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18 Jan 2023

Senate Ticketmaster Hearing on Taylor Swift Ticket Fiasco Gets a Date

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. EST examining the ticketing industry and Ticketmaster’s handling of the Taylor Swift ticket sale, Senator Amy Klobuchar‘s (D-MN) office announced.

Titled “That’s The Ticket: Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers in Live Entertainment,” the hearing will look at accusations of anti-competitive behavior in the ticketing space and examine the history of the 2010 Department of Justice consent decree governing the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

The merger has long been criticized by members of both parties with Klobuchar recently identifying the Swift crash as an example of how “Ticketmaster’s power in the primary ticket market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services.”

The Nov. 15 sale crash, which affected both Ticketmaster and its competitor SeakGeek, was the result of massive demand from Taylor Swift fans and an illegal bot attack, Ticketmaster wrote in a Nov. 15 blog post.

Klobuchar, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, will be joined at the hearing by ranking member Mike Lee (R-UT) for the hearing before the full Senate Judiciary Committee with Chair Dick Durbin (D-IL) and incoming ranking member Lindsey Graham (R-SC).

“The issues within America’s ticketing industry were made painfully obvious when Ticketmaster’s website failed hundreds of thousands of fans hoping to purchase tickets for Taylor Swift’s new tour, but these problems are not new. For too long, consumers have faced high fees, long waits, and website failures, and Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company faces inadequate pressure to innovate and improve,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “At next week’s hearing, we will examine how consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industries harms customers and artists alike. Without competition to incentivize better services and fair prices, we all suffer the consequences.”

“American consumers deserve the benefit of competition in every market, from grocery chains to concert venues,” Lee added. “I look forward to exercising our subcommittee’s oversight authority to ensure that anticompetitive mergers and exclusionary conduct are not crippling an entertainment industry already struggling to recover from pandemic lockdowns.”

“It’s been more than a decade since Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation, and competition in the ticketing and live entertainment industries has only gotten worse. Too often, consumers are the ones who pay the price for this market failure,” said Durbin. “I look forward to this hearing to explore what led to this environment, as well as steps we can take to bring competition back to these industries in a way that puts fans and artists first.”

“I’m glad to see the committee will look into the Ticketmaster debacle,” said Graham. “I look forward to hearing more about how we got here, and identifying solutions.”

A witness list has not been released for the Jan. 24 hearing. A spokesperson for Ticketmaster did not comment when asked about the upcoming hearing.

18 Jan 2023

Boygenius Surprise Drops 3 New Songs & Announces Highly Anticipated Debut Album

After five years of wishing, hoping and praying for new music from Boygenius — the indie rock supergroup comprised of Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker — fans finally have cause to rejoice. On Wednesday (Jan. 18), the trio dropped three surprise new songs and, at last, announced their upcoming debut album via Interscope, a highly anticipated follow-up to their beloved 2018 self-titled EP.

None of the three musicians gave fans any sort of heads-up leading up to their comeback, nor had they given any hint that a full-length album was in the works. (The only indication that something was brewing was an announcement a week prior that they’d be performing together for the first time in years at Coachella 2023.) Instead, Bridgers, Dacus and Baker simply posted Spotify links to the new singles — titled “$20,” “Emily I’m Sorry” and “True Blue” — on Instagram Stories.

News of Boygenius’ return was also run in a Rolling Stone article, which revealed The Record‘s track list and release date: March 31. The article also revealed that Bridgers had initiated a band reunion right after her 2020 sophomore solo record, Punisher, was released.

According to the publication, she’d sent Dacus and Baker “Emily I’m Sorry” after writing it alone, asking them, “Can we be a band again?”

“We were all nervous to bring it up,” Bridgers said. “We all thought that we were more excited than the other person.”

The track list for The Record is as follows:

  1. “Without You Without Them”
  2. “Emily I’m Sorry”
  3. “True Blue”
  4. “Cool About It”
  5. “Not Strong Enough”
  6. “Revolution 0”
  7. “Leonard Cohen”
  8. “Satanist”
  9. “We’re in Love”
  10. “Anti-Curse”
  11. “Letter to an Old Poet”

Listen to “$20,” “Emily I’m Sorry” and “True Blue” below:

18 Jan 2023

Vaultboy Unmasks His Struggles with Anxiety and Depression

In January 2021, pop artist vaultboy teased his single, “everything sucks,” on TikTok as part of a challenge titled “writing a song everyday and posting it.” On day 12 of the challenge, the video hit three million views and the rest is history. vaultboy’s debut single has now reached over 140 million streams on Spotify and he’s been steadily growing ever since. The Jacksonville, FL native chose his moniker after being inspired by a character in his favorite video game series, Fallout. 

