Tag: Rock

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Entertainment

Foo Fighters Convey Rock Again to Madison Sq. Backyard

Foo Fighters Bring Rock Back to Madison Square Garden

The house lights inside Madison Square Garden went down Sunday night, and the thousands of fans, packed like sardines in their seats, stood as if on cue. As they roared their approval, bouncing in place on the balls of their feet, the ground began to tremble. Cellphone flash lights illuminated the darkness.

The sound of a keyboard echoed through the rafters. Dave Grohl, the Foo Fighters’ frontman, appeared on the stage.

“It’s times like these, you learn to live again,” Grohl sang.

The lyrics had seldom felt so on point.

After many difficult months of illness, death, hardship and pain, and shifting limits on how many people could gather, especially indoors, arena rock returned to New York City just over a year after the city was the center of the outbreak. It was the Garden’s first concert in more than 460 days, and it drew a full-capacity crowd that was asked to show proof of vaccination to enter. Inside, people grooved, tightly packed, with few masks visible.

On Sunday, a concert attendee would have had to squint to see signs of the pandemic persisting. In many ways, the evening felt like prepandemic times.

In a sea of thousands, only a few patrons here or there wore face coverings. Thousands of vaccinated people, their faces bare, belted out the lyrics to well-known songs, sending aerosols flying through the air. No one seemed concerned.

Fans were packed together. A sudden arm gesture could send a beer flying. Strangers hugged and high-fived. They bumped into each other in the busy concourse. They punched the air, swung their hair and danced, twisting and swaying at their seats in a state of high-decibel music-induced bliss.

It was “just epic,” said Rachael Cain, 51, who was among the first people to arrive at the Garden on Sunday afternoon.

But there were subtle reminders of the pandemic everywhere. Hand sanitizer pumps were clamped to the walls, and wipes could be found near any napkin dispenser. Ticketing was digital and concession buying appeared mostly cashless.

At the entrances, staff members checked people’s vaccine cards with varying levels of scrutiny. Some asked for identification to match with proof of inoculation, in a slow-moving process. Other checkers simply waved people through as they flashed their passes while walking by. A small anti-vaccine protest on the sidewalk outside drew little attention.

Several patrons said that the vaccine requirement helped them feel safe about returning to such a big indoor gathering.

“I was expecting it to be a little longer before I came to a concert again,” said Nick Snow, 29, who was among the few fans who wore a mask while inside the arena. “The precautions with the vaccinated only, they help.”

Grohl himself took care to acknowledge from the stage the unique milestone he and his band were participating in. At various points during the roughly three-hour show, he asked the crowd rhetorically if they had missed music, and mused about how good it felt to be around thousands of people while playing rock songs. The band sang “My Hero” as a tribute to those who had made the concert possible. And in a surprise cameo to celebrate the occasion, the band brought out the comedian Dave Chappelle to sing a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.”

“Welcome back, New York City!” Chappelle yelled as he exited the stage.

The show represented the return of some old, familiar comforts that music lovers may not soon take for granted again. There was call and response; people gesturing wildly to no one in particular; fans screaming the lyrics to songs only to realize their voices were drowned out by the music; and an entire floor section jumping up and down as one wave.

“I would get vaccinated 10 times over just to see a live show like this with people,” said Rich Casey, 53, of Massachusetts.

Having reached the ground floor of the venue and the echoey plaza that leads to the street, Foo Fighters fans seeking one last communal experience for the night sent up a chant, reveling again in one of the band’s most well-known songs, “Best of You.”

Ohhhhhh
Ohhhhhh.
Ohhhhhh.
Ohhhhhh.

Then they erupted in one final cheer and walked out into the New York night.

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Health

Our enterprise is ‘rock strong’ and solely getting higher

Our business is 'rock solid' and only getting better

GoodRx co-CEO Doug Hirsch on Friday expressed confidence in the company’s outlook, telling CNBC that the recent acquisitions will help expand the business offering as it approaches a post-pandemic healthcare landscape.

A day earlier, GoodRx reported a 20% increase in revenue for the first quarter, up from $ 133.4 million a year ago to $ 160.4 million. Net income was $ 1.7 million, a sharp decrease from $ 27.3 million in the first quarter of 2020. However, the company that offers customers coupons for prescription drugs said the most recent number was due to stock-based Compensation expense of $ 46.5 million was impacted.

