I play drum licks on the guitar. | | | | Bo Diddley soundchecking in San Francisco, December 1970.
(Robert Altman/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) | | | | |  | “I play drum licks on the guitar.”
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| | rantnrave:// Though there were still criticisms aplenty, some warranted, some gratuitous, the day-after-GRAMMY stories this year were a lot better than the day-after-Grammy stories last year, so one imagines the RECORDING ACADEMY is feeling good right now. The TV ratings didn't go down, which in 2019 is like the ratings going way up. JACKSON MAINE didn't show up and wet his pants onstage (as he very well could have if he'd seen LADY GAGA's meme-rock performance of "SHALLOW"). The night's biggest social-media gaffe belonged to an unrelated TV network. Thirty-one women took Grammys home, almost twice as many as a year ago (congratulations music industry, here's what you can do next). DRAKE hasn't released a Grammys diss track yet. And in between a few much-debated choices, the Academy skillfully threaded a needle or two—particularly in finding a couple new Grammy superstars in BRANDI CARLILE and H.E.R. and giving them their Grammy Moments™ but, this time, without taking away someone else's Album of the Year or Record of the Year award, as Grammy voters have been known. Kudos for that. Next year maybe a few more nominees will bother showing up. But don't bet on it... The Philadelphia lawyer taking on LED ZEPPELIN and "STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN" on behalf of the estate of RANDY CALIFORNIA keeps a used half of a lemon that ROBERT PLANT squeezed into his tea three years ago in his briefcase. It's his legal talisman. And yes if I ever need to sue a revered classic-rock band for copyright infringement, that's going to be my lawyer, too... Las Vegas residencies are the new "I've gotta run out to the ATM machine; back in a minute"... Song title of the week... I'll be off for the next couple of days, but the curation never stops. COURTNEY E. SMITH will be taking over this newsletter Wednesday and Thursday; I'll see you again Friday... RIP PHIL WESTERN and NANCY B. REICH. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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 | Philadelphia Magazine |
| Francis Malofiy may be the most hated man in the Philadelphia legal community. He may also be on the cusp of getting the last laugh on rock’s golden gods. | | |
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 | Noisey |
| Hard Rock Park boasted rides themed around Led Zeppelin songs and acid trips, but it closed after just five months, amid the 2008 financial crisis. Ten years later, we visited the abandoned site to find out how it went off the rails. | | |
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 | Los Angeles Times |
| The Recording Academy’s fraught relationship with women and artists of color played a starring role during a Grammys ceremony that was as much an ode to diversity as it was a reparation effort. | | |
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 | Refinery29 |
| Women don’t want to be the only woman in the room anymore. | | |
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 | The Ringer |
| The late lead singer of Big Star and the Box Tops had a trove of unreleased music unearthed. What can we learn from the gifted, self-destructive genius? | | |
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 | Atlas Obscura |
| The common fundraising events known as walkathons started as an exploitative entertainment craze. | | |
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 | Billboard |
| SiriusXM's $3.5 billion purchase of Pandora, finalized Feb. 1, will create a digital-radio behemoth with customized radio playlists, a contract with Howard Stern and an estimated 100 million listeners who tune in from cars, smartphones and laptops alike. | | |
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 | NPR |
| What does DJ Marshmello's Fortnite concert mean for the future of music performance? The 10-minute virtual concert was one of the largest digital gatherings ever. | | |
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 | Variety |
| What beats winning some awards on a show? Winning an awards show. | | |
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 | The New York Times |
| Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to liberalize parts of society and promote the arts, but that could be overshadowed by violent acts under his rule. | | |
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 | The Guardian |
| At 78, on the eve of his first ever live tour, the dance music super-producer talks about his 50-year career, the glory of digital recording - and Ed Sheeran. | | |
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| Noisey |
| Artists have always chucked choirs into secular music, but this latest trend holds specific meaning for the UK's west African and Caribbean diaspora. | | |
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 | Genius |
| From Wu-Tang Clan to French Montana to Metro Boomin, “After Laughter” is a rap staple. | | |
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 | Afropunk |
| 'Encore' is the highly unlikely, indisputably great comeback album by the British band whose 1970s Two-Tone existence sowed seeds for what became AFROPUNK’s UK wing. | | |
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 | Music Think Tank |
| You've all heard about it, it's part of modern world's most enduring cliché: a great artist IS a starving artist... Coming right from the Romanticism of the late 18th to early 19th century, this has been the subject of many paintings, literature and even operas. | | |
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 | Medium |
| How I stopped worrying and started to love HiRes Audio. | | |
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 | Mixmag |
| DJ Bigos has supplied tracklists -- or attempted to -- for an astounding number of online mixes. | | |
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 | Slate |
| How did this happen?! Just how rare is this? We break it down. | | |
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 | Paper |
| The past couple years have been a whirlwind for country star Maren Morris. Unapologetically herself, she's made just as many headlines for her progressive politics as her music, and based on her career trajectory, it doesn't seem like she's stopping anytime soon. | | |
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 | The Daily Beast |
| We asked whiskey makers around the country to tell us what their spirits taste like by comparing them to music. | | |
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 | YouTube |
| | | | | | One of the most menacing love songs ever recorded. |
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