Yearly Archives: 2008

Taking Back Sunday plays Tuesday

“So what’s going on?”
“Well, I woke up this morning, and brushed my teeth.”

“Great.”

“Yeah, now I’m driving to Dallas.”

That would explain why the cell phone reception is so lousy. I’m trying to interview Adam Lazzara, lead singer of Taking Back Sunday, the emo/alt-rock band playing Cain’s Tuesday night. Lazzara, however, is known as the member of the group who tends toward manic-depressive—and I clearly caught him in a manic moment.

I ask him what fans can expect from the live show. “It’s awesome. It’s just a good time. Who doesn’t like a good time? There’s gonna be fire, dragons, and wizards, man. And Robo-Cop? Yeah, he’ll be there.”

Great.

I can’t blame him for wanting to have a little bit of fun. TBS is a band that—whether they like it or not—is riding a cultural wave. Their brand of hard-hitting emocore is simply what’s hot on the charts right now, and while that serves to pay the bills pretty well, it also means they have to answer the same inane questions from dozens of reporters. Like for instance, “How will your new album be different from your last few?”

Yeah, I make the mistake of asking him that particular question, as well. (What was I thinking?) “It’s all banjo,” he laughs, in reference to New Again, TBS’s fourth album, which is slated for a early 2009 release. (Actually, if you’re reading this, Adam, I would like to hear that.)

Then for a moment, he gets serious. “We’re trying out a lot of the new songs on the road,” he adds. “That’s definitely the best part—it’s like when you get someone a really sick Christmas present and can’t wait for them to open it. The new stuff is definitely a little different. We’re growing, we’re taking steps forward. Hopefully folks will be really into it. ‘Cause if not, I’ll be really sad.”

I laugh. For the twentieth time.

“Seriously though,” he says, “we’re trying some different things. We have this new song called ‘Winter Passing’—it’s like an eighth grade dance where the boys and girls are standing on opposite sides of the room, afraid to talk to each other. I think people will be surprised.”

Eighth-grade awkwardness in song form? Now that sounds like something worth checking out.

Taking Back Sunday will play Cain’s Ballroom Tuesday, December 8 with openers Envy on the Coast and My Solstice night at 7pm. Click here for tickets.


About the author:
A graduate of the University of Nebraska, Luke Harrington currently resides in Tulsa and works in the aerospace industry–but, at any given moment, would probably rather be reviewing movies and music.  In his spare time, he’s off playing blues piano, pretending to be Assistant Editor for MovieZeal.com, or reviewing the many musical events in Northeastern Oklahoma for Tulsa Today.

Photos: Kevin Knight, theshutterclick.com

What if Blag blabs?

Editorial Analysis: Beside figuring out how he’ll weasel out of his recent arrest – and probable conviction – for trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s senate seat to the highest bidder, I wonder if the disgraced governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is contemplating the fates of Lee Harvey Oswald, Alexander Litvinenko, Vince Foster, Jim McDougal and Ron Brown – all of whom were summarily disposed of to keep them from talking.

Oswald, we know, was shot by Jack Ruby, a smalltime Dallas nightclub owner with suspected ties to the Mafia. The death effectively cemented the government’s case against the odd loner, and precluded any of the theories that tied Fidel Castro or the New Orleans mob or other numbers of people to being implicated in JFK’s assassination.

Litvinenko was a former officer of the Russian State security service, turned dissident and writer. After he accused his superiors of assassinating the Russian tycoon Boris Berzovsky, he was arrested but eventually fled to England, where he wrote two books antagonistic to the former USSR. In 2006, he died from radioactive polonium-210, suspected of having been administered by the KGB.

The deaths of Foster (chalked up to suicide), McDougal (chalked up to a heart attack) and Brown (chalked up to a plane crash) joined a long list of mysterious deaths – known as the “Clinton body count” – that took place before and during the Clinton administration.

Foster was found dead in Ft. Marcy Park in Virginia on July 20, 1993. There was a curious absence of blood at the scene and the forensic photographs disappeared. Rumor had it that the conscience-stricken Chief White House Counsel was on the verge of testifying against the president over a scandal involving the Children’s Defense Fund.

