Tuesday - 1/17/12 

Springsteen making "the angriest album he's ever made". "A Different Kind Of Truth" to be released on vinyl. New Styx DVD due next week. The secret to Journey's success. Posthumous FB post? There's an app for that. Men and their FB relationship status. Android use soaring. Eating this leads to guilt. Most sensitive men. Internet security myths.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN

A source has told the Hollywood Reporter that label executives who have heard Bruce Springsteen's new album have said that Springsteen considers the disc "the angriest album he's ever made." The source added that Springsteen "gets into economic justice quite a bit" on the yet-to-be-titled set, also saying, "Bear in mind, though, that (Springsteen) wrote and recorded the majority of the album before the Occupy movements started, so he's not just setting headlines to music."

• The album is also said to delve into what was described as "unexpected textures --  loops, electronic percussion . . . an amazing sweep of influences and rhythms, from hip-hop to Irish folk rhythms."
• There is no release date yet for the album, but it's speculated that its arrival may coincide with Springsteen's delivery of the keynote address at Austin's South By Southwest music festival on March 15th.
• A world tour is also slated to begin in March with a two-month arena run through the U.S. -- the E Street Band's first since the death last year of saxophonist Clarence Clemons.

VAN HALEN

If you've got an extra $55 lying around and happen to be a diehard Van Halen fan, you might want to spring for the "tour collector's edition" on vinyl of the band's upcoming album A Different Kind Of Truth. For $54.98, you'll get all 13 tracks from the set on two vinyl platters in a gatefold sleeve with custom artwork. The package also comes with a "deluxe" digital version of the album that includes "The Downtown Sessions": four acoustic video performances of "Panama," "You And Your Blues (intro)," "You And Your Blues" and "Beautiful Girls."

• The vinyl edition is available for pre-order now and will ship on or around February 24th. The digital version of the album will be delivered the day the CD arrives in stores, February 7th.
• A Different Kind Of Truth is the first Van Halen album in 28 years to feature founding singer David Lee Roth on lead vocals.
• Van Halen will kick off a North American tour on February 18th in Louisville, Kentucky. Kool And The Gang will open on selected tour stops.

STYX

Coming on January 24th is Styx's latest DVD, The Grand Illusion/Pieces Of Eight Live. The collection, recorded on November 9th, 2010 in Memphis, features full live renditions of the band's classic 1977 and 1978 albums. The DVD fatuities the bonus featurette, called, "Putting On The Show," which gives fans a behind the scenes look at how the band staged the mammoth production.

Styx co-founder and guitarist J.Y. Young told us that although Styx may be best known for its classic pop and ballad hits, the band's Chicago brand of prog rock remains a major component of its musical DNA: "Y'know, early on we were doing a lot of prog-type things back then. And, duh, The Grand Illusion -- that's pomp and circumstance -- (The) Grand Illusion; there ya go. So, it (was) a huge part of the influence before the super soft pop side of our band started to emerge in the late-'70s. And we've gone away from that. We're back, sort of, to the prog era. That's really what we've focused on at this point."

STEVE PERRY/JOURNEY

Former Journey frontman Steve Perry says that the secret to the band's success was that they simply kept moving forward, leaving no time to second-guess themselves. During the Perry's initial run with the band between 1977 and 1986, the band recorded nine albums -- including one soundtrack and one live collection.

Perry explained that when recording such classic albums as Evolution, Departure, Escape, and Frontiers, the band simply kept their eye on the finish line while in the studio: "You have to get in, do it, get out, and leave it alone, for a minute -- move on. Otherwise, creatively, we will re-digest, re-think, re-do, and really believe in our hearts we can do better. And sometimes we can. It won't necessarily be better -- it'll be different. And some times that is better -- sometimes it's not."

NEW APP LETS FACEBOOK USERS LEAVE POSTHUMOUS POST

 Ever thought there's a few things you'd like your friends or even the world to know after you're gone? A new app called "If I Die" allows Facebook users to leave a message behind that will be posted after their death. Three designated Facebook friends have to very the person's death before the posthumous message gets posted. The New York Daily News reports that the app was developed by an Israeli company after two of its co-founders' friends nearly died in a traffic accident in Italy.