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This month, vaultboy is featured on Sound Mind’s latest episode of Unmasked, a video series that features artists opening up about their personal mental health journeys. In the new episode, he speaks out about his own struggle with anxiety and depression. 

“The amount of people silently struggling with mental health issues is immeasurable. We’re all going through this similar thing, to different degrees, and sometimes we need to be reminded that this fight isn’t our own,” he told Billboard. 

In early 2022, vaultboy was experiencing massive success in music, but was also feeling very depressed and struggling to appreciate where he was at in life. He channeled those feelings into songwriting and wrote more honest, vulnerable tracks. The latest episode of Unmasked includes never-before-seen footage of vaultboy recording some of his most personal lyrics to-date. 

vaultboy strives to be a mental health advocate for his fanbase and believes in the importance of destigmatizing the difficult conversations that mental health discussions can bring.

“The most important thing for me is keeping the conversation around mental health in the light and normalizing checking in with each other and ourselves,” he continued. By keeping this conversation in the forefront of our culture, we can make it easier for people to be aware of when and how to get care.”

Unmasked is focused on promoting mental health resources, as well as fostering an open dialogue about mental health for artists and audiences alike. Check out vaultboy on the latest episode of Unmasked above and stay tuned for more from Sound Mind. 

This content was created in partnership with Sound Mind. 

18 Jan 2023

A$AP Rocky Teases Rihanna’s ‘Going to Bring It’ for Her Super Bowl Halftime Show

Her biggest fan! A$AP Rocky dished on just how much he’s looking forward to Rihanna‘s Super Bowl Halftime Show in a new interview on Wednesday (Jan. 18), and teased that she’s going to impress.

“Oh, man. I’m just as excited as you guys, if not more,” he told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “Yeah, I’m super excited. This is huge. This is incredible. I’m so glad that my lady’s back making music again and whatnot, and getting back out there.”

“It’s just incredible,” the rapper continued. “Especially for both of us — it is a good year for both of us to be more active and be out there. But the Super Bowl is huge, and her being the creative she is, she going to bring it, man. I’m excited. I’m more excited than everybody else, honestly.”

RiRi’s big game-day performance may still be a few weeks away, but she’s already released a teaser for the show as well as a limited edition Savage X Fenty Game Day collection filled with merch for fans to wear as they watch her return to the stage after a six-year hiatus.

During the interview, Rocky also opened up about what it’s been like becoming a father. “I’m a member of our club now, like the dad club. You see a dad, you see me. I’m playing on, I’m a full dad now,” said the rapper, who welcomed a son with Rihanna in May. “Being outside and working and being creative, it drives more energy for you to obviously to think and soak things up like a sponge now that I’m a dad, because I have a whole ‘nother perspective. But it honestly helps you get home to your family and get home to your baby. And I can’t even explain it, man. You come home to heaven every day. I’m so thankful. God is good, man.”

18 Jan 2023

University Of Alabama Darius Miles Charged With Providing Man With Gun Used In Fatal Shooting

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Alabama v LSU

Darius Miles, a player for the University of Alabama’s men’s basketball team, has been charged with capital murder after investigators uncovered details of a fatal shooting that occurred over the weekend. According to police reports and reporting from news outlets, Miles provided the gun used in the shooting to another man.

Darius Miles, 21, was a junior for the Crimson Tide and hails from Washington, D.C. As reported by ESPN, Miles and Michael Lynn Davis, 20, were both charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Jamea Harris, who was 23. The crime took place at a popular area near Alabama’s Tuscaloosa campus grounds known as the Strip.

Both Miles and Davis are both currently in the Tuscaloosa County jail and may remind there up to two months before a hearing could take place according to Tuscaloosa police Capt. Jack Kennedy.

