How your skinny pants can help Darfur: Amnesty International seeks bands and fans for Small Places tour
By Liz Louche on Jun 25 2008
So, as a musician or a music fan, you're doing stuff to make the world a better place, right? You're supporting local venues, stimulating the economy by drinking lots and lots of cheap beer, and boosting self-esteem by helping otherwise socially awkward band dudes get laid. But now there's an opportunity to do something MORE, whether you're that totally rich dude from Coldplay (because he totally reads this website every day), or just some kid who wants to see, for example, The Shins and also try to stop the genocide in Darfur.
Amnesty International is looking for bands (like you, guy from Coldplay!!!) to be part of what they're calling the Small Places tour. Named as a nod to an Eleanor Roosevelt quote about human rights being important "in small places close to home," the tour will be more of a collection of music-related events and opportunities than an actual caravan of tour buses. Spearheaded by Amnesty supporters like U2's The Edge and Peter Gabriel, the performances kick off September 10, my birthday, and run till December 10, the date of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It's Amnesty's biggest music-based project in 10 years.
So, what is it? Well, it's an opportunity for artists to take the initiative themselves to get their fans involved with Amnesty's message. Since it's not a traditional tour, bands can offer incentives like meet-and-greet opportunities, special seating packages, and awesome performances. Musicians and fans will be supporting Amnesty's 60th anniversary campaigns like campaigning to stop violence against women, ending torture, stopping the killing in Darfur, protesting China's activities in Tibet, working for the release of Burma's Aung San Sui Kyi, and demanding the closure of Guantanamo Bay.
To get involved with Amnesty International's Small Places tour, visit its MySpace page.
…And the [Club] Owners Hate Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks With Their Agents and Their [Tour]dates…
By Nobodaddy on Jun 25 2008
Heads up, English-speaking peoples of the world (uh, and any French-Canadians as well, I guess). You'd better stock-up on garbage-related puns this summer, because you can't stop pride-of-Portland Stephen Malkmus and his merry band of emotional trash-talking Jicks from gettin' their psych-rock swerve on all over the world, infesting the festival circuit this summer with their... uh, "filthily-rockin' noise polluting, litter-music"... or, you know, whatever. You can think for yourselves, can't you?
And speaking of thinking for ourselves, according to a recent post by Pitchfork, the Malk-man and co. have recently lined up a deliciously rotten "slurry" of new summer dates all over the western world, including a couple of pre-Siren Fest romps up in the clean, white land of Canada, a dirty one-off at Fuji Rock in Japan, and four grimy little UK gigs to close out the month of August. Yum! And by the way, no showers are accounted for in the tour itinerary...
Riding Dirty:
EMI Initiates Layoff Extravaganza©, Ex-Employees Ecstatic at the Possibility of Entering the Vibrant Job Market, Thankful for Trickle-Down Theory Economics
By Mr P on Jun 25 2008
EMI's owner Guy Hands is a visionary, and he's been having visions of cutting jobs at least since January, when EMI announced job cuts of roughly 1,500-2,000 (TMT News). In April, word got out that 2,000 more jobs would also get the axe. If in fact this second round of layoffs becomes true -- EMI denied the cuts -- the company would be reduced to roughly 2,000 jobs. And since Guy Hands and his buyout firm Terra Firma originally purchased EMI with 4,500 employees, that means roughly 56% of the jobs will have been axed by the time the last ex-employee shuffles out the door.
The latest round of layoffs are currently happening (since yesterday), and if you can't glean my excitement, I'm literally jumping up and down here, smiling from ear to ear. Here's a bullet-point list courtesy of Hypebot:
- 10 are out at Blue Note, mostly in NYC
- Capitol Nashville VP of A&R Larry Willoughby and VP of Sales Bill Kennedy
- Denise Arguijo, a production manager in Nashville
- Capital_records David Pak and a number of others exit from Caroline
- In house art and design staffs suffering severe cuts
- Anything that can be outsourced will be
- Expect more pink slips and details today
EMI will continue to focus on A&R, digital music, and corporate sponsorship, but maybe it should look into outsourcing Mr. Hands' job. Meanwhile, Coldplay's Viva La Vida (TMT Review) will top the Billboard charts with 721,000 sold.
Dan Deacon and Neko Case Headline Forward Music Festival in Madison, WI
By The Friz on Jun 24 2008
After an exhausting summer of sweating it out at music fests like Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, and the ever-impending TMT Fest, Midwesterners will be happy to hear that Forward Music Fest, hits just as the weather cools off, coming September 19-20 to Madison, WI. Don't matter that it's indoors -- by September, the land of dairy and snow will be well into single-handedly disproving global warming with ball-shiveling gusts. But that wont stop acts like Neko Case, Bob Mould, Shearwater, Leslie and the LYs, Dan Deacon, The Detroit Cobras, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir, Dillinger Four, Killdozer, Pale Young Gentlemen, Screamin' Cyn Cyn and the Pons, The Gomers, Blueheels, Droids Attack, Things Fall Apart, and more TBA from congregating in the various Madison venues participating in FMF.
And more: concert-goers, after buying an all-access pass for $25, can shell out an extra $10 for guaranteed entry to select shows, which is damn egalitarian if you ask me. VIP status at a nominal price. I love Wisconsin!
The Black Kids Are Virgins – No, Wait, The Black Kids Tour With The Virgins
By Annapocalypse on Jun 24 2008
Remember when you lost your virginity? Yeah, me neither, but to honor The Black Kids' upcoming fall tour with The Virgins, we asked our readers to share their stories of how they lost their V-cards:
Erin Matterson (Athens, GA): “The first time we made love, I had no idea what was going on. Afterward, he didn't speak; he passed out. I was so alone. I've never hated myself more. But it was done, my virginity was gone. It didn't matter after that: sex became an everyday occurrence. My only fear was losing Bobby. He was the first, and even if he treated me bad (and there were those times), I was going to do anything I could to hang onto him.”
Darren Haas (Rochester, NY): “I messed up big time my junior year of high school. I started having regular sex with my girlfriend. I was a Christian, therefore the momentary pleasure was there, but the relationship was a miserable one. I am still scared from the instances that took place. It took me until the summer before my freshman year at college (during camp) before I realized that God had already forgiven me, but I wasn't letting go. I found out that I have to totally let go of something to keep it from holding me down. I will never completely forget what happened, but I worship an awesome and forgiving God. The biggest statement I would like to make is the fact that I would give anything to take it back and to have my virginity still to this day. Hang on to it; you will only know later how happy you'll be!”
Eric Glenbeck (San Jose, CA): “Losing my virginity has caused many problems in my life. For the longest time, I cried myself to sleep -- I felt dirty and ashamed of myself. A few days ago, I finally mustered up enough courage to go and get tested for STDs. I'm still waiting for the results.”
You can read more “real life stories” here, or you can ask The Black Kids about theirs at the following tourdates (I dare you):
$ The Virgins
