Travis Barker Talks Grammy Performance With Eminem, Lil Wayne, Drake

'I have yet to rehearse,' Blink-182 drummer tells MTV News of his performance at Sunday's show.

By James Montgomery, with reporting by Kelly Marino

Travis Barker is eternally busy. Blink-182. Solo album. Clothing company. You name it, he's probably got his hand in it. That's why you can't blame him if he's not totally up to speed on his performance with Drake, Lil Wayne and Eminem at Sunday's Grammy Awards. Sometimes, these things tend to pile up.

"I have yet to rehearse [with anyone]. I got a call, like, on Tuesday. Everyone found out a day after I did. So, I don't know exactly what I'm doing yet," Barker told MTV News on Friday (January 29) in his Los Angeles studio. "I'm just a part of it. I know I'm playing drums. I know it's a performance with Eminem, Drake, myself and Lil Wayne. I think it might be 'Forever.' "

That seems likely. After all, both Em and Wayne contributed verses to Drake's "Forever," and Barker contributed a blazing remix of the song earlier this year. But the Blink drummer's night won't just stop there. He's apparently also set to perform with Wayne on a version of "Drop the World," from Weezy's upcoming Rebirth album (that track also features Em), which makes it sound very much like there's a medley on tap.

"Yeah, I think we're doing a medley, a couple of songs," Barker laughed. "I think 'Drop the World' is in. Maybe."

And while a combo of Barker, Drake, Eminem and Wayne would certainly rival the"Swagga Like Us" performance at last year's Grammys (which featured Jay-Z, Kanye West, T.I., Weezy and M.I.A. sharing the stage), there's still one big question: Will West — who has been lying low since his infamous outburst at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards — show up on Sunday to perform his verse on "Forever"? Not surprisingly, Barker isn't exactly sure.

"I don't know. Someone said he's in Hawaii, writing an album," he smiled. "I would stay there."

Sweet music therapy to the cure, no more medicines to endure!

Raga Jogiya, Bhairavi, Malhar, Darbari are no longer just music to the ears, but also a form of treatment, recovery, prevention and improvement. Rejoice! The melodious Indian Classical music is being used to affect miraculous cures, for quicker post operative recovery, treating infertility, preventing natal handicaps in new-born as also to develop concentration and memory in youth and children.

Different ragas are used to cure different ailments. Dr Sucheta Rakshit, music therapist practising at a hospital here informs that she studies the history of each patient which includes his living style, the food habits, the medical records and even the astrological signs. The therapy is prescribed accordingly. A woman with a rural background would be preferably advised natural soothing sounds akin to sea, wind and river, she explains.

The ragas of Indian classical music are classified according to `pahar' (the time period of a day), and the therapy mandates hearing the raga in the ordained pahar only. For example hyperactive people are prescribed morning ragas. The morning ragas are those that should be listened to in the morning. These include Raga Jogiya, Bhairavi, Todi, Bilash todi and Lalit etc. The afternoon ragas consist of Soodh Sarang, Jaunpuri, Bhim palasi with Raga Yaman, Bihag, Kalyan and Sudh kalyan constituting the evening ragas. The night ragas would include Darbari Kanada and Adana.

Music therapy is being used extensively in a hospital here for patients of neurology and gynaecology departments with amazing results. Dr Prakash Khaitan, neurosurgeon here says, "We are using music therapy along with medicines and it has been seen that the recovery has been much faster than with just medicines." He recounts recent cases where post operative recovery has been quicker due to music therapy.

"I operated a 60-year-old woman who was suffering from haemaephalagia (half body is paralysed). She was given music therapy along with the medicines and we saw that she regained consciousness, vision, sensations and movement of body parts much faster than in earlier cases. The recovery period came down to nearly half, he recalled." Dr Khaitan mentions another case of an agitated 40-year-old male patient with a severe head injury. "We performed a CT scan on him and as we were preparing for the operation, we played music which had a becalming effect on him. A repeat scan immediately thereafter showed reduced inflammation in brain which implies that music therapy leads to some kind of activation of brain cells. These indications are extremely encouraging," he gushes.