GoodRx’s shares rose roughly 10% on Friday.

“We are switching from the Covid crisis to the other health crisis in which people simply cannot afford their care,” said Hirsch in an interview on “The Exchange”. “We feel that our business is absolutely solid and is getting better and better.”

Two recent deals improve GoodRx’s position, Hirsch said. The first is RxSaver, which also offers prescription coupons to users. Hirsch said the acquisition – allegedly for $ 50 million – brings “a complementary business to ours”. It also offers marketing benefits, he said.

The other acquisition was HealthiNation, which produces information videos on health topics. The content is created by doctors and health professionals, Hirsch said. While GoodRx has had educational content for years, Hirsch said it mainly focuses on the written word.

“A lot of consumers enjoy watching videos,” he said, adding that it also allows GoodRx to sell advertisements to manufacturers for revenue. “It’s a win-win situation for everyone.”

GoodRx’s previous acquisitions included telemedicine provider HeyDoctor in 2019. The company renamed it GoodRx Care in March.

Despite the positive performance on Friday, GoodRx stock has struggled to gain ground since going public in September. The IPO was $ 33 per share and the first session ended at $ 50.50 apiece.

The stock was trading at around $ 31 on Friday, bringing GoodRx’s market cap to just over $ 12 billion.

Competition from much larger competitors – Amazon in particular – is a big problem for some on Wall Street. For example, GoodRx shares fell 22.5% in one session in November after the e-commerce giant revealed plans for Amazon Pharmacy that marked the most significant move in the space.

Hirsch downplayed the threat Amazon poses to GoodRx, which he co-founded in 2011. “People see it as head to head with us, but it’s not like that,” he told CNBC in November.

Of the nine analyst prospects available on FactSet, only one has a sell rating on GoodRx stock while four have a buy rating. The other analysts rate the share as a hold.

Hirsch doubled its bullish outlook on Friday, saying, “Put the markets aside because our business is both durable and highly predictable.”

“Most of the people who use GoodRx have chronic conditions so they take prescriptions all the time. They show up at this pharmacy every month. We have a very reliable source of income, and again we open up new sources of income and new ways of communicating with us the consumers, “he said.

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Business

Ed Ward, Rock Critic and Historian, Is Useless at 72

Ed Ward, Rock Critic and Historian, Is Dead at 72

After his years in Austin, Mr. Ward moved to Berlin in the mid-1990s to work for a planned magazine that had passed away before it was published, and then to Montpellier, France. During his years in Europe he wrote freelance articles, continued to contribute to Fresh Air (where he has been since 1987) and worked as a bartender.

He returned to Austin in 2013 and began work on The History of Rock & Roll, Volume 1: 1920-1963, which was published in 2016. A second volume covering the history of music up to 1977 was published in 2019. However, his publisher declined to publish a third because the sales of the second book had not been as good as the first.

Although well-known names like Elvis and the Beatles are in the first book, there are also those of black artists like Earl Palmer, the drummer of Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” and many other classic New Orleans records, and Lowman Pauling, the guitarist and Haupt -Songwriter of the R&B group the “5” Royales.

“There’s this misconception that one day in 1954 Elvis invented it all at once, and that’s not only wrong, it’s really simple and unfair,” he told The American-Stateman Black Music of the 30s, 40s and 40s in 2016 early 50s and the extent to which this shaped the sound from which Elvis emerged. “

The book was in some ways a result of Mr. Ward’s “Fresh Air” work. In sections that lasted only seven or eight minutes, he told compelling, detailed stories about famous and obscure musicians and groups.

“I think this is Ed’s most outstanding work,” said Marcus in a telephone interview. “They were so interesting and well produced and so sharp. I am not ignorant of this, but from time to time he would present a snippet of something I had never heard of. He was a great explorer, a great digger. “

When Fresh Air refused to interview him about his book in 2017, he resigned.

“Leaving ‘fresh air’ was a dangerous thing,” said Patoski, “and it hurt him because people knew him like that.”

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Business

Why there is a growth in boomer rock stars promoting their songs

Why there's a boom in boomer rock stars selling their songs

Paul Simon performs on stage during the Nearness Of You benefit concert at Frederick P. Rose Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center on January 20, 2015 in New York City.

