The News of Today

User avatar
FrankLotion
Movin' On Up
Posts: 840
Joined: Sat May 05, 2018 9:15 pm
Location: Portland, OR

Re: The News of Today

Post by FrankLotion »

Live in Phoenix wrote: Wed Mar 01, 2023 5:36 pm 50 years. Among the top 5 best-selling albums ever worldwide.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of ... ing_albums

Image
Honestly, even if this came out today I’d say it was the best album I’d heard in years. It’s amazing how well this has aged. :music-listening:
User avatar
Listyguy
Running Up That Hill
Posts: 3012
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:34 pm

Re: The News of Today

Post by Listyguy »

Jazz great Wayne Shorter has died at the age of 89:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/02/arts ... -dead.html
luvulongTIM
Different Class
Posts: 480
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:14 am
Location: Rowland Heights
Contact:

Re: The News of Today

Post by luvulongTIM »

Ranchera and Corrido legend, Mexican actress and politician Irma Serrano had passed away on March 1st at the age of 89. Known as one of the last of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema and nicknamed La Tigresa de la Canción Ranchera,
luvulongTIM
Different Class
Posts: 480
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:14 am
Location: Rowland Heights
Contact:

Re: The News of Today

Post by luvulongTIM »

Pulp bassist Steve Mackey has passed away at the age of 56 on March 2nd.
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

If you heard a punk rock SST album from the early '80s, you remember the name Spot. I didn't know he was a kind of '80s Tom Wilson (i.e. a black producer working with a lot of white rock acts).

SST Records Producer Glen "Spot" Lockett Dead at 72

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/ss ... r-AA18e9Sr

User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Christopher Walken turns 80 today. To mark the occasion, here is his famous "More Cowbell" skit. It originally aired on April 8, 2000, incidentally back when I paid precious little attention to politics. (You might have noticed in the last 24 hours that the 45th president got himself indicted.)

I find it difficult to assemble a list of my top 10 favorite Saturday Night Live skits, but "More Cowbell" would likely be on it. If I remember correctly, this episode also had a funny skit with Tim Meadows called "The Census." (These skits had names -- who knew?)

This ended up being how I first heard "(Don't Fear) the Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult:
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Prince passed away seven years ago, on April 21st.
It is in fact scheduled to snow in April today in Minneapolis...

Image
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

R.I.P. Harry Belafonte. His Calypso album was #1 for 31 weeks, and was the first Long Play record album to sell over one million copies.

Image

Bob Dylan's very first recording session involved him playing harmonica for Belafonte (for "The Midnight Special"). From Dylan's autobiography:
Harry was the best balladeer in the land and everybody knew it ... He could play to a packed house at Carnegie Hall and then the next day he might appear at a garment center union rally. To Harry, it didn't make any difference. People were people. He had ideals and made you feel you're a part of the human race. There never was a performer who crossed so many lines as Harry. He appealed to everybody ... The folk purists had a problem with him, but Harry--who could have kicked the shit out of all of them--couldn't be bothered, said that all folksingers were interpreters, said it in a public way as if someone had summoned him to set the record straight. He even said he hated pop songs, thought they were junk. I could identify with Harry in all kinds of ways.
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

R.I.P. Gordon Lightfoot, who passed yesterday

Image
[From High Fidelity film]

Barry: Top 5 songs about death.
A Laura's Dad tribute list, okay? Okay. Leader of the Pack. The guy fuckin' beefs it on his motorcycle and dies, right? Dead Man's Curve. Jan & Dean.

Dick: Do you know that right after they recorded that song Jan himself crashed his car...

Barry: It was Dean you fuckin' idiot...

Rob: It was Jan. It was a long time after the song.

Barry: Okay, whatever. Tell Laura I Love Her. That would bring the house down - Laura's Mom could sing it. You know what I'd want? One Step Beyond by Madness. And, uh, You Can't Always Get What You Want.

Dick: No. Immediate disqualification because of its involvement with The Big Chill.

Barry: Oh God. You're right!

