jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 11/29/2022 - Master of Tickets, Masters of Puppets, Impersonating Bootsy, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, U2...

I think the best seat in the arena is the second tier up, where you get to see the band but you also get to see all the fans. Forget the band—look at the audience. Open in browser Tuesday November 29, 2022 Crowd surfing at Riot Fest, Douglass Park, Chicago, Sept. 16, 2022. (Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images) quote of the day "I think the best seat in the arena is the second tier up, where you get to see the band but you also get to see all the fans. Forget the band—look at the audience." - James Hetfield, Metallica singer/guitarist rantnrave:// Holiday Sales We're fully into the holiday season now, Thanksgiving having passed and end-of-year lists, Christmas and MARIAH to come. Lol J/K, Mariah's already here (and this is the greatest Mariah quote ever: "I don't acknowledge time. I don't know her"). As is this early Christmas gift for metal fans, AMANDA PETRUSICH's delicious 9,000-word profile of METALLICA, which arrives in metallic harmony with the announcement of the band's 2023-24 tour, for which the scariest thing in all of music begins Wednesday: TICKETMASTER pre-sales. Two weeks after TAYLOR SWIFT's pre-sale blew up into an existential industry crisis even as 2 million tickets were being sold, the basic questions remain unresolved, with a Justice Department investigation reportedly under way and a Congressional hearing to come. Much of the analysis to date has fallen into two camps: 1) Of course it was hard and expensive to get tickets; Taylor Swift is insanely popular. 2) Ticketmaster was woefully underprepared for this and needs to be broken up. It's possible, of course, the most useful answer lies somewhere in the middle, and that some re-thinking, re-strategizing, re-pricing and re-prioritizing from all sides is in order. Who are concert tickets meant for? Who should they be meant for? What's the best way to get as many of them as possible to those people? Is putting an entire arena tour on sale on a single day ever a good idea? Kudos to BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN, who had his own recent Ticketmaster debacle, for on-the-record honesty in saying what he wanted, this time around, was as much dough as he could possibly get: "So this tour," he told the Asbury Park Press, "we said 'Hey, the guys are in their 70s. I'm 73. Do what everybody else is doing who are my peers... If that's controversial for you, I don't know what to say." That strategy may not work for all artists in all venues at all points in their career, though. Fifteen-year-old pop fans going up against bots, speculators and people with too much disposable income, for example, will never be a fair fight. And it remains to be seen if Ticketmaster's opaque Verified Fan program is the best way, or any way at all, to achieve the desired outcome. Or if Ticketmaster and Live Nation are too big to fail, or so big they had to fail. MusicSET: "Is Taylor Swift the Straw That Broke Ticketmaster's Back?" Etc Etc Etc DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON launches a classical streaming service (while the world waits on APPLE's)... The music rights champion in line to replace NANCY PELOSI... BILLIE EILISH and VANITY FAIR's Same Interview, Sixth Year... K-pop arrives on Broadway, to mixed reviews... Every song with 1 billion Spotify streams, visualized... Autopenned in my soul from me to you... Don't stop fightin' over that Amex card, men of JOURNEY... Out-of-context movie quote of the day, from CATE BLANCHETT's LYDIA TÁR: "I'm going straight to LUCIAN. Maybe he needs to be reminded of his ANNENBERG INCLUSION INITIATIVE"... Sending love to Chicago house pioneer JESSE SAUNDERS. Rest in Peace IRENE CARA, the powerhouse voice of "Fame," "Flashdance" and "Sparkle." "Her true superpower," according to Andscape's Keith Murphy," was "the ability to transform slick early '80s, headband-adorned anthems into uplifting statements that felt like spiritual testimony"... Cuban balladeer PABLO MILANÉS, a founder of his country's revolutionary nueva trova movement of the 1960s. "His career," the New York Times' Ed Morales wrote, "was an open dialogue with the revolutionary government that had once disciplined him, then propped him up as one of its most powerful ideological icons... But he never renounced his artistic labor, that of the singer with a story to tell about loves lost and won, a towering voice with a guitar and a sense of poetry and swing"... The great art-song (and more) composer and celebrated diarist NED ROREM, a modern master of writing for both voice and orchestra... Legendary label and publishing exec CHARLES KOPPELMAN, who began his career as a Brill Building songwriter and went on to top roles at Columbia, ATV Music, EMI and his own SBK Entertainment and SBK Records. Also: Dr. Feelgood guitarist WILKO JOHNSON, a key influence on British punk (and, in his role as the executioner Ser Ilyn Payne, a literal roller of heads on "Game of Thrones")... Hip-hop artist manager and record exec JONATHAN "HOVAIN" HYLTON, whose clients included T-Pain, Cam'ron and Styles P... South African amapiano artist DJ SUMBODY, murdered in a drive-by shooting in Johannesburg... Woodwind session player GENE CIPRIANO, who played on countless films and records by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and Paul McCartney; he was "perhaps the most recorded woodwind player in show business history," the Hollywood Reporter wrote... Hip-hop MC DON NEWKIRK, who collaborated with De La Soul and 3rd Bass... Blues-rock guitarist