Many ailments can be cured with music only. Raga Bhairavi helps in curing asthma and cold as also sleeplessness. Raga Malhar, Raga Sorath, Raga Jaijiwanti are used to get rid of mental stress. Further, Raga Sarang cures headache, Raga Darbari improves heart condition, Raga Pancham reduces stomach disorders and Raga Shivranjini enhances memory. To energise the body, refresh the mind, to mitigate migraine and even in treatment of psychiatric cases like insomnia, music therapy is very effective. "In severe cases we start the therapy with only instrumental music which is later upgraded to vocal music, informs," Dr Sucheta.

"We recommend that the patient should listen to the music during the advised time period with a headphone. In operative recovery cases, we give the music therapy to patients twice a day (mornings and evenings). Usually each session is an hour long. The room should be dark and if that is not possible then eyes should be covered with a dark coloured eye band. The patient should be comfortable so that musical vibrations seep into the body," she adds.

Dr Vandana Bansal, gynaecologist and IVF specialist, feels that music is the essence of life and has an immense becalming effect on the mind. "I personally, too, believe in music therapy. When I perform operations, I prefer to play a soothing music in the operation theatre. Also after a tiring day I listen to the recommended music and feel rejuvenated," she says.

Music therapy helps cure infertility and autistic children (children born with a handicap). Both these are directly related to mental stress. Music therapy is showing positive results in post delivery and post operative recovery of patients. "We plan to use music therapy in our IVF techniques also," informs Dr Bansal.

With the world's first music therapy programme launched in Michigan State University in 1944, today music is also being used to overcome depression, to enhance concentration and memory in children as also develop intellect and creativity in youth. The seven notes of music may soon turn out to be the seven wonders of the medical world!

A Well Rounded Musical Education Includes Theory

Within the musical community, there is a debate about the value of music theory that will probably never ends. Is it important to study music theory scales, or is it much better to just dive into the music and experience it viscerally. The proponents of learning the theory regarded it as an essential part of knowing how to play music. You can learn by trial and error, they say, but you would do much better to benefit from the knowledge of other people. Not learning music theory when you play music is like refusing to learn arithmetic when you are studying math.

The other side, however, has just a strong of an argument. They claim that music theory worksheets are stifling. The point of music, they argue, is creativity. You should dive into it and experience it viscerally. Learning the theory of music too early on can stifle the imagination. Although it is alright to learn music theory chords later on, it is much less important than having some experience actually playing music.

I used to be on the latter site, but I have recently switched opinions. You see, I learned music without music theory. I didn't even know music colors theory, much less the more formal and rigorous stuff. To me, you see, playing music was almost a physical experience. I could feel the sounds and textures around me. I didn't really need someone telling me what the structures meant. I could tell what they meant with my entire soul.

As I have matured as a musician, however, I have seen the use and the need for music theory. I have even begun to use music theory worksheets, and I hope to understand it pretty thoroughly within the next couple years. You see, the most important thing about theory is that it gives you a good vocabulary to talk about music.

I believe that you can learn to play anything without music theory. What you can not do, however, is to talk to other people about it. If you don't know the names of the chords, the different scales and progressions, and the rhythmic patterns that define various forms of music, how can you tell other musicians what you want? Learning about music is almost as important as learning language if you really want to collaborate with other people. Without it, it is very difficult to express yourself and ask people for what you want. Why make life difficult?

World music, dance come to Abu Dhabi

ADACH to host exceptional world music, dance performance in January, February featuring African rhythms, Flamenco, Kathak.

Habib Koite

ABU DHABI - Featuring the best of contemporary world music and dance, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) continues its unique initiative World Stage by hosting three exceptional artistic experiences this January and February.

