I think we’ve all probably paid a little more than we wanted to for a concert ticket before.
But lately, it seems like the prices get higher and higher every time a new show goes on sale, with several big artists announcing huge tours in the last few weeks that are already at absolutely astronomical prices.
Just a couple weeks ago, for example, George Strait announced seven stadium shows with Chris Stapleton, and those presale tickets were already starting at around $500 a piece, ranging easily into the thousands for the best seats in the house.
I’m sure inflation plays a small part in that too, but this has been an issue that’s been around since companies like Ticketmaster became the main distributer of event tickets, as opposed to people actually having to go wait in line or call a venue directly to buy them.
And their Dynamic Pricing, which leaves a certain percentage of tickets to have pricing determined by the demand, guarantees that a hot ticket will run fans thousands and thousands of dollars.
And outside of country music, artists like Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift have drawn criticism over their insanely high ticket prices lately, but unfortunately, a lot of the prices and sales are completely out of their hands.
Swifties were even calling for the Justice Department to shut down Ticketmaster:
Sure, they have some say in terms of how much or little they want their shows to cost, but ultimately, Ticketmaster can tack on whatever fees they want to jack up the prices and make a large profit, in addition to allowing scalpers to resale tickets on their site which is the real issue here.
We’ve all seen the pointless “service fees” that easily add an extra $20-$30 plus to a ticket, which is all regulated by the ticketing giant. And it’s not just them, plenty of other ticketing sites do the same thing to maximize their profit, but they’re by far the biggest and most recognizable in the music industry and beyond.
According to More Perfect Union, Ticketmaster’s scam fees now cost as much as 78% of a ticket, which is just mind boggling to think about paying over triple the price of what a ticket is really worth:
“Ticketmaster’s scam fees now cost as much as 78% of a ticket. The company controls the events, the venues, even the artists and it’s destroying live music.”
We’ve seen country artists like Eric Church try and do what he can to ensure more fans and less scalpers get ahold of tickets, which involves a pretty complex process and joining his fan club with a lot of tedious steps, but by and large, it’s the best attempt I’ve seen of an artist trying to keep prices low for their fans.
With country being such a tour-heavy industry, it can be incredibly frustrating for people who, even if they’re ready to buy tickets as soon as they go live, end up losing to bots and programs run by scalpers to snag those tickets as quick as they go on sale.
And a few days ago, President Joe Biden announced that the Federal Trade Commission is working on regulations aimed at cracking down on these kinds of fees, specifically mentioning those that come along with buying concert tickets:
“And we’re just getting started. There are tens of billions of dollars in other junk fees across the economy, I’ve directed my administration to reduce or eliminate them.
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission started work on a rule to crack down on unfair and deceptive fees, across all industries. Fees that were never disclosed. Never disclosed.
And there was no way to avoid the fee, like processing fees for concert tickets.”
Zach Bryan then quote tweeted that clip, saying:
“BIDEN AINT A HOMIE BUT ALL MY HOMIES HATE TICKETMASTER.”
A week or so ago, Zach drew the ire of fans who were understandably complaining to him on Twitter about the crazy mark up for his concert tickets.
Notably, his upcoming show at Red Rocks has them running easily in the $2,000-plus range, which is beyond what any person should every pay to see anybody perform live, and I think Zach would agree with that.
He acknowledged how outrages it was himself, noting that there really wasn’t much he could do and that it’s, unfortunately, mostly out of his hands:
not trying to be an ass, just done my research and asked a lot of fans what they’ve paid for tickets after a few my shows, this isn’t directed at you personally at all
He continued, adding that he makes no money off of the resale tickets (which is 100% true), and saying he wished he could be his own ticketing distributor at will call in every city… isn’t that the dream.
Here’s some of his other tweets about Ticketmaster and the ticket price problem plaguing the music industry right now:
also want to make it clear that resale ticket prices have no correlation in how much I get from shows! I have consistently tried so so so hard to make tickets as cheap as they could possibly be https://t.co/RZghpHhlJU
And thanks to our friends over at Country Central, it looks like they’ve already got an album cover ready to go:
If only…
Of course, the federal government enforcing regulations in any industry can be a slippery slope, so it’s unclear what exactly the FTC is going to realistically do in order to quell this issue.
