Brendan Apollo Signs With Young Swaggazar Entertainment

Edited from PRLog: New York City-based recording artist Brendan Apollo has signed a multi-million dollar, five-year deal with Young Swaggazar Entertainment (YSE) in collaboration

with Industrial Motion Pictures (IMP).

Apollo's new single "Apollo Rising," is available on iTunes as the launch track from his debut EP "Clouds," to be released June 9. The music video for "Apollo Rising"—featuring the artist performing in a Nigerian village—is available on YouTube and premiered at Hyde Bellagio in Las Vegas. Apollo wrote and co-produced the songs on "Clouds."

"Apollo's music hits the bulls-eye of radio-friendly, hit-worthy pop fare, packed with sing-along hooks and full-bodied production," wrote Chuck Taylor, reporter, columnist, and former senior editor at Billboard magazine.

Apollo started writing original music as a teenager growing up in Illinois. He continued to pursue his dream and moved to New York City in 2008. "We are thrilled to be working with such a talented artist whose soulful sound promises to appeal to music lovers around the world," said Brian Mehling, M.D., CEO of IMP.

For information, visit Industrial Motion Pictures.

Coming June 13: A Talking Head Appearance On ABC-TV's '20/20'

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by an ABC-TV producer named Sunny(!) for the network's long-running news show "20/20." She had eyed me in a segment on lip-syncing for Moscow-based news channel RT's "The Truthseeker," which I interviewed for in November 2013, via Skype. After a lengthy pre-interview

(so that Sunny could vet if I knew what the hell I was talking about), she returned to me several days later to invite me to appear as a talking head on the show. However, there was a caveat: Where can we do this?
She asked if I might be willing to fly to New York or Los Angeles to film the interview. Ironic, eh? As much as I wanted to be included in the show, I fussed that with contractors in my home pretty much every day—and doggies to find care for—it would be difficult. "Could you possibly send a crew to my home in Norfolk, Va.?"

After a couple weeks of back and forth, the good news came: ABC was willing to fly down the segment's producer, Joe Rhee, and have a camera/lighting crew drive down from D.C. Score!

On Tuesday, May 27, all arrived at 11 a.m., scoped out the house and decided to film in the living room, using the grand piano as a backdrop. The interview lasted a good hour... and I enjoyed immensely. Hopefully, I delivered a couple money quotes that will actually appear in the episode. The show's overall theme is "faking it," including a segment on job candidates that lie on their resumes. The finale is supposed to be the lip-syncing topic.

Tentative air date is Friday, June 13. ABC-TV's "20/20" at 10 p.m. Below is the RT "Truthseekers" news segment I appeared on in November. The show has a global audience of 630 million viewers. (I appear around the 8-minute mark.)

Tinatin & Timothy Graphenheed Close In On 'W-E' Performance

On Monday, I spent two hours at the Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC), way west on Manhattan's 37th Street, to watch a rehearsal with Tinatin and collaborator Timothy Graphenheed, for their full-length theatrical musical W-E (West Meets East). This coming Monday, July 2, they'll showcase their first full reading of the two-person production, which tells the story of a young girl's dream and accompanying journey from the Soviet Union to America... based, obviously, on Tina's own story, with music written primarily by the pair.

The musical parallels the book project that she and I have been working on for two-plus years... Four drafts later, we have a digital publishing deal... that is, following one more substantive edit. Looking forward to seeing that finish line, as Tinatin groups the book, the play, a soundtrack and a concert with her hero & muse in the Soviet nation of Georgia this September.

Meanwhile, let's have a look at Monday's first rehearsal off-book. It's a winner, let me tell you. *
Crash! Boom! A major thunderstorm added drama to the proceedings!

New York Post Covers Nasty Nabes On Brooklyn Heights Blog Post

Now here's a switch. Instead of reporting pop culture news, I'm actually in the papers today! A story in Sunday's New York Post (online and print) explores a blog post I wrote for the Brooklyn Heights Blog last weekend in which I noted that a hot dog vendor had set up shop along Montague Street near the BH Promenade.

At the end of the post, I wrote one innocent subjective word: "Nice." At that point, the anonymous commenters on the blog tore me from limb to limb, spewing a kind of venom that makes me ashamed to live in a neighborhood that has no tolerance for anything that isn't dipped in gold... In all, 54 comments voiced their precious opinions... Read on.