Officials from Alabama issued a statement to the public stating that Miles was removed from the team and they last played Tuesday (Jan. 17) against Vanderbilt, winning the contest 78-66. Vanderbilt coach and former NBA star Jerry Stackhouse spoke about the difficulty Alabama faces currently and tried to rally his players together to play the game ahead of the contest.

A statement from Miles’ legal team professed the former player’s innocence.

“While Darius has been accused of being involved with this tragedy, he maintains his innocence and looks forward to his day in court,” Miles legal team, William White, Clayton Tartt, and Suzanne Norman from the Birmingham-based Boles Holmes White law firm, shared in the statement. “Our firm’s own investigation is ongoing, and no further statement will be made at this time.”

There is another former NBA star named Darius Miles, now the co-host of The Knuckleheads podcast, but there doesn’t appear any relation between the 41-year-old to the former Alabama player.

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Photo: Jonathan Bachman / Getty

18 Jan 2023

A$AP Rocky Honors Hip-Hop Artists Who Recently Died With New Song ‘Same Problems?’: Listen

Fresh off celebrating the 10 year anniversary of his debut studio album Long. Live. ASAP, A$AP Rocky is giving fans a taste of new music, all while honoring people within the hip-hop community who have died in recent years by releasing his new track “Same Problems?”

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The song — which Rocky debuted in December as part of his Amazon Music Live Thursday Night Football performance — sees the rapper getting introspective about the role he’s potentially played in perpetuating violence in rap music.

“How many problems get solved?/ Am I a product of things that I saw?/ How many problems get solved?/ Am I proud of the things in my songs?” he muses in the chorus.

The song also arrives on the eight-year anniversary of A$AP Yams’ death. The 26-year-old founding member of A$AP Mob died of acute mixed drug intoxication in January 2015.

Speaking with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe about the track, A$AP revealed that he wrote the song because he “was feeling remorse.”

“I think I was feeling plight. I think I was also feeling a sense of guilt, because every time we lose somebody in our community, we all — especially me — have a habit of just saying things like, ‘It’s messed up. It’s wrong. Why do these kind of things happen?’” he shared. “You ask a bunch of questions and usually … I never took time out to really understand that I was part of the problem because I was contributing those kind of lyrics and whatnot to songs.”

He continued, “Without preaching too much, I just wanted to touch on something a bit different opposed to just being braggadocios, flamboyant and just regular rap content for me. I just kind of wanted to express myself and tell how I felt without preaching. And I think we can all relate. We all got the same problems. The irony that my biggest hit to date was … My first hit was’ ‘F—in’ Problems.’ And now, 10 years later exactly, I’m putting out a song named ‘S’ame Problems.’ It’s just like problems, problems, you know what I mean?”

As for the 34-year-old’s forthcoming, yet-to-be-titled album, he assured Lowe that it is indeed on the way. “It’s coming. It’s finished and we just putting the finishing touches on it,” he said. “The new stuff is me being vulnerable, and it’s just no filter, and just where I’m at, at my stage. My age and how I see things, my peers, the younger kids, the older cats, it’s just my perspective.”

Listen to “Same Problems” in the video above.

18 Jan 2023

El Chapo Sends “SOS” To Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

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MEXICO-FORBES LIST-DRUG TRAFFICKING-GUZMAN

Source: STR / Getty

It looks like notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is plotting his next great escape from a maximum-security prison. But instead of having his henchmen break him out, El Chapo is appealing to the President of Mexico to help him regain his freedom.

Raw Story is reporting that the former head of the Sinaloa drug cartel has been suffering “psychological torment” in the U.S. prison he’s currently being held at according to his Mexico-based lawyer, Jose Refugio Rodriguez. And “In the six years that Joaquin has been in the United States, he has not seen the sun.”

Naturally we doubt that anyone will be losing any sleep over the fact that El Chapo isn’t getting enough time to shine in the sun, but some feel the statement was a cry for help to get the drug lord some governmental assistance.

The message, described as “an SOS,” was transmitted via one of Guzman’s lawyers in the United States as well as his family, Rodriguez said.

Guzman is only allowed outside three times a week to a small area where he “doesn’t get the sun,” and has fewer visits or phone calls than other inmates, the lawyer said in an interview with Radio Formula.

Stating that the lack of vitamin D from the sun is taking it’s toll on El Chapo’s physical health, Rodriguez wrote an email to the Mexican embassy in the U.S. in hopes of getting some kind of help for his client’s current situation. Ultimately, El Chapo wants Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador to “address alleged procedural violations during his extradition in 2017 under the former government.”