McDougal was found dead on March 8, 1998, ostensibly of a heart attack, while he was in solitary confinement in an Arkansas jail, having been convicted of 18 felony counts that had to do with bad loans made by the bank he owned, Madison Guaranty Savings & Loan. He and his wife Susan were financial partners with Bill and Hillary Clinton in real estate dealings that led to the Whitewater scandal. During the case, prosecutor Ken Starr asked for a reduced sentence for McDougal because he was cooperating in the investigation.

Brown, a former DNC Chairman and Clinton’s Commerce Secretary, was scheduled to testify in a campaign-finance scandal related to one of his employees, James Huang, who had been a multimillion-dollar fundraiser for the Democrats but was also suspected of funneling money from the Chinese government to the Clinton campaign. In the first week of April, 1996, Brown delayed testifying to travel to Bosnia-Croatia for a trade mission. The plane crashed and all 34 people aboard were killed. Subsequent investigations found a hole in Brown’s head, which appeared to be made by a bullet. But the X-rays were stolen (sound familiar?) and the theory that he was murdered because he planned to testify against President Clinton went nowhere.

The Lesson: Dead Men Don’t Talk!

{mosimage}Is the self-serving, wheeling-dealing Blagojevich now shaking in his boots as he realizes that the same dirty politics he’s been playing for years, with the same thugs and hardball players like convicted felon Tony Rezko, domestic terrorist William Ayers, master manipulator Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and shakedown artist Jesse Jackson – all part of Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Chicago Machine – will deal with him in the same draconian ways they’ve dealt with so many others? After all, the Chicago “body count” is formidable in its own right.

Will Blag promise prosecutors that he’ll sing like a canary to save his own hide? Come to think of it, will Rezko?

According to writer Larry Johnson, “Rezko provided the prosecutors information used to build the case against Blagojevich.” Johnson goes on to say: “Barack Obama is not sleeping well tonight… I doubt that David Axelrod is sleeping well either…Axelrod had close ties with Blagojevich. He ran his first campaign for the House. He very well may not see the inside of the White House as a Senior Advisor… Patrick Fitzgerald and the FBI could be sitting on some other tapes/wiretaps that are damaging to Obama. We also do not know what Rezko is saying at this point nor do we know what Blagojevich and Harris will spill…This scandal is not going away.”

If so, is Blag not worrying about a stray bullet or the American version of polonium-210 or a “suicide” notice or untimely “heart attack”? And is Obama not worried that his house of cards will come tumbling down?

WHY BLAG SHOULD BE QUAKING

Prosecutors of the investigation– led by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald – have called Blagojevich’s actions "a political corruption crime spree." Fitzgerald himself called the breadth and depth of charges against the governor “sinister” and “staggering.” FBI taps revealed that Blag planned to sell Obama’s senate seat for campaign cash, cushy jobs for himself and his wife, and perhaps being named a cabinet secretary in the Obama administration. The following is a tiny sample of the 76-page criminal complaint against 52-year-old Blagojevich and his 48-year-old Chief of Staff, John Harris. These are words Blag was caught saying on wiretaps:
·   "I’ve got this thing and it’s fxxking golden," he said about his prerogative of appointing a new senator. ”And I’m just not giving it up for fxxking nothing. I’m not gonna do it."
·   “is there a play here, with these guys, with her” [his wife] to work for a firm in Washington or New York at a significantly better salary than she is making now?
·   Blag wanted to know whether the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) could do something to get his wife a position at Change to Win [seven unions with six million workers] until he, Blagojevich, could take a position there.
Blag discussed the open Senate seat during a two-hour conference call in which various individuals participated….
·   In the call, he mentioned the Senate seat and the dynamics of a new Presidential administration with the strong contacts that he had in it, and asked: “Can [the President-elect] help in the private sector…where it wouldn’t be tied to him?”
·   Said that the consultants (Advisor B and another consultant believed to be on the call at that time) were telling him that he had to “suck it up” for two years and do nothing and give this “motherfxxxker [the President-elect] his senator. Fxxk him. For nothing? Fxxk him.”
·   After being told by Advisor A that a “President-elect…can do almost anything he sets his mind to,” Blagojevich said that he would appoint “[Senate Candidate 1 [ostensibly Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s first choice, and now his Senior Advisor] . . . but if they feel like they can do this and not fxxking give me anything . . . then I’ll fxxking go to [Senate Candidate 5].” Note: Candidate 5 is now known to be Jesse Jackson, Jr., currently a Representative from Illinois, who represents the southeast suburbs of Chicago].
·   Asked an Advisor(s), on November 11, 2008, whether “they” (believed the President-elect and his associates) could get Warren Buffett and others to put $10, $12, or $15 million into the 501(c)(4) organization. Advisor A responded that “they” should be able to find a way to fund the organization.”
·   Blagojevich and Harris conspired to demand the firing of Chicago Tribune editorial board members for editorials critical of the governor in exchange for state help with the sale of Wrigley Field, the Chicago Cubs baseball stadium owned by Tribune Co.

