Tuesday, March 15, 2022

jason hirschhorn's @MusicREDEF: 03/15/2022 - Dolly Recuses Herself, Safe Space for Noisy Women, Beneath Hip-Hop's Swagger, Lil Durk, Jack Harlow...

For me there is no art now, there is war. And I know we will pass. The future will definitely be different. Also art. It will be deep and painful, and I'm not sure if people who have not been involved in the war will be able to fully understand it.
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Tuesday March 15, 2022
REDEF
A member of the National Radio Company of Ukraine Symphony Orchestra at the Carthage Festival, Carthage, Tunisia, July 14, 2016.
(Amine Landoulsi/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)
quote of the day
"For me there is no art now, there is war. And I know we will pass. The future will definitely be different. Also art. It will be deep and painful, and I'm not sure if people who have not been involved in the war will be able to fully understand it."
- Katarina Gryvul, Ukrainian-Austrian contemporary classical musician/composer
rantnrave://
I'm Begging of You

My guess is the ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME, which was silent on the matter Monday, will say DOLLY PARTON was nominated this year by an independent committee of music experts and insiders whose only criterion was "Has she earned the honor through her body of work?," and her influence on rock and pop is undeniable (hashtag WHITNEY HOUSTON hashtag LINDA RONSTADT hashtag the WHITE STRIPES hashtag the history of rock and roll), and she absolutely has earned the honor. And while the Hall respects Parton's belief that she actually hasn't earned it and admires her humility, it will point out the ballots have been printed and sent to voters and it will leave it up to them whether to go along with the singing and songwriting icon's wishes and leave her off their ballot, or consider her, in spite of her wishes, along with other fully deserving nominees like A TRIBE CALLED QUEST, PAT BENATAR, JUDAS PRIEST, DURAN DURAN and FELA KUTI. It's in their hands, I imagine the Hall will say, and it will be up to each voter to weigh Dolly's wishes against the historical impact of "JOLENE," "I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU," "HERE YOU COME AGAIN" and their own sense of music history and do what they think's best.

My further guess is most voters won't vote for her, either because they weren't going to anyway (because there's a COUNTRY HALL OF FAME and/or because "Jolene" isn't exactly competing with "MORE THAN A FEELING" for air time on their classic rock radio station) or because they don't want to waste their vote, especially when there are 15 or 16 other viable candidates on the ballot.

As the Tennessean's Matthew Leimkuehler pointed out, Parton in recent years has discouraged Tennessee legislators from erecting a statue of her outside the state Capitol building and twice declined a Presidential Medal of Freedom—once because her husband was sick and once because she didn't want to travel during the pandemic. Both offers came from the Trump administration, and she's signaled she'd likely say no the Biden administration, too, because "now I feel like if I take it, I'll be doing politics."

Dolly Parton is never not on brand, and saying "please don't" to the Rock Hall is in character for a country queen who said via Twitter she doesn't feel she's "earned that right" and she doesn't want to steal anyone else's votes. Jolene, the title character of Parton's first song to cross over from country to pop, is the one who takes things that don't belong to her. Parton is the song's narrator, who begs Jolene not to do that to her. "This has, however, inspired me to put out a hopefully great rock 'n' roll album at some point in the future," she wrote—after which, she suggested, she'd be open to Hall of Fame reconsideration.

Parton's timing is strange, her attempted recusal coming six weeks after her nomination was announced and well after ballots were printed and mailed to the Hall's 1,000-ish voters. It's not as if she hadn't had time to think about this. Parton's name has been floated as a likely Hall of Fame candidate for a few years, especially as the Hall started to get serious about addressing its poor record of inducting women. When Billboard asked about her nomination a month ago, she said she wasn't expecting to get in but, "It's just nice to be nominated." And instead of asking the Hall to wait until she recorded a proper rock album, she said the opposite: She was prepared to make such an album if the Hall voted her in.

And then she said nothing for another month, when suddenly, perhaps, she realized she might have turned into Jolene. And, maybe worse, actually getting inducted could prove divisive within the music world. Dolly Parton—my queen, your queen, everybody's queen—was going to have to put a stop to that.

Etc Etc Etc

The turnaround time for pressing vinyl records is "leaning towards the length of a human pregnancy" and the long waits "are the killers of momentum, soul, artistic expression, and far too often, livelihoods." That's according to JACK WHITE, who's been expanding capacity at his own THIRD MAN PRESSING plant and now "politely implore(s)" the three major labels to build their own plants to ease the growing backlog... A likely musical repercussion from economic sanctions on Russia: a vacuum tube shortage... Gas prices are wreaking havoc on touring plans. "It's going to cost us an extra $30,000 to $40,000 in fuel," ALT-J tour manager MAARTEN COBBAUT tells Billboard... The car radio is 100 years old... AMY BERG's film PHOENIX RISING, which documents EVAN RACHEL WOOD's allegations of abuse against MARILYN MANSON and her advocacy work to protect other domestic violence victims, premieres tonight on HBO.

