Virtual campaign concerts have been a rising trend with Presidential Nominee Joe Biden. His campaign team put together, yet another, concert series with a prominent lineup including Cher, John Legend and The Black Eyed Peas, scheduled for Oct. 25.
The ‘I Will Vote Concert‘ is an attempt to raise money for Biden’s campaign in the last waning days before the election. Tickets for the Biden campaign concert start at $25 and increase to $1000.
Just last month, ‘Team Joe Sings‘ popped off with artists like Kesha, Ben Gibbard and Misterwives. Every Thursday up until the election, a group of musicians perform songs virtually to raise money for his campaign. The series has produced over 15 videos, each of a different artist featuring their music.
Musical entertainment has always been used as a way to promote, whether it be for an ad or a movie. In this case, Biden is not only raising money for his shot in the White House, but also may increase his chances of getting more votes with well-known artists showing their support.
The lineup: A$AP Ferg, Sara Bareilles, Aloe Blacc, Black Eyed Peas and Jennifer Hudson, Jon Bon Jovi, Ciara, Darren Criss, Jermaine Dupri, NE-YO, Johnta Austin and Friends, Foo Fighters, Macy Gray, Dave Matthews, P!nk, Ben Platt, Cher, John Legend and The Black Eyed Peas.
Also Scheduled: La La Anthony, Margaret Cho, Jaime Camil, Dave Grohl, Armie Hammer, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Helen Mirren, Maren Morris, Billy Porter, Amy Schumer, will.i.am, Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Tan France, Antoni Porowski and Jonathan Van Ness.
Make sure to tune in 8:00 p.m. EDT/ 5:00 p.m. PDT on Sunday. Tickets are on sale now.
Ithaca-based and indie-folk musician Sarah Noell released her first solo EP Retreat To Space on Friday, October 16 on all streaming platforms.
Album cover art for Retreat To Space
Noell was originally in the band Wildflwr, along with her mates Nick Scollard and Mary Cain, but the pandemic forced her to experiment with her music independently.
I wasn’t sure I could do this by myself, a year and a half ago Nick was still setting up all of my gear and Marty was booking all of our shows. This EP has shown me that, when forced to be alone, I can still learn and grow without the hand-holding of others, which I really needed before.
Sarah Noell
Growing up in rural Connecticut, Noell began her musical career at age 13, but didn’t take it seriously until after graduating from Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY. She stayed in the trendy city, where her music grew and flourished. Since then, has Wildflwr come out with multiple folky EPs, but when the pandemic put the band to a halt, she began writing her own songs.
Sarah Noell
According to Noell, this EP is about love, relationships and life over the years.
The EP is a collection of songs that reflect on my experiences in love, friendship, and solitude in the last five years or so. The title track ‘Retreat to Space’ reflects on a soured relationship but also deals with living mostly in my head, blurring reality, which is a recurring theme on the EP. I’m sure many people can relate, as we’ve all in a way retreated inwards during the pandemic.
Sarah Noell
The young musician hopes because live shows are on a break, that internet, social media and live streaming will pass her new music along.
If you’re in the mood to listen to some dreamy tunes and ponder about life, go one of the streaming platforms and enjoy the ride.
Retreat to Space is available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music and more.
On Oct. 20, U.S. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley co-sponsored a brand new inclusive package that, if approved by the House and Senate, will provide more that $370 billion to small businesses and music venues in Oregon and nationwide that were most affected by the pandemic.
Live concert pre-pandemic
The Heros Small Business Lifeline Act is an off shoot of the Paycheck Protection Plan, which gave small businesses loan forgiveness and grants at the start of the pandemic. Heros 2.0 essentially would extend those programs and give more help to those businesses in need.
This legislation would provide an urgently needed lifeline for thousands of small businesses struggling to keep their doors open and to employ Oregonians who want very much to earn a paycheck.
Senator Ron Wyden
For the National Independent Venue Association, this bill needs to be passed so that venues can get the relief they need since they were of the businesses that were hit the hardest.
Last month, the House passed the Save Our Stages Act. This was a huge accomplishment for NIVA in that the SOS authorizes the Small Business Administration to makes grants eligible to live venue operations and other music industry workers. They now need to go a few steps further in the Senate in order for music venues to keep their doors open.
This is urgent. Our members cannot wait any longer for emergency relief. Once independent venues go under, they do not come back. We respectfully implore our elected officials to come together and Save Our Stages.
NIVA
As of today, 95% of music industry workers have been furloughed and are still not operating. NIVA urges Congress to move forward with HEROS 2.0.
While the issue of police brutality prevails in the U.S., artists are speaking out through their music to raise awareness. For Drea D’Nur, her whole life revolves around it.