Good look with that, papa.

Needless to say, the complaint from Rodriguez doesn’t seem to be swaying Mexican officials to intervene in the situation, or even poke around as El Chapo ran arguably the most violent and murderous drug cartel in Mexico’s history.

Without referring to the content of the email, Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard downplayed the chance of any government intercession in favor of the notorious drug trafficker. “He is serving a sentence there, he has a sentence,” he told journalists. “So, frankly I don’t see any possibilities for him, but I’m going to review it with the prosecutor’s office.”

Cue Bill Withers “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

18 Jan 2023

Golden State Warriors & Oakland Hip-Hop Legends Visit White House

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US President Joe Biden Golden State Warriors

Source: The Washington Post / Getty

The Golden State Warriors were guests of honor at the White House to celebrate their championship, with E-40, Too Short & other legends from the Bay in attendance as well.

On Tuesday afternoon (Jan. 17th), the White House was buzzing with excitement as the Warriors were on hand to celebrate their 2021-2022 NBA championship at a ceremony held by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The crowd also boasted Hip-Hop royalty from the Bay Area, as E-40, Too Short, and Mister F.A.B. along with media personality Sway Calloway were present for the reception.

Superstar point guard Stephen Curry presented President Biden and Vice President Harris with customized team jerseys. Vice President Harris beamed as she introduced the team. “As a very proud daughter of Oakland, California, it gives me immense personal pride as the vice president of the United States to say, Dub Nation is in the house,” she said. She joked about her jersey which bore the number one, remarking that it’s because she’s the number one fan. Curry joked that he wanted the jersey to be up on the wall of the Oval Office. “Hopefully we can come back and check if it’s up there,” he said. 

It was the first time since 2015 that the Warriors were honored at the White House. Former president Donald Trump publicly disinvited the team in 2017 after Curry had stated that he wasn’t interested in visiting. The Warriors also weren’t invited after their 2018 championship win. President Biden addressed that in his comments, saying: “The Golden State Warriors are always welcome in this White House.” Earlier in the day, Curry and coach Steve Kerr addressed reporters in the White House briefing room, with Curry thanking the administration for their efforts in bringing WNBA star Brittney Griner home from imprisonment in Russia late last year.

The Bay’s best rappers have long been avid supporters of the Warriors, with E-40 and Mistah F.A.B being constant fixtures at home games at the Chase Center in downtown San Francisco and prior to that, at the Oakland Coliseum. They were spotted taking numerous photos with Harris, along with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who is now a member of the Biden administration.

18 Jan 2023

Dua Lipa Named Met Gala 2023 Co-Chair

Glitter in her eyes, glitter in the sky, Dua Lipa will be shining just the way she likes at this year’s Met Gala. As announced by Vogue on Wednesday (Jan. 18), the 27-year-old pop star has signed on to be one of four 2023 co-chairs for the A-list fashion event that comes around every first Monday in May.

Joining the pop star as fellow co-chairs are Penélope Cruz, Michaela Coel and Roger Federer, a lineup that spans “every realm of popular culture,” according to Vogue. The four of them will assist Anna Wintour in planning a night based around this year’s theme — Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty — which pays tribute to the late German fashion designer.

The “Levitating” singer posted the news on her Instagram account, writing, “Excited to announce that I am one of the #MetGala 2023 Co-Chairs… See you for the First Monday in May #CostumeInstitute Benefit ?”

As explained by Dua further down in her post, this year’s gala will celebrate the May 5 opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” exhibit. Every year, the exclusive event also provides the museum’s Costume Institute with its primary source of annual funding.

“Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty” will showcase more than 150 original looks designed by Lagerfeld, who died at 85 years old in 2019, delving into the former Chanel creative director’s expansive seven-decade career. Many of his original sketches are also set to appear alongside the objects on display.

Last year’s Met Gala, themed “In America: An Anthology of Fashion,” was co-chaired by Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds, Regina King and Lin-Manuel Miranda. So far, Dua has attended the event just once, making her Met Gala debut in 2019 dressed in Versace for that year’s theme, “Camp: Notes on Fashion.”

See Dua Lipa’s post about co-chairing this year’s Met Gala below: