ALICE COOPER to release exclusive digital single this Tuesday

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SHOUT! FACTORY AND ALICE COOPER

ANNOUNCE EXCLUSIVE CONTENT DEAL TO RELEASE

ALICE COOPER’S NEW SINGLE “KEEPIN’ HALLOWEEN ALIVE”

FOR DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION

Theatre of Death World Tour This Fall

Los Angeles, CA – Shout! Factory and Alice Cooper announced an exclusive alliance to bring Alice Cooper’s brand-new Halloween single, “Keepin’ Halloween Alive,” to the digital music entertainment marketplace. The announcement was made today by Shout! Factory founding partner and COO Bob Emmer.

Under its agreement with Cooper, Shout! Factory will be the exclusive digital media distributor for Alice Cooper’s new single, “Keepin’ Halloween Alive,” as well as the track’s bonus Karaoke (aka “Cooperoke”) version for digital music downloads

Alice delivers the song with the garage-punk snarl he is best known for, ensuring that it will soon be a Halloween classic. “At home my family all gathers around an old spooky tree decorated with skulls and bones in the living room, and we exchange gifts,” says Cooper. “It’s our holiday. We even all have matching black-and-orange Halloween sweaters! I wanted a theme song for people like me, and for us Halloween never ends. In the chorus I say, ‘I’m keepin’ Halloween alive, baby, 3–6–5’... and I mean it!”

“Keepin’ Halloween Alive,” was co-written and co-produced by Cooper with Piggy D. (a member of Rob Zombie’s band), who played rhythm guitar/backup vocals. Dave Pino (Powerman 5000) is featured on lead guitar, and David Spreng (Bob Dylan, The Bravery) on drums. Of the recording, Cooper says, “We played it live as a band to capture the vibe. It was the easiest work I think any of us have ever done, not to mention a blast!”

“We are thrilled to be working closely again with the legendary Alice Cooper on his new Halloween-themed single and adding to Shout! Factory’s expansive digital audio library,” said Bob Emmer, Shout! Factory founding partner and COO. “Throughout his long and storied career, Cooper has always been a master entertainer and a consummate showman. His connection to the dark and spooky holiday is definitive. It’s great to be working with him as he is crowned the King of Halloween.”

In addition to releasing the new single, Cooper is busy hosting his “Nights with Alice Cooper” radio program, now syndicated on more than 100 stations worldwide and staying on the road with his Theatre of Death world tour—tour dates below. For more information on “Nights with Alice Cooper” please visit www.nightswithalicecooper.com

Shout! Factory is a diversified entertainment company devoted to producing, uncovering and revitalizing the very best of pop culture. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their careers sharing their music, television and film faves with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory’s DVD offerings serve up classic, contemporary and cult TV series, riveting sports programs, live music, animation and documentaries in lavish packages crammed with extras. The company’s audio catalogue boasts GRAMMY®-nominated boxed sets, new releases from storied artists, lovingly assembled album reissues and indispensable “best of” compilations. These riches are the result of a creative acquisitions mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention. For more on Shout! Factory, visit www.shoutfactory.com.

Spinal Tap release new short film exclusively on iTunes

August, 25, 2009 – In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the cult classic film, “This is Spinal Tap,” Shorts International and INgrooves today have released Spinal Tap’s new short film, “Stonehenge: 'Tis A Magic Place.” The film is available to download exclusively from iTunes starting today for $1.99.

The seven minute short marks iTunes' first original film, where Spinal Tap, having put Stonehenge on the map in their legendary song about the world heritage site, pay their first visit to the monument. As if drawn by some primal, magnetic force, Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls set out on a pilgrimage to this ancient site. The silent song of these mysterious lithic Sirens inspires the distinguished artistes to make a trans-generational house-call.

iTunes is featuring "Stonehenge: 'Tis A Magic Place" alongside the original "This is Spinal Tap" film, available digitally in HD for the first time, as well as all three of the band's albums including their new "Back from the Dead."


