[NEWSFLASH] KANYE WEST & MOBY x NIKE+ HUMAN RACE!
Music takes center stage on the heels of the official registration opening for the Nike+ Human Race, the world’s biggest one-day running event taking place on August 31, 2008. The race brings together the power of sport and music to inspire and connect runners from every corner of the planet. Participants in this unprecedented event will experience an exclusive music performance by some of today’s top artists in each of the 25 designated race cities.
In Los Angeles, nine-time Grammy Award winning artist Kanye West will headline the run’s post race concert for the grand finale of the 25-city Nike+ Human Race. Runners will take to the streets passing the city’s most famous landmarks before ending at the LA Coliseum to see West take the stage.
“I’m hitting the stage in Los Angeles for the Nike+ Human Race, Nike's dopest 10k run ever. This race is bringing together hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world to run and listen to some great music while serving a higher cause, and I’m excited to perform in L.A. as part of the grand finale.”
West’s performance will bring to a close, an unprecedented day of races and activities around the globe starting in Taipei, ending in LA and including cities across Europe, Asia and North and South America.
Beyond running and music, the Nike+ Human Race is also an opportunity to give back. Participants will be able to run for a worthy cause and support the three official Nike+ Human Race charitable partners: the Lance Armstrong Foundation – uniting people in the fight against cancer; WWF - the global conservation organization addressing the causes and impacts of climate change; and the UN refugee agency's ninemillion.org campaign – bringing sport and education to refugee youth. Together, Nike and runners will raise funds to donate at least USD $3 million to the Nike+ Human Race charities. Money will be raised via givebacks from registration fees, a percentage of Nike+ Human Race t-shirt sales and a donation of USD $1 million from Nike.
The Nike+ Human Race will also feature an online pledge tool so individual runners can donate additional funds to the cause of their choice and invite friends and family to contribute on their behalf.
“As a committed runner and a cancer survivor, I’m proud to be participating in the Nike+ Human Race,” Lance Armstrong said. “The race offers the best of both worlds by bringing together a global community to run together and support worthy causes like the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the UN refugee agency’s ninemillion.org and WWF in our combined efforts to have a positive impact on the world.
Other Nike athletes will also be joining the movement to run with the world and for a cause. Like Lance Armstrong, they will serve as honorary athlete ambassadors for the charities and join in Human Race activities. Six-time marathon winner and current NY Marathon Champion, Paula Radcliffe and middle distance runner Kara Goucher will be running to support WWF, while marathoner Meb Keflezighi will be representing ninemillion.org.
Nikeplus.com will be the official destination for the Nike+ Human Race and for all pre-race training needs. Here, runners can create a personal profile page or stay motivated by sampling and downloading the latest in Nike+ Sport Music offerings. Sport Music offers runners the best in original Training Run and Coaching Mixes designed specifically for treadmill and road runs. Beginning June 15, runners will also be able to visit Race City pages covering local race info and news, Training pages for information and links to in-city training runs, events with official race partners including 24Hour Fitness and Starbucks and Nike+ Coach training. Gear pages covering the latest in Nike performance training gear and Nike+ product will also be offered.
About Nike+ Human Race
On 08.31.08, Nike hosts a run like no other before with the Nike+ Human Race - the World’s Largest One Day Running Event. Nike’s first global race will take place over the course of one day, with a goal of one million runners, across 25 cities and featuring 25 top musical acts. The 10k event celebrates runners and their sport, offering participants across the globe the chance to run and compete together in an unprecedented race experience. Spanning multiple continents, Nike+ Human Race cities will include LA, New York, London, Madrid, Paris, Istanbul, Melbourne, Shanghai, São Paulo and Vancouver among others. Following races in each city, participants will be treated to an exclusive music concert featuring one of today’s top artists. Participants will be able to run for a cause as a portion of funds raised will be donated to three Nike+ Human Race beneficiaries: WWF, the global conservation organization, Lance Armstrong Foundation and UN refugee agency's ninemillion.org campaign. The race will be open to anyone, anywhere. Runners outside of the 25 race day cities can join by logging into nikeplus.com. With the help of Nike+ and the Nike+ SportBand, every city and every road can become a race-day course. For more information, visit nikeplus.com.
The use of backing tracks is not only for karaoke singers but for performing artists too. If you are in a band of any sort then this information is for you to help take your act to the next level. Especially if you're performing in some sort of tribute act or cover band.
For years I've been singing and playing in various rock bands and for the greater part have been very well received in front of audiences. Up until not too long ago I would be inclined to pick songs that we performed based on how accurately we could represent that song from a stage. That is, could we cover all the required parts that make a song a hit and do it justice. Every so often a song would come along that required keyboards that were so important in the song that the song was just not worth doing without it. We wouldn't be able to do it justice. So, rather than ruin the song we would put it on the shelf as a song we wished we could do. I didn't see the sense in hiring a full time keyboard player to play in 20% of the songs at best so it made more sense to not do the song.
As the time went on of course I joined a band that was using backing tracks to cover piano parts in songs and even complex backing vocals and instantly realized what those tracks are worth to a performer. That meant that the very difficult backing vocals could be spot on every time and the back up singers could sing easier lines when playing live, giving the back ups a lot of depth. It also meant of course that the music was greatly enhanced. The average audience member doesn't really pick up on a band using tracks. All they realize is this band sounds far better than the band last week but don't really know why. The answer is in the tracks. The lead singer can harmonizie to his own voice more easily than someone else can do it so he should be the one getting recorded. Be careful not to put in too much though or you risk the show becoming a karaoke act.
An important point to consider is what to do if you have technical problems. You need to have a way out. You have to know your show. I've been onstage and had the monitor system fail and not been able to hear the backing tracks and had to rely on the drummer keeping proper time. Using the tracks he has a click track in his left ear he should at least be able to keep time. He gets the click from a pre-recorded track that has a click track on one side and the song sample on the other side. Using a small mixer on stage he can send the music the main mixing console and nobody in the audience will hear the click track.
Using backing tracks are a great way to give your show a very competitive edge and set you apart form the rest of the bands in your circuit, area, etc. I will always use them now and am happy to because all the songs that I put on the shelf in the years gone by can now be done properly.
Ian Kurz is a singer/guitarist and the owner of the site http://www.discoveryoucansing.com
Visit his site here to learn more about using backing tracks on stage. They will give your act some serious edge.
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