Lita Ford Gets Wicked With Queensryche This Fall

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The Queen of Heavy Metal, Lita, has teamed up with Queensryche for a fall tour that can only be described as a metal fan's ultimate musical fantasy. Instead of just hitting the road with Geoff Tate and the gang, Queensryche will also be joining Lita onstage for her entire set.

Lita will perform three songs on the tour, including her hit song, "Close My Eyes Forever," which she will duet with Geoff; as well as two new songs, "Crave," the duet with her husband Jim Gillette which debuted at #2 on metal radio and is another huge hit for Lita and "Patriotic S.O.B." with the Queensryche band backing her up.

"I'm so excited about how we're doing this tour," says Lita. "It's a really cool way to do a show. I'm looking forward to getting out there and seeing my fans again as well as meeting Queensryche's fans. It should be a real fun time for all."

There is no escaping the Wicked Wonderland that is Lita's first new album in 14 years when it drops on Oct. 6. Not only will the hardest-working woman in metal be mixing it up with Queensryche throughout October and November, but also advertisements for the new CD will be on nearly 17,000 movie theater screens nationwide during those two months. The adverts will include snippets of Wicked's wonderful ballad "Sacred" for an estimated audience of 17 million to hear.

Lita mania doesn't stop there. In January and February, it hits the friendly skies, as Delta Airlines will feature a 15-minute, three-song music and interview segment in its in-flight entertainment program. She will also be featured in Delta's acclaimed in-flight magazine, Sky. This will reach nearly 20 million passengers on 90,000 flights nationwide during the two-month campaign.

Meanwhile, don't miss Lita as Queen Rima in the video game Brutal Legend out Oct. 13 and in her first family comic book, The Gillettes: Family Business, out in November.

Queensryche with Lita Ford tour dates:

Oct. 15, Louisville, Ky., Coyotes
Oct. 16, Montgomery, Ala., Montgomery Perf. Arts Centre
Oct. 17, Pensacola, Fla., Saenger Theatre
Oct. 18, Asheville, N.C., the Orange Peel
Oct. 20, Charlotte, N.C., the Fillmore
Oct. 21, Raleigh, N.C., Lincoln Theater
Oct. 22, Philadelphia, Theatre of the Living Arts
Oct. 23, Norfolk, Va., the Norva
Oct. 24, Englewood, N.J., Bergen Performing Arts Center
Oct. 25, Westbury, N.Y., Capitol One Bank Theater
Oct. 27, Covington, Ky., Madison Theater
Oct. 28, Columbus, Ohio, Newport Music Hall
Oct. 29, Indianapolis, the Vogue
Oct. 30, Fort Wayne, Ind., Pierres
Oct. 31, St. Louis, the Pageant
Nov. 1, Joliet, Ill., Rialto Square Theatre
Nov. 2, Fargo, N.D., the Venue
Nov. 4, Missoula, Mont., Wilma Theater
Nov. 5, Spokane, Wash., Knitting Factory
Nov. 6, Boise, Idaho, Knitting Factory
Nov. 7, Stateline, Nev., Harrah's Lake Tahoe
Nov. 10, Houma, La., City Club
Nov. 11, Nashville, the Cannery
Nov. 12, Atlanta, Masquerade
Nov. 13, Jacksonville, Fla., Plush
Nov. 14, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Revolution Live

Terence Blanchard's New CD Choices Now Available On Concord Jazz

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“Life is all about expansion and evolution. We make choices every day, none of which are right or wrong. They are simply choices that allow us to explore the variety of what’s before us.” -- Terence Blanchard

New Orleans, Louisiana. Choices, the new CD from three-time Grammy award winning trumpet player and composer Terence Blanchard, is set to be released August 18th on Concord Jazz. Recorded in March in Blanchard’s hometown of New Orleans at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Choices addresses the choices we all make in life – both as a society and on a personal level. Blanchard will premiere Choices at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans on July 31st.

Accompanying Blanchard on the album are longstanding band members Fabian Almazan on piano, Derrick Hodge on bass and Kendrick Scott on drums, along with newcomer Walter Smith lll on saxophone, all of whom wrote significant track contributions to the CD as well (a complete track listing is attached to this release.) Guest artists include writer, speaker, educator and activist Dr. Cornel West, critically-acclaimed guitarist and Blanchard protégé Lionel Louke, and singer, musician and composer Bilal. West performs spoken word pieces on the album with Bilal providing vocals on several of the tracks.

Said Blanchard, “When the spoken word idea came to mind, Dr. Cornel West was the first person I thought of. I’ve always been a fan of his philosophy -- the stances he’s taken and the causes that he has championed throughout his career -- and I thought what better person could I find to put a lot of these ideas into words that can work in this particular musical situation. Bilal on the other hand is a great vocalist and while recognized more as an R&B soul singer, he is a huge fan of Jazz and is very knowledgeable when it comes to the history of music. Bilal is an extremely accomplished, creative and talented musician and it just seemed natural that he should be involved with the Choices project.”

