Popdose Contest: Win “The Essential ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic”

“Weird Al” Yankovic hand-picked the tracks on his new compilation, the suitably titled The Essential “Weird Al” Yankovic — and you can win a free copy in today’s Popdose Contest.

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Popdose Contest: Win “The Essential ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic”

51EUrr0U6XL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]True fact: Right now, this very minute, in autumn 2009, three decades after he ducked into a college radio-station bathroom to record “My Bologna,” “Weird Al” Yankovic is absolutely more popular than he ever has been in his life, and we can prove it, with math:

2006’s Straight Outta Lynwood, Yankovic’s 12th album, debuted at #10 on the Top 200, making it his first Top 10 album ever. Its first single, the wondrous “White and Nerdy,” reached #9 on the Billboard Hot Singles chart, making it both Yankovic’s first Top 10 single and his highest-charting single ever (besting the personal best set by “Eat It,” which reached #12 on the singles chart back in 1984). The video for “Nerdy” was in iTunes’ top 10 for like a year. More weirdness: “Nerdy” performed a second-week jump on the singles chart from #28-#9, making Yankovic one of a very few artists to have only one top 40 single in three successive decades.

Part of this is due to the Interweb machine, which Yankovic has been using masterfully of late, part of it is nostalgia for us dorkwad 30somethings who grew up with this stuff and are gleefully fascinated to see that it’s still funny, and part of it is the UNBRIDLED BARELY CONTAINABLE GENIUS, which is collected this week in a new greatest-hits comp, The Essential ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, featuring two discs of material picked by the man himself and liner notes from music snob Stephen Thompson. But you don’t care about that. All you want to know is HOW you can get your sticky, slightly orange hands on one of these things without paying for it. This is where Popdose becomes your angel. (more…)

Popdose Contest: Win the new Leonard Cohen “Live at the Isle of Wight” CD/DVD

Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of WightOn October 20, Sony Legacy released Leonard Cohen Live at the Isle of Wight. The CD/DVD package captures the Canadian singer/songwriter in a legendary performance from nearly 40 years ago. Here is the Amazon.com product description:

“Nearly 40 summers ago on August 31, 1970, 35-year-old Leonard Cohen was awakened at 2 a.m. from a nap in his trailer and brought onstage to perform with his band at the third annual Isle Of Wight music festival. The audience of 600,000 was in a fiery and frenzied mood, after turning the festival into a political arena, trampling the fences, setting fire to structures and equipment – and stoked by the most incendiary performance of Jimi Hendrix’s career.

As Cohen followed Hendrix’s set, onlookers and (fellow festival headliners) Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson, Judy Collins and others stood sidestage in awe as the Canadian folksinger-songwriter-poet-novelist quietly tamed the crowd. Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Murray Lerner (From Mao To Mozart, Festival, Message To Love), perfectly captured Cohen’s performance. Likewise, Columbia Records staff A&R producer Teo Macero did a brilliant job of supervising the live audio recording.

This CD/DVD package contains the new, beautiful film documentary by Lerner featuring interviews with fellow festival performers, as well as Cohen’s full performance on CD. All tracks are previously unreleased (sans bits of “Suzanne” which were featured in the documentary Message to Love, also by Lerner). Included are live versions of classic songs from the first two Leonard Cohen LPs: “So Long, Marianne,” “The Stranger Song,” “Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye,” “Suzanne,” “Bird On The Wire,” “You Know Who I Am,” and “The Partisan” as well as spoken word and poetry.”

We would like to offer a copy of this set to one lucky Popdose reader (I wish I was eligible!) The winner will be the first reader to send an e-mail to ken with the correct answer to the following question:

Which well-known singer released the 1987 Leonard Cohen tribute album Famous Blue Raincoat?

Let the games begin.

Popdose Contest: Bill Champlin Show and T-Shirts

Bill ChamplinOK, it’s time to have some fun — and win valuable prizes. One of our favorite artists, Bill Champlin, has graciously agreed to provide us with some cool stuff to give away, so we’re having a contest. The winner will get two tickets to any show on Bill’s West Coast tour, AND two tour t-shirts to remember the show by. The list of shows is below. We aren’t providing transportation, so please enter only if you can get to one of the venues, and let us know which show you want to go to.

In order to win, all you have to do is be the first person to e-mail me, ken, with the answer to the following question: Bill Champlin started a seminal San Francisco Bay Area band in the late ’60s, the Sons of Champlin. They were signed to Capitol Records. What was the name of the Sons of Champlin’s first album for Capitol, which was released in 1969?

Here are Bill Champlin’s tour dates. Remember, enter only if you have a reasonable expectation of being able to get to the venue on the date in question: (more…)

Popdose Contest: Win Tickets to See Maxwell!

This one’s for the ladies. And the men who enjoy dressing up like ladies.

Popdose isn’t judging one way or the other, of course, unless you’re dressing up like a lady to advance your acting career, because there’s nothing sexy about that. Funny? Yes. Oscar-worthy? Ooh, girl! But sexy? No, baby. No.

After eight long years of pondering what the title of his next album would be, R&B star Maxwell returned to the charts in July with BLACKsummers’night, the first in a planned trilogy, with blackSUMMERS’night set to debut next year and blacksummers’NIGHT to follow in 2011.

He also returned to the road this SUMMER, performing concerts at NIGHT and probably even dressing in BLACK at some of them. If you live in the Boston area, and you enjoy Maxwell’s music as much as you enjoy capital letters, then Popdose has a contest for YOU!