Get out, dirty dogs: B’klyn cart snobbery

By KATE BRIQUELET & NATASHA VELEZ
Every hot dog has its day — except in Brooklyn Heights. Snooty weenie meanies scared off a new hot dog vendor after he’d done only a few hours of business, slamming his street meat as "disgusting food."

The brave cart-pusher parked on Montague Street near the promenade at 10:30 a.m. last Saturday. By that afternoon, so many locals had called the cops that an officer gave him a ticket and shooed him away.

"He was a nice young man trying to make a living, but in this neighborhood everything is a protest," said a longtime resident who watched the scene unfold from Montague Terrace. "He said something like, 'Well, this is life.' He packed up his belongings and left."

He hasn’t been back—but days later, anonymous neighborhood residents were still spewing their venom against him on the Brooklyn Heights Blog. "Ours is a quiet residential neighborhood," wrote Prom Gal. “This is not the place for people looking for 'street life.'"

Willow St. Neighbor chimed in: "What next? A big top? Circus animals? Clowns? Cotton Candy? What I would like to know is who authorized this? Why now?"

The reviews grew more scathing, with Heights Guy writing, "Disgusting food, served by disgusting people to disgusting people." Gerry, another wiener whiner, gloated that the red-hot seller wouldn’t be back. "This is a lot of bull," he said. "I have worked very hard to be able to afford to live on Montague Terrace and I do not need a hot dog vendor outside my window so he can make a few bucks. When and if this slob comes back, I will have him ejected—again by the NYPD."

Chuck Taylor, a blog correspondent who welcomed the vendor in a controversial online post, couldn’t believe the piping hot reaction. After all, the Heights hasn’t seen a street vendor at the end of Montague Street for years.

"People need to step back and realize nobody owns a New York City neighborhood," said Taylor, a 12-year resident of the Heights. "It is to be shared by all who call it home and all who visit. If something so minuscule as a hot dog vendor raises the ire of the neighborhood, that’s what I’d call snobbery."

Mohamed Hmidat, who owns the permit for the cart, but doesn’t sell franks himself, said his employee will steer clear of the neighborhood. "If they don’t want him there, they don’t want him there," Hmidat said. "He’ll just find a new spot."

The Week In Music: Rookies Rule The Roost

The singles chart has become a rookie’s wonderland. For the past 16 weeks, the summit has been commandeered by a trio of debut artists—the longest such streak in nearly 35 years.

Carly Rae Jepsen spends a second week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with her first entry, "Call Me Maybe." That follows previous newcomers Gotye (featuring Kimbra), who spent eight weeks on top with "Somebody That I Used to Know," preceded by fun. (featuring Janelle Monae), whose “We Are Young” logged six weeks atop the heap.

Billboard columnist Gary Trust reports that the last time a trio of Hot 100 newbies ruled the chart was July 1977.

Then, Bill Conti hit No. 1 with "Gonna Fly Now" from "Rocky," followed by Alan O'Day’s "Undercover Angel," and Shaun Cassidy's "Da Doo Ron Ron." Before that, it was 1967 when as many as four new acts lined up at the chart summit: Bobbie Gentry, the Box Tops, Lulu and Strawberry Alarm Clock.

The delightfully peppy pop "Call Me Maybe," meanwhile, has also become a viral phenomenon, with countless covers online—including a killer live acoustic performance featuring Jimmy Kimmel and The Roots with Jepsen, and others by Justin Bieber, the Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders, Harvard Baseball, Abercrombie & Fitch models and, uh, President Barrack Obama.

All told, the song remains No. 1 on the Hot 100, the Digital Songs chart (for a fifth week) and On-Demand Songs. On the Radio Songs’ all-format tally, it’s No. 2, according to Nielsen BDS. It has sold 3.6 million downloads so far.

Elsewhere among the top 10 singles, Gotye's "Somebody" is static at No. 2, and No. 1 on Radio Songs for a fifth week. It becomes the first song to sell 5 million copies in 2012—and in fact, according to Paul Grein’s Yahoo! Music Chart Watch, it's the first song to sell as many in a six-month period since Elton John's 1997 "Candle In The Wind.”