Really, at the end of the day, it’s unfair to the artists and the fans, because the artists make none of the profit from the resale market, either.
It just simply sucks that hard working people are forced to choose to pay these ridiculous prices to see their favorite artist who rolls through town maybe once a year if they’re lucky, or not go at all.
And it remains to be seen if and when these new regulations will even help keep ticket prices at bay, so stay tuned, because I have a feeling there will be much more on this in the coming months.
FFF week 9: Invest in energy-efficient appliances.
I would like to contribute to FFF (Fridays for Future) in my own way: by sharing one concrete action per week that YOU can do, and which I have done, for combating climate change.
Invest in energy-efficient appliances.
WHY: Since energy-efficient appliances were first implemented nationally in the US in 1987, efficiency standards for dozens of appliances and products have kept 2.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide out of the air. That’s about the same amount as the annual carbon pollution coughed up by nearly 440 million cars.
WHAT CAN I DO: “Energy efficiency is the lowest-cost way to reduce emissions. Change only happens when individuals take action,” Aliya Haq, deputy director of NRDC’s Clean Power Plan initiative, says.. When shopping for refrigerators, washing machines, and other appliances, look for the Energy Star label. It will tell you which are the most efficient.
Taylor Swift 2023 ‘Eras Tour:’ Pop star announces stadium tour with stop in Seattle
Taylor Swift has officially announced new concert dates for 2023, including a stop at Lumen Field in Seattle. The pop star released her album ‘Midnights’ last month to critical acclaim.
SEATTLE – Taylor Swift has officially announced new concert dates for 2023, including a stop at Lumen Field in Seattle.
The pop star’s highly anticipated stadium tour, entitled “Eras Tour,” will kick off next March in Glendale, Arizona and run through August, concluding in Los Angeles.
“I’m enchanted to announce my next tour: Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, a journey through the musical eras of my career (past & present!) The first leg of the tour will be in stadiums across the US, with international dates to be announced as soon as we can!” the musician wrote on her Twitter on Tuesday.
The Seattle concert will be at Lumen Field on July 22 with Haim and Gracie Abrams.
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE – SEPTEMBER 20: NSAI Songwriter-Artist of the Decade honoree, Taylor Swift performs onstage during NSAI 2022 Nashville Songwriter Awards at Ryman Auditorium on September 20, 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/Get
Other West Coast stops include Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. on July 29 and SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Aug. 4 and 5.
The “Feeling like the luckiest person alive. I can’t WAIT to see you. It’s been a long time coming.”
Swift also announced a slew of opening artists that she will be taking on the road with her, including Paramore, Haim and Phoebe Bridgers.
Tickets go on sale to the public on Nov. 18. There will also be a Ticketmaster Verified Fan program “to ensure tickets get into the hands of fans.”
Swift’s announcement also promised that international dates will follow.
RELATED: Taylor Swift becomes first artist to claim Billboard Hot 100’s top 10 songs in single week
Recently, Swift made music history when 10 songs from her new album, “Midnights,” charted in the top 10 songs of Billboard’s Hot 100 in a single week. Swift is the first musician to achieve this feat, according to Billboard.
The “Blank Space” singer took to Twitter to record her reaction to the news.
“10 out of 10 of the Hot 100??? On my 10th album??? I AM IN SHAMBLES,” the singer-songwriter wrote.
RELATED: Spotify crowns Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’ as most-streamed artist, most-streamed album
“Midnights” broke Spotify’s record for the most-streamed album in a single day when it debuted on Oct. 21.
“How did I get this lucky, having you guys out here doing something this mind blowing?!” Swift tweeted at the time. “Like what even just happened??!?!”
RELATED: Taylor Swift course to be offered at University of Texas
FOX News contributed to this report. Get more from FOX News entertainment.