Dick: Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot.

Barry: You bastard! That's so good - that should have been mine...
The night Laura's daddy died. Sha na na na na na na na na! Brother what a night it really was. Mother what a night it really... angina's tough! Glory be!
User avatar
Rob
Die Mensch Maschine
Posts: 7350
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2012 3:53 pm
Location: Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Re: The News of Today

Post by Rob »

Live in Phoenix wrote: Tue May 02, 2023 7:06 pm R.I.P. Gordon Lightfoot, who passed yesterday
Huh, I thought he died ages ago. Maybe I keep mixing him up with Jim Croce for some reason.
Rest in peace.
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

The Pretenders Announce New Album ‘Relentless,’ Share First Single ‘Let the Sun Come In’

Their new single is out today, three years after their last album. Amazing that Chrissie Hynde keeps chugging along.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/th ... r-AA1b2XQp
User avatar
Bang Jan
Full of Fire
Posts: 2668
Joined: Wed Sep 17, 2014 9:15 pm
Location: Cheltenham, United Kingdom

Re: The News of Today

Post by Bang Jan »

"The first word in this song is discorporate. It means to leave your body."
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

I didn't think the four of them would reunite (maybe Marr and Morrissey). Now it's definitive. Rourke had also taken legal action for royalties, though it wasn't the big court case that Joyce's suit became.
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

"Sometimes one of the most radical things you can do is to speak clearly. When someone dies, out come the usual blandishments … as if their death is there to be used. I'm not prepared to do this with Andy. I just hope … wherever Andy has gone … that he's OK. He will never die as long as his music is heard. He didn't ever know his own power, and nothing that he played had been played by someone else. His distinction was so terrific and unconventional and he proved it could be done. He was also very, very funny and very happy, and post-Smiths, he kept a steady identity - never any manufactured moves. I suppose, at the end of it all, we hope to feel that we were valued. Andy need not worry about that."
MORRISSEY.

https://www.morrisseycentral.com/messag ... m-of-light
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Dylan's 82.
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

It's known that Ron DeSantis is announcing his candidacy today (with Elon Musk, to boot), but he isn't trending on Twitter. Practically every trending topic relates to Tina Turner passing away.
User avatar
VacantJoy
Leader of the Pack
Posts: 10931
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2020 1:09 pm
Contact:

Re: The News of Today

Post by VacantJoy »

RIP Andy Rourke
DONATIONS TOWARDS ME -> https://revolut.me/anastagf0s
User avatar
Bang Jan
Full of Fire
Posts: 2668
Joined: Wed Sep 17, 2014 9:15 pm
Location: Cheltenham, United Kingdom

Re: The News of Today

Post by Bang Jan »

Peter Brötzmann, legend of free jazz, dies at 82

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/ ... dies-at-82
"The first word in this song is discorporate. It means to leave your body."
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

I remember sort of freaking out that Mick Jagger had turned 75. Well, now he’s 80.
User avatar
Bang Jan
Full of Fire
Posts: 2668
Joined: Wed Sep 17, 2014 9:15 pm
Location: Cheltenham, United Kingdom

Re: The News of Today

Post by Bang Jan »

Sixto Rodriguez: Searching for Sugar Man singer dies aged 81

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66449150
"The first word in this song is discorporate. It means to leave your body."
User avatar
Bang Jan
Full of Fire
Posts: 2668
Joined: Wed Sep 17, 2014 9:15 pm
Location: Cheltenham, United Kingdom

Re: The News of Today

Post by Bang Jan »

Robbie Robertson, Leader of The Band, Dies at 80

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/rob ... 235692172/
"The first word in this song is discorporate. It means to leave your body."
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

50 years ago, 18-year-old Clive Campbell, a.k.a. DJ Kool Herc, debuts hip hop music at a party in the Bronx. In the world of hip hop, this moment is the equivalent of the Beatles playing the Ed Sullivan show, or Elvis launching into an uptempo “That’s All Right.” Besides his DJing, Herc is also credited with contributing to “developing the rhyming style of hip hop by punctuating the recorded music with slang phrases.” (It may be significant that Herc was born and initially raised in Jamaica, where he heard DJ “toasting.” Toasting is not really like rapping, but it has the similar dynamic of talking at length over someone else’s record.) Unlike other seminal music figures, Herc wasn’t immortalized in his heyday on record. In 1975, both Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa began DJing in Herc’s style, so in a way, his legacy is felt through later acts.