Not too subtle. In fact, a prosecutor’s dream! And why was Michelle Obama obliquely named on page 64 of Fitzgerald’s lawsuit against Blagojevitch, as PajamasMeida has reported?

WHY OBAMA MUST BE QUAKING
I haven’t mentioned David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and recently appointed Senior Advisor to president-elect Obama. He, too, is a longtime operative in the Chicago Machine. But I have mentioned Blagojevich, Rezko, Ayers, Wright, Jackson, and Daley. Who is missing from this picture? C’mon… guess!

Of course, it’s Obama himself, the man who recently dodged a bullet of his own when, last week, the Supreme Court passed on a petition to declare him ineligible for the presidency by virtue of his having failed to produce an authentic, verifiable birth certificate that attests to the fact that he meets one of only three criteria of the U.S. Constitution for the job, namely that he be a natural-born citizen of the United States. Note: Another suit is due to be heard by Justice Scalia on 12.12.08, and several other suits are pending.

What, if any, is the connection between Obama, the convicted felon Rezko, and the soon-to-be-convicted Blagojevich?

On November 23, David Axelrod was asked by a reporter on a Fox affiliate in Chicago if Obama had expressed a preference for his Senate replacement.
"He has not. I know he has talked to the governor,” Axelrod said. ”There’s a whole range of names, many of which have surfaced. And he has a fondness for a lot of them.”

But the minute Blag’s indictment hit the news, Axelrod said he “misspoke.”

Misspoke? In such detail and with such intimate knowledge? As they say in my New York environs: Gimme a break!

James Taranto from the Wall St. Journal wrote: “One of these statements is false, but which one?”
As writer and editor of Newsmax Magazine, David A. Patten, has outlined, the roots of the Blag-Obama-Rezko relationships are long and deep.
·   Obama’s ties to Blag run primarily through Chicago slumlord and felon Tony Rezko.
·   Rezko helped both Blag and Obama rise in Chicago and Illinois politics.
·   Obama himself has credited Rezko with helping to his political career.
·   Rezko raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for both Blag and Obama.
·   Rezko was Obama’s second-largest individual contributor when he began his run for an Illinois state Senate seat in 1995.
·   Rezko was one of Obama’s biggest contributors when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2003 and 2004, and he was a member of Obama’s campaign finance committee.
·   In 2005, as news began to spread that federal authorities were investigating Rezko, Obama bought a house in Chicago’s Kenwood neighborhood for $1.65 million. Rezko’s wife, Rita, paid $625,000 for a lot adjacent to Obama’s new home, and the two deals closed on the same day. Seven months later, Rezko’s wife sold one-sixth of her lot to Obama for $104,500.
·   In March 2008, Obama said Rezko had raised up to $250,000 to help underwrite his prior campaigns in Illinois – a much higher figure than had previously been reported.

What what are Rezko;s ties to Blagojevich? Patten reports that:
·   The FBI says between June 2001 and August 2004, Rezko raised over $1.4 million for Blagojevich’s political campaigns, according to the Los Angeles Times.
·   Rezko hosted Blagojevich’s first post-election party at his mansion.
·   Rezko’s June 2008 trial on corruption strongly implicated Blagojevich. Blagojevich allegedly discussed a state job for a donor, after that donor wrote a $25,000 check for his campaign. During the trial, prosecutors maintained that Rezko routinely arranged shakedowns while serving as a top Blagojevich adviser.
In all, prosecutors said, Rezko squeezed various companies for some $7 million in kickbacks. Following his conviction on 16 counts of fraud, money laundering, and aiding and abetting bribery, Rezko said federal authorities tried to pressure him “to tell the wrong things” about Obama and Blagojevich. The Sun-Times reported prosecutors pushed Rezko to cooperate in the corruption probe against Blagojevich.