Arriving early October, “Life Support” is the first release from Belle Mt. (pronounced ‘Belle Mont’) in a while. Belle Mt. are an alt-pop trio from London.
Their music is both sonically pleasing and lyrically poetic. With “Life Support”, they created an indie-rock tune with an intriguingly cryptic meaning.
Band member Matt. Belmont reveals, “‘Life Support’ was written in the midst of what may have been the most chaotic 12 months in modern US history. There I was in mid 2019 planning my own move from London to Nashville (intended for mid 2020) while watching escalating US civil unrest and division on the TV, I was torn between that image of America and the inspiration and warmth I feel when I visit the US to write, record and perform. As I sat down to write about this I was determined that I didn’t want it to feel like I was kicking America when she was down, I toyed with the idea of using a metaphor and the scene in the song came to me; America cast in the role of the girl on Life Support and myself as the confused & delusional patient who has wandered out from the safety of the psych ward and ended up at her bedside. Convincing myself that we should be together with a vision informed only by one rosy picture I see on her bedside table illustrating an idealised vision of the past, determined not to give up on her and to see her returned to that.”
Listen to “Life Support: and keep up with Belle Mt. on Instagram.
Chameleonic electronic music futurists Tangerine Dream built their enviable reputation upon groundbreaking proto-ambient 70s classics Zeit, Phaedra, and Rubycon, yet, to their credit, they refused to rest on their laurels. During the early 80s, the West Berlin-based trio enthusiastically embraced the ever-evolving possibilities of digital technology. This soon spilled over into their releases from this era, such as Exit and White Eagle, which included sleek and atypically pop-oriented tracks the likes of “Choronzon,” “Network 23” and “Midnight In Tula.” The sound of the band’s next studio LP, September 1983’s Hyperborea, was also influenced by new technological advancements. Indeed, in the lead-up to recording the album, TD mainstays Edgar Froese and Johannes Schmoelling acquired two of the first waveform-sampling computers on the market. These units meant the band could create independent structures and rhythms, and store everything on (then) extremely state-of-the-art floppy disks.
Listen to Hyperborea on Apple Music and Spotify.
Schmoelling later recalled this period with fondness in a 1994 interview with journalist Mark Prendergast, which now features on the TD fan site Voices In The Net. “Hyperborea was determined by the new generation of digital synthesizers and sampling technology,” he admitted. “We were able to memorize sounds and used a lot of sampled drum sounds. We invented new rhythm structures by using a special arpeggiator technique and so on.”
Released in late 1983, Hyperborea performed respectably, peaking at No. 45 in the UK; a solid, intermittently inspired record, it featured a couple of unlikely, yet pleasant sonic diversions.
The record’s title derived from Greek mythology. “Hyperborea” was a realm “beyond the North Wind” and was believed to be a paradise of sorts: a mythical, idyllic land where the sun shone 24 hours a day. Accordingly, much of Hyperborea’s music was also hot and humid, though two of the LP’s four tracks were superficially influenced by India rather than Greece.
Arguably the record’s highlight, the shimmering, psych-tinged “No Man’s Land” was reputedly inspired by the soundtrack from Gandhi. Fittingly, it was built around tabla-style beats and insistent drones, and featured prominent sitar from Edgar Froese, as did the sultry, sequencer-led “Cinnamon Road,” chosen as the LP’s spin-off 45. Though lacking in similar Eastern promise, the measured title track meanwhile represented Tangerine Dream at their most dignified and courtly, while the inscrutable “Sphinx Lightning,” with its dramatic chords, tolling bells, and rhythmic shifts, bade a final farewell to the experimental, 20-minute epics which had been synonymous with the group since 1971’s Alpha Centauri.
As it turned out, Hyperborea also brought the curtain down on TD’s remarkable decade-long association with Virgin Records, yet unemployment was never on the cards for Edgar Froese and co. Indeed, by the time they recorded 1985’s Le Parc for Clive Calder’s Jive Electro imprint, the group had also taken Hollywood by storm and soundtracked several movies, including the rom-com Risky Business, featuring Tom Cruise in his first major starring role.
