IN: Mayday Parade is an American rock band from Tallahassee, Florida. Their debut EP Tales Told by Dead Friends was released in 2006, and sold over 50,000 copies without any label support. In July 2007, Mayday Parade released their debut album A Lesson in Romantics.

On July 24, 2014, the band announced they will be making a fifth studio album to be released in 2015. A tour during late 2014 also happened, entitled The Honeymoon Tour, with supporting acts Tonight Alive, PVRIS and Major League. According to an issue of Alternative Press, the band is currently recording with Mike Sapone (Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Sainthood Reps) and was scheduled to be released sometime in the fall of 2015. The band also tweeted "MAYDAY PARADE 5 IS DONE" in late February of that year, indicating that they had finished their 5th studio album. On July 17, 2015, Mayday Parade announced that their new album Black Lines would be released on October 9 through Fearless. At the second annual Alternative Press Music Awards on July 22, it was announced the Alternative Press Tour would be revived, with Mayday Parade headlining and supporting acts Real Friends, This Wild Life, and As It Is.  Mayday Parade were announced as part of the line-up for Slam Dunk Festival on the 10 February 2016, alongside American rock band Yellowcard and more. The official music video for "Let's Be Honest" featured veteran actor and musician Michael Jason Allen as Capt. Giorgio Chavez. Mayday Parade played the 2016 Vans Warped Tour, alongside Yellowcard, We the Kings, New Found Glory and Sum 41.  A 10th anniversary edition of Tales Told by Dead Friends, featuring new packaging and an additional track "The Problem with the Big Picture Is That It's Hard to See", was released in November 2016. Following this, a 10th anniversary edition of A Lesson in Romantics was released in March 2017, featuring demos. Producer Kenneth Mount criticized the band on Twitter for not giving Lancaster credit in commentary, "I'm slightly confused why mayday parades commentary for lesson in romantics never mentions Jason Lancaster at all, voice of 50% of the album...Jason also recorded all his vocals naked for a lesson in romantics, that should totally make the commentary. I've waited ten years for that".

What was Black Lines?

OUT: Mayday Parade announced that their new album Black Lines would be released on October 9 through Fearless.


IN: Esma Redzepova-Teodosievska (Macedonian: Esma Redzhepova-Teodosievska Macedonian pronunciation: ['esma re'dZepova teo'dosiefska]; 8 August 1943 - 11 December 2016) was a Macedonian vocalist, songwriter, and humanitarian of Romani ethnicity. Because of her prolific repertoire, which includes hundreds of songs, and because of her contribution to Roma culture and its promotion, she was nicknamed Queen of the Gypsies.

During the 1980s, the musical career of Esma Redzepova slowed down. In 1989, she settled back in Skopje with her husband. After independence in 1991, the Republic of Macedonia went through difficult times. Stevo Teodosievski died in 1997 at 72. However, Esma Redzepova toured the United States the year after, performing at a series of benefit concerts. She also released a selection of duets with Usnija Jasarova in 1994.  The 2000s where very fruitful and marked a slight shift in the singer's career. In Macedonia and former Yugoslavia, Esma gained a more modern image and redefined herself as a worldbeat artist. For instance, she made several collaborations with young pop singers. In 2002, she recorded a song with the Croatian band Magazin and a duet with the Macedonian singer Todor Proeski. She also recorded a song with the Bosnian band Crno Vino in 2005 and made a collaboration with Kiril Dzajkovski in 2010. On the international scene, Esma Redzepova contributed towards the establishment of Roma music as a non-mass-market good, pleasing an urban and cultural elite. However, many of her new songs were not widely accepted by Western audience because they did not match its expectation about Roma music. For instance, some songs featured synthesizer, an instrument that is not used in traditional Roma music. Esma was even booed at a concert in Spain, but defended herself saying that Roma music has always adapted itself and borrowed external features.  Her best known single, Caje Sukarije, is the feature song on the 2006 Borat movie soundtrack, which she claims was used without her permission. Together with Naat Veliov from Kocani Orkestar she sued the producers of the film for 800,000 euro (USD 1,000,000). Afterwards, Redzepova won a EUR26,000 compensation, since it turned out that Cohen got permission from her production house to take the song, which she was not notified about. Esma was particularly upset because her song was used to illustrate backwardness, something she always fought. However, Borat contributed towards the expansion of her fame internationally.  Esma Redzepova was selected together with Vlatko Lozanoski to represent Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. Their song, "Imperija", was unveiled in March 2013, but it caused controversy in the country as its clip featured many monuments of the controversial project Skopje 2014. The song was thus viewed as a nationalist act. Macedonian Radio-Television requested the singers write a new song. Eventually, "Pred da se razdeni" was released a month later. The song failed to advance from the second semi-final of the competition on 16 May 2013, placing 16th in the field of 17 songs, scoring 28 points.

What else did she do at this point in her career?

OUT:
Esma Redzepova was selected together with Vlatko Lozanoski to represent Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013.