Logan on Last.fm

Since Logan is a new band to most of our fans here in the U.S., we thought you might appreciate them a little more if you were able to connect them with some artists you might already know. So today we wanted to share with you some links to their page on Last.Fm. On last.fm you'll be able to read about the band, listen to tons of samples off of their previous albums, see what others are saying about Logan, and listen to "Logan Radio."

Enjoy!

Click on the links above or simply visit Last.Fm to view the page below!

King Sunny Ade North American Tour Cancelled

Since we had posted the information for the King Sunny Ade tour, we thought we better also let you know about the cancellation.

Here is the information from the L.A. Times:

King Sunny Adés spring tour of North America has been canceled for a combination of visa and personnel issues. After two members of the Nigerian Afro-beat band died last month in a car accident, the U.S. Embassy had been slow to approve visas for replacement members.

“At the same time,” according to a statement issued Monday by Adé’s representatives, “it became clear that the artist and the band had neither recovered from the impact of the tragedy, nor were they able to find consensus on how to move forward with normal touring.”

“As a result, [the tour] has been canceled until such a time as King Sunny Adé and his group have sufficiently regrouped and are ready to face the rigors of an International tour again,” the statement said.

But, don't forget we are going to be releasing an amazing new King Sunny Ade album very soon!

Did You Know? Steven Santoro

Today we thought it would be fun to do a little "Did You Know?" game and give you some fun facts about our artist Steven Santoro!

Did you know that Steven Santoro won one 2009 Just Plain Folks Music Award and was nominated for another for two different songs on the Mesa/Bluemoon release "Whisper My Name"?

His song Baby I'm Sorry won second place in the Vocal Jazz Song Winners category and Waiting For Grace was nominated in the R&B Song Category!

Did you know his song Hail Columbia was featured on the album project "Song For America" which featured 50 tracks on 3-CDs and was accompanied by other great artists such as John Mellencamp, The Black Crowes, Martha Wainwright, Andrew Bird, The Wilders, and Take 6?

Check out the amazing story of Hail Columbia by clicking HERE!

Did you know his real name is Steven Kowalczyk, and the last name Santoro comes from his grandfather Libertore Santoro, who was the saxophonist that inspired him to play the same instrument?

Did you know that Mesa/Bluemoon plans on releasing another album with Steven Santoro? Make sure to stay in touch for more information on the upcoming release by subscribing to this blog, following us on Twitter, and becoming a fan of Mesa/Bluemoon on Facebook!

Antonia Bennett - Music on MySpace

As we are getting excited about Antonia Bennett's upcoming digital EP release, we can't help but share some of this excitement with you. So today we wanted to direct you to Antonia's wonderful MySpace Playlist with some previously recorded tracks.

So Make sure to check out these tracks from Antonia Bennett:

Sail Away


Under the Cherry Moon


You're A Lucky Guy

Rasaki Aladokun - The Master of the Talking Drum

Today we continue introducing those involved with the upcoming King Sunny Ade album, but this time we aren't introducing a guest artist, but rather someone who has played with King Sunny Ade for over twenty years!

Rasaki Aladokun


Rasaki Aladokun, Nigerian talking drum miracle artist with over twenty-five years of experience. He was a valued member of King Sunny Ade’s band for over twenty years. During that period Rasaki participated in the recording and release of over 50 albums and CDs.

Rasaki’s incredible energy and mastery of the talking drum has probably contributed to making King Sunny Ade what he has become in the music world. Rasaki is well traveled having performed in several musical engagements in Asia, Europe, the US, not to mention in several parts of Africa. Rasaki’s expertise has earned him the respect of music lovers all over the world. He has been a featured artist in the recordings of many notable musicians, among them, O.J. Ekemode, Stevie Wonder, and Babatunde Olatunji of Drums of Passion among others.





Also watch Video #1 and Video #3 on YouTube!

