SAN DIEGO, Calif. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Based out of mostly sunny San Diego, Calif., Mr. Mike Shirk, an artist and former ad exec, is living with an illness called inclusion body myositis. To deal with his health issues he launched a blog called lifedisabled.com [...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Bringing musicians from around the world to communities across America, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announced OneBeat this week, an initiative that will bring up to 50 international musicians between the ages of 19-35 to the United States for a month-long exchange.

SEATTLE, Wash. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Using Kickstarter a popular fan and crowd funding site, Loren Weisman is raising the funds from fans for a 15 City Speaking Tour over the period of a month in the spring of 2012.

WASHINGTON, D.C. /Music Industry Newswire/ — American Voices, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is now accepting ensemble applications for the American Music Abroad 2012-2013 touring season.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Cutting-edge, online music licensing site Splother.com is pleased to welcome legendary singer/songwriter, Robert Earl Keen, to their team as Strategic Advisor. In his position, Keen will provide strategic advice, artistic vision and act as a voice for the company.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. /Music Industry Newswire/ — The Bob Moog Foundation announces the release of its 2012 calendar, ‘Moog Pioneers in the Studio.’ The calendar features photos and history from Bob Moog’s archives, as well as photos from collections of pioneering synthesists.

NEW GEAR: Inventor and iOS app developer Alex Smith of Alkex Instruments is back with his latest foray into MIDI controllers, with his ‘Ball Beats’ MIDI step sequencer product. Unlike his somewhat failed stab at creating a wood and knobs controller for virtual instruments earlier this year, this new product looks polished, and has a boutique coolness…

MODENA, Italy /Music Industry Newswire/ — The new Stealth CS series of mobile audio interfaces combines powerful audio interfaces with the revolutionary AmpliTube Custom Shop software. The Stealth CS series of interfaces includes the StealthPlug CS and the StealthPedal CS.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Acorn Instruments, a developer of high-value, digital musical instruments, recently announced the availability of their new Masterkey 61, the latest addition to their line of USB keyboard controllers.

GRENOBLE, France /Music Industry Newswire/ — Arturia, in partnership with the late Bob Moog, made a faithful reproduction of one of the most famous series of synthesizers: the Moog Modular. Version 2.6 expands the already amazing feature set with: MIDI Control Assignment Improvement; Support for 64-bit VST and Audio Unit; Support for Pro Tools 9 and 10; Support for Mac OSX 10.7 (Lion).

Risskov, Denmark /Music Industry Newswire/ — P2 Stays Ahead of the Curve – TC Electronic Releases Free Software Update for P2 Level Pilot. TC’s P2 5-band loudness controller and limiter becomes fully compliant with ITU BS.1770-2, EBU R128, ATSC A/85 and TR-B32.

Montebello, Calif. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Tascam this week announced a line-up of holiday rebate promotions on their line of audio/recording gear. TASCAM’s Holiday mail-in Rebates include: DR-05: ($10), DR-07mkII: ($20), DR-40: ($15), US-2000, US-1800: ($25), US-600, US-200, US-144mkII, US-122mkII ($15).

Paris, France /Music Industry Newswire/ — UltimateSoundBank announced this week the forthcoming sound instrument, Gypsy Jazzy. According to the company, ‘this is the first product dedicated to Gypsy Jazz, from its very roots to most modern genres like electro-swing and swing-house.’

Worcestershire, U.K. /Music Industry Newswire/ — Camel Audio this week announced Himalaya: Vintage – Authentic Classic Synths, powered by Alchemy. According to the company, Himalaya: Vintage taps into funk, fusion, old school electronica and synth pop, offering instruments with an authentic vintage vibe and playability.

Sweden /Music Industry Newswire/ — Library of the Extreme – Fill Insanity has been announced. Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, Scarve) is back with the third pillar in his much appreciated series of extreme metal MIDI for drums: Library of the Extreme III – Fill Insanity.

MONTREAL, Quebec /Music Industry Newswire/ — AAS announces Chromaphone, a brand new creative percussion synthesizer plug-in. According to the company newsletter, ‘We have designed a synthesizer that combines acoustic resonators to create drums, percussion, mallet, string, and synth-like instruments.’