Censor: American Idol Steven Tyler is a FOX standards nightmare

When you tune in for the season premiere of American Idol tonight, expect the censors to be working overtime – and no, it’s not because of Cee-Lo Green. Instead, new Idol judge Steven Tyler is said to be a profanity machine on the show according to host Ryan Seacrest, who quipped that the standards and practices division at the FOX network may have difficulty keeping up with the Aerosmith singer as he swears his way through the premiere like a sailor.

This is no surprise to those who know Aerosmith and Steven Tyler better than they know American Idol, as Tyler is as comfortable with the f word as he is with a microphone. But for those longtime Idol viewers who’ve grown accustomed to the show’s PG rating, with previous judges who’ve carefully remained within the boundaries of what you actually can say on television, expect a surprise as Steven Tyler blows up the blueprint in his own way. Here’s more on the American Idol premiere.

Kingsfoil interview: indie and loving it

by Keri Franz

I can’t stop talking about these guys. Jordan Davis, Tristan Martin, Joe Cipollini, and Tim Warren are Kingsfoil, the unsigned, central Pennsylvania rock band that are stuck in my CD player. As the band stands with the aforementioned members, they have released their first full-length album, On Our Own Together, earlier this year. They seem to be taking everything super seriously. With the help of a few other local bands, they have managed to completely sell out the infamous World Café Live in Philadelphia both upstairs and downstairs. Not too shabby considering that place is a tough venue to fill. Either way, each new endeavor the Kingsfoil boys take on seems to make them increasingly popular and marketable. I talked to singer Jordan Davis shortly following the release about working with a new producer, what the album title means to him, and why Kingsfoil is greater than Chipotle.

The first full length album for Kingsfoil, as it stands now (with Joe, Jordan, Tristan, and Tim), was released not too long ago. Together, you four guys released the EP, Bear in the Attic, in 2005. What took you so long to release a new CD?

We put out a series of singles, like “Trees” and The Double Single, but we also were unfocused in that we were writing songs without the money to [record them]. At that point, no one was really making a full album. They were just doing EPs and singles. But there was a certain point where we were trying to find an identity with an album and not keep putting out singles. We needed to come up with a new batch of songs that [represented what] we were about musically because we had grown a lot since Bear. It was just something we had to do as a band.

Were the processes of writing and instrumentation done together by the four of you as a band?

Doing the instrumentation was the most cohesive we’ve ever done it. We were more comfortable with each other this time around. Everybody was given ideas of structures. I wrote songs by myself and with Tristan, and we would bring those to everybody. We would all come together and look at it and kind of go this is great and then everyone would go through their own parts, like we usually do.

I think it’s pretty amazing that you can all write your own thing separately and come together and make it work.

And with hopefully a sound that goes together, that isn’t really disjointed. At the same time, we didn’t want it to be an album full of the same type of song. I think we successfully did that.

And there are 14 songs on this one! We’re so spoiled here! Especially with those couple acoustic songs at the end…

I know! “If You Love Something Push It Away” was one of my favorite lyrics I’ve written for a song ever, and it think it still is. We were keeping it in our back pocket, and then it felt like it could go on the record. It ended up fitting with the whole vibe, and I’m really glad it got to be on the record.

The album is promoting a sense of togetherness, I’m assuming. What is the message that you are trying to portray as Kingsfoil?

There are a lot of different things. The idea of it is that we all have different insecurities and we all end up feeling alone in a different way. It doesn’t matter how you feel alone or how you feel different from other people, it’s all the same. As soon as people figure that out, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to fix them or fix their problems, but it’s gonna put them in perspective a little bit. I think that’s important for a lot of people. There are a lot of different levels. We’ve always been really good friends, but we’re also very different. We’re a really different group of people in our own lives. We all have different beliefs about stuff and different things we’re into but, at the same time, we have a really strong connection and friendship beyond the band. The album title has a lot of personal validity to what we are.

You were working with producer, Dustin Burnett, on the record. How did you meet up with him?

Two years ago, we met him at the Dewey Beach Music Conference (which is down in Dewey Beach, DE). We won a contest and did a couple songs with him for free. That’s when we did The Double Single, which consisted of “Love Is a Carnival Goldfish” and “Demons.” We just got along really well, simple as that. He’s on the same page musically as us, and he’s a young guy who’s really driven. That was something we were looking for and not like someone who’s done a lot of records who’s just in it for the money. He’s also super talented and good at what he does. It worked out so well that we wanted to go back and do the record with him.

What was it like working with him?

We did pre-production all last summer. He flew in from Nashville, and we worked on songs and structures. That helped a lot because, when we got in the studio, we weren’t wasting a lot of time. We all went into it knowing we had to have an open mind. We had to listen to him, as well as trust him and each other’s opinions. The biggest disagreements we had were that he wanted me to change something and I went with it and changed some stuff and some stuff I held on to. At a certain point, you just know that that person really likes sometime and it’s important enough for you to let go and to let them have it. And it goes both ways. A lot of bands don’t think they need a producer and some don’t. But, if you can put your ego aside (and that’s the biggest problem with a lot of bands) and you can trust somebody, you’re ultimately going to have a record that sounds better and sounds more mature and cohesive.

Was there any difference between this time you recorded and back in the day when you recorded Bear In The Attic?

We did some of the tracking at Dustin’s house, and we got to mess around a little more than we did on Bear. We got to be spontaneous and sometimes that gets lost when you’re a younger band that doesn’t have a lot of money. It’s nice to be able to do a little bit of that. It was something different that we did on this album that we hadn’t done before.

Do you have any plans to do anything nationally?

We really don’t have any bounds at this point. We’re taking the record and seeing what kind of bites we can get with it. Whether it be building our team like a larger management company or a label or a booking company, really we’re just doing what we can with the album. It’s hasn’t been out long, and it’s already going really well. I know I see a lot of good stuff going down. We’re just not sure yet.

For people who don’t know who Kingsfoil is, why should they give your music a listen?