So now we know why both Blag and Obama should be quaking. The arrested governor and the president-elect have been connected at the hip for decades!

One e-mailer wrote: “Blagojevitch is bloodless, resentful and ruthless – and a loose cannon! He could very well spill a whole lotta beans on both of the Obamas, in exchange for a lighter sentence from Fitzgerald. He’s only out for himself, and if he can shave five years off of a probable 10-year sentence in federal prison by giving up explosive information on the Obama duo, he might just do it.”

And, as David Nason has written in The Australian: “The longer this takes, the more the world will learn about the rotten political culture from which Obama has emerged and the more tainted his January 20 inauguration will be. But whatever short-term discomfort Obama might feel from a shakedown merchant stupid enough to get caught on a wiretap, it’s a walk in the park compared with the dangers ahead. This was clear when Fitzgerald…made pleas yesterday for anyone with information about corruption in Illinois to come forward. Not satisfied with getting the Governor, Fitzgerald intends to use the Blagojevich scandal to peel back whatever other layers of political corruption in Illinois he can find. Right now, the president-elect is clear. At his press conference, Fitzgerald said there was no evidence of misbehavior from Obama…It will all come down to where the concentric circles around Blagojevich and Obama overlap, but if his past record is any guide, this is where Fitzgerald, who already has the scalps of terrorists, Mafia kingpins and the likes of Conrad Black to his name, will be at his most aggressive.

But one blogger was not so measured: “Barack Obama is now part of a cover up. He needs to be hauled before Congress and made to swear under oath…under the penalty of perjury. These are the same things which got Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton in trouble.”

THE HILLARY FACTOR
“What do the Clintons have on Obama?” asks Obama supporter Camille Paglia. “I must admit to puzzled disappointment with his recycling of Clinton era veterans, who reek of déjà vu. …Obama’s team may have underestimated the labyrinthine personal interconnections and habit-worn loyalties of that cliquish crew…both Clintons constantly view the world through the milky lens of their own self-interest.

“Given Obama’s elaborate deference to the Clintons,” Paglia continues, “beginning with his over-accommodation of them at the Democratic convention in August, a nagging question has floated around the Web: What do the Clintons have on him? No one doubts that the Clinton opposition research team was turning over every rock in its mission to propel Hillary into the White House. There’s an information vacuum here….”

Indeed, it is well known that Hillary is a good friend of Philip Berg, the Pennsylvania attorney who brought the first birth-certificate lawsuit against Obama. Coincidence?

And is it only me who thinks the timing of Blag’s arrest – after a three-year investigation! – is another “coincidence”?

More than one e-mailer has suggested to me that another of Obama’s acolytes, Rahm Emanuel – the Illinois Congressman who succeeded Blagojevich in the House and is now Obama’s Chief of Staff – may have leaked the Blag scandal to the FBI. But why would he do this? At the Clinton White House, he was initially a senior advisor, then Assistant to the President for Political Affairs, and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy – all lesser positions than the position he has now.

Why? Because loyalty runs deep. As one blogger put it: “I seem to recall Mr. Emanuel was working for the Clintons a few years ago. I guess it pays to have a Deep Throat in the White House if you are Hillary Clinton just waiting for the phone to ring with the words, `Madam President, are you ready for your close-up now?’"

Could we be witnessing a Clinton coup? Why have Obama’s cabinet and staff choices been overwhelmingly comprised of Clinton-era leftovers? What do the Clintons have on Obama?

If Obama survives the birth-certificate scandal and the Blag scandal, what other December or January Surprises – intended to sabotage his presidency – can we expect? And who will be pulling them out of her hat?

