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Smoking, drinking scenes can't be kept out of films: Pyarelal 

Legendary music director Pyarelal of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo has joined the debate doing the rounds triggered by Union Health Minister remarks about keeping smoking and drinking scenes out of films.

The music director says such a situation is impossible as the scripts demands such characters and imposing such restrictions would be tantamount to limiting artistic creativity.

"If an actor is playing the role of a crook, how can you expect that a devotional song will be picturised on him without a cigarette or alcohol in his hand? I think that will limit the creativity of the writer or director,"says Prarelal.

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Band Pushes for Smoke Free Shows 

Michigan is one of 18 states that has not passed some form of smoking ban for restaurants and bars. But the next time you go out to see live music, the air in the place may be a little cleaner, and you may have the band to thank.

In a cinder block basement scattered with musical instruments and mic cables, the band My Dear Disco is rehearsing for a show.

Michelle Chamuel is My Dear Disco's lead singer. She says before joining a band, she never spent much time around smoking.

"So going to a club where everybody was smoking was pretty shocking," says Chamuel.

Chamuel says smoke gets in the way of her singing. She says it's especially hard singing with a band. "They play pretty fast, and you have to breath really deeply really quickly. So if you just inhale an entire lung full of smoke, trying to hit the next note is going to be super hard."

So the band started asking venues to go non-smoking while they play. . . .

He says he asked the popular Ann Arbor club, The Blind Pig to go non-smoking, and he was surprised by the booking agent's answer. "He was not only willing to do it. He was thankful. He was like, 'Aww man, I'm so glad you asked.

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DOTSON: Ban would snuff out liberty 

First of all, I'm a non-smoker. . . .

Since I am a musician, I also see some of the most smoke-filled public environments there are. The proposed statewide ban on smoking would be nice for me personally. One problem: Life in this beloved democracy is not just about me.

The founders of our great democracy all agreed that we have "unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" and that it is the government's job is to protect those rights.

Reality check: Smoking is a legal activity. . . .

That doesn't mean I believe this issue cannot be resolved; we just don't need a law to do it. The free market is the answer.

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Local Musicians Talk About Smoking Ban  

Kansas City voters go to the polls Tuesday to decide whether or not to impose a smoking ban. It's a petition-driven initiative that proposes banning smoking in public places, like restaurants and bars, while excluding casino gaming floors and the concourses of the Truman Sports Complex. But what about people who perform in bars, like musicians? KCUR's Laura Spencer reports. (5 min)

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No smoking at state fair grandstand 

ONONDAGA COUNTY, N.Y. -- No smoking at the state fair grandstand. That was the announcement made Tuesday morning.

State fair officials say the move is in response to a high number of complaints from concert-goers last year and it's an extension of last year's move to end the sale of tobacco products at the fair.

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Uncompromising Joe Jackson comes out smoking  

Joe Jackson's 30-year career has been driven by passion and uncompromising whimsy. He's stubbornly navigated his own course without any regard for pop stardom, tackling new wave, swing, jazzy salsa, even classical music. His latest CD, "Rain," which brings him to the Somerville Theatre tomorrow, is yet another curve ball: a guitar-less affair recorded in a trio format.

But Jackson, 53, also has begun applying his unyielding nature to some non-musical causes. Of particular concern to him are what he considers the extremist ideals of anti-tobacco lobbyists. He goes so far as to suggest that the stop-smoking brigade has rallied the public into a state of sheer hysteria to bolster its own controlling agenda. He even wrote op-ed pieces offering his decidedly non-PC point of view in The New York Times [NYT] and the Telegraph of London.

Jackson seems thrilled to deliver his unexpected, unlikely message: Smoking isn't that bad for you. . . .

Jackson covers a lot of ground in 20 pages. These are some key points from his essay, which includes documentation to back up his assertions (however difficult they sometimes are to believe) and a bibliography (of sorts):

Big tobacco, anti-smoking lobbyists and pharmaceutical companies financially perpetuate one another, creating a mutually profitable vicious circle.

The public should greet health-care information with increased skepticism and remember that statistics are not science. . . .

Jackson seems to take delight in dropping one provocative smoke bomb after another, all passionately detonated with a twisted sense of contrarian delight. Even if you disagree with him, his iconoclasm is intriguing, so much so that it might lure you to his concert tomorrow just to see how all this translates to his performance.

If you do go, just remember: No smoking allowed.

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Fighting teen tobacco use one song at a time  

This week, Family Guidance Center of Ironton held "Guitar Hero" tournaments as part of Kick Butts Day at two Lawrence County middle schools, challenging students' skills on the video game and offering them more reasons to say no.

"I told them we promote young and old people living a healthy lifestyle," prevention and development manager Mollie Stevens said to more than 40 Chesapeake Middle School students Thursday afternoon. "That segued to why we're here, to have good and clean fun."

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Smoke-Free Songs brought to you by TobaccoFreeFlorida.com 

Band together against smoking and download songs from awesome Florida bands completely free. . . .