I’ll take myself out of this, but I think a lot of people forget there are so many bands that are put together and they’re just working on one good single. What they sometimes forget about is the rudimentary playing. I’ve been thinking a lot about Tim, Joe, and Tristan and how they are really legitimately good players [laughs]. So, I think that’s something that a lot of people take for granted and a lot of people don’t have. It’s not cocky; it’s just something that should be appreciated. On top of that, the songs that we have are not fake. There’s nothing fake or manufactured about any of the parts, any of the lyrics, or any of it. It’s all from our heart and because we want to do it, and we like to do it, and we have to do it. That’s why it’s worth listening to, because anything like that is gonna be worth listening to…unless you think we really suck or something.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Instead of going out to eat one night in the next couple months, just buy our album because I promise it will be so worth it. It’s ten dollars which is as much as it costs to buy a burrito at Chipotle. It lasts longer than a meal. Go hungry for a night for Kingsfoil!

Kingsfoil.com • iTunes • Twitter • Facebook

iPhone New Years alarm bug: just another faux iPhone controversy?

by Bill Palmer

Did you fall for the New Years Day iPhone alarm clock hoax? I did, sad to admit. I’m alone in a hotel in the middle of nowhere right now (don’t ask), and I need to hit the road again today. So when I heard last night that a bug had been discovered in the iPhone’s “Clock” app in which any alarms set for New Years Day simply didn’t bother to go off, I was concerned enough to take the time to actually figure out how to set the old twentieth century style clock radio in the hotel room just in case. But as it turns out, and was the case for millions of other iPhone users, there was no issue. iPhone alarms went off as they were supposed to. Life went on. So where does this continual nonsense about the iPhone come from?

I don’t want to jump the gun here, as it’s entirely possible that some segment of iPhone users, somewhere, somehow, was indeed affected by this supposed alarm bug. But as it stands, I can’t find them. All I can find is a bunch of people who heard about the supposed iPhone alarm bug last night, opted for a different method of waking up today instead, have no idea that their iPhone would have dutifully woken them like usual if they had set it, and therefore falsely believe that this “iPhone New Years alarm bug” is real despite having seen no evidence of it themselves. Remind you of anything? Like, say, the last fifteen imaginary Apple-related controversies?

This one has “iPhone 4 antenna issue” written all over it. It doesn’t exist, never existed, was concocted by geek tech pundits with a vindictive agenda, and yet millions of people, in fact millions of iPhone 4 uses, believe it’s real. They all just think they’ve been lucky enough not to be affected by it. Damage done.

Hoaxes are a very real part of human nature, for whatever reason. But there’s been a massive spike the number of iPhone related hoaxes ever since the day the police busted down the door of a certain geek tech journalist who’d stolen an Apple prototype, and other geek tech journalists apparently felt they had to avenge the matter (and for the record, nearly all tech journalists are geek tech journalists). This latest iPhone hoax, if it is indeed another hoax and not just a random glitch which affected one user who then made the honest mistake of going overboard with assumptions, is a sad sign that the geeks haven’t yet gotten their thirst for iPhone blood out of their systems. Perhaps that can be their New Years resolution.

As evidence of how effective these hoaxes are, there are bound to be at least some folks who reply in the comments section with “But the iPhone 4 antenna issue was real! Consumer Reports proved it was! Apple admitted it was!” despite the fact that none of those things are true. Just as there are iPhone users who now believe the New Years alarm bug was real despite never having seen a shred of evidence. sHere’s more on the iPhone hoaxes in 2010.

Carlos Santana: the 2011 Beatweek interview

by Bill Palmer

“I’m still relevant right now,” says Carlos Santana with a laugh as he heads into 2011 with a successful new record entitled Guitar Heaven which would be his comeback album if not for the fact that he’s had hits in each of the past five decades and has never really gone away. The twenty-first century sees the living legend with a guitar in one hand and now an iPad in the other, as he prepares to kick off a career-spanning Las Vegas residency this month.

Carlos Santana first appeared on the cover of Beatweek Magazine back in 2009. Now, as 2011 arrives, one of my favorite musicians – and interview subjects – of all time checks back in with us for a return engagement.

The last time we spoke was about a year and a half ago. You were between projects and I asked you what you might do next, and the first thing you said is I think I would like to work with Yo-Yo Ma. Now here he is on the first single of your new album Guitar Heaven. Did you know back then that this was going to happen?

Like you, my body responds to when I need a certain nutrient. For example sometimes, like a pregnant woman, you just crave pickle juice and ice cream, or you crave walnuts or you crave an apple. Your body tells you when you need greens or spinach or broccoli or brown rice. All the sudden you can’t get that out of your mind for some reason. And it’s no different than longing to share with Yo-Yo Ma or Andrea Bocelli or musicians like that. I’d like to do something with Sting. I’d like to do something with Prince. Something that is completely different than anything that they’ve done or that I’ve done. I don’t want to play Sting music or Santana music. I don’t want to play Prince music or Santana music. I want to create something more different, reminiscent of Marvin Gaye or Miles.

I’m into mixing it up. And I’m not afraid to, because all my life, if I can remember, I love variety of colors and moods and textures. You can’t tie me down to just playing Mexican music. It’s not gonna happen. Whatever that is, because at this point Mexican music is polkas, waltzes, and pre-Columbian music. So yes, to answer your question, I longed to share with Yo-Yo Ma, and by the grace of God, the opportunity presented itself to do something which is with India.Arie and doing a George Harrison song called While My Guitar Gently Weeps. It’s spectacular. I’m grateful to God that he put that thing in my conscious to do.

Olivia Harrison had some very nice things to say about your version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Did you tell her beforehand that you were going to do that?

We just sent the song after we did it, and we said you know, I’d like some feedback, I need to know your blessing or if you want me to stop and decease or whatever (laughs). She was very gracious. She said that as soon as she heard it, of course, she jumped with joy and she was crying at the same time. And that to me is all I need as far as validation from someone who was so close to my brother George Harrison that of course she’s not gonna lie to me. If she liked it, I know that he likes it also.

