NYC’s G&E Music scored the special alongside its writer and producer, Toby Oppenheimer.

G&E composers Glenn Schloss and Erik Blicker faced the challenge of creating a score that would set a suitable mood for the chilling accounts of the Oklahoma City bombing, as told by McVeigh himself through never-before-heard audio interviews.

“We needed to set a tone that had an austerity to it without being creepy or sensational, or exploitative of the victims in any way,” informs Oppenheimer. Blicker describes, “It’s such an extremely dark story that, without music, would drag the viewer further down into that abyss. The music is there to help carry you through the story as it unfolds, set you in an almost equalized space — certainly not uplifting but not entirely ominous either.”

The team developed a musical palette for the project by creating “atmospheric tones that felt organic but also had momentum and groove,” and “finding interesting voices using reverbs and delays,” working with Ableton Live and Spectrasonics Omnisphere among other production tools. To supplement, G&E also pulled from their Producer’s Tool Box — an extensive collection of sound design elements and musical loops created for visual based productions — giving the producer and editors plenty to work with.

Schloss and Blicker had previously collaborated with Oppenheimer to score the HBO documentary The Nine Lives of Marion Barry last year.

G&E Music specializes in TV, radio, network re-branding, documentaries, feature films, websites, ringtones, and commercials through the use of collaborations with in-house composers, mixers and clients, including Discovery, MTV, Nickelodeon, ABC, CBS, VH1, Fox, Saatchi & Saatchi, Grey Advertising, Nokia and Pepsi. Check out G&E’s media division, Flavorlab.

The remix will be featured on iTunes Edition of her new album, set for release on June 22.

Anderson developed many of Homeland’s songs while on the road, constantly re-working them and creating or improvising new and different versions. Instead of hiring a producer to remix the song, a remix from Indaba Music’s community seemed fitting of Anderson’s innovative album process.

Through May 13, Indaba has provided a special link for those who wish to craft and remix their own version of “Only an Expert.”

The remix submissions will be reviewed by a jury of experts, including Anderson and Lou Reed, from May 13 to May 27. Afterwards, Indaba will announce the jury’s choices of Grand Prize Winner, two Runners-Up, and the public’s choice of ten Honorable Mentions.

Those chosen will receive prizes:

(1) Grand Prize: $1,000 / Remix will be included on iTunes edition of Homeland / One year free Platinum membership to Indaba Music

(2) Runners-Up: One year free Platinum membership to Indaba Music

(10) Honorable Mentions:
One year free Pro memberships to Indaba Music / Remix streamed on Anderson’s official site / Signed deluxe package: 12-inch “Only an Expert” single and Homeland CD

Homeland is Anderson’s first studio album in ten years. She produced the album with Lou Reed and Roma Baran, working alongside engineers Mario McNulty, Pat Dillett and Marc Urselli.

Homeland features Anderson on vocals, playing the keyboard and percussion, as well as performing newly fashioned violin sounds. Her vocals can be heard through one of her many musical device inventions; this one is called “audio drag” where she reveals her male alter ego, Fenway Bergamot. He appears on the album’s cover and narrates the song “Another Day in America.”

The album also includes Tuvan throat singers and igil players of Chirgilchin; New York experimental jazz and rock players including Rob Burger (keys), Omar Hakim (drums), Kieran Hebden of Four Tet (keys), Shahzad Ismaily (percussion) Eyvind Kang (viola), Peter Scherer (keyboards), Skúli Sverrisson (bass), Ben Wittman (percussion/drums) and founder of Tzadik, John Zorn (saxophone). Antony Hegarty sings additional vocals on the album.

Indaba Music offers online tools for artists around the globe to collaborate together as a community through the web. The site offers memberships where musicians and artists can record, edit and mix tracks online while in various parts of the world through its digital audio workstation. Featured contests can be found here.

The band consists of front woman/founder Dee Dee, guitarist/vocalist Jules, bassist Bambi, and drummer/vocalist Frankie Rose (previously of Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts).

Resonating with sounds of 1960’s girl pop and garage-rock guitar distortion, I Will Be was co-produced by Dee Dee and Richard Gottehrer, with mixing by Alonzo Vargas. The album features Yeah Yeah Yeah’s guitarist Nick Zinner on a song entitled “Yours Alone,” along with other musical guests throughout the album.

Gottehrer has co-written songs including “I Want Candy” and “My Boyfriend’s Back” and produced artists such as Blondie and The Go-Go’s. Additionally, he co-founded Sire Records, and marketing and distribution company The Orchard Music.