Ilya S. Savenok | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

From Bob Dylan plugging his electric guitar on for the first time to Super Bowl commercials, there have always been moments in music history when die-hard fans accuse their idols of doing the unthinkable: selling out. But right now, “sellout” has a new connotation and it’s a booming market for both investors and superstar recording artists.

A wave of boomer rock icons are selling out their song catalogs. The steps of which Paul Simon took the last last week point to a clear truth about the intersection of art and money: music has always been a business where creative genius deserves to be richly rewarded. And it’s a business that is currently going through big changes from streaming and further disruption from the pandemic. The deals of Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, Neil Young (in Young’s case 50% of the shares) and Stevie Nicks (80% of the rights to their songs) highlight important trends in the entertainment industry, capital markets and wealth management.

Music publishers like Hipgnosis Songs Fund and Primary Wave Music, as well as conglomerates like BMG, Sony, Warner Music Group, and Vivendis Universal Music Group, are buying up top-notch song catalogs in big deals fueled by record low interest rates, with the belief that they will generate more lucrative returns in the future by selling the rights to these songs through entertainment platforms.

Pick up cheap fuel music deals

Larry Mestel, CEO of Primary Wave Music, the company that just acquired a controlling stake in the catalog of two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame candidate Stevie Nicks, told CNBC the economic environment that the coronavirus pandemic created have had a positive impact on companies looking to acquire large assets. These low interest rates make it easy to borrow money, and high returns have created a perfect opportunity for buyers.

“They talk about a low interest rate environment and they can get 7% to 9% … and then increase that through marketing and get returns for teens. This is a very attractive place for people to invest money,” he said.

Music catalogs have also proven recession-proof, and the pandemic has only increased the number of deals done as the music industry is going through a massive disruption caused by the closure of live venues and touring.

Streaming music is increasing

The deals also come at a time when streaming music – despite all the controversy and skepticism of the musicians themselves about getting a raw deal – has proven to be an economic juggernaut, at least for the record companies. In 2020, Goldman Sachs predicted that global music sales will hit $ 142 billion by the end of the decade. This corresponds to an increase of 84% compared to the level in 2019 of 77 billion US dollars and a streaming of 1.2 billion users by 2030, four times the level in 2019. Companies like Sony, who have bought Simon’s catalog, will benefit most from this , and Universal, who purchased Dylan’s songs.

Worldwide revenue from streaming music hit an all-time high in the industry last year (83% according to a recent report) and is also favoring the superstars. Spotify said its mission is “to enable one million creative artists to make a living from their art”. A recent analysis by the New York Times found that Spotify’s data generated only about 13,000 payments of $ 50,000 or more over the past year.

It’s not just streaming, however. Once purchased, the rights to larger catalogs of acts can be used for dubbing placements that license music for a variety of media including movies, television shows, advertising, and video games.

“From a publisher’s point of view, having the rights to a particular catalog that we can make available for dubbing is extremely valuable,” said Rebecca Valice, copyright and licensing manager for PEN Music Group. “A catalog can pitch its own just because of its legendary success.”

Appreciation of rock icons

The more recognizable a catalog is, the more valuable it becomes for businesses to buy and use films or television. The best catalogs “pay off over time,” she says, as syncing helps regain the money spent, “and then some over time”.

“I think the icons and legends are worth more than the other artists,” said Mestel. Primary Wave owns the catalogs of stars like Whitney Houston, Ray Charles, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.

Some famous boomer-era musicians have grappled with the situation the industry has put them in, like David Crosby, who said in a December tweet, “I’m selling mine too … I can’t work …” and streaming stole my record money … I have a family and a mortgage and I have to take care of them so it’s my only option … I’m sure the others feel the same way. “

In March, he sold his entire catalog to Irving Azoff’s Iconic Artists Group, which had recently also acquired a controlling stake in the Beach Boys’ intellectual property, including part of the song catalog.

“Given our current inability to work live, this deal is a boon to me and my family and I believe these are the best people to do it with,” Crosby said in a statement setting out the deal was announced.

Boomer Generation Estate Planning

For the musicians themselves, there is a megatrend: the estate planning needs of America’s richest generation. Boomer musicians age just like their fans. “Artists are getting older now so they can use cash and make estate plans,” says Mestel.

