Leon Russell, Elton John appear on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend

According to Internet Media: Elton John, Leon Russell to appear on “Saturday Night Live”
The British pop superstar will do double duty as host and musical guest on this weekend’s “SNL,” with the Oklahoma icon joining him for the musical performances.

Live from New York, it’s the “Rocket Man” and the “Master of Space and Time,” uniting once again.

British pop superstar Elton John will do double duty as both host and musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” during this weekend’s episode of the long-running sketch show. His recent duet partner and Oklahoma icon Leon Russell will join him for the program’s musical performances.

“SNL” airs at 10:30 p.m. Saturday on NBC.

This Saturday’s episode will mark John’s first time back on the “SNL” stage since 1982, when he played the songs “Empty Garden” and “Ball and Chain,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Uncle Leon and his then-wife Mary Russell were musical guests on “SNL” back in 1976, according to IMDB.

The singer/songwriter/pianist pair was in New York last month when John ushered Russell into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Russell (and Owasso resident Garth Brooks) will be back in NYC June 16 for induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

John and Russell have made several high-profile TV appearances together since releasing their collaborative album “The Union” last fall. “The Union” debuted in October at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, earned a Grammy nomination for best pop collaboration with vocals for lead single “If It Wasn’t for Bad” and sparked a dramatic career resurgence for Russell, who had fallen into relative obscurity after playing a pivotal role on the rock ‘n’ roll scene in the 1960s and ‘70s.

Russell’s top ‘70s classics have been compiled into a new CD and digital collection, “The Best of Leon Russell,” which will be released Tuesday by Capitol/EMI.

In addition, the documentary “The Union,” which director Cameron Crowe (“Almost Famous,” “Jerry Maguire”) shot about the making of the pair’s collaborative album, will make its world premiere April 20, opening the 10th annual Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

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MyStream app allows users to share music wirelessly

According to Inernet Media:  MyStream on Thursday launched an app that lets iPhone users wirelessly share the music they're listening to with half a dozen or more friends in the same room.

The free app, created by 23-year-old New York entrepreneur Richard Zelson, is meant to re-create the functionality of a earphone splitter, those $20 doohickeys that plug into a mobile music player and have up to four jacks for other wired earphones, allowing multiple people to listen to the same device.

In MyStream's case, the app uses Wi-Fi and Bluetooth to connect multiple iPhones and iPods. Users can create a playlist in the app and begin broadcasting (or in this case, narrowcasting) the songs. Others who have the same app and are nearby can tap into the playlist and listen along. If they like what they're hearing, they can click a "Buy" button, which sends them off to Apple's iTunes store to purchase the song.

Zelson said connecting via Bluetooth, which nearly all cellphones now have, lets up to six listeners share music. A Wi-Fi connection, because it's more robust, allows more people to get into the party -- a dozen or more.

"We've had 12 people on at the same time without any problems," Zelson said. "You can host a silent disco party in your house, if you want."

Sharing may be a virtue on the playground and at parties, but when it comes to digital music, it can easily turn into a dirty word.

Depending on how the app works in the background, it raises intriguing questions about the legal tripwires within a byzantine network of music copyrights -- along with a phalanx of organizations such as American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Broadcast Music Inc., the Harry Fox Agency, SESAC and SoundExchange, which all zealously collect royalties on behalf of musicians and publishers.

Zelson said he believes his app should not trip any copyright alarms because of some safeguards built into MyStream. It only lets others listen to full songs that are currently being played in real time by the host player. Other songs on the playlist are playable as 30-second samples. Zelson also said the songs are "mapped, not copied" to other players.

Zelson argued that record labels should welcome MyStream because it encourages people to buy the songs after they've listened.

That said, history shows that labels and publishers prefer to be the ones deciding what's kosher. To decide what you think, go here to check out the app.

-- Alex Pham

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