Monday, September 2, 2013
Tommy Morrison -- a former heavyweight boxing champ and star of "Rocky V" -- died in a Nebraska hospital Sunday night ... after a long battle with AIDS. Morrion's longtime boxing promoter, Tony Holden, confirmed the death. He tells TMZ, Morrison had been in the hospital for several months battling an illness ... he wouldn't specify what. He died peacefully, his wife by his side.
Back in 1996 Morrison tested positive for HIV, thus ending his boxing career. He later denied having the disease or that it even existed.
In 1990 Morrison starred in "Rocky V" with Sylvester Stallone, playing a rookie boxer training under Rocky Balboa. In 1993 he took home a real title, defeating George Foreman for the heavyweight championship. He was 44.
Chennai: The long wait for superstar Rajinikanth's 'Kochadaiyaan''s first look is over for millions of the actor's fans.
Soundarya Ashwin, the daughter of superstar who is making her maiden directorial venture, has announced that the first teaser of 'Kochadaiyaan' will be unveiled on Vinayaka Chaturthi, September 9, on her Twitter.
Widely hailed as India’s first 3D performance-capturing flick, Rajinikanth has got the credit of the first Indian star to be captured on motion capture technology.
The trailer was to release earlier at the recent Cannes International Film Festival with Rajinikanth making his first appearance there to promote the movie.
Later, Soundarya clarified to Deccan Chronicle that though she had planned to unveil Kochadaiyaan's trailer at Cannes, she couldn’t make it since the magnum opus trailer was not ready the way she wanted it to be.
While Rajinikanth essays a dual role, Deepika Padukone makes her foray in K’town opposite the 'Enthiran' star. Sarath Kumar, Aadhi, Shobana, Rukmini Vijayakumar, Jackie Shroff and Nassar play key characters.
Soundarya Ashwin, the daughter of superstar who is making her maiden directorial venture, has announced that the first teaser of 'Kochadaiyaan' will be unveiled on Vinayaka Chaturthi, September 9, on her Twitter.
Widely hailed as India’s first 3D performance-capturing flick, Rajinikanth has got the credit of the first Indian star to be captured on motion capture technology.
The trailer was to release earlier at the recent Cannes International Film Festival with Rajinikanth making his first appearance there to promote the movie.
Later, Soundarya clarified to Deccan Chronicle that though she had planned to unveil Kochadaiyaan's trailer at Cannes, she couldn’t make it since the magnum opus trailer was not ready the way she wanted it to be.
While Rajinikanth essays a dual role, Deepika Padukone makes her foray in K’town opposite the 'Enthiran' star. Sarath Kumar, Aadhi, Shobana, Rukmini Vijayakumar, Jackie Shroff and Nassar play key characters.
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| Jessica Simpson posed pregnant and naked on the cover of Elle magazine |
“I will never understand why people give pregnant women such a hard time. We are creating a human life: I think we get every excuse in the world to eat a doughnut! It’s very hurtful, especially when you’re so emotional and going through all of these hormonal changes. I felt for Kim Kardashian — I knew exactly what she was going through. I am just one of those pregnant women who gains a lot of weight. I have my curves. Even trying as hard as I did with Ace, I still gained,” she said.
Simpson wants to get wed to her fiancé Eric soon. “We now have a where and a when. Everybody has just been so anxious for us to get married — including us,” she added.
Coalition leader Tony Abbott roped in two of his daughters to record an election message for the Big Brother housemates, while Prime Minister Kevin Rudd just dropped off a generic campaign DVD.
The Nine Network invited Mr Abbott, Mr Rudd, Greens leader Christine Milne and Clive Palmer, from the Palmer United Party, to make tailor-made campaign messages for the housemates.
Of the political quartet, only the prime minister did not personalise his message to the Big Brother roomies, who have yet to be told the general election is being held on Saturday.
The housemates will be told on Wednesday about the election date and then shown a three-minute DVD from each leader about why they should vote for their respective parties.
