It's baffling... that when it comes to making 'necessary cuts' to 'save' the economy, cultural and social services are always the first against the wall. People rarely consider things they don’t need, and no one needs fun less than rich people. | | | | At the drive-in: Big Scarr performs at a showcase for Gucci Mane's 1017 label in a College Park, Ga., parking lot, Oct. 17, 2020.
(Paras Griffin/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | “It's baffling... that when it comes to making 'necessary cuts' to 'save' the economy, cultural and social services are always the first against the wall. People rarely consider things they don’t need, and no one needs fun less than rich people.”
| | | | | | rantnrave:// On a weekend when artists from YG to MILEY CYRUS to BRITTANY HOWARD to FOO FIGHTERS were livestreaming sets from some of the most famous empty music rooms in the US to raise cash and awareness for the struggling live music industry, and dance venues in the UK were protesting their exclusion from their government's Cultural Recovery Fund, an unusual TV commercial showed up during CBS' broadcasts of American football games, which, for all too familiar reasons, were being played in empty or sparsely populated stadiums. In a slot normally reserved for ads for food, beverages, insurance and other network sports staples was a minute-long spot narrated by JOE MALCOUN, the full-bearded co-owner of the BLIND PIG, a long-running Ann Arbor, Mich., rock club. Malcoun is also a member of the NATIONAL INDEPENDENT VENUE ASSOCIATION, the lobby that's been at the center of the fight for pandemic relief for indie clubs and theaters and that co-sponsored the weekend-long livestream benefit with YOUTUBE. As music by the BREEDERS, PIXIES, the BEASTIE BOYS and Ann Arbor natives the STOOGES played in the background, Malcoun talked slowly and deliberately about what has become a life-or-death struggle. "For 50 years," he said, "the Blind Pig has been open and crowded. But right now, it's an empty room... We don't know how much longer we can survive not having any revenue." It was a slick, emotional, effective appeal to one of TV's largest audiences, the kind of appeal one wouldn't imagine a group of indie music venues could afford even in the best of times. And, as viewers discovered about 40 seconds in, it wasn't, in fact, their commercial. It was a campaign ad for JOE BIDEN and KAMALA HARRIS—and quite possibly the most rock and roll presidential campaign ad that's ever aired on American TV. The small business owner struggling to survive is a familiar trope of presidential campaigns; touring underground rock bands and the people who support them are not. Much was made Sunday about the participation of the Beastie Boys, who apparently had never licensed a song for an ad, but what seemed most amazing, to me, was a presidential candidate elevating the struggle of indie music clubs to a national issue and co-signing their cause. Live music, the ad was telling us, is at the center of American culture, and the pandemic's threat to the artists, venues and people that make it happen is a national crisis. "A lot of restaurants and bars that have been mainstays for years," Malcoun warns, "will not make it through this." That's a message, I believe, that will resonate no matter who you're voting for, and by turning it an issue of national concern, the ad may just make survival a little more likely... THREE 6 MAFIA has scheduled what it claims will be the first arena show in the US since the pandemic began. TICKETMASTER began selling tickets last week to the Dec. 11 show at RUPP ARENA in Lexington, Ky., which will be reduced from a capacity of 21,000 to just over 3,000 (including staff) and will require masks and temperature checks... Pro tip: Don't rap about committing unemployment fraud if you are committing unemployment fraud. Federal prosecutors in Los Angeles who arrested NUKE BIZZLE on Friday say he did just that to the tune of $1.2 million worth of pandemic unemployment aid... BOB BIGGS was a visual artist whose entrée to the music business was mostly based on the fact that his studio was next door to the offices of the punk magazine SLASH in Los Angeles in the 1970s. What started as a $600 loan to help the magazine record a local band, the GERMS, led to Biggs taking over the magazine and founding what turned into one of the great American indie rock labels. SLASH RECORDS' roster include the Germs, X, FEAR, LOS LOBOS, the BLASTERS, VIOLENT FEMMES and FAITH NO MORE. There was a time when if you were, say, me, you bought every album that had the Slash logo on it, no questions asked, and you were hardly ever disappointed. (Good advice for budding label execs: "First of all, you sign good bands. You don’t sign a bunch of s***.") What you might not have known is that Biggs, also designed some of the label's iconic album covers and shot some its videos. Do it yourself, kids. In the '90s, Biggs and his partners sold Slash to major label LONDON RECORDS, where he became an executive and delivered RAMMSTEIN to America; he later tried, unsuccessfully, to restart the Slash imprint at WARNER BROS., before moving to the desert and concentrating on his art for the remainder of his years. RIP... RIP also JOHNNY BUSH, GORDON HASKELL and JAY SWARTZENDRUBER.
| | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | | | |  | Tidal | | How the New Romantics transformed punk rebellion into era-defining pop. | | | |  | Slate | | “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)” was born of Korea, a Kiwi, TikTok, and Jason Derulo. | | | |  | Matthew Ball | | The content, business models, and health of every media category is driven by technology. And audio technology has never been so diverse and dynamic. After decades of struggles, audio is ready to grow, not just replace. | | | |  | The Undefeated | | In the streets and in Billboard, artists crafted a soundtrack to archive and document this summer’s latest iteration of the fight for Black lives. | | | |  | The Guardian | | From livestreaming platforms sharing their revenue with roadies, to immersive weekend-long gigs over high-end speakers, new music companies are innovating out of a crisis. | | | |  | Los Angeles Times | | Singer-songwriter-guitarist Omar Apollo is part of a wave of young Spanglish-language artists who have captivated pop fans with their bicultural cool. | | | |  | BuzzFeed News | | “I've been in sessions starving, praying that they ask me if I'm hungry, hoping that the studio has snacks.” | | | |  | Variety | | Bob Biggs, who led the upstart Los Angeles punk rock label Slash Records to national prominence in the '80s, died Oct. 17 in Tehachapi, CA. He was 74, and had suffered from Lewys body dementia. | | | |  | The Korea Times | | Many stars, including 4Minute’s Hyuna and 2NE1’s CL, pursue solo careers or turn to acting. Others switch to a business path or even become YouTube celebrities | | | |  | VICE | | Arts, culture and events are facing uncertainty amid COVID-19, so here's a new column about how s*** our lives would be without them. | | | | | | | bumper stickers should be issued | |  | The New York Times | | “Letter to You,” his new album with the E Street Band, is built on lessons and skills accumulated in the past. But the Boss is focused on where he stands now - and where he’s going next. | | | | | Los Angeles Times | | Joe Biden was largely corrido-less until the Diaz brothers decided to do something about it. And the way they put together “La Señal es Joe y Kamala” (“The Signal Is Joe and Kamala”) was so Los Angeles circa 2020: | | | |  | BBC News | | Did you know the Church of England is a co-owner of Beyoncé's Single Ladies, Rihanna's Umbrella and Justin Timberlake's SexyBack? The church is one of hundreds of investors in a company called Hipgnosis, which, for the past three years, has been hungrily snapping up the rights to thousands of hit songs. | | | |  | Pollstar | | Fitz And The Tantrums singer Noelle Scaggs, for much of her 20-year career, was already painfully aware of the many times she’d performed and been the only woman, and often the only Black person, on or behind the stage. By the time the nation was convulsed in May after the police killing of George Floyd, it was even more acute. | | | |  | Mixmag | | Layla Marino travelled to the Czech Republic in July to find out how Let It Roll's Renegade festival took place during the pandemic. | | | | | The New York Times | | Mohammad Reza Shajarian’s politics were almost never explicit, but the Iranian people knew he stood with them. | | | | | The Guardian | | Legendary sambista Moacyr Luz spent much of the pandemic confined to his beachside home but is resuming his weekly jam sessions as curbs ease. | | | |  | NPR Music | | How is the Philadelphia jazz community responding to the global pandemic? Pianist Orrin Evans and other musicians are taking on the challenge. | | | |  | Newcity Music | | I have many regrets I can trace back to my college years (an English writing major, trying to take biology and Latin during first periods, not properly using the career services department, an ex-wife), but one of them is not booking Pegboy to play a show when I was in charge of concerts. | | | |  | Flagging Down the Doule E's | | When I was working on my 1987 tour posts last month, a footnote caught my eye. It appeared in the setlist for a show 33 years ago, the first of a Wembley Arena run Dylan did to cap off his long run with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. It came attached to the eighth song of the setlist, “Lenny Bruce.” It read, simply, “8 Bobby C. Valento (violin).” | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2020, The REDEF Group | | |