This year, Herc was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the Musical Influence Award category.
On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc was a disc jockey and emcee at a party hosted by himself and his younger sister Cindy at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. She wanted to earn extra cash for back-to-school clothes, so she decided to throw a party where her older brother, then just 18 years old, would play music for the neighborhood in their apartment building. She promoted the event with flyers and organized the party. She also styled her brothers clothes for the party.

Specifically, DJ Kool Herc:
extended an instrumental beat (breaking or scratching) to let people dance longer (break dancing) and began MC'ing (rapping) during the extended breakdancing. ... [This] helped lay the foundation for a cultural revolution.
— History Detectives

According to music journalist Steven Ivory, in 1973, Herc placed on the turntables two copies of [James] Brown's 1970 Sex Machine album and ran "an extended cut 'n' mix of the percussion breakdown" from "Give It Up or Turnit a Loose", signaling the birth of hip hop.
User avatar
andyd1010
Keep On Movin'
Posts: 1798
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2016 12:08 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by andyd1010 »

Very influential figure. And he's made an impact on the sporting world as well. Breakdancing ("breaking") is now an Olympic sport debuting on the Paris 2024 program.
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Gary Young, original drummer for indie rock band Pavement, dead at 70: 'A rare breed'

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertai ... 616136007/
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Steve Harwell, Smash Mouth Founder and Former Lead Singer, Dies at 56

Harwell had struggled with alcoholism, and died from acute liver failure. Two years prior, he had announced his departure from the band, and his retirement, due to health issues.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/st ... r-AA1gehvr
billieeilishstyle
Are You Experienced?
Posts: 46
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2022 11:29 pm

Re: The News of Today

Post by billieeilishstyle »

Live in Phoenix wrote: Mon Sep 04, 2023 11:44 pm Steve Harwell, Smash Mouth Founder and Former Lead Singer, Dies at 56

Harwell had struggled with alcoholism, and died from acute liver failure. Two years prior, he had announced his departure from the band, and his retirement, due to health issues.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/st ... r-AA1gehvr
Sadly, the man was extremely problematic, he left Smash Mouth because he gave a Nazi salute during a performance and told an audience member that he would kill their entire family.
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Rock Hall of Fame ousts Rolling Stone co-founder [Jann Wenner] after inflammatory remarks
By Lyric Li / The Washington Post

[Photo: Rolling Stone magazine co-founder Jann Wenner discusses his memoir, “Like a Rolling Stone,” at an event last year in New York. (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)]

Jann Wenner, the co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine who also helped found the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, has been removed from the hall’s board after an interview in which he made comments that were criticized as disparaging female musicians and artists of color.

“Jann Wenner has been removed from the Board of Directors of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation,” the hall said in a statement released Saturday, which did not provide further details. The decision was announced a day after Wenner’s comments were published in an interview with the New York Times.

The foundation and a representative for Wenner, 77, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Times interview coincided with the upcoming release this month of Wenner’s book “The Masters,” a compilation of his interviews over the years with music greats Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Mick Jagger, John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Pete Townshend and U2’s Bono — all of whom are White and male.

When asked by Times reporter David Marchese why he did not include female artists or people or color on his list of rock legends, Wenner responded, “Insofar as the women, just none of them were as articulate enough on this intellectual level.”

He went on to state that female artists such as Joni Mitchell did not meet his criteria to be considered a “philosopher of rock ’n’ roll.”

“She didn’t, in my mind, meet that test,” Wenner said. “Not by her work, not by other interviews she did. The people I interviewed were the kind of philosophers of rock.”