The iTunes distribution of “Stonehenge: ‘Tis a Magic Place” follows the recent release of the Blu-ray DVD version of the original cult film classic, “This is Spinal Tap,” as well as Spinal Tap’s “Back from the Dead” album release this past June and the upcoming September 1stDVD release of the recent concert tour, “Unwigged & Unplugged: An Evening with Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer” – all commemorating the 25th anniversary of the original Spinal Tap movie, which was theatrically released in 1984.


“We’re excited about this opportunity to partner with iTunes and INgrooves to distribute cutting-edge content to film lovers and Spinal Tap fans throughout the world,” said Carter Pilcher, Chief Executive of Shorts International.


“We all jumped at the opportunity to participate in a novel and ground-breaking way with Spinal Tap,” commented Robb McDaniels, President and Chief Executive Officer, INgrooves. "The resulting short movie is simply spectacular and the culmination of months of hard work for all involved.”

PLAYLIST: Insomnia Friday #4

The fourth edition of Insomnia Fridays will be available on our usual iTunes page later today.
Here’s the full playlist, and clickable links to each artist’s website.

If you have enjoyed this podcast, please consider making a small donation (using the button on the top right of this page) towards helping us buy necessary equipment, server space and our own dotcom domain.

Songs played:

Shannon Hurley - California

Marquis Of Vaudeville - Everyday Forever
Lisa Novak - Human After All

Au Revoir Simone - Through The Backyards

theme/background music: Lee Barry - A Place No One Knows

Recommendations:

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis

Visit our iTunes page and download this episode at: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=208833379

Download iTunes for free at http://www.apple.com/itunes

Send feedback to: insomniacafepodcast@gmail.com

R.E.M. to release live digital EP

R.E.M. will be releasing a four-song EP titled Reckoning Songs From The Olympia on July 7 through all of the major digital services.

The songs were recorded during the July 2007 "working rehearsals" at Dublin's Olympia Theatre. The band used the live shows to test out material for their Accelerate album.

All four songs on the EP were originally released on their album Reckoning. The album is meant as a preview of R.E.M. Live at the Olympia which will be released this fall.

The track list:

• Harborcourt
• Letter Never Sent
• Second Guessing
• Pretty Persuasion

PLAYLIST: Insomnia Cafe: Season 2, Episode 4: Patti Russo Special

Originally posted on the old site, November 2008.

Yes folks, our long-awaited new episode is finally available (or should be within a few hours of this post), and we've devoted the whole episode to one of my favorite women in all of music - known for her powerful, gutsy singing and equally knockout stage prescence, star of We Will Rock You, Queen collaborator, and Meat Loaf's leading lady for close to 15 years in his touring band The Neverland Express, the one and only Miss Patti Russo!



It was a real treat to be able to interview Patti earlier this year at Amsterdam's Heineken Music Hall, following an excellent performance from Meat and The Neverland Express as part of the Casa De Carne tour. She's every bit as warm, funny, insightful and ballsy as you'd expect, and the interview (originally intended to be 15 minutes) absolutely flew by. In fact, I decided that rather than including it as a section of a regular show, we'd bookend the conversation with a couple of her solo songs and put the whole thing out on its own.

The two songs of Patti's included in the podcast are:

Bring Me A Bible And A Beer (currently available to hear on her myspace - see below) and

Here We Are (available to purchase on iTunes)

My apologies for the poor sound on the actual interview. I made the mistake of thinking that the 120 euro digital recorder from Philips, bought especially for the occasion, might have some sort of quality surpassing my 15 year old micro-cassette dictaphone. I was wrong. Hopefully that won't spoil your enjoyment of what is, in my opinion, a very lively and fun interview. We discuss everything from her work with Meat Loaf, the time she met Cher, her favorite Queen songs, bibles, beer and much more.

Head over to our iTunes page right now to download the full episode for free!

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=208833379

For more info on Patti, check the following links:

Patti-Rocks (fan site)

Patti Russo's myspace

If you enjoy this episode, please consider making a small donation to Insomnia Cafe via Paypal at locusceruleusmedia@gmail.com - Insomnia Cafe is, and always has been an ad-free, non profit making blog and podcast. All travel expenses, equipment costs, etc. come out of my own somewhat thinly lined pockets. Donations will go towards helping us buy our own server space for the podcasts, a dot com domain, and yes, a functioning, decent quality digital-recorder.
- Michael