Ticketmaster Forced to Shut Down Misleading Scalping Sites; Or, Why I Hate the Illinois Attorney General
By Elzee on 07-10-2009
We all know that Ticketmaster’s monopoly on the ticketing business is a force for good. Let’s count the ways we love them:
1. Order processing charges
2. Involuntary parking fees
3. Nonexistent customer service
4. Impossible-to-read Captcha filters
5. TicketsNow, Ticketmaster’s in-house ticket scalping service
6. Merger with Live Nation...
Ugh, let me just skip to #33
33. TicketsNow sites that pretend to be venue websites
Unfortunately for those of us in the Ticketmaster Official Fan Club, the Attorney General of Illinois (TicketsNow's hometown) has forcibly removed Reason #33 from the list in a $50,000 lawsuit against Ticketmaster. According to The Consumerist, Ticketmaster must close Ticketsnow sites that use domain names that include the names of venues and bands, where ticket buyers beleived they were buying their tickets at face value from the source rather than at inflated prices from TicketsNow. But let’s be honest: it’s hardly our beloved Ticketmaster’s job to coddle the ignorant public!
The settlement also requires that TicketsNow wait to sell marked-up tickets until after Ticketmaster puts the tickets on sale at regular price. This sounds like a case of big bad government meddling in private industry, something we here at Tiny Mix Tapes staunchly oppose on the basis that it’s mean. Ticketmaster needs all the money it can get, especially because it no longer has real competition in the ticketing market.
Throw Me The Statue Throw Us a New LP and Tour; Catch Them or You Are a Loser
By Annapocalypse on 07-10-2009
I had this great idea to write a whole news story making fun of Throw Me The Statue’s band name -- something about how they maybe picked it after one of the guys was, uh, throwing a statue or something like that. But then I looked up their Wikipedia entry and found out that the Wiki gods state the band likely took its name from the 1984 movie, Romancing The Stone. Um, what the fuck, Wikipedia?! Thanks for ruining my story idea! I still don't know exactly how Throw Me The Statue relates to the film -- I was born a year after it was released and don’t spend my free time watching Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner movies from the 80s -- but feel free to email and enlighten me.
In more relevant news, Throw Me The Statue have a new album coming out August 4 on Secretly Canadian. Creaturesque is its name, and the tracklisting is as follows:
1. Waving At The Shore
2. Pistols
3. Tag
4. Ancestors
5. Noises
6. Snowshoes
7. Dizzy From The Fall
8. Cannibal Rays
9. Hi-Fi Goon
10. Baby, You're Bored
11. Shade For A Shadow
12. The Outer Folds
Romancing The Tour Dates:
07.11.09 - Seattle, WA - Neumos #
07.31.09 - Seattle, WA - Mural Ampitheatre %
08.23.09 - Spokane, WA - Empyrean Coffee $
08.26.09 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry $
08.27.09 - Urbana, IL - Courtyard Café $
08.28.09 - Madison, WI - The Annex $
08.29.09 - Chicago, IL - Subterranean $
08.30.09 - Toronto, ON - TBA $
08.31.09 - Montreal, QE - Il Motore $
09.01.09 - Boston, MA - Middle East Upstairs $
09.02.09 - NYC, NY - Mercury Lounge $
09.03.09 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's $
09.04.09 - Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel $
09.05.09 - Durham, NC - Duke Coffee House at Duke University $
09.07.09 - Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn $
09.08.09 - Tallahassee, FL - Club Down Under $
09.09.09 - Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon $
09.10.09 - Houston, TX - Rudyards $
09.11.09 - Austin, TX - Mohawk $
09.12.09 - Dallas, TX - Cavern $
09.14.09 - Phoenix, AZ - Modified Arts $
09.15.09 - Los Angeles, CA - Echo $
09.16.09 - San Diego, CA - The Loft $
09.17.09 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw $
09.18.09 - Sacramento, CA - Luigi's Fun Garden $
# Robin Pecknold
% Blitzen Trapper
$ The Brunettes
Dum Dum Girls Play One Show, Get Signed By Sub Pop
By Jon Lorenz on 07-10-2009
Well, that was fast! Not too long ago, I announced details of the Woodsist/Captured Tracks fest in NYC (TMT News), which included Dum Dum Girls. And now, after playing one gig, they have been signed to Sub Pop.
