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The Mayflower provides an matchless late summer and early autumn lineup that contains large performances of Oklahoma, Les Misérables, and the Magic of Motown, along with two runs of Faulty Towers the dining experience, and a whole host of other performances and specially themed evenings. The Mayflower is distinctive in being the initial successful theatre company in Southampton. The reasons for this no doubt have to do with its remarkable and leading edge variety of shows which are continually on. This year is no exception, since the Mayflower boasts a great number and variety of exciting productions, ranging from large budget musicals and plays, to intimate comedic one man or woman acts to specifically themed events. In the stimulating category of major name, big budget musicals and plays, the Mayflower offers a variety of classics and newly popular offerings. Included in these are Oklahoma, Les Misérables, and also the Magic of Motown. Oklahoma, that stars Marti Webb and Mark Evans, is playing Tuesday the seventeenth through to Saturday the twenty-first of August. This particular touring version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical is produced by the creators from the huge hits Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, South Pacific, and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Everyone within the family is sure to love the story famously set in the Western Frontier of America taking location within the time of conflict between the cattlemen and farmers. The Mayflower is also proud to welcome the twenty-fifth anniversary production of Les Misérables, which may be the world’s longest running musical of all time. It is going to be in the Mayflower for merely three weeks, from Tuesday, August 24th via Saturday, September 11th. The brilliant all new cast is led by London’s West End and Broadway star John Owen Jones, who has been heralded through the New York Post as the really finest Jean Valjean since the days of Colm Wilkinson, and also graced by the West End stars for example Gareth Gates who plays Marius and Earl Carpenter who plays Javert. Finally in the category of large spending budget stage musicals may be the Magic of Motown, featuring the greatest Motown live tribute concert ever. In this stunning production, music of Diana Ross and also the Supremes, The Temptations, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye, Martha Reeves and scores of others is featured. This display features literally dozens of stunning costumes, a gorgeously choreographed cast, and fully thirty-six memorable hits from the sixties, seventies, and eighties. It will play 1 night only, on Tuesday, September 14th. For 1 man comedians and acts, the Mayflower outperforms once again. Jethro will carry out his Too Late To Grow Up display on Thursday, September 16th. Sean Lock will carry out his signature Lockipedia on Saturday, September 18th. Lisa Williams, the internationally known psychic and clairvoyant, will be seen on Sunday, September 19th. A unique treat in the coming months is Faulty Towers, the Dining Experience. This well-known and long running television display turned touring musical makes two stops as the initial appearance quickly sold out. It goes in the Mayflower from Tuesday October 12th through Thursday October14, as well as from Thursday October 21st via Tuesday October 26th. Lastly, two seasonal themed events will be presented in the coming months. The Ghost Hunt and Buffet Evening will take location on Friday, September 24th, while the murder mystery Better by Nun happens on Saturday, October 30th. Once again, the Mayflower demonstrates its uncanny ability to keep the crowds in Southampton on its way back for much more. Discover much more information about what’s going on at the Mayflower Theatre

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Music is magical. Whether it is fast or slow, loud or soft, haunting or uplifting, music makes our world a richer place. Some people dance to it, some write, play or sing it, and others just listen. Music’s power is that it touches everyone in different ways. Some studies show that soft, background music (Baroque, Mozart, etc.) may actually enhance learning and test-taking in right-brain learners. However, Mozart is not the most popular music that students have downloaded on their iPods. Music exhibited no significant influence on the mental. The psychological perception of effort was not altered with or without the music stimulus, although subjects felt they performed better with the music. We know that background music can alter your mood. Films have been using musical scores for years to create the right mood for a scene. The music used in films effectively intensified each separate scene, creating a different type of mood. For many people, a doctor or dentist’s waiting-room can be an anxious and uncomfortable experience often compounded by tedium. Some postpone the appointment for as long as possible to avoid the discomfort.

Against high blood pressure. The hypothalamus controls the autonomic nervous system, which stabilizes our breathing and our heartbeat. It is also linked to emotional activity. How music helps? The appropriate music can activate happy past memories or images - the hypothalamus then helps slow the heart and respiration rate and subsequently lowers blood pressure.

It’s a fact, students with a music background tend to do better in school. A study took place at the University of Leicester and the senior lecturer in psychology Dr Adrian North, claimed: “When you hear a piece of music it activates all types of knowledge. If you hear classical music, it has got all sorts of connotations of sophistication, affluence and wealth and it makes you feel a bit posh. In a restaurant, this has the effect of making you spend a bit more money. Where people were really spending the money was on the luxury items, such as starters, desserts and coffees.” Sports music isn’t useful for the regular distance runner in search of that extra boost. It may work in warm-up, it may help in cool-down, but when it comes to really pushing your aerobic limits, Depeche Mode said it better than anyone: Enjoy the Silence.

