ITALY RELEASES PREVIEW VIDEO

RAI LAUNCH EUROPEAN TOUR

Italian representative Antonella Ruggiero will go on a long tour around Europe before the semifinal of United Song Contest. She desided to put all her soul in this project and has cancelled 12 concerts in Italy to present herself and the USC song and of course some other fantastic italians songs to the European audience. The full tour plan can be read below. Make sure you get a ticket or two.



Tour Antonella United

August

10 Rome

11 Stockholm & Helsinki

12 Tallin & Oslo

14 Moscow

15 Riga

16 Vilnius

17 Odessa

18 Bukarest

19 Belgrade & Zagreb

20 Warsaw

22 Berlin

23 Hamburg & Amsterdam

24 Frankfurt & Munich

25 Wienna & Llubljana

26 Sarajevo & Tirana

28 Bern & Nice

29 Paris & London

30 Dublin

31 Istanbul



September

1 Athens & Thessaloniki

2 Madrid & Lissabon

4 Rehersals in Malmö

5 Copenhagen (Tv show - USC special)

6 Dress rehersals in Malmö

7 Malmö SEMIFINAL UNITED SONG CONTEST



22 Malmö FINAL UNITED SONG CONTEST ( if Italy qualifies from semi)


As you can see she put her main effort into the German audience. "Si, I am not so well known nor popular there so I think I need more time there." she says to USC News. How can you manage to go to 2 cities at one day? "Well, if that is so, we first do a pre recorded show in the day then later in the evening a live TV show. For me there is not so much difference."

K-otic shoot new video on the beach!

The members of K-otic went to the beachside to tape this video of their fab song for the USC 2002
You can have a look at the result here and don't forget to vote The Netherlands in USC :-P

Laura Re-releases her USC 2002 VIDEO

Laura Pausini and her VIDEO has just been re-released and we are first to share it with you. Italian delegation has been in trouble latelly with not providing the ticket for Antonella to Malmo. Today RAI confirm that they will indeed provide travel and accomodation as well as a full USC team for Antonella. She will leave for Malmö the 25th of august. So here below you can watch the "Surrender" VIDEO of Italy 2002 in United Song Contest. Enjoy. And Bravo RAI (even though we keep on pressing for a "real" national selection and not the questioned jury system they have).

USC 2002 STARTED

Dutch 2007 Summer USC finalists known!

picture: Monique Smit



Sharon Kips hits Dutch final again!

After winning the Spring edition, qualifying for the 2007 Spring USC final but being disqualified for not casting the dutch votes in time, Sharin Kips can give it another try. She mamaged with 14 other strong candidates to qualify for the final of the dutch preselection.

Dutch Final 2007 Summer USC:

André Hazes & Gerard Joling - Blijf bij mij

Champagne - Oh Me Oh My Goodbye

City To City - The Road Ahead

Do - Beautiful thing

Dolly Dots - S.T.O.P.

Good Things End - I Know

Guillermo & Tropical Danny - Toppertje!

Jeroen van der Boom - Jij bent zo

Millionaires - Fantasy Island

Monique Smit - Wild (pictured)

Petra Berger - Terra Promessa

Rafaella - Right here right now

Robby Valentine - Over and over again

Sharon Kips - Heaven knows

Van Velzen - Burn


votes to be cast in 12-10-8-7-etc ESC style to rollercoasterslow at hotmail dot com

ITALY EXPERT JURY HAS DESIDED

So, at last the 6 expert jury desided who will represent Italy in Summer edition 2007.

Winner was Antonella Ruggiero with "Canzone fra le guerre". A song first presented in Sanremo festival in 2007 and now the representative of Italy in USC.

1. Antonella 66p

2. Alexia 64p

3. Paolo 56p

4. Tiziano 36p

5. Lara 36p

6. Anna 33p

7. Laura 29p

Dutch entrant USC 2002 chosen!

In a close final of a high musical standard K-otic has won the Dutch 2002 USC national final with their song "I surrender" (26 points). Runners up were Di-rect (25) and Marco Borsato (23) . Romeo (22) and Within Temptation (20) completed the top 5.

Dutch 2002 final now! 5 days to vote 7 songs to choose 1 great entry

The finalists in search of the dutch entrant of the USC 2002 are known:

Di-rect - Inside my head

Hermes House Band - Country Roads

K-otic - I Surrender

Krezip - Promise

Marco Borsato - Zij

Romeo - The answer is yes

Within Temptation - Mother Earth

songs can be found on soulseek at 'hebbuzz' or here

votes 10 - 7 - 5 - 3 - 2 - 1 style to: rollercoasterslow at hotmail dot com

Dutch NF semi's for Summer 2007 USC started!

