Video - Ronan Parke Does Lady Gaga “Edge of Glory” – Preps for First Album

Not a lot of people in the United Sates know who Ronan Parke is.

He came in second place in the “Britain’s Got Talent” television show last year and, much like our own United States AGT runner-up Jackie Evancho, seems to be doing pretty well for himself.

Ronan, who was only 12-years-old when he competed on BGT, has already been signed to a record label and is preparing his first studio album.

But it has not been an easy ride for young Ronan.

During the Britain’s Got Talent competition he and Simon Cowell were accused of rigging the competition.

Parke was accused of training in secret for two years under the care of Simon – who was also accused of paying for his vocal couch and buying his cloths and sitting him with a fashion coach.

In fact, the day before the final show Cowell actually called the police to try and stop the rumors.

Watch Ronan Parke Talk about BGT Scandal


Ronan started singing when he was only three and has been taking singing lessons the last two years. After singing at a few birthday parties he decided to enter the BGT auditions.

He blew away the judges and audience, and was booked for the show and made it all the way to second place.

Watch Ronan Parke Sing on Britain's Got Talent


But now the show is over and Ronan has been in the studio after being signed by Simon Cowell’s record label.

He has also been performing live shows and has appeared at the Manchester Opera House, The True Loves Academy in London, The Edge Festival in Edinburgh, and at The Kazimier in Liverpool.

Not bad for the now 13-year-old.

His upcoming album will release on October 24, 2011 and will consist of remixes of popular cover songs.

In preparation for the new album release, Parke has been giving his fans a sneak peek at the various tracks.

One that caught our eye was an acoustic version of Lady Gaga’s “Edge of Glory”.

Watch Ronan Park Sing Lady Gaga’s Edge of Glory


He may not be the next Justin Bieber, Greyson Chance or Cody Simpson but this kid has talent.

Ronan says that music is in his blood and it is all he wants to do in life. His parents are behind him 100 percent and it seems he is off to a good start.

You can visit Ronan on his Facebook page and can pre-order his new album here on Amazon.

Go get ‘em kid.

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Video - Meet Austin Mahone – Social Media Genius or the Next Justin Bieber?

Have you ever heard of Austin Mahone?

I bet your kids have. And they either love him or hate him – but they have heard of him.

So, who is Austin Mahone? What’s his bio?

Mahone lives in San Antonia Texas and is a 15-year-old singer and musician known for looking like Justin Bieber and recording cover songs on YouTube.

So what? There are lots of kids uploading videos and singing covers these days right?

But Mahone and his fans are different.

His fans are known as Mahomies - and he has his own Blog, Facebook, YouTube, Dailybooth, Tumblr, Twitter, SoundCloud, Formspring, and Myspace accounts.

He records popular cover songs and posts them to YouTube and interacts with his fans on a daily basis and claims that Justin Bieber is his favorite artist.



And oh yea, Mahone LOOKS like Justin Bieber and his fans love him.

The thing that fascinates us about this young man is his savvy for working the social media to create a name for himself while building his own fan base from the ground up without a record label or marketing rep.

He has learned to do what many adults and big companies have failed to do – create a successful brand.

In addition to uploading covers he has hundreds of thousands of Facebook fans, dedicated fan sites, over 13 million YouTube views, and sells t-shirts, posters, wristbands, Stickers, and Necklaces.

This is the kind of interaction that defines social media.

His fans love him but he admits that he also has haters saying,

“Haterz don’t matter to me because they are just jealous and the hateful words that they say are garbage. That’s why I don't listen to hate. I am curious of what haterz have to say sometimes just because I'm a curious person. But their opinions of me don't matter to me, because I’m not trying to please them.

What is important are my fans. I love them so much and everything they do for me. Haterz can't hurt you unless you let them. And I just have one last thing to say.... Haterz gonna hate Mahomies gonna love.”

Austin’s success is a prime example of how social media can springboard you into fame, build a fan base, and possibly launch a music career if you’re good enough.

So how powerful can a homegrown fan base be to a young artist like Mahone?



One day last week his fans decided he should appear on the “Ellen Show” with Ellen DeGeneres, and in one magnificent push of social media network power trended the phrase “#MahoneOnEllen” on twitter for the day as a worldwide trending topic.

His fans also bombarded DeGeneres’s Twitter and Facebook account and called her studio’s switchboard requesting she book Austin as a guest.

Why is this significant?

