TREND HUNGRY TUESDAY: Leopard Print
In this week’s edition of “Trend Hungry Tuesday” – Resident Fashionista Jessie Holeva spotlights a trend always in season, leopard print.
Visit Trend Hungry to find the latest fashion 411 on a skinny budget, and catch Jessie every Tuesday evening on “The Ralphie Show.”
LIFE & STYLE’S JORDI LIPPE: Blake and Miranda Shake-Up, Taylor and Britney Move On
Life & Style Weekly reports that Miranda Lambert is now going through Blake Shelton’s phone! Senior News Editor Jordi Lippe explained why and also talked about Taylor Swift and Britney Spears moving on to new men.
INTERVIEW: OneRepublic on Album Delay, Dance Music Influence
Over GRAMMY weekend, OneRepublic lead singer Ryan Tedder noted that the band’s third studio album, Native, was originally scheduled for a November 2012 release. When Tedder and his band mates stopped by the studio recently, he cited a couple reasons for the delay, including the influence of Swedish House Mafia on the record.
“It was just like overwhelming because I saw them at Coachella; they were the best performer that whole weekend,” Tedder told me. “Radiohead is one of my favorite bands of all time, but I gotta say like… Black Keys, Bon Iver, Kasabian… none of them held a torch in my opinion to the Swedish House Mafia set.”
Despite Tedder describing himself as “not a card-carrying electronic music fan,” the experienced directly inspired the single, “If I Lose Myself,” along with the general tempo of Native.
“We’re not going to all of the sudden; three years after the fact jump ship and be like, ‘Oh! This is popular now. Let’s go do this!’” he explained. “That’s lame. You’ve got a handful of bands who did jump ship and just went pure electronic… and we’re the furthest from that. And then you’ve have other acts who kind of batted around with electronic; tried to do like a “dance” record and it kind of missed the mark. So we were like, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s hit the nail on the head. And let’s capture that energy but still keep it sounding organic and like a band.’”
OneRepublic also decided to keep two tracks at the last minute – songs that Tedder almost gave away to other artists.
“We had a close call on this record. There was song that we were all really in love with,” revealed guitarist Drew Brown. “We went through a phase of feeling like it wasn’t going to fit with the rest of the continuity of the record. In the last hours of putting the record together there was a big ‘come-to-Jesus’ about like, ‘We absolutely can’t get rid of this song. We have to put it on the record.’”
The band called in Jeff Bhasker, who worked on the latest masterpieces for fun. and Kanye West, to finish the track. “Can’t Stop” made the album, due out March 26.
A Veteran Tells Phillip Phillips How ‘Gone, Gone, Gone’ Helps His PTSD
When Phillip Phillips was just nine years old, Max Harris was just beginning his tour of duty with the U.S. Armed Forces. The Allentown, PA native served as an Arabic Linguist. He remembers crossing in to Iraq on the first night of the war, and spending his last nine months working on counter insurgency.
In 2004, Harris received his discharge due to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, a condition that is becoming too common amongst U.S. veterans. PTSD can lead to everything from nightmares to suicidal thoughts. A 2008 study by the RAND Corporation placed the prevalence of the disorder among Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans at just under 14%. As knowledge and awareness of the disease rises, many believe that number increases as well.
When Harris was sent home, Phillips was 14 years old. He just started playing music. Sure he showed promise early on, but the Georgia native still had his sights set on high school, college, and working in between at his father’s pawn shop.
Phillips went on to win the 12th season of “American Idol,” release a single that has sold over three million copies, and drop an album that is on the verge of going platinum. But perhaps most importantly, the stories that Phillips shares through his music are now helping people cope with problems in all corners of the world. In Allentown, the Iraqi vet is thankful for Phillips’ new album The World From the Side of the Moon, specifically the next single, “Gone, Gone, Gone.”
“This past weekend I had some pretty horrible nightmares stemming from my service overseas,” explained Harris on “The Ralphie Show” via telephone while Phillips sat in studio and listened. “I really needed something to calm me down.”
Not able to sleep, Harris reached for his iPad and cued up the track.
“Something about the lyrics in that song… I heard things differently that time and it finally put me at peace,” he said. “I wanted to thank you Phillip for the amazing things that you’re doing. It’s been a long time since a story-teller has come along who really conveys that emotion in his music.”
Phillips, normally reserved and low-key, seemed to be at an even greater loss for words, yet was compelled by Harris’ story to respond.
“Yunno, music affects me in a lot of ways; it’s very therapeutic for me and then once you share it with people in the world you hear so many stories come out of it,” he said. “I respect you a lot Max for what you’ve done. You’re more of a man than I am.”
From hospital visits to family members making headlines, Phillips’ ride to success since “Idol” has been far from smooth. Yet moments like this help him to put things in perspective.
“It’s a little nerve wracking when you (share your music) because… that’s a big story,” said Phillips after we hung up with Harris. “I don’t know if you’ll ever overcome that because it’s always just so new.”
TREND HUNGRY TUESDAY: Pillbox Clutch
In this week’s edition of “Trend Hungry Tuesday” – Resident Fashionista Jessie Holeva spotlights a fashionable and inexpensive trend from the Oscars red carpet, the pillbox clutch.
Visit Trend Hungry to find the latest fashion 411 on a skinny budget, and catch Jessie every Tuesday evening on “The Ralphie Show.”
INTERVIEW: Ryan Lochte Says Reality Show Won’t Interfere With Olympics
Ryan Lochte’s schedule these days is a little different than a year ago. The Olympic gold medalist is a guest at red carpet events, an actor on TV shows, and a spokesperson for a number of different brands. Plus, Lochte is currently filming a new reality show, “What Would Ryan Lochte Do?” set to debut this June on E!. So, when it comes to training for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, what would Lochte do?
“You know what’s so unique about this reality TV show is that it’s following me, it’s doing whatever I do,” Lochte explained to me a few weeks ago on the green carpet of the Cartoon Network “Hall of Game Awards.” I’m pretty sure every reality show is filmed by simply following around the subject, but I didn’t interject. “My biggest relationship in my life is swimming… and my biggest goal is 2016 Olympics.”
Lochte said even when he travels, he seeks out a pool for training sessions, and that Saturday in Santa Monica was no different. Surprisingly, the swimmer said it took time to become acclimated with the cameras filming his every move.
“I was a little shy,” he admitted. “But now, I just go with the punches. I’m just rolling with it.”
We would expect nothing less.