The 16CD and double-Blu-ray release, In Search Of Hades: The Virgin Recordings 1973-1979 is out now and can be bought here.
For the latest music news and exclusive features, check out uDiscover Music.
uDiscover Music is operated by Universal Music Group (UMG). Some recording artists included in uDiscover Music articles are affiliated with UMG.
On a cold, dark, winter’s evening, set the scene with the perfect classical Halloween soundtrack. We’ve unearthed the top 20 totally terrifying pieces from the darkest, grisliest corners of the classical canon. Scroll down to discover our selection of the best classical music masterpieces for Halloween – if you dare!
Listen to Halloween Classics on Spotify and scroll down to discover our selection of the best classical music for Halloween.
20: Prokofiev: ‘Montagues and Capulets’ from Romeo and Juliet
Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet is a dramatic musical interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy. The well-known theme from ‘Montagues and Capulets’ depicts the dreadful conflict between these families, which, as we all know, has lethal consequences. The music is driven by an imposing brass section, which marches slowly and somberly, whilst gravelly strings and military-like percussion add a grim sense of foreboding. This piece is also guaranteed to strike terror into the hearts of prospective business partners (as it’s famously used as the theme tune for the BBC show The Apprentice).
19: Dvořák: The Water Goblin
The Water Goblin, an impish symphonic poem, makes for ideal Halloween listening. Dvořák was inspired by this malicious creature of European folklore, said to be responsible for drownings in his watery kingdom, and in particular a poem by Karel Erben. In Erben’s telling of the tale, the goblin kills his own child as punishment for his wife, who escaped him. Dvořák’s characterful score features skittish strings, which creep and leap about, underpinned by harmonic clashes and cruelly-intended brass.
18: Purcell: ‘When I am Laid in Earth’ from Dido and Aeneas
A haunting meditation on the inevitability of death. Having resolved to end her own life, this aria, known as ‘Dido’s Lament’, is an outpouring of grief. The angelic soprano floats hopelessly over a slowly chromatically descending ground bass. The poignant phrase, “remember me” is repeated throughout, etching itself into the memory and returning to haunt the listener from beyond Dido’s grave.
17: Ravel: Gaspard de la Nuit
Ravel’s devilishly beautiful, daringly difficult, piece for solo piano is based on a set of poems and drawings by Aloysius Bertrand, where ‘Gaspard’ is a moniker for Satan. The first movement, Ondine, musically describes a water nymph’s attempts to seduce a man; the second, Le Gibet, depicts the corpse of a dead man hanging on a gibbet; and finally, Scarbo, is about an evil goblin who torments his victims with terrible tricks. In the composer’s own words: “Gaspard has been a devil in coming, but that is only logical since it was he who is the author of the poems.”
16: Shostakovich: ‘Allegro’ from Symphony No. 10
Shostakovich is renowned for his experimentalist, modernistic idiom, as the third movement of his epic tenth symphony attests. A nightmarish headache for performers, this piece is a swirling cacophony of freakish noises: manic strings, shrieking woodwind, grating percussion, angular brass and a whirlwind of uncomfortably unresolved harmonic progressions. Guaranteed to add drama and theatre to your Halloween.
15: Ligeti: Atmosphères
Ever the modernist, Ligeti’s Atmosphères tears up the rule book and is perhaps more of a foray into sound design than a piece of classical music. Dense, scraping textures, experiments with timbre and harmonic clusters make for a chilling, nails-down-a-blackboard feel to the piece, with no sense of rhythm or metre to guide the lost, vulnerable listener. Perfect for spooky scene-setting – indeed Atmosphères famously featured in Stanley Kubrick’s film, 2001: A Space Odyssey – and one of the best pieces of classical music for Halloween.
14: Schubert: Der Erlkönig
Der Erlkönig is one of Schubert’s grislier lieder. The text of Johann van Goethe’s poem tells a tale of a child and his father, pursued by a supernatural being, the Erlking. Schubert paints Goethe’s text vividly: the notoriously fiendish piano part depicts the relentless beating of horse’s hooves, whilst the voice captures increasingly frantic cries from the child and the sweet luring tones of the Erlking, who eventually claims the boy’s life.