Because it was Ellen DeGeneres and her “eleveneleven” record label that discovered 14-year-old Greyson Chance.

And with less effort than Austin, Greyson has been propelled into a celebrity status with his first album “Hold on ‘til the Night” due to release next week.

Related: Greyson Chance gives video tour of his home town - Video

That kind of power by your own fans is exactly what made Justin Bieber what he is today.

One thing that helps make Mahone a fan favorite is he covers songs that are popular in today’s young music culture ranging from Cody Simpson, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Ne-yo, Usher, Adele, Chris Brown, and Edwin McCain.



So take note big record labels.

The youth of today have developed the social media skills to find, fall in love, promote, and make famous the musical artists THEY want to see and listen to - not who YOU want them to listen to.

Not that there’s not any place for “big music”, but things are changing these days and kids have grown frustrated with the “business as usual” mentality shown by the music industry.

They say that “necessity is the mother of invention”, and our kids are inventing a new way to communicate and enjoy their favorite artists and musicians.

We hope some of the adults out there are listening because these kids can teach us a thing or two about what makes them tick – and they are showing us what it is they want to listen to and who they want to fall in love with as a fan.

Time will tell if a shirtless Austin Mahone will become the next big teen idol or music sensation…

But shouldn’t we be listening to what they are trying to tell us?

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Forget About Planking - “Owling” is the Next Big Craze – Are These People Nuts? - Photos

I think the youth of today are getting extremely bored.

The latest craze to take over the internet in recent months has been a thing called “Planking”.

It’s really a pretty simple and stupid craze that consists of laying down anywhere, on anything, on your stomach stretched straight out like a plank of wood.

But it can’t be a dumb idea because some of Hollywood’s biggest stars have done it like Gordon Ramsay and Justin Bieber. Right?

Still, pretty dumb eh?

Here is what “Planking” looks like:

Justin Bieber Planking

The idea is to “Plank” in a bizarre or unusual place while somebody takes your picture.

Believe it or not, people have actually died while doing it – like the guy in Australia who died planking on top of a moving car.

Not too bright mate?

Well, move over plankers because there is a new trend taking over the world.

It started in Australia on Facebook and is called…..

Owling.

That’s right – Owling.

Owling is the simple process of crouching down and staring out into space – like an owl. It’s not difficult and just as stupid as planking.

Here is what “Owling” looks like:

 

Now you might think that that’s as good as it gets right?

Well, you would be wrong because you can score extra technical points if you can “Plank” and “Owl” at the same time.

The Technical Double "Owl and Plank"

Now be careful with that one – and consider that if all you have are Facebook friends you won’t be able to do this double craze because as you can see – you need two people.



If this is all people can come up with as the latest viral craze then we have lost our imagination and creativity.

But then again, they aren’t really hurting anybody and it does kind of make you smile when you see it.

Follow InfoStar on Twitter – we want to start a “Sitting” craze

Christiana – A New York Singer You Should Get to Know – Video

Every now and then we run across a new artist or singer that really impresses us.

We found Christiana from her Facebook page and YouTube channel and are wondering why more people have not picked up on her distinctive style and unique talent.

She hails from New York and has spent a lifetime singing, dancing, and learning how to act - and has an impressive number of professionally done studio videos of her music.

Christiana is the Granddaughter of a famous Opera singer and you can tell by her fashion and musical dexterity that the glamor and style has transcended down through the generations.

The thing we liked most was her throwback to the classic vintage style of music. You know - music that you can actually listen to, enjoy, and understand the words.

Christiana names Judy Garland, Celine Dion, and Queen as her big musical influences – and we definitely see that as young and beautiful as she is, she sports an old soul when it comes to her music.

She almost comes across as a Marilyn Monroe meets Madonna old-fashioned style, but a few of her photos and music videos actually have a slight Lady Gaga look and feel – and we mean that in a good way.

Christiana is very elegant and sophisticated, and clearly does not need a meat dress, plastic egg, shoulder horns, or bizarre costume to express her mood.

She seems very comfortable in her own skin, and this is most evident in her video “Being Alive”.

With a sound somewhere between classical Madonna and Celine, it is a great example of her musical range and emotion she puts into her music.

Watch Christiana perform "Being Alive"


In another song titled “Werewolf”, Christiana shows how effortlessly she can belt out the power notes.

In every song we listened to we could always hear a blend of styles – sometimes pop, sometimes romantic, sometimes musical Broadway, other times more vintage old school.

