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Ayreon Albums

Ayreon: The Final Experiment Special Edition (Bonus CD)

Ayreon: The Final Experiment: Special Edition [CD 1]

Ayreon: The Final Experiment: Special Edition [CD 2]

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03/17/2008 03:34 PM

Celebrity baseball fever, catch it with Billy Crystal

So the commissioner’s office granting Billy Crystal permission to suit up as a New York Yankee for a spring game Thursday against the Pittsburgh Pirates—a charming experiment or a harmful pattern?I mean, for a major-league team to actually sign a comedian and actor to a one-day contract this way?”My only concern for Billy is that [...]

03/13/2008 01:35 PM

Stars, diamonds, ostrich- feather fans … this celebrity …

Sport Relief Does The Apprentice (BBC1) is the strident child of charity and celebrity. The sport is in putting five celebrities in a sack and waiting for them to start killing each other. You won’t wait long. Sir Alan Sugar ran through their claims to fame in case, as he said drily, “Some of the viewers [...]

03/13/2008 01:35 PM

Handbags clobbered by celebrity fatigue

It’s all over for the “it” bag - or so says consumer research specialist Mintel. Fashion shoppers - mostly female - are finally losing their passion for celebrity-endorsed handbags that can cost thousands of pounds each. The market for big-ticket, big-name bags, as sported by the likes of Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham, has been expanding [...]

03/13/2008 09:34 AM

How SXSW parties kick it VIP-style

When Kirsten Dunst was spotted last year during South by Southwest, the A-list star most certainly was not languishing in a long line or grooving with the festival masses. Rather she was, as one American-Statesman staffer blogged, ” … at the Spin Party, watching Kings of Leon and puffing cigarette after cigarette.” That’s right, like [...]

03/13/2008 09:34 AM

Claudia Thomas, MD: A Pioneer on Two Fronts

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) is honored to recognize a surgeon who heals, inspires and encourages others. Claudia Thomas, MD, the first black female orthopaedic surgeon in her field, was presented today with the Academy’s 2008 Diversity Award at the 75th Annual Meeting. Dr. Thomas has worked throughout her residency and practice to recruit and retain individuals who [...]

Ayreon Biography

Ayreon The progressive metal outfit Ayreon is essentially just Dutch multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Arjen Anthony Lucassen (formerly of the more mainstream metal band Vengeance), plus a revolving-door cast of collaborators and guest musicians that changes from project to project. Ayreon albums are usually large-scale concept epics and sometimes rock operas, in the latter case featuring a different vocalist for each character. Lucassen formed Ayreon in 1994 and released its first album, The Final Experiment, the following year. The more ethereal Actual Fantasy followed in 1996, and from there Ayreon only got more elaborate. 1998's Into the Electric Castle was a campy, sci-fi concept work spanning two discs and featuring guests like ex-Marillion singer Fish and the Gathering's Anneke van Giersbergen. Next up was Universal Migrator, another double-disc set whose volumes were issued separately under the subtitles Part I: The Dream Sequencer and Part II: Flight of the Migrator. These featured even more guest appearances, most notably Tiamat's Johan Edlund and Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson, plus current and former members of Gamma Ray, Primal Fear, Helloween, Stratovarius, and Symphony X; musicians included Rocket Scientist's Erik Norlander and ex-Gorefest drummer Ed Warby. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

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