I am not an entertainer. I am a master healer through music and sound. To be a vessel of healing sound is a great honor and responsibility. Moment by Moment, I seek and work to become a better vessel. Every show is an offering of my entire self. In a world, where many are living numb, my intention is that you would feel, heal, and be inspired at each Live Experience.
Drea D’Nur
Drea D’Nur
Buffalo based activist and musician, Drea D’Nur, teamed up with American Muslim figure Rami Nashashibi to release her newest single, “Mama Please,” a tribute to Cariol’s Law.
Cariol’s Law passed in early October on behalf of Cariol Horne. Horne gained national attention in 2008 when she was fired from the Buffalo Police Department because she stopped a fellow officer from choking out a black man, Neil Mack. Since then, she has continued to protest for the Black Lives Matter Movement and is still working towards getting her full pension. The law now requires officers in Buffalo to intervene if a coworker looks like they are using excessive force.
Cariol’s Law is a proposal for legislation to have a mandatory stature on police bystander intervention, provide protection from retaliation, require external investigation with mandated reprimanding for abuse or misconduct, create a required reportable registry.
According to the Cariol’s Law website
Along with being a riveting performer, D’Nur is an activist who founded Feed Buffalo, the first Organic, Safe, and Halal Food Access Resource Center in western New York, but it doesn’t stop there. She’s also a volunteer for Project Mona’s House that provides resources and housing for human trafficking survivors.
D’Nur’s purpose for “Mama Please,” is to push for Cariol’s Law to be passed nationwide. Her new single is one of the tunes from her upcoming album, ‘This LOVE Thing,’ expected to drop on Oct. 23. Meanwhile, watch and listen to this beautiful work activism to support the destruction of police brutality.
Wynn Resorts CEO, Matt Maddox, announced a COVID-19 testing lab in Las Vegas is in the works to bring back concerts and large events.
Medical workers at Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas test employees.
For months, we have been working with University Medical Center (UMC), Georgetown University and leading labs in California and New York to study technology that can rapidly and rigorously test thousands of people in a matter of hours.
Matt Maddox
Maddox says the reason tourism in Vegas still hasn’t made a come back since the pandemic is the fear of contracting the infectious disease. He believes the only solution to make get the city back and booming again is not relying on the idea that there will be an eventual vaccine.
Hoping our government alone will solve getting Las Vegas back on track is not viable. Hope, as the saying goes, is not a strategy. Instead, community leaders must present science-based options that advance our broader goals to reignite our city.
Matt Maddox
What can go wrong with this plan?
In theory, a lab that anyone could get tested at can provide a safe way to gather without the possibility of getting COVID, but there are factors to consider.
Although the person being tested would get their results within hours, this also means that they have to wait hours to go to the event they were planning. This, in turn, means for those who plan to drive out to a show, their whole day would be spent waiting for a positive or negative result and maybe not even being able to go to the event. The idea is to bring back the bustling music and theater scene, but not everyone is going to want to make a day of this.
Another off-set is getting people to step out of their comfort zone, which may need more than mandated testing. The pandemic, along with the quarantine, left the state of the world feeling fearful after the disease took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Getting people out of fear-mode might just take time.
Extensive research clearly indicates that what is keeping people away from Las Vegas is not so much the physical environment, which we work diligently to keep sterilized, but rather a fear of other people. We must alleviate that fear.
Matt Maddox
Maddox and the medical professionals he is working with says the whole process should reduce the chance of exposure to 0.1%.
Nothing in life is 100% safe but establishing these safe zones by testing thousands of people per day with the PCR test, dramatically mitigates the danger of community spread and, with empirical evidence and careful execution, will work. The probability of a contagious COVID carrier entering a “safe zone” is less than one-tenth of 1%.
Matt Maddox
Who is Matt Maddox
Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox
According to Casino.org, Maddox took over as CEO in 2018, after Steve Wynn was accused of sexual misconduct and had to step down. Maddox previously served as Wynn’s president and Chief Financial Officer since 2013.
What is Wynn Las Vegas?
Wynn and Encore Las Vegas feature two luxury hotel towers with a total of 4,748 spacious hotel rooms, suites and villas, approximately 194,000 square feet of casino space, 22 dining experiences featuring signature chefs and 11 bars, two award-winning spas, approximately 560,000 rentable square feet of meeting and convention space, approximately 160,000 square feet of retail space as well as two showrooms, two nightclubs, a beach club and recreation and leisure facilities.
Quarantine provided many different things for many people. Spending more time with your kids, finding new recipes to experiment with, maybe even picking up embroidery. For New York City-based singer/songwriter, Aniello, quarantine gave him the opportunity to work harder on his music than ever before, leading him to make it to Billboard alongside notable names like, X Ambassadors, Andrew Bird and Kesha.
