GeekSugar

Use TweetLouder to Find Your Favorite Bands on Twitter

Kristen Hawley — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 03:10:36 PST

Part of the fun of Twitter is being able to connect with people that otherwise seem inaccessible: actors, authors, musicians, and other typically-out-of-reach people often manage their own Twitter accounts, allowing fans an otherwise hidden glimpse into their world. And if you're a music fan, a new service from SonicLiving makes it easy to find bands that you love on Twitter.

TweetLouder uses your iTunes, Pandora, Last.fm, or SonicLiving information to determine your favorite bands, and then finds them on Twitter, prompting you to follow them. If SonicLiving has tour information for the bands, there's a quick link to view upcoming shows, too.

The service is extremely simple and easy to use, and it's fast - you can find most of your favorite bands in under a minute and quickly follow them. Or, if you're worried about too many musicians crowding your feed, create a dedicated Twitter List to keep them all in one place.

The Best Websites For Finding Live Music You Love

GeekSugar — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:25:04 PDT

It's fun to rock out to your favorite tunes all day long at the computer, but there's something to be said for a live show! These three sites import your favorite music from iTunes and sites like Pandora and Last.fm, then help you keep track of when your most-loved bands are coming to town.

Website of the Day: Sonic Living

GeekSugar — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:00:18 PDT

Oh, I know there's an unholy amount of music websites and services online (I think I've written about a few . . .), so I'm a little bit more conservative now about both highlighting and getting sucked into a new service. Thankfully, Sonic Living took the notion of there being so much music-related web stuff and ran with it: It's a website that syncs your bands and likes from iTunes and Last FM and lets you know when a concert is coming up or alerts you of any breaking news and pictures from Flickr photostreams of your "wishlist" bands.

Like almost any new website, there's a social network aspect involved, but it's pretty useful in this case, as you can share upcoming concerts with the friends you'd like to attend it with. Sonic Living is like a one-stop shop for all your favorite music services - you can even add concerts to your calendar and buy tickets with one click from Sonic Living!

To learn how to post your favorite websites to our Website of the Day group,

read more.
I know that this long list looks scary, but trust me, once you get the hang of it, it'll be a snap the second time around.

First of all, join the Website of the Day group.
Click the pink "Share" menu on the top left side of the page.
Choose "Blog" and “Regular Post.”
Give your story a “Title.”
Fill in the “Body” with a link to your favorite website and the reasons why you love it.
Click “Next."
Choose the audience for your story to “Website of the Day” in the drop-down menu
Add keyword(s) (for example mine for this photo was "Website of the Day").
Change channel to “Technology and Gadgets.”
Fill in tag field with relevant tags.
Click “I’m done” to submit content.

So join the Website of the Day group and share information about all your favorite sites! Yours just might end up on the geeksugar homepage!

4 Tried-and-True Tips to Save on Live Music

Lizzie Fuhr — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:30:51 PST

There's nothing better than seeing live music with a group of friends, but like any night out, the whole experience can get pretty pricey. Looking to save some money so you can see as much music as possible? Check out these four tried-and-true tips for smart concert-going.

Buy tickets early. If there's a show you're dying to see, don't put off buying tickets. Look for presale opportunities by following your favorite bands via Facebook and Twitter and checking out sites like Jambase and SonicLiving.
Don't wait on a friend. Some people wait to buy tickets if they're not sure they'll have a concert buddy. My advice? If you can handle the cost, buy two tickets early. The worst thing that will happen is that you'll sell your extra. Who knows? If tickets are high in demand, maybe you'll even make a few extra bucks!
Stay away from brokers and scalpers. Unless it's your last resort, do your best to stay away from ticket broker websites. Even the big-name sites have loads of hidden fees and are notorious for astronomically jacking up ticket prices. Find out if you can buy from the venue's website directly, or avoid even more fees by taking the old-fashioned route and buying straight at the box office.
Skip the booze and the merch. I know that $8 beer looks so refreshing, and you love the colors on that t-shirt, but don't get caught up in the hype of the night. If you're serious about saving money, cutting out these extra expenses is an easy way to make sure you don't go over budget.

Do you have any other tips for saving money when you go to see music? Chime in with your thoughts below!

Justin Timberlake Tapped Into His "Personal Demons" For In Time

Lindsay Miller — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 15:40:02 PDT

Justin Timberlake is branching out into new territory with his action-heavy role in this month's thriller In Time. The sci-fi movie takes place in a future where time is currency - the richest can afford to live forever, but most people are lucky to make it through their 20s. Justin plays Will Salas, a working-class guy who sets off on a race against the clock after he's suspected of murder. We spoke to Justin at the movie's press day in Beverly Hills this weekend, and he told us the story's themes - as well as the chance to shoot guns and make out with leading lady Amanda Seyfried - drew him to the project. He also talked about why acting is more personal to him than music and even admitted he tapped into his own dark side to portray Will. Stay tuned later this week for our full interview with Justin and check out In Time when it hits theaters on Oct. 28.

PopSugar: As someone whose own time is in such high demand, did the movie's theme especially appeal to you?

Justin Timberlake: I don't think I thought of it that way. When I read the script, for two or three days, I couldn’t stop thinking about the themes - that one being one of them - but also our obsession with looking young forever. But I think honestly, the reason I inevitably was like, "I have to play this guy," was because I hadn't had the opportunity to play a character that, at the end of the day, I hope I would be like if my back was against the wall. And I just saw this character as an everyday man who gets pushed too far and decides to fight back. And then you keep reading and it's like, "Oh, yeah, shooting guns and car chases and flipping cars around and kicking ass and kissing Amanda." You know. You're kind of like, "Yeah, OK. I'm in."

PS: You've done some great roles in the past few years. What do you get out of acting that's different than what you got out of singing?

JT: Well, listen . . . I could give you nine things that are the same, or that I could find comparable, but I actually weirdly enough find acting [and] working on movies to be a way more personal experience than making music. I think that, at least for me, you get an idea for a song and then you make it sort of as fantastical and sonically otherworldly as you can. And you take a movie like this, and even though you're in another world, it's your job to be as grounded and real as possible, and a lot of the scenes in this movie for me were personal. I found myself accessing a lot of my own personal demons . . . fears, but also fantasies.