| We all come from a culture of 'The show must go on.' But we’re putting our professional lives at stake every time we swab our nose on the road, and we're pissed that we still have to do this for everyone who doesn’t want to protect themselves. |
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SZA at the Billboard Music Awards, Los Angeles, May 2021.
(Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
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“We all come from a culture of 'The show must go on.' But we’re putting our professional lives at stake every time we swab our nose on the road, and we're pissed that we still have to do this for everyone who doesn’t want to protect themselves.”
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Rules of the Game
Masks, they work, but only if they're made well and worn correctly. You can't just throw any piece of fabric over your mouth and maybe not your nose and be automatically protected from viral aerosol particles gunning for you like mosquitos on a hot and humid August evening. Likewise, rules about masks, which are great but only if people pay attention to them.
GARY CLARK JR. christened Austin's new MOODY AMPHITHEATER with a two-hour performance Friday in the middle of a stage 5 (of 5) Covid crisis in Texas and here's a clear account from the Austin American-Statesman of an amphitheater full of security staff and music fans who basically didn't care about the rules in place to deal with that stage 5 crisis, like wearing masks. Clark and his band were "terrific." The fans and the venue, not so much. There's an update, at the bottom of the American-Statesman's concert/Covid review, in which the conservancy that operates the amphitheater responds by throwing up its hands and saying "we've taken all the necessary steps we can." Seriously, that was the on-the-record response. Check back in 10 days for Austin health and hospitalization news.
On the other hand, laws *against* sensible mandates don't always work either if every fabric isn't in place. Two weeks earlier, JASON ISBELL performed to a vaccinated-only crowd at Austin's ACL LIVE, in defiance of a new Texas law that prohibits businesses from requiring that customers show proof of Covid-19 vaccination. It's one of several Texas venues that have openly challenged the law, at some risk to themselves—they could lose crucial Covid relief funds. But they believe they're justified not only ethically, but legally. REBECCA REYNOLDS of the MUSIC VENUE ALLIANCE OF AUSTIN told the American-Statesman that ACL Live believes it's on solid ground because it doesn't actually have a vaccine policy. It was, rather, following the vaccine instructions in Isbell's artist contract. And artists still have their freedom, for now anyway. Maybe check back in 10 days on that, too.
Anyway, that's the state of confusion in the live music capital of the world, which is as good a microcosm as any for the challenge facing everyone in the live music business trying to navigate their way through this predictably unpredictable crisis. A crisis that in the past month alone has claimed the lives of influential hip-hop and R&B songwriter/producer CHUCKY THOMPSON, KASSAV' frontman JACOB DESVARIEUX and (see today's "Rest in Peace" section below) pioneering doom metal singer ERIC WAGNER of the band TROUBLE. Here's our MusicSET of everyone of note in music who we've lost since the beginning of the pandemic. A terrifying reminder.
Pollstar's RYAN BORBA and the LA Times' AUGUST BROWN report on the live industry's continuing effort to tighten and consolidate Covid rules and protocols, which has challenges and loopholes of its own. LIVE NATION's and AEG's sweeping vaccination requirements, for example, are laudable but not quite as thorough as advertised. AEG's policy applies to "clubs, theaters and festivals such as COACHELLA... while not applying to arenas and stadiums under the ASM Global banner," according to Pollstar. And both companies note that their rules apply "where legally permitted." There's a hunger in some corners for federal regulations—"it would be a terrific help," Florida venue operator NUMA SAISSELIN tells the Times—but not in all corners. In Pollstar, promoter DAVE POE of PATCHWORK PRESENTS, which books venues in several states, says, "I don’t think every artist across the country is going to require the same things. That’s part of the beauty of our business."
What's the bigger danger right now: scaring away fans who don't want to be told how to protect themselves from a virus, or scaring away fans who want to make sure they're in an environment where everyone is protected? Or, perhaps, scaring away artists who have not only themselves to worry about but the bands, crews and teams in their charge—and who may get the last word by just going ahead and canceling shows and tours, as BTS, GARTH BROOKS, STEVIE NICKS, FLORIDA GEORGIA LINE, NINE INCH NAILS, NEIL YOUNG and the PIXIES have all done in recent days. There is, no doubt, more to come.
Etc Etc Etc
Everyone should have at least one person in the business who looks at them the way Bay Area rapper LARRY JUNE and the late A&R exec QUINN COLEMAN looked at each other during June's brief time signed to Warner. "I was the first artist he signed," June tells Cabbages' GARY SUAREZ. "We was actually learning a lot together, so when he would find out certain things, he'd tell me. When I found out things. I'd tell him. We worked together collectively." Sounds so easy, doesn't it?... Best wishes to INSANE CLOWN POSSE's VIOLENT J, who says the duo is going to slow down, but not stop, as he faces heart health issues... On paper, the case of JOHN LYDON vs. his former SEX PISTOLS bandmates over the right to license to music to DANNY BOYLE's upcoming TV series about the band seemed like a potentially complicated case about how groups collectively protect their, um, public image. In court, it proved a rather simple case about a long-ago band agreement that spelled out exactly how the Pistols wanted to handle licensing decisions... LEGO album covers by ADNAN LOTIA; some of these are amazing.
Rest in Peace
Metal singer ERIC WAGNER, best known for the two decades he spent fronting the pioneering doom metal band TROUBLE; he also sang with the Skull, Probot and Lid... BRIAN TRAVERS, saxophone player, lyricist and founding member of UB40... LISA LEE, an Academy of Country Music executive who previously worked as a news correspondent and producer for CMT... "SWEET CONNIE" HAMZY, the Little Rock, Ark., rock groupie immortalized in Grand Funk's "We're An American Band." Her paramours included a long list of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.
