Odds & Ends: Mariah Carey, Rock In Rio USA, Kongos and Naked Man In Forest

When Mariah Carey was a newly discovered talent back in the days MTV still played music videos, the buzz coming out of the fabulous record label publicity machine claimed her voice could hit several octaves.

Now it appears the diva’s range isn’t quite as wondrous.  Launching a tour of Pacific Rim cities Oct. 4 near Tokyo in the city of Chiba, Japan, Carey quickly became the subject of less-than-flattering videos on YouTube posted by fans claiming the chanteuse’s range isn’t like it used to be.

But that was opening night.  Three shows deep into the journey and Carey is still on the receiving end of criticisms that her voice isn’t quite up to par.

Carey’s Oct. 8 gig at Olympic Park in Seoul, So. Korea sparked remarks about her lack of vocal luster.  AllKPop.com noted that there were reports claiming her “signature dolphin-like vocals hitting high notes were nowhere to be found.”  Making matters worse was a KoreaHearald.com review stating the amplification wasn’t exactly reaching the back row.

“Nevertheless, with a number of vocal complaints from some [of] the audience members that the speakers were too quiet, people seemed to be more interested in the lunar eclipse than they were in some of Carey’s performance,” wrote the website.

Oh well, tomorrow’s another day.  Or, in the case of the International Dateline, tomorrow is another today.  Carey’s next gig is at Worker’s Stadium in Beijing, China, Oct. 10 – just a few hours from now.

Wanna get married the Rock In Rio USA way?  The festival’s North American debut in Las Vegas May 8-9 and 15-16 will host up to five weddings per day in its own Rock In Rio Chapel as part of the Rock Street experience.

The ceremonies will be free and couples can submit their love stories detailing why they should be the chosen ones to [email protected].

Happening on the Las Vegas Strip, Rock In Rio USA will occupy a 33-acre open-air music venue between Circus Circus and Sahara Avenue dubbed “The City Of Rock.”  So far, the lineup includes Metallica, Linkin Park, Taylor Swift, No Doubt, Deftones and John Legend.

Australian fans of the Kongos will have to wait a bit longer to see the band in action.  Promoter Chugg Entertainment says the band’s first-ever tour of the continent has been scrubbed due to “scheduling conflicts.” 

A tweet from the Kongos also blames those wacky, nutty conflicts and that the band will try again in 2015.  Refunds are available at points of purchase.

A bow-and-arrow hunter says he had an encounter of the naked kind with a man who claimed to have been beaten and stripped of his clothes four days earlier while attending the TomorrowWorld EDM festival near Atlanta.

In his posting on YouTube, Casey Sanders wrote that he saw “a man standing in the creek holding a walking stick with not a stitch of clothing on him.”

The man claimed that he had been assaulted at the festival and that his tormentors had left him in the woods after taking everything he had, including his duds.  The man said he had been sucking the water off of leaves before he discovered a creek which led him to his meeting with Sanders.

Sanders ended up calling a phone number provided by the hapless soul, and then led him to the road where the man’s friends could pick him up. Sander’s video of the incident does not show the man in all his birthday-suit glory but does provide a recording of the conversation.

“By far the craziest hunting story I will ever have,” Sanders wrote.  Chances are it will also be the craziest concert story the naked man will ever tell.