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South African Sensation The Parlotones Welcome Global Audience at FIFA World Cup Concert June 10th

4-Piece South African Natives Weave through Country’s History at Presidential Inauguration, Africa Day, Live Earth, and Now 2010 World Cup

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Parlotones will welcome the world to their homeland with a performance at the FIFA World Cup Kick-Off Celebration Concert June 10th, 2010, a day before the world’s most watched sporting event is set to begin. The South African natives have already weaved themselves into the fabric of the country’s history with performances at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, Africa Day, Live Earth, and a record-breaking show at the Dome in Johannesburg.

The Parlotones have spent the last 18 months on a sold-out, 300-date world tour, packing out 1000+ capacity venues in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Russia, the US and the UK. They closed out the global tour in front of 12,000 fans at the Dome in Johannesburg, writing their own piece of African history by becoming the first South African band to ever headline the venue.

From their origins in Johannesburg, South Africa, the rock 4-piece have achieved multi-platinum-selling status in their home country, selling more records than Coldplay, The Killers, and Oasis combined. Their darkly romantic lyrics, atmospheric pop structures, and ambitious live shows have earned them rave response from fans and critics alike. The European release of their new album, Stardust Galaxies is set for June 4th, 2010, with the North American release slated for fall 2010.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup marks the first time the world’s most watched sporting event is being held on the African continent, with 32 national teams from all over the world playing matches in ten South African stadiums in the hope of being crowned World Champions. It is therefore fitting that The Parlotones will represent their native country, alongside international acts the Black Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys, and Shakira, in welcoming the global audience. The historic concert event will take place the night before the first match, at 8:00PM local time (GMT+2) on June 10th, 2010, at the newly renovated Orlando Stadium in Soweto/Johannesburg.

About The Parlotones

THE PARLOTONES – “WE CALL THIS DANCING”

The Parlotones have shared the stage with musical greats, including: Kings of Leon, The Gossip, Violent Femmes, Jimmy Eat World, New Model Army, Evanescence, Staind, The Rasmus, UB40 and Collective Soul. They have achieved multi-platinum-selling status in their home country of South Africa, selling more records than Coldplay, The Killers, and Oasis combined. Their big-budget music videos have won them a string of MK and SAMA Awards, including a 2010 SAMA Award for “Best Music Video of the Year” for their current single “Push Me to the Floor.”

The European release of their new album, Stardust Galaxies is set for June 4th, 2010, with the North American release slated for fall 2010.

THE PARLOTONES – “SHOULD WE FIGHT BACK”

More information on The Parlotones is available at: http://www.theparlotones.net

The Parlotones Official MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/theparlotones

The Parlotones Homepage: http://www.theparlotones.net

The Parlotones Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/theparlotones

About the FIFA World Cup and Kick Off Celebration Concert

Alicia Keys, Amadou & Mariam, Angelique Kidjo, Black Eyed Peas, BLK JKS, Carlos Santana, Shakira, The Parlotones, Tinariwen, Vieux Farka Toure, and Vusi Mahlasela will perform at the historic concert event taking place at 8:00PM local time (GMT+2) on June 10th, 2010, at the newly renovated Orlando Stadium in Soweto/Johannesburg. The FIFA World Cup football tournament is the world’s most watched sporting event, and is staged every four tears. This is the first time the FIFA World Cup is being held on the African continent, with 32 national teams from all over the world playing matches in ten South African stadiums in the hope of being crowned World Champions. The last FIFA World Cup in Germany attracted a global cumulative television audience of 26.29 billion (24.2 billion in-home and 2.1 billion out-of-home viewers).

More information on the FIFA World Cup Kick-Off Celebration Concert: http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/organisation/concert/

Press Contacts for The Parlotones

Mary Beth O’Toole

Transfer Media Group

908.872.2501

mb@transfermediagroup.com

Mike Gyulai

Transfer Media Group

310.560.0116

mike@transfermediagroup.com

Technically Speaking, the original location of this post is here, read more…

After I posted my last on the RiverCity Rage being in the IFL Championship game, I was poking around on KSDK to see if they had anymore news or articles on the Rage. I was impressed to find that they have a Minor League sports page!

Wow! I was thinking “they must have them listed here“. Nope. If you want a good laugh and to show you how out of touch the sports departments are concerning coverage of minor league sports in the supposed city that is known for it’s sports (that would be the big STL) – click on the STL SkyHawks for that example!