13: Rachmaninov: Isle Of The Dead
In this ghostly symphonic poem, one of the best pieces of classical music for Halloween, Rachmaninov creates a stunning yet desolate sonic landscape through masterful use of instrumentation and musical symbolism. Swelling lower strings, irregular surges in the 5/8 time signature and deep, shadowy brass depict oars dragging a small boat through the waters surrounding the Isle Of The Dead. The unnervingly quiet introduction is followed by a quotation of the Dies Irae (meaning ‘Day of Wrath’) plainchant, evoking a sense of hopelessness that this journey will inevitably end in a watery grave.
12: Wagner: Concert Highlights from Götterdämmerung
Götterdämmerung (‘Twilight of the Gods’) from Wagner’s monstrous Ring Cycle, Der Ring des Nibelungen, is the ideal soundtrack for a spooky Halloween eve. The concert orchestral version is a wicked delight, with Wagner’s complex and twisted compositional idiom showcased in a disturbingly dark orchestral palette. The score is so heavy and dense, with its epic brass section and brusque lower strings, that it barely lets in the light of day.
11: Bach: Toccata And Fugue In D Minor
Something about the opening notes of Bach’s Toccata And Fugue In D Minor instantly strikes fear in the listener. Perhaps it’s the blazing pipes of the Draculean organ, or the eerie silences between phrases. Perhaps it’s the villainous semitonal melody, or the rumbling bass pedals beneath, that will raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Beyond this infamously bloodcurdling theme, Bach composes a dramatic and powerful toccata and fugue, which must be executed with demonic virtuosity.
10: Holst: ‘Mars – The Bringer of War’ From The Planets
Holst’s musical characterisation of the Red Planet is as dramatic and powerful as it is chilling. Holst builds suspense with brittle chugging col legno strings, undulating woodwind, vast crescendi, violent percussion and awesome lower brass. The distinct lack of regular pulse, obscured by the jagged 5/4 metre, leaves the listener feeling insignificant and lost in an orchestral cacophony.
9: Liszt: Totentanz
Meaning ‘Dance of Death’, Totentanz is one of many pieces in Liszt’s oeuvre that points to his fascination with mortality, the afterlife, and the dichotomy of heaven and hell. Totentanz is an unapologetically virtuosic piece for piano with accompanying orchestra, based on the Dies Irae plainchant in 6 variations. In the unrelenting piano part, Liszt plays with light and shade: raging, almost violent passages, with harsh harmonic progressions, are contrasted with lighter, even beautiful, moments.
8: Grieg: ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain King’ From Peer Gynt
The epic finale to Grieg’s ‘In The Hall Of The Mountain King’ is one epic crescendo. The musical narrative follows Peer Gynt on his adventure through the Kingdom of the Trolls. Tiptoeing pizzicato strings introduce the well-known main theme to one of the best pieces of classical music for Halloween. This theme is repeated through and endlessly builds, intensifies, quickens and crescendos through the orchestra into an almighty frenetic climax. Finally, the choir enter as the Peer is carried away by a malevolent king, echoing the words: “Slay him! Slay him!”
7: Chopin: Piano Sonata No.2 In Bb Minor
The third movement of Chopin’s Piano Sonata No.2 In Bb Minor, or as it is better known, The Funeral March is inextricably linked to mortality. The somber, heavy footsteps of the mourners in the bass of the piano are both heart-breaking and blood-freezing: a sound that has become synonymous with death. This cold, jarring theme is developed throughout the movement, momentarily contrasted with a pastoral trio section, before the funeral theme returns, signifying the omnipresent inevitability of death. This is one of the best pieces of classical music for Halloween and one of the darkest Chopin ever wrote: it was also played at the composer’s own funeral.
