Sweet Preserve

Unwrap a bounty of night-sky gifts this holiday season: visible planets, glorious conjunctions, a close-up full moon and a change of season.

Jupiter and Venus begin December in conjunction at dusk in the southwestern sky. If the sky remains clear, the Jupiter-Venus conjunction, officially occurring tomorrow night, will be spectacular. Venus is the brighter of the two planets, and it remains high in the southwest throughout December, while the gaseous Jupiter descends the western horizon all month.

Venus, ever effervescent, is visible at negative fourth magnitude (ultra bright), and it is easily mistaken for a distant jetliner approaching Dulles International Airport with its landing lights on. Jupiter at negative second magnitude is bright enough to enjoy from the urban light-polluted sky. At month’s end, Venus sets after 8 p.m., and Jupiter sets before 6 p.m.

onight, notice that the sliver of a young moon is below Jupiter and Venus, while tomorrow night the crescent can be seen above the planetary duo. Young moons always appear briefly in the western sky at dusk and early evening.

At the very end of December, the fleet Mercury (zero magnitude, or bright) joins with Jupiter at dusk in the southwest for another conjunction. The brighter Jupiter is to Mercury’s left, and Venus is far above the fray.

The full moon Dec. 12 will be at its closest (356,556 kilometers, or 221,554 miles) to Earth since 1993, and the full moon won’t be this close again until 2016. Once a month the moon gets close to Earth at perigee, but sometimes the monthly lunar perigee coincides with the full moon. On Jan. 1, 2257, the full moon will be closer than this year’s event — at 356,371 kilometers, or 221,439 miles — according to Belgian astronomer and mathematician Jean Meeus. Concerning this phenomenon, the radio program “Earth and Sky,” by Deborah Byrd and Joel Block, provides excellent details on its Dec. 12 podcast, found at http://www.earthsky.org/skywatching. The podcast link is on the right side of the page.

Saturn, the beloved ringed planet, is a late night owl. It rises before 1 a.m. in the southeast now, while at the end of the month it rises about 11 p.m. Its rings are nearly edge-on, and the planet is found in the constellation Leo.

The official start to winter in the Northern Hemisphere — the Winter Solstice — occurs at 7:04 a.m. Eastern Time on Dec. 21, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. Before long, our short days will start to get longer.

Breakthrough: Hybrid Theory (2000–2002)

Linkin Park released Hybrid Theory album on October 24, 2000. The album, which represented half a decade’s worth of the band’s work, was edited by music producer Don Gilmore. Hybrid Theory was well received by music fans; the band sold more than 4.8 million records during its debut year, earning it the status of best-selling album of 2001, while singles such as “Crawling” and “One Step Closer” established themselves as staples among alternative rock radio play lists during the year. Additionally, other singles from the album were featured in movies such as Dracula 2000, Little Nicky, and Valentine. Hybrid Theory was also nominated for three Grammy Awards, including best new artist, best rock album, and best hard rock performance (for “Crawling”). MTV awarded the band their Best Rock Video and Best Direction awards for In the End. Through the winning of the Grammy for best hard rock performance, Hybrid Theory’s overall success had catapulted the band into the mainstream’s attention.

During this time, Linkin Park received many invitations to perform on many high-profile tours and concerts including Ozzfest, Family Values Tour and KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas. The band also formed their own tour, Projekt Revolution, which featured other notable artists such as, Cypress Hill, Adema, and Snoop Dogg. Within a year’s stretch, Linkin Park had performed at over 320 concerts. The experiences and performances of the precocious band were documented in their first DVD, Frat Party at the Pankake Festival, which debuted in November 2001. Now reunited with former bassist Dave Farrell, the band began work on a remix album, dubbed Reanimation, which would include works from Hybrid Theory and Hybrid Theory EP. The album Reanimation debuted on July 30, 2002, featuring the likes of Black Thought, Jonathan Davis, Aaron Lewis, and many others. Reanimation claimed the second spot on the Billboard 200, and sold nearly 270,000 copies during its debut week.

