Headlines for July 20, 2009
By: Christina Ivanowich
They Might Be Giants to release another kids' rock album
For those of us who have known They Might Be Giants since the '80s, it isn't much of a stretch; even when they do music for grown-ups it sounds like it belongs in a cartoon. After the Grammy-winning success of Here Come the 123's, the boys are readying their fourth children's album, Here Comes Science. With track titles like "Photosynthesis", "I Am A Paleontologist" and "My Brother The Ape", as well as a re-imagining of fan-favourite "Why Does the Sun Shine?"; Science sounds like to has the potential to be both fun and educational for young and old alike. The album and animated DVD come out September 1, and the band will be touring the U.S. from September to November, doing a variety of rock shows and children's shows to promote Here Comes Science (Billboard's tour schedule here). They have also announced a new, more traditional yet untraditional, rock album, which is expected to be released in the spring.
What's a pub without music?
In a highly questionable move, it appears that the British government will continue to uphold new regulation which is making it difficult for pubs and small venues throughout Britain to host live music. The law, passed in 2003, states that a pub, etc, must have a special license called a Temporary Event Notice (TEN) for each performer at their venue, but many owners are forgoing live music due to the cost and hassle of obtaining the permit. The licensing and fees also apply to non-profit and charity events, eating up much of their revenue. According to independent.co.uk, the matter is further complicated in London, where a form 696 must be submitted by the venue; until a recent re-write, the form required the racial description and contact information of each performer. Understandably, this has many people angry over racial profiling and discrimination. London's Metropolitan Police say the form is a "risk assessment", and is not intended to discriminate against anyone, but is used to assess whether a particular show is "likely to be a threat to law and order". The matter is not yet dead; Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, stated last week that they will "revisit the issue, but not for ‘at least a year'", and protests and petitions are ongoing. But this sounds like a real loss for the British music scene.
Update: Madonna stage collapse leads to criminal probe?
As reported here last week, the stage being erected for Madonna's concert at the Velodrome in Marseilles, France collapsed on Thursday (July 16). Rolling Stone reports that the death toll has since been increased to two, with dozens injured, and now the search begins for someone to blame. The strange thing is, the staging company responsible for the contract, E S Group, is the same company Madonna's ‘people' used to erect a stage at Dodger Stadium in L.A. in November 2008, which also collapsed! (If you had a house built and it collapsed, would you hire the same contractors to build the next one? Not likely...) Prosecutors in France have begun a manslaughter investigation into the incident, but a statement from E S Group calls it "normal practice for such an incident" and downplays any connection between this accident and the one in 2008. Well, they would have to, wouldn't they?
