I never had to return tickets to the Virgin Ticketing Box Office until now and I just figured out there’s no refund policy but I couldn’t understand why.
I bought my mum a ticket to Magida el Roumi’s concert on the 25th of June 2011 but she no longer can go cause she got invited to a wedding. The ticket cost me 115,000 LL.
My question is:
- Why can’t I return the ticket if the concert is due in one month? Shouldn’t there be a time frame within which we can return our tickets?
Suppose the ticket holder had an accident or an injury or God forbid died. He also can’t refund?
Last but not least, what’s in it for them if I refund it or not? Tickets are getting sold out weeks if not months before the concert.
We have a very busy summer ahead of us, with Shakira kicking it off early last week with a 20,000+ concert in Biel. Here’s a list of some of the most famous artists and bands performing in the next two months.
James Blunt, June 27, 2011 at BIEL
MOBY, July 5, 2011 at the Port of Jbeil
Scorpions, July 6 and 7, 2011 at the Port of Jbeil
Florent Pagny, July 9, 2011 at the Port of Jbeil
UB40, July 9, 2011 Batroun Festival, Batroun
Thirty Seconds to Mars, July 15, 2011 at the Port of Jbeil
Placido Domingo, July 17, 2011 Zouk Mikael
I must say Byblos International Festival has done a remarkable job this summer.
Thirty Seconds to Mars’ concert was supposedly scheduled for the 16th of July but the date was changed back to July 15th for technical reasons. Funny how NRJ has been promoting the event on July 16th for 2 months urging people to buy tickets and now that all tickets were sold out, the date has changed. You can get a full refund though if you can’t make it on July 15th but they will not reimburse you the fees you pay on Virgin Megastore’s website to reserve the tickets.
Chantal Goya still thinks she’s young and is performing at Biel on June 25th. She’s 68 years old.
To check out the full list of events, check out Virgin’s ticketing box office website. [Link]
I never realized there was an American band called Beirut until today. The name however has nothing to do with their music as it is a mix of Eastern Europe, and Balkan folk with Western pop music. [Link]
I tried looking for the reason behind that name but could not find anything which is pretty weird. It would be interesting to know why he chose the name? Maybe we should email him about it.
You can listen to some of their songs here. [Link]
I was invited to dinner on Saturday night at a place called “Le Pacha” in Amchit. It’s a seafood place right next to the famous (yet highly overrated and overpriced in my opinion) “Chez Zakhia”.
We sat down and start ordering before some woman took the mic and welcomed everyone to the Karaoke night! I wasn’t informed that there will be Karaoke as I usually stay away from such nights, but I said what the heck! How bad could the singing be?
Well it turned out to be pretty bad, at some points even terrible and I noticed almost the same trends I see in most Karoake nights in Lebanon:
1- There’s always a couple of semi-professional singers who want to impress the girls with their charming voice. They come prepared and well dressed as if it’s some sort of competition or maybe just “la yichedo banet”. Doesn’t that beat the whole purpose of Karaoke nights?
2- Many Lebanese think they are so damn talented and request songs that are almost impossible to sing. Some dude requested Bohemian Rhapsody and I only wish I recorded it for you guys to hear the horror! In some countries, you might get shot for doing that. [Link]
3- There’s always a girl who wants to put up a show by taking the mic, going on stage and dance like a stripper. Maybe this is how new artists are recruited in this country?
4- Some guys think of themselves as the Wassouf or Melhem Baraket and get in the mood to the extent of walking among tables while singing.
5- Some people are too cool to stop smoking the arguile while singing.
I am not a big fan of Karaoke nights in the first place, but what happened to just going out with friends, having a few beers and singing acceptable tunes without putting up a show or dancing for everyone to see?
Since Mark had posted about Al Jadeed’s report on our national anthem [Link], I’ve seen the video several times and done some research and I am deeply convinced that AL Jadeed just wanted some attention and nothing more, specially when they got Ghassan Rahbani to enlighten us on this issue!
Minute 0:29 The memo sent noticed a similarity between the Lebanese National anthem adopted in 1927 and the Moroccan Royal anthem adopted in 1956.
Minute 1:03 The video being shown was shot in 1959 and the sound in the background was supposedly from that year or later.
Minute 1:49 The Reef Republic anthem was destroyed in 1926 and “Nasheed el Reef” written in 1924 without a tune. The music for the National Anthem was prepared in 1925 [Link] by Wadih Sabra, which means that the lyrics were done in 1925 or before (Given that a competition was organized to choose the best tune).
As far as the lyrics are concerned, they are very different from the Reef anthem except they both were done on “Ba7r el Raml” which was widespread back then.
As far as the music is concerned, there’s no proof that Mohammad Flayfel did the music and there’s no mention of when he did it. Add oto the fact that his own son clearly stated that his father did not do it.
Therefore, and in the lack of any proof that the music was done by Mohammad Flayfel, Moroccans are the ones who stole the anthem and set it as the royal anthem and not us.