Added Dr. West, “Choices…what kind of human being you’re going to be. How are you going to opt for a life of decency and compassion and service and love. What goes into that kind of choice. That’s the human challenge. To be part of this album is an unadulterated joy because no doubt about it, music for me is continuous of life -- to be able to live the kind of life that I live on the certain kind of Socratic calling of raising unsettling questions. To be able to be in conversation and on an album with Terence Blanchard, that’s serious business…I mean, that’s…that’s a beautiful thing.”

The Ogden Museum of Southern Art’s Patrick F. Taylor Library was chosen for the recording due to its outstanding acoustics as well as its historical importance to the city of New Orleans. The Library, completed in 1889 and a survivor of both hurricanes and decades of neglect, is the only existing building in the South designed by New Orleans native H.H. Richardson. “There couldn’t have been a more perfect place to record this project,” says Blanchard, “The Library itself is a survivor as is this city. While my last album (the Grammy-winning A Tale Of God’s Will (A Requiem For Katrina) stemmed from Katrina’s pain and destruction, Choices will be a celebration of all that has survived and more.”

Blanchard has established himself as one of the most influential jazz musicians and film score masters of his generation, a member of a jazz legacy that has shaped the contours of modern jazz today. With more than 29 albums to his credit, as a musician Blanchard is a multi-Grammy Award winner and nominee, winning earlier this year for his instrumental solo for “Be-Bop” on Live At The 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival. In addition to receiving the award, Blanchard performed live on the telecast along with other New Orleans artists including Lil’ Wayne, Allen Toussaint and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, who were all joined on-stage by singer Robin Thicke. In 2008, Blanchard also won a Grammy for his CD, A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina), a beautifully haunting and impassioned song cycle about Hurricane Katrina and the ravages incurred upon the City of New Orleans and its residents.

As a film composer, Blanchard has more than 50 scores to his credit and received a Golden Globe nomination for Spike Lee's 25th Hour. In 2008 he completed the score for Lee's Miracle at St. Anna, as well as the soundtrack for Darnell Martin’s Cadillac Records. Other film music written by Blanchard includes Kasi Lemmons' Eve's Bayou and Talk to Me, Oprah Winfrey's Their Eyes Were Watching God, Tim Story's Barbershop and Ron Shelton's Dark Blue. He is currently working on the score for George Lucas’ Red Tails and has already completed musical contributions on Disney’s The Princess and the Frog set for release this Christmas.

As Artistic Director of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, which he was instrumental in relocating from Los Angeles to New Orleans, Blanchard works with students in the areas of artistic development, arranging, composition and concert programming. He also participates in master classes around the world as well as local community outreach activities in his beloved hometown of New Orleans.

The release of Choices will be accompanied by a worldwide tour featuring Terence and his band.

Visit www.terenceblanchard.com for more information.

All Hail The Queen! - Lita Ford & Jack Black Star In Video Game, "Brutal Legend"

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Already known as the Queen of Heavy Metal, Lita is adding another royal crown to her repertoire as she voices the role of the queen in the forthcoming action-adventure video game, Brütal Legend, out Oct. 13 via Double Fine Productions and Electronic Arts.

Lita joins an impressive list of contributors, such as actors Jack Black (School of Rock, Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny) and Tim Curry (The Rocky Horror Picture Show), and fellow metal legends Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford, and Lemmy Kilmister, who all lend their voices to the game. Lita plays the role of Queen Rima, while Jack Black plays the main male role of Eddie Riggs, a roadie who is transported to a heavy metal fantasy world in which he needs to save the human race from supernatural powers by using such weapons as a Flying V guitar with magical powers.

"We go out to kick some ass," Lita recently told RollingStone.com about her character. "I get axed, electrocuted, and thrown off a second story building… and I manage to survive the whole thing!"

The game, which will be available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, also features 100 heavy metal songs, including Lita's "Betrayal" from her forthcoming new album, Wicked Wonderland, and her husband Jim Gillette's band Nitro, which contributes the track "Machine Gunn Eddie." Other artists contributing songs to the game include Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Motley Crue, Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, Marilyn Manson, Ministry, Rob Zombie, Megadeth, King Diamond, Scorpions, Slayer, Anthrax, Sanctuary, Jack Black's Tenacious D, and more.

Brütal Legend, which was created by designer and Double Fine founder Tim Schafer, can be pre-ordered at www.brutallegend.com now. If you pre-order the game, you will be able to download a demo of it on the Xbox 360 Marketplace and PlayStation Network Store on Sept. 17.

Meanwhile, Wicked Wonderland is slated for release on Oct. 6 and can be pre-ordered at www.litaxx.tv.

SwampDaWamp Release Latest CD, "Rock This Country"

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Country fried rockers SwampDaWamp (pronounced swamp duh wamp) from Charlotte, NC unfold their much anticipated 3rd independent release this week (2nd full length) “Rock This Country,” available now in most major digital retail outlets and in physical form at www.SwampDaWamp.com. The album title translates perfectly the content and direction of this 12 track disc which, like the band, crosses the border between rock and country genres and clearly defines what has become the norm for this artist and its label Big Penny Entertainment. “Rock This Country,” was produced by Ken Coomer and Charlie Brocco.