Big Brother's executive producer, Alex Mavroidakis, said on Monday he was just grateful the politicians had obliged with DVDs.
Abbott daughters Bridget and Frances say they watch the reality show, he added.
'Of the four videos we received, the only one that is not personalised is Rudd's,' Mavroidakis told AAP.
'We offered everyone a chance but I think Rudd had several pre-made generic messages and he sent one of those.
'We've got a great one from Christine Milne, Clive Palmer and Tony Abbott also saying 'Hello housemates', and Abbott's there with his daughters saying they watch the show.'
Mavroidakis said the production staff worked closely with the Australian Electoral Commission and the housemates' families to ensure the voting process was correct.
This is the first time in the world a Big Brother franchise has had to deal with an election, he said.
'We will endeavour to show the same amount of time on each message, so we won't be showing more of Rudd and less of Abbott or vice versa,' he said.
'We'll play it with a straight bat and we won't be telling them to tell us who they voted for.
'If they feel they want to discuss with each other we will put it to air.'
The housemates will, one at a time, cast their postal votes in the diary room.
Of the political quartet, only the prime minister did not personalise his message to the Big Brother roomies, who have yet to be told the general election is being held on Saturday.
The housemates will be told on Wednesday about the election date and then shown a three-minute DVD from each leader about why they should vote for their respective parties.
Big Brother's executive producer, Alex Mavroidakis, said on Monday he was just grateful the politicians had obliged with DVDs.
Abbott daughters Bridget and Frances say they watch the reality show, he added.
'Of the four videos we received, the only one that is not personalised is Rudd's,' Mavroidakis told AAP.
'We offered everyone a chance but I think Rudd had several pre-made generic messages and he sent one of those.
'We've got a great one from Christine Milne, Clive Palmer and Tony Abbott also saying 'Hello housemates', and Abbott's there with his daughters saying they watch the show.'
Mavroidakis said the production staff worked closely with the Australian Electoral Commission and the housemates' families to ensure the voting process was correct.
This is the first time in the world a Big Brother franchise has had to deal with an election, he said.
'We will endeavour to show the same amount of time on each message, so we won't be showing more of Rudd and less of Abbott or vice versa,' he said.
'We'll play it with a straight bat and we won't be telling them to tell us who they voted for.
'If they feel they want to discuss with each other we will put it to air.'
The housemates will, one at a time, cast their postal votes in the diary room.
Just in time for Labor Day, a recent Gallup poll has given some promising employment news. More than half of American workers say that their income has grown over the last five years, telling Gallup that they are making either a lot (28 percent) or a little (30 percent) more money since the onslaught of the economic crisis.
However, workers' wage growth has been uneven across the country's metros. To chart where wages have grown the most during America's recovery, my Martin Prosperity Institutecolleague Charlotta Mellander ran the numbers on average change in wages and salaries for all 350-plus U.S. metros between 2009 and 2012 (the latest year available) based on data from theUnited States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Average wages have increased in most metros over the course of the recovery, as the map above shows. Workers in more than half of all metros saw their wages rise by more than $2,000. And in 16 percent of them, workers saw their average wages rise by more than $3,000 between 2009 and 2012. Conversely, workers in only 15 metro areas saw their average wages decline over this period, and just 63 metros saw average wages grow less than $1,000. Across the nation, workers saw their average wages increase by $2,330, as mean wages rose from $43,460 in 2009 to $45,790 in 2012.
Many of the largest green dots (the metros with the greatest wage growth) are in the economically vibrant, coastal metros that you'd expect -- San Francisco, Seattle, and New York -- as well as cities in the Energy Belt like Houston. But some metro areas in hard-hit industrial areas of the Rustbelt and a number of Sunbelt metros that were wracked by the housing crisis also saw substantial wage increases, which suggests that the economic recovery may finally be registering in workers' paychecks nationwide.