This album is different for you in that you chose songs that were already great instead of new ones. In this case did you choose the songs first, or did you change the singers first? What was the order in which this came to you?

The order came from Clive Davis’ mind. He saw Rolling Stone and another magazine, and he saw the greatest songs, top one hundred best songs ever, rock and roll songs, top guitar players. So he just said hey, why don’t we put chocolate and peanut butter together, you know? And I was like, I don’t know if I want to do that. So once he convinced me, the third time that he tried he convinced me, he picked seven and I picked seven. Then once we picked out the songs, we recorded them first and then we said you know, Joe Cocker would be great in this song and India.Arie will be great here. Rob Thomas actually, I went to a concert, and I was playing him Sunshine of your Love without a singer, and he goes “Hey.” So all the sudden, because he’s very close to Matt Serletic anyway, he decided why don’t we jump on it.

I think the whole thing about this CD is the word is trusting and accepting that God, the universe, whatever you want to call it, it has something to offer you. This is a gift for me. And the gift of Guitar Heaven for me was it taught me not to be such a nervous nelly and to trust that I have the capacity with the band and the producers and Clive to take these songs into a new place and make them completely new, totally familiar, with grace, with integrity, with honesty, with sincerity, with trueness, and genuineness.

Damn. I can’t believe I just said all that, man (laughs).

Speaking of Rob Thomas, the last time you worked together it was lightning in a bottle. It was one of the biggest hits of both of your careers. Did you guys have to think twice about, hey, if we do this again, whatever we do is gonna get compared to Smooth?

First, Bill, I want to say something. Rob Thomas and I, we should probably do a song called “Lightning in a Bottle” because you’re like the 777th person who actually alluded to that statement. Rob Thomas and Santana is capturing lightning in a bottle. That’s the song to be created right there, and I thank you for it.

Second, no, we don’t think like that. Rob Thomas and I, we don’t wake up to think what other people think. That would be disaster, you know? You follow your heart. Any artist who starts to create something, and you think hmm, I wonder what the people are gonna think, it’s already dead in the water. You can’t think like that. If you think like that you’re not an artist, and pretty much you’re a calculator or schemer. And that’s not gonna go very far. That’s not art. That’s gambling. There’s a lot of chance and fortune. Those are fool’s goals. And then there’s God’s grace.

You’ve reinterpreted all these rock songs and they still sound like rock songs, except Black In Black which you’ve turned into more of a hip hop song. Where did that idea come from?

Yours truly. I always felt that Whole Lotta Love and Black In Black can go into, here it goes, 2.. 3.. 4.. [scatting the opening riff]. So that’s how I think. Because that music is very vibrant. Think about rap when it’s really, really hit hard, it has a vibrancy that I love. Like Chuck Berry at his peak, or Little Richard at his peak. So what I look for in these songs more than anything is the frequency or vibrancy. I want it to be extremely effervescent and really vibrant. Even the ballads, Little Wing or Guitar Gently Weeps, as my friend Bill Graham would say, there’s chutzpah in it. It’s not wishy washy, you know? Not one song on this Guitar Heaven album is easy listening music, background music, like bathtub jazz. Not one song.

When you first started jamming on these, did it have that aggression right away, or did you have to get over yourself?

Once I got past myself then I had to motivate the musicians in the studio, and it only took one time for me to say it: with all respect, let’s not play this stuff like LA or New York studio session musicians. Let’s not play it like that at all, because these songs were not written with that kind of energy. These songs were written like a mangy junkyard dog. This is not a pedigree. This is not a poodle that you want a little speck to land on. This is a mother, mmm, energy. That’s what I want.

I stopped the session and I told them this is how we’re gonna play it. We’re gonna be a bunch of MF’ers who are roaring lions and we’re gonna attack. I only said it once. And everybody thanked me for it. They said you know, we really thank you for saying that. We don’t want you to think that you insulted us or you demeaned us. You just put fire under our butt, and we love playing with this kind of energy. We just needed a direction.

Last time we spoke, you had mentioned that you had just gotten an iPhone and I think it was your first cellphone. You had said that before that, you were using smoke signals to communicate. Now that you’ve had some time, is the whole digital thing getting more normal for you?

It has become really normal. I have a lot more access to the things that I love to do, which is art, whether it’s Picasso, Dali, or Miles or Coltrane. I have an iPad and I got it as soon as it came out, and because of the iPad I watch hardly next to zero TV. Because there’s the same energy of fear and vulgarity and crassness, only from different people. So I’d rather play with my iPad. If I’m gonna watch TV, I only watch sports, like tennis or basketball or football. Other than that, I really don’t need anything from television at this point. Because people who manipulate every channel, cable or satellite, they treat people like the lowest denominator of intelligence. They might as well just puke in front of the camera and laugh at you because you’re watching. So because of the iPad, I choose a lot more consciousness, a lot more integrity, a lot more elegance, a lot more excellence. It’s there.

I love being sixty-three, and I wet my finger and put it on the pulse of my wristband, and I’m in touch. Some hippies, they’re back over there. I’m very current. I don’t necessarily listen to everything that’s on the radio, but I’ll say it like this: I’m still relevant right now (laughs). I’m not a yesterday guy. I’m not a mañana guy, and I’m not a yesterday guy. I’m right now, this instant, can I touch my heart, can I touch your heart? And if I can motivate you to in a gentle way, as an invitation for you to accept that you’re significant and meaningful, that you matter and you can make a difference in the world, that’s the ultimate goal. Whether it’s Bob Marley or John Coltrane, that’s the ultimate goal, to utilize music in the media and this interview for. We remind people that everyone is significant, meaningful, that everyone matters and everyone can make a difference in the world. Stop saying my little opinion, my little two cents, and just my little this. There ain’t nothing little about you, except your perception of yourself. And that’s not arrogance. That’s claiming that you are alive and you can create miracles like Jesus. It ain’t just Jesus. Jesus kept telling us, you will be doing things that I won’t be able to do. Jesus didn’t create the Golden Gate. Although we’re all one, he was very clear that you, Bill Palmer, are capable of touching people’s consciousness with this interview. Because you’re one hand and I’m the other. The questions that you ask me allow me to invite people to say, look beyond Guitar Heaven. Just look at your life in the mirror and say, right or wrong, Carlos went after it. Can you go after it with the same zest and the same passion?