Last but not least, the LAST person allowed to talk about plagiarizing tunes is Ghassan Rahbani and the Rahbanis in general. I love Fayrouz and all but it is a known fact that a considerable number of her songs are adaptations of old tunes.
Don’t get me wrong as I am not trying to claim Fayrouz is bad or fake. On the contrary, I find it normal for artists to get inspired from beautiful music and re-adapt it with their own country’s lyrics.
Having said all that, let’s hope this Masquerade that Al Jadeed started is thrown in the trash can where it belongs. Our Lebanese National Anthem is unique and beautiful and its lyrics are great, so let’s play it loud and proud. [National Anthem]
I read today on Kataeb portal that a young Lebanese called Vicken sent ex-Lebanese president and martyr Bashir Gemayel’s poster to Roger Water’s office hoping that he will include him in his concert as one of the world’s martyrs. [Link]
And it seems that Waters liked the idea and showed Bashir’s picture during his concert in Milano which took place few days ago. [Link]
I’ve been hearing about this song for few days now. It is apparently so bad that It got already over 16 million views on YouTube. It is really really bad, in terms of lyrics, video clip, voice …
Just found out about this Lebanese Armenian artist from LA called Bei Ru. The music really kicks ass, he’s like an Armenian DJ Shadow.
Sampling is archeology. Digging through crates for obscure old records and drafting the sounds of times past into contemporary music is as much about preserving the past as digging for bones is. Few musicians take that pursuit as literally as L.A. native DJ/Producer Bei Ru. He has traveled across the Middle East on a mission to hunt down rare, obscure, and out-of-print Armenian records, which he uses to create a never-before-heard blend of vintage Armenian melodies mixed with touches of hip hop, funk, & soul. He breathes new life into these songs on Little Armenia (L.A.), an intoxicating voyage through rhythm and melody that serves not only as a dedication to the under-appreciated Armenian musicians of yesteryear and a homage to the Little Armenia section neighborhood of Los Angeles, but also as a musical map of the Armenian diaspora.
Kick ass! Here is a link to his website [Link]
Below is an interview with Bei Ru from last year.
The new Lady Gaga song and her mention of Lebanese in the song seem to have stirred a debate on the Lady Gaga forum. I honestly think she doesn’t even have a clue about what it might mean. We are not talking about the deepest of singers here.
Some are saying that Lebanese are not discriminated against, but on the contrary are discriminators themselves.
Another comment thinks Lebanon is in Africa.
LittleMonster222 wrote:
I think Gaga wanted to show the whole Africa through that word.
Don’t be drag, just be a queen
Whether you’re broke or evergreen
You’re black, white, beige, chola descent
You’re lebanese, you’re orient
Whether life’s disabilities
Left you outcast, bullied or teased
Rejoice and love yourself today
‘Cause baby, you were Born This Way [Full Lyrics]
Lyrics from Lady Gaga’s latest song entitled “Born this way”. Notice anything in the lyrics?
Who knows? Maybe Lady Gaga, or Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, is somewhere from Lebanon. Germanotta sounds like Germanos lol
Had a great time at the Armin Van Buuren concert Saturday at Biel! The atmosphere was amazing, people were just there to have fun and enjoy the music.
The organization of the event was a bit crappy though. All the ads said: “Doors open at 9 pm, and Armin will hit the decks at 10 pm sharp”. Reality: doors opened at 9:45 pm and Armin went on stage at 12:45 am. The hosts and hostesses had to go through printed out Excel sheets to find out exactly in which area everyone was supposed to be. But apart from that I don’t think there were any glitches.
The Lebanese Red Cross was present as well. They were rushing in and out ALL THE TIME. Every couple of minutes, you’d see a crew of 4 or 5 running to the crowd, treating someone and leaving. I didn’t see anyone being taken out on a stretcher though.
The night started off a bit slow. A couple of singers came on stage (don’t know any of them though) and then Armin’s brother played the bass for a couple of minutes and at 12:45 am Armin made his grand entrance. It was really something! Amazing sound system! At one point Sophie Ellis Bextor came on stage as well (At least I think it was her, not very sure). All in all an amazing night. Had to leave at 4 am because I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything since lunchtime!
The section where I was sitting was right next to the door, so there was a breeze all the time, it was cold and people were wearing their jackets… except this guy who thinks everyone wants to see his giant manboobs! Douchebag on 3! 1-2-3 DOUCHEBAG!
Update:Here is a more detailed review of the night. Thanks Rhea for sharing this with us!
I was thinking about songs that relate to our blog’s name when i remembered a very old song that went “El Baladi El Baladi wou bass .. ya 3ayni 3al baladi”. I looked for it a good half hour before I found out it was Nina and Rida Boutros who sang it, and both were belly dancers apparently.
I couldn’t find the song anywhere on YouTube but i found this and this instead.
Maybe we should see if they are still doing songs and ask them to replace el baladi with BlogBaladi, we’d have our first blog song lol!
