As festival organizers we want to get back as soon as it is safe to do so but this will be impossible without a government supported insurance scheme that gives our industry the ability to unlock and to start making decisions now. | | | | Adam and the Ants on "American Bandstand," Los Angeles, May 1981.
(Chris Walter/WireImage/Getty Images) | | | | | |  | “As festival organizers we want to get back as soon as it is safe to do so but this will be impossible without a government supported insurance scheme that gives our industry the ability to unlock and to start making decisions now.”
| | | | | | rantnrave:// KRISTI and BILL SLACK of Pikeville, Tenn., loved their new home. There was so much space. They had a guest room. But they had ants. Or, at least, one ANT. And he was living next door actually... I need at least one day of good, escapist news in 2021 and it appears this might be it. Welcome to the first and possibly last edition of MerryMusicREDEF. Stories of not so old, weird America... So anyway, Kristi and Bill Slack went a solid year without knowing that Stuart and Lorraine Goddard, their eccentric friends next door with the British accents who loved to shop at WALMART, were better known to the rest of the world as ADAM ANT and, um, his wife Lorraine Goddard. Why would anyone in Pikeville know this? Bill's dad, who helped Stuart/Adam restore a 1952 Harley Davidson motorcycle, certainly didn't know. It was Kristi's sister Suzi, who grew up with an Adam Ant poster on her wall, who figured it out one day at a family barbecue. This episode of the local podcast STORYVILLE stands and delivers the story of how the Goddard/Ants left a storage locker's worth of albums, demo tapes, notebooks, letters, dishware and that motorcycle in the care of the Slacks when they divorced and moved away in the early 2000s, and how the Slacks eventually decided it was time to declutter and set out to find Adam Ant so they could give it all back. It's a weird and wonderful story, lovingly told by local radio host JEFF STYLES along with Kristi Slack and Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter BARRY COURTER... A woman named DANI recently walked into a Las Vegas pawn shop with a rhinestone-studded Nudie suit that she believed ZZ TOP's BILLY GIBBONS once owned and that she thought she could sell for $25,000. The pawn shop is the one from the TV show PAWN STARS, and when the guys there want to authenticate such an item, guess which notable LAS VEGAS resident with a fondness for not-so-cheap (I'm guessing) sunglasses they get to do the authenticating. The verification, valuation and transaction plays out here, and, let's just say, MERCK MERCURIADIS would be impressed... In other news, in rough order from most to least merry, our old friend MATT PINFIELD signs on at Los Angeles rock station KLOS this Sunday with the launch of a weekly show spotlighting new rock. The show will be, just sayin', 120 minutes long... SIMON RATTLE is reverse-Brexiting, announcing he'll step down in two years as director of the LONDON SYMPHONY—which never got that new concert hall he wanted—and return to Germany to take over the BAVARIAN RADIO SYMPHONY. It's a bit too soon for that trend piece about musicians and other artists fleeing post-Brexit Britain. But give it time... Powerhouse music lawyer JOEL KATZ, who has come under much scrutiny over the past year for his association with the RECORDING ACADEMY, has left GREENBERG TRAURIG by what's officially being called "mutual understanding" and will start his own firm. You can try to read between the lines of VARIETY's sources if you're wondering if his clients will follow him... Bad news for a vital jazz room in LA. But since this is supposed to be an upbeat day, we'll end with good news for a Detroit jazz landmark. | | | - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator | | | |  | The Independent | | As uncertainty reigns over the state of summer festival season 2021, Roisin O'Connor speaks to festival organisers, officials and artists about what needs to be done to bring back live music. | | | |  | parliamentlive.tv | | A British parliamentary committee discusses live music's future with two panels of witnesses. | | | |  | Jeff Styles America | | Adam Ant once lived in the small town of Pikeville, TN. When Adam and his wife moved, they left behind a lot of stuff! Kristi Slack thinks Adam would like to have his memorabilia back! | | | |  | Billboard | | With radio giants taking a hit during the pandemic, companies like iHeartMedia and Entercom have increasingly turned to outsourced DJ talent to lower costs. | | | |  | Music Business Worldwide | | Spotify is still loss-making, but its market cap is so massive… should it pay a 'phantom dividend' to popular artists in need? | | | |  | Pawn Stars | | Rick calls in a special guest to authenticate an extremely rare Nudie's Rodeo Suit worn by Billy Gibbons from the iconic band ZZ Top, in this clip from Season 18, "Gotsta Get Pawned." | | | |  | The New York Times | | Recent court rulings require officers to keep watch over artists’ rap lyrics, which prosecutors say celebrate gangs and violent crimes. | | | |  | XXL | | Coronavirus challenged rappers to think creatively in the face of tours stopping and income dropping. | | | |  | BBC Radio 1 | | On her new album "Chemtrails Over the Country Club," its much-discussed album art, the American presidency and breakfast popsicles. | | | |  | The Guardian | | Many have attempted to bring Ziggy’s story to the screen. But there are ways of working around copyright restrictions. | | | |  | Bandcamp Daily | | Known for their signature “screeching eagle” sound, the label is on the cutting-edge of Jamaican music. | | | |  | Pollstar | | Five weeks into The Beacon Jams, Trey Anastasio’s eight-week fall residency at New York City’s iconic Beacon Theatre, the jam luminary faced a dilemma. | | | |  | Talkhouse | | Izzy Reidy (Izzy True) talks Live Nation, NIVA, and the proposition of worker-owned music venues. | | | | | The Guardian | | The global video gaming industry took in an estimated $180bn in 2020 -- more than sports and movies worldwide. | | | |  | HUCK Magazine | | Economic uncertainty and fears of a recession have triggered a wave anti-establishment, working-class narratives in Ireland, which are steadily gaining popularity in the country's music scene. | | | | | The New York Times | | Prototype, known for presenting visceral, chamber-scale new works, unveils an almost entirely streamed pandemic edition. | | | |  | And The Writer Is... | | Gwen Stefani's new reggae-tinged single “Let Me Reintroduce Myself” was co-written and recorded in quarantine with our very own Ross Golan. | | | |  | The MIT Press Reader | | Damon Kruskowski, author of "Ways of Hearing" and "The New Analog," previously member of Galaxie 500 and currently a member of Damon & Naomi interviews Rose Simpson, about her book "Muse, Odalisque, Handmaiden." | | | |  | Beats & Bytes | | Discover how global music streaming platforms like Deezer, YouTube, Pandora, and Spotify are driving Mexican music genres like Mariachi, Banda, and Corrido worldwide. | | | | |  | | YouTube | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | © Copyright 2021, The REDEF Group | | |