Dum Dum Girls, originally made up of only one member Dee Dee, was joined by members of Crystal Stilts, Blank Dogs, and Crocodiles, rocking NYC so hard that the quake was felt all the way in Seattle. Although this was Dum Dum Girls' first gig, the band has actually existed for quite a while, releasing an EP on Captured Tracks, a 7-inch on Hozac, and an EP on Zoo Music.
Dum Dum Dum Girls' Sub Pop debut is said to be coming out in early 2010. So yes, we are in this classic dilemma of a lo-fi band signing to a major indie label. Will DDG step into a professional studio? Will Dee Dee sign her soul away to the monsters of slick production and mass overdubs? Or will she retain her style and stay fuzzed? As reported a few days ago, Times New Viking is making a 25% increase in fidelity by jumping up to VHS master-quality (TMT News). Could this be the beginning of the end to shitty sounding recordings? I hope not! Stay fucked!
Califone Sign to Dead Oceans for New LP of Future Robot Back-Porch Appalachadelic Folk Pop; Somewhere Out There, Beck Hansen is Jealous
By Nobodaddy on 07-10-2009
Okay, Dead Oceans, let’s get one thing straight right fucking now. Chicago’s Califone don’t need any help releasing badass, fucked-up music. No way, no how. Sure, you may have gotten the call to release All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, the newest album of freaky, funky, junkyard, blues-pop by the multi-talented multi-instrumentalists Tim Rutili, Jim Becker, Joe Adamik, and Ben Masseralla since 2006’s acclaimed Roots and Crowns this coming October 6...
And sure, producer, collaborator, and erstwhile band mate Brian Deck (Iron & Wine, Gomez, Modest Mouse) may have gone on record as saying that “Tim’s songwriting on All My Friends Are Funeral Singers is my favorite yet. They have found a sound unlike anyone else, and are able to draw otherworldly sounds from very common instruments. It’s melodically inventive and economical and delivered with more detail and nuance than before”...
And yeah, sure, primary songwriter and vocalist Tim Rutili (who frequently dabbles in such extra-musical forays as short, surrealist documentaries, music videos, and film scores) MAY have recently written and directed his first feature-length film, which he plans on submitting to film festivals early next year, also titled All My Friends Are Funeral Singers, which just so happens to draw on the same themes and inspirations as the album, having been conceived simultaneously to the album and containing many of the same images and characters...
And YES, okay, sure, maybe Califone will incorporate a full-length presentation of the film during their live performances (which will be announced shortly), adding a totally new and incredibly cool and exciting element to their live show...
But EVEN SO, Dead Oceans, the point IS... the, the point is... uhh... wait. What was I talking about, again??
All My Friends Are Funeral Singers tracklist:
1. Giving Away the Bride
2. Polish Girls
3. 1928
4. Funeral Singers
5. SNAKE'S TOOTH = PROTECTION AGAINST FEVER AND LUCK IN GAMBLING
6. Buñuel
7. Ape-Like
8. A WISH MADE WHILE BURNING ONIONS WILL COME TRUE
9. Evidence
10. Alice Marble Gray
11. Salt
12. Krill
13. SAVEN, FOURTEEN, OR TWENTY-ONE KNOTS
14. Better Angels
NY Eye & Ear Fest II Starts Today, So Don’t Kill Yourself Just Yet!
By Mango Starr on 07-09-2009
What's better than death? NY Eye & Ear Fest II, of course! So, temporarily quell them thoughts of suicide and read on, dear suicidal reader, as I have more exciting news: NYE&E II starts TODAY. That's right, break loose from that noose! Swim up for air! Put that gun back in its holster! Step away from the ledge! Stop eating trans fats! Or you will miss this four-day, three-venue (Knitting Factory, 92Y Tribeca, and Death By Audio) sonic assault on Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Performers this year include, among many others, Magik Markers, Talibam!, Team Robespierre, Grooms, John Wiese, and -- believe it or not -- RADIOHEAD! Yep, Thom and co will be there! Visit the fest's website here, and get your tickets while they're hot. The fest runs through July 12, the day I choose to go boom boom to my head.
