Rovics on activist gig organisation

Veteran US protest singer and activist David Rovics has written a terrific blog entry on organising fundraising gigs.

The problem for so many socially concerned / activist would-be promoters is that promoting is not their business, so they often don’t know how to make it work. There are a bunch of small details that need to be got right, organising any event. They also tend to be nicer, more heart and soul oriented people, than professional promoters, which isn’t always an advantage in event management!

Anyway these tips are a fantastic start, at least:
David Rovics’ Songwriters Notebook
(the blog is in the blogroll list as well)

New Morning Star column

I just wrote a new column for the Morning Star about the crossover success of Laura Marling and Frank Turner and what it means for songwriting. Read it HERE.

The end of the R&B vocal tick

Thinking this morning, two things may be finally getting rid of the horrible over-florid R&B vocal ticks: One is the rise of Glee (music theatre-influenced plaintiveness) and the other is the rise in influence of M.I.A. (declamatory confidence to disguise an inability to stay in tune). Possibly Gaga gets some credit too because her vocals are a lot simpler than most electro pop or R&B artists. She is ushering a new paradigm for choreography as well – was interesting to watch Beyonce do Gaga-esque moves in the Telephone vid. Anyway, interesting developments. I’d love to hear the a-list R&B singers, with all the production richness of their hits, singing in a simpler vocal style.