The semi's for the dutch final have started in search of a great entry for Summer USC 2007: TOP 5 of every semifinal will go to final! votes to be casted in ESC style (12-10-etc) of in top 5 to rollercoasterslow@hotmail.com

SEMI A:

Dennis - No can do
Do - Beautiful thing
Dolly Dots - S.T.O.P.
Floortje - You're no good
Good Things End - I Know
Jeroen van der Boom - Jij bent zo
Mai Tai - Am I Losing You Forever
Sharon Kips - Heaven knows
The Partysquad - Ben Je Down (TMF Awards 2006 Anthem)
Tiesto ft. Christian Burns - In The Dark
Toontje lager - Stiekum gedanst

SEMI B:

City To City - The Road Ahead
Paul de Leeuw & Raffa‰la - Mijn houten hart
Petra Berger - Terra Promessa
Racoon - Close your eyes
Rafaella - Right here right now
Robby Valentine - Over and over again
Toontje lager - Vroeg of laat
Twarres - She couldn't laugh
Valensia - Kosmos
Van Velzen - Burn
Vandenberg - Burning heart

SEMI C:

André Hazes & Gerard Joling - Blijf bij mij
BZN - Goodbye
Champagne - Oh Me Oh My Goodbye
Georgina & Janet - Ritmo!
Guillermo & Tropical Danny - Toppertje!
Jannes - Als het zonnetje schijnt
Jim - Doe dit, doe dat
LUV - You are always welcome to my party
Marco Borsato & Lucie Silvas - Everytime I think of you
Millionaires - Fantasy Island
Monique Smit - Wild

All songs can be found on soulseek and here:

semi A http://s25.quicksharing.com/v/6353659/semi_A_vote_7_5_3_2_1_or_12_10_esc_style_rollercoasterslow_hotma.zip.html semi B http://s25.quicksharing.com/v/3310987/semi_B_vote_7_5_3_2_1_or_12_10_esc_style_to_rollercoasterslow_ho.zip.html semi C http://rapidshare.com/files/44976452/semi_C-vote_7-5-3-2-1_or_12-10-esc-style_to_rollercoasterslow_hotmail.zip

Elvis is alive in dutch semi's to the 2002 USC !!

These are the songs entering the dutch national final to choose the dutch 2002 USC entrant:

Semi A
(http://s25.quicksharing.com/v/7136875/semiA.zip.html)

Junkie XL & Elvis Presely - A little less conversation
Anouk - Everything (acoustic)
Within Temptation - Mother Earth (picture)
Soulvation - Summer In The City
Romeo - The answer is yes
Kane - Rain down on me
Sita - Hello

Krezip - You can say
K-otic - I surrender
DJ Jurgen - One step away
Belle Perez & Jody Bernal - Me & You
Marco Borsato & Sita - Lopen over water

Semi B:

(http://s25.quicksharing.com/v/8373504/semiB.zip.html )
Hermes House Band - Country roads
Lois Lane - When I'm with you
Leona - Zomer op je radio / Summer on your radio
Krezip - Promise
Within Temptation - Ice queen (picture)
Ties - Denk aan mij
Sita - Selfish
Marco Borsato - Zij
K-otic - Falling
DJ Sammy & Do - Heaven
Di-rect - Inside my head

From both semi's the top 3 and best number 4 will enter the final.

USC History goes beyond the limit

The History contest 2002 has now the maximum number of participants (26) but even more countries are interested to join. Unfortunatelly UBU desided not to include a semifinal in the history contests but instead create a reserv list of countries (and songs) that will be take part in the case that some of the signed in participants fail to send their USC 2002 song in time. When USC history returns to a year futher back in time the reserv list will also be used to fill in with countries that leave an open spot.

DJ Ötzi & Nik P. finally in USC - for Austria!

It was the big shock in the USC Spring edition 2007, when DJ Ötzi & Nik P. were disqualified, after winning the German national final by landside. The reason for disqualification was that neither the performer nor the songwriter owned the German citizenship. However now it seems that DJ Ötzi & Nik P. get a second chance: The new Austrian delegation - headed by Mr. Austria Michael - selected the duo internally to perform their hit "Ein Stern (der deinen Namen trägt)" in the Summer edition 2007. After winning the German national final in spring against 9 other competitors there is huge hope, that the two Austrian-born singers will bring back success to Austria. Mr. Austria stated: "We are so proud that we can bring in this great entry for Austria's comeback, that was on the top of the German and Austrian charts for nearly 3 months now". So good luck to DJ Ötzi & Nik P. in the semi final of USC Summer edition 2007!

TONIGHT USC FINAL

WELCOME EVERYONE

Falling Star Radio broadcast the show 18:00-22:00 CET here:
http://radio.gayhellas.gr:8000/listen.pls

Here are some clips from tonights show!!!

And here is the results of the final. The winning song was "För att du finns" with Sonja Aldén who now took the contest back to Sweden. The host city will be the south town of Malmö and the final of USC summer 2007 will be Saturday September the 22nd.