DANNY KALB, of the Blues Project... Jazz pianist/composer DAVID ORNETTE CHERRY, who was born the same year his father, trumpeter Don Cherry, recorded his first album with Ornette Coleman; thus, his middle name... Nightclub singer, actress and activist JOYCE BRYANT, the "bronze blond bombshell" of the 1950s... Big band jazz singer LOUISE TOBIN, best known for her years with Benny Goodman's orchestra... Oklahoma Red Dirt country singer/songwriter JAKE FLINT, who died in his sleep hours after he was married Saturday night... Scottish singer-songwriter RAB NOAKES, a founding member of Stealers Wheel and longtime fixture of Scotland's folk scene... Art director GEORGE LOIS, a Madison Avenue legend whose "I Want My MTV" campaign helped put the music video channel on the map. - Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator fame The New Yorker The Enduring Metal Genius of Metallica By Amanda Petrusich On the road with the band in its forty-first year. Rolling Stone Faking the Funk: How Bootsy Collins Impostors Pulled Off the Ultimate Music Biz Scam By David Browne With star-shaped shades and platform boots, the Bootsy fakes bilked friends and family out of money over decades. The Daily Beast Can Indie Musicians Afford to Keep Their Shows on the Road? By Adam Manno The managers, agents, and bus rental companies behind the scenes dish on why so many concert tours-especially ones by smaller indie artists-are getting canceled. The Atlantic Hip-Hop Needs an Intervention By Too $hort and E-40 The regularity of these killings has us concerned and thinking, Who's next? Los Angeles Times Nearly 16 years after his death, Atlantic Records CEO Ahmet Ertegun accused of assault By Jonah Valdez Jan Roeg says late music executive Ahmet Ertegun sexually assaulted her several times starting in the 1980s and alleges Atlantic Records covered it up. Forbes Megan Thee Millions: Rapper Reaps Record Riches By Jabari Young It seems that nothing can stop hip-hop superstar Megan Thee Stallion from building an empire worthy of her role model, Beyoncé. Billboard Here's Why Shorter Songs Are Surging (And Why Some Welcome It) By Elias Leight On TikTok and streaming services, fragmentary moments rule. The Sydney Morning Herald Who needs 75 million songs? Let's bring back the broken tape deck By Tabitha Carvan A broken eject button and a stuck Paul Simon tape doesn't sound like cause for nostalgia, but I think of it often and fondly. VICE Inside the Hip-Hop Record Store Run by Undercover Cops By Camilla Patini and Nick Thompson Locals knew Boombox as the shop with a recording studio in the back. It was also part of a Met Police sting codenamed Operation Peyzac. Vulture The 50 Best Original Christmas Songs Since 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' By Maura Johnston Queen of Christmas, meet your disciples. flashdance The Washington Post U2 has stayed together since 1976. It hasn't always been easy. By Geoff Edgers As the band approaches a staggering 50 years together and accepts the Kennedy Center Honors, the foursome has remained intact and, more compellingly, an active, creative unit. Dazed Digital Doja Cat's bald ambition: rap's rebel gets real By Kacion Mayers The enigmatic star reflects on her reinventions and what it means to be in the spotlight during this age of pop culture. Harper's Magazine Corner Club Cathedral Cocoon By Sasha Frere-Jones Audiophilia and its discontents. The Daily Beast How a Heavy Metal Sound Guy Screwed Up a Tight Race for the GOP By Kelly Weill A libertarian metalhead won nearly 4 percent of the vote in a Colorado congressional race that was projected to go Republican but instead turned blue. Resident Advisor Heard but Not Seen: Dance Music's Uncredited Vocalists By Sophie Bress Women have been backing techno, house and disco tracks for decades. But are they getting the recognition-and payment-they're due? Andscape Irene Cara experienced both the highs and lows of 'Fame' By Keith Murphy Before that breakout role, 'Sparkle' had introduced her to Black America. New Republic What Was the Music Critic? By John Semley A new book exalts the heyday of music magazines, when electric prose reigned and egos collided. Billboard Why Do Five or More Songwriters Have To Share a Single Oscar? By Melinda Newman Despite the number of songwriters per song exponentially increasing, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still favors smaller circles - will it ever change? Vulture Fousheé Is Done Sulking and Wants to Rage By Craig Jenkins "I would encourage people to stop being a bitch," says the newly Grammy-nominated artist. "Embrace different. Be a part of the renaissance." CBS Sunday Morning Extended interview: Grateful Dead co-founder Bob Weir By John Blackstone Nearly 60 years after Bob Weir helped form The Grateful Dead, the band's music is being adapted for the concert hall. In this extended interview, correspondent John Blackstone talks with Weir, now 75, about adapting the Dead's music for a symphony orchestra, the curious life of a song "critter," and the unfinished business resulting from bandmate Jerry Garcia's passing. Stuff In love with those times: The Christchurch of punk and Flying Nun resurfaces By Philip Matthews It took a Canadian to tell one of New Zealand music's greatest stories. Chicago Reader The accidental TikTok star By Leor Galil Chicago rapper Sonny went viral on a platform he didn't use with a remix he hadn't made—and it hasn't changed his old-school grind a bit. what we're into Music of the day "Fame (live on 'Don Kirshner's Rock Concert')" Irene Cara Video of the day "Sparkle" Sam O'Steen The 1976 original. RIP Irene Cara. 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