The Curious Case Of The Underselling Arena Tours by Zach Schonfeld

Writing for Stereogum, Zach Schonfeld dives deep into the recent spate of concert tours that are struggling to sell tickets because they are booked into venues that are far too large. The recent debacle involving the Black Keys is the most visible example of this trend — a canceled tour and fired management teams will do that — but the problem is happening across a range of acts. Like practically everything else in a cratering entertainment industry, the core problems stem from consolidated businesses and the intrusion of management that doesn’t care a bit about art as they fixate on the parts of their spreadsheets that show final totals. I;m at least holding out a dim hope that we can create a more equitable model for artists if current business models cause the whole music industry to implode.

In a Scathing Dissent, Sonia Sotomayor Calls Out the Conservative Justices’ Hypocrisy by Shirin Ali and Braden Goyette

Shirin Ali and Braden Goyette clearly understand that sometimes the best journalism is blunt, direct, and profane. “Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor is calling bullshit,” this article begins, and that strikes me as an absolutely correct assessment. The conservative majority on the Supreme Court of the United States — comprised, not so incidentally, with multiple members who are allowed to continue deciding cases despite disqualifying themselves through flagrantly unethical behaviors — continues to shamelessly distort the law and their own stated doctrines to reach whatever conclusions suits their political preferences. Sotomayor’s overly respectful identification of that practice might be only the coldest of comfort, but it’s something. This piece is published by Slate.