ChordStrike

Jack Johnson's Green Tours

Jack Johnson doesn't just talk the green talk, he walks the green walk.  In an Amazon.com-exclusive video, Jack Johnson discusses how he attempts to leave the smallest footprint possible in the areas he plays by adding environmentally friendly touches to his tour.  With recycling on site, refillable water stations, and promoting green causes, he gives back to concerns very close to his heart.  And it's not just touring: His new album, To the Sea, was recorded in studios that harness solar power, and the packaging for the album comes from recycled materials.  Check out the video here.

R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio, 1942-2010

I'm currently camping in the Rockies, but on a brief foray down to buy supplies, I find that one of the monsters of hard rock, Ronnie James Dio, has died at the age of 67.

A superstar, regarded by many as the finest voice of heavy metal, Dio replaced Ozzy Osbourne as the singer in Black Sabbath, prior to which he sang for Richie Blackmore's Rainbow. His later career included Heaven & Hell, and the self-titled Dio.

The singer revealed last year that he was suffering from stomach cancer, shortly after finishing a US tour with his band.

Dio's wife, Wendy, said that her husband died on the morning of Sunday, May 16, adding her heartfelt comment that "Today my heart is broken."

Black Sabbath's ninth album, Heaven & Hell, which was released in 1980, is considered by many fans to be the finest heavy metal album ever recorded.

Free MP3 Jazz Samplers

For a limited time, we've got four free MP3 jazz samplers available:

     1. Trippin N' Rhythm

     2. X5 Jazz Legends

     3. Mack Avenue: The Road to Great Music

     4. Original Jazz Classics Remasters

The samplers are part of our annual jazz event, which also includes a set of four hand-picked jazz playlists:

     1. Classic Cuts: A mix of well-loved standards and modern classic jazz

     2. The New Standards: Jazzy takes on popular rock and pop songs from the 1980s through today

     3. Jazz Dance Classics: Classic dance tracks from the annals of jazz

     4. Instrumental Smooth Jazz Favorites: Soothing sounds, sensuous saxes, mellow guitars, tickling ivories

Get your jazz fix today...

     --Jason Kirk

R.I.P. Lena Horne, 1917-2010

Another one of the jazz greats, Lena Horne (June 30, 1917 – May 9, 2010), has passed away aged 92.

Horne was the winner of numerous awards, including eight Grammies – one for the incomparable and underrated An Evening With Lena Horne – and has two stars on Hollywood Boulevard - one for music and one for movies.

Lena Horne began singing in the early 1930s, and continued her career well into the 1990s. During the course of her long career she duetted with such great names as Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Tony Bennett, and Sammy Davis Jr.

In addition to being a performance star, Lena Horne was active in the Civil Rights movement. In the early 1940s she worked with noted trades unionist and peace activist Paul Robeson. During WWII Horne refused to play to segregated audiences and as a result, she ended up performing in front of a mixed audience of black US soldiers and white German POWs. Her association with Robeson, along with her uncompromising stand against segregation, led to Horne being blacklisted in the 1950s, but she refused to let it affect her continuing work for what she strongly believed to be one of her highest callings.

Horne died on May 9, 2010, at the NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital  in New York City. The circumstances of her death were withheld.

--James Petts