I know you just put Guitar Heaven out the door. But can you see yourself doing a Guitar Heaven II in the same form, or do you now need to go on a different path?

Those are questions that I think are up in the air because they depend a lot on the mind and the heart of Clive Davis. If he convinces his superiors that we can do it again in a different form, and I believe it’s successful enough to warrant so. But we don’t want to do a thing just because it’s successful. We want to break new ground. So my answer to you would be it’s up in the air. I have willingness and passion, and with that I can just about do anything and everything.

Santana.com • iTunes • Las Vegas 2011 Santana residency dates

Black Eyed Peas promise no wardrobe malfunctions at 2011 Super Bowl

The Black Eyed Peas have been tapped as the first contemporary artist to perform as the SuperBowl halftime act since the infamous “wardrobe malfunction” of 2004, with safer living legend acts along the lines of Paul McCartney and The Who having filled the role in the mean time. But while the Peas are taking the Super Bowl honor seriously, that hasn’t kept them from having a sense of humor about it. Speaking with Beatweek today, when asked if he could guarantee there would be no wardrobe malefactions this time around, Black Eyed Peas co-founder apl.de.ap joked “I’ve been working out lately, you know, so I might want to show a little bit of muscle,” before making it clear that he was kidding.

“We learned not to do that from the past performances that we’ve witnessed,” apl said of the now-infamous 2004 controversy centered around the Super Bowl halftime show which featured Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake. Of what he and his cohorts will.i.am, Fergie, and Taboo have up their sleeves for their own halftime show, apl teased about a possible jet pack before saying “We’ve got something really special but I don’t really want to give it away.”

February’s Super Bowl at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas is far from the only stadium the Black Eyed Peas have their sights set on for 2011, as their tour plans include several stadium shows in support of their newly released album The Beginning and their current hit The Time (Dirty Bit).

The Black Eyed Peas are set to appear on the December 9th cover of Beatweek Magazine. Look for a full Peas conversation about the new album, the 2011 tour, their next single, and yes, more about the upcoming Super Bowl appearance.

Lee DeWyze interview: Live It Up, life after Idol, tour plans and more

Becoming a television star this past spring hasn’t changed much about Lee DeWyze or the music he makes, beyond the fact that he’s now doing so for an exponentially larger audience. His post-Idol debut album Live It Up, which is being released today, sees him still writing his own songs, referencing his hometown lyrically, and refusing to allow himself to be categorized stylistically. In our Beatweek interview, Lee offers insight into the past four months of his newly hectic life and talks about where things will go from here.

Live It Up is not only the title of the album, it’s a sentiment that carries throughout a lot of the record, particularly in the first two tracks. Did that just unfold through the creation process?

It kind of unfolded in the creation process. I was in a happy place when I wrote the album, and I was in a good place. It starts off in that vibe and then it definitely goes to a little bit of a darker place towards the middle of the album, and that’s kind of what I wanted. I wanted it to be a different variety of music. I didn’t want it to be eleven acoustic songs or eleven big rock songs. It takes you to a different place with each song, and that’s kind of what the goal was for me.

Some artists take a year to make a record, or multiple years. You’ve made this record in just the past few months, and you were on tour for a lot of that time. On paper it looks like you were under a lot of time constraints. Was it a lot of long days trying to get this completed so you could get it out in time for Thanksgiving?

Yeah, definitely a rough little mental thing for me at first, just like why do we gotta put out a full album in this little bit of time? But I guess when you dedicate yourself to something a hundred percent as far as time, I mean I put every second into this album physically possible. I literally would sit there in the writing sessions and just write and write. When I wasn’t in there I’d be outside writing, coming up with ideas and different things. It was just really being focused. It comes down to work. What is your work ethic? I didn’t go out and do this or that, it was more like I have an album to make here and that’s what I’m gonna focus on. So that’s what I did.

With the resources you have available to you now, you could have let others do all the writing for this record, but you ended up co-writing almost every song, even with the time constraints. Why was that so important to you?

Because I consider myself a writer as well. I’m not just someone that sings songs and goes from there. Which is okay, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people that don’t write. Writing isn’t everyone’s favorite thing to do or what their thing is. But it is my thing and I’ve always written. I think anyone that followed me during the show knows that I’m a writer. And I guess for me it’s just hard to sing about and be involved in something when you’re not mentally or emotionally or somehow connected to the song. That’s just where I was at during the writing process, just putting my ideas out there and expressing who I am as an artist and what I want to do in an album. I’ve never been confused about what kind of artist I was gonna be or what I was gonna do. I always knew who I was, and I’m just glad I was able to stay true to myself on this one.

When you sat down with your label and said okay, I want to be heavily involved in the songwriting, did they have to be convinced to go with that?

You know, it was never like they said “convince me of that.” It was more like okay, “you write, so go write and we’ll see how it goes.” We went in the first session and Live It Up happened. And so after that they were like hey, do your thing. It just kind of took off from there. There was never a time where I sat in a room and was like okay, sounds good, and just went and sang it, alright, have a good day. There were times when we had one session scheduled and we had to make it into three because we were just figuring it out and I was writing. It was a cool process, man. The label was really on board with it after they saw that I was really serious about it. They’ve been awesome to me.

Sweet Serendipity just came out as a single. Are you the type who’s looking at the iTunes charts and airplay charts and sweating it, or do you even pay attention to that stuff?