Regarding artists of color, he continued: “Of Black artists — you know, Stevie Wonder, genius, right? I suppose when you use a word as broad as ‘masters,’ the fault is using that word. Maybe Marvin Gaye, or Curtis Mayfield? I mean, they just didn’t articulate at that level.”

[Perspective: Female rock legends not ‘articulate’ enough for Rolling Stone co-founder, by Monica Hesse]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/20 ... _manual_14

Wenner’s remarks drew immediate backlash online and beyond. The Montclair Literary Festival in New Jersey, where he was slated to be a celebrity guest, canceled a Sept. 28 promotion for his book.

On social media, commentators resurfaced past criticism of his previous writing and Rolling Stone’s coverage of female artists under his guidance.

Rock critic Jessica Hopper quipped that “The Masters” would be more aptly titled “The Misters.” And Joe Hagan, a writer for Vanity Fair who published a critical biography of Wenner titled “Sticky Fingers” in 2017, tweeted that Rolling Stone under Wenner was rampant with chauvinism.

Wenner founded Rolling Stone in 1967 with Ralph J. Gleason and spent decades at the helm before leaving the magazine in 2019. He was also among the group of music and media executives who established the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in 1983.

The hall has also been criticized for its relative lack of female and minority inductees, with some recent improvement. According to reporting by the L.A. Times, the 2023 class of inductees was the most varied in the organization’s history, with women and musicians of color outnumbering White men.

However, among the 719 inductees to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in all categories as of early 2023, only 61 are women, according to Hopper. Meanwhile, “the percentage of total people of color in the hall has declined every year,” down from 55.8 percent in 1989 to 32.7 percent in 2019, pop culture scholar and hall voter Evelyn McDonnell wrote that year.

Wenner was inducted into the hall as a non-performer in 2004.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/20 ... d-removed/
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Suspect arrested in Tupac Shakur killing from 1996

By Janay Kingsberry and Samantha Chery [The Washington Post]
September 29, 2023 at 3:13 p.m. EDT

An image of Tupac Shakur for the 32nd Annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in New York on July 4, 2017. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

A man has reportedly been charged with murder in the fatal drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur, a possible breakthrough in a long-unsolved case that has held the public’s interest ever since the legendary rapper was gunned down near the Las Vegas Strip in 1996.

Duane “Keffe D” Davis — a self-described former gang member who has publicly claimed to have witnessed the killing — was arrested by Las Vegas police early Friday, according to multiple news outlets, including the Associated Press. He had previously been indicted on a charge of murder with use of a deadly weapon by a Clark County grand jury, according to prosecutors. It is the first arrest police have made in the 27-year-old case.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Marc DiGiacomo said Davis was the “on-ground, on-site commander” who “ordered the death” of Tupac, according to the AP.

The arrest comes two months after Las Vegas police searched a Henderson, Nev., home linked to Davis’s wife. The warrant said officers had probable cause to believe the property might have documents showing Davis’s involvement with a Compton gang as well as “handwritten or typed documents concerning television shows, documentaries, YouTube episodes, book manuscripts, and movies concerning the murder of Tupac Shakur.”

Among the items they seized were a copy of Vibe magazine featuring Tupac and a copy of Davis’s 2019 memoir, “Compton Street Legend,” in which he claims to be one of the last living witnesses to the attack on Tupac.

In that book and various interviews, Davis has said he was in the Cadillac that pulled up alongside Tupac’s BMW at a red light in Las Vegas on the night of Sept. 7, 1996.

He has not, however, definitively said who in the Cadillac opened fire on the 25-year-old rapper, who died of his wounds in a hospital a week later. The shooting also injured the chief of Tupac’s label, Marion “Suge” Knight, who was in the BMW with him.

“Going to keep it for the code of the streets,” Davis said in a 2018 BET interview when he was asked who fired the shots. “It just came from the back seat, bro.”

Tupac had been on his way to a Vegas club after watching Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon in a world heavyweight title bout when he was attacked. Police said at the time that Tupac had been involved in a fight several hours before the shooting.

