Random music news for Friday, October 30, 2020
Here’s one of the best reasons you should use the pandemic to start exercising more. Think about that and then head to music news for October 30, 2020.
- Coronavirus update 1: Could this be the plan to save small music venues?
- Cool: a smartwatch for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
- Kelly Curtis has been Pearl Jam’s manager since 1990. He’s announced his retirement.
- A Canadian class-action suit is being prepared against Facebook. The problem? Misuse of personal data.
- Canadian Indie week for 2020 will be virtual, running November 10-14. Register here.
- A grim list for Halloween: The 50 best posthumous albums of all time.
- What’s with Canada and all the great hard rock guitarists this country produces? Discuss.
- Want to get into classical music but don’t know where to start? Try this site.
- Grimes has released “an AI lullaby.”
- Cool! Pocket synthesizers!
- Looks like we’re getting a rock version of American Idol.
- WTF, Tesla?
- The owner of Sunrise Records has scooped up bankrupt David’s Tea. (Paywall)
As much as I am desperate for concert venues to stay open, giving some super rich record executive 51% ownership of your venue seems (and if everyone/most/a lot/etc take him up on it!) that’s tantamount to a monopoly. I know that Ticketmaster owns some venues. (Now that was a fun read on Wikipedia.) That just screams Danger!Danger! to me. I don’t know if the fact that he’s offering to save everyone is worse or the fact that his great ‘humanitarian’ offer might be considered to the poor bastards who might just not have any other choice because Save Our Stages (as the news reads) is becoming less and less likely by the day.
I went through a very brief (2 years give or take) period where I wanted to be a what amounts to a suited up yuppie when I was a teenager down to the perfect black and white, chrome and glass filled condo in San Francisco (City of my dreams) making gobs of money in marketing. Luckily I had a brilliant English teacher who expanded my horizons and I’ve never looked back and have always worked for the love of the work or, in the early days, for the money to keep the bills paid and all that – but I still usually loved my work even when it was menial. I take jobs for the jobs themselves and if I’m lucky I make more money. This doesn’t always work to my advantage and at some point, I have to pay the piper for that. Right now, I with I was that stupid yuppie in SF with excess money and rich compatriates. Sure, I doubt I would ever have been as rich as this guy but I probably could have made a difference in SOME way rather than the small differences I can make now. I despise feeling helpless in this situation. It’s almost enough (keyword almost) to send me into the arms of social media to figure out how to pull together an army of people to band together against people like him because NIVA isn’t cutting it. WHY aren’t they cutting it? Is everyone so apathetic to what the music (and theatre and restaurant industries) are facing?
I know. TLDR, Ruins.