“Rock This Country,” is a true American blue collar album throughout and the brilliant efforts of a band that defies being branded by New York or Nashville. Together, the songs and playing skills deliver a statement from a band that truly gets what their audience wants and for a new generation of listeners to find and cling to.

“This record is an absolute evolution of the band,” says band leader Gig Michaels. I think we have captured the energy on this recording thanks to producer Ken Coomer and engineer Charlie Brocco. Working with those guys has been an incredible experience and the result is going to be the best sounding and best vibe the band has ever recorded. I am extremely proud of this record.”

Ken Coomer adds, “SwampDaWamp is big sexy! Guys wanna be them, girls wanna do them. Real Southern Rock like it should be….BIG!”

SwampDaWamp has been slugging it out all over the map for the past 5 years headlining at honkytonks, fairs, biker rallies and performing with greats like David Allen Coe, 38 Special, Confederate Railroad, Marshall Tucker and will continue to do so in the next several months in support of “Rock This Country.”

Previous recordings for the band include their debut self titled “SwampDaWamp,” released in 2006 and “Swampdawamp 2.0” EP In 2008.

SwampDaWamp features Gig Michaels/lead vox & acoustic guitar, David Lee on the drums, Keith Inman and Michael Hough on guitars, Mike Huffman on keys and Cody Bennett on bass.

For more information, music, news and tour dates for SwampDaWamp visit: WWW.SWAMPDAWAMP.COM

Kristine W Has Her 14th #1 Billboard Dance Hit With Her Latest Release, "Be Alright"

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Kristine W hits #1 again on the September 5, 2009 edition of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart with her latest single, “Be Alright.” This is Kristine’s 14th #1 single and ties her with Mariah Carey for the 3rd most Club No. 1s among women. “Be Alright” has also jumped to #14 on the FMQB Adult Contemporary chart.

The song’s message is one of hope triumphing over difficulty; a theme Kristine says is especially poignant today. “With the financial crisis hitting every country, political instability reaching all time highs, and health care in limbo, I wanted to write and sing a song that both expressed how people are feeling and encouraged optimism,” says the singer, a leukemia survivor celebrating eight years in remission. “The fact that ‘Be Alright’ is crossing different genres of music proves the message is universal. We are all feeling pressure in today’s world but we all need to believe that we will get through this. In the end, we will all be alright.”

Mike McVay, President of McVay Media, a company that consults more than 150 radio stations around the world, echoes Kristine’s sentiments on the song’s success. “Its reassuring lyrics and positive energy speak to listeners. We expect the song to continue its ascent on the AC charts.”

“Be Alright” is the fifth release from Kristine’s recently released full-length project, The Power of Music.

The Power of Music has already proven its power on the dance scene with its first four single releases - “Walk Away”, “The Boss”, “Never”, and “Love is the Look” – all landing at the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play List.

Kristine W (kristinew.com) is a fourth generation entertainer hailing from Pasco, Washington. After winning titles as Miss Tri-Cities, Miss Washington and placing first in the talent competition at the Miss America pageant, Kristine went on to pursue her educational and musical dreams in Las Vegas, where she found success headlining her own show at the Las Vegas Hilton, winning several 'Las Vegas Entertainer of the Year' awards and being officially sanctioned as the entertainer who performed more live shows at the Las Vegas Hilton than any other performer in its history - including Elvis. The award led to June 28th being officially sanctioned Kristine W day in the state of Nevada.

Her previous full length album, Fly Again, released in 2004 from Tommy Boy Records, yielded four #1 dance records and established Kristine as a world record holder for Most Consecutive #1 Billboard Club Hits, topping records previously held by Janet Jackson and Madonna.

The Queen Is Back! -- Hard Rock Legend Lita Ford Wins Metal Radio Over With "Crave"

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Metal radio welcomed Lita Ford back to the airwaves with open arms as her latest hard rock anthem, "Crave," became this week's second most added song at metal radio in America.

"It feels great to be back doing what I love," says Lita. "The response to the new material on the road has been amazing and now to have radio embrace it just proves that hard rock can never die."

"Crave" is a new bump-and-grind bluesy rocker from the artist's forthcoming new CD, Wicked Wonderland, which is due Oct. 6. The track was written and produced by Lita, her husband and collaborator Jim Gillette, and Greg Hampton. The sexually-charged, hard rocking new album is Lita's first release since 1995.

"Crave" is just one of the new songs that Lita is playing on the road for her first tour in nearly 15 years with band-mates Bumblefoot on guitar, Michael T Ross on keys, PJ Farley on bass, Dennis Leeflang on drums, and of course husband Jim Gillette (Nitro) on guitar. Other songs on the set list include her two classic hits, "Kiss Me Deadly" and "Close My Eyes, Forever."

Upcoming dates include:
Sept. 5, Cleveland, Ohio, Taste of Cleveland, Time Warner Cable Amphitheater @ Tower City Nov. 21, Ridgefield, Connecticut, Ridgefield Playhouse

More tour dates and news on other forthcoming projects will be announced shortly.

For more information on Lita or Wicked Wonderland, go to www.litaxx.tv or www.myspace.com/litaford.