At the time of his death, Tupac was world-famous for his chart-topping, politically-conscious tracks about systemic racism and inequality. Earlier that year, he released his fourth studio album, “All Eyez on Me” to instant critical acclaim. The album was posthumously nominated for “Best Rap Album” at the Grammy Awards the following year and is often ranked by critics as one of the greatest albums of all time.

Since his death, Tupac’s musical legacy has endured in popular culture. He and the Notorious B.I.G., who was killed in a shooting six months after Tupac’s death, have become iconic symbols in the hip-hop community, known for their rivalries, careers, distinct storytelling styles and untimely demises.

The Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, which is run by Shakur’s sister, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Herb Scribner contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/20 ... ffe-davis/
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

October is basically Jimmy Savile month, which seems appropriate. He was born on Halloween, 1926; he died in October as well, in 2011. He was originally known as a eccentric, knighted national treasure who did incredible amounts of charity work, amidst rumors that he was messing with little kids. (Being an American, I only first heard about him this year, while looking at John Lydon/Rotten's Wiki page, which detailed a 1978 BBC Radio 1 interview where Lydon mentioned the rumors about Savile as he listed off celebrities he'd like to "kill" in a movie; that section of the radio interview was never broadcast.) Savile was a radio and TV personality -- you can find pictures of him with the Beatles, the Stones, Elvis, etc. -- and he was on the first and last episodes of the popular Top of the Pops program, many decades apart. His constant charity work around kids made him popular with Margaret Thatcher and the Royals.

About a year after his death, on October 3rd, ITV aired the Exposure series episode, "The Other Side of Jimmy Savile," with several women detailing Savile's sexual abuse. Six days later, police were pursuing 120 lines of inquiry. "At this stage it is quite clear from what women are telling us that Savile was a predatory sex offender," said Commander Peter Spindler. That same day, relatives said the elaborate headstone at Savile's grave would be removed, destroyed and sent to landfill, so his reputation was completely destroyed within the space of a week. Three months later, the Giving Victims a Voice report, jointly produced by The Metropolitan Police Service and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, put the number of alleged victims at 450 (Spindler estimated the real number could be two or three times that), stretching from 1955 to 2009, of whom 328 were minors at the time; this included 28 children under the age of 10, including 10 eight-year-old boys.

Netflix released a documentary last year, Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story. The BBC plans to run a mini-series called The Reckoning. From what I could tell, his life never really added up, and there were plenty of rumors and whispers about him, yet he was essentially given the run of Britain (free reign in hospitals, and perhaps most ludicrously, literally given the keys to the Broadmoor psychiatric hospital for no logical reason), and he took full advantage with impunity.

The one-line postscript to his autobiography is said to read: "I hope [God] really does take it easy on sinners."

From a review by the Guardian, of the Netflix special:
“Savile believed in hell and spoke often – without naming his debits – of his hope that his charity work would balance the books. Never. Let us hope hell exists.”
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

To my surprise, the Rolling Stones have an album out today. The reviews so far are very good.

Image
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

The remaining Beatles’ latest (I guess last) arts & crafts project:

The Beatles’ ‘last’ song ‘Now and Then’ is released
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/02/entertai ... index.html
En español: https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2023/11/02/b ... cion-trax/

To be honest, I didn't think this was any more tasteful when they released "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" to sell the Anthology CDs. At best, it's a sort of novelty. The model of the form would be something like Queen's Made in Heaven, and Leonard Cohen's Thanks for the Dance, where a deathly ill musician is knowingly participating for a goal or project, working under the reality that death will set in before completion. For that matter, with Michael Jackson’s posthumous Xscape, the liner notes prefaced everything by stating the canon of Michael Jackson is [already] complete. (I remember a nasty joke from a music zine about how the surviving 3 Beatles [at the time] had lucked upon a recording of John Lennon puttering around his apartment, mumbling a tune off-key; they were like, "We hit the jackpot!")