Are you a Florida band who doesn't smoke? Submit your music to be considered for Smoke-Free songs.

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图文：蔡依林拍摄“戒烟就赢比赛”公益广告 

中新网3月26日电据香港明报报道，蔡依林(Jolin)日前拍摄“戒烟就赢比赛”公益广告，本身不吸烟的她亦害怕吸二手烟，所以她愿意一直做义工，鼓励大家戒烟，不烟者亦不要因好奇而尝试，因吸烟容易戒烟难。Jolin开心地说父亲以前很爱吸烟，她见到即撒娇地说：“烟味真的很臭呀！”现在父亲也戒烟了。若男友爱抽烟会怎样？她会以柔克刚，告诉他抽烟真的不好。

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蔡依林代言拒烟活动 蔡爸爸爱女心切戒烟[组图] 

天后蔡依林为禁烟活动代言，拍摄电视公益广告和相关平面宣传，尽管艺人的工作多采多姿，Jolin的私生活一向单纯，圈内人都知道，Jolin不仅不吸烟，更严禁工作人员在她身边吸烟，Jolin平常也常常告诫又抽烟习惯的朋友，赶快把害人害己的烟戒掉，难得一身轻便的服装，Jolin大声疾呼，全民一起来禁烟，也鼓励大家要帮助身边的亲朋好友，从前也抽烟的蔡爸爸，现在也已经顺利戒烟了。最近工作较少，Jolin也难得小小休假，被问起延宕已久的英文书及合约问题，Jolin避重就轻的说急不得，只说英文书目前正在等大陆批文，跟续约完全无关。

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Joe Jackson defends smoking, saying it doesn't affect his voice 

Joe Jackson defends smoking, hates politics and loves music. . . .

Jackson spent the past several years crafting the songs on "Rain." But the 53-year-old musician has also been busy with other pursuits. . . .

As for the smoking issue, Jackson isn't a heavy smoker, but he has written op-ed pieces for The New York Times and the Telegraph of London and written an essay, "Smoke, Lies and the Nanny State."

"It's one of those issues where we're really only hearing one side of it because the anti-smoking movement is so powerful," he said. "It's for sure absolutely not as dangerous as we're currently being told. ... There's no good evidence that smoking up to about 10 (cigarettes) a day does you any harm whatsoever."

It doesn't affect his voice, either, he said.

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Siouxsie Sioux goes solo 

Siouxsie Sioux has a simple explanation for why her voice sounds stronger than ever, 30 years into her career.

"I started smoking again," she says. "I had stopped four or five years ago, and it made me sick. My body rejected all the good intentions. When I started up again, it improved."

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Alcohol and Drugs Abound in Pop? Who Knew?  

Lyrics about drugs, alcohol and tobacco pervade popular music in the United States, according to a study published in the journal Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, Reuters reported. The report of a team led by Dr. Brian Primack of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and released on Monday calculated that Americans from ages 15 to 18 listening to 2.4 hours of music a day hear 84 references to substances daily and more than 30,000 annually.

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• Content Analysis of Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drugs in Popular Music 

Conclusions The average adolescent is exposed to approximately 84 references to explicit substance use daily in popular songs, and this exposure varies widely by musical genre. The substance use depicted in popular music is frequently motivated by peer acceptance and sex, and it has highly positive associations and consequences. . . .

In summary, children and adolescents are heavily exposed to substance use in popular music, and this exposure varies widely by genre. Substance use in music is frequently motivated by peer acceptance and sex, and it has highly positive associations and consequences. Research is needed to (1) determine the potency of exposure to substance use messages in music in adolescents and (2) determine the effects of various types of substance abuse messages, such as those with certain associations and consequences. If future studies determine an impact, we will need to consider the potential for media literacy and other educational interventions to reduce the impact of these messages on adolescent substance use.

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Under the Influence of . . . Music? 

Teenagers listen to an average of nearly 2.5 hours of music per day. Guess what they’re hearing about?

One in three popular songs contains explicit references to drug or alcohol use, according to a new report in The Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. That means kids are receiving about 35 references to substance abuse for every hour of music they listen to, the authors determined.

While songs about drugs and excess are nothing new, the issue is getting more attention because so many children now have regular access to music out of the earshot of parents. Nearly 9 out of 10 adolescents and teens have an MP3 player or a compact disc player in their bedrooms. . . .

Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine studied the 279 most popular songs from 2005 . . .

Whether any of this matters remains an open question. While the impact of exposure to images of smoking and alcohol in film has been well documented, less is known about the effect of music on childhood risk behaviors.

Although music lacks the visual element of film, adolescent exposure to music is much more frequent, accounting for an average of 16 hours each week for music compared with about 6 hours each week for movie images, according to the study authors. But frequency of exposure is not the only factor. Unlike visual media, music is a powerful social force that also taps into an individual's personal identity, memories and mood.

"Music is well-known to connect deeply with adolescents and to influence identity development, perhaps more than any other entertainment medium,'' said the study authors.

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