The downside, of course, can be the loss of control over an artist’s most valuable asset: the creative genius who made his career.

“These aging rock stars may want to cash out to care for their estates … but you lose some control of your brand and heritage depending on the protections you’ve put in place as part of the business,” said John Ozszajca , Musician and founder of Music Marketing Manifesto, a company that teaches musicians how to sell and market their music.

Crosby and Azoff have been friends for a long time, a point Azoff addressed in the deal’s disclosure.

It seems like everyone who has a relationship in the music business knows someone is trying to raise money.

Larry Mestel

CEO of Primary Wave Records

Some fans aren’t particularly happy to hear hits like Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen” or Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” selling cars and clothes – although Dylan has made several Super Bowl commercials for GM, IBM and his has songs featured in others alone – but choosing to sell catalogs can also help musicians avoid the posthumous litigation that they endured the estates of Tom Petty, Prince and Aretha Franklin.

BMG acquired the catalog interests of Nicks’ bandmate Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac earlier this year and in its announcement noted some stats that show that, as old as boomer acts, they can get a new lease on life from streaming viral hits . The Fleetwood Mac song ‘Dreams’ generated over 3.2 billion streams worldwide (in a period of eight weeks from September 24 to November 19, 2020) based on a video with a cranberry juice-loving fan and introduced a new generation who is used to TikTok to Fleetwood Mac. The band’s album “Rumors” peaked at number 6 on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart 43 years after its release.

Dylan’s deal is the largest to date, valued at $ 300 million, although no sales price has been officially announced, and Universal said in only one publication that it was “the most significant music publishing deal of this century.”

Mestel believes the boom is not going to end.

“It seems like anyone who has a relationship in the music business knows that someone is trying to raise money. But that doesn’t mean they can identify assets to sell or even know what they’re doing.”

BMG and private equity giant KKR recently signed an agreement for a major acquisition of music rights. A senior executive told Rolling Stone, “We’re not chasing hits as of January 2021. We’re looking for a repertoire that has proven itself.” be a part of our life. “

KKR has made big music deals in the past and the trend of buying rights is not new, but the current boom is remarkable and fits in with the asset class appreciation that is happening in so many parts of the market as investors look for more avenues in their business Bring money to work. While the boomer deals are the biggest headlines, the latest acts are also seeing big paydays. Earlier this year, KKR bought a stake in OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder catalog for a supposedly large sum.

Companies like Primary Wave are partnering with artists like Nicks to try to keep them as part of the deal and make that deal even better for them in the future, according to Mestel, who says many didn’t understand they were signing a contract partnership, sell a piece of their catalog, and that piece may become more valuable in the future than the 100% they previously owned.

“If everything goes right, [artists] Get the most of what they want to sell it for and it’s usually a win-win scenario for both buyers and sellers, “Valice said.

Categories
Business

Henry Goldrich, Gear Guru to Rock Stars, Is Lifeless at 88

Henry Goldrich, Gear Guru to Rock Stars, Is Dead at 88

When asked about his musical skills, Henry Goldrich would often say, “I play the cash register.”

Its stage was Manny’s Music in Manhattan, where Mr. Goldrich, the longtime owner, provided gear for a generation of rock stars. But even though he was selling instead of jingling, Mr. Goldrich secured an important role in rock by combining famous musicians with state-of-the-art equipment.

“Henry was the superstar for these guys,” said his son Judd. “He was the first to get equipment they’d never seen before.”

Mr. Goldrich died on February 16 at his home in Boca Raton, Florida. He was 88 years old.

His death was confirmed by his other son, Ian, who said he was in frail but stable health.

Manny’s, which closed in 2009 after 74 years in business, has long been the largest and most famous of the music stores on the West 48th Street Block, known as Music Row.

It was opened by Mr. Goldrich’s father Manny in 1935 and has been a second home for Henry since he was a child when he was hit by swing star business customers. Ella Fitzgerald would babysit for him at the store when his parents went out for lunch, Ian Goldrich said.

By 1968, when his father died at the age of 62, Henry Goldrich had largely taken over the business and turned the business into an equipment mecca and meeting place for world-famous artists.