6: Mozart: ‘Dies Irae’ from Requiem in D minor
Mozart’s Requiem was the last piece he ever wrote: he fell ill during its composition and died before its completion. In a grim, self-fulfilled prophecy, he even commented, “I am writing my own funeral music. I must not leave it unfinished.” This ‘Dies Irae’ is a solemn but mighty setting of the Catholic liturgy, with massive choral forces darkened by intense strings, dense brass and rumbling percussion.
5: Berlioz: ‘Dream Of A Witches’ Sabbath’ From Symphonie Fantastique
Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique is a programmatic masterpiece, based on the warped, supernatural fantastical imaginings of a mysterious protagonist. The fourth movement, ‘March To The Scaffold’, portrays the protagonist marching to his execution for the murder of his lover – complete with pizzicato bass solo representative of his decapitated head bouncing to the ground. For the finale, ‘Dream Of A Witches’ Sabbath’, Berlioz wrote in the score, “He sees himself at a witches’ sabbath, in the midst of a hideous gathering of shades, sorcerers and monsters of every kind who have come together for his funeral. Strange sounds, groans, outbursts of laughter; distant shouts which seem to be answered by more shouts.” As the bells strike midnight, these grotesque otherworldly represented by wailing Eb clarinet solo and ominous lower brass theme. That this bizarre narrative is said to be autobiographical makes Berlioz’s narcissistic symphony, which is one of the best pieces of classical music for Halloween, all the more grotesque.
4: Orff: ‘O Fortuna’ From Carmina Burana
‘O Fortuna’ is the immense opening and closing movement of Orff’s cantata Carmina Burana. The theatricality of this piece is what creates the unbearable tension: the quiet, frantic strings, the cold, barely whispering choir, the massive force of the orchestra, but most significantly the sudden eruptions into fortissimo with wailing sopranos and crashing percussion. Used widely in popular culture, perhaps most famously as the soundtrack to the film The Omen, this is as much a piece of production music as it is a classical tour de force.
3: Mussorgsky: Night On The Bare Mountain
Another superbly fantastical narrative, Mussorgsky’s Night On The Bare Mountain is a realist piece that paints a musical pictures of a witches’ sabbath on St John’s Eve. Mussorgsky writes crude harmonies, wild, frenzied strings, bold orchestral effects, and satanic themes that Mussorgsky himself described as “barbarous and filthy”. After a night of chaos, the sunrises over Bare Mountain and the witches vanish, leaving only an eerily tranquil flute solo to end Mussorgsky’s masterpiece.
2: Verdi: ‘Dies Irae’ from Messa di Requiem
This is an utterly petrifying choral masterpiece: few pieces have as an iconic an opening as the ‘Dies Irae’ from Verdi’s Requiem. The unmistakable orchestral stabs and cascade of shrieking voices unleash a musical hellfire upon the listener. A torrent of voices warn of judgement, reckoning and eternal damnation, whilst the orchestra, dominated by trumpets and percussion, hammers home the punishment of eternal damnation for unrepentant souls. Pure Halloween drama.
1: Saint-Saens: Danse Macabre
Saint-Saens explores the supernatural macabre in his chilling orchestral waltz Danse Macabre, one of the best pieces of classical music for Halloween. The soothing chimes of a bell tolling midnight lulls the listener into a false sense of security, until the infamous violin solo. The sole use of the violin’s open strings creates a bare, jarring quality, illustrating the rising of the ghouls from their graves, before morbid frivolities ensue. An enchanting, yet terrifying, Halloween masterpiece.
For the latest music news and exclusive features, check out uDiscover Music.
uDiscover Music is operated by Universal Music Group (UMG). Some recording artists included in uDiscover Music articles are affiliated with UMG.
Wednesday night’s (Nov. 2) episode of The Goldbergs will find the ABC family at a country and western bar, line dancing. Exclusive photos shared first by Taste of Country recall the glory of 1980s country music and the early line dancing craze.
Beverly Goldberg (Wendi McLendon-Covey) can be seen throughout the four photos shared here. The new episode — titled “Rhinestones and Roses” — finds her feeling a bit sensitive about her age and role as grandmother, so she heads to a country-western bar to reclaim her youth.