I don’t really sweat stuff like that. I’m proud of it, and whatever it does or doesn’t do is okay with me. I mean of course I’d love to see it up there on the charts, that would be cool, you know? (laughs). Why not? I have my first single out there and I think in time it’s gonna do really, really well. I think it’s a great song, and I’ve heard tons of positive feedback from different people and stations and this and that. So I’m happy about it. But I mean you can’t control stuff. You gotta just stand by what you do, be proud of it, and move on. That’s what I’m doing. I’m gonna stand by this song and the album, and once the album comes out, I think people will really get an idea of what of what I was doing for the past few months, and really get a better idea for it.

You’ve got multiple Chicago references on this album. Lake Michigan. Chicago in the winter. Was that something you consciously tried to work in?

The Chicago references were not planned necessarily. It was more like I was writing about it and that’s where these things happened. Sometimes it’s easier to get an understanding of a song when put in that setting or whatever. All the songs are written from a very honest place. It’s me. Like in Dear Isabelle, the Lake Michigan reference, or in Me And My Jealousy, ‘Chicago in the winter.’ If you’ve ever lived in Chicago, anyone who has, they know what a winter in Chicago is like. To be going through a tough time here in the winter would be just be all the more worse. So it’s just kind of the way it happened, a little shout-out to my home.

The biggest transition on the album is from Me And My Jealousy which has this soaring thing going on, and then it cools off into Brooklyn Bridge, which has a sultry feel. Having something like Brooklyn Bridge on the record, do you think that’s gonna surprise people?

Hopefully. I want it to, because that’s me. It’s kind of my thing. I like good music, and I don’t want people to think that I’m just this guy that has to sing rock all the time or folk all the time. Basically, I’m always gonna do whatever it is that I want to do. Whether that be a big rock balled or a broken down acoustic song, I just like music. So coming off of the show, many people are going to expect one thing or another. Having them be surprised by what’s on the album is something I’m actually looking forward to, because I don’t know how much you can learn about an artist or a style of someone’s music through that show. I think that’s more of a different setting. It’s a different feel. I think that being able to put out my own album now, that’s really, really cool. It’s like I’m showing everybody, hey, this is what I like to do. This is me.

I know this is your first major label album but you’ve done some indie records in the past, so this is not your first rodeo as far as being in the studio and making a record. Do you think that experience helped you this time around?

Absolutely, one hundred percent. It didn’t freak me out, being in the studio. I felt really at home and I felt good about it. So being in the studio was really cool. I know what it’s like to get in that vocal booth and do a couple takes, and I know what it’s like to change things up in the middle of the recording. So I’ve definitely been there. But having this be the first album I have on a major is really exciting for me.

We’ve gotten quite used to seeing you with your guitar on TV. How much guitar did you get to play on the record?

A lot. It’s always different studio vs live. I’m the first one to admit, I’m a pretty unorthodox guitar player. I’m very percussive, and sometimes you don’t want that when you’re trying to make a record. It’s always different when you see someone live and you see them on the record, but my thing is I wanted the record to be very similar to how it’s going to be. I want it to be real. I want it to come from a real place. And I want people when they come to see me at the shows to have fun. I want them to dance. I want them to have a good time.

Speaking of live shows, you’ve already done quite a bit of touring this year with the group tour. Are you going back out on the road before the year is over, or are you going to wait until after the new year?

I think it’s gonna be til after the new year. We have a lot of stuff going on into the new year, and it’s definitely gonna be a process, but one I’m looking forward to. I’m definitely going on tour next year, early on. When that time comes I’ll be ready for it. Right now I’m just getting ready to hit all the TV shows and do all the things we’ve got to do, and have a good time doing it.

You’re going to be back on American Idol performing at some point next year. The winner always goes back. Every winner goes through this. But in your case, you’re going to be the one who’s going back and not only will it be new contestants, but three of the four judges you worked with are gone, Rickey Minor is gone, there’s talk of set changes, format changes, the most drastic changes in the show’s history. When you step on that Idol stage and perform the next time, have you thought about the fact that it’s gonna look like a whole different show to you?

Yeah, it’s kind of cool actually. Obviously the judges I worked with, it would be cool to go back and see them and all that. But at the end of the day, I’m playing for a different show. At this point it’s not gonna be about American Idol for me. It’s gonna be about doing my thing and getting up there in front of all the fans of the show of mine that are continuing to watch, and you give them something to be excited about. I’m excited to do it. I think it’s gonna be really cool to go back there, when, if, how I got back there, and to play my song. It’s gonna be different than when I was up there last time, I know that much (laughs).

interview by Bill Palmer

LeeDeWyzeOfficial.com • iTunes • Twitter • Facebook

MacBook Air countdown: new models one generation from mainstream

Congratulations, MacBook Air, you’re almost there. After a major second-generation round of upgrades and slim-downs, you’re a powerful, svelte machine. Your hardware specs are in the same ballpark as thicker MacBook models. You can be used for real computing, so long as the user isn’t looking to do a bunch of Photoshop rendering on your low-Ghz processor or store a bunch of multimedia files on your low-capacity solid-state drive.

Hmm, MacBook Air. It sounds like you’re only ready for prime time in some area codes. Sure, you can be just about anyone’s second computer. Anyone who isn’t planning to use their MacBook Air as their main computer anyway is going to do just fine on the road with it, unless they need to have all their data with them or tend to run highly processor intensive software tools from the road. But still, MacBook Air, your front and center appearance in Apple’s latest ads makes it clear that you want to be the star of the show. You want to be the main and only computer for plenty of mainstream folks. And thank to the magic of miniaturization, MacBook Air, you can get there. Solid state storage will get cheaper increase in capacity without getting physically larger. Mobile processors will get faster without negatively impacting battery life.

But that won’t happen until 2011 or 2012. And that’s the point at which Apple may get rid of the current “MacBook” altogether and allow the MacBook Air to officially become the MacBook. That’s when we’ll know that the MacBook Air has formally arrived.