On Wednesday, September 2, the soulful crooner is performing at Boston’s House of Blues as part of the Samsung AT&T Summer Krush concert series. Maxwell wants to spend a temporary nite with you, girl!

All you need to do to win two free Priority Access tickets is answer the following trivia question: What’s Maxwell’s connection to English singer Kate Bush?

Click below to find out more about the Summer Krush series!

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Popdose Contest: DKNY Be Delicious Fragrance

Popdose is extremely lucky to have some of the best female writers on our staff, but let’s face it: this place is pretty much a smelly sausage factory. There’s just a lot of us dudes here, writing, grabbing our genitals, eating gross food, and spitting on the floor. It’s disgusting and I want out, because it’s an offense to my delicate sensibilities. But that’s a story for another post. My point is, I think it’s time we did something for the ladies. Or for the men who like to smell pretty. Let’s give away some perfume!

mmmm, smells yummy. (more…)

Popdose Contest: Win Tickets to See Darius Rucker!

Oh, Darius. Now that you’re a bona fide country star, I guess we can forgive you for that surreal Burger King “TenderCrisp Bacon Cheddar Ranch” commercial. After all, you’re the first solo African American artist to chart a Number One country hit since Charley Pride in 1983. That’s gotta count for something. The truth is, you’ve got a great voice, you put on a good show, and you love Popdose. In fact, we could hardly believe it when you called us up and said you wanted to give away two PRIORITY ACCESS tickets to Popdose readers for your show on August 24th at the legendary Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, courtesy of Samsung and AT&T.*

Hootie Darius is performing as part of the Samsung AT&T Summer Krush Series, and we do indeed have two totally free PRIORITY ACCESS tickets for you! Winning ‘em is a snap, too. Here’s how. All you have to do is tell us: What’s the name of the dude that founded Samsung in 1938?

To enter, just send an e-mail to Jason Hare with the answer. We’ll pick a winner on Saturday, August 22. And don’t enter if you can’t make the show. If you do, we’ll send the other guys from the Blowfish after you. And you know those guys are angry.

We’ll be offering tickets to one more Samsung AT&T Summer Krush show featuring the sexiest artist of all, Maxwell, so check back soon! And click below to find out more about the Summer Krush series!

*Note: Darius Rucker did not call us up, and as far as we know, has no idea who we are.

Popdose Contest: Win Tickets to See Dierks Bentley!

Look at Dierks Bentley, readers. So handsome. And we have it on good authority that he’s sitting on this motorcycle, thinking, “Man, I sure wish I could have some Popdose readers at my concert on August 18th at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA. I’d even give ‘em two free PRIORITY ACCESS tickets, courtesy of our friends at Samsung and AT&T.”*

Dierks, we’re here to make your sexy wish come true.

On August 18th, Mr. Bentley will be performing in Atlanta as part of the Samsung AT&T Summer Krush Series, and we do indeed have two totally free PRIORITY ACCESS tickets for you!

To win, all you have to do is connect Dierks Bentley to this dude:

Richard Kind!

That’s TV’s Richard Kind. The two are connected by a certain affiliation, and it’s not their hairdresser. Wikipedia is your friend, people.

Enter the contest by e-mailing Robert Cass with your answer. A correct answer will be chosen at random on Sunday, August 17th. Please don’t enter if you can’t make the concert; it makes us angry, and you wouldn’t like us when we’re angry.

We’ll be offering tickets to future Samsung AT&T Summer Krush shows, including Darius Rucker and Maxwell, so check back soon! And click below to find out more about the Summer Krush series!

*Note: Dierks Bentley may not actually be thinking any of the above. But he sure is handsome.

Win Free Tickets for Green Day and Kaiser Chiefs at Madison Square Garden!

PORTUGAL MTV AWARDS

Hey, what are you doing Tuesday? Feel like seeing Green Day and Kaiser Chiefs (out promoting their latest album, Off With Their Heads) at their sold-out Madison Square Garden show?

For free, even?

Well, Universal Music is here to help. They’ve given us two tickets to give away, and we’re celebrating with a good old-fashioned contest!

It’s super simple, too. To enter for a chance to win, all you have to do is e-mail Jason Hare with the most creative “your mom” insult you can think of. We’ll choose a winner on Monday at 5 PM. Ready? Go!

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Zep-Off: Vote for the New Led Zeppelin Singer!

Last week, we here at Popdose unveiled a contest to determine who should replace Robert Plant as the lead singer of Led Zeppelin. We’ve slimmed the choices down to a field of our favorite twenty choices. The winner from last week’s submissions will take home a brand new copy of The Who at Kilburn: 1977. The losers will have to BUY THEIR OWN!  After the jump, submit your vote for the only contest that really matters today.

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Popdose Contest: Name the New Led Zeppelin Singer!

As you’ve surely heard by now, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and Jason Bonham are planning on launching a Led Zeppelin tour and album without Robert Plant, and are “trying out a couple of singers.” They’ve said they aren’t looking for a Plant soundalike, so we thought we’d see if we can’t all put our heads together to come up with a suitably bizarre list of left-field candidates for the job.

We’ll get the ball rolling with three of our favorite choices:

1. Kenny Loggins
2. Clay Aiken
3. Art Garfunkel

Now we want to hear your nominees — and we even have a prize for you: The person who submits our favorite wildly inappropriate fill-in for Robert Plant will receive a brand spanking new copy of The Who at Kilburn: 1977, a DVD release from the Who’s archives that’s reaching shelves on November 18. Follow the link to check out details (and watch a 93-second clip), then help the Led Zep remnants find their new lead singer! You can enter as many times as you like, right here in the comments, and the contest will remain open until we say it’s over. Good luck!