The 15 countries that are directly qualified to final is:
1 Sweden 158
2 Poland 144
3 Greece 139
4 Norway 129
5 Andorra 124
6 Lebanon 114
7 Iceland 114
8 Monaco 104
9 Bulgaria 94
10 Lithuania 93
11 Albania 92
12 Romania 86
13 Israel 86
14 Hungary 73
15 Serbia 70

And the countries that will compete in the semifinal will be....
16 Germany 69
17 Ukraine 64
18 United Kingdom 62
19 France 50
20 Ireland 48
21 Switzerland 43
22 Russia 41
23 Malta 39
24 Estonia 37 (-50%, using backup jury)
25 Vatican State 33
26 Latvia 30 (-50%, using backup jury)

Semifinal is to be one of the largests so far already 27 countries are competing. Only 11 will reach final. Also a special thing happened in this edition. All 3 managers have their countries in the semifinal. The winner was for the 7th time (of 7 contests of editions) was a solo female artist. If you include the old history contests 11 out of 12 contests has has a solo female winner. Only ABBA managed to win as a group in 1975 with Mamma Mia.

USC FINAL spring was for the first time broadcasted LIVE in "Falling star radio" which was a great success with Babis gr and Giorgios as hosts for the show. We hope to see another live broadcast in future USC. Maybe a rebroadcast of USC 1968.

HISTORY USC 2002 has new record - 24 participants

And that gives us only 2 more places left for USC history then it will be full line up of 26 countries so don't hesitate to sign in.

USC 2002 LINK: here

USC GOES ON AIR - LIVE

On Saturday at 18:00 USC FINAL will for the first time also be broadcasted live in internet Radio (not podradio pre recording but LIVE ). Not only the listening to songs will be live but also the referee and commentaire to the LIVE voting will be aired here. AFter a successful prelistening show of final songs and some planning the USC FINAL show will go both VIDEO SHOW, Live show in live internet radio ( Falling Star Radio) directlky from Greece. Thanks to Giorgios, Mr UK, we have this new feature. Plans are to include USC Radio Europe somehow later on. So stay tuned and on saturday at 18:00 CET tune in into "Fallin Star Radio" to listen to the songs pararell to the vodeoshow!

LINK: http://radio.gayhellas.gr:8000/listen.pls

France 2002 National Final

Here are the 16 songs in competition:
01-"Nos différences" A1 & Eve Angeli
02-"J'en ai marre" Alizée
03-"Lila" Faudel
04-"J'attends l'amour" Jenifer
05-"A 20 ans" Lorie
06-"Nos rendez-vous" Natasha St-Pier
07-"Les garçons dans les vestiaires" Clarika
08-"Quand je serai jeune" Priscilla
09-"Quelqu'un m'a dit" Carla Bruni
10-"Les cerfs-volants" Benjamin Biolay
11-"L'important c'est d'aimer" Pascal Obispo
12-"J'ai besoin d'amour" Lorie
13-"J'ai pas 20 ans" Alizée
14-"Tu trouveras" Natasha St-Pier & Pascal Obispo
15-"Ma prière" Eve Angeli
16-"Rue de la Paix" Zazie

Vote in ESC style. Songs will be hared on soulseek at Greg09

"Lechaim!" to the dutch entrant USC 1968!

Lechaim, a toast to live for the dutch entrant in the 1968 USC contest! The dutch will be represented with the song: "Red red wine" performed by Peter Tetteroo.

Peter is the leadsinger of Tee-Set, a landwidefamous dutch group from the 70's (with about 30 top-40 hits). In the final he beated both favourites "Zen - Hair" and "Golden Earing - Just a little bit of peace in my heart" with his song "Red Red Wine". Both Neil Diamond and UB 40 already made coverversions of his entry.

http://s25.quicksharing.com/v/1956487/Peter_Tetteroo_Red_red_wine.mp3.html

Deception in Holland!

People in the Netherlands are in shock! After the results from the 2007 semi were made public, there was great disappointment as it turned out Sharon would have qualified if the voting machine would have worked properly, but whilst the failing of the jury, the entry by Sharon Kips 'Heartbreak away' was robbed it's qualification by the 50% punishmentrule.

It is rumoured that (with the 12th place she now was put back in rank) she would have even made it to the top 3 in the semi's out of 26 songs. Sharon reacted very disappointed, but ... rules must be obeyed.

Some questioned the rule, because punishment is heavy considering the amount of countries competing.

Sharon is willing to enter the summer preselections in the Netherlands with another song. Meanwhile an actiongroup has put up a petition for Sharon to compete in the Second Chance USC for Summer 2007 with "heartbreak away".... to be continued.

USC Spring 2007 semi final results are here

15 countries are now out of the competition ( you can see the non-finalist results starting with Czech republic at 12th position and finishing with Portugal ending last).

The other 11 countries are selected

Order in final will be as follows:

01-France

02-Romania

03-Russia

04-Greece

05-Israël

06-Andorra

07-Bulgaria

08-Poland

09-Sweden

10-Switzerland

11-Iceland

12-Serbia

13-Ireland

14-Lebanon

15-Estonia

16-Malta

17-Hungary

18-Latvia

19-United Kingdom

20-Lithuania

21-Vatican

22-Ukraine

23-Monaco

24-Albania

25-Norway

26-Germany