Authentic music lovers will witness an extraordinary performance of internationally acclaimed Malian musician Habib Koite on January 21 at the Cultural Foundation in the capital.

Koite, famous for his exuberant guitar-playing and vibrant African rhythms, and his supporting cast, Bamada, a super-group of West African talent, including Kélétigui Diabate, have graced numerous world music festival stages and won an array of awards for their chart-topping albums.

In January 24 and 25 ADACH will host another breath taking flamenco nights at Emirates Palace Hotel Auditorium by Joaquin Cortes who needs no introduction to Flamenco and dance lovers; he single handedly re-defined the language of Spanish dance when he was only in his twenties. Since then he has embarked on a superstar career constantly pushing the limits of movement and drawing inspiration from his gypsy heritage and contemporary sensibilities. In Abu Dhabi he presents show CALE - his brand new flamenco extravaganza with forty dancers on stage.

Akram Khan, one of the world's top contemporary dance choreographers is partnering with ADACH to present a two-year international co-production reflecting the artistic heritage of the Middle East. His first piece, Gnosis, presents a sublime combination of traditional Indian Kathak dance and contemporary movement with Arab Oud and Qanoon musicians live on stage. The performance has already garnered rave reviews after its recent premiere in London's Sadler's Wells Theatre and receives its Middle East premiere in Abu Dhabi before touring the region.

The show will be staged on February 25 and 26 on Abu Dhabi Theatre (Marina Mall area).

Music therapy: Teachers strike an emotional chord with disabled students Learning to play an instrument, experts say, allows hidden talents to sing

By Lisa BlackTribune reporter

December 21, 2009

Elizabeth "Lizzi" Gottlieb loves music and she loves an audience, so when her flute teacher comes calling on Tuesday evenings, she is quick to assemble her family for an impromptu concert.

At 21, Gottlieb has played the flute since fifth grade, an immensely rewarding hobby for the young woman with Down syndrome who practices for hours in her bedroom.

"Lizzi will never be a total virtuoso, but she can play hundreds of songs and get joy out of it," says her longtime instructor, Bob Lieberman, 58, who tapped his foot as she played "Yellow Submarine."

Lieberman and other music teachers understood long before being validated by research that playing an instrument offers much more than simple pleasures and emotional release. For children and adults with disabilities, music can unleash especially powerful gifts, helping them communicate or process information in new ways, researchers say.

While music therapists work on life skills, improving wellness, self-esteem and accomplishment, there are invisible benefits at play, too, that can be had even in more traditional lessons not tied to a medical purpose.

"Music is non-threatening, and it is all around us," said Melaine Pohlman, a Geneva music therapist and president of the Illinois Association for Music Therapy. "We are all able to experience it on some level. Even folks who are severely impaired can experience music."

Increasingly, parents are signing up children for music lessons who, years ago, might not have gotten the chance because of a disability. In Hinsdale, for instance, Autumn Voakes, executive director of the American Music Institute said that more parents are seeking lessons for children with autism. She hired two teachers with special-education experience as a result and hopes to expand her programs to specialize in the area, she said.

Listening to music stimulates the brain in areas involved with paying attention, making predictions and updating memory, said Vinod Menon, associate professor of psychiatry, behavioral sciences and neurosciences at Stanford University.

But playing an instrument challenges the brain even more, engaging the visual, motor and auditory systems as the musician reads notes and moves his or her hands and body to perform while listening to the sounds.

"This is a good way to engage multiple networks in the brain," Menon said. "They establish temporal patterns. How exactly this might improve mental and cognitive functions is at present unclear. I think it would be quite surprising if they did not have a significant impact."

Rebekah Cope, 31, a violin teacher for The Musical Offering in Evanston, counts several students withattention-deficit hyperactivity disorder as among her most talented.

One of them, Karlita Williams, 14, a freshman at Payton High School in Chicago, has played half a dozen instruments, including violin and, more recently, viola. She often needs more time to learn the lesson, but "then she comes back two weeks later and is playing beautifully," Cope said.