Also holding is Maroon 5's "Payphone" at 3. Katy Perry catapults 9-4 with "Wide Awake"—her 10th top five hit in four years—which pops onto On-Demand Songs at No. 24, logging 309,000 streams, even without the presence of a music video, which just debuted June 18.

Fun.'s "Young" eases 4-5; One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful" drops 5-6, Nicki Minaj's "Starships" falls 6-7, Rihanna's "Where Have You Been" holds at 8, Flo Rida's "Wild Ones" falls 7-9 and Justin Bieber's "Boyfriend" is locked at 10, spending all 12 of its charted weeks inside the top 10.

And speaking of Biebs—which we’ll likely be doing a lot in the weeks ahead—he brings in the Hot 100’s top new entry for a third consecutive week, with "As Long as You Love Me" (featuring Big Sean), launching at No. 21 (debuting at No. 5 on Digital Songs). Last week, "All Around the World" (featuring Ludacris) crashed on at No. 22, and the week before, "Die in Your Arms" came to life at No. 17.

As we’ve previously tipped, next week it’s going to be all about Bieber fever, with the release of his third album “Believe” on Tuesday, June 19. Already, the album is on target to launch at No. 1 next week with the biggest debut of 2012, so far. Projections run as high as a half-million copies—which would surpass Madonna’s 359,000 launch of “MDNA” earlier this year.

Meanwhile, on this week’s album chart, Usher squeaks in a No. 1 debut with “Looking 4 Myself,” which sells a fairly tepid 128,000 copies. This is his fourth chart topping set, following 2010’s “Raymond v Raymond,” which opened with sales of 329,000. Usher’s single “Climax” logs a 10th week atop the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, while pop/dance single "Scream" is No. 11 on the Hot 100. A third song, “Lemme See" (featuring Rick Ross) moves from No. 80 to 61.

At No. 2 on the Billboard 200, dino-rockers Rush achieve their best sales week in 10 years with the debut of "Clockwork Angels." Adele's "21," which was No. 1 last week for a 24th week, falls to No. 3. Country crooner Josh Turner debuts at 4 with “Punching Bag,” which also tops the Country Albums chart. Brit singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran enters at No. 5 with “+,” a previous chart-topper in 2011 at home.

One Direction's "Up All Night" is lodged at 6, Neil Young and Crazy Horse's "Americana" falls 4-7, Alan Jackson's "Thirty Miles West" plummets 2-8, and the "Rock of Ages" soundtrack roars 15-9 in its second week, following the film's theater debut June 15. (That gives Tom Cruise his first top 10 album as a vocalist: The flick’s star sings eight of the 20 songs on the ST, either solo or as collaborations.) And at No. 10 is debut “Triple F Life” for rapper Waka Flocka Flame.

Coming up: It’s not only Justin Bieber that is likely to crash into the high reaches of the album chart next week. Country king Kenny Chesney’s “Welcome To the Fishbowl” could launch as high as No. 2; along with high-profile releases from Smashing Pumpkins and Fiona Apple (whose last album was in 2006). *

Weird, Wonderful Webster Hall

The site of the New Music Seminar, Webster Hall in Manhattan's East Village, is a spooky, dark relic... and no one ever wants that to change. The nightclub, concert venue, corporate events center and recording venue was built in 1886.

Comprising four public floors, it was named a New York City Landmark in 2008. I tell you what, the porcelain urinals in the downstairs men's room deserve their own designation. It's been a long time since I've seen anything as old. I'll miss that joint. With an All Access pass for NMS, believe me, I investigated every nook and cranny. *

NMS Day III: And That's A Wrap

Man, oh, man. So much for a break in the week... Back to freelance, with a new quick gig... I'll let the photos from Monday and Tuesday at the New Music Seminar speak for themselves... *Tom Silverman intros keynoter Bob Pittman, CEO of Clear Channel.Heavy hitters, including Warner Music chief Lyor Cohen.Scenes from the crowd: the delegates of NMS 2012.Below, the Manager's Movement, including my mad crush from NMS, third from right, Ash Pournouri from At Night Management.Below, Justin Timberlake... uh, Sean Parker is interviewed by Tom Silverman.Artists panel, including Wyclef Jean in red.Tom's closing remarks... And finally, the announcement of the winner of $150,000 in goods and services from NMS for the Artist On the Verge winner: Maren Morris, a fiery singer-songwriter from Arlington, Texas. *