The Goldbergs airs on Wednesday nights on ABC at 8:30PM ET and then on demand on Hulu the next day.
ERINN HAYES, WENDI MCLENDON-COVEY
ABC / Scott Everett White
Goldberg neighbors and friends Ginzy (Jennifer Irwin), Linda (Mindy Sterling) and Essie (Stephanie Courtney) are also featured in these pictures, as is Jane Bales, as played by Erinn Hayes. The photo below finds Beverly with comic Mark Sipka, who is playing an emcee during the episode.
Longtime fans of the show, the Jenkinstown family and country music will appreciate the throwback to a time when rhinestones were fashionable, not just a cheeky nod to a more flamboyant past. While it’s never really stated which year the Goldbergs live in, one immediately thinks of artists like George Strait, Reba McEntire and Randy Travis when they think of ’80s country music. We’ve included a list of our favorite ’80s country songs below.
WENDI MCLENDON-COVEY, MARK SIPKA
ABC / Scott Everett White
WENDI MCLENDON-COVEY
ABC / Scott Everett White
See 50 Essential ’80s Country Songs
It’s 50 country songs from the 1980s, from 50 different 80s artists. Check out this list of essential 80s country music, curated by the Taste of County team.
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra is a staple of the state’s music scene, and it has reached a milestone. For the first time, it has a commercial recording: five songs forming an album titled “Lakota Music Project.”
“Music is almost like a language in a way,” flutist Bryan Akipa said.
You can hear Akipa’s red cedar flute on the song “Wind on a Clear Lake,” a composition from Jeffrey Paul, the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra’s principal oboist. Akipa once played for Paul at a cabin in northeastern South Dakota.
“He could hear the wind making the melody, and so he started writing it down, and that’s how he wrote the ‘Wind on Clear Lake,” Akipa said.
Paul says it’s “thrilling” to be a part of the recording.
“I don’t want to say culmination because this is an ongoing project that we’re definitely going to be continuing in more and better capacities but it’s a culmination of the work so far that has been done,” Paul said.
The Lakota Music Project, which features members of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra performing alongside Native musicians, is not new.
“We started conceptualizing it in 2005, but it took about four years to build it, so by the time we toured it in 2009, we’d been at it for a long time,” said Delta David Gier, music director of the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra. “And again the secret to it is that we built it together with tribal elders, with cultural leaders and with musicians both Lakota and Dakota.”
Gier conducted all compositions on the album.
“I can pretty much guarantee you’ve never heard anything like it before,” he said.
The album’s reverent rendition of “Amazing Grace” is a prime example of how it only follows the beat of its own drum. For Akipa, who’s a member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribe, this album puts a spotlight on his instrument.
“When you put it in a symphony with the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra, it kind of raises the importance of the way people feel about the flute,” Akipa said.
There’s a sense of pride, too.
“The biggest feeling of pride is actually when I’m sitting in with the symphony, and you can see the musicians right next to me, and you’re right in the middle of all that sound and all that energy and all that talent and all these people, and that’s when I really feel the most proud,” Akipa said.
Pink, Carrie Underwood, Imagine Dragons, JID, Tems, Wizkid and Yola are set to take the stage at the 2022 American Music Awards, which will air live from the Microsoft Theater at L.A. Live in Los Angeles on Sunday, Nov. 20. Additional performers will be announced.
Hosted by Wayne Brady, the 2022 American Music Awards will air at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on ABC and will stream the next day on Hulu.
The show will unveil a new award, song of soul, which spotlights an emerging, mission-driven artist who has inspired change and invoked social justice through their lyrics. The first recipient is Yola’s “Break the Bough.” Yola will perform the song, which marks her first AMAs performance. Yola portrayed Sister Rosetta Tharpe in the hit film, Elvis.
Pink will perform her new single “Never Gonna Not Dance Again,” which is set for release on Nov. 4. Pink is an eight-time AMA nominee.
