.

As expected, this day was well-received and covered by countless noteworthy publications, like the NY Times, USA Today, and the Huffington Post. Click these links to find out what these organizations had to say about the International Day of Happiness last year.

In conclusion, BE HAPPY today (if no other day this week :))

Long Beach Island, N.J.
Photo: Diana Colapietro

Side note: This is a photo I took of a bagel store on the Jersey Shore after Superstorm Sandy and it always reminds me to be positive.

Tips For Surviving The Rest Of The Semester

There are 30 class days left in my current spring semester. These days could either go by really quick or painfully slow depending on the attitude I approach each day with.

Here’s a few tips to get through the rest of your semester:

1. Stay organized. It’s very easy to get careless when you are more than halfway through a semester because you become more comfortable with your classes and professors. My advice to you would be to revisit that student planner you bought at the beginning of the school year and begin to write down all of your assignments.
2. Take some mental health time. Don’t skip class to do this because that will cause more stress. But, between classes or after class, take some time for yourself to do something fun or to do nothing at all. I personally enjoy taking a trip to the city by myself, getting something to eat and sitting in a park. It always clears my head and when I return to my schoolwork, I am refreshed and good to go.
3. Make To-Do lists. I usually make a to-do list every morning when I wake up and go over everything that I need to do that day. You can also make to-do lists for upcoming weeks or months, whatever works for you. But, this helps me to manage my time and to ensure that all of my work is completed.
4. Make future plans to look forward to. This always motivates me to do what I have to do so that I can enjoy whatever I am looking forward to. Since I’m a big fan of music and going to concerts, that is usually how I reward myself. Recently, I’ve bought tickets to a few concerts over the summer. I keep these shows in the back of my mind when I have a 10 page paper to write and I don’t have enough energy to open up Word on my computer.  I also recommend compiling a list of books that you’re looking forward to reading when you have some free time.

Here are some photos that I took while enjoying my mental health days:

Christoper Street, NYC
Photo: Diana Colapietro

Brooklyn, NY
Photo: Diana Colapietro

Christopher Street, NYC
Photo: Diana Colapietro

Central Park, NYC
Photo: Diana Colapietro

Sara Bareilles @ Irving Plaza, NYC
Photo: Diana Colapietro

Patiently Waiting For Outdoor Spring Activities

Soon (hopefully) we will all be able to hang up our winter jackets for good and spend some free time outdoors. This is a welcome change after this rather brutal winter and I personally cannot wait for warmer weather.

With that in mind, I’ve been brainstorming ideas of things to do outside as soon as we are able to venture outdoors without having to walk with our heads down to avoid the blusterous winds.

Last summer, my friend and I took part in a walking tour throughout Greenwich Village. Aside from the fact that is was roughly 95 degrees that day, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The Village is my favorite part of the city so I jumped at the opportunity to learn more about its history. I’m also a huge fan of the show F.R.I.E.N.D.S. so you can understand my excitement when we came across the outside of the building that is frequently featured on the show (on the corner of Grove St and Bedford St).

Photo: panoramio.com

 

I definitely recommend taking a tour of your favorite area of New York or consider this a great opportunity to learn more about a neighborhood you haven’t seen yet! I think it’s something different to do in Manhattan that allows you to enrich your knowledge of such an influential city while spending time outside.

With a little research you can find free tours, themed tours and plenty other options.

If you are repulsed by the idea of following a tour guide around for a few hours and listening to his/her’s speech complete with historical information, consider walking around the city on your own and explore new things/places for yourself at your own pace.