The table below lists the large metro areas (those with populations of one million or more people) that saw the largest "raises" in the post-recession era.
| Large Metros with the Biggest Average Increases in Wages and Salaries, 2009-2012 | ||||
| Rank | Metro | Total Raise | 2009 Wages | 2012 Wages |
| 1 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $4,600 | $60,090 | $64,690 |
| 2 | Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA | $4,320 | $53,240 | $57,560 |
| 3 | San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, CA | $4,130 | $61,940 | $66,070 |
| 4 | Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX | $3,970 | $44,880 | $48,850 |
| 5 | Providence-Fall River-Warwick RI | $3,740 | $43,600 | $47,340 |
| 6 | Oklahoma City, OK | $3,460 | $38,090 | $41,550 |
| 7 | Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH | $3,380 | $41,930 | $45,310 |
| 8 | Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ | $3,310 | $41,930 | $45,240 |
| 9 | New York-White Plains-Wayne NY-NJ | $3,300 | $56,250 | $59,550 |
| 10 | New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA | $3,230 | $39,210 | $42,440 |
Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Topping the list is Washington, D.C., where average wages increased by $4,600, from $60,090 to $64,690. D.C. has performed well over the course of the crisis and recovery, benefiting from its robust knowledge economy, highly educated talent pool and abundant federal spending. Two other tech-driven knowledge metros (San Francisco and Seattle) take second and third place. Both saw average wage increases of more than $4,000. In Seattle, wages rose $4,320, from $53,240 to $57,560. In San Francisco wages rose $4,130, from $61,940 to $66,070 -- the second highest average wages of all major metro areas, trailing neighboring San Jose-Sunnyvale. These metros also had high take-home pay to begin with -- above $60,000 in D.C. and San Francisco.
Metros in the and around the nation's Energy Belt also did particularly well, including Houston ($3,970), Oklahoma City ($3,460), and New Orleans ($3,230). Along with these Energy Belt metros and major knowledge economy hubs, workers saw substantial raises in the Rustbelt metro of Cleveland ($3,380) and Phoenix ($3,310) in the Sunbelt. This suggests that the economy in these struggling regions of the country is starting to rebound, as workers in at least some of these cities have begun to see their wages rise.
It's important to note that workers in Cleveland, Phoenix, Oklahoma City, Providence, Houston and New Orleans were making far less to begin with, with wages in the $40,000s or below, compared to the $60,000 plus levels for the knowledge metros with the highest wages.
But the places where workers have seen the biggest gains to their average paychecks are mainly in smaller cities. The table below lists the top metro areas overall, by increase in average wage. Greater Washington, D.C. and Seattle are the only big metros to make the cut.
| Overall Metros with the Biggest Average Increases in Wages and Salaries, 2009-2012 | ||||
| Rank | Metro | Total Raise | 2009 Wages | 2012 Wages |
| 1 | Midland, TX | $6,530 | $40,770 | $47,300 |
| 2 | Fayetteville-Springdale-Rodgers, AR-MO | $4,970 | $36,790 | $41,760 |
| 3 | Fairbanks, AK | $4,790 | $48,330 | $53,120 |
| 4 | Iowa City, IA | $4,620 | $40,390 | $45,010 |
| 5 | Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV | $4,600 | $60,090 | $64,690 |
| 6 | Oakland-Fremont-Hayward, CA | $4,590 | $54,590 | $59,180 |
| 7 | Bellingham, WA | $4,440 | $39,870 | $44,310 |
| 8 | Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA | $4,320 | $53,240 | $57,560 |
| 9 | Peoria, IL | $4,200 | $40,170 | $44,370 |
| 10 | Fayetteville, NC | $4,160 | $35,150 | $39,310 |
Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Smaller metros in the Midwest and West now rise to the top of the list. Midland, Texas is first with a whopping $6,530 increase in average wages. This oil and resource boom town -- where a full quarter of workers are employed in the in the mining, logging and construction sector -- registered a 4.6 percent gain in population between 2011 and 2012, making it the fastest growing metro in the country over that period. And the unemployment rate was an astonishingly low 3.7 percent as of June this year. Wages also grew more in Fayetteville, Arkansas, ($4,970); Fairbanks, Alaska ($4,790); and Iowa City, Iowa ($4,620) than they did in Washington, D.C., the top-ranked large metro. And wage growth in Oakland, California ($4,590) and Bellingham, Washington ($4,400) outpaced the raise taken home by workers in Seattle. Peoria, Illinois ($4,200) and Fayetteville, North Carolina ($4,160) round out the top ten.
