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For those of you you will not be receiving Philosophy products and canned unicorn meat in the mail, do not fret. We’re currently holding another contest. Whichever Crushable reader has the most Facebook fans in common with Crushable by December 12 will receive a $200 gift card to JCPenney.

Post from: Crushable

Post from: Crushable

If you’re not a Facebook fan of Crushable yet, don’t worry. We’re holding another contest this week. Two lucky Crushable readers who fan us by 5 p.m. EST on Sunday, October 3 will win an Eastbound & Down: The Complete First Season DVD set. Undaunted, you should know that this game is your to win.

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Diane Birch is a young, funky singer-songwriter headlining her first U.S. tour to promote her debut album, Bible Belt. Her music has been compared to iconic female singer-songwriters of the ’70s, like Carole King and Carly Simon, and she’s already toured with other bands, including Nick Jonas on his solo tour earlier this year. She spoke to Crushable about her sound, her influences and what you can expect when you see her perform.

If you want to win tickets to see Diane perform in New York on June 1, our ticket giveaway contest is open until 5 p.m. ET on Friday, May 21. Just leave a comment on this post about your favorite concert experience and you’ll be entered for a chance to win one of two pairs of tickets. In order to comment, you’ll have to register. But we won’t use your email for any spam or distribution lists.

One entry per person per day. Entrants must be in the New York City area, at least for the show on June 1. Crushable will not be able to provide transportation to the concert. We’ll notify the winners via email on Monday, May 24.

(Photo by Marc Baptiste)

Post from: Crushable

Diane Birch is a young, funky singer-songwriter headlining her first U.S. tour to promote her debut album, Bible Belt. Her music has been compared to iconic female singer-songwriters of the ’70s, like Carole King and Carly Simon, and she’s already toured with other bands, including Nick Jonas on his solo tour earlier this year. She spoke to Crushable about her sound, her influences and what you can expect when you see her perform.

How would you describe your musical style?
I guess it’s kind of like classic soft rock, pop, soul. It’s got a kind of early 70’s sound to it.

Who are some of your influences?
I’m predominantly influenced by classical and opera and church bands, because I spent a lot of time in a church. My parents only really listened to classical music and opera when I was growing up so I didn’t really have any exposure to pop culture or the radio or anything like that. And then when I moved to America [she lived in South Africa and Australia until she was 10], I started listening to other stuff, like Goth bands like The Cure and Joy Division. And then I started going through a lot of different phases in music, like I was discovering things for the first time. I started discovering classic rock and folk and blues. There’s a humongous range of influences that spans over a wide area. When you’ve been instilled with classical and opera and church hymns you tend to write pop songs that are very melodically influenced, kind of just have more of a classic sound to them. My influences at this point are anybody from Hall and Oates, Burt Bacharach, John Lennon, Brian Wilson. Those classic songwriters.

Tell us about you tour.
I’ve been on the road already for almost a month doing promo for my record in Europe — in the U.K., France and Holland. We just started a tour a couple of days ago in L.A., then we played San Francisco and Portland, Ore. Then we’re going to Seattle, Vancouver and a bunch of stops. We basically have about 20 shows in the next 24 days.

What kind of things can someone expect from a Diane Birch show?
I have a full band. I have a drummer, bass player, guitar player, a trumpet player. And then I have a Rhodes [piano] and I also have a keyboard. The songs are a lot more stripped down than on the album, because there’s not enough people on stage to create such a big sound. But we just kind of show a rawer side of the songs. It’s a lot of fun. We just have a lot of fun and hope that we have good energy on stage and we’ll get the crowd going.

Are you just playing stuff from your album?
I’m playing from the record predominantly. And then I do a couple B sides, or maybe like a cover or two. But mostly it’s songs from the record just because that’s what people are kind of familiar with. One cover I have been doing a lot, which I really enjoy, is Haddaway’s “What Is Love”. I’ve just starting doing it regularly. I started doing it just kind of as a random thing, but I just started doing it more regularly because it’s sort of a crowd pleaser. It’s just a really good song and I love to sing it.

What was it like traveling with Nick Jonas? Were the fans overwhelming?
It was actually really cool. Initially I didn’t really know what to expect. I wouldn’t have necessarily paired myself with him in terms of our musical genre, but it seemed like an interesting thing. He asked if I would do it and I said sure, why not? It exposed me to a bunch of people who have never heard my music before. I was initially like, oh man, his fans are crazy I don’t know if they’re going to like me. But they ended up really cool and super supportive, and just really fun and energetic and they received my music really well and I had a lot of fun. It’s probably one of the most fun tours I’ve ever done. And Nick was great and his band was amazing. The whole thing was a lot of fun.

Do you want to see Diane perform in New York on June 1? All you have to do is leave a comment below telling us about your favorite concert experience. In order to comment, you’ll have to register, but you can use a pseudonym to hide your real identity. And we won’t use your email address for any spam or distribution lists. Our contest is open from now until 5 p.m. ET on Friday, May 21. One entry per person per day. Entrants must be in the New York City area, at least for the show on June 1. Crushable will not be able to provide transportation to the concert. We’ll notify the winners via email on Monday, May 24.

And don’t forget to become a fan of Crushable on Facebook!

(Photo by Marc Baptiste)

Post from: Crushable

Whether you fake and bake, lie out or prefer the stuff in a bottle, chances are you’ve had a run in with a tan. Did turn into a lobster that one time in Hawaii? Did you attempt to faux tan before a big night with disastrous results?

For example, once while vacationing with my family in the Caribbean I missed a few spots on my body — right along the bottom of my bikini top — while I was applying sunscreen, and I got a burn so bad I ended up with sun poisoning. For years afterwards, every time I would go in the sun, that same spot would turn bright pink immediately. Ouch!

Tell us your stories in the comments below, and you will be automatically entered to win a BE In-the-Glow gift bag from QVC, featuring products from the new line of Bare Escentuals Faux Tan Collection. The bag includes a bottle of the new Bronzer and Buff self tanner with its revolutionary brush applicator, as well as a Bare Minerals’ collector’s edition collection of eye makeup, lip gloss, mascara, and a pair of Isaac Mizrahi sunglasses, among other goodies. The whole bag retails for about $300.

In order to comment on Crushable, you’ll have to register. You can pick an anonymous screen name, and we won’t use your email address for any spam or distribution lists — we’ll only use it to contact you in the event that you win the contest.

Here’s the fine print: Must be legal U.S. resident, 18 years or older to enter. The contest will end on Friday, May 14 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Crushable will determine one winner from the entries we receive in the comments of this post. Only one comment per person per day.

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Visit our post What Your Accessories Say About You and leave a comment telling us what your favorite summer accessory is and why, and you’ll be entered to win a white Swatch watch with a purple face, which retails for $115.

In order to leave a comment, you’ll have to register, but you can pick an anonymous screen name if you’d rather keep your identity hidden. We promise won’t use your email address for any spam, add you to any distribution lists or give your personal information to a third party. We will only use your email address to contact you if you win.

You have until 5 p.m. ET today to leave a comment on this post, and we’ll notify the winner next week and mail you your Swatch!

Post from: Crushable

Just head on over to our “What Your Accessories Say About You” post and leave a comment telling us what your favorite summer accessory is and why. You’ll be automatically entered to win a Swatch, which retails for $115.

What are you waiting for?

Post from: Crushable