Promotion for Team Joe Sings
Last week, Aniello debuted his latest single, ‘Stand Up,’ on the virtual concert series, ‘Team Joe Sings,’ created by presidential-nominee Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ campaign team. Aniello says he wrote this single a few years back, during the 2016 presidential election, but it remains so true to our current state of the nation now.
“I wrote this song as a message to myself, at first, to just keep standing up, but as a whole it really means to stand up for equality and your beliefs and is also really an anthem to the LGBTQ+ community.”
Aniello
He views this election as being the most important one to vote in because of how divided our country has become.
“Never have I ever been so open about my politics, but right now it is so important. I think Joe is obviously the right guy for the job. Team Joe Sings is a great way to promote people to get out and vote.”
Aniello Scibelli
Aniello Scibelli, also known as Neil Davis, grew up in the city and describes himself as a New Yorker through and through. His love for music started at a very young age and it just kept growing.
“My parents got me this toy keyboard when I was a toddler. As I grew a little older, I would play tunes that I heard from the cartoons I watched,” recalled Aniello.
He went on to get an education at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, which was founded by musician Tony Bennett and his wife Susan Benedetto.
“It was really amazing to me that I had the opportunity to learn from the best. I mean, Susan was my teacher and mentored me through school and to this day is still a really good friend of mine,” he said.
After his father passed away in 2017, his strength to move on from the grief, turned into creativity. Since then, his ability to stay positive through every situation, regardless how tough, lead him to release empowering and motivational music.
‘Stand Up’ can be found on Bandcamp and Apple Music. ‘Team Joe Sings’ appears on the featured artists’ Youtube page every Thursday through Election Day.
On Oct. 14. Flushing Town Hall will host their monthly Virtual Jazz Jam will be kicking off spooky season with, “October: The Heart of Autumn.”
The Virtual Jazz Jam, Led by Astoria resident Carol Sudhalter, is part of the Flushing Town Hall online entertainment series FTH at Home!. This is their aim to provide a sanctuary for jazz musicians and lovers who can’t experience a live show, due to the global pandemic.
The Jam invites a maximum of 15 musicians a month to play their music, as long as they haven’t played at one before. This encourages a variety of artists without repeating the same tunes.
Since spring 2020, there has been a medley of different themes for the jams, including one in August, which was, “unity in mind, spirit and action.”
Tune into Flushing Town Hall’s website at 7:00 pm (EST) on Oct. 14 to experience an autumnal virtual jazz show.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Frank Sedita has ruled unconstitutional the State Liquor Authority to ban on advertising live music at venues and bars, and from promoting live ticketed events, after a Buffalo business challenged the new guidelines.
Sportsmens Tavern live music venue, pre-COVID.
Sportsmens Tavern, a music venue and bar in Buffalo’s Black Rock neighborhood, filed the lawsuit after Gov. Andrew Cuomo, along with the SLA, announced that advertising any live show is to be prohibited.
“I was surprised when the judge announced the ban as unconstitutional because we filed the lawsuit five weeks ago,” said Jason Hall, the owners of Sportsmens’ son.
According to Hall, the SLA informed them it was okay to continue advertising and promoting even though the new guidelines said the exact opposite.
In this case, they filed an ’emergency hearing,’ because the ban immediately affected their business. Attorney Paul Cambria, a well-known western New York attorney, advised them to stay off of social media and continue their business as usual while they awaited the ruling.
This does not mean every venue in New York State should be relieved. While it was a NYS Supreme Court judge that decided to throw away the rules, his district in in Erie County, meaning the SLA can make an appeal at any time. They indicated that they are considering it.
“Only incidental music is permissible at this time. This means that advertised and/or ticketed shows are not permissible. Music should be incidental to the dining experience and not the draw itself. All other forms of live entertainment, such as exotic dancing, comedy shows, karaoke etc., are not permissible currently regardless of phase.”
SLA website previously stated.
In the meantime, live music at Sportsmens Tavern is thriving with a whole lineup featuring local artists this month.
The Buffalo News reports that the lawyer for Sportsmens Tavern asked the court, “What’s the difference on how you fill your place, whether a blue plate special or that the Nerds Gone Wild are going to play there? You still have to follow the safety regulations.
Justice Frank Sedita III agreed, saying the regulations seemed “not only excessive but also irrational” given the Covid-19 safety precautions that Sportsmen’s Tavern and other establishments must follow.
“Whether a Sportsmen’s patron is principally motivated by listening to ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise’ or eating a cheeseburger in Black Rock is a distinction without a difference if the (establishment) is enforcing occupancy limits, cleaning, disinfecting, mask wearing and social distancing,” Sedita said at Wednesday’s court hearing.
Joel Terragnoli, counsel for the State Liquor Authority, contended Sportsmen’s Tavern could advertise that it remains open to serve its customers food and beverages, and even that it generally offers live or recorded music as entertainment for its patrons.
