There’s no question the iPod has made a huge impact in the music world, but now, it’s influence has crossed over into the real estate and architecture world. A property developer, Omniyat Properties, is planning to construct an iPod-inspired luxury, residential tower in Dubai. The 23-story tower will offer more than 200 units and will be built on top of a docking station angled in such a way to convey the look of an iPod. 

Construction is expected to be finished in 2009.

James Brown is returning to the famed Apollo Theater in Harlem where a public viewing will take place until 8 p.m. tonight. It’s the same theater where the “Godfather of Soul” made his debut in 1956. 

Known for his impact on hip-hop and rap music, thousands of fans are expected to turn out and pay their respects to Brown, who died of heart failure at age 73 on Christmas Day in Atlanta. 

Brown’s close friend, Reverend Al Sharpton, told the Associated Press: 

“He was a superstar for common people and I wanted to make sure that common people got to see him one last time,” Sharpton said late Wednesday, at the start of his journey from Georgia to New York.

“It’s going to be a royal day in Harlem,” he said, promising “the kind of homecoming we haven’t seen in a long time, if ever, in the Harlem community.”

Brown’s body will be taken back to Georgia on Friday for a funeral service in his hometown of Augusta. Another public viewing is expected before his burial on Saturday.

Normally when a website fails to meet consumer demands, all hell breaks loose. Not the case for Apple Computer. Despite a breakdown in service, Wall Street, consumers and the press continue to treat Apple kindly.

LA Times has the story.

Swarms of online shoppers armed with new iPods and iTunes gift cards overwhelmed Apple’s iTunes music store over the holiday, prompting error messages and slowdowns of 20 minutes or more for downloads of a single song.

Frazzled users began posting urgent help messages Monday and Tuesday on Apple’s technical forum for iTunes, complaining they were either not allowed into the store or were told the system couldn’t process their request to download songs and videos.

Some financial analysts said the interruption could be viewed as a sign that sales dramatically exceeded the Cupertino-based company’s own forecasts.

“It’s actually created more positive buzz among analysts — traffic was so great it blew up the site,” said Gene Munster, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray.

Urban Jacksonville is Joey Marchy’s weblog about the core neighborhods surrounding Downtown Jacksonville.

Marchy wants his blog to make a contribution to the revitalization of the urban core of his north Florida home. Towards this end, he shares his recommendation for “Best New Bar In Jacksonville.”.

Metal Mondays at Shantytown Pub pays homage to a Springfield neighborhood tradition, quarts of malt liquor. $3 quarts of malt liquor and heavy metal, what more can you ask for? Some may find this appalling, but the idea is quite nostalgic to me. I used to consume large amounts of all malt liquor brands back in the day. There is a certain playful, unpretentious feeling that selling quarts conveys. What other bar can say they pay tribute to the official drink of Springfield?

Lifestyle site LA.com is running a “Best of LA 2006: Nightlife” report.

One of their recommendations is Safari Sam’s, where every Tuesday night DJ Franki Chan’s Check Yo Ponytail party gets underway.

Under the moniker IHeartComix, Chan has created a multi-faceted events company that deals in art, music, and everything in between. He’s spun everywhere from Hyde to Beauty Bar to private fetes for Jane magazine. After splitting with former cohort Steve Aoki and their Tuesday night party at Cinespace, Chan has created a weekly event that’s “much more band-friendly,” he says, and attracts a crowd that’s “more open-minded to newer, up-and-coming music.” Recent bands have included Mstrkrft and The Kooks; guest DJs who’ve shared the stage with resident DJs Chan and DJ Paparazzi have included members of OK Go, The Rapture and She Wants Revenge.

As for friend of BFG, DJ Steve Aoki, he continues to play Tuesday nights at Cinespace. On his blog, he says “there’s something really amazing about this party at Cinespace on Tuesdays that we’ve been doing for the last almost three years that defies every lame thing that exists in LA.”

Los Angeles Times music writer, Ann Powers, has a modern day affliction known as buzz vertigo: a balance disorder that makes it hard to proceed confidently through pop’s ever-expanding archipelago of websites, blogs, magazines, podcasts and other outlets.

Today, it’s hard to know when buzz is more than just noise. In an age of accelerated connection, the buzz around every art form has intensified, but nowhere as much as in music. The growing ease of music-making and distribution resulted in 60,000 releases (that’s in the U.S. alone) last year. Downloadable music multiplies that number like bunnies in spring. And pop’s historical embrace of novelty and amateurism means that few heavy gates stop the flow.