"She has these very elaborate ways of finding a note and learning what she's playing," Cope said. "It seems complicated to everyone else but makes sense to her."

Karlita, diagnosed at 9 with ADHD, said she finds it easier to focus when working with a teacher one-on-one. She tried ballet and tap dance classes when younger but found it too tempting to socialize with others.

Often she needs Cope to repeat instructions in different ways, sometimes over a period of weeks, before she fully understands.

"I hear her, but I have a problem where -- you know how you hear people talk but you aren't really listening? You are not processing the information," Karlita said. "I had one teacher say I learn by osmosis. I space out. It takes a while."

During a recent lesson, she shifted from one sneakered foot to the other while playing "Danny Boy" on viola in Cope's Northwest Side apartment, which coincidentally is on Mozart Street.

Cope listened intently, violin in hand, stopping the performance every few measures to correct Karlita's hand positioning or demonstrate by playing along.

Over and over, they repeated the part until both were satisfied that Karlita would nail the song during an upcoming concert.

The teen, who performs with the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra, said she can tell when she has played the song correctly by the look on her teacher's face.

American Music Awards: Three reasons to watch, three reasons to avoid

It's hard to imagine that this is finally happening. A music awards show without Kanye West and/or Taylor Swift will go down on Sunday night, and right here in our hometown.

The American Music Awards are set for a live Sunday night broadcast -- tape-delayed for the West Coast. Set to air at 8 p.m. on ABC, expect at least 20 music performances, and the occasional fan-voted award to be handed out at the gala at downtown's Nokia Theatre.

In a tradition started last year by Pop & Hiss, here's three reasons to tune in, and three reasons one may be better off catching up on those episodes of "The Mentalist" you have on your DVR.

Reasons to watch:

1. Rihanna. Her "Russian Roulette" stands as one of the starkest, bravest, toughest singles to be released in 2009. The fact that it came from one of the world's biggest pop stars, and sounded more fit for a horror soundtrack than a dance floor, only added to its mystique. Even if it's not the song she'll be performing Sunday, it instantly catapulted Rihanna from a singles artist to a serious force to be reckoned with.

2. Lady Gaga. In terms of unpredictable pop stars, no one, perhaps, can top one Mr. West. But the man who should have been Gaga's touring partner is a bit MIA at the moment, and likely won't grace an awards show again until the Grammys, if they'll have him. But in the absence of Kanye, Gaga can be counted on for some sort of spectacle, even if her award-show speeches won't be quite as off the cuff. Her recent video for "Bad Romance" was a sci-fi-inspired explosion of arresting images, and her last major TV appearance -- a performance on "Saturday Night Live" -- featured the artist completely breaking down her hits.

3. Because the Bears are on. This doesn't really apply to those of us on the West Coast, where the American Music Awards will air later than the rest of the country, but there won't be anything broadcast on the gala that comes close to the train wreck that is the 2009 Chicago Bears. Heck, you can slap Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood and 50 Cent together for a medley of Broadway hits of the '40s, and the three of them doing the foxtrot would make for more captivating television than the Chicago branch of the National Football League.

Reasons to skip are after the jump.

1. In a week and a half, Grammy nominations will be announced. And that's really the official start of music award season. Yes, the Country Music Assn. Awards are nice and all, but true awards show bickering and griping shouldn't start until Dec. 2, when the Grammy noms are unveiled. This is like a preseason warm-up.

2. One of the biggest music stories of 2009 is not scheduled to be present. Swift just cleaned up at the CMAs, and she's on track to score a number of Grammy nominations, including album of the year. But she's not on the performance roster for the AMAs. The country superstar may very well end up with 2009's top-selling album, and her absence is a glaring omission, especially considering she has six nominations.