Continued success: Meteora (2002–2004)

Following the success of Hybrid Theory and Reanimation, Linkin Park spent a significant amount of time touring around the United States. The band began to work on new material amidst their saturated schedule, spending a sliver of their free time in their tour bus’ studio. The band officially announced the production of a new studio album in December 2002, revealing their new work was inspired by the rocky region of Meteora in Greece, where numerous monasteries have been built on top of the rocks. Meteora featured a mixture of the band’s previous nu metal and rapcore styles with newer innovative effects, including the induction of a shakuhachi (a Japanese flute made of bamboo) and other instruments.  Linkin Park’s second album debuted on March 25, 2003 and instantly earned worldwide recognition, going to #1 in the US and UK, and #2 in Australia.

Meteora album sold more than 800,000 copies during its first week, and it ranked as the best selling album on the Billboard charts at the time. Music videos for some of the album’s singles, including “Somewhere I Belong“, “Breaking the Habit“, “Faint Linkin Park“, and “Numb“, received significant radio attention. By October 2003, Meteora sold nearly three million copies. The album’s success allowed Linkin Park to form another Projekt Revolution, which featured other bands and artists including, Mudvayne, Blindside, and Xzibit. Additionally, Metallica invited Linkin Park to play at the Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003, which included well-known acts such as Limp Bizkit, Mudvayne and Deftones. The band released an album and DVD, entitled Live in Texas, which consisted of audio and video tracks of some of the band’s performances in Texas during the tour. In early 2004, Linkin Park started a world tour titled the Meteora World Tour, supporting bands on the tour include Hoobastank, P.O.D and Story of the Year.

Meteora earned the band multiple awards and honors. The band won MTV’s awards for Best Rock Video (”Somewhere I Belong”) and the Viewer’s Choice Award (”Breaking the Habit”). Linkin Park also received significant recognition during the 2004 Radio Music Awards, winning the Artist of the Year and Song of the Year (Numb) awards. Although Meteora was not nearly as successful as Hybrid Theory, it was the third best selling album in America during 2003. The band spent the first few months of 2004 touring around the world, first with the third Projekt Revolution tour, and later several European concerts.

Kenny Chesney will play 14 stadiums this summer on his 2008 Poets & Pirates tour, the most yet for country’s top touring artist.

Chesney grossed more than $71 million in 2007, second only to the Police with $132 million, according to touring trade publication Pollstar.
The first stadium on Chesney’s route is Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C., on April 26. Also on tap are Pizza Hut Park in Dallas (May 3), M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore (10), Browns Stadium in Cleveland (24), University of Phoenix Stadium in Phoenix (31), AT&T Park in San Francisco (June 8), Heinz Field in Pittsburgh (14), Soldier Field in Chicago (21), LP Field in Nashville (July 5), Turner Field in Atlanta (13), Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia (19), Gillette Stadium near Boston (26), Ford Field in Detroit (August 2) and Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis (September 13). More may be announced later.
Keith Urban will support on many dates; other opening acts include Brooks & Dunn, Sammy Hagar, Big & Rich, Luke Bryan, LeAnn Rimes and Gary Allan.

Maroon 5 – Makes Me Wonder
Maroon 5 and Fergie hold the top spots on iTunes’ year-end sales roundup.

The online music store released its top-selling albums and singles Tuesday, though they declined to release actual sales figures.

Maroon 5’s sophomore album, “It Won’t Be Soon Before Long album,” was the No. 1 seller on the site, followed by artist Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black music” and Kanye West’s “Graduation.” Winehouse and West are also leaders heading into the 50th annual Grammy Awards — he has eight nominations, she has six.

Rounding out the top five best-selling albums were “American Idol” album Chris Daughtry’s band’s self-titled debut, “Daughtry,” and “Coco” by newcomer Colbie Caillat, who has the hit “Bubbly.”

Fergie came in first and fifth place in single sales. Her hit “Big Girls Don’t Cry” was the top-selling single of the year for iTunes, while “Glamorous” finished in fifth. Gwen Stefani’s “The Sweet Escape” came in second place, followed by Plain White T’s “Hey There Delilah” and Avril Lavigne’s “Girlfriend.”

Colbie Caillat – Bubbly

A great song, says Colbie Caillat, should lift your heart, warm the soul and make you feel good. Taking her own sound advice, “Coco album“, the debut album by the 22 year-old Californian singer-songwriter is simply crammed full of them.