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A while back I was driving along the Jerusalem highway scanning the radio stations. On one frequency, a very intense dance beat was exploding out of the speakers. I was about to move the dial some more in search of a Jewish tune when the vocalist started in. Shock of shocks, he was a heavily Hassidic singer, complete with eastern European pronunciation. And what was he singing? “Kumee oy’ree ki va oy-reich..” from 16th century Rabbi Shlomo Alkavetz’ classic Sabbath poem, L’cha Dodi. Before he had began his rendition I had been expecting something like “Oh baby, the way you move with me …”!

I had to ask the old question, “Is this good for the Jews?” And I had to give the old answer, “Does hair grow on the palm of your hand?”

Of course it’s not good for the Jews, I felt. Poor, unfortunate L’cha Dodi, dragged from the fields of Tsfat on the Sabbath eve and infected with Saturday Night Fever! Lovingly done by a Hassid, no less!

Speaking of Tsfat, I recall meandering about their Klezmer festival once and hearing a contemporary setting of Psalm 126. It was to a funk rhythm, and the words did not fit. The singer had to split words in two, which rendered them more or less meaningless. Good for the Jews? Nah.

What bothered me about this so-called Jewish music? To put it briefly, besides the words, it just wasn’t. It was dance, trance, shmantz. It was hip, driving, suggestive. If this music was asked where it wanted to play, the synagogue or the sin-skin club, the answer was clear. If Jewish music is to be defined as such, it must have authentic Jewish roots. And so much contemporary music simply does not. Where was the source of this tradition? Nowhere. That’s what bothered me.

But, as Tevye reminds us, there’s another hand. After all, go listen to classic Hassidic nigunim (melodies). Then go listen to Russian folk songs. Eerie, no? Weren’t those folk songs the “dance” of their day?

Even stronger, go watch the religious kids. They love contemporary popular music and all its villains. What these new Jewish groups do is take what’s hip and put Jewish content into it. Isn’t that what the original Hassidic nigunim were all about? If we don’t want to lose our young people in the culture war, we have to compete. Didn’t Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch bring the choral works of Lewandowsky and Japhet in to the synagogue service, even though they were completely in the style of the German composers of the age, such as Schubert and Mendelssohn (he needs an asterisk because he was halakhically Jewish)? So maybe I should not only calm down, I should applaud this phenomenon.

Hold on. We’re both right, I believe. Here’s how I reconcile the difference, and my earnest appeal to all who create Jewish music. The most important thing is to ask, “To be or not to be?” That is the question.

Every song has a purpose, a message. It can be joy, faith, pensiveness, determination, anything. The message is in the melody and rhythm, which create the atmosphere. It’s in the text, which gives articulation to the message. And it’s in the performance, which makes the message personal between the performer and the listener. If the message is congruent, if the music and the lyrics are a perfect union that inspires the performer, then you have a great piece of music. If the message is mixed, if there’s a battle going on between the rhythm and the words, then we are troubled. That was why that “kumee oy’ree” was so absolutely awful. It was a mixed message of licentious music with holy texts.

We love to set verses from the liturgy to music, and that’s wonderful. Composers have a special responsibility to make sure that the music conveys the message and colors the words with deeper meanings. Do that, and I’m fascinated, I’m inspired, even if it’s a contemporary style.

But be very, very careful with verses. We tend to ask, “Do you think Adon Olam goes to this?”, when we would do better to ask, “What is this melody saying?”. If it says Adon Olam, good. If it does not, then WRITE YOUR OWN WORDS. To keep with the idea of message, if you have a great tune that can say something worthwhile (something human and real, not negative or immodest), say it your way. That satisfies.

The foundation of Jewish music has always been expressing what’s in our hearts as a prayer to God. That expression must be congruent, pure, sincere. There is room in the Jewish music world for great innovation, if it comes from our hearts, not from the charts.

Seth Yisra’el Lutnick is a singer and composer who has performed on stage and screen. His CD is called Gesharim, and he is also a trained cantor. Visit his website, http://www.greatjewishmusic.com for music and more.

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Music videos featuring a buxom young woman singing about chancellor candidate Frank-Walter Steinmeier has the German media aroused. Everyone wants to know who the mysterious “Steini Girl” is and where the video came from. Some wonder if it will turn voters off.

