Music Biz Headlines, June 17, 2019

By Kerry Doole

The Raptors partied all night with Drake in Vegas and it looked absolutely wild

Many of the Raptors' star players are doting fathers, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t know how to let loose every once a while, especially when the occasion is celebrating their first-ever NBA Championship win. The team celebrated all night long at the Wynn Las Vegas, kicking off the weekend like the champions they are. – Patrick John Gilson, Narcity

‘The Pope’ does Pride

Pride Hamilton is still a small, grassroots event, but it's already landed "the Pope." Carole Pope is headlined Saturday's Pride festivities in Gage Park for the first time. She played her first show since reconstructive back surgery last year — the first in a string of Canadian tour dates this summer. – Sarah Sheehan,Hamilton Spectator

Twenty years later, Oh Susanna’s Johnstown is a different album in a transformed music industry

Although the record is 20 years old, Suzie Ungerleider still gets requests to play material from her debut album, Johnstown. It surprises her every time. Not because the songs are old or aren’t any good, but because they’re disturbing. –Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail

Songs of a heedless generation help close TSO season with Carmina Burana

From June 19 to June 23, audiences at Roy Thomson Hall will be hit with the ominous blast of “O Fortuna” from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana right after their intermission sip of wine. – John Terauds, Toronto Star

From phenomenal festivals to delicious dining: 10 essential Winnipeg experiences

While Winnipeg is always peachy, come summer you’ll find it particularly plum. Winnipeg Folk Festival, Folkrama, and Red River Ex present great musical choices. – Winnipeg Sun

Crowbar founder Kelly Jay Fordham suffers massive stroke

 “Kelly Jay is still with us as of now, but we are allowing him to rest comfortably and pass naturally,” said his son Hank.  – Graham Rockingham  The Hamilton Spectator

25th Sunfest brings a world of free music to Victoria Park

Sunfest brings together professional and culturally diverse performers and music lovers for a free celebration at Victoria Park, downtown London. 25 international and 15 national bands perform on five stages. – Karen Paton-Evans, London Free Press

15 essential Pride Toronto parties and events for 2019

Our critics pick the best comedy, art, stage shows and, of course, parties happening during Pride Month.  – Staff, NOW

Despite being one of the most recognized voices in the world, why does Céline Dion remain the butt of jokes?

As her Vegas residency came to an end after 16 years last weekend (so she can embark on a sold out North American tour in the fall), it feels odd that her international superstardom hasn’t been more embraced here at home. Her own country has mostly failed to properly recognize her grandeur. – Chris Hanna, Canada.com

International

Why the DJ Khaled situation is only the beginning of new chart manipulation tactics

Khaled may actually have a point in his lawsuit. A rule may have been broken, but this rule was never publicly known beforehand. Billboard has since announced plans to take a longer look at its rules surrounding bundling and release their revised policies to the public so situations like these are minimized in the future.  –  Ben Boddez , Georgia Straight

Plucked from obscurity: why bluegrass is making a comeback

It was once derided as hillbilly music. How did bluegrass become the new sound of political protest across the US? –  Emma John, The Guardian

Lawsuits against Universal Music Group expected next week in response to 2008 fire

A high-profile Los Angeles law firm representing multiple recording artists plans to file legal action as early as this week in response to news that a massive number of original master recordings were destroyed in a 2008 fire at Universal Studios Hollywood. – Randy Lewis, LA Times

Little Simz fuses hip-hop styles

The fast-rising English rapper and actress performs at the Echo, so we sat down to chat with her about all that she has coming up. – Brett Callwood,  LA Weekly

Spice Girls claim the biggest girl band single and album of all time in the UK

The band has just have played to over 700K fans in three weeks on their Spice World stadium tour. It can also celebrate the fact that the Official Charts Company confirms that Wannabe is the biggest girl band single in the UK of all time, while its parent album Spice takes the honour n the girl band album category. – Music News

Phantom of Winnipeg trailer documents city's obsession with Brian De Palma cult rock musical

Filmmakers Malcolm Ingram and Sean Stanley examine the city's is strange pop culture love affair in the documentary  Phantom of Winnipeg. The film will receive its world premiere at Fantasia in Montreal on July 12, with the directors, in attendance.  –  Clark Collis, EW

Ronee Blakley remembers Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue: ‘We were delirious

Martin Scorsese’s film doesn’t aim to turn truth into myth nearly as much as the infamous movie Dylan himself made during that period, “Renaldo and Clara” — in which the cast list had Ronee Blakley playing “Mrs. Dylan.” – Chris Willman, Variety

Review: Midnight Oil at London's Brixton Academy

Two years since their last visit Midnight Oil are back in the UK, bearing songs like arms to denounce the British Empire. You could accuse Midnight Oil of many things but going through the motions is not one of them. Peter Garrett strides the stage, a tiger circling his prey, as forthright and pious as ever.  –  Music News

 Why Captain Beefheart’s ‘Trout Mask Replica’ still sounds like  tomorrow

The iconic album remains one of the ultimate tests of how far you are willing to go to give yourself up to music.  –  David Fricke, Rolling Stone

YouTube's unlikely peacemaker plans to make musicians rich

"The music business has so much more to gain by working together and building things,” says one-time label chieftain Lyor Cohen. –   Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg

How salsa music helped shape Jonathan Osorio's soccer career

We touched base with the Toronto FC star Osorio to see how he uses music to power him through games. Osorio spoke with us about the presence of music in his life both on and off the field. It all started with his father’s influence; his dad used to play salsa from his native Colombia for his son on the way to games.  – Jane Joyce, mlssoccer.com

Should copyright protect music created by Artificial Intelligence?

As technology develops to the point where AI is capable of creating original music, questions are being raised as to whether this computer-generated music, and the people behind the code that make it possible, should be granted the same legal protections as more traditionally created music.  –  Stephen Carlisle, Hypebot