I was flipping through this week’s Billboard at lunch the other day, and saw this piece about SF band Von Iva (it’s a .jpg and not a link because that section of BillboardBiz.com is gated for subscribers) and how they count among their fans Jonathan Karp, the music director for such films as Superbad and The 40 Year Old Virgin. Karp music directed for the new Jim Carey movie, Yes Man, which also stars actor/singer Zooey Deschanel, and he managed to get the ladies of Von Iva cast in the movie as a band with Deschanel as the lead singer. I’ve only seen Von Iva once, when I was working on the now-defunct Mesh magazine, but they were awesome: raunchy, kinda soulful, slightly quirky, 100 percent rock ‘n’ roll. I haven’t seen the movie — and frankly, I probably won’t — but big ups to Von Iva for taking another step toward rock stardom. Next stop: free cocaine and deli trays…
In the same Billboard, I spotted a piece about Japanese public broadcast network NHK indefinitely banning five singers from appearing on any of the network’s radio and television stations because they played golf with and performed at the birthday party of a known Japanese organized crime boss. Billboard Biz reports that the five singers’ management representatives have confirmed the performances and the banning. I guess it has something to do with the fact that it’s the Japanese public broadcasting network, which, if it’s anything like PBS/NPR in the US, can get away with pretending to operate with some level of morality, but seriously… Since when does morality have any place in the music and broadcast industries? VH1 reality series, MTV, Fox TV, major music industry, capitalism — if morality was a factor, none of those things would even exist…
I think it bears noting that Remix magazine will be closing its proverbial doors at the end of the year. The electronic- and urban-flavored production and performance magazine’s last issue will be January 2009, but the magazine’s parent company, Penton Publishing, will continue producing the popular Remix Hotel event series. I’m not sure how Penton thinks it can continue the Remix Hotel events without the magazine. The Remix print product provides the Hotel events with validity and relevance, and promotes the brand between events; the two properties are integral parts of the same entity. I predict the Remix Hotel won’t last past the third quarter of 2009. Remix was among the competition of EQ magazine, which is owned by the company I work for, and while I like EQ a lot, I am bummed to see Remix go. I’m not sure when the official announcement is going to be made, but I got a forwarded e-mail from the editor about the closure yesterday. This economy is a bitch…
Finally, with deference to the title of this post, here’s a link to one of my favorite podcasts: KCRW’s The Business.