The jury is out, perhaps permanently, on whether music and musicians can move the needle on a national election, but that doesn't mean there isn't honor in trying. I'm here for every honest effort, partisan or nonpartisan, to get people to register to vote and show up at the polls. Indie-rock managers KYLE FRENETTE and CHRISTOPHER MOON, who fall under the partisan (Democratic) umbrella, are getting into the race early with the launch of 46 FOR 46, which is seeking to stage 46 shows in 46 cities next year by locally based artists "in the states that matter most during the lead up to the 2020 election." They have commitments from artists including BON IVER—a former Frenette client—in Wisconsin, LISSIE in Iowa, SYLVAN ESSO in North Carolina and DASHBOARD CONFESSIONAL in Florida. And they're talking about it now, a year before they expect any concerts to take place, because they're in recruitment mode. “I’m a white guy, my partner’s a white guy,” Frenette tells BILLBOARD. “We need to diversify here"... File under the year's best music writing: BEN RATLIFF on what it means to play BACH's cello suites on viola, an oft-overlooked instrument and perhaps the wrong one to play those exact pieces, and how violist KIM KASHKASHIAN, in doing so, has produced an album that "more than any record I can think of... makes a listener consider what life actually feels like." After reading, you will want to hear the record, and you may also want to ask about borrowing the sound system that allowed Ratliff to hear everything he heard while listening to it... More great music writing, short-form division: PIOTR ORLOV (riffing on a wonderful essay he edited by MYLES E. JOHNSON) on the "universal humanity" of LIL NAS X and "OLD TOWN ROAD" and why the biggest pop hit of all-time is a perfect reflection of, and response to, the divided world of 2019... Speaking of divided worlds: Today is the 50th anniversary of ELVIS PRESLEY's return to the live stage after an eight-year absence, one of the most celebrated rock comebacks ever, and a kind of alternate universe shadow to that other summer 1969 rock event that happened two weeks later. He "not only revitalized his career, but changed the face of Las Vegas entertainment." An 11-CD box set, out next week, will commemorate the monthlong residency that began that night... Philadelphia rapper BANKROLL GAMBINO is at least the eighth musician murdered in 2019, seven of them (that I'm aware of) by gunfire. Please make this stop. RIP.