King Sunny Ade Engineer Phil Nicolo

Phil received a Bachelor of Science from Temple University in 1977. He and his brother Joe began their music careers as teenagers, fixing speakers at a nearby drive-in theater. In 1980, they founded Studio 4, a recording studio in Philadelphia. Individually and together as the Butcher Bros., they quickly established themselves as a force in all genres of music production, from rock to R&B, mainstream to cutting edge. Mr. Nicolo has attained the most coveted form of success in the music business: he has succeeded in every music genre he has tackled. His early rock credits include the Hooters, Nighthawks and Willie Nile. At the same time, he was creating music with Kriss Kross, Teddy Pendergrass and Taj Mahal. Mixes of Billy Joel's River of Dreams, the Rolling Stone's Love Is Strong, Aerosmith's Falling In Love and James Taylor's A Little More Time are all Mr. Nicolo's work. He co-produced and mixed Sting's When We Danced and re-mixed Message In A Bottle for the Police. Other credits include John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Amy Grant, Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), Santana, Pete Yorn, Luscious Jackson, Urge Overkill, the Pretenders, Jon Bon Jovi, and Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam.

In 1989, Ruffhouse Records was launched out of Studio 4 operations, and over the next ten years it moved more than 100 million units through Sony distribution. Responsible for the careers of Lauryn Hill, the Fugees, Cypress Hill, Kriss Kross and Wyclef Jean, Ruffhouse alone accounted for 12 of Columbia Records 39 Grammy nominations in 1997. In 1993 , Mr. Nicolo founded Master Voice, a mastering lab based in Conshohocken, PA. In 1994 He joined producer Rick Chertoff and Polygram Records. Rick's label Blue Gorilla had great success with Joan Osborn.

While maintaining a busy stable of multi-platinum artists, Mr. Nicolo has continued to work with cutting edge talent. He produced the critically acclaimed Train EP for Aware/Columbia. Phil has produced Hamell on Trial, the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones, Dishwalla, Fig Dish and Cibo Matto, a veritable who's who of cutting edge rock. His hard rock credits include Life of Agony, Dog Eat Dog, Urge Overkill,Boy Sets Fire and Anthrax. He mixed the Butthole Surfers Pepper, the Cults Gone/Coming Down and produced the Fugees Live Bootleg EP. Projects include mixes for John Lennon & Yoko Ono, remixes and live recordings with Depeche Mode, mixes for the band New Order, an EP for Columbia artist Pete Yorn, and a live recording of The Moby Area One tour featuring: Moby, Incubis, Nelly Furtado, Outkast and The Roots. A recient thrill was working with Bob Dylan on a track for the "North Country" film soundtrack, produced at his Studio 4 facility in Conshohocken.

Phil recorded a remake of Queen's "Under Pressure" with Keane for a BBC tribute CD . The band loved working with Phil and the sound of the new "A" room. Current projects include new releases from King Sunny Ade' and Schooly D.

He produced Rock School , a documentary soundtrack with the Students from Paul Greens School of Rock and various artists including Alice Cooper, Billy Idol, Jon Anderson (Yes), Ann Wilson (Heart), Ian Gillan, Marky Ramone, Dave Mustaine (Megadeath), and Stuart Copeland (The Police).

Phil is a national trustee of NARAS (the Grammy people) and is active in the community with various NARAS events. He has been nominated for 4 Grammy awards, and won for mixing and mastering The Spanish Harlem Orchestra . Phil is the proud recipient of the 2003 Lew Klein Alumni in the Media Award, placing him in the Temple University Communication Hall of Fame, where he teaches as an adjunct professor.

King Sunny Ade Guest Artist Damon Bennett

In our continuing quest to introduce everyone on this jam-packed upcoming release, today we wanted to introduce Damon Bennet. He plays keyboards and flute on the upcoming album!

DAMON BENNETT

Damon is one of the "New Millennium" MFSB members. He began his musical career sinign in the church choir. By age thirteen Damon achieved a useful proficiency as a keyboardist. He began working with the Roots Ahmir Thompson, and other musicians from the thriving "Neo-Soul" scene, like Jill Scott.

His primary influences are Quincy Jones, Gamble and Huff, Stravinsky, and John Coltrane. He has composed works for the Freedom Theater, the Prince Theater and Crossroads Theater. He lives and loves jazz, r&b and gospel styles of playing.