Many of these metros are building on far lower baseline wages than their larger counterparts. Half the metros on the overall top ten list (immediately above), and a whopping 80 percent of smaller metros (those with less than one million people) started out with wages below the national average in 2009.
Despite the good news, there remain places where workers' wages have not begun to recover. Workers in 15 metros across the country actually saw their wages decline between 2009 and 2012. Most of these are in the Rustbelt and the Sunbelt, including Decatur, Illinois; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Palm Coast, Florida; and Lubbock, Texas. Nearly all of these smaller struggling places are found in Michigan, Illinois, Idaho, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Texas and California. They are a mix of struggling old industrial centers, like Battle Creek, harder hit resort centers like Palm Coast, and agricultural towns in California, like Salinas.
The table below shows the large metro areas that have seen the smallest wage gains. While robust wage recoveries in Cleveland and Phoenix suggest that parts of the Rustbelt and Sunbelt are beginning to turn around, the list of places with the smallest wage gains remains dominated by Midwestern and Southern metros. It includes once fast-growing Sunbelt metros like Las Vegas ($1,330), Orlando ($1,000), Miami ($1,630), and Tampa ($1,640) -- all metros which were buffeted by the housing crisis -- as well as hard-hit industrial regions like Buffalo ($1,760) and St. Louis ($1,760).
But there are also some surprises on the list. Dallas, where wages increased by just $1,340, is often held up as an example of low unemployment, population and job growth, and relatively stable housing market prices. The twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul have also been seen as the center of a stable, knowledge-oriented economy, less susceptible to a boom and bust. But perhaps the biggest surprise is that Chicago, a city and metro that is often held out as a model of urban regeneration, is the only large metro area whose workers saw average wages rise less than $1,000.
| Largest Metros with the Lowest Average Increases in Wages and Salaries, 2009-2012 | ||||
| Rank | Metro | Total Raise | 2009 Wages | 2012 Wages |
| 1 | Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL | $830 | $48,910 | $49,740 |
| 2 | Orlando-Kissimmee, FL | $1,000 | $38,430 | $39,430 |
| 3 | Memphis, TN-MS-AR | $1,310 | $39,380 | $40,690 |
| 4 | Las Vegas-Paradise, NV | $1,330 | $40,070 | $41,400 |
| 5 | Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX | $1,340 | $46,110 | $47,450 |
| 6 | Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN | $1,570 | $39,970 | $41,540 |
| 7 | Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL | $1,630 | $41,070 | $42,700 |
| 8 | Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL | $1,640 | $40,590 | $42,230 |
| 8 | Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI | $1,640 | $48,670 | $50,310 |
| 10 | Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY | $1,760 | $40,960 | $42,720 |
| 10 | St. Louis, MO-IL | $1,760 | $42,900 | $44,660 |
Data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The overall trend in wages give us cause for more optimism this Labor Day than we've had in quite a while. While there is still a ways to go and while too many workers in too many places remain out of work or underemployed, these data substantiate just how extensive the reach of wage recovery has been across the board. Nearly all U.S. metro areas - 96 percent of them - saw some increase in average annual wages over the first several years of the recovery. All in all, the extent and diverse nature of America's wage recovery is a good sign, as workers across the country have seen the beginnings of a return to wage growth.
