“We don’t often hear about the poverty of musicians. There is a pop culture myth, particularly prevalent among the young, that music makes you rich, fame equals fortune, and that anyone who dwells in the magic realm of television, or has their visage in the pages of a magazine, must be reaping abundant financial reward. But only one in 10 records makes a profit, and even fewer of those make enough money to support the livelihoods of those involved.”
Tag: 12.10.04
Protests Rise Against Homophobic Jamaican Dancehall Stars
Jamaican dancehall music stars are flamboyantly homophobic in their music. “People have known about and protested against dancehall artists’ homophobic lyrics since the early 1990s, when Buju Banton had a Jamaican hit with Boom Bye-Bye, a song advocating shooting and burning homosexuals. In the past six months, however, the protest against homophobic dancehall has gained momentum. No one seems entirely sure why the campaign of letter-writing and event picketing, headed by UK pressure group OutRage!, has suddenly started yielding results, but you can only gawp at its new-found effectiveness.”
Dismay Agenda – Homophobe Invited By Bush To White House
The Alabama state legislator who has introduced a bill to ban books that “promote homosexuality” has been invited by George Bush to the White House. “Traditional family values are under attack. They’ve been under attack “for the last 40 years”. The enemy, this time, is not al-Qaida. The axis of evil is “Hollywood, the music industry”. We have an obligation to “save society from moral destruction”. We have to prevent liberal libarians and trendy teachers from “re-engineering society’s fabric in the minds of our children”. We have to “protect Alabamians”.
New La Scala In The Spotlight
La Scala’s reopening gets high marks from opening night attendees. “The uncontested stars of the evening were La Scala’s fully restored, resplendent auditorium and its brand-new, technologically advanced stage. Uncontested inside the theater, at any rate. Outside, amid the thousands of bystanders, there were vociferous protests against the expenditure of public funds on a cultural operation at a time of high unemployment and government cutbacks.”
Crossover – But To What?
Crossover classical dominates best-seller classical charts these days. But is it good for classical music? Or is it greasing the skids of decline? “Crossover is an imprecise term, covering classical pieces performed in a pop way, pop songs performed in a classical way, orchestral film soundtracks such as Howard Shore’s scores for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and easy-on-the-ear compilations with names like Classical Chillout Gold. Every one of the 20 biggest classical sellers of 2003 was crossover to some extent.”