He did this by expanding his inventory of the latest equipment and strengthening relationships with suppliers who helped him keep high quality instruments and new products in stock.

At a time before rock stars were getting the latest gear straight from manufacturers, Manny’s was favored by top musicians looking for and trying out new gear.

These included two 1960s guitar gods, Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, whom Ian Goldrich said his father recommended the wah-wah pedal, an electronic device that immediately became an integral part of both musicians’ approaches. He added that Hendrix would buy dozens of guitars on credit and have Mr. Goldrich tune them to the guitarist’s discerning preferences.

Many rock and pop classics were either played or written on instruments sold by Mr. Goldrich.

John Sebastian, founder of Lovin ‘Spoonful, recalled in an interview how Mr. Goldrich helped him choose the Gibson J-45 in the mid-1960s, which he used for early spoonful recordings such as “Do you believe in magic?” Used.

Mr. Goldrich similarly compared James Taylor to a quality Martin acoustic guitar early in his career, his son Ian said. And Sting used the Fender Stratocaster Mr. Goldrich sold him to compose “Message in a Bottle” and many other hits for the police before donating them to the Smithsonian Institution.

In 1970 he sold Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour the black 1969 Stratocaster, which he played on many of the band’s landmark recordings. It auctioned in 2019 for a record $ 3,975,000.

Pete Townshend of The Who ordered dozens of expensive electric guitars from Mr. Goldrich, who was not happy when he heard of the guitarist’s fondness for destroying his instrument on stage for the theatrical effect.

“It was a good deal,” said Ian Goldrich, “but my father was upset that Pete broke all the guitars he sold him.”

Unlike many of his flamboyant Rockstar clients, Mr. Goodrich always conventionally wore a sports coat and maintained a dull demeanor that reassured his clients.

“He had a gruff personality; He treated them all equally, ”said Ian Goldrich. “He would tell Bob Dylan, ‘Sit in the back and I’ll be with you in a minute.'”

There was the day in 1985 – it was Black Friday and the store was full – that Mick Jagger and David Bowie stopped by together and caused a commotion that stopped sales. An annoyed Mr. Goldrich quickly sold them their items and rushed them out.

“My dad said, ‘What are you doing here today?'” Ian recalled. “He didn’t kick her out, but he wasn’t happy.”

When the band Guns N ‘Roses asked to shoot part of the video for their 1989 hit “Paradise City” in the store, Ian Goldrich agreed, his father reluctantly agreed, and said, “OK, but we’re not closing for them . ”

Mr. Goldrich told Harry Chapin in 1972 that his new song “Taxi” was almost seven minutes too long to be a hit. (It hit the top 40 and is now considered a classic.) And he told Paul Simon, who bought his first guitar at Manny’s as a boy, that he thought Simon and Garfunkel were a “bad name” for a group.

But he also advised new stars in a fatherly way not to waste their newfound wealth.

“He would take her aside and say, ‘You make money now – how are you going to take care of it?'” Said Ian Goldrich.

Henry Jerome Goldrich was born on May 15, 1932 to Manny and Julia Goldrich and grew up in Brooklyn and Hewlett on Long Island. After graduating from Adelphi College, he served in the Korean Army in the mid-1950s and then worked full time at Manny’s.

His father opened the store on West 48th Street, a location he chose because it was close to Broadway theaters and 52nd Street jazz clubs, as well as numerous recording studios and the Brill Building, a music publishing hub. In 1999, Mr. Goldrich sold Manny’s to Sam Ash Music, a rival business that largely retained its staff until Manny’s closed in 2009.

In addition to his sons, Mr. Goldrich survived his wife Judi. his daughter Holly Goldrich; seven grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

Mr. Goldrich often used his prominent clientele to market the shop. “He saw the value of these people in the store and it made the business safe,” said his son Judd.

When a young Eric Clapton, then with the Cream group, was stuck in New York with no money to fly home to England, he offered Mr. Goldrich his amplifiers to raise funds.

“He said, ‘I’ll buy them from you as long as you stencil them with the Cream logo,” said Ian.

Then there was the wall of fame of the business, thousands of signed promotional photos of famous customers representing a who’s who of pop music. Mr. Goldrich helped maintain the photos, many of which were registered for him, and often prevented his staff from stacking goods in front of them.