Source:http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/09/best-cities-raise-americas-post-recession-economy/6668/
Source:http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2013/09/best-cities-raise-americas-post-recession-economy/6668/
After last night’s mixed bag of performances, it is time for The X Factor Australia to shed another act or group with the live results show.The night opened with the top eleven performing a medley of Classic and Thank You with rising pop stars MKTO – with the performance translating much better than last weeks!
Then it was on to Ricki Lee who burst onstage in a 70’s themed rendition of her new single Trouble – with the singer looking glamorous in huge curls and a yellow jumpsuit! The energetic performance featured some questionable dancing, but was kind of cool in a kitsch kind of way!
We were however a little disappointed that she didn’t arrive naked on a horse…
Then after a few nail-biting minutes it is revealed that Cat Vas and Joelle are the ones that have been voted into the bottom two for this week.
But before Cat and Joelle take to the stage to sing for their lives – the ridiculously talented and smooth moving John Newman arrives to perform his hit Love Me Again.
With some pretty slick production (the X Factor has really stepped it up a notch this year huh?) and old school moves, Newman is by far the most entertaining act on the stage thus far!
Then it is down to the show’s older lady singers to battle it out – with Cat Vas kicking things off with a gorgeous rendition of Radiohead’s High And Dry.
Joelle followed up with a heartfelt performance of Ed Sheeran’s Give Me Love – with her song choice shocking Ronan.
With all four judges shaken by the fact that such strong singers were in the bottom two so early on in the comp everyone struggled to make their choice.
Ronan kicked things off by sending Cat home, while a shocked Dannii put her vote behind Joelle. RedFoo obviously backed his girl, sending Cat home – with the vote coming down to Nat Bass. Surprisingly she decided to send Cat home despite feeling that Joelle’s last performance wasn’t up to scratch!
It was supposed to be the bigger, better party. Electric Zoo 2013 was the fifth annual Labor Day weekend of electronic dance music on Randalls Island, and its promoter, Made Event, had expanded it by adding another stage with additional headliners. But after two concertgoers died, apparently from using MDMA (known in different formulations as Molly or Ecstasy), Made Event followed the recommendation of the mayor’s office and abruptly canceled Sunday, the third day of the festival. Last week, the House of Blues in Boston closed temporarily after drug overdoses following a show by Zedd, who would have been one of Sunday’s Electric Zoo headliners.
The mood was festive Saturday at Electric Zoo before two deaths, apparently drug related, caused the cancellation of its third day.
The tone of the festival had already changed on Saturday. My shoulder bag was searched far more thoroughly on the way in than on Friday, and through the day, Made Events representatives made sober announcements onstage urging people to rest, hydrate, get help for anyone in trouble and not to overdo alcohol and drugs — the last of which drew some laughs. MDMA, though it’s dangerous in excess like any drug, has long been associated with dance music; it makes people happy, energetic and affectionate, and since getting the innocuous name Molly it has been turning up in lyrics — which D.J.’s often sample and add into mixes.
Last year, at the Ultra Music Festival, introducing the D.J.-producer Avicii (who headlined Electric Zoo on Friday), Madonna — whose 2012 album was called “MDNA” — asked the audience, “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?” (She later insisted it wasn’t a drug reference.) At Electric Zoo the word was all over T-shirts; one group of five people had coordinated bright yellow ones with a single letter on each: M, O, L, L, Y. It’s part of the dance-music landscape — unremarkable, until people die.
And that news casts a sorrowful shadow over what was supposed to be a celebration. Electronic dance music is purposefully, single-mindedly life affirming, all about being alive in the moment, awash in sensation. Hip-hop, rock, R&B and, of course, the blues are well aware of struggle, sadness, mortality, memory and anticipation, as they tell stories and fill their song forms; electronic dance music takes place in an eternal present.
