Tobacco Articles: category music

In Memory of Patrick Swayze, Songwriter Encourages People to Throw Away Cigarettes - and She'll Give You Her New CD - Free!

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Karen Sokolof Javitch is hoping that her new CD: STAR TRACKS - THE TRIBUTE ALBUM will encourage people to throw away their cigarettes! "It's worth a try," says Javitch, who decided to dedicate her CD to Patrick Swayze, who recently died of pancreatic cancer. "He was a 3-pack-a-day smoker, and never quit, even when he got sick." Her mother also died at age 56 (like Patrick) and she is sure cigarette smoking contributed to her death. "The one thing we have control over in getting cancer is cigarette smoking!" "THROW THOSE CIGGIES AWAY AND I'LL SEND YOU A FREE CD TODAY!" And of course that includes President Obama, who she surmises has not kicked his habit.

Musicians, tobacco-free advocates band together for Great American Smokeout

ddinsmore@thetowntalk.com (David Dinsmore) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Tobacco-Free Living of Louisiana is teaming up with local musicians and businesses in downtown Alexandria to throw a block party as part of the Great American Smoke Out 2009 to help clear the air about secondhand smoke. Region VI Tobacco Prevention and Cancer Control Coalition, Rapides Parish Healthy Initiatives Coalition and Louisiana Youth Prevention Services will partner to host "Live on Air" 6-10 p.m. Thursday on Desoto Street between Third and Fourth streets in downtown Alexandria to raise awareness -- and to have some fun while they're at it. Tipitina's Music Co-op has partnered with the event to provide music by local artists -- including DC Sills, Dick Larry & Mick, Bombs Away, Gutta Boy Muzik and Dynamic Jake -- that will cover a wide range of musical tastes.

Desta decides to quit smoking

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

For Club 80s drummer Deddy “Desta” Mahendra, it was from his late father that he chose to learn. “When my father was diagnosed with a cardiac problem, I immediately quit smoking,” Desta said as quoted by news portal inilah.com. “His doctor reminded me that his illness was entirely due to his smoking habit. The doctor called me and asked if I also smoked.” Desta then recalled a conversation he had after taking his father to a cardiologist. “Well, look at your father, that’s where smoking will get you,” he said to me. His father’s demise last month cemented in him the decision

Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette. Or not: Local songwriters cough up five songs about smoking

cdougher@citylinkmagazine.com (Colleen Dougher | Metromix South Florida) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Friday is the Great American Smokeout, when millions of smokers give it up, at least for the day, so we figured it was a good time to round up cigarette songs from five South Florida bands. Their inspirations included an ashtray full of cigarette butts that caught on fire, a woman who had a much-desired cigarette in her hand but no lighter, and a 7-year-old boy who took his grandmother's car on a joy ride while his passenger, also 7, smoked cigarettes. Kaley Wolfe/Clementine is a West Palm Beach singer, guitarist and ukulele player who performs under the name Contrast Colors. Like fellow local Rachel Goodrich, Clementine weaves stories into her songs, and "My Cigarettes Are Treating Me Fine" opens with the sound of a lighter being flicked . . . Jenny Wolfson, a.k.a. Miami Beach folk singer-guitarist Upside Down Jenny, wrote "One More Cigarette" from the perspective of someone who smokes despite having a cough, which becomes "just the flu" and eventually "just cancer, I guess." . . . This month, Americana band Mike Dunn and the Kings of New England released the album Sundowner, which contains a bonding-over-cigarettes song titled "Cigarette." "Oh I don't mind meeting you/'Cause it's the right thing to do," Dunn sings. "Can I bum a cigarette?

Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven 'owes its success to cigarettes' : Band biographer claims that DJs only played the now classic song because it was the 'perfect length' for a cigarette break

music.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk (Sean Michaels ) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Was the secret to Stairway to Heaven's success the fact that it gave DJs the chance to nip out for a cigarette? That's the theory of Led Zeppelin biographer Charles R Cross, who claims that 100 radio presenters "literally ... swore" that they aired the now classic tune because it was the "perfect length" for a cigarette break. "The song became successful by accident," Cross told the New York Post. "[I] had 100 DJs swear to me that they only played the song because they needed a long break to go and smoke a cigarette. If it had been a minute shorter, you couldn't have smoked a full cigarette. If it had been a minute longer, it would have been too long." Although it was never released as a single, Stairway to Heaven is now one of radio's most broadcast songs.

'Rolling Stone' Fights Claim It Misappropriated Indie Bands' Names to Promote Cigarettes: Case has publishing industry's attention, with seven media organizations filing amicus curiae briefs backing magazine

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Fending off accusations it misappropriated the names of more than 185 indie rockers to promote cigarettes, Rolling Stone magazine on Thursday appeared to have one appellate justice solidly in its corner. However, two votes are needed to win and one justice was absent during oral arguments in San Francisco's 1st District Court of Appeal. The third didn't tip his hand. Rolling Stone was sued last year by a class of indie bands -- led by the San Francisco Bay Area's Xiu Xiu and Toronto's Fucked Up -- who claimed the magazine had traded on their names by using them in a November 2007 graphic/article juxtaposed with a four-page, fold-out advertisement by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. that touted Camel cigarettes and the manufacturer's collaborations with indie groups. . . . Nonetheless, the bands claim Rolling Stone intentionally used their names to help R.J. Reynolds sell Camels and that the ad implied the bands endorsed the product.

VIDEO: DR. LUNG LOVE // Starring in PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Amy Winehouse misses her cue at Q awards : Amy Winehouse made a typically shambolic appearance at the Q Awards in a dress which displayed her newly acquired curves to full effect.