It is refreshing to find an artist who seems to be all about the music and not the fame, costumes, paparazzi, TV appearances, World tours, tabloid stories, and meat dresses.



Christiana seems like one of those artists that could really outshine her competition if given the right opportunity, producer, studio exposure, and set list.

Perhaps the world is not quite ready to return to the days when music was music and Hollywood was Hollywood.

But someday, we will all wake up and realize that Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Kanye, and others were just an output function of a massive marketing scheme designed more to make money than actually entertain us.

Christiana is a classic musical entertainer.

Yes, someday we will once again stir our inner desire to simply listen to and enjoy music for what it is meant to be – music.

Good luck Christiana, we hope you get your big break and are given the opportunity to express yourself to the world in the way you so clearly are prepared for.

Follow InfoStar on Twitter – no werewolf’s allowed

Video - Bill Maher and Jane Lynch Re-enact Anthony Weiner’s Facebook Posts – Hilarious!

One thing we like about cable TV is you can say things you can’t say on network television.

So, in the spirit of Weinergate, Bill Maher invited Glee’s Jane Lynch to re-enact Weiner’s Facebook message exchange with one of his Internet mistresses.

In what Maher calls a dramatic reading, complete with background chamber music, Maher and Lynch read Weiner’s messages he exchanged with Lisa, a Las Vegas Blackjack dealer.

It’s all here – comments about being hard, banging the future Mayor of New York City, Jewish girls giving head, c*ck sucking republicans, taking more photos, etc.

It’s really comedy and satire at its best.



Ah, only in America can you get busted for tweeting a picture of your junk, but make an audience scream by someone reading them your private email.

Hypocrisy at its best friends.

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Osama Bin Laden’s Last Facebook Post

We all know how addictive Facebook and Twitter can be.

And we have all heard the reports that Bin Laden’s million dollar mansion in Pakistan didn’t have internet or phones.

But CIA Chief Leon Panetta has said that in addition to several laptops and hard drives there were a number of prepaid cell phones seized from the compound.

After a team of experts began sorting through his browser history, Farmville requests, and hash tag Tweets, they found an interesting piece of evidence.

They found Osama Bin Laden’s last Facebook post.


Maybe Facebook really is a tool developed in secret by the U.S. Government to spy on us.

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MySpace Up For Sale – News Corp Asking $100 Million – Deal by End of Week?

Every now and then you see something that really hits home and makes you realize that an end of an era is upon us.

And so it is with the once dominating social network MySpace.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that News Corp has put MySpace.com up for sale with an asking price of $100 million.

Expectations are that about a dozen companies will express an interest in buying the now shrinking network.

News Corp paid $585 million back in 2005 when MySpace was dominating the internet by adding over 1 million new users a day. But today, Facebook has all but made MySpace obsolete and irrelevant.

After a big push last year to redesign the site and add a focus on music and entertainment failed to stop users from jumping to Facebook, News Corp decided it was time to sell.

Several venture capital and investment firms have indicated they may be interested in buying the property, and Bebo has also said the may bid on the site.

Regardless of who steps up to the plate, we should know who the new owner is by the end of the week.

But that still leaves one big question.

What will the new owners do differently that the old owners didn’t already try?

Stay tuned.

Box Office

Facebook still rules!

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.ap.org/social-network-repeats-no-1-draw-with-155m-ap

Box Office

The Social Network rules the weekend box office... Facebook is sure as popular as ever eh?

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=2936&p=.htm

Social Network

The Facebook people don't like this movie...

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-facebook-doesnt-like-the-social-network-movie.html

Justin Bieber vs Onion Ring

Just when you thought there was not enough competition in this world, Facebook has announced a new campaign - to get more fans for an onion ring then You Tube and pop music sensation Justin Bieber.

The "Can this onion ring get more fans than Justin Bieber" Facebook page just started today and already has close to two million fans.

Now, we realize this is not an exact science, or a perfect set of quantitative data necessary to extrapolate the merging of some cosmic science. We like to think of it more like a shifting of our most basic ideals and internal desires.

After all, Bieber has only been on the scene for two years, but the onion ring has been around forever - quietly satisfying our deepest carnal desires and providing comfort in the form of unhealthy fatty calories.

Justin Bieber? Not so much.

But now it makes us wonder where this will stop - who will be next?

Obama, Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno? There really is no way of stopping this craze - it is destined to make its way through our space, but will soon be a distant memory.

An onion ring. Really?
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