There, the visceral, body-shaking impact of deep bass, the hypnotic repetitiveness of the beat, the pealing purity or larger-than-life roughness of the electronic sounds, the lyrics about joy and letting go and feeling love, the dazzling and dizzying lights and the communal energy of a dance floor are all mechanisms for fully experiencing the here and now, kinetically and immediately. Mechanisms evolve — technology has given them a lot more flash and firepower in the digital era — but the aspiration they satisfy may well be hard-wired into our bodies. With or without MDMA, electronic dance music makes for joyful, sociable crowds pumping up the endorphins.
Even though it was cut short, Electric Zoo still offered nearly 100 sets over its first two days, a sweeping survey of dance music. A small, generally underattended tent held die-hards of deep house and techno — John Digweed, Justin Martin vs. Eats Everything, Claude VonStroke, Cassy, Green Velvet, Scuba — playing seamless, incrementally evolving, mesmerizing sets. On the big stages, it brought back many regulars who headline festivals worldwide: Avicii, David Guetta, Tiesto, Benny Benassi, Above & Beyond, Hardwell.
They play the house and trance music whose bouncing, marching beats now also pulsate in Top 10 pop. And because they are now in demand as remixers of pop hits, they can largely string together their own efforts, nearly all moving at the same beats per minute. Hardwell made his set seesaw between earnest vocals and stark, stomping beats; Tiesto modulated smoothly, playing what sounded like one long anthem with a parade of different vocalists. Other house D.J.’s, less eager for singalongs, built different kinds of sets: Sander van Doorn with one dramatic, intensifying, minor-key instrumental wavelet after another, and Madeon with dozens of quick segues from hook to hook, often merely seconds long.
The dominance of house and trance as “big-room” dance music has lately been challenged by dubstep: originally an arty, murky British style that Americans have turned into a swerving, lurching assault, switching from full speed to half speed or unleashing a blast of distortion without warning. Over the last year, dubstep’s most brazen effect — the skidding, shuddering, deep-diving trick called the drop — has made its way into TV commercials and movie trailers; trance and house D.J.’s have also learned it, and more than a few sets at Electric Zoo interrupted the cheerful, steady, head-bobbing momentum of house with a stretch of dubstep.
But the dubstep D.J.’s, some of whom also had main-stage spots this year, strove to stay ahead of formula. Flux Pavilion, Datsik, Dog Blood, UZ and Bassnectar reached toward dubstep’s reggae underpinnings, drew on hip-hop, grabbed some of punk-rock’s momentum and aimed for the unexpected; Bassnectar even tried a remix of Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good.” Dubstep is also dealing with an upstart challenge: trap music, emerging out of hip-hop over the last decade. Dubstep is dense and bass loving; trap is hollow, with sparse bass lines, nasal synthesizer riffs and spatters of snare drum.
The crisp sounds of trap turned up during sets of dubstep, hip-hop and house, and they have made a fluent convert of R L Grime, the new moniker of a house D.J. called Clockwork. One of Electric Zoo’s most head-turning sets was by Baauer, the trap D.J. whose “Harlem Shake” became a YouTube phenomenon but who shouldn’t be dismissed as a novelty. His set repeatedly leapfrogged across tempos and genres: sometimes funny, sometimes jolting, giving dancers a challenge they were eager to accept. It was the kind of party Electric Zoo was supposed to be — one that should have ended with everyone home safely.
The tone of the festival had already changed on Saturday. My shoulder bag was searched far more thoroughly on the way in than on Friday, and through the day, Made Events representatives made sober announcements onstage urging people to rest, hydrate, get help for anyone in trouble and not to overdo alcohol and drugs — the last of which drew some laughs. MDMA, though it’s dangerous in excess like any drug, has long been associated with dance music; it makes people happy, energetic and affectionate, and since getting the innocuous name Molly it has been turning up in lyrics — which D.J.’s often sample and add into mixes.