In a video interview, Mr Taylor described how intrigued by the photos as a teenager and proud when his own were added. “It was kind of inside-out, not as celebrated as a Grammy or a gold record or a position on the charts,” he said. “But you would definitely have arrived if you were locked in on this wall.”

Mr. Goldrich became close friends with many musicians, including Who’s bassist John Entwistle, who visited Judd’s Bar Mitzvah in New Jersey and housed the Goldrich family in his Gothic mansion in England. Ian remembered the band’s drummer, Keith Moon, sitting on his father’s lap, drinking cognac at a screening of the film “Tommy”.

In a video interview, Mr. Goldrich described how he sold an electric violin to the violinist Itzhak Perlman. When Mr. Perlman tried to negotiate, Mr. Goldrich parried by asking if he had ever lowered his performance fee.

“He said:” It’s different, I am a talent, “recalled Mr. Goldrich.” I said: ‘I am also a talent in my own way.’ “

This talent was evident in Mr. Sebastian when he asked Mr. Goldrich to allow him to test his inventory of Gibson acoustic guitars in a warehouse.

“Henry’s known prickly demeanor subsided slightly,” recalled Sebastian and agreed to open early the next morning to let him in.

“He knew exactly what I wanted,” he said. “And I’ll be damned if I don’t catch Henry smiling as he wrote the bill.”

Categories
Business

Hemphill Brothers pivots RV leases from rock stars to vacationers throughout Covid

Hemphill Brothers pivots RV rentals from rock stars to tourists during Covid

The Hemphill Brothers Coach Company knows a thing or two about how celebrities live on the streets. The Nashville-based RV company, run by brothers Joey and Trent Hemphill, has been building and equipping luxury tour buses for 40 years, promoting an A-list of megastars ranging from Taylor Swift, Oprah, Dolly Parton and Beyonce to former US presidents.

“2020 was our best year yet. It has already been booked as our biggest year in our company’s history,” said Trent Hemphill when CNBC first caught up with Hemphill in October.

When the coronavirus pandemic led to the sudden cancellation of concerts across the country in early March 2020, RV rentals booked with them totaling $ 30 million for musicians on tour went out the door. “My brother and I have been through many things together in this business, but none of the above,” said Trent Hemphill.

American Bus Association data estimates that the 75% to 80% decline in tour bus journeys since mid-March 2020 has been canceled due to the pandemic, a loss of nearly $ 5 billion to the US entertainment bus industry, which includes tour buses Organizers and tour operators.

The Hemphills grew up touring as a successful family gospel group before borrowing money from their father in 1980 to buy their first bus for rent. Now they have over 100 buses. The Hemphill Brothers Coach Company is located in Nashville, Tenn.

Brothers Joey and Trent Hemphill entered the RV business in 1980 with just one bus. The Nashville-based fleet now includes more than 100 coaches and over 200 employees, and has a long list of celebrity A-list customers.

Hemphill Brothers Coach Company

Business was booming in the first five months of 2019, with 95% of the Hemphill fleet on the open road. But in early 2020, “not a single RV left the lot for three months,” said Joey Hemphill. “We were seen as essential transportation for the government. But there was no business.”

“The most painful thing we ever had to do was lay off employees. We had to be very nimble and cut costs immediately and find a way to get to the other side,” he added.

So the brothers put their heads together and decided to do something they had never done before: create a social media presence and start marketing their buses to the masses.

“We’re dealing with tour managers. Dealing with the public is something we’ve never done in our 40 years. So it was all new to us,” said Joey Hemphill.

“We said our equipment can be used by the public who don’t even know we exist. We just need to get the message across,” added Trent Hemphill.

To cause a stir, the brothers came up with the idea of ​​”Travel Like a Rock Star” to market their luxury RVs to American tourists and travelers looking for an alternative to air travel during the pandemic.

“This has not only generated revenue for the company, but also for our employees and drivers,” said Trent Hemphill. The “Rockstar Experience” went viral – and the Hemphills said they had closed dozen of tourist road trip rentals in the past year and through 2021.

The buses resemble a rolling five-star hotel, and drivers can choose between several layouts. The “Sternbus” offers space for up to 12 people and even for pets. Every part of the bus can be closed for privacy reasons. The brothers said that every bus is “extremely bespoke” and “no two buses are the same”.