There is no doubt that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has been called many names. After all, he’s a politician. But he probably wasn’t expecting to be described as “the pimp” by a buxom 22-year-old law student from the Berlin area. But that’s exactly how one fan of the leader of the Social Democrats apparently sees the 53-year-old politician. And she does so in what would best be described as a “political music video” that has been doing the rounds of the German media over the past week.

In the professionally produced video first posted on SevenLoad, a German competitor to YouTube, the law student, who won’t give her real name and who is therefore known only as the “Steini Girl,” sings of her devotion for the leader of the opposition. The title of the video is “I’ve Got a Crush on Steinmeier” — it’s reminiscent of a series of similar videos that came out during the American elections, starring a similarly well endowed young lady and called “I’ve Got a Crush on Obama.” The Obama viral videos were first posted by an America Web site, Barely Political, which specializes in political satire and many commentators have noted that the Steini Girl is just the latest in a series of gimmicks that the Germans have copied from the American presidential elections.

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Listening to music is like a dream of getting deep into your nature, your inner self, and viewing music through music videos is a realisation of that dream. With the advent of technology, music videos have emerged as a powerful means to promote one’s music.

Music is the most powerful way to express yourself, as with music you can touch the heart of every living being. No matter whatever you want to express to this world, you can do it through music. Even in today’s world, music is known as the best medium to pray to God. In ancient times, the musicians and singers were using the theatres and other local stages to show their talents to the public. However, with the regular growth of technology, continuous new researches in music, the scenario has been changed. Nowadays, people are making videos for their compositions and getting live to this world with the power of music.

Music videos are a type of promotional clip that embeds a complete piece of music with it. These videos are used for promoting the sales of that particular album. With the increasing number of musical genres, music videos are high in demand. These videos use a mixture of filming techniques, including live-action, animation, and non-narrative looms such as abstract film etc. Music videos are getting tremendous popularity and growth in the number of fans. By including a variety of foot-tapping genres like Rap, Hip-Hop, Electronic, Dance, Pop, Rock, Metal etc. the latest music videos are fully loaded to shake your soul. These videos are not only for rocking you, but for also comforting you. These days, music videos have become a non-stop phenomenon. Every day, we are getting a high amount of music videos through different media like TV, Internet etc. With the increasing number different music channels, watching your favourite videos has become easier.

Music videos have certainly become a very powerful source to promote one’s music and particularly in today’s world, where a picture is worth a thousand words.

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As I understand it, the members of Archer Avenue don’t share a hometown, but are spread out between San Antonio, El Paso and Houston. How did you guys meet up and end up forming a band together?

DAVE: (drums) We met in the SA bar scene, Jack (vocals, guitar) and I knew each other from Trinity University. I had known Marc (lead guitar) for years and we been playing around town with our band at the time Face Down, and Stephan (Bass) sort of appeared later, but Marc and I had been going every now and again to watch bands he played with. I remember seeing Stephan play the Rabbit my first week in SA with Psycho Plague. The four of us first played together in Summer 2003; the purpose being to record a song for a compilation while on break from school in San Antonio. One song turned into an EP a few months later, and the band was born.

How do you make it work being so far apart from each other, writing music, rehearsing, etc.?

DAVE: This is probably the most common question people have. Luckily we have a strong songwriter in Jack, and the rest of us focus on the parts and the arrangements. We have almost no rehearsal time, but Jack records demos on his own to spark the creative process. By the time we get together to rehearse, the rest of us will have heard the songs in demo tape form for months. We do a lot of the arranging when we re-record demos in full band form at Monster Music Studios, with Keith Krouse engineering.

The name Archer Avenue is taken from a street name in The Royal Tenenbaums. Is there any significance to that or is it just random?

MARC: We had originally been called the Radio One, and we had to change it, so amongst the almost hundreds of possible names Archer Avenue was the one that kept coming up. It really doesn’t mean anything to us, well at least not me.

Your music is pretty much straight-up rock-n-roll, but I think I hear a lot of late 90’s alternative rock influence in there. One band that came immediately to mind was Fuel, in the days of “Shimmer” and “Jesus or a Gun.” Am I correct in thinking that 90’s rock was a big influence for you?

MARC: In the end it comes out sounding that way, but I think we are all going for different sounds and styles, and for some reason it comes out sounding like late 90’s pop. as far as my role, I wanted the band to be very song oriented and me fit in like Mike Campell with the Heartbreakers, along with some Brit pop and country thrown in there, the other guys probably have totally different sonic goals, but if it results in late 90’s pop, then that’s cool.