Last year, at the Ultra Music Festival, introducing the D.J.-producer Avicii (who headlined Electric Zoo on Friday), Madonna — whose 2012 album was called “MDNA” — asked the audience, “How many people in this crowd have seen Molly?” (She later insisted it wasn’t a drug reference.) At Electric Zoo the word was all over T-shirts; one group of five people had coordinated bright yellow ones with a single letter on each: M, O, L, L, Y. It’s part of the dance-music landscape — unremarkable, until people die.
And that news casts a sorrowful shadow over what was supposed to be a celebration. Electronic dance music is purposefully, single-mindedly life affirming, all about being alive in the moment, awash in sensation. Hip-hop, rock, R&B and, of course, the blues are well aware of struggle, sadness, mortality, memory and anticipation, as they tell stories and fill their song forms; electronic dance music takes place in an eternal present.
There, the visceral, body-shaking impact of deep bass, the hypnotic repetitiveness of the beat, the pealing purity or larger-than-life roughness of the electronic sounds, the lyrics about joy and letting go and feeling love, the dazzling and dizzying lights and the communal energy of a dance floor are all mechanisms for fully experiencing the here and now, kinetically and immediately. Mechanisms evolve — technology has given them a lot more flash and firepower in the digital era — but the aspiration they satisfy may well be hard-wired into our bodies. With or without MDMA, electronic dance music makes for joyful, sociable crowds pumping up the endorphins.
Even though it was cut short, Electric Zoo still offered nearly 100 sets over its first two days, a sweeping survey of dance music. A small, generally underattended tent held die-hards of deep house and techno — John Digweed, Justin Martin vs. Eats Everything, Claude VonStroke, Cassy, Green Velvet, Scuba — playing seamless, incrementally evolving, mesmerizing sets. On the big stages, it brought back many regulars who headline festivals worldwide: Avicii, David Guetta, Tiesto, Benny Benassi, Above & Beyond, Hardwell.
They play the house and trance music whose bouncing, marching beats now also pulsate in Top 10 pop. And because they are now in demand as remixers of pop hits, they can largely string together their own efforts, nearly all moving at the same beats per minute. Hardwell made his set seesaw between earnest vocals and stark, stomping beats; Tiesto modulated smoothly, playing what sounded like one long anthem with a parade of different vocalists. Other house D.J.’s, less eager for singalongs, built different kinds of sets: Sander van Doorn with one dramatic, intensifying, minor-key instrumental wavelet after another, and Madeon with dozens of quick segues from hook to hook, often merely seconds long.
The dominance of house and trance as “big-room” dance music has lately been challenged by dubstep: originally an arty, murky British style that Americans have turned into a swerving, lurching assault, switching from full speed to half speed or unleashing a blast of distortion without warning. Over the last year, dubstep’s most brazen effect — the skidding, shuddering, deep-diving trick called the drop — has made its way into TV commercials and movie trailers; trance and house D.J.’s have also learned it, and more than a few sets at Electric Zoo interrupted the cheerful, steady, head-bobbing momentum of house with a stretch of dubstep.
But the dubstep D.J.’s, some of whom also had main-stage spots this year, strove to stay ahead of formula. Flux Pavilion, Datsik, Dog Blood, UZ and Bassnectar reached toward dubstep’s reggae underpinnings, drew on hip-hop, grabbed some of punk-rock’s momentum and aimed for the unexpected; Bassnectar even tried a remix of Nina Simone’s “Feelin’ Good.” Dubstep is also dealing with an upstart challenge: trap music, emerging out of hip-hop over the last decade. Dubstep is dense and bass loving; trap is hollow, with sparse bass lines, nasal synthesizer riffs and spatters of snare drum.
