| Bundling services with financing can create friction. If artists can keep those conversations separate, they are often better served. | | | | |  | Dominican dembow artist El Alfa and Staten Island rapper CJ at the Hot 97 Summer Jam, East Rutherford, N.J., Aug. 22, 2021.
(Thaddaeus McAdams/Getty Images) | | | | | "Bundling services with financing can create friction. If artists can keep those conversations separate, they are often better served." | | | | Amazing Disgrace
I find myself at a loss for words this morning so I'm just going to type out some basic facts about a musician I once admired in a band I once loved. I've seen KEN STRINGFELLOW perform in a variety of bands and situations over the years, but I've never met him and don't know the first thing about his life, only how he presents himself on records and onstage, mostly with the POSIES. "He is tall, but slouches, as though to make himself appear smaller, and speaks in hesitant and soft-spoken manner," reporters ASHLEY HIRUKO and ISOLDE RAFTERY write in a long and well sourced investigative piece for Seattle public radio station KUOW that should, at the very least, end his career. That description resonates. Stringfellow, who also performed for short spells with BIG STAR and REM, was an avatar of what you might have called softboy culture if you'd been able to write about music for Politico in the 1990s ("almost confrontationally sensitive," you might have written). He radiates boy-next-door-in-a-flannel-shirt energy. On 1993's FROSTING ON THE BEATER, the album that made the Posies rock stars for a minute or two, sweet, melodic folk-rock harmonies are wrapped in gnarly, noisy grunge guitars. It's a very good album even if, or maybe because, the players are hiding their essence in plain sight. Were they sweet guys acting tough or the other way around? How would you tell? Unless you actually know the people in the bands you love, you can never actually know the people in the bands you love.
Stringfellow is accused, by multiple women interviewed by Hiruko and Raftery, of violent sexual misconduct. The word rape never appears in the story but it's hard to read at least one of the women's accounts any other way. There are also detailed allegations of abusiveness and humiliation, side by side with testimony of his charisma. Getting to know him, in the words of one of his exes, was like taking a warm and luxurious bath. Stringfellow denies the allegations. He told the radio station all the relationships were consensual. "Consent has been the foundation of every sexual relationship I've had, and violence has never been a part of any of those relationships," he said. "It simply is not who I am as a person who respects women." The radio station also interviewed seven women who said they had intimate relationships with Stringfellow that weren't abusive, although four of them, including his ex-wife, said he bit them, uninvited. Two of his accusers also said biting was involved. Stringfellow's bandmates, including JON AUER, his creative partner of 35 years, believe the women. Auer, who was friends with one of the women, reached out to her, then confronted Stringfellow during a phone call in August and told him he'd never work with him again. Posies drummer FRANKIE SIRAGUSA immediately quit, too. The Posies are no more.
Another band, ALL TIME LOW, responded to allegations of sexual abuse against guitarist JACK BARAKAT by posting a long note on social media Monday saying they do *not* believe the women. "Completely and utterly false," the group's statement said. "We stand with victims and always wish to amplify the voices and stories of those who have suffered abuse and trauma. But we cannot and will not fuel or amplify lies that only cloud and distort the true stories of those who need to be heard and represented." Time, one imagines, will tell. Barakat is accused of sexually abusing two minors.
| | | | Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator |
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| | |  | | KUOW |
| | As sexual misconduct allegations dog Ken Stringfellow of the Posies, the band breaks up | | by Ashley Hiruko and Isolde Raftery | | Three women have accused Stringfellow of sexual misconduct. Stringfellow "categorically" denied these allegations. His bandmates said they believe the women, and that they are in the process of breaking up the Posies, a power pop band that has been beloved in the Northwest music scene for three decades. | |  | | CBS News |
| | The Station nightclub fire: What happened and who's to blame for disaster that killed 100? | | by Jim Axelrod | | It was one of the deadliest fires in a nightclub in U.S. history. Now a victim's brother and survivors remember that awful night, and the club owners held responsible speak out for the first time. | |  | | The New York Times |
| | El Alfa, the King of Dembow, Dazzles at Madison Square Garden | | by Isabelia Herrera | | The sold-out show by the Dominican artist was a watershed moment for the dembow movement. | |  | | The Washington Post |