- Matty Karas (@troubledoll), curator
coat of many colors
Los Angeles Times
After COVID and turmoil, a female-led indie label reemerges as a safe space for noisy women
By August Brown
From a rambling compound in Sunland-Tujunga, Cathy Pellow runs the heavy-rock label Sargent House, a haven for experimental musicians, many of whom are women.
The New York Times
What Lies Beneath Hip-Hop's Swagger
By Danyel Smith
Hip-hop's battle-ready swagger is thrilling and joyous. What sits behind it is more complex.
The Daily Beast
Evan Rachel Wood: Marilyn Manson Tortured Me With a Nazi Whip and Raped Me in My Sleep
By Laura Bradley
In Part Two of Amy Berg's harrowing documentary "Phoenix Rising," Wood details how the rock star allegedly terrorized her when she tried to escape and raped her in her sleep.
Vulture
Lil Durk Is Trying to Build Something New
By Craig Jenkins
Durk's "7220" ponders the emotional fallout of a year of big achievements and crushing lows.
The Ringer
Jack Harlow and the Spread of the Middle-Class Rap Star
By Justin Charity
There are still subgenres dominated by so-called street rappers, but the mainstream now sustains a variety of stars with explicitly suburban sensibilities. Take the latest in this lineage, Jack Harlow.
Billboard
Blockchain's Future In The Music Business Is Inevitable, But Not Imminent
By Micah Singleton
Web3 presents game-changing potential for virtually every facet of the music industry, but will it revolutionize or further fragment the business?
Billboard
Doing Music Deals in the Metaverse? Experts Answer Your FAQs
By Kristin Robinson
Billboard asked a few of the top professionals working at the intersection of Web3 and the music industry to answer these frequently asked questions regarding the applications and potential uses of crypto technology in the business.
Variety
Why the Ernest Tubb Record Shop in Nashville Mattered: An Appreciation of the Country Music Mecca
By Matt Powell
I arrived at the turn of the century, time enough to catch the falling tail of the old Nashville, with its honky-tonk music and easy charm. I saw a want ad in the paper; it read: "Do you love country music?" I was hired on the spot and the Ernest Tubb Record Shop became my life, my home, and my family.
JazzWax
Interview: Jenn D'Eugenio of Women in Vinyl
By Marc Myers
Jenn D'Eugenio, sales and customer experience manager at Furnace Record Pressing in Alexandria, Va., is one of the female millennials playing a major role in vinyl's resurgence.  She's founder and curator of Women in Vinyl, a nonprofit group that empowers and informs girls and women about career opportunities in the vinyl record business. 
The New York Times
The Digital Antiheroes of 'Scam Rap'
By Jody Rosen
Meet music's new outlaw: the online scammer.
traveling man
Lapham's Quarterly
Following the Oud Through the History of Armenian Music
By Raffi Joe Wartanian
Variations on a theme.
Music Ally
Is dynamic pricing containing the battle against ticket touting -- or undermining it?
By Adam Webb
The more pronounced increases in consumer prices are not in the recorded market – they're in live. And in some instances, particularly in North America, the cost of a concert ticket is making the price of a vintage red look like, well, pretty small beer.
Complex
Chief Keef's 'I Don't Like' Changed Everything
By Andre Gee
Ten years ago this week, Chief Keef dropped "I Don't Like," a song and video that has already influenced a generation of artists and multiple rap scenes.
VICE
How Drill Soundtracks Life for Kenyan Youth
By Frank L'Opez
The new generation of rappers hailing from the hoods of Nairobi are at the forefront of a new wave of African music.
The Washington Post
Six days at sea with 1,200 Outlaw Country fans, two years into a pandemic
By Geoff Edgers
Stars, coronavirus tests and an endless buffet do their part as the cruise and music industries make a return.
SPIN
The Man Who Made Austin Weird
By Steve Ditlea
As SXSW returns, meet Jim Franklin, the OG of Texas counter culture.
Music Business Worldwide
Every 2 hours, the major music companies now jointly generate more than $5 million
By Tim Ingham
MBW crunches last year's fiscal numbers… and finds the majors piled on $4 billion in annual revenue.
Billboard
'Out of Control' Gas Prices Are Reshaping Artists' Touring Plans
By Steve Knopper
Small-to-medium-sized tours are having to cut costs in some way as rising fuel costs put the hurt on profit margins.
WTF with Marc Maron
WTF with Marc Maron: Episode 1313 -- Keith Richards
By Marc Maron and Keith Richards
It's been almost seven years since Marc smoked a cigarette with Keith Richards in a radio studio in New York City. Since then, Keith gave up smoking, continued to tour with the Rolling Stones, and released multiple new albums. Marc and Keith catch up on all of that and talk about the passing of Keith's friend and bandmate Charlie Watts.
The New York Observer
The Unclassifiable, Unending Cascade of Arthur Russell's Music
By Sasha Frere-Jones
Russell made club tracks, orchestral music, and songs that sounded like Jimi Hendrix ballads for distorted cello. He was too gentle to be difficult, too serious to be pop, and too prolific to pick a lane.
what we're into
Music of the day
"Vidsutni"
Katarina Gryvul
From "Tysha," out now on Standard Deviation. Tysha is Ukrainian for silence. "I feel guilty," Gryvul said shortly after war broke out in Ukraine, "because I'm safe and someone is dying at the moment."
Video of the day
"Katarina Gryvul live for U n i c o r n"
Katarina Gryvul
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