| It seems to me that being a pop star is almost like being in a type of prison. You have to be a good girl. | | | | |  | J. Cole in Oakland, Aug. 29, 2018.
(Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images) | | | | | "It seems to me that being a pop star is almost like being in a type of prison. You have to be a good girl." | | | | Yellow Flags, Silver Linings
JAMES WALKER, a Boston DJ who performs as CAKEWALK, is booked at the ELEMENTS MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL in northeast Pennsylvania in September, and he tells DJ Mag he'll bring these questions with him along with his music and his gear: "How serious is the crowd and promoter taking precautions? And for how long? Will the security or person [in charge of] monitoring the crowd just get lazy after a couple hours?" Those seem like good questions, and that last one might serve as a metaphor for a country trying to thaw out from a very long winter. A country that's planning for summer festivals, summer sporting events and summer dining inside our favorite restaurants at a time when Covid-19 cases are still plentiful but seemingly under control in the US—and still raging out of control in other parts of the world. Are we still taking precautions? For how long? Will the viral monitors get lazy? Will we? Are we worrying too much? Or too little?
The announcements, which had been trickling out for a while, are starting to pour out: PITCHFORK MUSIC FEST... BOTTLEROCK... SHIPROCKED (which is an actual ship! Are people already ready for that?!?)... LEVITATION... RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL... IRVING PLAZA... NASHVILLE (as in the city) lifting all restrictions on indoor gatherings... RIOT FEST... This tour, that tour and the other tour, yadda yadda yadda... Absolutely good news for an industry that's suffered terrible losses over the past year plus. And absolutely a chance for the rest of us to consider this one piece of advice from James Walker at the same time we're dancing, partying and getting lost in the music, whenever each of chooses to actually do that: "Hold each other accountable, even if it's uncomfortable!"
I was weirdly comforted hearing the man whose company will promote more of these shows than any other talk about how cautious *he's* been over the past year. LIVE NATION CEO MICHAEL RAPINO still hasn't gone to his first live show and still finds it strange to be in a crowd, he tells Recode Media's PETER KAFKA on a podcast that was posted last week and appears to have been taped a week or so before that. I mention the timing only because a lot has changed in the national mood and national policy in the past couple weeks. But the Live Nation boss says his company is planning for a slow, gradual rollout, first with outdoor shows and later with indoor shows, and only when local regulations make it feasible to do indoor shows at full capacity. Live Nation has been clear throughout the pandemic that reduced capacity concerts are a bad business proposition and that it's willing to wait till that's no longer necessary. Rapino also envisions some artists waiting till 2022, 2023 or even longer to get back on the road, to avoid the touring traffic jam everyone's expecting once all the lights turn green.
The whole podcast is worth a listen for a peek into how the live industry is envisioning the next year and beyond playing out. Or, at least, how one giant piece of the industry envisions it. Live Nation, obviously, hasn't experienced the pandemic the same way indie promoters and indie clubs around the country and the world have experienced it. It had the financial wherewithal to weather a yearlong blackout and, as Kafka notes, its stock price is higher now than it was when the blackout began. Rapino says for his company the shutdown came with an ironic silver lining, a chance to address longterm strategies and projects that are all but impossible to address in the rapid flow of a normal year: "I said to my team one day, 'What a gift we have. Wall Street expects nothing for the next six months.'"
Live Music Etc Etc Etc
Elaborate plans are being made in the world of virtual concerts, too. SAMANTHA HISSONG reports for Rolling Stone on how a partnership between CAPITOL, MOTOWN and VERIZON signals an intriguingly different path live music could take in coming years, aided by 5G technology... The 15,000-capacity ERICSSON GLOBE in Stockholm, Sweden, has been renamed the AVICII ARENA. While continuing to host concerts and hockey games, the world's largest hemispherical building will also provide a home for suicide prevention and mental health awareness programming promoted by the TIM BERGLING FOUNDATION. Avicii, whose birth name was Tim Bergling, died in April 2018... SOBER 21 is a free PDF zine produced by the Creative Independent and devoted to sober musicians. Contributors and interview subjects include NILE RODGERS, RUN-DMC's DARRYL MCDANIELS, CHASTITY BELT's ANNIE TRUSCOTT and HOLE's PATTY SCHEMEL. An invaluable resource at a time when bands are preparing to get back out on the road, and all that that entails.
Rest in Peace
Brazilian funk singer MC KEVIN... Up-and-coming Bay Area rapper MIKE DAROLE, at least the ninth rapper murdered in the US in 2021; it's May.
| | | | Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| | |  | | Vox |
| | Live music is back! Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino can't wait | | by Peter Kafka and Michael Rapino | | The concert business has been shut down for a year, which means that Live Nation, the world's dominant concert promoter and ticket seller, has been shut down, too. CEO Michael Rapino sits down with Recode's Peter Kafka to talk about the industry's comeback planning his comeback, and how he's figured out new tricks, like a subscription model. | |  | | The New York Times |
| | Sinead O'Connor Remembers Things Differently | | by Amanda Hess | | The mainstream narrative is that a pop star ripped up a photo of the pope on "Saturday Night Live" and derailed her life. What if the opposite were true? | |  | | Culture Notes of an Honest Broker |
| | Does Music Enhance Athletic Performance? | | by Ted Gioia | | Even in ancient times, music was used to spur physical labor. The ancient Greek trireme-a warship named for its three banks of rowers-typically included a musician among its crew of 200. The music ostensibly coordinated labor with its rhythm, but it was also implicit that the sound of the instrument intensified the energy of the rowers. | |  | | The Washington Post |
| | A rapper posed on a SWAT truck during the Capitol riot and put it on his album. He's facing federal charges. | | by Jaclyn Peiser | | Antionne DeShaun Brodnax, who raps under the name Bugzie the Don, admitted to investigators that he went inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, but claimed that he was already in Washington to shoot a music video and entered the building simply because he wanted to take photos and video. But federal investigators have a different interpretation of his appearance in the Capitol. | |  | | Vulture |
| | J. Cole and the Limitations of Millennial Rap | | by Craig Jenkins | | He doesn't have to attempt, and be good, at everything. He knows it, but he'll never stop trying. | |  | | DJ Mag |
| | How North American clubs and festivals are approaching their return to the dancefloor | | by Megan Venzin | | Music fans are eagerly awaiting the safe return of clubs and festivals, but there are risks to consider before going back to the dancefloor. Megan Venzin finds out how some U.S. promoters are trying to ensure their events are COVID-safe this summer. | |  | | Billboard |
| | Mental Health On Tour: As Live Events Resume, Some Artists Fear Return of 'Old Habits' | | by Steve Knopper | | Artists talk to Billboard about the mental health challenges that come with going back on the road. | |  | | The Creative Independent |
| | Sober 21 | | by Elia Einhorn | | This is a compendium of essays by, and interviews with, sober musicians. | |  | | Music Business Worldwide |
| | Which US company might soon buy 10% of Universal Music Group… in a multi-billion dollar deal? | | by Tim Ingham | | New filing also suggests Vivendi might float 70%, rather than 60%. | | | rave:// Irma Thomas is a national treasure | | |  | | Dweller |
| | 'Stay Literally Forever Young': A Conversation with Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans | | by Maya S. Cade | | Irma Thomas is best known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans". The Grammy award-winning Queen has been performing R&B, Jazz, Gospel, and Soul music in her signature emotive, finely wrought style professionally since the late 1950s. | | |  | | The Commercial Appeal |
| | Moneybagg Yo has the No. 1 album on Billboard charts. What's next for Memphis rapper? | | by Bob Mehr | | The latest career milestones for the 29-year-old rapper feel like a fitting climax after a remarkable two-year run where he's gone from a regional/underground favorite to mainstream, national star. | |  | | Variety |
| | WME's Music Co-Heads Are Ready to Hit the Road | | by Shirley Halperin | | In their first interview together, music co-heads and WME partners Kirk Sommer, Scott Clayton and Lucy Dickins reflect on this challenging chapter in their careers and draw a hopeful picture of the path forward. | | | | Billboard |
| | Stockholm's Ericsson Globe Officially Renamed Avicii Arena: 'We're So Honored' | | by Katie Bain | | Operated by ASM Global, the 15,000-capacity venue will also be used as a hub for suicide prevention initiatives by the Tim Bergling Foundation. | |  | | The Ringer |
| | The Massive Musical Footprint of the 'Shrek' Soundtrack | | by Ben Lindbergh | | From 'All Star' to 'Hallelujah' and all points in between, this is how the music for the 2001 blockbuster came together-and why it still resonates 20 years later. | |  | | Star Tribune |
| | A music detective story: Unearthed recordings by the Jacks feature Replacements, Hüsker Dü members | | by Chris Riemenschneider | | Mitch Griffin had a nice surprise for the small New York record label that tracked him down in Minneapolis, asking about a 1980 single by his old power-pop band the Jacks. | |  | | Guitar World |
| | Justin Norvell on the past, present and future of guitar design at Fender | | "We owe a lot to the body of musical work that's been created on our instruments. We've gone from being timely to timeless." | |  | | The Bitter Southerner |
| | West Virginia, 1972, Revisited | | by Jay Steele | | More than two decades after his mother died, Jay Steele unearthed a Tupperware full of his mother's Kodak photo slides. Her photos revealed a world of mud-stomping, banjo-strumming, red-clay-wandering joy, a world he never knew about until he cracked the lid of her old box. | |  | | The Guardian |
| | 'We got shot at' -- the outrageous life of Jayne County, the first trans rock'n'roller | | by Alexis Petridis | | She partied with Warhol and fronted a band called The Electric Chairs who were too shocking even for punk. As her extraordinary tell-all memoir is republished, Jayne County relives one of music's most astonishing sagas. | |  | | The Daily Beast |
| | The Return of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Is a Sign Nature Is Healing | | by Cheyenne Roundtree | | It's only fitting the musician and his loyal Parrotheads have helped kick off a summer of live music, as more Americans become vaccinated and are ready to be part of a crowd again. | | | | Yo Van and Eric: This is how you do a lockdown lament. |  | | | Video of the day | | "Anchor" | | Jack Ingram, Miranda Lambert and Jon Randall | | An ocean deep ballad sung by Miranda's "Marfa Tapes" partner Jack Ingram. |  | | YouTube |
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An ocean deep ballad sung by Miranda's "Marfa Tapes" partner Jack Ingram. | | | Music | Media | Sports | Fashion | Tech | | "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?'" | | |  | | | Jason Hirschhorn | | CEO & Chief Curator | | |  |
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