Listen to Nathan Osmond tonight at 8 EST live on Jammin Jukebox radio!
NATHAN OSMOND 08/22 by Jammin Jukebox Radio Show | Blog Talk Radio
Kenny Rogers knows when to walk away
WRLTHD Music News 
Adam Fulton Arts Writer
''That's the era where you felt the pain. Now the pain has become so intellectual. It's not bad, it's not wrong, it's just where music is."
From his own canon, Rogers' favourites include The Gambler - "really a philosophy about life", says a man who doesn't consider himself a gambler, and doesn't drink - and the duet Islands In The Stream.
Adam Fulton Arts Writerconcert photos by Ray Tharaldson all rights reserved 2012
KENNY Rogers has been remembering things he had long forgotten. The country music giant is putting the final touches on his autobiography, due out in October, and there's a lot to get through when you've chalked up more than 50 years of performing and 120 million album sales, not to mention five marriages.
But the singer isn't expecting the book to ruffle any feathers.
"No - I said going into it that I'm not going to write anything anyone can challenge. That's not what I'm about," he says. The memoir charts his musical journey from his beginnings as the fourth of seven children in a poor Texas family to today.
''It stirs up certain emotions that you'd forgotten about. Particularly when your life has been as busy as mine - it's kind of hard to keep up with things," Rogers says brightly in a southern drawl.
"I must admit I enjoyed writing it. I enjoyed that process. I don't know that I'd want to do it again."
There's more than a little of that pleasure and pain in Rogers' experiences in a solo career that reached the heights of fame in the late 1970s and '80s through hits such as The Gambler, Lucille, Coward of the County and, with Dolly Parton, Islands In the Stream. He has had 24 No.1s.
"Once I started with Lucille [in 1977], it was like an indescribable career for anybody, so you have a look at that and say: how can you not have enjoyed that?" Rogers says. "But I have to tell ya: too much success is not good either. I'm at a great place right now where I sign enough autographs to satisfy my ego, but not so many that it invades my privacy."
In 2009, Rogers launched extensive touring under the anniversary banner: The First 50 Years. He still performs or records about 100 days annually. But turning 74 next week, with a much younger wife and twin eight-year-old boys at home in Atlanta, he expects his Australian concerts will be his last here.
"This is probably gonna be my last international tour,'' he says. It's because his family can't be with him. ''So I think when I come back … that's gonna be it. I'm gonna stay home then.
''I'll continue to tour the [United] States. I'd just like to be able to get home [more] so I can spend what I think is quality time with the boys … I really wanna be there for 'em instead of being gone all the time."
Rogers has said his one regret is the toll his pursuit of success had on his relationships.
But, ''I don't want to go back and rehash things that I was honest about and paid the price for. I don't want to pay it again.''
Glen Campbell was to appear on a double bill with Rogers in Australia but cancelled because of health issues. For Rogers, ''All I want to say is that the sooner we find a cure for Alzheimer's, the sooner we will end a lot of disappointment and suffering.''
The evolution of country since both performers' early days sits easily with Rogers, who believes "there's not one right or one wrong country music - it's what country people will buy''.
Of its influence on young acts today, he says: ''Now it's about youth, about growing up, the problems you have as a kid. … It's just a new place for country music to grow.''
But for him the era of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and George Jones captured country's essence.
But for him the era of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and George Jones captured country's essence.
''That's the era where you felt the pain. Now the pain has become so intellectual. It's not bad, it's not wrong, it's just where music is."
From his own canon, Rogers' favourites include The Gambler - "really a philosophy about life", says a man who doesn't consider himself a gambler, and doesn't drink - and the duet Islands In The Stream."With Dolly it's always wonderful. I don't see her. Everybody thinks we hang out, but she lives in Nashville and I live in Atlanta. So we talk when it's necessary but we don't talk on a regular basis, not because we don't want to, but we both have our own pyramids … But I love her with all my heart and she knows it.''
Kenny Rogers, with guest Troy Cassar-Daley, performs at the Palais Theatre on Thursday.
Romney grabs lead in Wisconsin
By David Hill - The Washington Times
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has opened up a 1-point lead in the key battleground state of Wisconsin, according to a poll released Tuesday.The poll by Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling shows Mr. Romney leading President Obama 48 percent to 47 percent in the Badger State. The results are identical to those from a Rasmussen Reports poll released last week.
Mr. Obama, who won Wisconsin by 14 percentage points in 2008, consistently has led in state polls but has seen his lead evaporate in the two weeks since Mr. Romney announced Wisconsin GOP Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate.
The poll showed that Republican voters have rallied behind the Romney-Ryan ticket, with 93 percent saying they will vote Republican, and that Wisconsin independents have shifted away from the president, who holds just a 4-point lead with them after enjoying a 14-point lead last month.