In an age when marketing has been elevated above content and so many songs are written and produced to a pre-ordained formula, Caillat comes as a welcome breath of fresh air. Records these days seem to fall into two categories. The vast majority tend to contain one or two good tracks which you download to your computer so that you never have to listen to the rest of the album again. Far more rare are those that demand to be listened to from start to finish, with every song in perfect symmetry. Think of the kind of vintage, organically-crafted albums that Carole King or Joni Mitchell used to make. Thankfully, it’s a tradition that is being kept alive today by the likes of Norah Jones, Jack Johnson – and now Colbie Caillat.

“If you listen to an album like Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, every song has its place,” she says. “If you took one away you’d spoil the balance of the entire record. That’s the kind of album I wanted to make. It wouldn’t feel right to have my name on a record that was just a few good tracks and then lots of filler.”

The reference to Fleetwood Mac is revealing. Caillat grew up in the idyllic clime of Malibu, California with music all around her. Her father, Ken Caillat, co-produced Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours” and “Tusk” albums and later ran his own record label. As a child she recalls the likes of Mick Fleetwood and John McVie being around. “Of course I’ve learned a lot from them. You’d be a fool not to,” she says. Yet she is totally her own woman.

She began singing with serious intent at the age of 11 after hearing Lauryn Hill’s version of Killing Me Softly. “I think her voice is absolutely beautiful and it made me want to start singing so I entered a talent show and of course I sang a Lauryn Hill song.” As she grew older, however, her father offered one crucial piece of advice. It was all very well having a great voice, he pointed out, the people who command real respect in the music business are the songwriters. “I thought about that for a long time”, she says.

In truth, it took some time coming – but when it did, the floodgates opened. “I needed to play an instrument to write songs and although I had piano lessons as a kid, it never went anywhere because I was never in the right state of mind to practice,” she recalls. Surprisingly, it wasn’t until she was 19 – little more than two years ago -that she eventually took up the acoustic guitar. “I wrote my fist song after my very first guitar lesson and then it just all flowed out,” she recalls. “If something’s biting me I hold it in because that’s the kind of person I am. Then it comes out in songs. Things builds up inside of me and I’ll write three songs in a weekend. It’s a release. I don’t choose what to write about. It’s just there.”

Along the way, she found two key collaborators in Mikal Blue, who hired her when she was 15 to sing some songs he’d written for a fashion show, and singer/songwriter Jason Reeves. Together, they helped to craft the songs on “Coco,” which Blue also produced.

“The songs always start put with me,” she explains of the collaborative process. “I’ll be sitting around at home getting bored and something will come out. Then if I get stuck, I can take it to Mikal or Jason. Having people you trust to bounce ideas around keeps the creativity flowing.”

Once she had a bunch of songs, she put a few of them on MySpace, more in hope than expectation. “Nothing much happened for a few months,” she remembers. “Then I wrote this song called Bubbly and put it up there and it got this huge reaction. I mean thousands and thousands of hits every day.”

In the end, she became the number one unsigned artist on MySpace for four successive months, garnering an almost unbelievable 10 million plays. Record labels started courting her and she signed with Universal Republic because, she says, they offered her total creative freedom. “The great thing about MySpace is that you can build up an army of fans and then when you go to a record company, there’s no point in them trying to change what you do because it’s already been tried and tested,” she points out.

Quite what it is about Bubbly that struck such a chord, she’s still not entirely sure. “I guess it’s the simplicity of the lyrics and the melody,” she says. “It’s meant to make you feel good and everybody can relate to it.” And “Coco” – the album is named after a childhood nickname which stuck – is full of similarly memorable songs imbued with an irresistible warmth which draw on a rich array of influences. “I love all kinds of music and I’ve been influenced by all of it,” she says. “Classic rock like Fleetwood Mac and the Steve Miller Band. Original soul like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. Lauryn Hill. Bob Marley and reggae, John Mayer. Anything that makes you feel good.”

And from the sunny, upbeat promise of songs such as Bubbly and Oxygen to the gentle, semi-r&b groove of The Little Things and the lilting reggae of Tied Down, “Coco” is one of those classic albums that simply makes you feel glad to be alive. “You make me smile, please stay for a while,” she sings on Bubbly. It really ought to be her mantra.