Whatever happened to Aly & AJ

Yes, radio super stars answer their emails. Got an email this morning for AJ Machado (isn’t that pulled pork in Spanish) of KHTS 93.3 FM San Diego.

When the email came in, my heart raced. Thought it was from A J (Amanda) Michalka (Can I help it she has an impossible last name).

AJ’s email got me thinking. Whatever happened to Aly & AJ? Did they fall off the musical world like Willa Ford who promised she wouldn’t be a one-hit wonder – right.

They were supposed to be in the studio, but their web site has not been updated since New Year’s Day. Enquiring minds want to know what happened to Aly & AJ?

My advice has been to tour with the new songs, much like ‘70s bands did. See how the crowd reacts to them. Then put them on an “album” after forging them through the fire called “the road.”

Here’s some more advice. Go on tour right after the Hannah Montana movie. You’re all blond; the public will get you confused. It will build your popularity. It is called riding the coattails, but when those coattails are bringing the originator $400,000 per day, why not ride them? (Like the Jonas Bros. and Demi Lovato don't know about this.)

Look forward to hearing from you, Aly & AJ, and it was terrific hearing from AJ (the playhouse one).

Don’t know his name, but this drummer drives the energy at Aly & AJ live.

We have our own resort

Just in time for Spring Break, we have our own resort: Tween Waters Inn Captiva, Florida

Tween music degenerates into depravity

Arizona’s top radio show, Beth and Bill, played The Dixie (c)Hicks’ Landslide. This radio show, which panders to baby-boomers, doing it quite well, points to the obvious. There was country before Taylor Swift. Matter of fact, Beth and Bill’s musical choice makes a similar statement to jonasmontana.wordpress.com.

Tween music has denigrated to a lower level. The group Devo, who preached de-evolution, was accurate 30 years ago. The Jonas Brothers are the Cowsills and Taylor Swift is Loretta Lynn.

It is time for Tweens to switch to a higher form of music – Aly & AJ, Ashley Tisdale, Vanessa Hudgins, and – ta-da – Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana.

Tween era officially over

The tween era came to an abrupt halt, much like dinosaurs, the first weekend of March, 2009.

Madea beats Jonas Brothers to a pulp at box office

By DERRIK J. LANG, AP Entertainment Writer
"Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail" locked up $16.5 million in ticket sales to claim the top spot at the box office for a second straight weekend, beating out "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience."

The Jonas Brothers film, featuring the band on stage and off, took in $12.7 million, the second-biggest opening for a concert film behind 2008's "Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert." That 3-D film, chronicling fellow Disney idol Miley Cyrus, premiered at the top of the charts after playing in just 683 theaters. "Jonas Brothers" opened in 1,271 theaters.

"'Hannah Montana' set a bar so high it's going to take forever to knock it off," said Chuck Viane, president of distribution for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. "Everything about it worked. She was coming off a great album and tour and three years on the Disney Channel. I don't think any set of circumstances will ever be quite what 'Hannah' had."

So, Jonas 3D bombed. Miley had half-as-many theaters and still did better. Get my broker. I'm selling my stock in Jonas Bros. Inc.

See separate story about Hannah Montana movie. For plot, go to jonasmontana.wordpress.com/

$400,000 per day teenager redux

They forgot Hilary Duff in this report (see report on Duff dumped by Disney on different pages of this blog).

Cars change in the background.

No habla Espanol

Was listening to one of my favorite bands today, Mana. Would never have heard this on the radio. Thank God for Internet. When you think of Mana, think Sting in Spanish. Why do people let language barriers get in the way of enjoying outstanding music? Some of the best musicianship in the world, especially drums and guitar, is on Mana’s work.

When I was a boy, there was a song, “Sukiyaki,” by Kyu Sakamoto; "Ue o muite arukō" (上を向いて歩こう "[I] shall walk looking up") per Wikipedia, in Japanese. Had no idea what he was singing about, but it went to #1, I believe, and sold 13-million. Sakamoto probably got 10 cents per million on that. That was James Bond money in 1963 ($130,000).

Okay, time to mention Disney. Yes, there’s a Disneyland in Paris. Yes, they speak French there. Don’t know if Disney has television shows there, but they do in Japan, where they also have a Disneyland. Even Radio Disney. According to Wikipedia, “Internationally, Radio Disney can be heard in Australia, Chile, Japan, Poland, Argentina, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Uruguay, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic. It plans to broadcast in the Philippines, Sweden, Mexico and Brazil in the near future.” Is Warner Bros. or Sony doing this? Hollywood Records – Japan? Not yet – what is wrong with Disney?

If Disney can operate in all these countries, think of the international Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus they have to dump on this nation! They may have missed Taylor Swift, but I’m sure someplace like Sweden has another one waiting for Disney to discover.

Disney has already prepped tweens for accepting these international stars and help take more of mom and dad’s money. You didn’t see the Disney Games? There was an international flair for a reason.

Don’t wait for Disney, though. Start exploring. Did you know there’s a Launch music (Yahoo) in almost every country?

Now, if Disney were more brilliant, they’d have something like the “incubator” for international talent on Radio Disney – throughout the world!