Gottehrer has formerly worked at The Lodge with Joe LaPorta and chief mastering engineer Emily Lazar, mastering records such as Dion‘s Son of Skip James and three of The Raveonettes‘ albums: Whip It On, Lust Lust Lust and In And Out of Control.

Dum Dum Girls’ U.S./Europe tour began at SXSW and will continue through May 2010.

Be sure to check out The Lodge’s blog.

According to Churgin, “Maurice is an expert in our company’s business processes and, more importantly, the needs of our clients.” Furthermore, “He will be a critical member of my executive team as the company continues to evolve, and I’m pleased to promote him to this new role.”

Prior to HFA, Russell was a Senior Director of Contract Administration at Polygram Records (which became Universal Music Group), where he supervised the administration of recording, license and video agreements, as well as tracking options, product delivery and financial obligations. Russell then joined Red Ant Entertainment as Senior Director of Business Development and Licensing, where he was in charge of the special products and licensing department. He then went on to be the Vice President and General Manager of Razorfish Studios, Inc. In his final and previous job to HFA, Russell was the founder and CEO of Machine Enterprises Inc., where he provided commercial artist management and business consulting services.

Russell obtained his MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business Administration and his BA from Columbia College, Columbia University.

Stephen Sondheim at the original ‘West Side Story’ recording session (with Carol Lawrence and Goddard Lieberson). Photo: Don Hunstein / Sony Music Archives.

The site upholds the history of music from the “Great White Way” of Broadway, containing cast recording’s from Finian’s Rainbow in 1947 to last year’s Grammy and Tony Award-winning West Side Story.

In celebration of the site’s beginning, masterworksbroadway.com is kicking off their opening with the month-long “You Gotta Get A Gimmick” sweepstakes, giving out a prize a day. Prizes include: A trip for two to NYC to see a Broadway show, the entire Masterworks Broadway catalog, signed copies of Kristin Chenoweth’s book “A Little Bit Wicked” and her latest CD, and a rare framed pigment print of Gwen Verdon from the Sony Music archives/ICON Collectibles.

In addition to the daily giveaways, every Tuesday and Friday the site will feature a prize related to the work of Jerry Herman and Stephen Sondheim with an autographed CD collection of their work.

The site contains a catalog of more than 400 Broadway cast recordings that include over 265 Tony Awards, 450 Tony nominations and 27 Grammy Awards.  Some shows in the catalog include Hairspray, Hello, Dolly!, and Sweeney Todd. Exclusive recording session photos, a weekly blog by acclaimed theater journalist/author/critic of Newark Star Ledger/column writer for Theatermania.com Peter Filichia, a streaming library of cast recordings, and podcasts with Broadway notables, are also available on the site.

To enter the drawing, go to the website, click on the current prize giveaway register for a free membership.

Maria Pappalardo

Pappalardo opens the independent casting service, Pappalardo Casting, following 15 years as BBDO, NY’s Head of Voiceover Casting where she cast thousands of large-scale campaigns for Visa, GE, Pepsi and Gillette and many more. Her new venture hits the ground running with recent spots for M&M/Mars and an Olympic campaign for Verizon out of McCann-Erickson, Worldwide.

Sonic Union provides recording, mixing and audio-post services. An in-house casting company builds out Sonic Union’s service offerings to its heavy ad agency and editorial clientele.

Pappalardo attended NYU’s Tisch Acting and Theater Directing programs, where she got her start casting student films. She joined BBDO Worldwide after working as an assistant talent agent.

NYC mixing engineers, Michael Marinelli (formerly of Buzz/NY) and Steve Rosen (formerly of HSR/NY), along with managing director Adam Barone, founded Sonic Union in November 2008.

Razor & Tie started the trend of selling albums via TV spots with their Monster Ballads and Monsters of Rock compilations that featured power ballads and 80’s metal. Evidently, TV viewers still purchase directly from advertisements — the company revealed their direct response TV campaign accounted for almost 50,000 of the album sales.

“The Edge has been the most responsive music offer that we have sold on television in over 3 years,” said Razor & Tie co-owner Cliff Chenfeld. “While the album clearly strikes a chord with music fans in general, we are also finding that consumers are more and more willing to buy CDs directly from our TV spots.”

The Edge contains rock hits such as “Bring Me To Life” from Evanescence, “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” from Jet, and “Freak On A Leash” from Korn. The compilation is available for purchase through direct response TV and comes in a three-disc set. It can also be bought in a two-disc set at retailer stores, as well as online retailers such as Yahoo or Amazon.

Founded by Chenfeld and Craig Balsam, Razor & Tie Entertainment is an entertainment company that sells audio and video products through retail distribution, various digital outlets, and direct response television advertising. Razor & Tie includes a music company with major label distribution, a music publishing business, an affiliated artist management company, a media buying company, a home video company, a direct marketing operation and a database of entertainment consumers.

Razor & Tie’s label has acquired Platinum sales and Grammy awards as well as distributing internationally recognized indie labels, both ranging in genres from metal and hard rock to Broadway music. Look out for Razor & Tie’s The Edge in an upcoming series of releases in the future.

The purpose of BandPages is to eliminate any minor annoyances when trying to create a web presence for artist promotion. There is no need to create a separate account with RootMusic apart from Facebook. Instead, artists that already have a Facebook profile can sign in with the Facebook Connect application and use pre-existing photos in Facebook albums.

“It’s pretty simple – we asked hundreds of bands what they wanted and that’s exactly what we built,” said J Sider, CEO of RootMusic, on the BandPage application.

The BandPage app allows users and fans to listen to an artist’s music while looking through the rest of their page – a feature MySpace music profiles do not have – and peruse photos, tour schedule and biography, access Twitter Feed and music streaming, all at no cost. In the next few months, and for a small fee, bands will be able to further customize their BandPage.

RootMusic Inc. is a collective of musicians, venues, and band managers dedicated to providing bands and musicians applications, resources, and content designed to give them real-world knowledge while meeting their goals.

Check out RootMusic’s website for more information, and take a video tour of BandPages HERE.

Can!!Can

JDub Records is a not-for-profit dedicated to innovative Jewish music, community, and cross-cultural dialogue, and has released albums by Matisyahu, Balkan Beat Box, Golem, and Michael Showalter. The digital label will launch this week, allowing the group to work with many more artists and expand their audience.

JDub Digital provides a platform for releases of musical projects that can be found on digital distribution channels, such as iTunes. It will also offer marketing, publicity, booking assistance and planning services.

Alongside their digital label launch, artists under JDub will be releasing albums: The Gangsta Rabbi’s DiKtator 17 will drop on 4/20 and Can!!Can’s Monsters & Healers will come out on 6/15. Additionally, in partnership with Insound, all of JDub’s releases will be for sale at only $8.99.

Also, check out their recently acquired online media outlet/social network, Jewcy. Says JDub founder Aaron Bisman, “Along with our recent acquisition of Jewcy.com and strategic partnership with Nextbook Inc, the digital label is an important component of JDub’s evolution into an agile and sustainable 21st Century non-profit and we’re excited to release some amazing new music.”

Phil Collins

The Johnny Mercer Award is the highest honor the Songwriters Hall of Fame presents to artists. The award is only given to a songwriter who has already been previously inducted to the Hall of Fame, and whose work upholds the impeccable standard established by Johnny Mercer. Past Johnny Mercer Award recipients include Paul Anka, Dolly Parton, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Billy Joel, Burt Bacharach Hal David, Paul Simon, and Jule Styne.

Phil Collins, a singer-songwriter, drummer, composer, actor and producer and more, is mainly recognized as the drummer and vocalist for the British progressive rock band Genesis and as a solo artist. His songs are among the greatest hits of all time and include “In the Air Tonight,” “Against All Odds” and “Another Day In Paradise.” His song “You’ll Be In My Heart,” featured in Disney’s film Tarzan, won a Golden Globe Award, Oscar and a Grammy.

As a producer, Collins has worked with Adam Ant, Earth, Wind & Fire’s Phil Bailey, John Martyn and Eric Clapton, and he has played with Led Zepplin’s Robert Plant. As an actor, he played the role of Artful Dodger in Oliver, made cameos in the Beatles A Hard Day’s Night and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and appeared in films such as Hook.

In March 2010, Genesis will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, and Collins is working on a new album that is set for release in September of this year.

Other inductees into the Hall of Fame this year include Leonard Cohen, Jackie DeShannon, David Foster, Johnny Mandel and Earth, Wind & Fire’s Maurice White, Philip Bailey, Verdine White, Larry Dunn and Al McKay.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame celebrates songwriters by presenting the public with their achievements and produces developmental songwriting programs through workshops, showcases and scholarships. It was founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer and publishers Abe Olman and Howie Richmond. Members of the Hall of Fame can vote for inductees: http://songhall.org/join

Visit http://songwritershalloffame.org/ for a complete list of inductees and biographies.

Tickets:
Tickets for the Songwriters Hall of Fame event are available through Buckley Hall Events, (212) 573-6933, for $1000 base price. Net proceeds will go towards the Songwriters Hall of Fame programs.