Random Music News for Monday, December 5, 2016

I had a fun Friday night: three hours in emergency on a Dilaudid drip because of a kidney stone attack. After having some stones removed from my right kidney over the summer, my left is now after me. Worst. Pain. EVER.

Now that I’m done whining, here’s music news.

1. Thirty-plus dead, more missing after rave fire in Oakland CA. This is a disaster. Mark Hoppus of blink-182 says this underscores the dangers of parts of the underground music scence.
2. Adele tickets are selling for up to £9,000 on the secondary market. Insanity.
3. Shocking and sad: Toronto indie label Underground Operations to, er, cease operations.
4. A great question: Why was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video–the greatest Halloween video of them all–actually released in December?
5. Another great question: How do radio stations display the name of the song that’s playing on your car radio? The answer? RDS.
6. Monday timesuck: Chickens playing a xylophone. (Via Tom)
7. Apparently Kanye was messing with his meds immediately before his breakdown.
8. Madonna is “ashamed to be an American.”
9. How podcasts are reinventing music journalism.
10. Here are fifteen really weird Christmas albums.
11. Did Madonna buy herself a new butt?
12. And would you buy Rod Stewart’s £7 million home? A bit gaudy, maybe…
13. This doesn’t have to do with music, but it’s cool: “The world’s most secret website.”
14. Know Karen Marie Ørsted? She’s almost as popular as Drake on Spotify. Seriously.
15. This country singer falls offstage, breaks ribs and punctured a lung. And he kept performing. Take THAT Dave Grohl.
16. When you date Taylor Swift, you takes your chances.
17. Jon Bon Jovi’s dad threatened to kill Skid Row’s Sebastian Bach.