Stress

College students across America are beginning to feel the stress; the end of the semester is quickly approaching. Here at Gardner-Webb there are only one week of classes left and then a week of finals. Many have projects, tests, and papers due and feel that they are pushed to their limits. The magic of music is that during times like these you can put on some headphones and go into your own world. If you are in need of some music to relax you, I recommend Jon Foreman or The Swell Season. Good luck to everyone in these last few days!

I Am T-Pain

T-Pain is a hot hip-hop artist that makes heavy use of a feature in his music called auto-tune. It was originally created to use in recording studios to create perfect vocal tacks, however, artist, T-Pain, uses it every time he sings.  It creates an interesting sound that it not natural but very intriguing.  Now, anyone can sound like T-Pain.  There is an application on the iPhone that allows you to sing into it and it puts an auto-tune effect on your voice. It's a very cool application. Watch this video to see people demonstrating this app.

Tom Anderson Crowdster

I went to the David Crowder Band concert last night in Charlotte and had an amazing time. I've seen Crowder several times before but this time was the debut of their new CD, Church Music. There is so much layering on this CD that it seemed it would be impossible to play live. However, they did an impressive job. They created a robot drummer and there were a total of 5 key boards in the band. Each person was responsible for nearly 3 instruments. One guy even had a little key pad on his acoustic guitar. It was insane. All of these things were great, but the one thing that attracted me most was the Tom Anderson Crowdster. The Crowdster is an acoustic guitar ideal for live music. It has no external pickups or a soundhole so there is absolutely no feedback. It sounds so clean and very crisp. I've been reading many reviews about them and even made a bid on ebay. I would love to have one of these guitars.

Switchfoot's Twitter

I have made extensive use of my twitter in the past several months and many others are taking advantage of this site. Twitter is an amazing resource for bands. It allows artists to issue notices about their tour and let their fans know how life is on the road. Switchfoot makes great use of this nano blogging, giving updates like this, "Done with tv, now on our way to 102.1 the EDGE. Drew's mustache says hello.http://yfrog.com/79mghj." It allows fans to feel like they are a part of what's going on with the band.

Taylor Swift

Who said age makes any difference? This year, 19 year old country sensation, Taylor Swift, took four awards at the Country Music Awards. One of these was the Entertainer of the Year in which she is the youngest person to ever win the award. It amazes me that Swift and I are the same age and she is doing things I only dream of. Props to Taylor for being an inspiration to young people everywhere.

Alicia Keys Inspires

I recently watched an Alicia Keys concert on Yahoo that took place at New York University. It was really cool to see her perform and to listen to her talk. It is also interesting how music and other things are so blended. Keys used her music as a teaching moment to university students and Pepsi was the sponsor of the event. Through her own experiences she learned that "there is more creativity to be found when you balance the actual productivity of doing it with doing things, seeing people you love, taking a drive, taking a walk...these things inspire you," says Keys. Her words were very encouraging and inspiring to listen to as she encouraged growth in the lives of the students. She encouraged students to put in the work necessary and that everyone is a "very powerful human being with endless possibilities." These are wise words from Keys and offer me some encouragement about people in the music industry.

Darius Rucker

From being the frontman of Hootie and the Blowfish to his solo act, Darius Rucker has done well in the music world. His solo music, however, is very different from his former music and is starting to get some attention. His music has made a hit in the country world and people are enjoying his songs "It Wont Be Like This for Long" and "Alright." He is up for two Country Music Association Awards and has sold one million copies of his CD. He could make the history books if he wins the best male vocalist as the second African-American to do so. Read more about it on canadaeast.com.

Phillies

This years world series, which was won by the Yankees last night, was between the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees. Apparently, the Phillies were behind the whole series but had somewhat of a chance when they won Tuesday night to put them behind one game. When asked what made the difference in the game they say it wasn't being more focused, extra practice, or extra rest, but rather, they said it was the music. Music is everywhere. Many athletes listen to it as they warm up and often, there is music playing in the locker room. The Phillies claim that all they did to accomplish a win was change their music. They took Jay-Z (an avid NY Yankees fan) off of their play list and did better, according to Jimmy Rollins, Phillies shortstop. Read about it in this article from The Boombox.

Weezer and Kenny G

Alternative rock band, Weezer, and the worlds most know saxophonist, Kenny G, collaborated to create an interesting, and unexpected, mix of guitars, vocals, and saxophone.I've never been a big fan of the band Weezer, nor would I consider myself a fan on Kenny G, but they worked together to create a pretty neat blend of music. Not that this is still music that I would regularly listen to, but I admire the desire to mix things up and create a different combination of music. Watch Weezer perform "I'm Your Daddy," featuring Kenny G.

The Swell Season

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova form the band The Swell Season. They create beautiful music together with harmonies that will make you stop and listen. Recently, they release a new album titled "Strict Joy." With that cd came a music video release for the song "Low Rising." It's a cool video about a couple that is going though some problems and they feel that it is always raining on them. Throughout the whole music video there are rain clouds over their head and they are getting soaked. They never even sing the song, but they play the characters in the music video. It produces a cool effect.