| | Caetano Veloso's exquisite protest music has always rejected the idea of despair | | by Chris Richards | | As a songwriter of supreme resourcefulness and extraordinary wit, Caetano Veloso knows where to find the most superb melodies in life. The quiet centerpiece of the 79-year-old's latest album was inspired by the bedtime vocalizations of his newest grandchild, now 17 months old, who learned to sing himself to sleep. | |  | | Mixmag |
| | The vinyl straw: Why the vinyl industry is at breaking point | | by Megan Townsend | | The industry is at its strongest since the advent of the CD disk, so why has it become near-impossible to get music pressed onto wax? | |  | | Music Industry Blog |
| | Adele is Bond and BTS is Squid Game | | by Mark Mulligan | | When Spotify announced that Adele had broken the record for the most streams in one day, with 19.8 million streams, the caveat was that this was true as long as you do not include all of the streams BTS had accumulated in 24 hours for 'Butter' in May. | |  | | Billboard |
| | Songwriters vs. Giant Tech Streaming Services: What You Need to Know | | by David Israelite and Bart Herbison | | Next year, the NMPA and NSAI will face off against the biggest tech companies in the world: Amazon, Apple, Spotify, Google (YouTube) and Pandora. The stakes couldn't be higher. | |  | | VICE |
| | How Punk Bands 'Selling Out' Changed the Mainstream Music Landscape | | by Emma Garland | | Dan Ozzi talks about his book 'Sellout', which documents the major label "feeding fenzy" that swept through punk in the 90s and 00s. | |  | | Pollstar |
| | The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame: Love It. Loathe It. Curse It. Damn It. Praise It. Bless It | | by Holly Gleason | | The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is both the most controversial and desirable location in the realm of modern music. Who's in? Who's not? Where are the women? What makes hip-hop rock? How does disco doyenne Donna Summer qualify? James Taylor? Madonna? ABBA? | |  | | On My Om |
| | iPod: 20 Years Later | | by Om Malik | | When iPod launched, digital music was a mess. Napster had awakened us to the potential of digital and online music, but the dream was a nightmare. | | |  | | The Sydney Morning Herald |
| | Dixie D'Amelio: A TikTok superstar tries to segue to a music career | | by Robert Moran | | Is the transition from social media stardom to a legitimate offline career possible? The 20-year-old Gen-Z icon is shooting her shot. | | | | Billboard |
| | How $uicideboy$ Became the Multi-Million Dollar Brand You Never Heard Of | | by Kristin Robinson | | New Orleans-bred punk-rap duo $uicideboy$ has never charted on the Billboard Hot 100 or any airplay tally, but it has turned its SoundCloud-era success into an underground empire -- and collected 5.3 billion streams along the way, according to MRC Data. | |  | | Los Angeles Times |
| | For Dudamel, the trauma of COVID-19 turned personal: 'I am not the Gustavo of 2010' | | by Mark Swed | | The loss of loved ones to the pandemic has given Gustavo Dudamel a fresh outlook on the L.A. Phil, his new post in Paris, and his life with his wife and son. | | | | The Sydney Morning Herald |
| | 'I begged them not to put her onstage': Amy Winehouse's stylist friend | | by Naomi Parry | | Naomi Parry helped steer Amy Winehouse's distinctive look and supported her through good times and bad. Ten years on from Amy's death, Parry looks back. (Extracted from "Amy Winehouse: Beyond Black.") | |  | | Clash Magazine |
| | Hit The North Cancellations Raise Vital Questions For Live Music | | by Robin Murray | | When it was announced back in 2019, Hit The North felt like a potentially exciting new development for Newcastle. A multi-venue festival focussing on new talent, the initial announcements piled up, with the likes of DMAs, Sports Team, Oscar Lang, NOISY, and many more confirming their involvement. | |  | | Trapital |
| | Zack O'Malley Greenburg on How Music Leads Innovation, Forbes to Substack, and Hip-Hop's Next Billionaire | | by Dan Runcie and Zack O'Malley Greenburg | | Former Forbes senior entertainment editor Zack O'Malley Greenburg returns to the podcast to talk about his achievements when he worked for the media company. He shares his thoughts on Jay-Z, the challenges of publishing, and why he decided to go with Substack. | |  | | And The Writer Is... |
| | And The Writer Is...Tainy | | by Ross Golan and Tainy | | Leading a new wave of Latin music and culture for over a decade, producer/artist Tainy is the mastermind behind some of music's most iconic hits. His latest two hit releases pack massive star power: "Summer Of Love" with Shawn Mendes and "Lo Siento BB:/" featuring Bad Bunny and Julieta Venegas. | |  | | Bandcamp Daily |
| | The Story of Native American Metal Band Winterhawk | | by Brad Sanders | | Don Giovanni recently reissued two albums from the influential '70s band, who infused heavy metal with Native sounds. | |  | | Stuff |
| | Late Kiwi rapper's family speak out after death 'hijacked by anti-vaxxers' | | by Jane Matthews | | The family of Todd Williams, aka Louie Knuxx, have set the record straight, saying the anti-vaxxers who hijacked his death are wrong - his death had nothing to do with the Covid-19 vaccine. | | | | | 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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