Underwood will perform “Crazy Angels” off her ninth studio album Denim & Rhinestones. Underwood, a 17-time AMA winner, is nominated for two awards this year — favorite female country artist and favorite country album.
Imagine Dragons will perform alongside Atlanta rapper JID. Their single “Enemy,” which reached the top five on the Billboard Hot 100, is nominated for favorite rock song, one of the four new AMA award categories this year. Imagine Dragons have three other nominations this year — favorite pop duo or group, favorite rock artist and favorite rock album.
Wizkid and first-time AMA nominee Tems will take the stage together, marking both artists’ first time performing on the AMAs. Their AMA-nominated hit single, “Essence,” which reached the top 10 on the Hot 100, is up for favorite R&B song. Tems is nominated for three other awards – collaboration of the year, favorite hip-hop song and favorite Afrobeats artist. Wizkid is also vying for favorite Afrobeats artist.
DJ/producer/rapper D-Nice will serve as the house DJ.
The 2022 American Music Awards winners are voted entirely by fans. Nominees are based on key fan interactions, as reflected on the Billboard charts, including streaming, sales, radio airplay and tour grosses. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partner Luminate and cover the eligibility period of Sept. 24, 2021, through Sept. 22, 2022.
The AMAs have adopted the slogan “Music’s Hottest Night,” a play on the Grammy Awards’ long-time slogan, “Music’s Biggest Night.”
Fan voting is now open via VoteAMAs.com and Twitter in all award categories, except favorite K-Pop artist. Voting for favorite K-Pop artist will open on Tuesday, Nov. 1.
As the world’s largest fan-voted awards show, the AMAs will air globally in more than 120 countries and territories. Last year’s show stands as the most social telecast of 2021 with 46.5 million interactions, according to the show.
The 2022 American Music Awards are produced by dick clark productions and Jesse Collins Entertainment. Jesse Collins is showrunner and executive producer. Dionne Harmon, Jeannae Rouzan-Clay, two of the top executives at Jesse Collins Entertainment, and Larry Klein, a mainstay at dick clark productions, are also executive producers.
The album begins with a softly unfurling chord of unclear provenance; in the background, there’s a faint metallic clanking, like the lid rattling on a boiling pot. A subliminal hint of melody stirs just below the surface of long, languid synthesizer tones. Things rarely get much more definitive than this, and every time they do, entropy quickly reasserts itself. In “The Dreamer,” a boldly declarative theme suggests a half-remembered film score before plunging back into the murk, shrouded by birdsong, crickets, and what might be the clanking of cowbells in the pasture. Much of the album, in fact, feels like it takes place behind a scrim of white noise and August ambiance.
There’s a worn, crinkly feel to texture of the music, as if the tape had been pulled from its reels, wadded up, and left in a dank basement for a season or two before being smoothed out and fed back into the machine. Repetition is at the heart of many of these tracks—the skipping tones of “Fantasie for Agathe Backer Grøndahl” vaguely recall Oval or Jan Jelinek—even though Lauvdal’s loops tend to morph as they go, mutating with every jittery repeat. Even in the absence of obvious melodies, Lauvdal’s meditative, softly rounded tones have a way of working themselves into your mind. The smeared pipe organs of “Darkkantate” evoke dusty beams of light illuminating mossy pews in a ruined abbey. The ruminative piano of “Clara” recalls Grouper but without such an intense feeling of despondency—it’s less morose than simply lost in thought.
Ultimately, From a Story Now Lost’s emotions are as ambiguous as its amorphous shapes. In “Xerxesdrops,” which taps into a similar affective register as Harold Budd and the Cocteau Twins’ The Moon and the Melodies, a watery, wandering piano melody traces circles over sluggish, detuned synths; it might sound sad if you want it to, but in another mood, it could also pass as airy, hopeful, or simply distracted, mirroring the toe-scuffing shuffle of an absent mind. From a Story Now Lost offers a provocative update to Brian Eno’s hoary maxim about ambient music: Forget about the balance between ignorable and interesting—perhaps ambient also ought to be as stone-faced as it is steeped in feeling.
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