Verizon iPhone in 2011 is bigger than Windows iPod in 2003

The Verizon iPhone will open Apple’s hottest product to an entire new segment of users who previously would have had to shift alliances to make it happen – and it’s not the first time Apple has made an expansion of these proportions. Most iPhone and iPod users in 2010 don’t even know this, but when the iPod was launched back in 2001, it was a Mac-only product. iTunes only existed for the Mac, and the FireWire requirement pretty much KO’d even the PC hackers. By mid 2002 Apple relented and offered a third party solution for using an iPod with Windows, but in 2003 the real thing arrived: the third generation iPod had a new-dangled thing called a dock connector port which could talk to USB, and more importantly, Apple released iTunes for Windows. After that, iPod sales were off to the races, only to be eventually supplanted by the iPhone. But as 2011 encumbers, Apple’s expansion of the iPhone to Verizon (and eventually, the other two U.S. carriers as well, if the company has any sense) will end up being a more big-time move in the scheme of things.

The reason is simple: the iPod, while it’s a great music player and does a few other nice things, is a toy. A life-altering toy in many instances, sure. But it’s an content consumption device, nothing more (talking about the classic iPod lineup here, not the current iPod touch which belongs more in the iPhone/iPad/iOS family). Contrast the classic iPod experience with that of the iPhone: it’s your phone, it’s your email and internet device, it’s your social networking tool, and that’s if you’re only using its most basic functionality. The iPhone has already found enough popularity without the benefit of Verizon that the sales increase won’t be of the same proportions; while the iPod/iTunes for Windows pushed iPod sales to something like ten times what they had been, that won’t happen here. At best, a Verizon iPhone (and to a lesser degree, a Sprint iPhone and a T-Mobile iPhone, if the latter two happen) could serve to double 2011 iPhone sales from what they would have been – which doesn’t sound huge, considering iPhone sales are already doubling year over year.

But while it won’t have the same sales impact, the significantly greater impact of the iPhone itself over its toy-like iPod cousin means that the Verizon iPhone will be a bigger deal for Apple – and for the nation’s consumers – than any bright ideas Apple had during the iPod generation.

Chances of Verizon iPhone arriving before white iPhone 4

One group of consumers wants the Verizon iPhone to arrive, after waiting for years. Another segment wants the white iPhone 4 to ship after waiting months. So which comes to market first.

Things in the Verizon iphone’s favor: images and sources say it’s a done deal and just a finite matter of time. Verizon and Apple have already begun working together on selling another Apple product line.

Working against a Verizon iPhone: no one knows exactly when that (apparently already modified) exclusivity deal ends. Recent surges in iPhone sales may have Apple in less of a hurry than it otherwise might have been. Verizon knows that adding the iPhone to its roster will significantly hurt sales of its own Droid.

In favor of the white iPhone 4: unlike with the Verizon iPhone, Apple has already announced this one. It’s only manufacturing issues that have to be cleared up, and not contractual ones.

Working against the white iPhone 4: iPhone sales are better than ever, even without the white model, which may explain why Apple hasn’t shipped the supposedly mismatched-white model. The only “evidence” of a white iPhone 4 in the wild (some guy in an elevator who has a “friend”) is suspicious at best.

It may not be what either camp wants to hear, but with iPhone 4 sales so strong in 2010, Apple could just wait til early 2011 and bring the Verizon iPhone and white iPhone 4 to market simultaneously. More…

Verizon+AT&T iPhone 4 will put the Droid platform to bed in 2011

The short story of where we are at the end of 2010 in the smartphone world is this: Apple offered the not-yet-launched iPhone exclusively to Verizon, who turned it down, and so Apple gave the iPhone exclusively to AT&T. The iPhone became a massive hit, which had Verizon regretting having turned it down – and AT&T regretting the negative impact all those millions of iPhones had on its cellular network. Verizon reacted by launching a competing psuedo-iPhone based on the Android operating system, which was no more designed for consumer usage than Linux on the desktop, but it was the best available so Verizon went with it (and so did Sprint, for that matter). Verizon’s Android-based phone, dubbed the Droid, sold well to those Verizon users who had wanted the iPhone but couldn’t get one through their carrier. That motivated Apple to get out of its exclusivity deal with AT&T, which AT&T was growing wary of anyway, and make plans to launch the iPhone on Verizon in early 2011 alongside the existing AT&T iPhone. And that gets us up to where we are now.

What happens next? Geeks who love the Android platform as much as they love their Linux will tell you that the Droid has already won. Verizon has shown that many or most mainstream folks would rather settle for a smartphone they don’t want (or sit pat for years with no smartphone at all) than switch to a carrier they don’t like in order to get the smartphone they do want. They’ll argue that Apple is only expanding the iPhone to multiple carriers in order to slow down Droid sales. And to an extent they’re right. The flaw in that argument, of course, is that with the iPhone’s arrival on Verizon, those same mainstream folks now have the option between the phone they actually want the phone they had up until now only been considering because it appeared to be a close-ish approximation of the phone they want. Given those two choices, it’s nearly a given that Verizon customers will opt for the phone they actually want. In the case of Verizon-using geeks, that’ll be the Droid. In the case of mainstream Verizon users, it’ll be the iPhone.

Which group is larger? Well, there’s a reason why they call it the mainstream. Mainstream Verizon customers who’ve spent 2010 debating whether to buy a Droid or wait for a possible Verizon iPhone will now opt for the Verizon iPhone. Some mainstream Verizon customers who’ve already bought a Droid but wanted an iPhone will now move to the iPhone once they’re ready for a new phone, while some others will decide they’re already far enough down that road in terms of Droid apps and such that they’ll choose to remain on it. But Droid users are nearly all on their first Droid, most of them having bought first one this year, which means they’re not nearly as entrenched in the Droid platform so as to be unwilling to walk away in favor of the Verizon iPhone they wanted all along.

If Apple had waited another year or two, and a Verizon iPhone might have had a significantly harder time gaining traction. Then again, a year or two ago, a Verizon iPhone would have had no competition at all. As it stands, the Verizon iPhone won’t claim all Verizon customers when it launches in early 2011, but it’ll claim most of the ones who ever had an interest in the iPhone in the first place. By the time it’s said and done, only the geeks will still be clinging to their Verizon Droid in large numbers; if anything, the largest concentration of remaining Android users will be with Sprint – and there’s nothing to say Apple can’t expand the iPhone in that direction as well, down the road. Just as long as it doesn’t wait too long. Here’s more on the Verizon iPhone.