That will be a moot point if Blag blabs


About the author: Joan Swirsky (www.joanswirsky.com) is a New York based author and journalist who can be reached at joansharon@aol.com.

Merry Christmas awakening 2008

It is my prayer that the true joy of this season will grow within your life throughout the coming year – whatever your faith may be.  The Tulsa Today staff includes many of different faiths.  This is not a religious publication, but a local news service of diverse views with the common purpose to advance the best interests of our community.  As publisher, I believe faith in God, regardless of what you perceive God to be, is good for the individual soul, every family, and the greater community.

Tulsa Today is comprised of Creative Conservatives (Democrat, Libertarian and Republican), but our critics (the Loony Leftists) attack our effort here and this publisher personally on matters of faith and public policy.  Here is the story of what happened one cold December night a few years ago in Tulsa. 

Local musicians were playing rock solid blues and, with friends, I went to hear them play.  Also present was a producer for the local PBS Radio affiliate KWGS and her friends.  Without my knowledge, the two groups decided we should compete in a game of pool.  I was selected to play for our crowd.  My opponent, I had never met.

Before the rack was finished, the first verbal slam came.
“The problems in the world can all be traced to religion,” the opponent said.
“Why don’t you go ahead and break,” I answered.
“There is no difference between George W. Bush and Islamic Terrorists,” he said as the break propelled balls about the table.
Well this is not what I planned to do this night I thought, but here we go again … another confrontation with a hater.  Usually, someone this deep in anger is just reflecting their own internal conflicts; rebellion against authority, sexual confusion, childhood and/or adult abuse, or other twisted internals.  Blame authority – claim victim-hood, it all gets so boring if not silly.
“Christians did not fly planes into the World Trade Center,” I answered.  “They did not attack the same buildings in ‘93 or bomb the barracks in Lebanon or the USS Cole, or declare war on civilization as we know it.”
“Religion is the bane of the modern world,” the opponent answered.
“Whatever,” I said while sighting the next shot off the bank.
“Religion should be outlawed,” he pushed further obviously growing angry that I was not fully engaged in answering his rage.
An obvious sign of a misspent youth, I bring a decently skilled stick to the game and enjoy playing pool, but this encounter was not fun and I have never been long in suffering fools.
“Religion should be against the law in America,” he declared again.
Ok, that did it.  Standing up straight with direct eye contact I answered, “I don’t know what your issue may be, but you apparently believe that man individually or mankind in general is your God.  That is as strong a faith as any other. 

I can appreciate that position, but I have met many men and women over the years and I choose to place my faith in God rather than the wisdom of men or mankind.  We will not covert each other nor do I desire to make such an effort so either take your next pool shot or we can take this outside, but one way or the other, this conversation is finished.”

He took his shot.  I ran the table and won the game.  The evening went on.

In retrospect, it appears that 2008 is not only the end of unbiased traditional journalism in America, but also the end of the 200-plus year truce between Americans of faith and secularism.  We have lived together and built a marvelous nation, but the foundation of this great country includes acknowledgement of God’s love, grace, and power.  It is obvious in our documents and immortalized on our monuments, but apparently the modern secularists have come to redefine our foundations and blame Americans of faith for the current war by Islamic radicals.  The how and why of that eludes me.

Here is the fact; Islamic radicals are engaged in the current world war to destroy all who believe seriously in other faiths AND in secularism.  Really read the Koran for more detail, but in short, if you believe strongly in any faith other than Islam, the Koran says you are an infidel and should be beheaded – just as Mohammad did to his enemies.  Islam is the only modern faith founded by a murderer that demands that religion and government be the same worldwide and that war (overt or covert) is a proper method to install such government.

Conservatism is not an ideology or specifically supportive of any one particular religion.  It is more a fundamental approach to life that features self-reliance and personal responsibility with disdain for government management of our individual freedoms, privacy and personal profitability.  Conservatives, in my best analysis, want government out of our bodies, minds, marriages, pocketbooks, bedrooms, churches and off the streets if we can figure out how to do that.
Faith should be celebrated.  Faith, with the exception of radical Islam, promotes peace and good-will towards others.  Faith builds stronger families and individual character and provides a common ground for moral and ethical standards that advance the common good.  As a Conservative and, in my case Christian, I enjoy decorations and celebrations during holidays of any and all other faiths.