I also hear some distinctly Texas sound creeping in, in the lyrics and some country-influenced guitar licks, for instance at the beginning of “Cars and Airplanes.” What Texas or country bands have influenced your music?

MARC: For me, the licks and tones that sound “country” in our songs come directly from British stuff like the Stones and the Faces, but as far as feel and arrangements, Dwight (Yoakam), Pete (Anderson), and the Flying Burrito Brothers are an influence on me.

OK, Dog Bone Studios. You just recorded your first full-length album there and got to work with some pretty big names, including Grammy Award winner Pete Anderson. How did that come about?

DAVE: Marc met Pete in El Paso TX, I remember him waking me up in Phoenix saying, “Dude I just fuckin met Pete Anderson!!”

MARC: I have been a fan of his playing for a while, and went to see him perform with Moot Davis, needless to say there wasn’t many people there for him to talk to, so he and I had about a 3 hour conversation and hit it off on a buddy level with little or no music talk. As I was leaving, it dawned on me to give him a copy of our song “Greyhound” that was on a compilation released by Bordertown Records a couple of years ago. We talked about playing some shows together, and after some failed attempts it happened. The talk of making a record came about really casually, just something to do. We had the tunes and the time, ya know?

DAVE: I met up with Pete the next night in Phoenix, got to the bar where him and Moot were playing at around 6 PM, it was just Pete and I and the bartender for like an hour, but truthfully I was a fan and just wanted to meet the guy, and I did have a demo with me but I never thought it’d amount to anything but just casual talking that day.

The next call came like 8 months and 4 demo submissions later from his label Little Dog Records asking if we wanted to open for Moot and Pete in El Paso, TX in Aug 2005. We had just come off a brief tour for Left of the Dial (our EP) so we were like “hell ya!” We played and Pete watched the whole show to my amazement; actually we draw pretty well in El Paso, and maybe the crowd got Pete’s interest. He’s a really cool dude.

Tell me about the experience of recording there. What was the coolest moment? The worst moment? The weirdest moment?

MARC: The coolest moment was basically the whole time, we weren’t there for any other reason besides making the record, no school or work to have to go to, just wake up and go play music every day (well, at least talk about music for 8 hours, then play music) I could do that every day and be happy. Plus every word that came out of Tony Rambo’s mouth was confusing and enlightening. Worst: battling with harmonies and arrangements, and being able to determine what’s right and wrong Weirdest: The drum lesson that Pete gave Dave and I, (Jack) Bonner’s bacon, and the earthquake.

DAVE: The best moment: Watching Bob “Boo” Bernstein record dobro on “Breakdown on N. St Mary’s”. He was the guy who originally introduced Pete Anderson to Dwight Yoakam in the early days. He played with Freddy Fender when he was in college. That and drinking beer and eating donuts for like weeks. And, hanging out with Tony Rambo the whole time we recorded. He’s the best producer I’ve ever met.

The worst: Day 7 or 8 or so, we had trouble with the harmonies. Pete, Tony, and Sally (Browder) wanted a ton of harmonies that we weren’t used to doing, and it took major Jack and Marc chops on the creative end to come up with them, and the end result was exactly what the producers and we were going for.

Weirdest: The earthquake during the drum tracking, day 2.

OK, pimp your upcoming CD to me in 50 words or less. Make me want to buy it.

We Watched the Headlights, We Watched the Stars, a record by Archer Avenue. Influences from the Stones, the Kinks, to contemporaries Jimmy Eat World and alt. country twang of the Old 97’s. With knob twiddlers Pete Anderson, Tony Rambo, and Sally Browder behind the board, the end result is just a tight, straight-up rock record.

I understand you’re also in the process of organizing a Southwest tour. If you could only take 5 CD’s to listen to on those long bus rides, what would be your must-haves?

MARC: Stones’ Exile on Main Street, Tom Petty’s Greatest hits, Gram Parson’s Grievous Angel, Aerosmith’s Rocks, Dwight Yoakam’s A Long Way Home, Oasis’ What’s the Story Morning Glory.

DAVE: H.I.M.’s Love Metal, Amorphis’ Tuneola, Dwight Yoakam’s Population Me, and I’m really into Megadeth’s The System Has Failed and Moot Davis’ self-titled debut at the moment.

Anything else you’d like to say to the readers of SA Rocks? Come check us out sometime, we’re going to be playing SA a lot in the next year or so, at sort of random spurts. And also, drink a beer! stay in touch.

Thanks for your time and I’m looking forward to catching you live at Rock City Bar on Friday (Nov 4)!

DAVE: Thanks SA Rocks!!

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