Verizon iPhone arrives four years late, still makes splash

The Verizon iPhone is coming at the start of 2011 and it’s a long way off from the start of 2007 when Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone only to reveal that it would only be available exclusively through AT&T. On that January day in San Francisco, Jobs teased that he was about to introduce “three devices” in the form of a touchscreen iPod, a mobile phone, and an “internet communications device” (rumor has it, Verizon considered that last one for the brand name of its own Android based phone) before revealing that all three devices were in fact the same device, in the form of the iPhone. But as blown away as the Macworld Expo keynote audience was at the introduction of the iPhone, the air got sucked out of the room just as quickly for half the people there, as Jobs announced that the iPhone would be available exclusively through AT&T – not through Sprint, not through T-Mobile, and not through Verizon.

Four years of consternation later, plenty of then-Verizon-customers have since moved to AT&T to get the iPhone. Plenty of others have settled for one of the smartphones Verizon does offer, even as many of them openly admit they’d rather have an iPhone. And yet other Verizon customers are still toting a basic cellphone (which still outnumber smartphones in the U.S.) while they continue to wait for the iPhone to come to them. Even with as many potential iPhone sales as Apple has lost due to exclusivity, it’s those last two groups of Verizon customers, both of which are sizable, which allow the iPhone to now arrive on Verizon in early 2011, a full four years after it arguably should have, and yet still have a significant, even industry-shaking impact.

The good news for Apple is that while Verizon may not be super-enthusiastic in its pushing of the iPhone (Verizon’s own in-house Droid is likely to remain the phone that individual salespeople push the hardest, whether they’re instructed to or not), Apple can do its own marketing of the Verizon iPhone, independent of Verizon’s efforts. Apple can run its own “Verizon iPhone” ads (it’s not as if Verizon is going to object to having its brand name put out there for free). And Apple can leverage its sizable mainstream media interest by holding its own press conference and generating its own hype for the device. Every Verizon customer who’s ever wanted an iPhone will now be in a position to buy one, if not immediately, then as soon as upgrade pricing eligibility kicks in.

Can Apple really get away with correcting a mistake four years late, and manage to eventually erase any damage done? We’re about to find out. Here’s more on the Verizon iPhone.

Verizon iPhone: Apple loses Droid standoff, wins in 2011 anyway

Apple has got to be kicking itself that it didn’t go ahead and put a Verizon iPhone on the market a year or two sooner. All potential partnerships require some form of compromise, whether in this case it be getting out of that exclusive AT&T contract or giving up the power over the carrier it thought it could wield through exclusivity, and it’s just not a move Apple was willing to make until now. And as Apple was continuing to deny Verizon the iPhone, Verizon fought back in the only way it could – it launched its own phone based on the Android platform. Apple had to know something like the Droid was coming, and yet still declined to just give Verizon what it really wanted. And it’s a mistake that Apple is now hoping to correct after the fact.

When rumors of the Verizon Droid first kicked up, I wrote that its success or failure would determine the terms under which the Verizon iPhone would eventually come to market. If the Droid flopped, then Verizon would have unwittingly proved how much it needed the iPhone and would then have to adopt any terms Apple wanted. If the Droid were a raging success, it would prove that Verizon didn’t need the iPhone, meaning that Apple would be the one bending over backwards to accept Verizon’s terms.

The reality of the Android in 2010 in general has been somewhere in between. The Droid has sold plenty well, as have other carrier-centric Android phones like the Sprint EVO, while non-carrier Android phones like the Nexus One have been a disaster. While the latter isn’t Verizon’s problem, the real issue is that outside the geekdom, most Android users will tell you that they only bought it because they couldn’t get an iPhone on their carrier, and that they’d still rather have an iPhone than the phone they’re using.

That’s about as soft a victory as Verizon can get. Racking up sales numbers for a product that buyers openly admit isn’t what they want? That leaves a company like Verizon with a tentative victory at best, as sob stories continue to mount from those Verizon customers who tried a Droid, realized how far away from being an iPhone substitute it really was, and then ended up moving to AT&T after all – after having previously refused to for years – just to get an iPhone.

That last part is likely why Verizon has agreed to the Verizon iPhone deal at all; clinging solely to the Droid strategy, and gambling that customers won’t defect to AT&T once they realize they’ve been sold a pseudo-iPhone bill of goods, is risky. But offering both the Droid and the iPhone, and letting customers decide, is foolproof.

Even though Droid sales represent a partial victory for Verizon at best, it’s fair to say that Apple was the “loser” in the Verizon-Apple standoff if there was one. The irony, though, is that by launching the Verizon iPhone now (or more accurately, a few months from now), Apple gets to win after all: with the iPhone and the Droid available side by side on the same carrier, anyone who isn’t living inside of a geek bubble knows that the typical mainstream consumer will choose the iPhone nine times out of ten – and so suddenly this becomes an Apple victory after all. The only real victim here, once the Verizon-iPhone partnership is consummated, might be Verizon’s pride, as the carrier married its public image quite closely to the soon-to-be-forgotten Droid. But then again, assuming Verizon got the upper hand financially in this deal by winning the multi-year standoff, it looks like Verizon will be able to weep all the way to the bank.

4G future: what Verizon, iPhone have in common

iPhone 4 is the fourth generation of Apple’s iPhone, but it’s not a “4G phone” when it comes to networking technology. Nor is any other phone on AT&T considered a 4G phone from a networking standpoint. And don’t feel bad AT&T users, as Verizon isn’t employing 4G for its phones either (although Sprint is currently employing a “4G” network, it’s not quite the real thing, but that’s another conversation for another day). Under U.S. law you can buy an iPhone 4 today and legally use it on the Verizon network – but that’s a lot like saying that it’s legal to drive your car a thousand miles an hour in a state that has no speed limit: neither is physically possible, at least not at present. AT&T’s current network employs one of kind of networking technology, and for reasons that only the carriers might be able to explain (or not), Verizon’s network uses a different, fully incompatible kind of technology. In other words, a phone built to pick up a signal from the AT&T network literally can’t pick up a signal from a Verizon tower; it would be like trying to pick up your favorite FM radio station using an AM-only radio.