The famous Hemphill Brothers motorhomes are equipped with high quality materials and decorations such as real leather, hardwood floors, granite, marble and quartz. The lavish buses are aimed at luxury travelers looking for the ultimate in comfort on the road.

Hemphill Brothers Coach Company

Hemphill buses offer travelers a ride in luxury: each motorhome is fitted with high quality finishes, including real leather, hardwood floors, granite, marble and quartz.

The cost of renting the camper starts between $ 1,200 and $ 1,500 per day, depending on the mileage. Driver, fuel, and utilities are included, and drivers can meet travelers in their homes anywhere in the Americas

Trent Hemphill said the advantages of traveling by road over an airplane are numerous. “You only have to pack once,” and passengers wake up at their next destination in the morning while the bus travels overnight, “he added.” Our drivers are so good at giving you such a smooth ride. They don’t even know you’re moving. “

“Personally, I sleep better on a bus than at home,” said Joey Hemphill.

Who else slept on a Hemphill bus? The same company that made superstar Taylor Swift’s first tour bus made the last built by country legend Merle Haggard.

The buses are sterilized before each trip and the drivers are tested for Covid before each trip and spend the night in pre-arranged accommodations between the destinations. Prices may vary based on a person’s schedule and itinerary, or travelers can opt for a tailored itinerary.

The Calderon family said when their South Africa trip derailed due to the pandemic, one of the best decisions would be to rent a Hemphill bus for the same amount of money and take a tour overland.

“We have been all over the world and had some great vacations. I think we had no idea that we would come back and say of all the trips we have made in our lives that this was our favorite,” said Karla Calderon.

Karla, her husband Rafael, and their two young children rode their Hemphill bus west for 12 days, starting in Nashville and ending in Yosemite National Park. “We always want to travel outside of the US and see all of these things. This [trip] reminded me that this country is amazing, “said Rafael Calderon.

The Hemphill Brothers said they have also increased other revenue streams through sales of used equipment and custom interior modifications and remodeling for outside customers. The company said this helped offset some of the loss in rental income during the pandemic and enabled them to get employees back to work.

Even if live concerts return, the Hemphills plan to keep part of their fleet for tourists.

“We experienced a storm and had to take control of the company again. And we realized that we can still do that.” said Trent Hemphill. “It was a challenge, but it also enlivened him and me a little to see that the decisions we make every day can affect the bottom line of our business. Just like in the beginning. It makes you feel young again.”

Categories
Entertainment

Who Was Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Father, Rocky?

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 20: Rocky Johnson participates in Unite in the Fight To Prevent Bullying at Hard Rock Cafe New York on October 20, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by John Lamparski / WireImage)

We’re already addicted to CBS Young skirt, a sitcom based on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s youth. Johnson’s show is a fun take on his eccentric upbringing and experience with his iconic wrestling dad Rocky Johnson (plus all of his famous wrestling buddies). It emerges from the premiere that Rocky was a major inspiration for Dwayne as both a father and an athlete. While Rocky sadly passed away in 2020, there is still so much to learn about the man, myth, and legend that helped create The Rock.

Rocky Johnson, also known as Soul Man, was a Canadian-American WWE Hall of Famer in the 1980s. Together with fellow wrestler Tony Atlas he founded “The Soul Patrol” and together they became the first African American tag team world champion in WWE history. He is known to this day as the “king of the drop kick”.

Born in Wayde Douglas Bowles, Rocky was marked by tragedy when his father, a miner, died of lung cancer at the age of just 12. When he moved to Toronto, he changed his name to Rocky Johnson, inspired by his favorite boxing greats Rocky Marciano and Jack Johnson. While doing odd jobs, he boxed at a nearby community center and got good enough even to fight Muhammad Ali.

He soon found himself in Jack Wentworth’s wrestling school, where he quickly developed into a fantastic wrestler. Johnson stepped his way into notoriety and got his big break from world heavyweight champion “Whipper” Billy Watson, who made him his protégé. Although Johnson wrote in his memoir that he believes Watson chose him to advance his political career because he “may have been the only black wrestler from Canada,” the wrestling newcomer rose to prominence in both cases.