Yes, the politically correct will be aghast that a Christmas message to readers would include notes on pool games and public policy (which come to think about it, may have more in common than apparent at first glance), but when it gets down to the basics, this message is for the secularists – a prayer for the nonreligious – may you understand that our common liberty in America is not threatened by individual faith – religious or secular.  Our common liberty is threatened by radical Islam – you know, those folks killing our sons and daughters anywhere they can find them overseas or at home.

Merry Christmas and best wishes for each awakening.

Federal Grand Jury Indictments

Thursday, 04 December 2008
David E. O’Meilia, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, announced today the results of the December 2008 Federal Grand Jury.

The following named individuals have been charged with a federal crime or crimes by the return of an indictment by the Grand Jury.  The return of an indictment is a method of informing the defendant of alleged violations which must be proven in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt to overcome the defendant’s presumption of innocence.

Calvin Patillar and Marco Hendrickson and Kimberly Kevon Roberts.  Interference with Commerce, Possession of Firearm in Furtherance of Crime of Violence.  The defendants are charged with the robbery of Pickles Pub & Grill, 4902 South Sheridan, Tulsa, on December 2, 2008.  Patillar, 40, of Muskogee, and Hendrickson, 27, of Tulsa, face additional counts of possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.  Roberts, age 19, is from Tulsa.

Alejandro Mendez Pardo.  Possession of Cocaine with Intent to Distribute. The defendant, age 38, of Tulsa, was allegedly found in possession with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of cocaine on November 13, 2008.

Jason Lee Baker.  Drug User in Possession of Firearm and Ammunition, Conspiracy to Manufacture Methamphetamine and Conspiracy to Maintain A Drug-Involved Premise, Maintaining a Drug-Involved Premise, Possession of Firearm in Furtherance of Drug Trafficking Crimes, Possession of Unregistered Destructive Device.  Baker, age 36, of Tulsa, is accused of having two handguns and ammunition in his possession on October 16, 2008, while being an illegal drug user and while involved in a conspiracy to manufacture illegal drugs.  He also faces charges of conspiring to manufacture methamphetamine and maintaining a place at 1015 S. St. Louis Avenue in Tulsa, where meth was allegedly made, used and distributed.  Baker is also charged with having a home-made pipe bomb in his possession.

Diamantina Clark.  Misapplication of Bank Funds.  Clark, 42, formerly of Owasso, allegedly embezzled $219,926.36 from the Owasso branch of IBC Bank between September 2006 and May 2008.  She was employed as the bank’s branch manager during that time period.

Lloyd Dean Carder.  Possession and Attempted Possession of Child Pornography. The defendant, 54, of Miami, Ok., is accused of having more than 150 images of child pornography in his possession on May 23, 2008, which he had allegedly downloaded from the Internet.

Phillip Andreas Daake.  Use of Minor Engaging in Sexually Explicit Conduct for Production of Visual Depiction.  The defendant, age 30, formerly of Leonard, Oklahoma, and more recently of Owasso, is charged with coercing children to engage in sexual acts while he allegedly took digital pictures and/or videos of the alleged acts.  This activity allegedly occurred between October 13 and October 31, 2008,

Andre Ralph Haymond.  Possession and Attempted Possession of Child Pornography. Haymond, 20, of Tulsa, is accused of being in possession of a number of images of child pornography on January 23, 2008, which he had allegedly downloaded from the Internet.

Sealed and Superseding Indictments
There were six indictments returned by the Grand Jury that remain sealed.  There were no superseding indictments.
Last Updated ( Thursday, 04 December 2008 )

Nickelback and Slipknot to play BOK

Rock powerhouses Nickelback and Slipknot today announced Tulsa dates at the BOK Center.  Nickelback is appearing April 10 and Slipknot will appear February 23, 2009.  Tickets go on sale December 6, 2008 at the BOK Center for both concerts.

Nickelback’s North American tour supports their new album Dark Horse, released on Roadrunner Records November 18th.  The Live Nation produced tour, which kicks off on February 25th in Nashville, TN, hits major arenas in over 30 cities across the continent.  Seether and Saving Abel have signed on as support acts.