The crisp sounds of trap turned up during sets of dubstep, hip-hop and house, and they have made a fluent convert of R L Grime, the new moniker of a house D.J. called Clockwork. One of Electric Zoo’s most head-turning sets was by Baauer, the trap D.J. whose “Harlem Shake” became a YouTube phenomenon but who shouldn’t be dismissed as a novelty. His set repeatedly leapfrogged across tempos and genres: sometimes funny, sometimes jolting, giving dancers a challenge they were eager to accept. It was the kind of party Electric Zoo was supposed to be — one that should have ended with everyone home safely.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
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The singer’s act was sultry and powerful, shelling out her usual diva personality and teasing the crowd with her fierceness. She demonstrated a rendition of her current Mrs. Carter World Tour that catered to the festival audience perfectly. The visuals, costumes and lighting were almost exactly the same with the exception of her recent hairstyle change
Even though Jay Z was spotted earlier at the festival, the rapper did not make an appearance with his wife – which many were expecting. Instead, Bey rocked the stage for an entire hour and 30 minutes. Gold confetti shot out of stage cannons as The Queen neared the end of her set, but not without doing two more songs. One of which was “I Will Always Love You,” made famous by the late and great Whitney Houston.
Beyonce ended on a high note with “Halo” to a tired but extremely happy crowd.
Saturday, August 31, 2013:
Redlight
Rudimental
Mord Fustang
TJR Porter
Robinson
Wolfgang Gartner
Walk The Moon
Haim
A$AP Rocky
Solange
Public Enemy
2 Chainz
Imagine Dragons
Empire Of The Sun
Phoenix
Deadmau5
Beyoncé (headliner)
Sunday, September 1, 2013:
Jesse Rose
Robert Delong
Alunageorge
GTA
Feed Me
Nero
Jay Rock
Schoolboy Q
AB Soul
Fitz & The Tantrums
The Gaslight Anthem
Emile Sandé
Kendrick
Lamar
Miguel
Wiz Khalifa
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Queens Of The Stone Age
Calvin Harris
Nine Inch Nails (headliner)
Redlight
Rudimental
Mord Fustang
TJR Porter
Robinson
Wolfgang Gartner
Walk The Moon
Haim
A$AP Rocky
Solange
Public Enemy
2 Chainz
Imagine Dragons
Empire Of The Sun
Phoenix
Deadmau5
Beyoncé (headliner)
Sunday, September 1, 2013:
Jesse Rose
Robert Delong
Alunageorge
GTA
Feed Me
Nero
Jay Rock
Schoolboy Q
AB Soul
Fitz & The Tantrums
The Gaslight Anthem
Emile Sandé
Kendrick
Lamar
Miguel
Wiz Khalifa
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Queens Of The Stone Age
Calvin Harris
Nine Inch Nails (headliner)
The former Corrie star turned Loose Women – one of six celebrities taking part in the show with their real-life partners – was joined by new husband Lincoln Townley as she showed off her disco dancing skills to the 70s classic Shake Your Groove Thing.
Ultimately though it was her costume – an eye-straining jumpsuit adorned with 113 photos of her and her other half – which raised the most eyebrows.
‘Denise welch’s jumpsuit….. What was she thinking?’ asked one viewer on Twitter, while another added: ‘Is there nothing Denise Welch won’t do for a few bob?’
While Welch may have divided opinion, the final two couples of the evening – Brian McFadden and girlfriend Vogue Williams, and JLS’s Oritse Williams and other half AJ Azari – stole the show with their routines.
Westlife star McFadden wowed both judges and viewers with his rock’n'roll routine, while thrilled JLS fans took to Twitter to heap praise upon Williams after he rounded the show off with a glitzy tap number.
‘Watching Stepping Out and Oriste and AJ killed it!!’ tweeted one viewer, while another called the routine: ‘Slick, stylish and erm, taptastic.’
The couple made such an impact that their name was still trending long after the programme had ended.
Laurence Llewellyn-Bowen, boxer Carl Froch and Dempsey and Makepeace twosome Glynis Barber and Michael Brandon also took part in the show for the ‘Front Row’ – a judging panel consisting of Mel B, Jason Gardiner and Wayne Sleep.
One of the six couples will leave the competition next Saturday night.
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