| For a man to casually argue that someone with [Taylor] Swift’s stature doesn’t write her own songs isn’t just an insult to her; it’s an insult to all the women who fought in order that someone like Taylor Swift could even exist. |
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| Everything must go: Tower Records on the Sunset Strip, Oct. 9, 2006. |
| (Richard Hartog/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images) |
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| quote of the day |
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| rantnrave:// |
Red (and Yellow) Tape
REDEF boss JASON HIRSCHHORN writes: Last night I came across an article that AAM's MARK BEAVEN posted to Facebook: "Tower Records Store Facade Vanishes to Make Way for New Retail Space." For anyone who's lived in LA anytime in the last 60 years or so, TOWER RECORDS on SUNSET was a beacon ("At its peak... nearly 200 stores in 15 countries and more than $1 billion in annual sales"). From its wall-to-wall aisles of music to the great staff to the rock stars buying their ear candy to the big red and yellow logo wrapped around the building. It's an LA landmark that unfortunately isn’t registered as a landmark. The store itself is long gone but the building remains. And that logo, which had gone missing from the building for a few years, had been back in place since 2015, when director COLIN HANKS recreated it for his Tower documentary ALL THINGS MUST PASS.
And now it's gone again. But why? Why can’t real estate owners think like curators and culture custodians?
I called superstar real estate agent JAY LUCHS, who's a friend. Jay has his name on so many LA buildings that I used to think he was a performance artist. And of course he was the broker on this deal. Here’s what we know. While Luchs wouldn’t confirm the new tenant on the lease, the WEHO TIMES and other local sites say it's uber-brand SUPREME. The site will house Supreme skate shop. And Supreme, Luchs and the building owner wanted to keep the Tower logo on the building. SUPREME, a massive youth brand, wanted to preserve the history so it could educate its young customers on the culture. This comes less than a year after AMOEBA, which was in another landmark building on Sunset, packed up and moved to a smaller spot in Hollywood. Supreme often does collabs and associations. It understands the value of culture past, present and future. But that wasn’t enough. Apparently, Tower is mostly IP at this point. And lawyers for the owner of said IP demanded Supreme pay a massive sum or paint over the logo immediately. Oh, the irony. Supreme lends more to Tower than the other way around at this point.
Seems like Luchs and team are still trying to convince them before final plans are submitted to the city for development of the site. Still hoping to restore that landmark branding. For more on the revolution, influence and eventual fall of Tower Records, check out Colin Hanks' "All Things Must Pass."
Sundance Report Card
COODIE SIMMONS and CHIKE OZAH's three-part, 20-years-in-the-making documentary JEEN-YUHS: A KANYE TRILOGY, which drops in February on Netflix, comes up short in its attempts to be a) the HOOP DREAMS of hip-hop docs and b) an objective, unvarnished doc, says the Daily Beast, but there are "plenty of inspiring and heartfelt moments." The Hollywood Reporter agrees with YE's own words, spoken early in the film: “It’s a little narcissistic or whatever, but f*** it"... DYLAN SOUTHERN and WILL LOVELACE's MEET ME IN THE BATHROOM, based on LIZZY GOODMAN's book on New York rock in the oughts, is "a little rough around the edges and not always structurally coherent," Variety reports, but then again, "the same was true of these bands"... AMY BERG screened an in-progress version of PHOENIX RISING, which documents EVAN RACHEL WOOD's account of being abused by MARILYN MANSON (he denies her allegations) and her work on behalf of other sexual assault victims, largely through "a simple direct-to-camera interview with Wood." The abuse began, she says in the film, when he raped her on camera while filming his "HEART-SHAPED GLASSES" video. The doc is scheduled to debut on HBO in March... KATHRYN FERGUSON's NOTHING COMPARES is a portrait of SINEAD O'CONNOR at the height or her fame and in the vortex of public backlash that doesn't stray far from previous accounts, says the Guardian. It presents her infamous performance at a BOB DYLAN tribute at MADISON SQUARE GARDEN as "both a triumph and a tragic climax. She looked at the abyss and fought back." It does this without the sound of the PRINCE song that turned O'Connor into a pop star and provided the film with its title. His estate refused to license it... RITA BAGHDADI's SIRENS follows an all-female thrash band in Beirut and is "a rallying cry (well, scream) for self-determination and rebellion."
Dot Dot Dot
DAMON KRUKOWSKI has the final, definitive word on the alleged CD revival, and the final, definitive word is that there isn't one... Private equity firm HARBOURVIEW's purchase of LUIS FONSI's publishing catalog is "the first major Latin publishing acquisition in the current wave of catalog investments," Billboard reports. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. The catalog comes with Fonsi's piece of "DESPACITO"... DAMON ALBARN has recorded eight albums with his band BLUR in the past 31 years, and there isn't a single song on any of them that Albarn wrote by himself. Which I wanted to mention for no particular reason... GUS WENNER has been named CEO of ROLLING STONE.
Rest in Peace
ROY RIFKIND, co-founder of R&B label Spring Records, which signed Millie Jackson and released the Fatback Band's "King Tim III (Personality Jock)," often cited as the first rap record... ANDY ROSS, who ran Britpop label Food Records, home to Blur, Jesus Jones and Idlewild.
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| - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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The Guardian |
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| Rapper Nipsey Hussle and the problem of predictive policing |
| By Michael Safi, Sam Levin and Johana Bhuiyan |
| He was one of LA’s most-loved rappers, and a pillar of his community. But records disclosed after his death revealed that he was also the target of an extensive Los Angeles policing operation. |
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Dada Drummer Almanach |
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| There Is No CD Revival |
| By Damon Krukowski |
| For the last couple weeks, the same headline has been going round and round. All these stories have the same source. |
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Entertainment Weekly |
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| The 25 best TV theme songs of the 21st century |
| By Devan Coggan, Patrick Gomez, Marcus Jones... |
| The past few years have ushered in a new golden age of small screen songwriting. Hum along with us as we celebrate the best of the best. |
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Jacobin |
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| Twee Began as an Unabashedly Radical Subculture |
| By Ian Wang |
| Love it or hate it, twee is back. It’s the subject of innumerable think pieces, but the subculture’s radical roots in feminism, punk, and the fight against Margaret Thatcher often go unnoticed. |
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Money 4 Nothing |
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| Sync Life (featuring Sebastian Adé) |
| By Saxon Baird, Sam Backer and Sebastian Adé |
| Sync is pretty much what it sounds like—the act of connecting music to visual images. But thanks to the VERY specific contours of American music, it’s also a complex set of negotiations and pay-outs that structures pretty much everything you hear on TV, at the movies, or in video games (and maybe, someday Tik Tok?). And one of the more viable revenue streams for artists. |
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IQ Magazine |
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| Working on the chain gang |
| By James Hanley |
| As the live entertainment industry moves back into gear, the advantages that blockchain can deliver appear to be front and centre. |
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KEXP |
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| Reflecting on Roe v Wade Through Music |
| By Larry Mizell Jr. |
| January 22, 2022 was the 49th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the landmark US Supreme Court case that legalized abortion across the nation. KEXP reflects on the human rights issue through music. |
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| what we're into |
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| Music of the day |
| “Achinkad” |
| Imarhan |
| From "Aboogi," out this Friday on City Slang. |
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| Video of the day |
| “A Band a Brotherhood a Barn” |
| Daryl Hannah / Neil Young & Crazy Horse |
| Daryl Hannah's 75-minute film of husband Neil Young and his band recording their album "Barn." Featuring lots of overdriven guitar. |
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| Music | Media |
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Suggest a link  |
| “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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