3. There's no suspense. At the very least, the Grammys are good for some head-scratching (see Herbie Hancock, 2008, album of the year). Additionally, one of the more fun -- and still somewhat surprising Grammy categories -- is best new artist. But the American Music Awards are based largely on data from Nielsen SoundScan, meaning the public has already voted for these artists with their dollars. There will be no Ledisi to come out of nowhere at the AMAs. Imagine taking "American Idol" winners Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and David Cook, placing them together in a new "best of the Idols" category, and asking the public to vote all over again. That's sort of what the American Music Awards are like.

Bonus reason to skip: Love him or hate him, Kanye and his award antics are the only moments that actually feel somewhat random at these awards galas. Kanye, we miss you. Awards shows just won't be the same with you gone.

-- Todd Martens

Music Stars Sing For Democracy

Tuesday, 17 November 2009, 1:13 pm
Press Release: March for Democracy
Music Stars Sing For Democracy
MEDIA RELEASE 17 November 2009


Music Stars Sing For Democracy

The March for Democracy will feature two kiwi music stars who will entertain the crowd before and after the march up Queen St this Saturday.


“We’re thrilled to have such awesome talent as Yulia and Lapi Mariner make themselves available to lead us in the national anthem and to perform other items before and after the march,” says organiser Colin Craig.

Yulia, who was born in Volgograd, Russia and emigrated from Russia to NZ in 2002 becoming a NZ citizen in 2005 says, “As a young girl I grew up with the concrete dust of poverty and the ruin of Volgograd as my playground. Now that I am a NZ citizen who is representing NZ with my artistry, I want to lend my love and support to my fellow kiwis as we encourage the NZ government to value the vote of its people.”

“By marching for democracy, I believe we honor the families who sacrificed their loved ones for our freedoms. Let us not take these freedoms for granted. Let us not forget the horrific price of totalitarianism. By marching for democracy we demonstrate that despite being from many cultures and backgrounds, we are one people under democracy.”

Thousands of families are expected to march for democracy this Saturday in Queen St starting at 1.30pm. The family-friendly event will also feature clowns, balloons, bands, most creative banner competition, and spot prizes.

A household name in New Zealand, Yulia was born in Volgograd, Russia. She emigrated to New Zealand and within two years, mastered English and scored a recording contract with SONY MUSIC NZ. From 18 to 20 years of age Yulia became the first female vocalist in NZ history to achieve two back to back number one hit albums with the award winning albums INTO THE WEST and MONTAGE. With a still growing four-plus octave vocal range, Yulia went on to sing fluently in nine languages including English, Russian, Ukrainian, Italian, French, Latin, German, Maori and Spanish and has appeared with some of the top names in the international music business in NZ and overseas. Yulia has performed with: Engelbert Humperdinck, Amici Forever, Dame Malvina Major, Ivan Rebroff, Russell Watson, Sir Howard Morrison and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Now 23 years of age, the newly reclassified mezzo-soprano has just completed months of 'total immersion' in Russian and Italian opera method of voice conditioning. This has added an all new power to the established voice of rare beauty. In 2009 Yulia has earned a reputation as one of NZ's most popular live performers, winning standing ovations, front page rave reviews and accolades for her live shows around NZ. Yulia's latest cabaret dinner and show, 'A Christmas Romance' with Brendan Horan and John Rowles offers to give Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton audiences an opportunity to experience a dynamic and fun show in the style of Celine Dion, Michael Buble and Frank Sinatra. http://www.yulia.co.nz

Lapi Mariner is known throughout the world as the "Voice of the Pacific". From the Polynesian Cultural Centre of Hawaii, to Stadium Australia and a world-wide television audience of millions, Lapi is well established in the minds of Pacific and mainstream audiences, as a Pacific Icon. As an original member of "Jamoa Jam", Lapi wooed pacific audiences with his energetic stage presence, his vocal range, and versatility. Since leaving Jamoa Jam, Lapi has taken his trademark performances into his solo career. http://lapimariner.tripodcom/id17.htm