Ballot Boxing

There were surprisingly few music and music-biz names among the prominent signers of a two-page open letter in Wednesday's New York Times and Washington Post opposing "any discriminatory legislation or measures that restrict or prevent any eligible voters from having an equal and fair opportunity to cast a ballot." Among them: LIVE NATION, SONOS, SCOOTER BRAUN, DEMI LOVATO, QUEEN LATIFAH, KATY PERRY, PAULA ABDUL, LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA, APPLE. "The record labels on democracy...CRICKETS!," wrote BOB LEFSETZ, who used his Lefsetz Letter to crown Live Nation CEO MICHAEL RAPINO "the most powerful man in the music business" as a result. Is he? And what now? It seems impractical and unlikely, for a number of reasons, that Live Nation would follow in the footsteps of MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL and WILL SMITH and try to steer its artists' tours—there are going to be a lot of them in the not-too-far-off future—clear of the state of Georgia. But it isn't hard to imagine that some individual Live Nation artists will make that decision for themselves. Who'll skip the state altogether in 2021 and 2022? Who'll come to Atlanta and Macon and preach from the stage? Who'll shut up and sing? Which artists and labels will make the connection between the pledges they made to fight racial injustice in the wake of Blackout Tuesday 10 months ago and the growing debate over access to ballot boxes on November Tuesdays to come?

Flesh + Blood

In the mix below, stories from Stereogum's TOM BREIHAN and the Ringer's SHEA SERRANO on the duality of DMX, the irreconcilable sides of a talented, tormented, tender, terrifying rapper and man who never tried to push either side away, who left any possible reconciliations to the rest of us. "DMX had not come up from the struggle," Breihan writes. "He *was* the struggle." "Maybe," Serrano offers, "he internalized all of the hurt he’d absorbed and arrived at the conclusion that his suffering was justified if it meant that he could help others thrive." Many, many more sides to consider in our still-growing MusicSET: "He Overcame, He Saw, He Struggled: DMX's Ruff Ryding Life." (Also, for what it's worth: It's quite possible, maybe even quite certain, that one of the most dominant hip-hop stars of the turn of the millennium was underrated.)

Humpty Dances Etc Etc Etc

A history of stage humping, from MADONNA and PRINCE to MEGAN THEE STALLION and BTS (thank you, Jezebel's TRACY CLARK-FLORY, this is amazing)... He spent 22 years learning how to play the KING CRIMSON song "FRACTURE," which involved re-learning how to sit, stand and breathe, and he was rewarded with this glowing review from King Crimson mastermind ROBERT FRIPP: "Pretty good job." ANTHONY GARONE's book, FAILURE TO FRACTURE, comes out in May... RAMMSTEIN fans in BALENCIAGA... Male rappers in dresses... JIM MORRISON and the DOORS at the CINERAMA DOME (RIP), watching 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.

Rest in Peace

Promotion exec JONAS CASH, who founded ACTIVE INDUSTRY RESEARCH (AIR).