Music Biz Headlines, April 1, 2019
Wintersleep (pictured) explores new terrain, Sir Mick recuperates on the beach, a history of The Commodore, and highlights of the Rock Hall's inductions. Also in the headlines: Spotify, Jesse Cook, Toronto concerts, Kiwi jr, Lisa Brokop, TSO, Martin Bandier, indie promoters, Aretha Franklin, Record Store Day, Alessia Cara, Ratso Sloman.
By Kerry Doole
Mick Jagger, 75, plays with lookalike son on Miami beach after mystery illness forced him to cancel Rolling Stones' US tour
The Stones frontman has been spotted playing with his youngest son on a beach in Miami just one day after the Rolling Stones were forced to postpone their latest tour following his mystery health concerns. – Daily Mail
Wintersleep covers ground
On its seventh album In the Land Of, the band explores the great outdoors as well as its internal psychological land. – Jonathan Briggins, The Coast
Comment: Spotify hasn't killed off music obsessives — just the thrill of the hunt
I used to spend countless hours seeking hard-to-find albums. Now streaming services have made a mockery of that work. But the music geek of yesteryear and the modern-day version aren't so far apart. – Bernard Perusse, Montreal Gazette
15 Toronto concerts we're looking forward to in April 2019
Fleetwood Mac's farewell tour, Just John x Dom Dias's EP release party, the first of two Ariana Grande shows and more. – Staff, NOW
Ottawa Symphony and Carleton team up for educational opportunities
Monday’s OSO concert will kick off a deepening relationship between the OSO and Carleton University’s school of music. – Peter Robb, Artsfile
The Fillmore meets The Shining: A history of Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom
From big band and swing to punk rock, pop, jazz and blues, Vancouver’s most famous (and infamous) room has played host to the greats of every genre of music. No wonder in 2011 Billboard named it one of the Top 10 most influential venues in North America (the only Canadian spot cited). – David McPherson, Amplify
This San Francisco school builds flexible, 21st-century musicians
San Francisco happens to be one of a number of places across the continent in which a musical culture has thrived beyond the precincts of Manhattan. And if anything that culture is thriving as never before. William Littler, The Star
The grand promise of a new El Mocambo, hopefully
Jesse Cook takes 'big step' with PBS special
The guitar star, working with roadie William Went, used nine cameras to film 25 Canadian concerts to create Beyond Borders that aired on PBS stations this month. He needed 18 months to edit the material resulting from those shoots. Brian Kelly Sault Star
Review: Kiwi Jr.'s Football Money album is a guide to adulting in Toronto
Full of 80s college rock and 90s indie rock feel-goodness, the band’s debut album Football Money will no doubt fool throwback slackers into adopting this band as their own. – Cam Lindsay, NOW
A familiar face and his confident hand lead TSO to glory with symphonies
On the podium was Gunther Herbig, who was the TSO’s music director from 1988 to 1994. Always a master of the great Germanic symphonic repertoire, the now 87-year-old conductor brought a special, quiet command to two of the great works of the canon: – John Terauds Toronto Star
Lisa Brokop celebrates the great ladies of country music
The Canadian star joins Patricia Conroy and Amanda Wilkinson on a show paying homage to Tammy, Dolly, Loretta, and Patsy. – Peter Robb, Artsfile
international
Outgoing Sony/ATV chief Martin Bandier talks legacy, industry’s future, Spotify
Bandier is one of the most formidable music publishers of all time, with a career that stretches back to the early ‘70s and also includes building SBK and EMI Music Publishing into powerhouses. – Jem Aswad, Variety
Are Indie promoters music's endangered species?
As Live Nation and AEG keep shopping, indie promoters worry about whether they should take a big check -- or risk being eaten alive by their bigger competition. – Dave Brooks, Billboard
René Marie remembers Aretha Franklin
If we don’t know anything else, we know what R-E-S-P-E-C-T spells. It spells hard work. And fair treatment. And getting up off our knees. – JazzTimes
The Cure’s Robert Smith on Rock Hall Induction and ‘f-cking great’ new album
“Despite my best efforts at being alternative, we’d been subsumed into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame,” Smith jokes. – Patrick Doyle, Rolling Stone
Read Bryan Ferry’s Hall of Fame speech on behalf of Roxy Music
The group appeared together for the first time since their final reunion shows in 2011. – Andy Greene, Rolling Stone
Record Store Day: A vinyl love affair
For many of us, a town without a record store is like a vast dry desert with no oasis in sight. You wander the streets, appalled, thinking – No record store! What do people DO all day? Why did we even visit this place? – Grant Smithies, Stuff
Alessia Cara: How I Wrote This
Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter explains the dual meaning of ‘The Pains of Growing’ ballad “A Little More.” – Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone
Ripped-Off riffs? The rise in plagiarism claims unnerves pop songwriters
Four years after the copyright trial over that No. 1 song, , — in which Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, its primary writers, were ordered to pay more than $5 million for copying Marvin Gaye’s disco-era hit “Got to Give It Up” — the case still looms over the music industry and individual songwriters, who were left to wonder when homage bleeds into plagiarism. – Ben Sisario, NYT
This psychological concept explains why you love being part of a crowd
Think back to the euphoric moments you've experienced in your life. Maybe you recall dancing into the wee hours at a music festival, celebrating your favorite baseball team's World Series win, attending Comic-Con for the very first time, or marching for a cause you support alongside millions of passionate individuals. Chances are good that it involved a crowd. – AJ Mitchell, Curiosity
Read Trent Reznor’s full speech inducting The Cure at Rock Hall 2019
“I’ve struggled my whole life feeling like I don’t fit or belong anywhere, kind of like right now. Hearing The Cure, I suddenly felt connected and no longer quite so alone in the world.” – Pitchfork
Stevie Nicks enlists Harry Styles, Don Henley for blazing Rock Hall medley
The new inductee ran through some of her biggest hits from “Stand Back” to “Edge of Seventeen.” – Brittany Spanos, Rolling Stone
Top ten richest musicians in Nigeria and their net worth in 2019
Of course, they are all talented, hardworking and each of them has a unique style of performing, but only the best of the best is on top of this rating. That is Davido. – Sade Balogun, Legit
The wild life of Larry 'Ratso' Sloman
He drank with Leonard Cohen, ribbed Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez gave him his nickname. Now, 68 years into an extraordinary life, the writer is releasing his first album – with a little help from Nick Cave. – Michael Hann, The Guardian