I listened to the song. Of the 3 post-Beatles songs, this seems the least like a Beatles song.
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Not to be outdone by new Stones and Beatles output, the surviving Monkee has a new release.

ManPerson
Let's Get It On
Posts: 157
Joined: Fri Oct 01, 2021 8:21 pm

Re: The News of Today

Post by ManPerson »

I'm kind of curious what that sounds like now.
User avatar
Listyguy
Running Up That Hill
Posts: 3012
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:34 pm

Re: The News of Today

Post by Listyguy »

https://twitter.com/poguesofficial/stat ... 3268564060

Shane MacGowan, of The Pogues, has died
User avatar
Pierre
Into the Groove
Posts: 2207
Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2012 8:21 pm

Re: The News of Today

Post by Pierre »

The Pogues stood out among the plethora of Celtic rock acts and it was largely thanks to the songwriting skills and passionate vocal performances of MacGowan, even if his accent was a bit hard on a non-native English speaker's ear. An underrated artist, and the Pogues are an underrated band. R.I.P.
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Taylor Swift is Time magazine's Person of the Year, a recognition (originally Man of the Year) that goes back to 1927. It's the first time that a musician has been individually selected, and in fact, she is the first Person of the Year to be recognized for their "achievement in the arts." (Bono's work with the Live 8 concerts got him a co-selection in 2005 as part of "The Good Samaritans." Swift was also part of the 2017 selection, "The Silence Breakers," although that concerned the MeToo movement instead of her music.)

Swift is on another level from everyone else in the music scene, but Time magazine’s culture has probably also changed a little bit to finally be awarding any artist after all this time. (“Award” is not really the word, incidentally, because the selection is usually given to a world leader, whom you are absolutely free to despise, who significantly shaped the year. Hitler and Stalin have been selected before, for instance. Who “won” in, say, 1967 instead of the Beatles? Lyndon B. Johnson; in, say, 1957, instead of Elvis — Nikita Khrushchev, of the Soviet Union; in, say, 1982, instead of Steven Spielberg — The Computer [with profiles of Steve Jobs and other important computer company names]; in 1983, instead of Michael Jackson — Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Yuri Andropov.)

Taylor Swift named Time’s ‘Person of the Year’
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/06/media/ta ... index.html
Brad
Higher Ground
Posts: 4718
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:38 pm

Re: The News of Today

Post by Brad »

Just catching wind via X (twitter) that Pitchfork is undergoing a re-structure, laying off a portion of their staff, and landing within the GQ organization. Perhaps the end of an era.

Anyone else have any info?
Brad
Higher Ground
Posts: 4718
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:38 pm

Re: The News of Today

Post by Brad »

User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

VARIETY
https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/p ... 235875585/

Pitchfork Is Being Folded Into GQ, as Condé Nast Seeks ‘Best Path Forward’ for Music Publication

By Todd Spangler

Condé Nast is merging Pitchfork, the digital music publication it bought in 2015, with men’s magazine GQ — a move that will result in layoffs at Pitchfork, including the exit of editor-in-chief Puja Patel.

Anna Wintour, Condé Nast’s chief content officer and global editorial director of Vogue, announced the changes in a memo to company staff Wednesday. Pitchfork was founded in 1996 by indie-music fan Ryan Schreiber.

“Today we are evolving our Pitchfork team structure by bringing the team into the GQ organization. This decision was made after a careful evaluation of Pitchfork’s performance and what we believe is the best path forward for the brand so that our coverage of music can continue to thrive within the company,” Wintour wrote in the memo.

According to Wintour, “Both Pitchfork and GQ have unique and valuable ways that they approach music journalism, and we are excited for the new possibilities together.” She added with the organizational changes, “some of our Pitchfork colleagues will be leaving the company today.”

A rep for Condé Nast did not have information on how many Pitchfork staffers are being let go. Wintour’s memo about the Pitchfork changes was first reported by Semafor’s Max Tani.

