Music Biz Headlines, Feb. 15, 2019
Sharon Van Etten (pictured) dazzles, Sting sails into Toronto, and Lee Aaron is back on the road. Also in the headlines are Winter Blues Festival, noise bylaws, Blackpink, Duff Roman, Poppy, Avril Lavigne, John Prine, Grammys, Ryan Adams, Jeff Tweedy, and Fugazi.
By Kerry Doole
Songwriter Sharon Van Etten sings of hard-won freedoms on her latest album
There’s a gothic alt-folk thing happening these days, with Van Etten leading a pack of poetic nocturnalists. – Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail
Sting brings The Last Ship, a musical about his hometown of Newcastle, to a place where he’s always felt at home: Toronto
This is not the winter of Sting’s discontent. In fact, the singer was likely the only person actually looking forward to this week’s snowstorm, even though he had to trudge through it to get to work just like the rest of us. – Raju Mudhar, Toronto Star
Five Songs About: cities
These five tracks present a musical travelogue of sorts, but mostly they're just great songs. Enjoy, and be sure to send a postcard home. – Georgia Straight
The Queen returns: Ten questions with Lee Aaron
Niagara has long been one of Lee Aaron's hot spots, from her early heavy metal days, to her detour into jazz and opera, to her eventual return to rock. – John Law,The Niagara Falls Review
Blues bands, singers pull out their best for Winter Blues Festival
Hosted by the St. Basil's Cultural Centre, 11 of Edmonton's and Alberta's finest blues acts step up to perform their hottest tunes starting at mid-afternoon Saturday and Sunday. – Roger Levesque, Edmonton Journal
Toronto's noise bylaw gets a rethink
Concerned residents and representatives from music communities put aside their tensions and met up to find a solution that works for everyone. – Michael Rancic, NOW
People are angry that Blackpink is performing in Hamilton and not Toronto
The four-member Korean girl group announced all the stops in their North American tour last night. They're only performing in six cities—and Toronto isn't one of them. Instead they play Hamilton's First Ontario Centre on April 27. – Blog TO
Duff Roman to accept Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award at Junos
·The Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award adds to an already extensive list of accolades. Niagara This Week
Comic Concert Review: Everybody wants to be Poppy!
An illustrated take on the internet's meta-pop star in the making. – Eric Williams, NOW
international
Avril Lavigne: Head Above Water review – Sk8er girl on thin ice
She sold millions as a teenager, but now the Canadian is nude on her album cover to prove she is a serious singer-songwriter. Our verdict is 2 of 5 stars. – Alex Petridis, The Guardian
John Prine doc ‘Hello in There’ picked up for theatrical release
His songwriting legacy and recent resurgence will be the focus of an upcoming documentary titled John Prine: Hello in There. Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the film. – Daniel Kreps, Rolling Stone
Nielsen says just under 20 million watched Grammy Awards
The Nielsen company estimated the Grammy audience size at 19.9 million. The 2018 audience of 19.8 million had been the Grammys’ smallest audience in a decade. – AP
U.S. Copyright Royalty Board officially submits a 44% songwriter streaming royalty increase
Publishers say a Spotify challenge would be ‘declaring war’. – Paul Resnikoff, Digital Music News
Ryan Adams dangled success. Women say they paid a price.
Several women say Adams offered to jumpstart their music careers, then pursued them sexually and in some cases retaliated when they spurned him. He denies the claims. – Joe Coscarelli, Melena Ryzik NYT
Book Review: Like Springsteen, Jeff Tweedy was also Born to Run
Jeff Tweedy has been making music for a living for more than 30 years, going back to his first band Uncle Tupelo, which he formed with childhood pal Jay Farrar in 1987, and then, for the past 25 years, with Wilco. He’s Generation X’s version of Bob Dylan or Neil Young. – Roy Trakin Celebrity Stoner
The fascinating story of an album by Donnie and Joe Emerson
Some years back, an unusual and astonishing album began circulating among record collectors and fans of lo-fi music. The group was a duo, Donnie and Joe Emerson. – Steven Kurutz Longreads
'This has seriously annoyed me!' Why a stage times ban caused an outcry
When the 100 Club announced it wouldn’t be posting stage times for gigs, punters were enraged. So what is at stake – for venues, gig-goers and support acts? – Michael Hann, the Guardian
Fugazi members on possible reunion: “You never want to say never”
"If we got back together, it would have to be from the spirit of creativity." – Spencer Kaufman, CoS
2019 Guild of Music Supervisors Awards: Complete winners list
The ceremony took place at the Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles on Wednesday, and A Star Is Born was a big winner of the night. – The Hollywood Reporter
