KEVIN & BEAN, ZAC BROWN and ME: I was supposed to be laid off by MTV NEWS in September 2001 along with much of my team, a few more random victims of the dot-com bubble's unceremonious demise. But other world events got in the way. Higher-ups at MTV, being normal, warm-blooded, empathetic humans, decided that a couple weeks after 9/11 wasn't the best time to lay off a bunch of people in New York. So they waited another month and a half or so and then let us go. It might sound like a little but it meant a lot. Time matters. They also gave us decent severance packages and, after giving us the final word, let us take our time cleaning out our desks, saying our goodbyes and leaving 770 Broadway for good (or for three or four months as the case may be, but that's another story for another day). This is how management treats employees, even in a layoff, at companies where people like and respect each other. Or maybe it was just a different time, I don't know. I do know that smack in the middle of a worldwide crisis that has people in several continents curled up in balls of anxiety and fear remains a spectacularly bad time to fire a long-time employee just because you feel like making a change. This apparently puts me at odds with the management of fabled LA rock radio station KROQ, which on Tuesday fired KEVIN RYDER—and most of his crew—after a 30-year run, almost all of which he spent as one half of the morning team Kevin & Bean. This is Tuesday of a week in which the entire city and state, and much of the country, is quarantining itself against a fast-moving, deadly virus, in which the live entertainment business has all but shut down and the world economy is in freefall. This was not, mind you, a coronavirus-related layoff. This was KROQ deciding Tuesday of this week was a good day to play musical chairs with its on-air staff and fire the losers. The station did allow Ryder five minutes of farewell airtime Wednesday, some of which he used, as anyone with a sense of dignity would, to rip station management for a toxic work environment and for its timing: "Our boss said, ‘You know, there’s never a good time for this.’ No, but there *is* a bad time for this, and it’s during a global pandemic." He signed off and then, apparently, was visited by "3 guys here to throw me out of the building." Which is how management treats employees where mutual respect isn't part of the programming. May a better job, and a better employer, await. Later Tuesday, country road warrior Zac Brown fought tears as he shared the news, via INSTAGRAM, that he had laid off most of his road crew of 15 years because "I can't generate out there and I can't tour." Brown described them as "family," and went on to do a public service announcement for social distancing and to throw in a few DIXIE CHICKSy thoughts about the government, which he's "ashamed" of. Brown's timing sucks, too, but the timing is why he had to do what he did. (He is, obviously, not alone.) I have no idea what his severance package looks like—I hope one exists—but I'm here for the humanity behind his announcement and his wider message: We're all in this together, like a family... Canceled culture: GLASTONBURY (canceled less than a week after defiantly announcing its lineup). EUROVISION. JAZZ FEST and BONNAROO both moved to the fall... RECORDING ACADEMY asks Congress for emergency aid for music makers... Critics at the NEW YORK TIMES and the LOS ANGELES TIMES reflect on the strange and infectious allure of live music, which used to exist... RIP JONTY SKRUFFF and MICKEY ATKINS.