In the 1980s, Rocky Johnson was a well-known WWE wrestler who used his fights with Ali and George Foreman to build his reputation as a top notch fighter. He soon fell in love with the daughter of Samoan pro-wrestler Peter Maivia, Ata, who would one day become Dwayne Johnson’s mother. The couple took Dwayne out on the streets and gave the future wrestler and actor a glimpse into the business. After Rocky retired from the ring in 1991, he focused on helping his son enter the wrestling arena himself and turning him from college footballer to iconic WWE Smackdown Superstar.

About his father, The Rock wrote on Instagram in 2018: “Little boys naturally look up to their old man and adore him. They want to be just like them, do everything they do and always seek their approval.” He continued his caption and talked about how his father’s deep love made him who he is today, closing with “grateful for the original skirt.” When Rocky passed away in 2020, The Rock hit social media again, this time to share his heartbreak: “You broke color barriers, became a ring legend, and paved your way through this world.” The star left followers in his grief, writing: “You have led a very full, very hard, accessible life and left everything in the ring. I love you, Dad, and I will always be your proud and grateful son.”

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Jay-Z and Foo Fighters Are Nominated for the Rock Corridor of Fame

Jay-Z and Foo Fighters Are Nominated for the Rock Hall of Fame

Foo Fighters, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Iron Maiden and Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti are first-time nominees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame’s 36th Annual Induction Ceremony, announced on Wednesday.

They lead a group of 16 nominees, including several who have received nods at least twice before: Devo, LL Cool J, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine, and Todd Rundgren.

After many complaints that the hundreds of candidates in the hall over the years have been predominantly white and male, this year’s ballot is the most diverse to date. Seven of the 16 nominees are female acts and nine are performing artists of color.

The women on the ballot include the Go-Go’s and Dionne Warwick – both of whom receive their first nods – as well as Kate Bush, Carole King, Chaka Khan and Tina Turner.

This year’s induction ceremony is slated for fall in Cleveland, home to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and museum.

To some extent, the latest nominee number expands a pattern that has prevailed for the past half a decade or so, with a handful of alt-rock heroes and rap gods as near-guaranteed safe-things; Foo Fighters and Jay-Z have just passed the hall’s approval threshold of 25 years since their first commercial recordings were released. Dave Grohl, the leader of Foo Fighters, is already in the Pantheon as a member of the 2014 Nirvana class.

A few recycled names from previous years’ ballot papers give an idea of ​​the advocacy projects on the Hall of Fame’s secret nomination committee. Rundgren, the versatile singer-songwriter and producer, whose solo career dates back to the early 1970s, has been nominated for each of the last three years. Rage Against the Machine, the agitprop rap metal band whose planned reunion tour was interrupted by the pandemic last year, has been nominated three times in the last four cycles. LL Cool J has now received a total of six nods.

Iron Maiden, whose lightning-fast guitar riffs and demonic images helped shape heavy metal in the 1980s, has been approved since 2005.

This year’s nominations also contain some surprises. Kuti, the Nigerian band leader and activist who fused James Brown’s funk with African sounds to create the Afrobeat genre – and was introduced to many Americans through the 2009 Broadway musical “Fela!” – would be the first West African award winner. (Trevor Rabin, a member of Yes, who joined in 2017, is from South Africa.)

And the hall’s nomination committee – a group of journalists, broadcasters, and industry insiders – clearly made an effort to highlight some of pop music’s many deserving women. The pressure to do this has been increasing for years. In 2019, critic and academic Evelyn McDonnell counted the 888 people enrolled to date and found that only 7.7 percent were women.

When Janet Jackson and Stevie Nicks gave acceptance speeches earlier this year, they urged the institution to diversify its ranks. “What I do is open the door to other women like, ‘Hey man, I can do it,'” said Nicks.

If elected, King and Turner Nicks would join as the only artists to be included twice. King was recorded with her songwriting partner Gerry Goffin in 1990, and Ike and Tina Turner joined in 1991.

More than 1,000 artists, historians and music industry professionals will vote on the nominations. The venue will once again conduct a single “fan vote” based on votes collected from members of the public on the venue’s website, rockhall.com. The candidates will be announced in May.

In December, the Hall of Fame and Museum announced plans for a $ 100 million expansion that would add a third to their museum’s footprint.