But since Sportsmen’s Tavern “is not free to hold special musical events, it should not be free to advertise and sell tickets to do the same, and operate a live show/entertainment venue under the guise of running a bar and restaurant, particularly when all other such show and entertainment venues across the state remain closed for public health reasons,” Terragnoli said.
And even if able to offer live music at its establishment while enforcing social distancing measures, he said, Sportsmen’s Tavern “cannot make an end run around the current prohibition on the operation of show and other entertainment venues by operating its bar and restaurant as a concert hall.”
“This case is not so much about ensuring public safety as it is about the permissible limits of state power to regulate the speech and the conduct of its citizens,” Sedita said.
Picture Central Park today. Beautiful bridges and architecture throughout a green, shaded landscape. A place where people can enjoy their hour lunch break, or a destination for buskers trying to earn some cash. In the 1970’s, the park had been a completely different atmosphere. Crime, graffiti and decay structured the park.
Art Garfunkel and Paul Simon
On Sept. 19, 1981, Simon & Garfunkel raised around $51,000, performing at the Central Park Stage which had free admission. Their concert would forever change the entire vibe of the famous park and helped it thrive to where it is today.
The concert was a year after Elton John performed for around 300,000 people, wearing his iconic duck suit. Among the artists that also performed in Central Park were Bon Jovi, Dave Matthews Band and Garth Brooks.
Simon & Garfunkel in Central Park, 1981
Although most of the concerts drew enormous crowds, and made a lasting impact on Central Park being a destination for great musicians, Simon & Garfunkel literally cleaned up the park with the money they raised from merchandising, CD sales and TV and video rights.
The show was broadcast live on HBO, then was recorded and released as the duo’s first live album.
Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel made history that day and drastically improved the state of Central Park. As a result of the impact they made, the park became a popular tourist attraction. There were no “sounds of silence,” when it came to the cheers of the 500,000 people in the audience.
Setlist: Mrs. Robinson, Homeward Bound, America, Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, Scarborough Fair, April Come She Will, Wake Up Little Susie, The Everly Brothers, Still Crazy After All These Years, American Tune, Late in the Evening, Slip Slidin’ Away, A Heart in New York, The Late Great Johnny Ace, Kodachrome/Maybellene, Bridge over Troubled Water, 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover, The Boxer
Encore: Old Friends / Bookends Theme, The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy), The Sound of Silence
The pandemic brought a powerhouse of talented artists, sharing their music and performances through live streaming and virtual concerts. Last week, confusing new guidelines regarding Facebook live streaming performances, effective Oct. 1, have the potential to limit streaming of concerts.
Owner of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook’s new guidelines say:
You may not use videos on our Products to create a music listening experience. We want you to be able to enjoy videos posted by family and friends. However, if you use videos on our Products to create a music listening experience for yourself or for others, your videos will be blocked and your page, profile or group may be deleted. This includes Live.
Representatives for Facebook
They have since clarified their rules by saying that they want to continue letting artists express their talent, but still protect them through agreements by rights holders.
We want to encourage musical expression on our platforms while also ensuring that we uphold our agreements with rights holders. These agreements help protect the artists, songwriters, and partners who are the cornerstone of the music community — and we’re grateful for how they’ve enabled the amazing creativity we’ve seen in this time.
Our partnerships with rights holders have brought people together around music on our platforms. As part of our licensing agreements, there are limitations around the amount of recorded music that can be included in Live broadcasts or videos. While the specifics of our licensing agreements are confidential, today we’re sharing some general guidelines to help you plan your videos better:
Music in stories and traditional live music performances (e.g., filming an artist or band performing live) are permitted.
The greater the number of full-length recorded tracks in a video, the more likely it may be limited (more below on what we mean by “limited”).
Shorter clips of music are recommended.
There should always be a visual component to your video; recorded audio should not be the primary purpose of the video.
These guidelines are consistent across live and recorded video on both Facebook and Instagram, and for all types of accounts — i.e. pages, profiles, verified and unverified accounts. And although music is launched on our platforms in more than 90 countries, there are places where it is not yet available. So if your video includes recorded music, it may not be available for use in those locations.
Facebook
Over the course of this year, live streaming concerts have been popular to say the least, it has and still is a necessity for most parts of the world. Popular musicians like Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry have used this platform, but most importantly, new upcoming artists used this method to promote their music.
What’s interesting is that although they claim they want to “encourage musical performances on [their] platform,” they still shut down live streaming accounts.
Facebook owns Instagram, as well, but no new rules have been added to their live streaming.
For right now, don’t fret about Facebook not sharing your favorite live performances. LAUNCH is a website independent from social networks that is here to provide support for the live music community. The team offers anyone to join in on Sept. 17 for an introduction meeting to the new platform. Together, they hope to promote and encourage the struggling scene of live music.