Wintour in her memo thanked Patel, formerly editor-in-chief of Spin, “for her leadership of the title over the last five years. She has been a wonderful colleague and advocate for the brand, and I’m grateful for her and the team’s many contributions.”

Pitchfork staffers who were laid off included features editor Jill Mapes, who posted on X/Twitter about getting pink-slipped. “I’ve referred to my job at pitchfork as being on a ferris wheel at closing time, just waiting for them to yank me down,” Mapes wrote in the post. “after nearly 8 yrs, mass layoffs got me. glad we could spend that time trying to make it a less dude-ish place just for GQ to end up at the helm.”

The company’s changes with Pitchfork come after Condé Nast CEO Roger Lynch said last November that the company planned to lay off upwards of 300 employees, representing 5% of total headcount, and take other steps to cut costs.

Pitchfork staff members will “hear more about their reporting structure in meetings this week,” according to Wintour’s memo.
I wonder if this will be not unlike when a beloved local alternative rock station in Phoenix (103.9 FM, the Edge) got taken over and turned into nonsense, and ended up folding.
Brad
Higher Ground
Posts: 4718
Joined: Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:38 pm

Re: The News of Today

Post by Brad »

Yeah, “Pitchfork and GQ” will never be Pitchfork… pretty much done, as far as I can see. I, for one, am sad to see this happen, despite the number of grievances I’ve had with the site over the last decade or so.
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

To my surprise, a writer from the Arizona Republic weighed in. He seemed to think, in so many words, that Pitchfork could end up how Rolling Stone ended up, where the reviews of big musicians become too important to step on toes. (I remember how Rolling Stone would give, say, five stars to U2’s No Line on the Horizon, and carefully not review it at any point in the review.)

https://www.azcentral.com/story/enterta ... 268043007/
alexclark4234
I'm New Here
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2024 11:51 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by alexclark4234 »

Farewell to Ozzy Osbourne is just 2 shows away.

https://www.loudersound.com/news/ozzy-o ... birmingham
User avatar
prosecutorgodot
Keep On Movin'
Posts: 1547
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 5:53 am
Location: SF Bay Area, California

Re: The News of Today

Post by prosecutorgodot »

R.I.P. Mary Weiss (of the Shangri-Las)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/22/arts ... -dead.html
luvulongTIM
Different Class
Posts: 480
Joined: Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:14 am
Location: Rowland Heights
Contact:

Re: The News of Today

Post by luvulongTIM »

R.I.P to Melanie. Most famous for the 1971 hit Brand New Key
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Guitarist Wayne Kramer, founding member of the MC5, dead at 75

https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/gu ... r-BB1hGVRP

Without MC5, there aren't really The Stooges. In the Gimme Danger documentary (which I got to keep once Netflix closed its DVD department), The Stooges completely change from an avant-garde act once they hang outside the building where the MC5 are rehearsing. Freezing their asses off, they listen intently to this bigger-brother sort of band, love their sound, and decide, "We want some of that."
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

The Revenge of the ‘80s that was started by Kate Bush continues:

“Fast Car,” the Tracy Chapman version, is currently #1 on iTunes (US Songs Current Top 100).
http://www.itunescharts.net/us/charts/songs/current/

Her 1988 debut album is #1 on its album charts (US Albums Current Top 100).
http://www.itunescharts.net/us/charts/albums/current/
User avatar
Live in Phoenix
Full of Fire
Posts: 2503
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:50 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by Live in Phoenix »

Toby Keith, country singer-songwriter, dies at 62 after stomach cancer diagnosis

https://apnews.com/article/toby-keith-c ... 6334f107e6
alexclark4234
I'm New Here
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2024 11:51 am

Re: The News of Today

Post by alexclark4234 »

Owen Announces New Album - "The Falls of Sioux"

https://www.polyvinylrecords.com/news/6154
Nassim
Full of Fire
Posts: 2793
Joined: Fri Feb 10, 2012 2:35 pm
Location: Lille (France)

Re: The News of Today

Post by Nassim »

Post Reply

Return to “Music, Music, Music...”