MEN TAKE LONGER TO CHANGE FACEBOOK RELATIONSHIP STATUS

Heartbroken men take four weeks to change their Facebook status following a break-up - while women do so almost straight away, a study has revealed. A study found that the majority of men - 63 percent 'prolong the misery' of updating their profile from 'In a Relationship' to 'Single' for a month or more -- while eight percent fail to do so at all. If and when they do, only a third admits if they were dumped - and even fewer - 15 percent - reveal the reasons why. Women, on the other hand, tend to go public within a few days, often with a new description and photograph to reflect their 'happy single' status. (ALovingSpace.com)

ANDROID USE SOARING

 The number of Google's Android phones activated every day is more than twice that of babies born, a YouTube executive said at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Robert Kyncl, YouTube's head of content, told a CES audience 700,000 Android handsets were activated every day in December. The United Nations says statistics suggest around 300,000 babies are born worldwide every day. (UPI)

EATING FAST FOOD LEADS TO GUILT

  Most people feel guilty after eating fast food. Fifty-four percent of people admitted feeling "a bit guilty" after eating fast-food and another 16 percent say they just feel "bad." A survey of 1,563 members of the Allrecipes online social networking community showed more than 56 percent ate at fast-food restaurants at least several times a month and nearly 15 percent ate fast-food two or more times a week. Half of the survey's respondents said convenience to accommodate busy schedules and faster meal availability were the top reasons for eating fast-food instead of cooking at home. To skip a fast-food meal and cook a healthy meal at home, 83 percent said it would have to be prepared in 30 minutes or less. (UPI)

MOST SENSISTIVE MEN IN THE U.S. LIVE IN POMPANO BEACH

There are plenty of sensitive men around American -- you just need to know where to look. And according to Chemistry.com, it's in Pompano Beach, FL. The vacation destination topped their list of ten cities for sensitive men, followed by Roanoke, VA and West Hollywood, CA.

TOP TEN CITIES FOR SENSITIVE MEN

Pompano Beach, Florida
Roanoke, Virginia
West Hollywood, California
Nashville, Tennessee
Buffalo, New York
Sarasota, Florida
Greenville, South Carolina
Wilmington, North Carolina
Indianapolis, Indiana
Staten Island, New York

INTERNET SECURITY MYTHS (Fox News)

Myth #1: The FBI monitors your every tweet: The FBI does not scan every Twitter feed for code words, which would require an enormous computing effort, FBI spokeswoman Jenny Shearer told FoxNews.com. She said the agency's usual practice is to look into the matter if it becomes aware of a threat on Twitter. That's quite different from scanning every tweet looking for terror suspects.

Myth #2: Teens routinely snap illicit photos and post them on the Web: Paul Henry, security and forensic analyst at Lumension, says he's never had a case where a phone contained illicit photos taken without someone's consent. He has heard accusations that people are doing that, but during the investigation he has found that there were no photos taken. And that makes sense: even with a silent click, we usually know when someone is snapping a photo. Henry says there is cause for concern with consensual photos being taken and then posted on the Web.

Myth #3: Facebook tracks your Web visits --even when you're not on Facebook: Facebook spokesperson Jaime Schopflin said the social network uses information from "like" buttons to analyze site performance and make code changes based on the collected data, but without any ties to specific users. 'The Like button is not used to gather information about specific people to know their interests for the sake of advertising,' Schopflin said.

Myth #4: Your company (or ex-boyfriend) is spying on you: Just as someone snapping photos of you in public is fairly obvious, it's easy to tell when a laptop is recording video, since the laptop cover has to be open and facing you. Many laptops use a red light to show that the webcam is recording or emit a sound when the camera snaps a photo. Installing spy-recording software on your laptop without your knowledge and posting the results on the Web is also illegal.

Thanks for listening to The Eagle while you work. Keep it fabulous, Houston!

xoxo,

Jennifer Tyler

Fabulous Mid-day Diva