So what Verizon, the iPhone, and AT&T all have in common here in 2010 is that none of them are 4G. But the good news is that, unless the carriers manage to screw it up along the way, both AT&T and Verizon will be using the same 4G technology for their networks by sometime in 2011. And assuming that holds true, then a future iPhone model will also be 4G-capable from a hardware standpoint. So with Verizon and the iPhone both presumably employing 4G networking sometime within the next year… well, you do the math.

Actually, there are any number of caveats: U.S. carriers love incompatibility, as it’s what allows them to lock in their current customers, along with those draconian long term contracts you have to renew every time you buy a phone, so it’s possible that Verizon and AT&T still manage to find some arbitrary way to keep their networks incompatible from each other out of sheer greed (would you expect any less from them?). And even assuming 4G compatibility all across the board, that doesn’t mean you can just buy an iPhone and use it with Verizon. Sure, legally you can. But the iPhone comes with a contract (just like every other non-throwaway cellphone in the U.S.), which means that if you buy it from AT&T you’ll be obligated to pay AT&T every month for two years, even if you’re using the iPhone on Verizon’s network instead. And you’d have to pay Verizon too, as the recent Library of Congress ruling that you can use a cellphone on any carrier you want doesn’t mean that you magically get to do so for free. Apple used to sell the iPhone contract-free in the U.S., and may do so again once inventory catches up to demand, but the price tag last time was around six or seven hundred dollars.

In other words, using an iPhone with Verizon will only be feasible from a practical (and monetary) standpoint if Apple and Verizon end up doing a deal to officially offer the iPhone through Verizon – and that’s contingent on whenever and however the current iPhone exclusivity deal between Apple and AT&T finally comes to an end. And there’s the possibility that even then, Apple might choose to expand the iPhone to Sprint or T-Mobile first. So while the fact that Verizon and the iPhone are both presumably going 4G sometime in 2011 does knock down a significant barrier in the “Verizon iPhone” quest that’s already stretched on for three years, it doesn’t automatically clear a path to making it happen.

No Verizon iPhone any time soon, suggests new combative TV ads

A Verizon iPhone won’t happen any time soon, if the combative nature of Verizon’s new television ads is any indication. The carrier’s new “Rule The Air” campaign, which is squarely aimed at exploiting the iPhone 4 antenna controversy, suggests that Verizon is more interested in antagonizing Apple in 2010 than preparing for any kind of upcoming partnership. Corporate alliances can shift quickly, particularly in a fast-changing industry like consumer technology. But in mid 2010 Verizon appears to have no more of an expectation of being in a partnership with Apple any time soon than the carrier did back when it began running specifically anti-iPhone ads back in the second half of 2009, labeling the iPhone a “misfit toy” as the carrier was attempting to launch its own competing Droid phone. While it’s a given that the Droid will quickly fade from the landscape as soon as a Verizon iPhone is launched (clear, at least, to everyone except the geek pundits who are too insulated from the mainstream market to accurately predict anything at this point), Verizon’s latest attempts to publicly antagonize Apple suggest that the day of the Verizon iPhone won’t come in 2010.

Dave Matthews Band to take touring hiatus, will not perform in 2011

Dave Matthews Band has announced that they’ll be taking all of 2011 off after twenty consecutive years of heavy touring. The band has made it clear that they “look forward to returning to the road in 2012″ meaning that this is not any kind of a breakup, but rather merely an extended break. The band had continued to tour even after founding member Le Roi Moore passed away in late 2008 (even performing without him on the day that he died, in an emotionally charged show at the Staples Center in LA), and released new album Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King in 2009.

Meanwhile, Dave Matthews Band still has a very large number of tour dates remaining in 2010, so fans in various cities will have plenty of time to see DMB in concert again this year before having to wait til 2012.

iPhone 4GS? Save it for next year

As best I can tell, none of us on staff have made that particular typo anywhere on Beatweek.com, so I have no idea why the search engines have seen fit to begin sending people our way who were looking for something called an iPhone 4GS. Still, I can understand how some confused users who aren’t familiar with the how or the why behind iPhone naming conventions could mistakenly think that it might be the name of the next model: there was an iPhone 3G, then an iPhone 3GS, so why not an iPhone 4GS next? Well, that requires some explaining.

The iPhone 3G was actually the second generation iPhone model; its name derived from its adoption of the “3G” cellular data network. With the third generation iPhone, Apple was stuck in something of a bind as far as names and ended up with “iPhone 3GS” as a way of signifying that it was still a 3G device, still the same physical design, and yet featured various hardware upgrades (as Apple put it, the “S” stood for “speed”). Now with the next iPhone set to presumably roll out in June 2010, the nomenclature actually is in question, as “iPhone 4G” would signify the fact that it will be the fourth generation iPhone, but would also incorrectly imply that the device will use the 4G network, which doesn’t exist yet (despite Sprint’s claims to the contrary). But while we don’t yet know whether the next iPhone will be called “iPhone 4G” as Apple hasn’t yet officially even admitted that a new iPhone is coming, it’s reasonably safe to assume that the next model won’t be called iPhone 4GS. However, it is possible that the company could find suit to use such a name in 2011 when it rolls out the next iPhone after that.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I primarily created this page because if web searchers are going to land on this site after searching for “iPhone 4GS” then I’d rather they land on this page, where they can get an explanation as to what the iPhone’s various model names really mean, as opposed to some other random page on the site. As for the rest of you, perhaps you found it enlightening as well. At the very least you might get a kick out of the fact that so many people are out there hunting around for information on the new iPhone 4GS.