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Lily Allen also attended the awards, which are voted for by readers of Q magazine. She defied the smoking ban by lighting up a cigarette during the ceremony, and went on stage clutching a pint of lager to accept the Best Track award for her single The Fear.

Lily Allen flouts French smoking ban in Paris as she performs in a plunging leotard

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Lily Allen showed her rebellious side last night as she flouted France's smoking ban on stage in Paris. In between verses, Lily puffed away on a cigarette as she performed in a skimpy leotard at the City of Light's Le Zenith venue. But the 24-year-old singer provided a distraction from her smoking with her slashed-to-the-navel leotard. . . . Lily has publicly declared her love of smoking, so it's unlikely she'll be quitting any time soon. She said: 'I love smoking… I don't really want to say it, but I do.' . . . While Lily doesn't appear to be too worried about the health affects of smoking, she admitted she suffers from mild arthritis.

Chas goes it alone as Dave mourns loss of his wife to lung cancer possibly caused by passive smoking says agent : Chas and Dave to split after 37 years together

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

The band's agent, Barry Collings, said Dave, 64, had been very badly affected by the loss of his wife after 36 years of 'blissful marriage'. 'Understandably Dave has taken his loss very badly and he hasn't the heart to continue gigging and with regret he has decided to retire from the music business,' he said. Mr Collings even speculated whether the cause of her death had anything to do with the fact she followed him to concerts in smoke-filled venues all around the country. He said: 'I've never spoken to Dave about it, but in the early days she used to go to all the gigs so, over the years, I think there was an effect.' Non-smoker Roy Castle famously developed cancer from playing the trumpet in smoky jazz clubs.

Fair play urged for smoking ban

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

A LEADER of one of the teams that will enforce Shanghai's coming smoking control law wants to completely ban tobacco use inside KTV parlors, video arcades, pubs and other entertainment venues. "The law should ensure fairness. There should be no difference in smoking control among different rooms inside a karaoke bar or elsewhere in the industry," Lan Yiming of the Shanghai Culture Market Administrative Law Enforcement Team said during a public hearing yesterday on the draft measure. Without a blanket ban, he fears his agency and the others handling enforcement will have a difficult time persuading people to stop smoking in one area when they see people lighting up in another nearby. Lan was among the 20-plus people brought together by Shanghai People's Congress to give their views on the issue. Law makers may amend the draft based on what they heard yesterday as they continue discussion of the proposal. Their goal is to enact the measure by the end of the year, well in advance of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, which starts on May 1. Under the plan, smoking would be banned inside schools, hospitals and public places such as cinemas, museums, banks, malls, airports, railway and bus terminals and many privately owned businesses. Smoking would be allowed only in special areas in bars, restaurants and entertainment venues.

Future karaoke bars could be a drag for city's smokers

tips@shanghaiist.com ( Ben Pollok in News on September 22, 2009 8:15 PM ) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Who would've thought that the most populous city of a nation that contains one-third of the world's smokers would have people proposing public area smoking bans so sweeping it even makes us gag? Yet another advocate has come out of the woodwork to join the growing call for a comprehensive smoking ban in Shanghai's restaurants, pubs... and even individual rooms in karaoke bars. Lan Yiming, Vice Director of Shanghai Culture Market Administrative Law Enforcement Team, which would be responsible for enforcing the ban, suggested that an absolute ban on smoking in public buildings would be better than providing separate smoking rooms in each building because it would prevent complaints of unfair treatment from customers. . . . We've always been pretty vocally on the side of more smoking bans, but we have to admit Lan's suggestion caused even us to raise an eyebrow. Maybe we've been here too long to imagine forcing everyone in a private karaoke room to not smoke, and it seems a little silly to think that smokers would claim that they have the right to smoke in a designated non-smoking room if there are smoking rooms available. Still, we suppose if France, whose national stereotype is inextricably linked to cigarettes, can implement anti-smoking regulations, it only seems right that Shanghai follow suit. Besides, regardless of whether the new legislation will make you sleep easier at night, it will certainly make you breathe a little easier during the day.

Call for complete smoking ban in karaoke bars

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

SHANGHAI legislators should completely ban smoking inside karaoke bars, restaurants, pubs and other entertainment venues, suggests the head of the city's cultural industry watchdog. There should be no smoking rooms allowed inside these venues because a partial ban would make it difficult to enforce properly, said Lan Yiming, vice director of Shanghai Culture Market Administrative Law Enforcement Team, today. He called on lawmakers to incorporate his suggestions into Shanghai's first anti-smoking laws due to take effect in January.

Letters: Good reasons for cutting out cigarettes

reader@guardian.co.uk — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Of course Mark Lawson is correct to point out how risible it can be to censor photographs of famous people holding cigarettes, such as Jacques Chirac, the composer Rachmaninov or the interviewer Lynn Barber (Lost in the clouds, 19 September) but he surely underestimates the influence of role models on how people behave. . . . I have to admit that, after filming blues singer Big Joe Williams for the BBC in 1976, I had myself photographed playing his famous nine-string guitar and I just had to have a cigarette in my mouth to complete the picture. To this day, I wince every time I see it.

Alexander Chancellor waxes furious about the proposed smoking ban in New York parks (G2, 18 September). The evidence of the negative effects of passive smoking on health is overwhelming.

Tobacco warning from 17th Century

Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

Doctors in the 17th Century were worried about the dangers of young people smoking, a recently unearthed letter has revealed. The letter, written in 1606 by Dr Eleazar Duncon, said tobacco was "hurtful" to the nation's youth. It was found by library staff at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE). The Scottish Parliament will this week debate new proposals to curb tobacco and cigarette sales to youngsters. Dr Duncon's letter reveals medical professionals were similarly concerned about the issue four centuries ago.