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| Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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Los Angeles Times |
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| Are concerts safe? For a growing number of artists and tour pros, risk outweighs reward |
| by August Brown |
| While concert promoters pledge to keep fans safe by mandating proof of vaccination to attend shows, artists are still canceling tours in increasing numbers. |
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Pollstar |
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| Delta Force: Standards Solidify As Industry Leaders Update COVID Policies |
| by Ryan Borba |
| While many artists have set COVID policies and guidelines for recent tours, largely the onus has been on the individual large-scale tours, festivals or venues to set guidelines, with local restrictions and sentiment varying depending on the market, population density and other factors. |
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The Sydney Morning Herald |
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| 'Under the Volcano': The tiny island that rocked until disaster hit |
| by Barry Divola |
| Two Australian filmmakers have captured the glory years of Beatles’ producer George Martin’s Montserrat studio, as well as the disasters that ended the dream. |
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The New York Times |
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| The Style of Kanye West’s ‘Donda’ Era |
| by Jon Caramanica, Rachel Tashjian and Steff Yotka |
| How West has used fashion to signify musical evolution, how he’s been regarded by the fashion industry and how other musicians are following in his footsteps. |
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VICE |
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| The World Is a Mess, But the Juggalos Still Have Each Other |
| by Jamie Lee Curtis Taete |
| Nothing could dim the spirit at this year’s Gathering of the Juggalos, as fiercely loyal ICP fans reunited in cathartic celebration. |
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Music x |
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| A music service based on collective bids on NFTs (aka fractional NFT ownership) |
| by Bas Grasmayer |
| This week hundreds of people pooled money to collectively place a bid on NFTs and attain fractional ownership using a tool called PartyBid. They succeeded. 478 people teamed up to form the Party Of The Living Dead and secured one of the highly popular (and expensive) NFT collectible CryptoPunks. |
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New Sounds |
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| Music from Afghanistan |
| by John Schaefer |
| Hear Khorasani folk adapted by the duo Badieh, rubâb music from Homayun Sakhi with Kronos Quartet and Afghan-American Quraishi's solo rubâb, and music from the Hazara by Hamid Sakhizada. |
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Billboard |
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| Johnny Rotten Loses U.K. Bid to Block Sex Pistols Songs From TV Show |
| by Richard Smirke |
| John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, has lost a high court battle to stop the Sex Pistols' music from being used in a new TV drama series about the punk group. |
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Backseat Freestyle |
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| Tyga Doesn't Have a Formula, He Just Found His Recipe |
| by Jayson Rodriguez |
| Some criticize his work as formulaic. My view, instead, is that he’s found his recipe. He’s cooking. |
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The New York Times |
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| Even Billy Joel Mocked ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire.’ I Loved It |
| by Lindsay Zoladz |
| As a 4-year-old, our critic couldn’t get enough of this manic 1989 hit, a crash course in U.S. history. Now the song lives on in parodies and memes. |
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JazzTimes |
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| Mary Lou Williams: Mother of Us All |
| by Shaun Brady |
| Four decades since her passing, pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams is just beginning to be recognized as a crucial contributor to the history of jazz. |
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NPR |
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| R. Kelly And Britney TV Docs Tap Into 'Consequence Culture,' Not Cancel Culture |
| by Eric Deggans |
| "Surviving R. Kelly" and "Framing Britney Spears" are among a growing list of documentary projects challenging audiences to reconsider old controversies with fresh eyes. |
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The Daily Beast |
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| Explaining George Jones, a ‘Haunted House of a Human Being’ |
| by Matt Hanson |
| Tyler Mahan Coe talks about the second season of his acclaimed podcast Cocaine and Rhinestones, which does a deep dive on Jones and the Nashville Sound. |
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Cabbages |
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| Larry June: The Cabbages Interview |
| by Gary Suarez |
| The San Francisco emcee/entrepreneur speaks on his come-up, his craft, and his latest album 'Orange Print.' |
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The Daily Beast |
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| The Enchanting Actress Torching the Patriarchy to Reggaetón |
| by Carlos Aguilar |
| The star of Pablo Larraín’s vibrant new film ‘Ema,’ now playing in U.S. theaters, talks to Carlos Aguilar about her fiercely feminist character who dances like there’s no tomorrow. |
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The Guardian |
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| ‘You’re in on someone’s secret’: DIY community radio offers solace to locked-down Melbourne |
| by Shaad D'Souza |
| New stations are helping the city cope - and keeping its creative communities alive. |
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The Tennessean |
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| Maggie Rose interview: From FAME Studio to the Opry, Nashville artist thrives in sacred spaces |
| by Dave Paulson |
| There's no shortage of ways to sum up the past couple of rough years — and a few of them wouldn't be appropriate to print. Maggie Rose, however, has a constructive take: 2020 was "a year of listening and absorbing." |
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The New Yorker |
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| The Most Vital Conductor of Beethoven Is Ninety-four |
| by Alex Ross |
| The ninety-four-year-old Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt has achieved a longevity that is almost unprecedented in his profession. Various conductors have remained active past the age of ninet, but no nonagenarian has sustained a schedule anything like Blomstedt's. |
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Aquarium Drunkard |
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| Nanci Griffith :: Last Of The True Believers |
| by Josh Neas |
| Nanci Griffith walked a very fine line that can be difficult as an artist. |
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British GQ |
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| Tim Burgess: ‘I lived the debauched rock’n’roll party animal to the full’ |
| by James Brown |
| After 31 years at the top, when Tim Burgess speaks, people listen. Ahead of a new book of choice picks from his vital lockdown Twitter parties, the Charlatan swaps records for yarns and spins tales from Madchester’s rock’n’roller-coaster. |
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| Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech |
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“REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in
everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask ‘why?’” |
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| Jason Hirschhorn |
| CEO & Chief Curator |
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