Welcome back to the newsletter. Below are some things I’ve been checking out lately and listening to that have come in for review. Enjoy!
The National Independent Venue Association reports that the “Save Our Stages” Act is in Congress now, but it’s not law yet. If you’re interested, you can use the NIVA webpage to sign a letter to Congress, asking them to include it in the next COVID-19 bill.
Here’s Benediction playing the Black Cat in Washington, D.C. back in 1994. This is one of a few prints I scanned recently and added to the blog Tumblr page, where I have my new and old concert photography. More Benediction here.
The Staffsmen is a band I interviewed a little while ago, and the guys have been posting a lot of quick, short, animated videos on Instagram to give people little tastes of their album Cryptid. The clips are worth checking out.
Kreator, the German thrash band, has been doing some teasing of its fans on social media with a couple of animated videos (“you were a prisoner” and “your final day has begun“) that reference an old song from the group’s catalog, “Under the Guillotine.” What is this about? I don’t know.
Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols came out on Virgin Records 43 years ago last month. When I see Sir Richard Branson in the news regarding Virgin, Hyperloop, or SpaceShipTwo, I recall that Johnny Rotten got him arrested in 1977 when the Pistols played outside the Houses of Parliament.
Dune, or more specifically the music connected to it, is a subject I’ve written about in my ‘zine archives more than once. Over at Eos, there’s a piece detailing how features of the moon Titan are named after the Dune universe. That’s cool news for Dune nerds such as myself.
Recommended listening:
The death metal band Hate Eternal has released an instrumental version of its Upon Desolate Sands album.
Will Kimbrough has a folk album called Spring Break.
New Signs of Life is the album from Death Bells, an Australian rock band that moved to the States.