Former union boss at Occupy event: Our goal is to 'overthrow the capitalist system and build communism (video)
Former Amalgamated Transit Union local 689 president Mike Golash, now an “Occupy” movement organizer, was caught on tape Sunday revealing his political goals: overthrowing capitalism in the United States and instituting a communist government.“Progressive labor is a revolutionary communist organization,” Golash said during an Occupy DC “People’s Assembly” on August 19.
“Its objective,” he added, “is to make revolution in the United States, overthrow the capitalist system and build communism.”
Golash said he and his comrades are “trying to learn something from the historical revolutions of the past: the Russian revolution, the Chinese revolution, the revolutions in Cuba and Eastern Europe.”
“What can we learn from them so we can build a more successful movement to transform capitalist society?”
“An organization has to be built which can bring down capitalism,” Golash said.
“The capitalists — they have their organizations: the FBI, the CIA, the secret police, the military, the army, etc., etc. They have organizations to maintain their power. It’s foolish to think that without a disciplined organization made up not of a few people but of millions and millions of people, [we] can bring down capitalism.”
The video, posted on YouTube late Sunday, was shot by young conservative activists Nick Tomboulides, Andrew McCaughey and Danielle Saul. The Occupy DC event was held at Luther Place Church in downtown Washington, D.C.
Golash recently retired from his job as a public transit bus driver. The ATU local 689, which he used to lead, bills itself as the third-largest union local in North America.
Summertime blues for drivers: Gas at August record
By SANDY SHOREU.S. drivers paid an average of $3.72 per gallon on Monday. That's the highest price ever on this date, according to auto club AAA, a shade above the $3.717 average on Aug. 20, 2008. A year ago, the average was $3.578.
More daily records are likely over the next few weeks. The national average could increase to $3.75 per gallon by Labor Day, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. By comparison, gas prices stayed below $3.70 in late August and early September in both 2008 and 2011.
Kloza and other analysts expect prices to start dropping after Labor Day, so drivers shouldn't have to worry about a return to the April high of $3.94 per gallon, barring a hurricane or other unforeseen event.
Retail gasoline prices have risen nearly 12 percent since July 1. because of higher oil prices, and problems with refineries and pipelines that created temporary supply shortages in some regions. An increase in the price of ethanol, which is blended into gasoline, also contributed to the rise in pump prices.
Higher gas prices aren't what the sluggish economy needs, since any extra money that goes to fill gas tanks doesn't get spent at movie theaters or restaurants.
The pace of the increases has slowed considerably, however. Gas rose 19 cents in the two weeks ended Wednesday. It's up just 1 penny in the five days since. Gas costs about 26 cents more than a month ago and 14 cents more than a year ago, according to AAA, OPIS and Wright Express.
Across the U.S., prices range from a low of $3.43 per gallon in South Carolina to $4.32 in Hawaii. Arizona, Mississippi and New Mexico also have average prices below $3.50 per gallon, while California and Illinois are up above the $4 mark.
A few drivers are catching a break. Kloza said gas prices are lower than this date in 2011 in four states - Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho.
The price at the pump in the U.S. fell more than 60 cents per gallon during the spring as the global economy slowed and turmoil in the Middle East seemed to subside.
But crude oil has risen above $95 a barrel from a low of $78 in late June. Investors have worried about disruption to oil supplies in the Middle East and North Sea. In the U.S., there were problems with refineries and pipelines in the West Coast and Midwest, including a fire in California. Seasonal factors are also at play: Summer blends of gas cost more and demand goes up as families go on vacation.
More daily records are likely over the next few weeks. The national average could increase to $3.75 per gallon by Labor Day, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. By comparison, gas prices stayed below $3.70 in late August and early September in both 2008 and 2011.
Kloza and other analysts expect prices to start dropping after Labor Day, so drivers shouldn't have to worry about a return to the April high of $3.94 per gallon, barring a hurricane or other unforeseen event.
Retail gasoline prices have risen nearly 12 percent since July 1. because of higher oil prices, and problems with refineries and pipelines that created temporary supply shortages in some regions. An increase in the price of ethanol, which is blended into gasoline, also contributed to the rise in pump prices.
Higher gas prices aren't what the sluggish economy needs, since any extra money that goes to fill gas tanks doesn't get spent at movie theaters or restaurants.
The pace of the increases has slowed considerably, however. Gas rose 19 cents in the two weeks ended Wednesday. It's up just 1 penny in the five days since. Gas costs about 26 cents more than a month ago and 14 cents more than a year ago, according to AAA, OPIS and Wright Express.
Across the U.S., prices range from a low of $3.43 per gallon in South Carolina to $4.32 in Hawaii. Arizona, Mississippi and New Mexico also have average prices below $3.50 per gallon, while California and Illinois are up above the $4 mark.
A few drivers are catching a break. Kloza said gas prices are lower than this date in 2011 in four states - Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho.
The price at the pump in the U.S. fell more than 60 cents per gallon during the spring as the global economy slowed and turmoil in the Middle East seemed to subside.
But crude oil has risen above $95 a barrel from a low of $78 in late June. Investors have worried about disruption to oil supplies in the Middle East and North Sea. In the U.S., there were problems with refineries and pipelines in the West Coast and Midwest, including a fire in California. Seasonal factors are also at play: Summer blends of gas cost more and demand goes up as families go on vacation.
On Monday, oil fell in New York trading after four days of gains on more concerns about Europe's economy. European leaders are beginning a series of discussions that could determine Greece's future and the stability of the 17 countries that use the euro.
Benchmark oil dropped 36 cents to $95.65 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price international varieties of oil, dropped 10 cents to $113.63 per barrel in London.
Other futures prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange:
- Heating oil increased was flat at $3.09 per gallon.
- Wholesale gasoline rose 1 cent to $3.04 per gallon.
- Natural gas rose 5 cents to $2.77 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Apple sets record for company value at $623B
By PETER SVENSSON
NEW YORK (AP) -- Apple is the world's most valuable company, ever.On Monday, its surging stock propelled the company's value to $623 billion, beating the record for market capitalization set by Microsoft Corp. in the heady days of the Internet boom.
After a four-month dip, Apple's stock has hit new highs recently because of optimism around what is believed to be the impending launch of the iPhone 5, and possibly a smaller, cheaper iPad.
Apple Inc. has been the world's most valuable company since the end of last year. It's now worth 53 percent more than No. 2 Exxon Mobil Corp.
Apple's stock hit $664.74 in midday trading before retreating slightly to $661.70. That was $13.42, or 2.1 percent, higher than Friday's close.
Microsoft's 1999 peak was $620.58 billion, according to Standard & Poor's.
The comparison to Microsoft does not take inflation into account. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the software giant was worth about $850 billion on Dec. 30, 1999. Microsoft is now worth $257 billion.
Analysts believe Apple's stock has room to grow. The average price target of 38 analysts polled by FactSet is $745.80.
Despite the surge, Apple's stock is not particularly expensive compared to its earnings for the last twelve months. The company's "price-to-earnings ratio" is 15.6, compared to 16.1 for the S&P 500 overall. That suggests investors, unlike analysts, don't believe the company can grow its sales much from current levels.
Apart from the iPhone and "mini iPad," analysts are speculating that Apple plans to make a TV set to complete its suite of consumer electronics products. Apple usually doesn't comment on its future product plans until a few weeks or days before a launch.
Apple's stock surge has made it a major part of many investment portfolios, often without the investors realizing it. The company makes up 4.7 percent of the value of the S&P 500 index, which is used as the basis for many mutual funds.
Figures supplied by FactSet imply Microsoft's market capitalization record was $619.25 billion, somewhat lower than the $620.58 billion calculated by S&P. The difference lies in the number of outstanding shares the firms ascribe to Microsoft at the time.
China's largest oil company, PetroChina, could lay claim to having hit a market capitalization even higher than Apple's, because of the particularities of the Chinese stock market.
PetroChina was briefly worth $1 trillion after it listed on the Shanghai stock exchange in 2007, but only based on its price on that exchange, which is isolated from the rest of the financial world because of Chinese laws on foreign investment. PetroChina's shares also trade in Hong Kong and on the New York Stock Exchange, and based on prices there, its market capitalization never went as high as $500 billion.
Study: Red states more charitable
Red states give more money to charity than blue states, according to a new study on Monday.
The eight states with residents who gave the highest share of their income to charity supported Sen. John McCain in 2008, while the seven states with the least generous residents went for President Barack Obama, the Chronicle of Philanthropy found in its new survey of tax data from the IRS for 2008.
The eight states whose residents gave the highest share of their income — Utah, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Idaho, Arkansas and Georgia — all backed McCain in 2008. Utah leads charitable giving, with 10.6 percent of income given.
And the least generous states — Wisconsin, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire — were Obama supporters in the last presidential race. New Hampshire residents gave the least share of their income, the Chronicle stated, with 2.5 percent.
“The reasons for the discrepancies among states, cities, neighborhoods are rooted in part in each area’s political philosophy about the role of government versus charity,” the study’s authors noted.
But it’s not just about politics — “religion has a big influence on giving patterns.”
“Regions of the country that are deeply religious are more generous than those that are not. Two of the top nine states—Utah and Idaho—have high numbers of Mormon residents, who have a tradition of tithing at least 10 percent of their income to the church,” the study states. “The remaining states in the top nine are all in the Bible Belt.”
The Chronicle of Philanthropy used tax data from the IRS for 2008 to create its study. The Chronicle noted that “to account for sharp differences in the cost of living across America” the study “compared generosity rates after residents paid taxes, housing, food, and other necessities.” The study only included taxpayers who said they had an income of $50,000 or more.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)