Follow @AmoebaBerkeley on Twitter for a chance to win this Rolling Stones "Some Girls" canvas poster!

On Valentine’s Day (February 14) tune in to the @AmoebaBerkeley Twitter feed for a Rolling Stones trivia contest.

Two correct responses will be chosen randomly by the end of the day who will win the Grand Prize (18" x 24" canvas poster) and Second Place (used Limited Edition 1994 Mini LP Style CD version of Some Girls).  

Telemann's father died in 1685, leaving Maria to raise the children, protect them from their grandfather and his birds, and oversee their education. Telemann studied at the Altstädtisches Gymnasium and at the Domschule, where he was taught the catechism, Latin and Greek, and American History (then a very short and easy class). At age 10 he took singing lessons, studied keyboard playing, and learned some tips on how to make perfect pancakes for two weeks with a local gourmet organist. This was enough to inspire the boy to teach himself other instruments (recorder, violin and zither), start composing, and dabble in making his own syrups. His first music pieces were arias, motets, some freestyle rap and instrumental works, and at age twelve he composed his first opera, Sigismundus, a drama which told the story of a young man who was eager to see a woman naked but was thwarted by having acne and a reputation at school that he was a “total fag.” The opera was not a success.

1) Eminem Relapse (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope)

2) Method Man & Redman Blackout! 2 (Def Jam)

3) The Grouch & Eligh Say G&E! (Legendary Music)

4) Busta Rhymes Back On My B.S. (Flipmode/Universal Motown)

5) Tanya Morgan Brooklynati (Interdependent Media)

Eminem's latest full-length, Relapse on Shady/Aftermath/Interscope is the Detroit artist's sixth studio album and his first in five years. It is also in the number slot on the hip-hop chart at Amoeba Music Berkeley this week, just as it ranked last week at the Amoeba Hollywood store. The 20 track album from the 35 year old artist, born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, comes 13 years since his independantly released debut album Infinite, and exactly ten years since his major label breakthrough and first album through Dr Dre's Aftermath Entertainment, The Slim Shady LP.  Dr. Dre not only produced most of the new album (and its promised sequel in a few months) but Dre also cameos on the track "Crack A Bottle" with 50 Cent. As for the reaction to Relapse? It is charting high at Amoeba and elsewhere. Even here in Dublin, Ireland, where I am writing this Amoeblog, it is given high profile in and getting high sales at all the main record stores. But also here in Europe, as in the States, the album has folks divided into the two camps of either loving or hating it. Those who hate it include many former Eminem fans who contend that he has fallen off and is merely going through the motions. Those who love it do admit that it takes a few listens to fully appreciate and warn the faint of heart to be prepared for Em's often unsettling, disturbingly vivid tales of violence and abuse, including, of course, drug abuse, which is the album's theme, based on the artist's open admission to a prescription drugs addiction. 

Way back in August 2006  -- a relative eternity ago in this fast-paced, ever changing Internet age -- MySpace hit the 100 million members mark, an accomplishment that blew peoples' minds at the time. That was three years ago, when MySpace was king and Facebook, while two years in existence, was still far from the force it is today. Meanwhile, Twitter was just a little baby born that year and something that comparatively few knew about. My, how things change! In March this year, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009 when it had an astounding growth rate of 1382%. That same month of this year Facebook enjoyed a growth rate of 228%.

Around that time, the site compete.com compiled the interesting Top 25 Social Networks Re-Rank chart (below) that includes the monthly visits each social networking site received for the first month of this year and ranked them in popularity accordingly. Even though MySpace, the once most popular social networking website, has slipped down to the number two position and many people have deserted it in favor of Facebook, it still continues to attract new members and hang onto old ones, including countless artists and musicians.

Music makers from all genres and at various stages along in their careers, from established global acts to young aspiring rappers and rockers, all vie for attention on MySpace since is very difficult to stand apart and get noticed these days with so much competition out there.

On Memorial Day --this Monday, May 25th, sometime between 1 and 2 in the afternoon, four guys from Light In The Attic Records (LITA) up in Seattle are expected to roll through the doors of Amoeba Music on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood.

The four may look tired and understandably so, as it will be Day 8 of their unique road trip that will take them from Seattle to San Diego and back. But expect the LITA four and the Amoeba folks who greet them all to be smiling widely once they peep the cool music these guys are coming armed with -- all from LITA's deep catalog: stacks of wax, rarities, and lots of goodies from the indie label known for its roster of reissue projects and its distribution catalog, with artists including Serge Gainsbourg and The Monks.

On Monday last, May 18th, they crammed thousands upon thousands of pieces of music into their van and since then have driven all the way down from Seattle, through Tacoma and Olympia, then through Oregon and into California, stopping all along the way at a total of 50 indie record stores to personally deliver the goodies. This 50 store/10 day/3000 mile music road trip will take them as far south as San Diego. Then it's back north and inland to Sacramento, their last stop before heading home to Seattle by Friday, May 29th. For those of you with calanders asking, doesn't that then make it an 11 or 12 day trip? Well, technically it is still 10 days, since the record store part of the operation runs from May 18th to the 28th.