It’s become difficult to distinguish between real critical interest and the momentary attention of Web surfers. And it’s hard to tell when real fans, not an intern clicking a button, are upping the numbers on interactive websites like MySpace and YouTube.

Speaking of music industry buzz, Pitchfork Media has put out its year end list of top 50 albums.

2006 wasn’t easily characterized by distinct seismic shifts in independent music’s ever-changing topography, or by a select handful of burgeoning new genres. Instead, it was a year of true independence, in which listeners pursued broader palettes, spread music by word of mouth, and openly welcomed increasingly forward-thinking approaches to songcraft.

Even the artists seemed to approach the new year as a clarion call to abandon tradition and realize their own unusual visions: From Joanna Newsom’s feudal harp odysseys and Scott Walker’s claustrophobic night terrors, to the Knife’s raven-black horror house and Boris’ juggernaut grind, 2006 was a banner year for boundary-breaking.

Some of the other notable bands in Pitchfork’s player include: Matmos, M. Ward, Camera Obscura, The Decemberists, Mission of Burma, Belle and Sebastian, Cat Power, LCD Soundsytem, Man Man, The Thermals, Phoenix, Band of Horses, Grizzly Bear, The Hold Steady and TV on the Radio.

Other year end lists worth considering: The Morning News, Largehearted Boy, PopMatters and UCLA Radio.

A write-in campaign to get Vancouver Canucks defenseman Rory Fitzpatick in the 2007 NHL All-Star Game may be working. Steve Schmid, a 22-year-old from upstate New York, is behind the effort. He recently started a website to campaign for Fitzpatrick.

Now, TV sports network Versus has reported the player has received 428,832 votes, putting him in second place for Western Conference defenseman, just behind Scott Niedermayer of the Anaheim Ducks. Fan voting selects the five skaters and one goalie that start the all star game. Coaches and GMs choose the rest of the players for the game.

Fitzpatrick has played with six teams in eight season in the NHL. Heading into Vancouver’s game on Saturday against the Minnesota Wild, Fitzpatrick had no points in 17 games.

The 2007 All-Star Game will be played in Dallas on January 24^th. Votes can be cast on NHL.com through January 2^nd.

The campaign has also spawned several videos that can be viewed on YouTube.

I instantly hang up on automated calls. I hope you do the same. But what happens when a movie star calls? Do we have the patience for such things? According to The New York Times, NBC is about to find out.

Tens of thousands of fans of the NBC show “30 Rock” (or their friends or colleagues) have had the unusual experience over the last week of picking up their phones to hear the voice of Alec Baldwin addressing them by name and wishing them a happy holiday.

While the messages — reminiscent of get-out-the-vote efforts known as push polls — are obviously recorded, Mr. Baldwin can also be heard relating details about the recipient, like the person’s job (including the fields of public relations or pharmaceuticals) and hobbies (cooking, doing crossword puzzles), as well as complimenting his or her physique. (One choice: “I am not above telling you, you have a nice behind.”)

The promotion, using the fledgling technology of a company called Varitalk, is being mounted by the NBC Universal Television Studio, which produces “30 Rock.”

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Orlando has a new advertising catchphrase: “Built for families. Made for memories.”

Part of a two-year, $68 million marketing campaign, the message is designed to convince mom that Orlando is the best vacation spot for her family to reconnect.

“Now we won’t have to have this feeling of watching Las Vegas and saying, ‘Why aren’t we doing that?’ ” said Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau board member Dan Holsenbeck.

According to Adweek, Audi is selling like hot buttered grits across the southern states, leading the German car maker to refocus its 2007 marketing efforts on the Sun Belt.

This year, Audi has seen dramatic gains in its sales in larger Southern cities. In Miami, sales have jumped nearly 40 percent; in Dallas the figure is 25 percent and in Atlanta, 15 percent, said Scott Keogh, the company’s chief marketing officer.

“Audi has had its roots in the Northeast and the foul-weather regions and that is where we have seen great sales,” said Keogh. “But we are going to where America is heading.”

With projected sales this year of 90,000, the goal now is to become a more American brand, sponsoring upscale events such as fashion shows and more brand ads, in addition to targeted spots in the Sun Belt region.