Don’t you love it? A link to a minor league basketball team that is some page not related to that team. Looks to be a splog. Yet, where is the link to the minor league indoor football team – the RiverCity Rage? I didn’t even bother to see if the other links work.

I thought the STL liked it’s sports championship caliber teams? No matter if it is pro, college or even high school. I guess the exception to that rule comes when it it’s a winning football team, yes indoor football is different, but I find it enjoyable to watch. Hey – when you consider the debacle we have had to watch as a football fan in the STL for the past few years with our supposed major league NFL representation, the Rage actually do things well on the field. Plus they win when it counts – the playoffs!

Technically Speaking, doesn’t surprise me one bit, as KSDK’s site has to be the most supposedly updated yet archaic example of good web design – they still have pop under ads as an example of what I mean, which annoys me to no end. When did that advertising trend end? Like 2002?

The RiverCity Rage went on the road to play the conference championship for the IFL United Conference and won 43-30 over the Wichita Wild in Wichita, KS Hartman Arena last night.

Unfortunately, the ticket to go to Wichita was cost prohibitive (around ~$800) to fly round trip and the drive is about 6.5 hours one way, so I stayed home and caught some online updates. One thing that I find surprising, especially as sports minded as this entire region of St. Louis can be, is that there is hardly any coverage of this very high octane St. Louis area indoor football team. They don’t just have offensive on their mind due to the nature of indoor football in general, but they actually have the right stuff that wins championships – DEFENSE!

In last weeks divisional title game that I attended, there was at least two times that I recall where the defense held their ground and gave the ball back to their offense on a turnover on downs! Defense again from what I read in the actual STLToday coverage this morning proved to be the winning formula for the Rage. Now again, here is the sad thing about this – the Rage are listed under “other sports” and you have to really search to find them. Not only that – they have to share the article with Venus Williams?!? WTF!

Rage defeat Wichita, will play for IFL title

The RiverCity Rage continued their unlikely playoff run Saturday night, capturing the Indoor Football League United Conference title with a 43-30 victory over the Wichita Wild in Kansas. The Rage, who lost four of their last five regular-season contests, improved to 11-6 and advanced to play the Billings Outlaws for the IFL championship next Saturday, tentatively scheduled for Billings, Mont. Billings (14-2) won 66-35 over the El Paso Generals on Saturday in the Intense Conference title game in Montana.

RiverCity’s Byron Jones returned the opening kickoff Saturday 59 yards to put the Rage on top. RiverCity quarterback Ben Sankey threw three first-half touchdown passes and Terrell Washington blocked and recovered a late field-goal attempt in the end zone as the Rage were up 36-14 with seconds to play in the opening half. Wichita (10-7) made its move in the third quarter, cutting the margin to 36-30 late in the period. But the Rage defense responded and RiverCity’s Randy Bell closed the scoring with a fourth-quarter TD run. (Joe Lyons)

The above quoted part is the only bit of Rage information you’ll find on the STLToday site this morning. Here is a team that is playing in it’s version of a Super Bowl if you will, on a much much smaller scale – yet receives the treatment of a high school team with it’s page 25 out of 22 page coverage and has to share their coverage with an article about a tennis star. Truth be told, I’ve seen the local high school teams receive better press coverage and treatment. Some will say, “Hey that’s St. Louis for you there, I mean – What High School did you go too?”

At least the Kansas news had a little longer article this morning. Admittedly if you dig hard enough, you can find smatterings of press coverage and stories on the Rage if you search deep for it.

I guess I shouldn’t really complain too much being that it’s considered a minor league sport at best. I do however agree with some commentary I found scattered on various forums on minor league sports had to say about the IFL needing to really update their web page. I think that having someone in charge of online media operations would be worthwhile.

I guess you will have a hard time convincing major league sports fans that the IFL is worthy of any coverage at all when your web site gives the illusion of being in the bush league. If you take time to view the team pages as well as the main IFL page, there is much needed done and a director of online media operations is a role I could see someone doing. After viewing a few of the teams and the main IFL page, you will either think the league is not worthwhile to watch and be a fan of, or in some cases, you’ll wonder when pages will be updated if ever.

The bottom line here is that the Rage are the heavy underdog team heading into a rough and tumble Billings, MT team in 2 weeks to take on the Outlaws. While they may be the underdog team, after attending the divisional title game last week, I have a feeling there will be a few Rage fans in attendance in Billings in 2 weeks!

Technically Speaking, anyone up for a road trip to Billings, MT in 2 weeks?