Nickelback tickets go on sale beginning December 5th at http://www.livenation.com/. Fan Club members will have early access to tickets starting November 28th at http://www.nickelbackfanclub.com/.  Citi cardmembers will also have access to presale tickets starting December 1st at 10am Local Time through Citi’s Private Pass® Program.  For complete presale details visit: http://www.citiprivatepass.com/.  This is Nickelback’s first tour under their Live Nation Artist Nation deal which was announced earlier this year. 

 

Nickelback are a phenomenally successful touring band whose tours have grossed in excess of $100 million thus far and have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. Dark Horse is Nickelback’s first release since the immensely popular All The Right Reasons, released in 2005.  In support of the album, the band has recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The American Music Awards.  Critics and fans alike are praising Dark Horse. The New York Times raved, "Nickelback… has been responsible for some of the heaviest pop hits of this decade and more notably, it has almost single handedly preserved the idea of the arena-rock ballad."  Entertainment Weekly declared, “The only sure thing in the music business in 2008.”

The first single, “Gotta Be Somebody,” is topping the charts with impressive numbers:  Top 5 Rock, Top 10 Modern, Top 5 Hot A/C and Top 15 at Pop.  At press time, the track has an estimated audience of over 45 million.  The band is currently appearing in a major advertising campaign with Citi, featuring Nickelback in network and cable TV, print and online ads throughout November and December, showcasing “Gotta Be Somebody.”

Nickelback re-launched their official fan club website on November 13th where members can gain exclusive access to advance concert tickets, limited-edition merchandise, candid photos, audio and video.  The site offers members exclusives, including special contests for merchandise, tickets and meet-n-greets with the band.  There’s also a new social platform enabling members to network and chat with other members via message boards, a live chat room, blogs and many other interactive features.  Members will have access to pre-sale ticketing beginning November 25th.  To become a member visit online http://www.nickelbackfanclub.com/ to join.

Nickelback VIP packages are also available at www.NickelbackFanClub.com which include a combination of VIP concert tickets, early entry into the venue, a personal photo opportunity with the band, an exclusive concert t-shirt, collectible tour poster (limited edition and numbered), and official commemorative VIP laminate and a set of official Nickelback guitar picks.

Grammy-award winning hard rockers Slipknot’s first U.S. headline tour supports their #1 album All Hope Is Gone.  The tour, which kicks off on January 23 in St. Paul, MN, will hit 33 cities across the country, and include an historic stop at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a first for the band.  Coheed and Cambria and label-mate Trivium round out the bill.

Frontman Corey Taylor says of the trek, “2009 is the 10 year anniversary of the world’s first taste of this band.  To celebrate we are coming back out with a killer tour, a couple great bands and the same ferocity with which we attack life.  We want all of our maggots to come and celebrate with us, because if it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t have been here for 10 years.  Get ready for chaos!”

A special iTunes presale will start on December 3 and be open to those who took part in the band’s digital album presale earlier this year.  Internet presales via Ticketmaster, will commence on December 5, and the majority of dates will go on sale December 6th.

The All Hope Is Gone World Tour marks Slipknot’s first headline run in America since the release of the album in August.  The band is currently playing to sold out arenas on the other side of the globe; including stops in Russia, Japan, Australia, Europe and wrapping in the United Kingdom with three sold-out nights at London’s Hammersmith Apollo.  Preceding All Hope Is Gone’s #1 debut, the band held the headline slot on this summer’s sold-out inaugural Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival, which drew the biggest crowds to a metal festival since Slipknot played Ozzfest in 2004.

To celebrate the tour, Hard Drive, hosted by Lou Brutus will be airing a Slipknot All Hope is Gone World Tour Special from December 3-6 on radio stations across the country.  The special will feature exclusive live tracks from their current tour as well as candid interviews and other surprises.  The band has also launched a new website, allhopeisgone.com to coincide with the launch of the tour.  


Grammy-award winning hard rockers first U.S. headline tour supports their #1 album  The tour, which kicks off on January 23 in St. Paul, MN, will hit 33 cities across the country, and include an historic stop at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a first for the band.  and and label-mate round out the bill.